SATR means Sunday At The Ranch. It’s when we talk about the important stuff, not the “urgent” that fills up most days. It’s when we stop “working for the Man” long enough to do some work for ourselves.
With America likely headed into a more-obvious economic depression shortly (and remember the Fed doesn’t even think they can raise rates until 2024) it means real people have to be ready to “unplug” from “the Man” and start working for themselves.
It has happened several times in America’s past. It happened after the Civil War when another group of slaves was suddenly given its “freedom.” And it happened again in 1930-37 when another group of (wage) slaves found themselves suddenly free – a bit too free – such that they needed to work out a whole new way of being.
Which – at the high level – is what SATR is all about. Practicing our onboard skill sets in order to be ready for when the old system fails and movement of the herd will determine where we go next. In the meantime, in order to be most robustly ready?
What we do on the weekend is really who we are. That ghost of a person during the week – who you share a body with? Well, during the week they play at what we do. The difference between a stroll and a forced march, if you follow?
Sure Signs Of Fall
Since UrbanSurvival and Peoplenomics reside on a modest tree farm of 30-acres, we pay a lot of attention to the arrival of fall colors. Just beginning to yellow on a few trees now. But the leaves will be falling shortly.
Cocktail hour Saturday the main topic was (2-glasses worth of) trying to brain out whether shorter grass, or longer, is better for leaf blowing.
The short grass case is “There’s nothing sticking up to catch the leaves and for them to get hung up on…” But, the Long Grass theory holds that the leaves don’t “stick when wet” as much if the grass is long. Air can get under them and lift…
We have a matrix of tests which will be run over the next couple of months. By the end of the second glass of Italian Vitamins (resveratrol, right?) we decided it was a stupid thing to be talking about. But, when you’re in the 70’s, it seemed to make sense for a few minutes.
Shower Changes
Second sign of the seasons changing: Water coming into the house runs about 74-F in the summertime. That’s when the ground has baked out in weeks of 95+ temps. But, not that the gates of Hell have been closed, water is heading back down to something closer to reasonable.
I have just noticed the shower diverter is in its Fall position. I don’t know about the water where ya’ll live, but around here, there’s a Summer position (mostly cold water since cold is 74F). By late winter, we’ll be at the other extreme when the water is down to 39F.
Right now (this week) we’re in the peaceful middle. Something America’s lost track of, by the way.
Yet Another Diet Note
In addition to the Peoplenomics article describing the Reaction Speed Diet, a small kitchen food scale showed up Saturday.
I’d read (in my research) that most people eat 4 to 5 pounds of food per day. I figure cutting down food intake to 3-pounds per day may help with the Battle of the Bulge.
Not sure how to weigh alcohol, but since we don’t imbibe much anymore, it hardly matters. Interesting approach.
(I blame my eye surgeries for an inability to “eyeball” portion control, lol.”
A Saturday Radio Project
I mentioned a week, or two back, that I had picked up an Icom M710 Marine SSB radio on eBay for $200 bucks? Add $23 for tax and shipping. Came out of a marine radio shop in New Orleans.
Finally had some time Saturday to slot an hour “instant radio repair and resto” and it came out pretty good:
There are a couple of small marks (rust) on the top, but until they become really obvious, restoring paint on older radio gear is shied from as a little “patina” is OK.
With 20 HF radio set-ups to choose from, why an M710? The answer is simple! I am not presently set up on the 60-meter band. Which, as hams know, is the only band that is specifically channelized.
Definition: Channels are arbitrary numbers assigned to radio frequencies. They keep life simple. A radio might have lots of frequencies stored in memory: 147.08, 162.45, 145.52, and so on. We might assign these (on a radio) as channel 1, channel 2, channel three, and such-wise. No magic to it, but people get confused by channels and frequencies.
Ham Radio “Tree-Shooting”
With a high of only 80, or so, it’s Antenna Weather! And we will be “shooting” an antenna over the top of a 60-70 foot high tree. There are two I have my eye on:
Everything is a trade-off. The tree on the left is little taller (which will result in slightly better overall antenna gain). But, the tree on the left will allow the azimuth of the antenna to be about 10-degrees more southerly. Which for this fixed, wire antenna, will result in a better signal into Europe on 20-meters.
