Diary of a Survivalist
Well, the generators are still not here, but I am increasingly ready. I have continued to prowl the Internet and the local home center stores for items I can use. I am hoping to do everything myself, except the final disconnect of the home power and the re-routing the power from the box to the transfer switch. Our electric company requires a certified electrician do this, and I admit that it will be safer to have someone review and approve my work.
I priced the cable used to bring power form the meter to the box, and it was $0.91 per foot. This was for 3/2, which means a cable with two wires, each 3-guage in thickness. At this price, I decided to get a very accurate measurement before I went and had them cut some.
Then while I was inspecting our hook up I noticed that the electric company uses two separate cables and wraps them around a steel cable, which does the weight-bearing duty from the pole to the house. So I checked this out, and it is only $0.40 cents a foot, and I can do it with 4-guage wire, which is rated for up to 85 amps, according to Home Depot. So this will be cheaper.
I also bought some conduit for use inside the generator shed and to run to the light switches and outlets. This is the standard size and will fit the boxes and miscellaneous items I have on hand. I also purchased a much bigger piece of conduit -- two inches in diameter) which will run up and out of the roof of the shed. I bought some flashing to keep the hold from leaking and a curved piece that goes on top of the conduit and has separate holes for the wire to come out of. This will give me some height so that we can drive without the cable getting caught on top of the vehicle. (Just writing, I realized that I need something to anchor the steel cable to the side of my house. I'll have to pick that up in the future.)
I am still determining how many 55-gallon drums I will need. I think two for fuel and one for coolant. I have read that you can use a 55-gallon drum as a reservoir of coolant, thus keeping your generator running much more coolly than its radiator will allow on its own. And in the winter, the coolant preserves heat, making re-starts easier.
One item I have not stocked, but plan to, is a filter and water-separator for the fuel. From what I have read, the standard ones that are used by people with oil tanks are fine. I'd like to find a surplus 280-gallon tank with filter in place, but I haven't had much luck yet. I am also waiting to see what type of oil it takes so I can stock up.
This weekend Captain Dave and I finally packed up our bags of beans and pasta and buckets of rice. I sealed away something like 20 pounds of beans, 4 pounds of barley, 50 pounds of rice and close to 20 pounds of pasta. We used both his traditional heat sealer, which worked very well on mylar bags, and a vacuum sealer for the smaller packages.
The vacuum sealer was tricky, but once you got the hang of it, it worked very well. I know Dave gets questions on how to pack dried food away, so let me give you the steps we took.
- First, we poured all the product into mylar or nylon bags suitable for sealing. These need to be tough enough to hold up to rough handling, hold a vacuum and not let any gas in. And they have to not leak any oxygen or air, as zip-lock and similar flimsy bags do.
- So we pounds two pounds of pasta or four pounds of beans into a bunch of mylar bags until they lined the table top. Then we opened a bag of 300 cc oxygen absorbing packets and placed one in each of the bags. (This is probably not necessary if you vacuum pack them, but since we had them and we had to open the bag for the rice, we did it anyhow.)
- As soon as we opened the oxygen absorbers, the little whit pill inside turned blue. This is how you know they are still fresh. If the pill is already colored, then they have been exposed to air and may have lost their ability to absorb oxygen.
- As soon as we finished with the absorbers we sealed the leftovers back in the bag form which they came from so as to protect them from future deterioration.
- Then we held each bag flat and placed it on the vacuum sealer, making sure the little spout that sucks out the air was inside the bag, and not under it. We hit the activate button and the pump sucks the air out, collapsing the bags on the product inside. When it stops deflating and the tone of the pump changes, it is time to seal it.
- Using the vacuum sealer, we simply press down on the sealer bar and the vacuum nozzle recedes at the same time as the hot wire seals the bag. We found that six seconds was fine for the nylon bags that came with the sealer, but the mylar bags needed eight or (after the unit warmed up) seven. The unit has a timer which beeps when it is time to release the sealing bar.
