Some new pics of me

Me a few days ago



Me last night



Me last night




Me and Grunter on the couch. She sleeps with me all the time. When she gets big I"m going to be in trouble.

Mark

Another friend's business

This is the business of another friend, and again, no I don't get anything for posting this.

But if you need high quality tactical equipment with excellent customer service please go over to Outdoor Specialties.

Mark

A friend has a shop

In Florida, where they are making high-quality AR-15 receivers. They have a promotion going on where you can win a new rifle. Please go to Tactical Machining and click the TM-15 Give Away Promotion to enter. And please let them know that Mark sent ya :o)

Mark

p.s. No I don't get anything from this. One of the owners is friend, and if anyone has said anything bad about his products I haven't heard it.

M

To look at Pres Obam's spending cuts in proper perspective

h/t Dave


Mark

Mothers Day Bacon Blogging Hey Breda!!!

The scene in my kitchen yesterday morning. MMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Bacon......

Mark

Hmmm very prophetic

A piece of History.

I live north of Corpus Christi but I travel there several times a month of Doctors appointments. On my way to the doctor I drive past this.







This ia a replica of the Nina, one of the ships Columbus brought to the New World. In Corpus Christi also resides the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. However only the Nina is in the water at this time and barely seaworthy. These ships were given to the city of Corpus Christi by the government of Spain to commerate the 500th aniversary of the Columbus' voyage.

At this time, the other two ships are out of the water at the Corpus Christi Science and History Museum. Now if you have ever sailed a wooden ship you know they cannot be out of the water unless they are treated to withstand the loss of water from it's timbers. The Pinta and the Santa Maria have not been treated. And they are rapidly deteriorating from it. The Curator of the Museum, has not taken care of the ships properly. And according to individuals I've spoken with, has stated that he wants to scrap the Nina, and the Santa Maria, and just refurbish the Pinta. These ships are gifts from the Spanish Government. As such they should be properly maintained and made available for everyone.

The Nina, which is still in the water at the T-head in the Corpus Christi Harbor. The hull needs to be repitched, and all the wood refinished. Until a few years ago, the ship was taken out and sailed on a regular basis. Sadly the ship is no longer in such condition to do so.

If you are interested in helping to get the ships properly retored and back on the water where they belong so they can be sailed, please link on over to this new blog. Columbus Sailors Association It waqs just started but the goal is to raise awareness and to try to get all three ships restored and back on the water here they belong.


Mark

It's been awhile

since I've posted here. Just a bit to let you know what's up. Well on the 27th of last month my 15 year old daughter Mary was in an accident in our Suburban with my ex wife her mother. Mary had to get some stitches on her leg and her mother broke her right tibia and fibula and both big toes. Mary came home the same day, her mother was in the hospital until last thursday. My ex wife is staying here at my house until she can get around herself. Hence, she has my bedroom and I'm on the couch. Compared to the alternative, I'm not complaining. I already got another vehicle, another 1994 GMC Suburban 4 wheel drive, almost the same except the exterior color.

Some pics....

From when I first got there.


See where the front bumper is in comparison to the curb.




The Suburban was pushed almost 17 feet.



The whole front quarter of this 1/2 ton 4 wheel drive has been crushed.


This is at the tow yard. You can see the roof is buckled.



The engine mounts are destroyed, and the frame is crushed at the corner.



To give you more of an idea of just how violent the collision was.

Mary and her mother both say that my daughter had the green arrow when they were hit. The guy who hit them and the local PD say she didn't. We'll see after I get the attorney and an independent investigator involved.

I've already gotten a replacement Suburban. My cousin who lives about 100 yards away helped me buy another 1994 GMC Suburban. This one however has some added Oooompphh!!



Look at that heavy duty grill guard and bumper.



Clean body lines.



I really really like this one.

Unfortunately, on the way to pick up this Suburban, I had a booboo.



This is what happens when a small truck meets a large deer.



