Shop Talk Sunday: Shopping the Shop

85 thoughts on “Shop Talk Sunday: Shopping the Shop”

1. “When the nukes go off, we want to be ready.”

   Panic In Year Zero (1962)
   Time for a remake.
   I changed the names.

   Harry Baldwin (George Ure) The head of the family, who’s willing to do anything to keep his family safe. Anything this side of murder. And he’s waiting for civilization to return, so he can rejoin it. If they last that long.

   Ann Baldwin (Elaine Ure) Harry’s wife, who at first is shocked by how far he’s willing to go.

   Rick Baldwin (George Ure Jr.) The family son, who at first takes the situation not too seriously. But that soon changes…

   https://family-friendly-movies.com/science-fiction/panic-year-zero/?amp

   • Wait…Elaine as Jean Hagen? Um…can I get a drink this early?

     • I have no idea how much money to send you to renew. My dyslexic brain says maybe 20 or 40 or maybe 42. hahaha.

       I have bins of handy stuff “just in case”. I probably should take a look at what I squirreled away. With my beautiful new hand I can’t use my bow and arrows, or my sling shot so I need to reconsider alternatives. I also need to look at my do it yourself radiation detector.

       I could use some of those furniture pads and glue!!

       I’m having my kitchen floor “fixed” this week for the third time in six years. Hopefully this contractor will finally find the problem. I’m seriously thinking of moving. Having my house mortgage free doesn’t work when I need to regularly pay a few thousand to keep refixing the same problem.

       I would have liked to have heard more of your list.

       • Since this is shop talk Sunday: What’s wrong with your kitchen floor may I ask? I’ve installed several different types of flooring in my house and in relatives houses. Personally engineered flooring is my preferred choice. But that’s neither here nor there.

       • Elaine doesn’t like the light bamboo color )works with the decor marvy(
         Says it shows too much dirt.

       • Vinyl squares will outlive most of us.

       • “Vinyl squares will outlive most of us.”

         Lately I have become a real fan of linoleum…long lasting.. and beautiful.. seen one place that put in linoleum and you would mistake it for wood planks.. texture and look.. amazing..
         the other thing I like is epoxy.. want a particular design hey maybe your company logo on a concrete floor.. all done with epoxy.. amazing and durable..

2. Internet shopping instead of face to face with real people,, my oh my how our and ure shopping habits have change over our life times
   my Mountain House order finally shipped and so did my Win Red order,,,, yup got a MAGA hat and and a
   Trump mug shot coffee cup. (there are times and places to share them :-),,,
   got my San Francisco Bay decaf whole bean last week, delicious
   I got ‘RICH’ coffee flavor,,, but not this shit below,,,
   https://www.amazon.com/Coffee-Rich-Non-Dairy-Creamer-cartons/dp/B00B047CO2

   • “my Mountain House order finally shipped”

     My 3rd will be here tomorrow. Sales are a good thing…

     ” and so did my Win Red order,,,, yup got a MAGA hat”

     I want a red MAGA hat — one that reads:

     Make American Goods Again

     “and a Trump mug shot coffee cup. (there are times and places to share them :-),,,”

     Plaster “YOU’RE NEXT” across the top of the mug and take to any college coffeehaus, to see if any of the kiddies acquire a clue (bodyguards optional, but recommended…)?

     • LOL LOL I have a couple of mugs and t-shirts coming LOL LOL…

   • Amazon’s Retail operations CONTINUE to LOSE MONEY!!

     Yep … Although everybody looks at Amazon as a Retailing GIANT the reality of it’s operations is that is loses money, and has for years. (most of it’s life I believe, though I haven’t done a year by year review – clearly the early years were all losers, financed by Wall Street, and clearly the last few years have been losers, financed first by Wall Street and then by it’s Web Services division)

     The Web Services side of Amazon on the other hand is a virtual Golden Calf which spins off money money money like nobody’s business. Without the Web Services side of Amazon it may well have closed up shop by now, or would have at least both stopped expanding AND would have raised prices.

     I have scratched my head over the continuing expansion Jeff Bezos has pushed wrt Amazon’s Retail operations over the last decade when it was clearly a current money losing proposition. Maybe he is hoping that if he sells enough One Dollar Bills ($1.00) at the street corner for Ninety Five Cents ($.95) eventually people will pay him a Dollar Five ($1.05) for that Dollar Bill? Be your own psychologist on that issue!!

     There of course have always been the arguments that EVENTUALLY Amazon’s Retail Operations “WILL” make money … usually centering around the argument that they just need “more market penetration”. Sheesh … how much more market penetration is left for Amazon to get?

     “Profitless Prosperity” is the phrase comes to mind wrt Amazon’s Retail Operations. LOTS of action. LOTS of turnover. LOTS of employees. LOTS of visibility. NO ABILITY to actually make money, so far, with all of that going on. Maybe Jeff Bezos just likes being the boss of a million people after starting out from scratch?

     Wal Mart actually makes money from Retail. So far Amazon has not yet been able to do that.

     • Amazon PRIME.. a golden calf.. LOL who would have thought.. I love my prime membership..