Oilman2 and his son had gotten the right tree “roped” but Mr. Eyes didn’t see the antenna cord when brush hogging…. Ziiiing! (Oops!)
Setting Up the Launcher
The antenna launcher I picked up came with no reel. None do. So the first stop was in our “Hardware Store” here at the ranch. This is an important topic related to prepping.
If you’ve never lived “away from people” you may not realize how important it is to have “good stock on hand.” Sure, people talk about “prepping” but they never work back to what caused the prepping incident and figure out how to recover from that.
Like a big Earthquake for example. What’s the plan? Well, PVC pipe (and free pipe dope/glue/primer) comes to mind. Oh, and we keep about 10-20 joints of PVC on hand. City slickers may not know a “standard section” of pipe depends on where you’re buying.
At the local lumber emporium, a “joint of PVC” is typically 20-feet plus a bit for a fitting. If you’re out on a Texas oil rig, a joint of pipe is 30 or 40 feet. Depending on suppliers and such. (If you don’t bookmark the oil field glossary there, I’m going to have to slap you for not paying attention…)
Ure’s Hardware Dept.
One reason for an oversized shop out here is that it’s an hour and five minutes round trip to Lowes or 90-minutes round trip to Home Despots up in Tyler. Not counting shopping and checkout. Besides with many joints of tubular stock here, rebar gets stored inside, out of the rain.
We also keep stacks of boxed “hardware assortments…”
Which never seem to contain the exactly right thing. So we go over to the catch-all bins:
It is breathtaking how many odd parts it takes to keep a brush hog, tractor, lawn rider, ground implements, and so forth, in good repair. Somewhere on the property we have lost a small fortune in clevis pins alone.
(Seriously, how many people do you know who have a whole assortment of copper crush washers?)
Eventually, I found workable pipe clamps, although truthfully, I have a big boxed assortment of them somewhere which would have been more pleasing.
Ure’s Law of Large Shops Rule: You have three of Everything. But where the hell are they when you need them?
Ready to Launch!
Here’s now it looks: (tie on a white painted sinker, feed into launch tube, open bale on reel….)
The reel is mounted on a piece of 2-1/2 inch PVC and that value keeps the air inside the 3-foot (or so) piece of pipe. It’s filled down at the other end from here:
The max should be about 75-pounds and that ought to be enough to throw a weight 150-vertical feet, or thereabouts.
We’ll see how it works out.
In the “overkill” department, I have some aluminum that might be machined down into a glue-on sight rail. And I have a red dot reticular that could be added. Main sighting trick is to realize that up against my cheek when sighting a shot, the eye is out 2″ from the center. So the aim at the top should be 2-inchs right and that should about be on target.
Next Weekend’s Project
Working on the plans for the upside-down saber (jig) saw table. I will do a design/build of that and have it up next weekend. If you’re a “maker” looking for something worth making, this is a dandy first project for you. Budget is just $50-bucks.
Later on today, I hope to get the new (retro_) Tandberg D20A reel-to-reel tape machine (yeah, with 10″ reels) into the studio. Will sit on a garish green machine table. Love old-time analog audio…we have an extensive Sunday for audiophiles coming up one of these days.
Last note: Tropical Depression Gamma on this morning’s track looks like it may “hook” north from its location off the Caribbean side of Mexico. That could mean some rain in a week, or so. We’ll be keeping eyes on it. Texas can always use a little rain. But again, it’s that “portion control” thing we were talking about…
Write when you get rich,
George@Ure.net
We use a bait-casting reel & pole, with a 1/2 ounce ball fishing weight, and 15-pound nylon mono. We painted the weight bright day-glo orange.
We shoot the tree with a wrist-rocket style slingshot while the fishing pole sits in a mount that points in the general direction the weight will fly.
One big advantage of this rig is that the line and weight can be played by raising and lowering to drop it right into the spot you want. This minimizes the branch chafe due to limb motion in wind.