Actually I hit two deer. 1 with the S-10 and 1 with the tow dolly I was pulling behind it. Thank God for electrical tape, or I wouldn't have been able to continue drving until it got light.

So that is part of what I've been doing. If I feel better tomorrow I will post about my trip to St. Louis.

Mark

I just have to share this

I LIKE IT!!!!


Mark

I hate windows Vista

Well with Circuit City going out of business my mother tired of my kvetching about my old Pentium II 350 mhz IBM Thinkpad 600E with 286 mb of RAM, and it's 60 GB HDD. Sooooooo, mom got me what she calls a "Real" computer. An HP a6700f with AMD Quad core processor 2 GB RAM, 500 GB HDD all the bells and whistles. But the kicker is. Windows Vista Home Edition. And NOoooooooooooooo installation discs. Although it does offer you the chance to use the built in DVD Burner to burn a recovery disc which will restore the system to it's original state. Well ok. The back up program said it would take 3 DVD+R's to back up the system. Well the first one burned ok, the second one, a disc from the same package as the first, the drive could not identify. Ok, let me try another one from the SAME box. Eeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, nope. couldn't ID that one either. hmmmm finaly after 2 more discs it recognized the disc. It started burning the files ok everything going ok. Time to verify the files Eeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhh a full box of 10 discs it either couldn't ID the disc or it couldn't verify the files were written correctly. Spent over an hour on the Tech Support Chat with a very nice lady from HP's Tech support. She had me try this, and try that, and try something else. Nothing worked. Finally I had to redo the entire system with the recovery partition. And now I am downloading all the updates AGAIN, and downloading all the other programs I need. (Firefox, Spybot Search and Destroy, Registry Mechanic, AVG {I cannot STAND Norton internet security}, Audacity, Switch and others) So I'll be spending the next 2 to 3 days RE-CONFIGURING the whole system AGAIN. HP however has said they will be sending me a new DVD Burner under the warranty. This is not an HP problem, it is a problem with the supplier of the DVD drive who I will not mention, and HP has already told me I will be getting a drive from a different manufacturer. I'll keep you posted on that. HP has also said that I will be getting a full set of install discs with the new drive. If HP sticks to what they've told me, I'll be recommending HP to my friends. Up to now I've always had Frankenstein computers. 2 of my systems are Compaqs that my brother the IT guy has overclocked for me and configured to run with bits and pieces they really shouldn't be working with. such as DVD reader drives that require a Pentium III that are running on a Pentium II, a DVD Burner that requires a Pentium IV running on a Pentium III. Plus various programs that require XP or Vista that are running on Windows 2000 Professional and Windows 98 Second Edition, plus a lowly Pentium I still running Windows 95 that should have a CD Burner on it at all that does. Some of this stuff I set up, the Pentium I's and II's, the Pentium III's my brother setup, and now I have a Quad Core AMD HP to play with. If only it didn't have Vista and had XP I could really work around all this stuff. But live and learn. I guess it's time to learn how to work with Vista.

Mark

From the old days

And shamelessly stolen from The Smallest Minority




This is one of the problems this country currently faces. The lack of PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for our own safety and actions. We rely upon others to ensure we are safe. We rely on others to to protect us from ourselves. I"m sorry, but I can take care of myself for the most part, and I don't need someone looking over my shoulder and peering under the bed and looking into the closet to make sure the boogeyman isn't there I am very capable of doing that myself.

Mark

Just killed a rattlesnake

One of the things with living in the country is all the creepy crawlies. Such as the 4 foot rattlesnake that scared my 12 year old daughter out of a year or twos growth this evening.


It was in the planter in front of my walkway leading up to my house. As it came up on to the walkway, me and MR Shovel met his neck just behind the head. (do snakes have necks?)


Here I took him up on the front deck to get some better light. He is still moving despite the sudden violent removal of his head.



Layed out with a 5 gallon bucket for size comparison he is about 4 feet long. His rattle now reside in my deepfreeze to be a show and tell project for the kids, the rest of him unfortunately has been disposed of. The Wimmenfolk won't let me cook him up even if rattlesnake IS good eating and tastes like catfish. Women, sometimes you'd think they don't like wildlife.