3. Appreciate all the prepping suggestions. I have followed many of them but do have one question.

   If power goes down, water pressure goes out, how best to deal with human excrement in home bathroom in an urban setting? Are there removable toilet bowl inserts and any suggestions for maintenance and removal?

   Thanks

   • OB, I have a sick-bed potty and 2 cases of 7 gallon bags. Do the job, tie off the bag and bury in a slit trench. My (illegal in Colorado) outhouse has not yet been inaugurated. A 2×8 plank floor over the glory hole and it masquerades as a tool shed. I’ll add a vent to the box and install a 4″ solar powered fan forcing air in to create positive pressure, forcing air out the vent.
     Go in peace.

     • https://youtu.be/Cwm5Rm8uIsk?si=GxYpXKdSI0IM5A65

       this one is nice.. and is now thirty three percent more than it was a year ago..

       https://www.homebiogas.com/product/homebiogas-2/

       • I was just in Lowes.. they have the toilet that can be put anywhere at half of the price of the one I showed..

     • I have an old Thetford FLUSHING canister toilet that I kept out of an old pop up camper I gave away. Works great, and is at the right height for a proper toilet AND FLUSHES (manually) into a detachable holding tank that is below it (that you can detach and take elsewhere to dump)

       If your water pressure goes out just set it in the bathroom, and use it like your regular toilet.

       Below freezing weather INSIDE? Into the water holding tank for the flushing water put a 50/50 mix of RV (non-toxic) anti freeze and water.

       There are other manufacturers but Thetford is regarded as “The Cadillac” of flushing canister toilets (from back when “Cadillac actually indicated good quality) and they have been making these things for decades.

       If you get one get one with a BIG holding tank. Nothing more useless than to run out of room in the holding tank and you can’t use your emergency toilet anymore!

       https://www.amazon.com/Thetford-White-92820-Porta-Potti/dp/B07CHVQ3RM/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1D4VFCIORYHVR&keywords=thetford%2Btoilet&qid=1696184734&sprefix=thefor%2B%2Caps%2C795&sr=8-5&th=1

   • Old BIC

     Are you on a septic system?..if so problem solved…i am on year 5 now of flushing my toilet totally ‘off grid’. I have 1400 gallons of rainwater storage, a 12v on demand water pump and a 200 watt solar panel hooked to a 100AH battery. Not sure I understood about ‘toilet bowl inserts’?

   • First – water pressure never goes. A hell of a flush can be had from a 3 gallon pail of water.
     We have 100 gal of rain water at all times, too. Plus a hose on the DC/Solar power system can go through the bathroom window…
     And we’re on septic – and after elaine’s hip replacement, we kept the commode from wm. We could just walk down to the creek…uhem.
     Sorry you live in the freezer up there. Much easier problem if you live where can can pee without things icing up…er…so to speak

     • Thanks. No septic system and I plan to get a rain barrel in place. Hopefully the city sewer facility continues to function.

       Yes, we have seen dogs with a long icicle from their cocked leg to the lamp post up here in February.

       • Sorry, but the cities rely on “lift stations” to shuttle poop to its final destination. When the water source goes off, so will the means of disposal. You can still flush using rain or pool water for a while, but when the sewer lines back up it’s going to get stinky.

     • We have a rather large puddle of water out front so can bucket through short off-grid experiences. Once the ancient holding pit gets full I need to power up the lift station to drop in gravity fed sewer.

       Or, as has been done for centuries, employ a gaz-under (under bed pot). I can run genset for roughly 60 hours so will energize the lift station as needed. Maybe I need more

       https://www.menards.com/main/tools/automotive/automotive-tools-shop-equipment/midwest-can-5-gallon-gas-can/5610/p-1444439611360-c-9113.htm

       Yep. And petro

       E

   • if you want to get fancy.. this is the one I would suggest..

     https://www.amazon.com/Macerating-Macerator-Basement-Included-Extension/dp/B09VNXLR5L/ref=asc_df_B09VNXLR5L/?

     or this one.. for an outdoor ..

     https://www.webstaurantstore.com/polyjohn-pjn3-1003-evergreen-portable-restroom-with-translucent-top/621PJ31003.html?

     this one has a nice sized seat.. most of the commodes are designed for women not men.. so the seat is to small.. you need one with a bigger seat otherwise.. the tally whacker is hanging over the end of the seat..
     line the bucket with a bag and put some toilet paper on the bottom as an absorbent pad..

     https://www.amazon.com/INOOMP-Folding-Camping-Collapsible-Bedside/dp/B0C6M55VMN/ref=sr_1_5?

     • Talk about a blue tip…….brrrrr frost bite aint no joke when it comes to contacting cold surfaces..urinal bowl water shocking enough… ; )

   • Expensive solution: composting toilet. I had one in my RV but don’t know much about the home-installed ones.

     Inexpensive solution: portable camping toilet such as this one that doubles as a hassock. I have this one in my car trunk for bugout duty.
     https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FIDZLI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

     Possibly best solution if you have land (although illegal in some places) is an outhouse disguised in a shed, as someone else mentioned here. It’s in my plans if a chunk of land falls into my hands.