Once one bag was completed, we went on to the next. Be warned that you do not want the oxygen absorbers to be exposed for more than 10 or 15 minutes, so do not put them in more than 10 or so bags at once. And you can keep them in a jar if you want to seal them up -- just make sure the lid creates a good seal.
One trick we learned was that you have to hold the bag completely flat for the vacuum to work. If there is a wrinkle at the top where the two seams meet, it will not pull a complete vacuum. So you may have to try it a few times before you get the hang of it. This also means do not over-fill it. If you put in too much product, it will prevent a good seal.
To pack the large buckets with rice, we used 5-gallon drums and large mylar bags. Here's how that worked.
- First, you put the bag in the bucket and push it al the way down.
- Then you add the oxygen absorbers. If you were using 750 cc absorbers, put one in the bottom. Since we had the 300 cc absobers open, we put two in the bottom.
- Next, pour product -- in our case, rice -- on top of it. When you are about two-thirds full, lift the bucket a few inches from the ground and drop it a time or three. This will cause some settling and allow you to fit more in.
- Now, fill it until you are about an inch from the top. The repeat the banging and settling and refill, if needed.
- At this stage, add the rest of your oxygen absorbers. We added 900 ccs (three of 300 cc packets). If you are using 750 cc packets, add one. And if you are using 1500 cc packets, you only need one per bucket and it goes in at this stage. The only time you would need extra product was if you are using ziti or macaroni or another product that has lots of voids in it.
- Since we were using 5-gallon buckets, we trimmed the top off the bag with a pair of scissors. This may not be necessary if you use a 6-gallon pail. Just be sure not to cut off too much or you will not be able to seal it.
- Press the air out of the head space, as much as you can. Gather the top of the bag and hold the edges together., Again, a smooth seal will be better, so avoid wrinkles.
- We used Dave's industrial-strength sealer, which works faster than the vacuum sealer and makes several rows of seals for a very secure seal. The jaws are only six or eight inches wide, but you seal a stretch, then move down and sea again. It is also a bit faster than the vacuum sealer and easier to use, but without the vacuum, of course.
- Follow all the steps above until you get to the part about cutting the bag. Don't cut it, as you may need the length.
- Place a 2x4 or other piece of lumber over the mouth of the bucket, dividing it in half. Then fold the bag over the wood. Squeeze out as much air as possible.
- Set the iron on about halfway and let it warm up. This is usually 5 out of 10 settings. You may need to tweak the temperature. Obviously, it if isn't sealing, you can go higher. If it is melting through, go lower and let the iron cool. If you want to protect the surface of your iron, stretch thin piece of cotton, such as panel torn from a worn T-shirt over it.
- To seal the bag, one person holds it down while the other slowly irons from one end of the bag to the other. You want this to be slow enough that you get a good seal while fast enough hat it doesn't harm the bag or stick to the iron (the T-shirt will help.
These techniques will work for any dried food. The dryer, the better. It will not protect your food forever, but several to many years is quite possible.
One warning: mylar bags should be stored flat. They are fairly resistant, but a bucket or box full of bags will protect your food much more than a bunch of bags just laying on the shelf. If you break the seal anywhere on the bag, you immediately revert to the previous shelf life. Also, although we violated this rule a bit, it is better to pack products for long-term storage as soon as you get them. The fresher the better.
The latest edition of Newsweek, dated August 23, is on guns. Actually, it's entitled "America Under the Gun," which gives you an immediate idea of the angle they are going to take to stop guns.
Now you know I own guns. You know I support gun rights. I believe they are necessary to secure our safety no only during Y2K but at other times as well. So allow me to divert from my Y2K preparation-oriented coverage to go on a Dennis-Miller-style rant.
But first, let me address one point and rescind a statement I made in May. I received a letter after an earlier entry when I suggested that the Tec 9 was not a very useful weapon and that the manufacturer of weapons like these were more liable than people like Remington and Colt. The author pointed out that any infringement on our rights was inappropriate and shame on me. Well, looking back on what I wrote in May, he was right, and I stand corrected. My right to own a Remington, for example, is the same as yours is to own a Tec 9. There are no bad guns, only bad gun owners. And whether they are depressed high school kids with nowhere else to turn, racists or day traders, it is the people who take the actions who are to blame, not the weapons they use or the manufacturers who produce them. I still think the Tec 9 is not a very useful gun, but I certainly believe its manufacturer has every right to produce it and you have every right to own one.