Another advantage compared with a bow & arrow is that the line CAN be reeled back, recovered, and re-shot easy enough. (We drilled a flat-bottom hole into a firm sponge rubber faux baseball to provide the arrow with some heft and “carry” mass to drag the line behind as it flies. But we gave up bow & arrow as the fishing pole and slingshot developed as better.)
Use the fine line to up-haul a heavier string, and use the string to up-haul the much heavier nylon line that has the strength to support the wire antenna.
Works good.
73
“Use the fine line to up-haul a heavier string…”
100# braided Kevlar is about the same size and weight as 10# Trilene and smaller than kite cord. It’s available on eBay for cheap, both in DuPont and Chinese knock-off flavors. Do NOT hand-pull without gloves! For your future installations, contemplation of this observation might remove an intermediate step in the process…
For Ures deal: 200 feet of 500 lb Kevlar cheap!
Dr. Mercola has a very good article on metabolic health and dying from Covid 19 this morning
an it wait till this afternoon?
Several years ago I went to a ham swap meet and there was a fellow there showing of his new invention of the wrist rocket launcher mounted on a piece of pvc pipe with an ancient Zebco 202 baitcasting reel attached. He was really proud of it and proceeded to show how he could launch a 2 oz lead sinker into a nearby elm tree. Problem was he had the unit held with the reel on the topside so when he released the weight it struck the reel crank which engaged the winding mechanism. About a foot and a half of line deployed before the winder stopped it. When the line snapped taut it mad a perfect loop downward and back to the source. Impact was guess where. Yep, right there. The group observing let out a collective “OOOOOF!” whle the fellow took a knee for a few moments.
“Seriously, how many people do you know who have a whole assortment of copper crush washers?”
Both an assortment of crush washers (seals) and an assortment of flat (electrical) washers…
“Ure’s Law of Large Shops Rule: You have three of Everything. But where the hell are they when you need them?”
The specific harmonic vibration of half-inch and nine sixteenths, and 10mm wrenches and sockets, causes them to spontaneously warp into and out of other dimensions. This is a huge annoyance, but only cause for concern when they warp into the “sock” dimension…
Other tools, parts, pieces, and supplies are injected into a parallel universe when we consciously focus on them. This is why they return once thought has moved-on, or new purchases made.
“I hope to get the new (retro_) Tandberg D20A reel-to-reel tape machine (yeah, with 10″ reels) into the studio.”
I lusted after the original Tandbergs, and the Akai and Revox decks because I thought they were the “sexiest” looking home reel-to-reels. I knew though, if I ever bought a stereo 10″er it’d be a Teac 3320/3340 or an Ampex… Hated the look and complexity of the Pioneers even though their WOW and flutter numbers nearly rivaled the studio decks (speaking of, did you see “Project Blue Book?” The recorder the blonde Soviet spy had in her wardrobe was an ’80s-vintage Pioneer reel-to-reel. I know those History Channel fantasy productions are low-budget, but I should think they could’ve found an old Pentron or Studer for those scenes…)
I was brought up on swinging gate Ampex 351s
My first was a Pentron ex-radio deck. One of my brothers acquired it in the early ’50s, when the radio station for which he worked, upgraded. It had a joystick for forward / reverse / play, and would do 15/16 to 15ips (change made with pliers until my Dad fabbed a stainless knob to replace the missing part.) It furnished my first experience with replacing/aligning heads, when BigBro discovered that 1) I could solder and 2) that his fat fingers couldn’t fit inside the head assembly.
And yes, I _have_ used paper recording tape…
I’m such a child – I thought that was LEADER tape, lol
The 351 is an amazing machine. It’s the older brother of the solid-state 440 remote decks we used…
Always and forever out of my budget range, unless I can someday steal one at a yard sale — less likely than finding a painted-over Picasso, IMO…
I lost count on the number of Radio commercials I recorded on a 351. When all the manufacturing went offshore Otari’s started showing up but I never liked them much, although they were reliable. Currently I have an Akai 1730-SS (yes that’s surround sound). It’s a 7 incher but then most of my old airchecks were recorded on 7″ reels. Kind of cool because it has built-in speakers.