Mark

Hmmmm Sabra and JayG are NC-17

H/T Sabra

Mark

From Sabra I get this

Your result for The Kinkyness Test...

Pretty kinky!

Grats! You're 69% kinky!

You kinkscore is pretty high. Most likely you're up for trying anything at least once, which show open-mindedness. You're probably a great lay, so just keep doing that thing you do!

Take The Kinkyness Test at HelloQuizzy

H/T Sabra

Mark

Teenager Hearing test

Created by Train Horns

Mark

Food Storage basic by Osage, referring my 2-20-09 show

To hear the show all 90 minutes of it please click HERE


FOOD STORAGE BASICS

By: Osage From Alpha Disaster Contingencies

OVERARCHING PRINCIPLES

Whatever food storage plan you develop must be suited to you (your family, your circumstances, etc) in at least three ways:

Food Allergies and Intolerances: These are unchanging. If a family member is allergic to any food (such as peanuts or wheat) you must not store that food. Kitchen hygiene during an emergency may allow for cross-contamination which can be life-threatening. If someone in the family is intolerant of a food (such as milk) don’t store that food for that person. Substitute safe foods for the ones not stored.

Preferences: These are flexible and adaptable. This is utterly and entirely different from an intolerance. It simply means you don’t like certain foods. First, make the adult decision to be in charge of your own life and not a perpetual victim! Second, develop and institute ways right now to broaden those preferences. During an emergency you’ll be under enough stress; don’t add to it by mandating a major change of diet.

Abilities and Tools: These are easily changeable. Growth here, as in the arena of preferences, can be made an adventure. Learn to cook and prepare foods in new, energy-efficient ways or ways using different energy sources. Purchase and learn right now the tools you’ll need to prepare food. This can be as simple as learning to cook over an open fire and as complicated as the salesclerk at the survival store can convince you to spend hard-earned money on.



TRIAD APPROACH TO FOOD STORAGE

I have recommended for years that food storage be pursued along three complimentary axes, like the X, Y, and Z axes of a three-dimensional coordinate system. These are :
-Quick Food Kit (aka 72-hour kit, bug-out bag, etc),
-Routine Daily Foods, and
-Long-Term Storage Foods.

These meet different needs but the use of one is complimentary to the others.





QUICK FOODS

Quick foods are mainly for acute events which are not expected to last long but which significantly interrupt normal family operations. Events such as hurricanes, ice storms, earthquakes, etc are the sexy players here. But these foods are for anything unexpected that shouldn’t last too long or for the first few days of a longer event.

Foods stored under this heading are generally characterized as being:
-Easy to fix (no more than boiling water),
-Portable (in case you have to abandon your home),
-Familiar (make them familiar right now),
-Good sources of calories (because you’ll likely be working hard), and
-Have good flavor (to lift spirits and encourage eating when you really don’t feel like it).


ROUTINE DAILY FOODS

These serve two purposes. First they are a convenient way to be prepared for short-term events lasting from 1-2 weeks to a few months. Secondly they act as a bridge to the exclusive consumption of foods from your long-term supply. You should store at very minimum a one-month supply of these. Four to six months is much better but is something to develop over several years (if you feel you have the time).

Events such as an extended winter storm (the KY ice storm of 2009 left some folks without power for weeks), hurricane (Katrina: ’nuff said), and others are the sexy players here. But with today’s (Feb 2009) economic situation a layoff or employment cutback is more likely for most folks and can be at least as humbling as their flashier brethren (from sad personal experience).

The role of bridge foods is also critical. Affordable foods for long-term storage taste different from what most of us eat every day and they digest differently. You and your digestive tract need some time to adjust. One Warning ™: do not eat up all your bridge foods then suddenly switch to your deep storage foods. That destroys the whole idea of bridge foods and puts you under unnecessary physical and emotional stress. The simple truth is that you should be eating some foods from your deep storage every week, even if it’s only a pot of beans and rice and some wheat biscuits.