   • OB
     You did say URBAN SETTING. You don’t know how long the power will be off. First off, you don’t want to waste your water flushing the toilet. You may need it for drinking, cooking and cleaning. Best suggestion is trash bags and a 5 gallon bucket. That will at least let you move the waste outside.
     The way urban waste water systems work, is a neighborhood has a gravity system for the area that flows to a lift station which has a tank. Two or more pumps empty the tank into a force main that takes the sewage to the treatment plant. The power is off, the pumps don’t work. As people continue to flush the tank fills up and backs up until the house at the lowest elevation starts getting sewage.

     • Good reason when you buy a house in the city you do NOT want to be in one of the houses AT THE BOTTOM of the hill!! (of in a very very flat area).

       Let the people BELOW YOU, in elevation, deal with sewage filling their basements to the window level!!

       IF you are in a lower elevation level house (or in a flat elevation level location) have a full house sewer backup valve installed on your outgoing sewer line. NOT CHEAP … but cheaper than the repair to your house will be if the sewer ever backs up. (think $5,000 to $15,000+ depending upon how they can access your sewer line to get the valve system installed).

       Don’t forget your sump pump. Does it ever run? If so how are you going to keep water out of your basement once the electricity is off for a few days (or weeks)?

     • ..not quite – emergency relief valves will actuate at given HHW marks..auto dumping/bypassing all controls to free flow Wastes into River/Big Streams

   • Bob, I would say: Bushel plastic bags, inserted in the toilet bowl, after you’ve gotten that last flush. A rain barrel is good for 18 flushes. If the grid dies, you’ll have no water or sewage for years. (Tubs, sinks, and commodes will still drain, until the sanitary sewers back up, but the sewer system itself will go down and pipes will back up because sewage treatment plants require power also, and their inlet valves default to “closed.” It ain’t just food and fightin’ that will make cities untenable during a grid hard-down event…

     In your place and position, it might be worthwhile, buying a dock slip and a boat or pontoon/houseboat conversion to park in it, and perhaps an acre on one of Lake Huron’s islands (I dunno how Canada works. Michigan dumps tax-sale properties every couple years and there’ll usually be a few island parcels. I thought about buying one until your PM went commie…)

     ‘Tis the time of the season to buy boats. I’ve seen high 5- / low 6-figure pontoons go for a couple thousand dollars in parts of Michigan and Wisconsin. (bought one myself, a few years ago — shoulda bought “dockspace” in a “marina” as well. It cost me damn’ near as much to move it as I paid for it.)

     • Thanks Ray. This is the best suggestion. I tried the black plastic garbage bags. They fit perfectly and tightly in the bowl with lid closed. Would make the lady of the house much happier than changing the whole bathroom procedure. As long as I can be the caretaker of the bags and disposal, our marriage should survive the shit storm for a while.

       Out to load up on bags.

   • I’m full-time off grid and have neighbors who live with primitive “compost toilets” as their only means of waste disposal.

     One point about using a 5 gallon bucket with a toilet seat and bag inside is to keep a good supply of something like saw dust on hand. Take a dump then toss in enough saw dust or other organic matter to cover it. Empty when full.

     If you don’t have a source for large amounts of sawdust, visit your local garden supply store. You should be able to find something suitable there.

4. Speaking of Tecsun radios, I ordered a few months ago a PL 330 radio. This has AM/FM/MW/SW/HF Ham bands that work somewhat with the built-in antenna, but when I add my homemade antenna about 75ft in the trees, it works much better. Compact radio 5 1/2″x 3 1/2″x 1″ and uses USB to charge, but I did buy a couple of extra batteries for the radio. One drawback is the radio doesn’t have the NOAA frequencies, but I do have my Yaesu HT for that. So far it has been a reliable radio and the speaker doesn’t have that “tinny” sound and is pretty good.

5. Well, so much for KFC’s 11 secret herbs and spices.

   https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/seasonings-recalled-rodent-feces-oregano-samples-pennsylvania-food-manufacturer
   Yum.

   • When I was in ag school some 40 years ago, we were told there are allowable levels of rodent droppings and hair, dirt and other contaminants.
     Factory food at it’s best.

     • …And when I was cutting pork blade meat to make McRibs, the allowable amount was — zero.

       The McDonalds inspectors were far more strict than the USDA inspectors. They would take many core samples of the meat. If just one foreign impurity were found, or the meat tested over 3% fat, the inspector would throw away 3 tons of the finest pork on the planet — pork that was so high-quality you can’t get its like anywhere, unless you butcher your own…

       I went on, to butcher meat; McDonalds went on, to become the McDonalds we have today.

       BTW, “Lee’s Famous” is original recipe KFC. “KFC Original Recipe” is NOT.

       “Lee” was Lee Cummings, Harlan Sanders’ nephew. Sanders got so pissed at Pepsico for jacking with his recipe and menu that (I believe on the advise of Dave Thomas) he gave the original stuff to Lee, who then opened a restaurant in Lima, Ohio, to preserve Harlan’s “culinary legacy.” At a “Lee’s,” you can still get livers, gizzards, baked beans, green beans, southern sweet sun tea, etc., and it tastes like it did in 1965, before the “11 herbs” got bastardized and the menu got “adjusted…”

       • I am going to have to make a detour to Lima Ohio the next time I am heading north and give Lee’s a try.