Way back in 1971 or so I bought a very tall portable R2R deck complete with an 8 track recorder built into the side. It too came with a set of speakers. As I remember I bought it at a surplus store but I can’t remember anything about the make/model. Maybe one of you guys are familiar.
Ampex… with the tape splicing block attached! I was overjoyed when Akai came out with glass/ferrite heads that didn’t wear a groove like the soft metal heads. No more head replacements!
“I’m such a child – I thought that was LEADER tape, lol”
Gen-u-whine “audiophile” tape, used because it had zero stretch (and really lousy reproduction. It’s a wonder any recordings of Sinatra, Lena Horne, or Miles Davis survived the first decade after WW-II.) When Scotch and BASF came out with acetate tapes (1955?) the engineers had to choose between paper or better response and masters upon which the songs would slow down because the tapes stretched every time they were played.
We used Ampex 406 and stored all our masters, “tail-out,” but then, I’m just a pup. By the time I could get myself paid for playing with tape recorders, recording pioneers and really smart people had already worked out the issues…
OTFLMAO…. well I hung the door on the cardboard box project… lol lol I was sitting back looking at it.. walked over opened the door up.. plop on the floor lol lol my guess is the half inch screws just didn’t hold in cardboard very well lol lol
So I anchored them in with three inch screws and glue.. my thought was glued pin should give it some strength.. the bar box is just about done. It wont have drawer slides on it though.. the original box width wouldn’t allow it and a cooler big enough to hold a mini keg..
George,
Watch Fantastic Fungi…it’s a…$3.99 rental stream. Add mushrooms to your diet. Reishi for long life, Lions Mane for the Brain, maybe a little micro dosing of psilocybin’s for life changing Focus and meaning. Reishi and Lions Mane are available in my local Whole Foods. You need a $750 weekend retreat at Esalen to experience the psilocybin‘s. I was to go in March and it got cancelled due to Covid. Trying to re-schedule. Also looking at IONS in Petaluma where Dean Radin resides from time to time. This is something I have always wanted to do, but only under the supervision of an expert. I don’t trust amateurs or self dosing.
On another note…Trump and his entourage were purposefully late to the debate to avoid the mandatory testing required by the Cleveland Clinic. THEY KNEW THEY WERE POSITIVE and showed up anyway…infecting those around him. This is why Melania was the only one that wore a mask in the audience with the Trump family. She only took it off at the end, on stage when she was with her already infected husband. This is a violation of Communicable Disease laws and falls along the lines of assault and battery and reckless endangerment. The key is…They knew they were positive and said nothing about it…exposing Biden, Chris Wallace, the camera and stage crews, drivers, etc. Yet, here we are again…another reckless move by the President and no blowback from his party…even those three Senators that were also infected. I fear for Chris Christie though. He isn’t a model of health by any stretch. I hope he has the type of care Trump is getting.
E and I both do plenty of shroom though one drawback for me is they push up uric acid levels.
This leads to a longish convo about how beer and mushrooms increase uric acid, making you smarter but if you get to the point where the uric acid xtalizes , you will have pain rivaling childbirth!
So we do a blend of lionshead and several others ( good rviews on Zon) and I love nothing better than fresh shrooms sautéed and laid down in red wine sauce over a m/r small fillet with a big romaine and blue cheese with loads of olives…OMG getting hungry!!!
“I love nothing better than fresh shrooms sautéed and laid down in red wine sauce”
Dam George now I’m hungry for marinating mushrooms ..
Sam’s club has them..delicious just don’t eat a weed hole jar lol.. made myself sick on them snackers…
Mark how the hell do YOU know what Pres Trump & the first Lady “knew”? That’s the problem with you libs…you throw crap out there that has no relation to the truth, then you expect us to believe it. You must think Conservatives are stupid, and that’s the root of the problem, isn’t it? So where did you collect this little gem of info? Link or you stink!