But back to Newsweek, the topic of this entry.
First, Newsweek should be congratulated for an issue with few technical errors relatig to guns and their function (so many newspapers get their facts wrong, saying someone had a 45 mm instead of a .45, for example) and then condemned for calling for restrictions on the second amendment. Newsweek says "…the pro-gun forces must acknowledge that the Second Amendment is not unconditional and be open to reasonable restrictions."
Well, hold it right there. We have some 20,000 gun laws on the books, and some are pretty darn unreasonable. I can't buy a gun via the mail, or in another state. My teenager cannot buy one. If I want to own a fully automatic weapon, I have to pay a big tax and have the BATF crawl up my ass with a magnifying glass as well as explain to my local sheriff why I want one.
I wonder what Newsweek would think if we had 20,000 laws governing their use of the printing press and restricting the rights of their ability to exercise their First Amendment rights? What if Newsweek could only be purchased by people over 21? What if it was illegal for me to carry Newsweek on an airplane, or if I had to lock it in a case in my trunk just to drive across a state line? What if I could only buy one issue a month? What if a high school kid read about Columbine in Newsweek or saw it on TV and did the same thing at his school -- could we hold the media liable and sue them?
Oh, but you need the first amendment so you can tell us what the government is doing wrong? To be a check and a balance? Well, the threat of the media is an empty one if there is not a voting and an armed public behind it. "We the people" with guns are about the only thing that prevents the government from walking all over our rights, and while the media would love covering the story, I don't think they would enjoy living it the society that would be left.
Gun rights promises to be a huge issue in the next congressional session. I encourage everyone who reads this diary -- whether you own guns or not -- to contact your congress person and encourage them to vote against any gun control measures. And while you are at it, ask them to stop the erosion of our rights.
And if you don't have any guns, you might want to go and buy some. Before it is too late.
While we are on the topic of Y2K, let's discuss a topic I have read on bulletin boards and in other locations. Call it a theory or a conspiracy, it goes like this:
"The government is not urging people to prepare because they want to kill off all the poor or elderly (or some other disadvantaged group) and to consolidate their power base. After all, the senior administration officials, congressmen and senators will be tucked safely away in government retreats. But Y2K disruptions will allow them to institute Martial Law, strip of us of our rights and take away or guns. The year 2000 will herald the New World Order."
OK, this sounds frightening because it has enough truth in it to make you think it might be true. I am sure the president and other important government officials will be protected. I bet Camp David has a large store of survival food, its own generators and plenty of armed military guards.
And if Y2K is really bad and the effects last more than a week or so, I believe it has the potential to kill millions of people. After three weeks, the body count would be even higher, especially in the Northern states. People in cities will be the worst off, and the poor and elderly who cannot afford to prepare, or who may be in ill health, will suffer tremendously. But even those in rural areas will suffer, unless they are largely self sufficient.
And maybe certain factions of the government want to consolidate their power and impose gun control, bring in the NWO, etc. But I got to ask myself who are these people? Why would the president or any other official want to bring in the U.N. You're the president. You're the one man who can get oral sex from your intern and still keep your job. You're wife is likely to be a senator, and that's a six year term with no limites on running again. You'll have secret service protection for life. You get anything you want and can go anywhere you want and do anything you want, and a bunch of the worlds best body guards will protect you while you do it. You are respected by other world leaders, may of who come to you for favors.
Why give this up to become a dictator who is hated and feared by the populace? Clinton revels in his celebrity and the trappings of the office. He may try to stretch the law to the limit and then talk his way out of it, but I do not think he will become some evil dictator in the thrall of the UN.
If Y2K is TEOTWAWKI, it will be more than the government can do to bring us out of it. Introducing foreign troops will not help, and it will be impossible because their home countries will need them. My guess is that local governments on the town and county level will have the most to do with bringing us out of Y2K.
