There are two kinds of Home Handy-Bastard shoppers out at this time of year. The kind who are dirt-under-the-fingernails working bozo’s (like us). And the non-handy, but infinitely more refined who see dirty fingernails, curl up their noses, furrow the brows, and screech “Eeoow, YUCK! Don’t come near me until you… [inserts list of conditions].”
[If you hadn’t guessed yet…] Leave this column out for them to read.
Tool Sluts Anonymous
The topic of “clean fingernails” Christmas shop gifts came up at the ToolSlut’s meeting this week. (“My name is George, and I was a friend of Sears who became a Friend of Jeff’s.”) {An obscure reference to Jeff Bezos having admirable shop skills.}
Sears? Amazon? ToolSluts? Isn’t that like holding an AA meeting at Cheers?
Um, yeah, but we have to confront our problems directly, right?
Here’s what a software/hardware/AI hybrid ToolSlut thinks about while stuck in traffic…
The heart of this loving nest of creativity is a 3D printer. Jeff’s heirs are selling low end ones, like the Creality Ender series for about $169-bucks. Try this one. A roll of filament (the plastic cord that is melted into real plastic [whatever’s] run about $20 bucks a pop if you shop a bit.
The higher up the printer you go, the more money (of course!) and the more features. You want as many of these as possible:
- Glass heated bed.
- Has a “direct extruder”.
- Prints at higher speeds.
- Larger print build area.
- Self-leveling bed.
- And dual drive axis, dual color feeds and all kinds of other mishap.
The one pictured (printing out hard plastic parts bins) is called a CR-10 V.2. They went to a direct drive extruder with V.3 and offered a self-leveling bed forward of there.
That said, if your honey wants a 3D printer, it’s a balance between build volume (a large printer is 12 x 12 x 15 inches for build size) and there are many twists and turns. Hit YouTube and binge out on Filament Friday episodes and you’ll get if over time. Check out Cura Profile Option for Creality K1 & K1 Max – YouTube to get a sense of where things are now and are headed.
Gift Trajectory Calculations
Five years ago, when I got into 3D printing the direction of 3D printers was to simply make them work.
Then, the motion in product development shifted to? Make bigger prints. Hence the whole CR-10 and MAX and the moving belt type printers. Now, we’re in the stage of “furniturizing” printers. Box ’em and vent them. Reason is simple: Most people don’t have dedicated server areas. So, you are seeing lots of printers-in-a-box.
The NEXT direction is likely to be optimization of photogrammetry.
You remember the Star Trek, and the holodeck?
Think of the 3D printer as being able to print almost anything (including metal, now, with god-awful expensive materials, but it’s being done). What’s missing to “close the loop” and complete our building IRL of this Roddenberry Replicator would be a way to take pictures of things and then those pictures into prints on the printer.
Imagine being an H.O. model railroader. See some skanky building (bordello?) you want for your, ahem, layout.
Snap a few pictures (a hundred or two various angles, ought to do it) and then come home and pick the most descriptive 50 pix and slam them into free photogrammetry software called Zephyr 3D Free (Z3DF). These get estimated (in Zephyr) into a dot-plot surfacing whizzy. Which, eventually reduces down to something that looks like your (um…) bordello. Except it’s a .STL file now.
Which you then rescale and print using, I dunno, Cura 3D by Ultimaker?
Handy Y0ur Honey the Workflow
Start Menu:
- Find .STL file (Yeggi.com or Thingiverse.com)
- Take picture and render to .STL file via Zephyr free.
Main Menu
- Open STL in Cura
- Confirm print settings (solid or filled walls, that kinda thing)
- Slice (creating .gcode file for the 3D printer)
- Store onto printer-useable media.
- Clean, print-ready and auto home the printer
- Preheat printhead and glass bed.
- Let ‘er rip.
Go take a snooze. Because even those endlessly versatile, a print like these 2 compartment nesting part boxes off Thingiverse take about 9-hours each to print. Which is why the ADHD have more than one printer. But you can get great results and if you buy your squeeze a good printer, it can be the gift that will keep making cool things for you.
Christmas List #2
Lately, for God knows why, I have found myself picking up metal wire baskets for a number of shop uses. Like picking up small doo-dads at the welding table.
Even more interesting was the largest basket which became the electric chain and glove holder on the tractor. Given some inventiveness. And tie wraps.
Until you have your ass bounced all over 30 acres of brush, this may seem an extravagance. A year in the brush will change your life.
Cheap Gift of the Year
Waxed whipping cord. Stuffs like super-sized dental floss.
I use this stuff all the time in old radio gear. Like to have radio cables properly “dressed and laced” in place.
In fact, so much a fanatic am I that I’ve got a copy of an old Collins Radio (per Rockwell) Workmanship Manual and permission to put parts of it in a book I’m working on involving ham radio repair and restoration (tube type).
“Cable 1/2-inch or less, shall not have an inside bend radius less than the diameter of the cable. However, in no case shall the bend radius be less than three times the OD of the largest wire in the cable…”
When the wires are in position, waxed nylon lacing is great.
When not working on radio gear, in case your gifting victim is sane in at least that part of life, you can still make a case for “whipping and burning” the ends of 3-braid ropes.
A good ball of string can keep any number of children involved for hours. Lay a magic tale on the twine; net-making, radio repair, screen patch weaving (use black for this) it’s all a ball of string and cheap. Relatively.