         For those unaware of who Dave Thomas is, he founded Wendy’s but before that he took a bunch of near bankrupt KFCs and turned them around making him the “Turn Around Artist” for KFC with his methods then employed by franchisees nationwide. It was his work with the KFCs that brought him and Sanders together before he ever founded Wendy’s.

         Just another high school, no college, graduate made good.

       • @ Stephen:

         Lima was the first. After that, he built restaurants in Dayton, Cincinnati, Kalamazoo, and then Columbus (which was Dave Thomas’ home turf). There are Lee’s franchises scattered all about the country (and Canada) — I believe mostly in the Midwest, Florida, and the not-so-deep South. I see them all over Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio, and in parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania. They’re kind of ubiquitous (and I never eat chicken when I’m on the road), so I haven’t noticed them in other States, although I believe there’s a few between Chicago and Rockford.

         If you go to Lima, you should think about making a little extra time to drop in on Fair Radio. They’re on St Johns Rd (SR-65), on the south side of town and about a half-mile off I-75. Even if you have no interest in old radios or militaria, walking through the place is like touring a museum. They have primarily Hallicrafters and National boatanchors, but did have a stack of Collins R-390/URR receivers which was about 21 feet high, the last time I was there…

   • And their gravy, same ingredients as wallpaper paste…

     Colonel Sanders was concerned with the quality of KFC’s chicken and railed against an altered version of it, which he described as a “fried doughball stuck on some chicken.” He was obsessed, however, with making gravy so delicious that, as Whitworth quoted Sanders, “it’ll make you throw away the durn chicken and just eat the gravy.” And somewhere between the time that Sanders sold KFC and the 1970s, KFC franchisees changed the recipe. Why? “You had to be a Rhodes Scholar to cook it,” said a company executive. It was a constant source of contention between the company and Sanders. I

     The Colonel soon became infamous for testing franchises’ gravy while traveling and hitting furniture with his cane to express his disgust. In 1978, Sanders told a Kentucky newspaper reporter (via Leagle), “My God, that gravy is horrible. They buy tap water for 15 to 20 cents a thousand gallons and then they mix it with flour and starch and end up with pure wallpaper paste. And I know wallpaper paste, by God, because I’ve seen my mother make it.” This “wallpaper paste” was combined with “sludge,” he added. “There’s no nutrition in it and they ought not to be allowed to sell it.” 

     Read More: https://www.mashed.com/235255/this-is-why-colonel-sanders-couldnt-stand-kfc/

     • “somewhere between the time that Sanders sold KFC and the 1970s, KFC franchisees changed the recipe. Why? “You had to be a Rhodes Scholar to cook it,” said a company executive.”

       Harlan Sanders was a 6th Grade dropout. He went to work when he was about 12 or 13, and worked every day until he died — at age 90.

       BTW, I said Sanders got POd at Pepsico. He did, but they were only the last. The first object of his ire was John Brown — the SOB to whom he sold KFC, and who created Wendy’s by screwing Dave Thomas badly, and defrauding him. Dave Thomas was the marketing genius who created the KFC Bucket, the layout and appearance of the restaurants, and myriad other tweaks to make the restaurants work better. Oh, and he and Harlan Sanders were BFFs…

6. “In the event of an emergency, where does the trash go? ”

   Can you imagine in a city of lets say two million people..you would fill your shorts if you seen how much just for a few hundred thousand.. when I hauled trash.. for just two hundred thousand we would take two loads out a day.. each of the Loads weighted in at fifty to a hundred tons.. depending on if it was raining or not.
   that is one reason why I am putting in the rocket heater..
   https://rocketheater.com/dustpan-brush/
   Now when I got mine.. the price was half of that.. well less than half of that..
   then the wife would hate me but I do have the stuff to convert her pressure cooker into a waste plastic recycling center..
   the majority of trash is bulk items.. paper and plastic.. to convert back plastic to oil products is really easy..
   Did you know that statistics say.. people throw away roughly four million tons of trash every day—that’s enough to fill 350,000 garbage trucks or 10 Empire State Buildings…
   Which all of it can be converted to useful items.. that is why I don’t complain about the little ladies good china collection LOL LOL those butter and cottage cheese containers could be converted to oil.. and burned in a kerosine heater..
   in some of my lucid dreams I have walked down streets with men in tatered suits dumping money into trashcans to keep themselves warm..
   speaking about projects.. I just made a bunch of bleach.. dam if I don’t have to do it again.. what did we use that much on..
   speaking of NEW products to try.. this one is great..
   https://www.amazon.com/Hereford-Shredded-Stable-Protein-Serving/dp/B096G7FF46/ref=asc_df_B096G7FF46/?