Anyhow, I think there are probably dozens of more likely scenarios than Y2K ushering in the NWO. It is possible, but unlikely. And besides, the sad truth is they are accomplishing this little by little already.
Let's explore further the topic of what government should do in a TEOTWAWKI situation. That is, what they should do instead of taking our supplies and trying to turn survivalists into refugees.
For this scenario, lets define TEOTWAWKI as the failure of just about all systems, including no power, water, phones and food distribution. Massive disruption and a rapid decay of social values and the veneer of civilization.
I think they should first protect our borders and our sovereignty from China or any other aggressor. This should be a priority.
Second, I think they should establish a country-wide radio network to inform people an tell them where to go for help. This would be reassuring.
Third, I think they should open military bases and National Guard armories and use some of our resources to provide places where people can go to receive a hot meal, medical attention and a tent over their heads. People should not be forced to go there, but there will be many in need, and if the government can help them, it should do so. But the people should not be rounded up or treated as prisoners.
Fourth, I think they should concentrate of getting the electricity back up and running. And then set priorities from there. Domestic well being should be our main concern; we can help other countries after we are back on our feet.
Fifth, they should establish a rationing system for food, fuel, water and even electricity, so that limited supplies are dispersed equally on a per capita basis. Even six hours of electricity is better than none, and people with a well-stocked pantry (but no real "survival food" could survive longer and better with supplemental help from the government.
Sixth, they should provide a way to distribute grain from the huge silos and piles in the west to the cities and other needy locations.
Seventh, they should provide law enforcement to prevent not only looting, but to stop the massive crime wave Y2K or another emergency could bring. If all systems fail, that includes 911, and I think many low lives will try to take advantage of the system by burglarizing people who are unable to defend themselves. There will also be people driven to crime to support themselves.
Eighth, I think they should relax laws governing self defense and protection of personal property. When the bounds of civilization are tested, you may need to respond with force, or at least a show of force, sooner than you would today. So while you may get in trouble today for firing shot over the head of someone wandering through your yard, it may be a perfectly acceptable response to a potentially dangerous intruder in early 2000.
Ninth, I think they should declare January a bank holiday. There will be no interest, no earnings, no taxes, no income, no credit card bills, no mortgages or rent for the month. It will be a free month, unless you go to a store and buy something. Come February 1 (or whenever things are back to normal) you will have the same amount of money or the same amount of debt as you had before. It will simply be a lost month. The same for companies. No billing, no income; it will be a lot like a strike-shortened baseball or basketball season.
Finally, I think they should pass a law that makes it very hard to sue someone for a loss related to Y2K. Perhaps they would have to show intent to cause harm rather than just inadequate preparation. Everyone new it was coming. No one was able to prevent it. Let's not sue each other over it any more than we can sue God for causing a hurricane.
This weekend I went to a local Hechingers that is going out of business and I purchased a small electrical box with 100 amp power for only $8.43. I got a 20 amp circuit breaker and a 100 amp circuit breaker. I plan to install both of these in the generator shed. I will use the 20 amp to power the lights as well as a couple outlets in the shed for battery chargers and assorted power tools or what not. The 100 amp will run to the house where it will go in a transfer switch and to house power.
Now I can do your basic electrical wiring, hot, cold, ground, etc. I've done mostly 120, but some 240. But I am not sure what gauge wire is required to carry 100 amps, because I've never need cable that big. So I ask a friend who has worked part time in the construction business some years ago. He doesn't know, but he tells me, "What's the point of having a generator in Y2K. The government will just come and take it away. What are you going to do then, shoot a cop?"
So I tell him it's not just for Y2K, but it is because we get occasional power outages, and they seem to be worse this year than ever before. But his comment does bother me. It also makes me figure two things:
One, he has become one of those generally negative people who always think the worse will happen. (And I've known him long enough to think this is not the case.)
Two, he is not preparing because either nothing will happen, or it will be so bad it won't do any good. Yet he obviously follows the issue enough to know that people are talking about executive orders, hoarding and martial law.