Rustic Furniture Kit
Something like this off Amazon will be fun. If you have lots of pole pines around or plenty of trees that need trimming back. About $100:
This is the old style, with the new one over on Amazon. Want to try a king-size bed project? Just time and wood if you have one of these… Might get the larger sizes for bigger jobs, like putting in a pole ceiling?
Of king size bed for, oh, king-sized people.
Hydroponics
Say, here’s a totally underwhelming gift when you open it:
Cardboard box. But with instructions and when you set it up with the rest of your growing tools it can look OK…
Shopping deal points on these: Are they complete, or do you have to pick up seeds and the hydroponic fertilizer concentrates and water it down?
We think these tool gifting ideas are so good, we’ve given them all to ourselves.
Next weekend on STS: LOOB is back with another killer project. Calls it his Wicktorian Lamp. We might actually get something, done to…so check back next howdy-time.
Have a great time shopping and write when you get rich,
George@Ure.net
You wrote…
There are two kinds of Home Handy-Bastard shoppers out at this time of year. The kind who are dirt-under-the-fingernails working bozo’s (like us). And the non-handy, but infinitely more refined who see dirty fingernails, curl up their noses, furrow the brows, and screech “Eeoow, YUCK! Don’t come near me until you… [inserts list of conditions].”
Problem solved! Invisible gloves!
https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Magic-Protective-Hand-Coating/dp/B00D8GQ8B8
FLAG THROWN!
Penalty called.
“Illegal planning on a Handy Bastard Project. Five minute penalty.”
Replay the job~”
Yup.. wife says … YOU have ENOUGH projects no 3D printers… first she likes parking in the garage…. LOL LOL LOL
You are the last person in the world who needs one, lol
she was reading Urban survival over my shoulder.. and I kept scrolling through the printers.. and she said… NO 3D printer LOL LOL LOL ….. you have enough projects going on.. I didn’t tell her about the hydrogen cell LOL LOL LOL… that won’t be around long though.. LOL LOL… I am just going to show the kids that it can be done.. enough to spur their interest for when they get older.. then make us something to eat before scrapping it .
I have a 1 liter container.. the gas from that is as much as a tank of good ole petrol LOL LOL..
you can’t sell them or really show anyone how it is made if you watch the interview of Herman Anderson he tells you how it is done.. most people still have this brut force idea not the other and because of that.. they can’t produce it economically it takes way to much energy to rip and tear … if you do a patent search you can find it all over the place though..
https://patents.google.com/patent/US6119651A/en
the us govt owns those patents though which is why Herman was allowed to drive his car for such a long time.. he died of old age…. so does almost every automobile company around as well as the US Airforce the US army the marines and even the DOE they all made a slight difference on their patents so each is unique but the same… I add one thing they don’t have.. a snap dragon.. ( fast discharge cap ) but for the first few years of WW2 us automakers were making them for Adolph to use on his tanks airplanes etc..
.. what I will do is show you a video of it working.. so you will know that I am right on I almost said not some blathering idiot.. LOL but then I may still be a blathering idiot but do have the working knoweledge of its operation.. LOL.. I have made them before.. but after the government worker was attacked and his lab destroyed and his notes stolen.. So I destroyed the one I had..I had a kid make my frequency modulator .. I sure don’t want to have any strangers coming around the old cottage for something that is so well documented already..
“My name is George …”
[corrected \/ version \/ below]
“Hi. My name is George. I have a problem”
Start ^ there. Then on to remaining steps.
Egor
I get anxious when my callouses start to disappear, which doesn’t take long in the Winter. They make me feel like an honest person.
I had to laugh when I realized something watching Yellowstone. If you find a picture of Cole Hauser and Forrie Smith standing where you can see their hands you’ll instantly know which one has used them for work and and which hasn’t. The age difference doesn’t matter. Forrie’s hands look like my dad-in-law’s old tools while Cole’s don’t have a scratch on them.
same thing with the mud room or their clothes.. and how many farmers don’t have a little grease under their nails lol lol..
all your going to see is a multi million dollar home with no dirt on the floor pristine furniture that’s never been set on and pots and pans that never have been used..it’s a television set..
years ago I worked sound stage and in the back they had the sets for movies..one from an old movie I enjoyed..the whole set fit in a four foot wide space.
when I made cabinets we built a display so the company could show off their million dollars worth of cabinets in a home setting.. t he house we built was amazing and beautiful..a mansion made out of cardboard..even the counters and table..all cardboard..people were amazed at the cabinets they should have been amazed at the display..after the home show it was all crushed and sent to the dump.. I took in a guy that lived in a dumpster as home.. we had joked about making a small gingerbread house to shock the police patrol..as a joke..after meeting and knowing the can man.. I either we had..maybe he would have found it and stayed in it..
on television it does not show real life. they just act ..and would probably freak out if they really had to get dirty..many batch and moan about people that if they didn’t have that fan base that idols them they wouldn’t have the prosperity they enjoy.. old industrialists knew that it was the workers that insured they could keep their position in society
yesterday I ordered this handy cart for firewood hauling and of course it will be handy this spring for yard and garden, just wish it came with no-flat tires instead of pneumatic.