Foods under this heading are the stuff you eat every day with some exceptions. They should not require refrigeration or freezing to store (in case of a power outage). They should be the easier-to-fix items from your weekly grocery trips rather than the all-day-marathon recipe ingredients. In short, they should be easy to fix and familiar.


LONG-TERM STORAGE FOODS

Many people advocate a strict “store what you eat” approach. It has the advantages of familiarity and convenience, but I have neither the space nor the money up-front nor the generator and fuel to support that plan. I store an affordable mix of foods that last a long time in storage and requires no more infrastructure than a dry place to sit. This section is going to be aimed at that approach.

Foods in this category are for sustaining life and health for a long time. They are characterized by a relatively low cost per unit, good nutritional content, and a very long shelf life. Many of these are not familiar in daily American use, but with a tiny bit of work can be made part of the weekly diet of an average family. Included in this ‘deep storage’, as a friend calls it, should be some treats I call brain candy. Hard candy, hot cocoa mix, a few cans of treat-quality canned goods held in reserve, etc are all good ideas. You should also store spices and flavorings to make these rather bland foods more palatable.

The plan I recommend here is based on recommendations from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (aka LDS or ‘Mormons’) which they released about 1983. It recommends you store foods in the following categories:

-Grains (at least 65% whole grains): 20 – 35 lb/person/month
based on age and size includes wheat, whole corn, rice, oats, pasta,
flour, corn meal

-Legumes (beans, peas, lentils, & the like): 3 lb/person/month
including a mix of legumes (1/2 lb each of split peas & lentils; ¼ lb
each of limas & soy; remainder any bean)

-Sugar (honey, refined sugars, etc): 5lb/person/month

-Milk: 1.5 lb/person/month

-Fats & Oils: 2.2 lb/person/month (about 3/10 gal)

- Adjuncts (including salt, leavening (cream of tartar & baking soda), vinegar).

The LDS Church has recently decreased it’s recommended minimums to 25 lb of grains and 5 lb of beans per person per month.

You will need some extra tools for preparing these foods. You should store most of your grains as whole grains. That requires a grinder of some sort to prepare them as flour or cracked grains. Most whole grains and beans can be sprouted, fantastically increasing their nutritional content. Sprouting kits are cheap or can be fashioned from coarse cloth and a canning jar with ring. You’ll also need to develop skills and gather tools for preparing these foods. A wide-mouth thermos, straw-box cooker, or other insulated container makes cooking beans much easier and more energy-efficient. Cast iron Dutch ovens and the developed skills to use them can turn basic survival foods into a feast.

Copyright: Osage, Alpha Disaster Contingencies, AlphaRubicon.com 2009
you may use this freely with proper attribution. You may not charge any monetary value for this information.

Friday Nights Preparedness show - Food Storage

See my post below about food storage and my challenge. And Here is the link to the show if you wish to go over and schedule a reminder for yourself.


http://www.blogtalkradio.com/txfellowship/2009/02/21/Friday-2-20-09-Friday-Night-Preparedness-Special


I hope you come by and listen in. If you have any questions you can always call in at (646)478-4628, or send me your question through Yahoo Messenger. My Messenger ID is txfellowship


Mark

Pray for the Best, Prepare for the Worst

Last friday I had several guests from AlphaRubicon on my show to discuss the basics of preparation. This friday I will have 1 and possibly 2 more from there to discuss food storage. What to store, how much to store, how to rotate it so you are using it before it's expires or goes bad. Osage, one of last fridays guests will be back. He is a military combat medic and he is very knowledgable about food storage in particular and many other subjects as well.

And Remember the lovely young lady on my show? That was Pied Piper, or Piper as I usually call her. She has been living a prepared lifestyle for at least the 6 years I've known her. As she said on the show, when a fire threatened her home, she had a plan in place to get herself, her pets and her preparations out of the fires way. Well she sent me some E-mails which she has graciously given me permission to post here.