   the shredded beef is about a half pound so the price is right..
   the taco mix is delicious and so are the meatballs.. we had meatball subs one day and used the shredded in a meal.. NOW… I love to can.. so you can retort can your own.. and buy the bags etc.. I love to can.. but the price of it is spot on with the price of the already made product.. we buy the canned beef to..for your personal stock.. similar to the retort canned tuna.. I love that..
   Oh.. I had to show you the soda can sealer.. this time they are showing the clear cans.. I love that.. I can water with lemon slice in it.. great refreshing drink on a hot day..
   https://youtu.be/ygIxR5__EJg?si=tMKnoNk_Fj3oGie_
   Now here is the canning in cans..
   https://youtu.be/cksTfopLitQ?si=dVqUbP4fOihodmpv
   but I asked chat gpt if you could can meat in retort canning without using a pressure canner.. here is the message I got..
   (Sterilize the jars: Pack the meat solidly into sterilized glass canning jars, filling to within three-quarter inch of the top of the jar. Add one-half tsp. of salt, chopped onion, garlic, celery leaves or bay leaves to your meat and place the sterilized lids on the jars. Ideally, the lids should be hot to the touch when placed on top of the jars 1.

   Prepare boiling bath water: Most kitchens will have a pot large enough to double as a boiling bath pot. All you really need is a large stew pot that can fit a few jars in it. If you want to get adventurous you can use a propane tank and a pot meant for crawfish or frying turkeys, these work great! The pot must be large enough to fully surround and immerse the jars in water by 1 to 2 inches and allow for the water to boil rapidly with the lid on. You’ll want to fill the pot half way and bring to a simmer with the lid on until your jars are filled and ready to be placed in the pot 2.

   Heat the jars: For this step you want to make the water hot, but not boiling just yet. This is to make the glass flexible so that they won’t break when you add the hot food. You’ll want to fill the jars with hot water and place them into a stockpot that has been filled halfway with hot, but not boiling, water. Bring the water to a simmer now and leave them until they’re ready for use 2.

   Cook and seal: Pack your meat into retort pouches and vacuum seal them with a chamber vac. Then you can process them in a pressure canner (or preferably autoclave) )

   I will try it to.. with lets see hamburger..
   you can seal retort bags with your snorkel vacuum sealer to.. I love mine didn’t know it and bought a several thousand dollar chamber vac.. well I have two of those.. gave two away LOL..
   https://youtu.be/bE8i8koTtYU?si=5RibYtzZHCBL-llH
   https://www.amazon.com/MS400-Compatible-Commercial-Household-Operating/dp/B09FPPLSVS/ref=sr_1_3?
   I love mine.. the snorkel is the most used one.. flop it out .. I didn’t know you could put air into a bag.. that would be wonderful for chips etc.. so I will try that..
   We will see what happens this week.. the USA to do nuclear drills on the fourth and Russia to do them on the third..
   Here is my thought on that.. so everyone in the world knows that the USA Canada the UK etc.. are doing drills.. no panic in the street.. its just a test .. only a test.. but WHAT IF… they just told everyone it is a test when they are actually going to begin the show.. no panic racing through the cities.. people joking and laughing as they enter the shelters.. then to have it all be a real .. they announced it to everyone.. so it is common knoweledge that it is just a fake drill on emergency procedure’s.. the other thing is how many people will realize that it is closer than they think and like the people in NOAH’s time rush out to get the supplies they don’t have .. then you have empty grocery store shelves again.. won’t know until later this week if that is what happens..

   • In the US, the test is just a broadcast to see if it works. No shelters involved as we don’t have any. At least none for the public.

     In Russia, they are going to the shelters all at the same time across the country.

     • exactly.. I have asked my friend to watch and see if there is any traffic at the DUMB.. they sold it when five g came out.. for a million dollars dam I wished I had had the million.. LOL.. fully stocked with even a dental and doctors office in it.. and a hospital surgical area.. big enough to house a small city.. and the food etc.. I am not sure who bought it but they threw in everything that was inside of it.. who bought it is going to use if for what it was designed for .. it was a communications hub.. they still have the antenna up to..

       • Still at least a couple of the “hidden” ones around. The give away being the 30′-40′ high stainless steel wire cone $50,000++ LW /MW antenna near the place (once you know what they are you can’t miss them if you drive pass one in the middle of nowhere). (saw some pop up on a mil surplus site a few years back … $1000 each asking price, real steal imo for a full spectrum HF /MW all in one non-directional antenna).

         I assume since the antennas are still up the bunkers are still in stocked stand-by mode.

       • Correction to my post about the bunker radio antennas.

         The ones I saw advertised as Mil Surplus as best I recall were advertised as good for 100kw with a frequency range from “below 300Khz” to 30Mhz. How far below 300Khz wasn’t specified but it did say LW in addition to HF (SW) and MW (bottom of the US AM spectrum is 550 Khz fwiw … the old aircraft beacon frequencies went down to 200 Khz).

         Very unique antennas … and when they are in the middle of a farm field with NO above ground lines going to them and NO BUILDINGS around them for hundreds or even thousands of feet it definitely causes you to go .. umm.