I already have one with a poly bed, needed another,,, lots of firewood to haul, from the tree pile where the tree service drops it off, I cut to lenght , split and haul to the stack on a concrete slab and tarped,,, let it snow
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Gorilla-Carts-8-Cu-Ft-Steel-Dump-Cart-Model-Gcsd-8-39-inch-x-28-inch-Steel-Bed-1200-lbs-Capacity-13-inch-Pneumatic-Tires/417226848
The patented 2-in-1 convertible handle allows the cart to be towed behind a lawn tractor
looks like it could double as grand-kid backyard all terrain vehicle with easy dump. As grandparent – will supply the all the truck noises needed to keep the lill crumb-snatchers engaged..in getting picked up/hauled and dumped in a sandbox/mudhole-kids garden/snow pile-puddle..nice.
Yerp – winna winna chinkin dinna = dual use or moar.
? schrodingers plane soonly comes..oh my!
I have a cart quite similar to that. I couldn’t keep air in the pneumatic tires, so shortly after getting it I went on the Zon and ordered wheels with solid tires.
Solid tires cost considerably more than pneumatic, so guess which ones the manufacturer puts on to save a few bucks.
you can buy the one with a poly tub with no-flats from Amazon, but the steel tub one only comes with blow-ups, so off to fleabay I goes and got 2 pair
https://www.ebay.com/itm/256134057701
13 inch a little bigger/more$ than the normal 10 inchers,, $81.70 to my door for 4
“Next weekend on STS: LOOB is back with another killer project. Calls it his Wicktorian Lamp. We might actually get something, done to…so check back next howdy-time.”
AMAZON.. delivered the toilet paper holders for the wicktorian lamp.. the only change is the Base.. I will have to make the base a little heavier ..don’t want a gas lamp turning over on the table by accident..
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CHP3B3MF?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1
now to get the lamp holder made..
https://a.1stdibscdn.com/antique-harvard-school-classical-brass-double-student-lamp-c1890-for-sale-picture-4/f_23963/f_202557121597794852053/_MG_4906_master.jpg?width=768
the style I have settled on.. stopped off at the dollar store and picked up dog bowls and I am going to use juice bottles for the chimney.
the plan is to make it so that you can hang it or set it on the table.. at Walgreens they have some really nice toy
dinosaurs.. mounted on the base plate will make a nice lamp for a little boy..
https://rita.com.vn/media/zoo/images/250ml_glass_bottle__Orange_Juice_d0bf2fb8e91ec92889ee53bd0974d2b1.jpg
nice globe.. my bottle cutter hasn’t arrived yet..
https://youtu.be/NZNqZsux5rM?si=YAnaCrak6WuV-L4u
nice jelly jar lamp
https://www.amazon.com/VERONES-Canning-Regular-Wedding-Favors/dp/B07JNPZZQ9/ref=asc_df_B07JNPZZQ9&mcid=e159490a9e3c34e988d24495c99b39c0?tag=bingshoppinga-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=79920806880931&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=t&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4583520383612353&th=1
the lamp base..
Whoa whoa whoa…hold Ure horses there Loob.
Im still working on the Vanilla bean extract for the L. Ruteri & L. Gasseri home made yogurts.
You seen how much a friggin bottle Vanilla Extract cost nowadays?..need to moonlight somewhere to afford life’s’ necessities anymore..dammit!
Got the 8 – 8 oz bottles wit built in/attached rubberstoppers, got the Grade A Madagascar bourbon Vanilla beans – awful god expensive on the zon.
So bad I just (this AM) reached out to my plant babe in the Cayo, Belize for Vanilla plants(Lavinia@Riverwalknursery) and a Tamarind tree. Great news – she has em in stock and setting aside for Moi! The Lady is magical and I just love being around her – I learn so much every time.
So anywayz – cut up the nilla beans in 1/2 in or smaller pieces and soak in vodka, then soak Ure beans for minimum 3 tree months time.
# 3 in Belize sounds like Tree.
My wife got into it with Lavinia last time when I had ordered 3 “tree” orchids.
Lavinia delivered plant order down to Placencia – where she proceeded to tell my Wife best practices for Orchid care. It was a central american version of Who’s on First when Lavinia told my wife to hang them in a Tree, to which my confused Wife said “how many?
Lavinia responded “tree”.
Just another reason why the BCN likes to get “baked” Before engaging – I was literally crying tears of humor and joy at the 3/tree confusion. No Wife didnt think it was funny at all..which added more hilarity to the situation. Yes – I have permanent seat in doghouse..its a daily habit ..kinda toxic.
Vanilla extract – easy, fun, and tasty. Ya gotz to “shake a baby” battle everyday to agitate dem beans..longer = stronger.
Oh I make gallon of it.. did you put simple syrup in the vodka.. ( unless you want vanilla without then use filtered water.. one cup of simple syrup.. the simple syrup works really good.. what is that word I am trying to think of that describes us.. oh yeah I know POOR .. well bottom of the pile.. but I like real vanilla.. so I make it.. I got about ten pounds of sloes to.. so I will make sloe gin.. a bottle of cheap vodka.. one cup of simple syrup and sloes.. let it age..
Da F you talkin bout Willis ? Sloes ? are they like Snipes and Minces ?
I love a good snipe hunt – Summertime in the evening when its just getting dusky out, kids with paper bags running around yelling “here snipeysnipey”.
I have never hunted Sloes, but I have had a sloe gin fizz, so Im guessing its a fruit/berry kinda thing – less of course you be blowing smoke up my asz.
..”its not nice to blow smke the BCNs’ asz’
Then again you aint no smoke blower – just a salt of Earth kinda guy methinks. One to finding out bout Sloes..