As a follow up to my last post, listen to Brian Muraresku and Graham Hancock’s talk on the September 30 podcast of Joe Rogan. They discuss the historical references and data on mushrooms.
I believe this is where the secret to long life and mindfulness lies. I have been mycophile my entire life for culinary purposes. Didn’t realize how important they were to health and long life until recently
Our Houston Bureau has found the ideal house for you Mark – right here in TEXAS!
https://www.click2houston.com/features/2020/10/03/omg-thats-in-texas-peek-inside-this-mushroom-shaped-home-on-the-market/?__vfz=medium%3Dsharebar
Wow…that is one unique, neato house…love it!
You do realize that’s not a bad idea George..
Last night they had the movie of the zoo that saved three hundred Jews from being sent to the camps. The stories that I was told from those that were there.
I’m not saying that will happen again the events of the past are still o fresh in everyone’s minds..but .. we can see with BLM and Antifa the evil that the Democrats have been pulling the last three years. The open support they’ve been showing. Seriously would being in a city that’s been in the news as much as sanfran be the ideal place to be… with all the discontent in the streets..the massive inequality and the greater distance between social classes there..
San Fran has an extremely huge gap poverty level one hundred times the rest of the country..
But my thoughts are mainly ..would you want to remain in a city where theres such a huge gap in the social structure that maybe it would be a good idea to get a place away from future discontent.
Just in case this gets as ugly as it has been predicted.
That’s actually a pretty cool house.
I’m virtually licking the walls right now!
Hey Chief,
Great news for G and fellow Ludditians : Digital Euro is Here !
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/ecb-trademarks-digital-euro-it-begins-experiments-digital-currency-launch
Rejoice – all ye heathen Non-believers – For Ure deliverance from Evil is nigh, no not Digital Euro or Fed Coin..Ure not paying attention again…magic numbers!
As for tools Phase-Shifting in and out of our current Timeline ?? Happens s so often as to be considered a “common” experience- like BCN telling G – “NO BTC 4 U!
The TRICK is learning how see and become One…then Phase Shifting thru a solid wall or timeblock is possible..but U gotta have FAITH.https://youtu.be/tWItLE1Orzg
“and that value keeps the air inside the 3-foot “. Did you mean “valve”? Pretty sure you meant “valve”.
I swear, George. If my brain didn’t supply the right word, I’d be so lost I wouldn’t be able to get the cows home. Even with the dogs. And spellcheck doesn’t help at all!
I used to copy Urban Survival and fix all of the misspellings and send it to friends and family ’cause I didn’t want them to think, ah, you know.
Good article.
there is a credit crunch .. already started .. now this is really deadly .. don’t give me stories about inflationary depression garbage or yellow dog .. the debt has taken over everything .. you think houses are the answer ? we save nothing .. it goes and hard and fast .. who cares about politics or religion .. that’s for old women .. short zone . any lift accumulate what you should have closed on 500 point wack 2 weeks ago .. resistance is futile
When we lived in KC I had a monster American Elm tree in the front yard. I was using a friends fishing bow to try and snake a line over the top.
Wasn’t going very well as I had no experience with any kind of bow, after a number of failed attempts the neighbor who was every bit of 90 years old came over and watched me struggle with this.
After a bit he asked me totally serious “are you trying to kill that elm tree with a bow and arrow?”
Everyone expects ya to be proper and mystic and give shit when you receive the level of Cosmic Consciousness.
Fk that! Im having a fun! Take your prim and proper mystic buisness and stick it up your ass.
Where the rubber meats the road, i am doing the Great Work on the Grand Adventure.
Who says I have to be like budah or ghandi or Jesus or Krishna and have deciples and followers. Who says I have to heal and feed the masses? Who says I have to provide the world with astounding revelations and miralces that every sees. Who says I have to be a Virgin and not be a womanizing slut?
Who says it has to follow all these religious themes and rules and guidelines? Why do I need a book or or any of that stuff.
Why can’t I just do it my own way, with a can of Pringles in one hand and a marlboro red in the other while im pissing off the back deck in nothing but my boxers and my cowboy boots?