No worries – happy to do it. I’ve been prepping all my life – grew up in Hurricane Alley, but really got big time after sitting through Andrew at ground zero. That was a real eye opener to me. You have that hurricane outline, so even if you don’t need me, feel free to use information from there. And you might consider telling people to visit ready.gov, but tell them you recommend they treat it as a ‘bare minimum’ set of recommendations.

Piper


Will do. I've found the ready.gov sites recommendation to be the "lite" version of preparedness.

Mark

It’s definitely insufficient. But mention it for a couple of reasons.

It at least gives people an undaunting target – they’re more likely to start if the task seems small. They’re more likely to finish if it doesn’t take too much time and money.

It shows them this isn’t the fringe. This is mainstream. Even the government is pushing it.

You can even focus on the ready.gov ‘plan’ and build on it. SO you tell your people “we’re going to start with a 3-day supply.” That has to be 3 days of everything beyond what they need for the next 3 days. Then go to the 2-week plan. That’s really bare minimum, and many people have found they’re without power for a lot longer – i.e. ice storm victims.

Then you can build on that.

I love the idea you’re doing food next, because that would give your listeners a schedule. “By next week, let’s plan to have that 3-day supply. Next week, we’re going to add 3 more days, then 3 more the following week, then 3 more our last week of these preparedness discussions. The week after that, when I get on the radio, you should have that 2-week supply in your home.

That gives them a roadmap and ‘deadlines’ they shouldn’t find too hard to meet. Of course, you’ll only have maybe a handful of participants. They might be onboard with a 2-week supply already. So you can add, “for those who already have supplies good for 2 weeks to 5 months, your goal should be to build up to 6 months of supplies. So use our schedule to do that.”

You want to emphasize eat what you store and store what you eat. Emphasize it’s a good opportunity to get to know ingredients and a bit of nutrition, too. When you combine grains and legumes (beans), you get almost all the amino acids (proteins) you need. They actually substitute for meat, and they’ll stay good, on the shelf, pretty much our lifetimes.

Have fun with it.

Oh and can I post your e-mail edited of course on my blog, to explain some of what we are trying to accomplish?

Mark

Mark, sure, you can edit and use what's in the email. Check ready.gov to be sure exactly what the gov is recommending (I think it's 2 weeks but can't swear to it). Then use it as a springboard (gov is mainstream, not some weirdo survivalism) and go from there. You might cite the midwest ice storm power outage, Katrina, etc. if you want reasons why folks should do this, but you also could mention how food prices are going up. I did comment, last Friday, that I earned something like a 40% rate of return on some of my food. You just cite the increase in price of rice over last year and invite people to look at other prices on the shelves. Had they stocked it early last year, they could be eating at last year's prices for a while longer.

Then do your challenge. 3 days of supplies each week (but tell them if they can't handle that, then do the same schedule with one day of supplies each week, or even one day extra supplies each two weeks. Just making progress adding things is the goal, but the more they can do, the better off they area. Forgo eating out. Make your lunch instead of buying it near the workplace. Drop the cigarettes or that cup of coffee each morning at 7-11 or Starbucks. Lots of ways to cut out $10 or $20 a week in expenses. Use that for preps. $10 a week can buy a lot!


So as you can see preparedness ISN'T some weird thing certain people do. During and after the Great Depression almost everyone lived a prepared lifestyle. They had too. Food was scarce fuel when it was available was rationed. Unemployment was at astonomical levels. There were no jobs to be had, the banks made no loans. If you wanted to eat you had to grow it and store it yourself. Well, through technology we have a much easier way of storing foods without having to grow it ourselves. And it is very easy to start. It isn't a ginormous gargantuan task. Every week when you go to the store just buy a few extra cans of what you are already eating. Take the new foods you have bought and put them at the back of your pantry bringing what you already have to the front. There you have just rotated your food. The kids and I do this every time we go to the store. It's a bit more difficult with my deep freezer, having to take everything out and put the newest stuff on the bottom, but at the same time it gives me a running inventory of what I already have and what I need to get. Just keep adding to your supplies every time you go to the store, and look for sales on stuff you use all the time. I was able to get canned corn and canned gren beans on sale with a good case price which was more than 15 cents a can cheaper. Well with 7 kids plus myself I bought several cases of both. Those bean and corn now? Instead of the .47 cents a can I paid for it back when it was on sale it's now .89 cents a can, that's .42 cents a can more, almost 100% more than I paid for it. So preparing can also save you $$$$$, in addition to making sure if something happens your family will not go hungry.