Sloes are mini plums.. black thorne
https://britishlocalfood.com/sloes/
I have tried to vet them to sprout in our area..I’m not sure why I can’t get them to grow..I usually go through about ten pounds of dried fruit a year..
its similar to those dam mini orange
Hardy Orange
Hardy orange, Poncirus trifoliata, is native to China, and is a close relative of the citrus orange we know and love. Hardy to Zone 5, this multi-branched deciduous shrub – or small tree – provides ornamental interest in the garden.
they plant them as a hedge..thorns so bad it keeps things secure..you can eat the fruit but its really tart..its better used to make orange oil for cleaning..
the black Thorne is like that to..used as a security hedge..makes a great security hedge
I’ve been trying to grow slowberries for several years. They are the fruit of the blackthorn shrub — the bush which is commonly found in the infamous “hedgerows” of Ureup — spiny, spikey, thorny, and utterly nasty bushes considered nearly impenetrable. I want to intermingle them with hawthorn and bayberry, and build a hedge which completely surrounds my property — a natural fence with medicinal value to those who know how to use the plants…
@BCN
I’m also trying to grow my own vanilla orchids. If that sounds like too much work, you could always bop over to Lancaster County. The Amish markets keep it on the shelves in everything from 4oz bottles to gallon jugs, and it’s relatively cheap…
I hear ya on the friends.. I have a good friend lives in the UK.. that sends me my sloes.. she picks them for herself then sends me enough to last me the year every year.. the same with the vanilla beans.. What I need to do is become real good friends with Hank.. what he has growing in his yard would help out a lot to.. around here if you have excess then you take them to the gas station and then anyone that wants what extra you get takes what they need..works really good if your making salsa or need a few ears of corn etc.. I got a bunch of basil this year that way.. if you have extra then you take it there if someone else has extra they leave some.. the community I live in started a farmers market.. one lady has tea.. I trade something I make for her tea..
Next year once I get me a small motor.. ( dam I had one then got rid of it.. ) to run the extruder..
https://youtu.be/U2Sq67juW8M?si=yPaFUIUuOEYxWVQY
that one is way bigger than the little one I have.. a small quarter horse is more than enough.. I had it on a grinder then got rid of the grinder so I lost my motor.. did that with a router to.. still kick my butt on that one..
the crunchy cheetos are the extruded corn meal before it get up to temperature. LOL LOL
I love to make peanut puffs.. take a candy panner or a tote.. put the puffs in it then shake it up.. with the coating in there.. then put them in the oven or dehydrator and let them dry for a couple hours.. they run them through a conveyor belt through an oven..
the lamp.. well I gave the kids a generator.. but they think I am nuts that the administration is right on target and nothing will ever come from this.. I see the lights going out.. and they will need light.. my christmas message this year is let the light of our heavenly father shine.. I don’t want the kids to be afraid if it does.. go out.. so teaching them how a coleman gas lantern works is the best thing.. then they know.. I could give them a lamp.. but then they still would’t know how it works.. it is just a thing you buy and put gas in.. so we will build one.. got most of the stuff to do it.. the biggest question was.. do I use a jar make a container.. or use a big mouth beer can bottle.. each would work just fine.. I want to keep the weight down.. and use simple things from around the house that everyone has available.. except for the carbon felt.. that is easily gotten at lowes or home depot.. in the soldering section.. they sell it to keep people plumbing from starting their floors on fire.. something like five dollars..
We have tamarind trees in some parks. One can pick up the seed pods. Today at the swap meet one plant vendor was selling vanilla seedlings. I should have bought one just so I can tweak you guys. Everything grows here. Eat your heart out, LOOB! Right now the tangerine tree is dropping bushels of fruit. Bags full to all the neighbors and friends, and the ugly, juicy lemons are coming in now, too.
Welcome to the fruit farm, just down the road from Roseanne’s ‘Nut Farm’.
One of the biggest problems I have with setting stuff aside for use after a SHTF event is I am an Indian — not by blood, and not in the modern sense, but like the “naked savages” of 200 years ago: Given just a good knife and a canteen, I can survive and thrive, indefinitely, pretty much anywhere in North America. I often forget that those who come after, don’t have, and can’t learn the skills I was taught between the ages of 4-14 by a mother who learned them from the Seneca over a hundred years ago. A lot of your posts amaze me, not because you are imparting little-known information, but because in my “stupidity of age,” I sometimes don’t realize that other people don’t know this stuff.
Thank you…
“Eat your heart out, LOOB! Right now the tangerine tree is dropping bushels of fruit. Bags full to all the neighbors and friends,”
oh my god hank tangerines..i am jealous.
tangerine wine… I have a fruit press….
I would need a greenhouse to grow vanilla .. l I keep coal.. you can heat a home make your own coal oil run a generator everything for almost nothing..where it gets expensive is in shipping..
when we buy coal my friends son has a semi truck and we buy a semi load at one time. otherwise we couldn’t ever afford to get it. a winters heat cost under fifty bucks with coal.. great product lots of energy and if you change the burn box slightly really clean..
Must have some Hawaiian Pidgin accent there. We say “tree” also. I’m told from a niece who took Air Traffic Control classes for the FAA that they are taught to pronounce ‘tree’ for the number 3 because it is more intelligible on the radio.