Atleast I’m real. Not some guru founded in the Mythreal Mountains forged in unabtanium by the Great Spirit of the OM who descended up the planet from the stars. Or some shit like that. All of the prophets and gurus have stories like that crap.
Why not just a regular dude who drove big rigs and slept with a bunch of pretty girls and does lots of practice jokes? Why the hell not? Because God would never alow it??? Go tell God what He can’t do. Good luck with that! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Later.
Que: https://youtu.be/5v9-InvDwMw
Clique 116!
Though it’s none of my business, I do wonder what went wrong with our Andy? Perhaps, somethings can’t be fixed.
Had a nice note from Andy, just this morning. I don’t think he’d mind my sharing a bit…
—–
“Dude. My Moms alot better. I burried the hatchet with my [redacted], yeah I lied to him. Its was the better. The truth is I turned out good inspite of my childhood. I didnt let it change me and I didnt pass it on to my kids.
Better to be good than right. The difference of course is God. ”
—–
I read his note after I penned this morning’s column, because I’m not so sure, on that last line “Better to be good than right…”
A thinking point to offer young Andy – should he perchance to wander by:
As I see it, the difference is not God – or there may be more than one.
The fierce part of God is laid out in Nahum 1 (2-28) though this is what’s germane:
“2 The LORD is a jealous and vengeful God; the LORD is vengeful and strong in wrath. The LORD is vengeful against his foes; he rages against his enemies.
3 The LORD is very patient but great in power; the LORD punishes. His way is in whirlwind and storm; clouds are the dust of his feet.
4 He can blast the sea and make it dry up; he can dry up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel wither; the bud of Lebanon withers.
5 The mountains quake because of him; the hills melt away. The earth heaves before him— the world and all who dwell in it. 6 Who can stand before his indignation? Who can confront the heat of his fury? His wrath pours out like fire; the rocks are shattered because of him.”
So it’s a question for those who aspire to serve good ends whether to be fierce is good – or bad.
This matter of Truth and the compounding of small lies into larger, is something quite apart from “forgiveness” as I read it. When someone can admit to error, the forgiving follows as it should.
But when Andy says “I lied to him. And it was the better.” I read almost the same “thing” as when Trump “lies but it was better.”
The older I’ve become, the more spiritually fierce I’ve become, though from my temperament it may never show. But I’m spending a lot more time lately, trying to figure out whether God wants us to stand for “all Truth, all the Time” or – whether there are, indeed, little lies that are OK.
As it turns out, I may be able to ask the question directly before Andy..
Is God schizophrenic about Truth? Is there a double-standard? Or (without human misperceptions in abundance) can you point me to some clarification?
Or, God, do you “just have days like that” too?
There was once a fellow who went by the handle of Saul of Tarsus. Before he was drafted to a higher cause, he was reputed to have been the pet sociopath for a most wicked and despotic ruler. The lesson is that it isn’t the man who you were that counts in the end, it is the man who you must become.
“Is God schizophrenic about Truth? Is there a double-standard? Or (without human misperceptions in abundance) can you point me to some clarification?”
My interpretation……
God isn’t Man is.. remember Jesus was killed on the cross because he wasn’t following proper religious protocol.. people hack other peoples heads off in the name of righteousness.
Yet if you go back to the beginning of religious texts.. you see that the laws of god are simple and laid out.. the rest is what man dumped in there for their community benefit and of course its all a business model their profit and gain..
I won’t bore you with examples.. from different books.. its pretty simple that is why when the modern day bible was laid out many texts were not included yet referred to for reference on their standpoints..
reading the bible it is clearly one nasty double standard text.. where when you isolate the original laws.. its pretty simple and laid out plainly.. this is pretty much it…
as you will notice the message is pretty clear and straight forward.. do unto others.. be the blind man.. judge those for who they are, not for what they are…
https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Treating-Others
Charga mushroom in coffee . Best
America is more known for its mushrooms in politics
https://youtu.be/gbsjIc9mLhE
I love that one..