So the question is, how many other people are giving up, figuring it is the end of the world, so why fight it?
Well, I guess I am not a quitter. I've had some bad times over the years, but if you push on through against adversity, you come out stronger. It may not be fun while it is happening, but I find a positive outlook will do wonders. So if you are considering the task of preparing for Y2K to be too big, I urge you to reconsider. Do not give up! Fight the good fight.
Now, speaking of fight, his real question would I shoot a cop to protect my generator is an interesting one. I think I probably would shoot just about anyone who was threatening the safety and security of my family. And on a cold January day with no phones, no electric, no interstate transfer of goods, no banks, no grocery stores and no hope of an easy end, I would consider the theft of my generator -- whether by some hooligans or by some government official -- to be threatening my family. So be warned if you are planning to show up to cart my generator off, you'd better have about 25 guys with you who are willing to die for my 10 kilowatts.
I do not consider the executive order to be a lawful, constitutionally correct law, and as such, I am under no obligation to obey it. In fact, I think if our Founding Fathers could see the executive orders ready to be implemented in an emergency, then they would be spinning in their graves. If we expect government troops to march into our homes and take whatever we want, then we have made a round trip back to the oppression that lead to the Boston Tea Party, the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary war. And while I do not mean to declare war on the government or ferment dissent, I think that I am not alone in my beliefs.
But frankly, I don't think it will come to that. If a dozen or 15 of us are hunkered down at my place, with enough food, enough fire wood, enough guns and ammo to protect ourselves, and enough fuel to take a couple of showers a week and run some clothes through the washer, then we are not a burden to the system. We are not in need of help. We do not need to be saved. We will not need to be transported to an already-overcrowded shelter. We will not be a drain on the limited resources the Red Cross, FEMA or National Guard has available. Why would the government be crazy enough to take our stuff? Then they would have to support us. I hope they would see the sense in this and leave us alone.
It is Monday, and according to the news, several hundred people who lost power last Wednesday are still in a blackout. The storm dumped 4 inches of rain in an hour and had winds over 70 miles per hour. So many lines were down that by Saturday, the power company was still clearing away fallen trees instead of repairing lines. We lost power for about 8 hours and our utility had about 90,000 people out all together.
Let's just say that I am very glad that our generator is on order. In fact, even Jill, who cringed at the expense, approved. Since we experienced two power outages, one more severe, during a 10 day period, I think she understood the need. In a summer power-outage situation, where we can obtain more fuel fairly easily, we could run it 24x7, if necessary. If we were in Y2K, we could run it a few hours a day, to conserve fuel. I fire that at this rate, two 55 gallon drums of diesel will last us three months. I am also looking to see if I can find any surplus or used fuel storage tanks, even the tanks from an old 18-wheeler would hold plenty of fuel.
In the recent heat wave, several utilities were talking about rolling brownouts. I think it is interesting that they bring this up now. It is almost as if by bringing it up now, they are getting the people ready for a potential rolling blackouts and power outages in Y2K. By introducing the concept of electrical problems today, they will seem less of a shock in five months.
Three local communities ran out of water on the hottest day of the year because the water authority had no power. Business had to close and send workers home. This despite the large towers that dot our landscape. They keep talking about manual overrides, but if there is no power to run the pump, overriding a computer control is a moot point. If these folks had an emergency back up generator, it sure wasn't helping pump the water. And the authority obviously had no contingency plan to get water from another local source. Their systems must not be interlinked.
In yesterday's paper, they had several articles on Y2K. Most of the focus was on municipalities. Some have been on top of Y2K remediation for years -- others haven't bothered and do not plan to do so. I think this is a major problem that will affect all of us. Even if our municipality is prepared, the stop lights in the next town over may go out, causing disruption.
The articles also mentioned the reliance on electricity and telecommunications. What I found especially interesting is that they said two or three times, "if everyone picks up their phone shortly after midnight to check and see if they have a dial tone, they could crash the system." Hmm. Seem like our local phone folks may have a problem.