For a heavy, non-tip base, I use horse shoes. Place 3 shoes tip to tip and weld the tips together, forming a triangular base. Then weld a triangular piece of 1/4″ steel plate over the open center. Add the column (I use 3/8″ twisted rod) of the desired length to the center of the steel plate. Rubber feet on the bottom of the shoes keep the shoes from damaging the table top.
The design I am using is lamp tubes.. the center is a lid with the lamp holders are lids ..
at first I was just going to give them a Coleman gas table lamp..I have plenty but then he won’t learn how the gas generator works. it will be a coil jet alcohol. ( alcohol anyone can make) an upright mantle valve ..
because its a pressure lantern a shraeder valve with a small straw to the bottom the copper coil and wick.. A person can use a quick light to.. old pressure stoves used a horse shoe cotton quick light that was dampened with fuel held under the gas generator..
pilot lights were lit similarly the cotton wick was held lit under the generator the heat built up pressure in the fuel chamber. Coleman was one of the first that realized that if you pumped air under the fuel the vapors was the gas burned.
in caving the old covers used a similar method to light up areas to get a visual they would soak rags in coal oil then light them and fling the burning rags to areas they couldn’t see..
https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.5b46519f20bf153550a40ce91dbd8470?rik=KEyYND02F2Kj8Q&riu=http%3a%2f%2fdvorsons.com%2fparts%2fimages%2fdvor-52.jpg&ehk=es%2bqpkr%2fiC7mQPe9pmJP0qtAOaaq%2b7HAd7EL6TEXrcA%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&r=0
the lamps an easy build.. we will paint the lamp whatever color that trips the trigger..
my guess is the one will be blue.. I bought a final to in the event it needs to be hung from the ceiling.
https://www.amazon.com/NDS-6P06-Solvent-Fitting-6-Inch/dp/B00L4AO506/ref=sr_1_3?adgrpid=1331509151105777&hvadid=83219560593005&hvbmt=be&hvdev=t&hvlocphy=107130&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvtargid=kwd-83219677983162%3Aloc-190&hydadcr=25694_13487042&keywords=6+inch+pvc+pipe+cap&qid=1702215497&sr=8-3
the new base for the Wicktorian lamp.. the toilet paper base fits perfectly inside.. fill it with plaster of Paris and you have a nice heavy base.
I will make these so that the Coleman mantle socks fit over it.. I am thinking a beer bottle can top and lid..
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/everglow-mtl3-upright-mantles-in-2022–857795060291696257/
the mantle holder can screw on making it more secure .. for the separation screen I am going to use brass faucet screens..
https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.9a3cc95995f031979d4f853c3f8b0c63?
https://www.amazon.com/Aerator-Bathroom-Sink-Standard-Replacement/dp/B09Y13P2X2/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?
Dammit LOOB, I gots ta teach you how to pare eBay and Amazon links:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00L4AO506
https://usfireplacestore.com/products/everglow-mtl3-upright-mantles?variant=41918514659498
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Y13P2X2
I don’t know what that Bing link is, since it pukes on every browser I have loaded on this crap computer I’m using…
Oops faucet screen..to deflect the gas spreading it out instead of direct spray…
like the old military used oil burners you have to break up the gas and add air. so the venturey .. then direct the heat down and out..
I dreamed about building a heater that way last night. gotta really watch the coins right now. paid house taxes put the pinch on everything.. it’s literally one fifth of our whole years income.. im literally sweating the next seven days lol lol
then one of the guys living with us is really sick. sad.. the slow sad walk down the road on this..life ain’t fair. he knows but is trying to ignore the results..we will make sure he is comfortable and as happy as he can be.
Tool slut snow tire changing dolly ordered yesterday:
https://m.vevor.com/wheel-dolly-c_11510/vevor-wheel-dolly-1500-lbs-car-wheel-dolly-jack-mechanic-lift-with-ratcheting-foot-pedal-vehicle-positioning-hydraulic-tire-jack-ratchet-type-tire-skates-for-vehicle-car-auto-repair-moving-p_010967872945
I usually take advantage of Christmas deals to stock up on on hardware and assortments. Bought one of those nifty diesel heaters for greenhouse, works good. I use 30A switching power supply, eBay special. Another heater planned for shop after holidays. Little hydroponics units okay for starting seeds or growing herbs (prune often!). Currently have tasty lettuce growing in buckets, Kratky style hydroponics, stupid easy to do once the talking ape figured it out. Also one half-hearted tomato plant and a couple orange bell pepper plants wintering in greenhouse. Lettuce stays out unless well below freezing. I make 40 gallon batches of hydroponic solution at a time, you can buy kits on Amazon for the ingredient powders.
Power failure while running probably will kill circuitry in heater; suggest battery.
Yep. A decent sized lead-acid battery with a cheap automatic charger capable of keeping it at full charge. That should eliminate transients.
Speaking of 3D printers….
Recently ( Portland ??? ) there was a gun buy back event. This one had a twist.
No 3D printed guns.
Seems like you can make 3D guns and sell them at a buy back event for a healthy little profit !
( So its okay that THOSE guns stay on the street ! )
LOOB-
Have you ever seen these #10 vacuum sealer lids? Looks useful for extending the life of freeze dried food after opening:
https://www.diventienterprises.com/shop-tsi
There other ways to accomplish this, but this looks fast, clean, doesn’t risk contamination by handling, and doesn’t require electricity. The pump price is right; the lids look a little pricey, but my assumption would be that they can be reused indefinitely. I might give this one a try.
MH has a lot of their products on sale again. Deflation is creeping into the picture.