   • here is a good video on water bath meat canning..

     https://youtu.be/eUOLK_cUcoY?si=i6II0qKo8t_VivA6

     the process is similar to canning in cans.. in cans you put the product in the can.. then in a hot water bath until the temperature in the cans gets to 175 then put the top on it and preasure can it.. for the recomended time..
     you can use an instapot to.. but you cannot get as many jars in it.. LOL I think five..
     https://youtu.be/VfUfNZv24-U?si=EWRBGlZVGrE6PCE-
     instapot is the best for roasts LOL well hell just about anything you want.. it was my favorite one.. until I used it so much it burned out LOL LOL

7. Word-slinger:

   The to-do list is about to invert. I am still rigging the last boat splashed and … all my friends are putting their water stuff on the hard. Hopefully I get in a couple more days sailing. Tiller time is my mental floss.

   Soon I will crack the box on a welder bought this spring to ship shape the E Scow trailer. I’m welding a 10′ piece of box steel as extension on a 4-place snowmobile trailer. Though likely to be overbuilt, the trailer just has to survive 4 miles / year at <15mph, 2 miles heavy / 2 miles light.

   Then the fun stuff cranks up mid-late month. This involves a lot of staging on my part. I hire a couple lake fellas to do all the grunt work / wet-work. My primary function is assembling the piles so they aren't unsightly through winter.

   Today? Flat out gorgeous and 82F in forecast. A week from today I may stir up a family room fire to take the chill off.

   Have a fine weekend alles,
   Egor

   ps – reading the George AMZN list just causes me to ponder shopping. I'm taking Mrs. E to the big city (not really) today. My list is short. Hers? Be afraid (I am)

   • Addictive hint; AbesBooks.com – way less than new stuff on you know, zon?

     • They have all my printed books there, listed as new from a couple of UK book sellers. I guess they order from Amazon to fill their orders.
       Good info today, thanks.

     • I have gotten quite a few OOP and rarities from abebooks. Much better place to get them as they post the condition grades, which align with other aspects that gauge pricing.

     • Yeah…

       I could never figure that out. Abe Books is one of Amazon’s oldest and biggest partners (Bezos bought books from Abe to sell on the fledgling Amazon, back in the ’90s…)

       Yet Abe’s will often have the same book Amazon is selling, and which ABE itself is selling on Amazon, for less money at abebooks.com

       Abe’s is one of a half-dozen booksellers with whom I’ve had an account for nearly 30 years (Amazon is not. I’ve only shopped on The Zon for about 20…)

     • Look into thriftbooks.
       https://www.thriftbooks.com
       You can accrue points toward free books, and their books are graded.

8. Back on the subject of food, there was an article in the Sept/Oct 2023 “Backwoodsman” magazine called the “The Path to Self-Reliance” by Christopher Nyerges. In the article Christopher relates a conversation with an individual who called him wanting to learn about foraging to save money on food. Apparently Christopher went down the list of every frugal living suggestion he knew with the guy, including buying bulk, buying local farm products, gardening, clipping coupons, and applying for SNAP if eligible. The foraging classes were not a quick fix to the man’s problem. Apparently he never heard back from him. Interesting article.

   • Maybe he foraged some of those juicy nightshade berries…?

9. George,

   Current Fractal model for the October 2023 Crash

   For the Wilshire composite starting 18 August 2023:

   6/15/11 of 13/10 days :: x/2.5x/2-2.5x/1.6x ending 16 October.

   For this model to be correct, the next two trading days for Wilshire valuations should be lateral to up.

   • Boy, are we ever aligned. In my work, we peak around noonish Monday – maybe up into the close and then risk of going short close Monday ought to be fairly low. Then just watch.

     • All good,

       A 6/15/12/10 day 4 phase fractal series would exactly align with your final lower high estimate.

       I looked up the old guys on the mid 1990’s Longwave Group string you mentioned … nostalgically interesting stuff. Thanks for responding. Contacted Bob Bronson who wanted your email which was provided.

       The bottom line in the big picture of the 1807 36/90/90/54 year :: x/2.5x/2.5x/1.5x (November 8/2021 Wilshire inflation adjusted valuation high) US hegemonic Lammert (longwave)fractal series is that the US Federal Reserve {backed by the (hopefully reliable) US nuclear deliverable arsenal} is like a Parker Brother’s friendly Monopoly game personal banker. When a player loses the game and goes bankrupt, the friendly personal banker in this sovereign Monopoly game can extend a loan to the loser player to continue playing …

       This has already happened in Japan with a debt to GDP ratio of 240% with an annual tax-dependent federal spending to debt ratio is about 20 %
       (like the Us’s ratio). The Bank of Japan (Fed equivalent), holds most of Japan’s debt.

       This happens more easily with near zero to negative interest rates on sovereign debt as has happened during recessions since 2009. More recessions can be expected. (but not as severe as 1929 when the symbiotic government-central bank printing press was not as well oiled).

       • fwiw New Moon is Saturday (UTC) Oct 14 at 17:55 UTC, which is 3:55 AM, Sunday Oct 15 Taiwan time. Oct 16th is Monday.

         China – Taiwan over the weekend during the New Moon?? From all reports China now has all of the elements in place, including the converted ferries which have been moved up from Southern China, in place.