This friday on my show I will be asking for volunteers from you my readers and listeners. I want you to take up the challenge I am going to give you. Here it is.....

Starting from where you are now, try to get at least 3 days to 1 weeks worth of food in your pantry. this is in adition to the food you already have. And every week try to add 1 or 2 more days worth to it. Watch for sales and use coupons. Buy from the small discount supermarket such as Aldi's, Save-A-Lot, Sav-Mor and others. Many people don't like to shop at these store because they don't have a butcher, or they ___________ isnert your own description. These stores have excellent deals on canned goods. Sometimes you can get them 3 or 4 for a dollar. Vegetables, soups, stews, chili, pasta. Just because they are a discount store and don't have name brand merchandise doens't mean the quality of the food is poor. Most of the no-name stuff is packaged on the line right next to the name brand stuff, but it doesn't have the really nice printed label and super shiny can. Don't let appearances deprive you of a resource which can help you prepare. So start out with 3 to 7 days worth of food. Take a picture of your pantry before you start, and e-mail it to me. Then start stocking up. When you get 3-7 days worth, take another picture and e-mail it to me. Then keep adding on to your stocks. I will post every picture that is sent to me here on the blog along with your name to help give you some incentive. Come on what do you have to lose?

And remember this friday at 11:00 P.M. Central Standard Time, Osage and maybe 1 other Member of the Rubicon will be on my show to discuss food storage, so you can ask questions you may have.

Mark

Preparedness

As I sit here and write this. I am in a Severe Thunderstorm warning, the wind is rather bad, vibrating the whole house. Tornados and severe thunderstorms are running through Central and Eastern Oklahoma, Northwest Arkansas and Southwest Missouri. Seems like a perfect time to post this.

This friday 2-13-2009, on my show I will have a few friends from the AlphaRubicon website on the show to discuss the nature of threats which affect us. And the very basics of preparing for them. Later Shows will deal with more detailed information on very specific preparations and needs.

So Please come on by this friday at 11:00 pm CST to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/txfellowship/2009/02/14/Friday-Night-Preparedness-Special-2-13-09

And as usual I will have my Yahoo Messenger turned on if you wish to ask a question that way. My Yahoo Messenger ID is txfellowship and if yo want to add me to your friends list go ahead and I'll add you right back.

Mark

Well I now have a new car

Or rather a new to me old car. A 1965 Ford Galaxie, with a 289 C.I.D V-8 with 302 Heads, and the 3 on the tree shifter has been moved to the floor. No A/C, no Power brakes, no Power Steering, no Power except HORSEPOWER!!!!


I took the first pics up at the family property south of San Antonio Texas the morning after I picked the car up and drove it to the property.



It has a little bit of Rust and a little bit of bondo


And it will need some work, but it will be a very nice car when I'm done.




Here it is when I got it home 150 miles later, runs good, has a few issues but it will run a whoe lot better by summer time.

Now if you are Ever in San Antonio and want to buy an old classic car, or just about anything else, go see Jesse at J&M Auto Sales and Repairs, Inc. The photos below are just one of the cars he has available, it is a repro built in the 80's but for 1,600.00 it's a dang good deal.


















Jesse's phone number is (210) 628-4750

His address is:

J&M Auto Sales and Repairs, Inc.
11408 Hwy 16 South
San Antonio, TX 78224
(210)628-4750


He's a good fella.

Mark