NO I haven’t seen them before.. I just ordered a bunch of them dam.. thank you for sharing that.. what a find..
I seen an auto re-flanger.. but this is way better than resealing the can’s up…..
http://www.geringandson.com/116601/133370.html
I have thought about trying to flip the plates on my can sealer.. to reflange them.. I do have a flanger.. but it is a hand flanger..
instead of cans ( except for the dry pack.. ) I use retort canning.. great way to can and store goods.. and way cheaper than metal can’s I use to get them from the bishops warehouse.. but they quit selling the empty cans..
https://wellscan.ca/
When I was canning in cans I would get the half pound cans.. once I started retort I haven’t canned in cans since..
I’ve been looking for a way to parcel out MH #10 cans rather than gorging on one can at a time. This is especially true for rotation. Have you ever thrown an MH can in the freezer with a plastic lid on it after opening? This is still doable grid down with small scale solar and a compatible small freezer. The vacuum lids look like they will work warm. Don’t know about cold.
Regular plastic lids are cheaper, if you can find ’em. MRE Depot has lids for a $ 1 a throw. House of Cans .47 but you gotta buy 100 of ’em. USAEmergencysupply doesn’t look like they carry them anymore. Several outfits have them for $1.50 a unit. Rainy Day is $ 2.50 (OMG). Strange I can’t find any on the Zon. Probably don’t know the secret Zon handshake.
I use wax thread in basket making. They come in all colors. They are handy for odd projects like to tie my granddaughter’s dollar store painted birdhouses to the back fence. They outlast the birdhouses.
I’ve put some in a wooden cabinet knob when the hole grew bigger than the screw. Handy stuff. The waxed thread holds two things in an x configuration together so neither piece slips easily. Not always perfect but usually good enough.
Plus you can make miniature baskets with it (about 1 inch or 1 1/2 inch wide) to use on a necklace.
I never thought of using that Eleanor thanks for sharing that..
Ive been doing some seriouse thinking. seeing things for what they are. i watched in disqust the Alex Jones interview with Tucker Carlson. Alex Jones calls Brian Stelter a demon on one video and the Enemy of Mankind then goes on to laugh and joke about talking to him on the phone while having some drinks, like its some sorta “Thats just show buisness” fun. like nobody who really can see what is happening is going think anything about it.
i been quiet, thinking about everything everyone says. They all say the same thing. all of them. and i thought, what are they not saying.
everyone single one of them say 2024 is the Year of the Destruction of the USA and the World.
i saw that tweet about the BOJ going default. as i said in 2016, Japan goes first in the world economic collapse.
i also saw China is super close to collapsing financially.
i saw that there is a mass migration of Concervative Christians away from blue states.
but India is doing amazingly well.
I recieved a Job offer from the Bill and Belinda Gates foundation this morning. when i didnt even apply for a job there. $182,000 a year doing security work. lol
i wont even reply to it. no thanks.
They all say the same thing. all of them. and i thought, what are they not saying.
everyone single one of them say 2024 is the Year of the Destruction of the USA and the World.
They all say the same thing. all of them. and i thought, what are they not saying.
everyone single one of them doesnt say the same thing.
yesterday i was on my way to Star Valley High School with some friends to watch a couple family members wrestle in High School wrestling they have more state championships in high school wrestling there than any High School i have ever seen. the Coach was Honored for his 600th team win.
on the way i saw a Rainbow Made from the Ice Crystals in the Air. never seen that before. its absolutely Amazing. i took a picture.
https://twitter.com/ore_train_11/status/1733917687523467538?t=ihA9UfUzWXs0CpIpPzjaGA&s=19
when we were driving it was almost as if the road drove straight into the golden sun. ive seen it in the sky above the road. but yesterday it was as if the golden sun was sitting at the end of the road. it was truly remarkable. and made my hair stand up on my body. gave me thosd good vibes, chills.
again. it doesnt matter if its David Icke, Alex Jones, Clif High, Tucker Carlson, Jeff Rense etc etc. etc.
everyone single one of them say 2024 is the Year of the Destruction of the USA and the World.
They all say the same thing. all of them. and i thought, what are they not saying.
everyone single one of them doesnt say the same thing.
what they dont say is this,
not a single one! not a single one! Mentions the Power of God to do the Miraculous nor mentions the Power of Prayer.
and Daily, i experiance the Miraculous works of God and see the Power of Prayer to change things and people.
i see the Power of God in something as simple as ice crystals whirling in the air, on sunny day to make a Rainbow.
no further comment.
Still, time for my book about building a Personal Ark. Rain’s coming. Not the water kind
Dandy picture, young dude.
cool dude. i look ~ forward ~ to it.
friday morning. i was on the way to work on the nountain at 245am. i was the only one on the road. there was no travks to follow. the snow was so bad it looked like you were in the melinium falcon going light speed at 35 mph.
the snow was about 6 inches deep. the wind was blowing snow drifts off the farms and for about 10 miles, you could only see about 5 to 8 feet in front of the car and you could not see the road at all. at all. no deliniators or markers.
for all i could see or knew, i was driving 40 mph out in some potatoe farm for all i knew. for 15 miles there is no street lights or anything. just darkness, wind, snow and me on the road.
then i saw a snow plow going the other direction at the exact moment i needed to see my turn to go 5 miles more up the mountain and get a pick up truck.
those 5 miles i was in 8 inches or more snow.