10. “Self-Fusing Silicone Rubber Sealing Tape For Outdoor Antenna Coax & Electrical Cables”

    ‘Self fusing’ always seems to find a leak somewhere. I use a Permatex product from the auto supply store: Windshield Glass Sealer… aka. “Flowable Silicone”. Unlike normal gloppy silicone, this stuff, when applied, first ‘melts’ and flows into every little crevice and then slowly hardens to a robust silicone rubber film. I use it on all my outdoor coax connectors and has withstood seven years of the harshest tropical environment around.

    “TMZ All Terrain Utility Folding Wagon, (Blue)”
    And… it will withstand those burning blue laser attacks! :-)

11. For the paper model makers out there..in japan,France China Russia etc.. they push paper models for a family child activity..
    they even have contests for powered and hand powered flight..remote controllable paper airplanes.. with the remote controllable paper airplane they have wheels and all the fixings for the fins..
    https://youtu.be/XKFTUrpVvIM?si=7PoJpF3ENO2TbOGn

12. You would enjoy making paper models.. we have made castles and pyramids planes cars trucks etc.. I have thousands of models.. NASA use to have them for download so did the air force navy etc..the USA stopped promoting daddy child activities back in the eighties..
    we have never made them to fly..we just hung them on a string from the ceiling and on dressers.. you do notice he’s using the large model lol the smaller ones are a challenge..
    when making a larger lets say 747 the fuselage on the normal is the size of a pencil to keep wing spand on a sheet of paper the larger model glue the wings onto a piece of thin foamboard..

    • The Ultimate Paper Airplane
      https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Paper-Airplane-Step-Instructions/dp/0671555510/ref=sr_1_1?crid=JUPBMEPIBUX9&keywords=The+Ultimate+Paper+Airplane+Richard+Kline&qid=1696184148&sprefix=the+ultimate+paper+airplane+richard+kline%2Caps%2C189&sr=8-1

      • I have that book.. we made all of them… the best models though.. are really something.. have a great printer.. to print them off..
        https://www.papertoys.com/
        with my deminished eyesight though it is a real challenge to make them.. its to bad I don’t have a larger printer..
        or maybe an image enlarger..
        back when I did day labor we did balloons using one of these image inlargers.. I gave mine to my grandson he is into art..
        https://www.ebay.com/itm/234937832449?
        they have the ultimate image enlarger at the army surplus store.. god I would love it but.. the wife would have a cow.. LOL LOL LOL LOL it wouldn’t be pretty LOL LOL LOL
        but seriously.. you could make one big enough so a child could play in it out of cardboard LOL LOL then put a skeleton in it to make it firm.. what child wouldn’t like that ..

      • Hell yeah just like the ones on 9/11 -http://stateofthenation.co/?p=188614

        oh wait , terrorists – yeah yeah Terrorists, or was it bloodsuckers with blue lasers- oh nooooooooooooooooo.

        4 those with Eyes to see.. https://www.theinteldrop.org/2023/10/01/does-us-have-laser-weapons/

        or are they all just psychotic “tribal” homos?

        -https://www.theinteldrop.org/2023/10/02/zelenskys-degradation-american-thinker-published-a-devastating-article-about-the-ukrainian-president/

13. Just a comment regarding Amazon “free” shipping. It seems that they raised the minimum “free” order from $25 to $35. Not that big a deal. They also stopped advertising when to expect an item with “free” shipping. I ordered some stuff fulfilled by Amazon and well after a week I called them to ask when they expected to ship. The order from last month was due to ship some time in NOVEMBER! Of course, for $6.99(figure $7.00), they said it would arrive in a week.

    I cancelled the order, including all items. I had my daughter reorder what I really wanted through her Prime account. It arrived in three days. I have little use for Prime since I don’t order that much and it’s usually over their minimum for free shipping. I can wait a week or two, but not two months! Just lets say I’m more than a little disgusted and refuse to get a Prime account of my own. I’ll probably just get what I need from Ebay.

    • The “daughter thing” is a good plan. I have Prime, and am over 300 orders on the year — mostly stuff I needed and couldn’t find locally, even though I should’ve:

      I go to a store, shop the aisles, then ask the aisle drone, THEN ask the MOD, then leave the store muttering about having to buy from Amazon, AGAIN. I hope that eventually, hardware stores will begin to restock needed hardware and home-improvement stores will begin to carry necessary supplies AGAIN, but aside from the nephew who’s a Meijer manager, I get no satisfaction anywhere.

      There’s nothing like going into a Lowe’s or Menards and being told I’m going to wait 2-3 weeks and pay $40-$140 shipping to receive a $50 item which they should have on their shelf, but don’t. I cringe every time I contribute to Bezos’ retirement fund, but the dude is a May or a Woolworth, reincarnated for the 21st Century, and like them, is often the only game in town, so…

      • I hate making Bezos any richer, also. Ebay is always my first stop for mail orders. Amazon is a last resort.

        • “Amazon is a last resort.”