i just ~ knew ~ i was going the right direction and I ~ Knew ~ i was on the road.
i was rememebering all the smiley faces i have had sent to me and all the wonderful signs i see.
and even though i had no idea if i was even on the road, or going in the right direction. not even a set of single set tracks to follow that someone left before.
i had my fowl weather gear on, my warm muck boots, snowmobil gloves laying with my Bible and a few other meditation books on the seat next to me. a full lunch, couple packs of smokes and a full cup of hot coffee.
i made it there of course safely.
my own personal Ark while traveling in the great unknown.
the next day is when i seen the sun rise almost as if it was rising out of the road in front of me and it gave me goose bumps of joy. and i saw the whirling ice crystal rainbow.
i think once you travel the great unknown, leading the way for others to follow, on the other side the future is amazingly beautiful.
i will tell you tho, i had my moments of wanting to turn back. one moment where i thought i will never make it. im only one out here on the road. not a single other car. you cant even see the edges of the road. the wind was blowing my car around.
but i just prayed, direct my path and kept going. and then started thinking of all the cool stuff, and miracles i had seen in my life.
i turned on the radio and Rudolf the red nosed rain deer song started playing, i laughed and kept going.
and i made it. i made it.
PS
a little while after i got to work. a couple others showed up and said, thanks for leaving tracks for us to follow! holy cow! we would have never made it if i didnt follow your tire tracks. you couldnt see more than 6 feet in front of ya and had no idea where the edge of the road was.
Welcome to my world, sonny.
I see this in winter — drove from Toledo to New York State in a blizzard a few years ago on I-90 — 209 miles at ~12mph, visibility about 6-feet, and you didn’t dare stop because the semi somewhere behind you would hit you before he could see you. You’ll find your Passat will run aground in the snow and stick you in the middle of the road, if’fn you don’t get yourself an old pickemup or SUV with 4wd and some ground clearance. I had to shovel 60 feet of road with a trenching shovel before I learned VWs don’t do snow. I suggest you learn from my experience rather than duplicate it…
NO ONE knows the day date or time.. you cannot prepare to survive but IF you survive.. a lot of my preps are here for the IF.. I survive.. no guns in my ark.. ( aka home ) I will be the one making stone soup for anyone hungry if I survive.. and showing them what little bit I know.. If I don’t and since they are only talking a couple million estimated surviving when it does happen.. I left instructions on how to use the preps I have set aside.. it will take someone a lot younger than you or myself to rebuild.. the knoweledge is what is important to the young ones that are all stuck on automation.. If I am around I can show them if not.. they can read the instruction many with pictures..
You have to have water, fuel and a rock pile to make stone soup, LOOB. I will acknowledge that obsessing on weaponry for long-term emergencies is probably missing the point. Still, in rural America, you get in trouble, you are usually on your own, and no one is coming to help.
I have several cubic yards of hard driveway limestone for projects; haven’t tried cooking with it.
“One of the biggest problems I have with setting stuff aside for use after a SHTF event is I am an Indian — not by blood, and not in the modern sense, but like the “naked savages” of 200 years ago: Given just a good knife and a canteen, I can survive and thrive,”
I have had more than my share of hard times.. and I can make most of the guilty pleasures that one has that gives us a quality of life..what I fear is our administration is looking at total desolation.. if they co tinge to pursue the path they are on ..the studies that have been done all say a couple million survivors in a total apocalyptic situation.
included in that are the wild life the plants the water will be poisoned the air we breath ..those that survive will not be able to survive on their own..the survivor’s will be those in extremely remote regions what the bombs don’t destroy the weather will. I doubt seriously that I will be among the survivor’s..I have had lucid dreams where I have survived a short time and didn’t it teaching what I know..
my preps are for those that stumble across them..
if it happens and I do have some energy I will be making soup for whoever survives .
on the same tjought is we as a country have not prepared for the people..China Russia and even India the UK have done more for their people than the USA.. while we push to make someone wealthy that doesn’t even pay taxes here more of what he doesn’t need he wants..all while letting our own infrastructure go to waste..while china for an example is building ghost cities and factories .. building power plants all across the country while we keep ours further than ever from the areas that need it.
I dread the day of judgement… it is beyond fathomabilty..
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/atomic-bomb-hiroshima
that was then what we have now is a thousand times more powerful..
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/24/magazine/aleppo-after-the-fall.html
I am praying that calmer minds will prevail..
https://www.vox.com/2015/6/30/8867939/greece-economic-crisis
the other thing is the economic collapse..when beleize was going through financial newspapers pushed prostitution in Greece young women was ING their bodies a can of soup for a night’s pleasure the elderly was dumpster diving for food..
one of the gentleman living here keeps talking about what he got out of the dumpsters to eat.. which one is worse..freezing because you can’t afford heat or slow agonizing death from radiation poison
Andy, the Rainbow Sky is like using the Mona Lisa to cover your septic tank. There are signs and portents that something extraterrestrial and extra-human is going to make its mark on our planet even as we scuttle our own society. It happens every so often like clock work. Didn’t Christ say it would happen suddenly?
I am an advanced Human. I opperate in a relm most dont even see. i ve seen thing and participated in some mind blowing things that would make your head spin Bill.
and I give Credit where Credit is due. To the Creator of all that is. God. Christ and The Holy Spirit.
tucker called Alex Jones a Profit. when it came time to profess his Faith? he said, I read their books.
i read God’s Play Book Bill. and it clearly says,
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” – Jeremiah 29:11
but if you Bill want to eat bugs with Alex Jones? its your right to do so.
i will go with Gods plan.
the rainbow is a symbol, a signal of Gods Promis.
someone on here said, every time i pray for you Andy i see a double rainbow. thank you for confirmation with this post.
and i had no idea they were praying for me.
clearly not the mona lisa on a septic tank.
you have a good day sir.
co-in-ci-dence
Andy posts a rainbow,
and then Elon posts a rainbow
we know Elon is shaping the future
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1734106499868131340?s=20
Andy’s posts make me smile, Thanks Andy
“I am an advanced Human.”
Umm hmmm. Thanks for outlining your problem.
You don’t get bent out of shape very often. I think the last time, that I noticed, was the child sex trade thing but you could rant about it and I got berated for doing the same.
As I pointed out in my other note to you, below, you misinterpreted the whole thing Alex was talking about and now you’ve doubled down. Alex would be the last one to eat bugs and/or advocate it. You need to put a little more thought into your hatred (oh yes, you’re capable of it too) of Jones and his words. It takes someone like him to wrench people out of and off of their potato chip-infused couches and take a real look at what is happening to our country. You may want to shove flowers into the guns that will be pointing at you, soonly, but what comes back at you ain’t no joke. Being a “special person” will have no value then.
Wait, no, Andy. That call to Stelter wasn’t a friendly call to a peer but a prank call to try and rub Stelter’s failure and ouster in as deeply as possible. You might try and watch the interview again without so much coffee. Alex hit a whole box of nails on the head throughout that interview.
Alex Jones is a proven LIAR and Charlatan … that is why he owes MILLIONS of Dollars to other people because of all of the stuff he lied about.
I wouldn’t rely upon him to tell me the sun has risen … because if there is money to be made by LYING about that he most certainly WOULD LIE.
Grain of salt…
Alex Jones was one of the best investigative journalists on the planet, before he went nuts over the CFR and lost his mind. I don’t pay him much mind, but still acknowledge he DOES have moments of lucidity…
Jones DID predict 9/11 and, evidently, has access to and knows how to interpret the government documents that give away what they’re planning next. He may rub you the wrong way but, just as I told Andy above, we NEED people like him more than ever. People throw the baby out with the bath water for emotional reasons. It happens here on George’s site constantly but taking a good, hard look at what has happened so far with the past administrations since Kennedy’s tells only one story – less freedom is what “they” want for us and doing away with our Constitution is their wet dream. The water is about to boil. Will YOU jump out before it’s too late??
I should’ve said I don’t pay him much mind because he’s longwinded and bombastic, not because he’s wrong. Does this mean Jones is right, truthful, honest, etc., all the time? Of course not. The only Man who ever was, was crucified a couple millenia ago. ALL the rest of us are occasionally wrongheaded liars.
It DOES mean he can be a valuable source for information. I discount no one who can provide information or current events news, because there are so few sources remaining which provide any news whatsoever, instead of pure propaganda.
Andy. I always enjoy your posts and agree that sometimes we fail to see the rainbow for the clouds. As one of the ones here that senses a very difficult 2024 and perhaps a time of civil unrest that none of us have seen in our lifetime, I too believe in and experience the miraculous works of God and the power of prayer.
I often wonder why evil seems to be winning the battle and why God doesn’t step in and end it but then I am reminded of the words of Jesus in the Parable of the Weeds.
“Jesus put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was asleep, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and slipped away. When the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the weeds also appeared.
The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
So the servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
‘No,’ he said, ‘if you pull the weeds now, you might uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat into my barn.’?”
Hopefully Andy, we are part of the wheat at the harvest.
I think “c” needs to spend a little time with one of the, once-upon-a-time, Liberal darlings Bill Maher –
“Bill Maher Rips His ‘Liberal Friends’ Who Only Get Their News From the NY Times and MSNBC”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/12/bill-maher-rips-his-liberal-friends-who-only/
Bill Maher is still as Liberal as they come, but he’s not a nutcase, and he’s not a commie.
WE (the USA) need Liberals — they push the envelope; we also need Conservatives — they find a way to implement the hare-brained ideas the Liberals come up with (if it’s possible to do so). What we don’t need is socialists, whether they be communists or fascists, because they present a worldview of 16th Century feudalism as a utopia-istic solution for all our social problems — the vast majority of which they have created in an attempt to force us to accept a modern-day equivalent of 16th Century feudalism…
That’s the whole idea behind the First Amendment. Maher is smart enough – and brave enough – to change his tune in order to survive.
with Elon restoring (on going, yet) free speech on formally known as Twitter and is now “X” and sent the gov. employees packing,,, I wonder if that is sinking in to the normies yet?
Merry Christmas and Merry ‘X’mas
now for a little humor from Jimmy Dore Show, w/guest comedian imitator,,,
https://rumble.com/v40k82x-joe-biden-is-irate-over-hunters-new-indictments.html
https://rumble.com/v40k8e4-vince-vaughn-tricks-alec-baldwin-into-telling-joe-biden-to-retire.html
Jimmy used to go on RANTs against Trump when he was President. Bad case of TDS, I watch him back then just see what made leftards click,,, then he got a bad covid vax,, started researching and thinking for his self, slowly but surely he took baby steps in the conspiracy facts arena.
Fauci was a big eye opener for him to begin with.
So a miracle is possible for @c also