          Agreed — unless I’m in a hurry. If I NEED the part or tool tomorrow, I just pull the trigger. A good part of Amazon’s value is its free next-day or second-day turnaround. If I’m not rushed, I’ll back-search to the manufacturer, then work forward using the manufacturer’s description &or part no. (and sometimes the UPC.) If (for instance) I’m looking for a tool, I’ll search Octopart, but I’ll search eBay and etsy first, then run a targeted search on Google, Dogpile, and Yandex or Qwant, and I may use Google’s site tool to search Craigslist…

        • One thing to be careful of with Ebay! There are those who arbitrage to Ebay from Amazon using their Prime account for free shipping. There’s a markup that can be significant. If something from Ebay arrives in Amazon packaging with a gift receipt in it, you can figure that’s what happened. This has actually turned into a business model. Most people don’t notice or care, but some do.

    • Unless she already has someone else listed on her Prime account, your daughter could put you on her account and then you could order even a $5 item and have free shipping. You’d have your own account number and all the shipping and payment info would be your own. I’m on my son’s account and that’s how it works.

      • My kids are on mine, and when I got the Amazon VISA, I put my daughter on my ccard account, because she was [in her] mid-30s and had a zero credit rating. Being that age and having never had credit, she couldn’t even get a secured card (which is one of the “stunts” I recommend to people, who wish to rebuild their credit ratings…)

      • Thanks! I never knew that option existed. I’ll have to look into it.

      • I think she has her step-daughter on the account already. Thanks for the info though.

14. just stopping in to say howdy.

    fork in the path for me. have to make a choice soon.
    stay or go south or go back. have i completed my time in the valley of enoch?

    hmmmm.

    there is no wrong choice. really. its simply a matter of receiving.

    i dont believe in karma. because im a just sinner saved by Grace.

    i do thoroughly understand the laws and dynamics of sowing and reaping. if ya plant corn? when corn grows, you shouldnt be suprized. if ya sow seeds of faith. ya reap what ya sow. if ya so gererocity and financial blessings. that is the crop that comes in. soooo

    and it was so.

    stormy day today. watching the sunflowers sway in the wind.

    ohh the sun came out and split the clowds. how wonderful.

    i spent the last 6 months tilling the soil of the night with spirit and light. the salt of the earth. among many things. look forward to see what fruits produces.

    mindful, that
    a single apple seed can produce a thousand thousand orchards.

    i think i will be lazy today and rest. Because im always on over-time.

    • I mean, its basically Christmas time already.

15. .., and now for something completely different..,
    I have lost three friends in the past four days. Two here in my town and one fellow ex-Vietnam Ranger. He had it pretty rough these past years., beat cancer twice and a serious heart attack., but always kept a really good attitude. Died due to complications from Agent Orange.
    One of the guys here in town was found sitting behind the wheel of his pick-up., still running. They think it was an aneurysm. He will be missed by a lot of people and was one of my local “Trade Group”.
    Has anyone else experienced a multiple-loss lately?

    • Sorry, man…

    • My sympathies.
      My wife lost her last sibling early this year. He fell, broke his arm and paramedics took him to hospital, where they informed him he full cancer. Hospice and past within a month. Fully vaxed so he could visit his inlaws in LTC.
      So sorry for your loss.

    • Sorry to hear about so many in such a short time span.

      Father time catches up with all of us eventually, been to the funeral home too many times this past year but that is a function of our friends and acquaintances growing older (of course WE never grow older, we are always going to be 18 years old FOREVER!!).

      Stay positive and remember the good times!!

    • Sorry about losing friends. I had an awesome HS teacher, Mr. Cherry who was also a vet of Vietnam, and probably other war that he never mentioned. Lost to agent orange, too. Broke my heart when I heard that. That stuff should never had been created.

16. 6 minute read.

    did you know McDonalds slaughters 140,000 chickens a minute. all day, every day. yeat round.

    if time was measured in chicken lives,

    a 6 minutes read, that is 840,000 chickens who went to heaven.

    a 3 hour commute in traffic that is 25,200,000 chicken life moment.

    i mean really, most people dont realize, you only really get 201,600,000 chickens a day to live. spend them wizely.

    I think the Top Selling blue grass music band Swift Creek said it best in their hit song,

    https://youtu.be/zErYMun_giE?si=q88AVIYfzm_3qXJt

    • Those chickens didn’t go to heaven. They went to somebodys’ stomachs!

17. I know Ure waiting for the stock market to tank, and the Even Greater Depression to commence, but I see an alternate read:

    https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/almost-half-all-young-adults-us-are-living-their-parents

    We have been living in a state-camouflaged depression for multiple decades, while the currency, and debt, are hyperinflated to cover. Real brick-and-mortar wealth like clear-title home ownership has been replaced by debt slavery and grown-up kids living in the parent’s basement, leaching off the wealth of previous era’s.

    The implosion of industrial jobs has cost this country it’s real wealth, while the partisan gangs continue looting on behalf of their foreign masters.

    Fortunately, Texas homes don’t usually have basements.

18. 3 hr commute for them chickens?
    how do them chickens get there?
    Chicken train !!! Ozark Mountain DareDevils
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSkN9m7kh9A

    • The ChickenBunny Train rolls ALL night loong.

      Lord knows what goes on on that train when its rolling down the tracks?
      -https://youtu.be/98XL03W9CN4?si=Q4s-JPSUUkEPN9if

      • ahhh ha ha ha. uhem, The Cosmic Chicken Bunny.

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