… by WordPress eating the last third of this morning’s blog, I thought I’d quickly check back in for a little catching up.
It’s definitely looking more and more like batten-down-the-hatches time for tomorrow. Aside from winds gusting into the 70s and 80s, it’s wet, wet, wet and about to get wetter. This afternoon I took a drive outside of town and at high tide (we’re heavy on salt marsh and tidal estuary hereabouts) the water was already only inches from rising over the roadway. By tomorrow’s high tides, things could get messy.
The windows of my house overlook a wetland that in winter usually has small channels of water running through it. It’s a solid lake now, broken only by a few grassy hummocks. Another inch or two of rain will make it a solid river.
Yeah, definitely battening time. It feels great to know I’ve got heat, food, light, and water on hand. As long as the trees and the hill behind the house stay put, what more could a body need?
—–
I was nearly done with this morning’s maundering when WordPress gobbled it, anyhow. So I’ll let that go for a while.
I just wanted to add that other books I’ve found helpful (as well as entertaining) are Oliver Burkeman’s The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking and Sam Harris’ Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion. (Sam is no relation to Dan from that earlier blog, but they do know each other. Oddly, Sam — the famous atheist — is less of a skeptic than Dan, whose book 10% Happier is now my gold standard for “skeptic spiritual seeking.”
—–
And on the subject of Amazon links, because Karen and Ellendra asked, I tried to find that bounty program I thought I’d seen for those of you who sign up for that flat-rate $10/month plan for Kindle books. But either I imagined it or it’s gone now. So for heaven’s sake, if you’re thinking of signing up for that, just do it. It’s great of you to think of me, but it’s not a biggie.
However, if anybody downloads the free Kindle Cloud Reader (for non-Kindle devices) using this link, it’s a $1 bounty credited to my associates account.
If you give Amazon Prime as a gift this Christmas using this link I’ll receive a $10 bounty. (This is strictly for gift purchases, not your own Prime memberships.)
Sign up for your own 30-day free trial of Prime membership using this link and I’ll receive a $3 bounty even if you cancel.
Now, if all you need from Amazon is a little holiday fantasy and humor, check out the links Dana dropped into comments the other day. Don’t miss the hilarious product reviews.
On a more practical note, if you’re still looking for the perfect gift for the freedomista-survivalist-gun-owning-pet-loving-bacon-consuming-book-reading person on your list, last year’s seven-part gift series might offer inspiration. (The link goes to part VII; scroll down for links to earlier installments. Probably a few broken links by now, but you’ll find what you’re looking for.)
—–
Stay warm and dry wherever you are!
For the bacon-consuming-book-reader, try Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman. It tells how to make your own bacon. Along with ham, sausages, pepperoni, hot dogs, etc.
Just checking; In your walkabout you didn’t see any oldguys building really big boats, did you?
Down here it’s misty, 66, light breeze.
“Down here it’s misty, 66, light breeze.”
‘Bout what it is here right now. Well, 54 instead of 66, but as benign as you could wish. The weatherman rescheduled the start of the storm from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. But about 11:00, the clouds drifted off and the sky turned this weird color. I think they call it … blue.
Everybody dashed right out to run errands and they’re all saying all this pleasantness is ominous and creepy. 🙂
No old guys building boats. Yet. Maybe down there in northern California.
“… all this pleasantness is ominous and creepy. :-)”
I think that’s what they call the calm before the storm.
Experienced the same thing the day before Irene turned our area into a flooded and destroyed disaster zone in 2011. I was out hiking with Powder and we actually watched the first rainfront approach from atop one of our 3,500 ft. peaks. On the way down we got SOAKED 🙂 !!
Stay safe and dry!!
I read that Washaway beach is earning its name.
Maybe I’ll get ambitious later and put together a gift list. I have tons of cool stuff bookmarked.
A small selection from stuff I have bookmarked at Amazon, collected over the course of reading various survival/prepper articles:
I already have a few multi-tools, but if I were going to get another one, I’d be looking at the Gerber 07564 Pro Scout Needlenose with Tool Kit, because it has that “saw coupler”
implement, which takes jigsaw blades. Dang if that doesn’t look handy.
This is actually a recommendation from a friend, who speaks highly of books by Joe Nobody
Everybody’s heard of this book, right? The Prepper’s Cookbook: 300 Recipes to Turn Your Emergency Food into Nutritious, Delicious, Life-Saving Meals
For the hard-core prepper: Barbed Wire, Barricades, and Bunkers: The Free Citizen’s Guide to Fortifying the Home Retreat. I think I came across this in a discussion thread about survival, referencing the Rhodesian Bush War.
Haven’t tried it out yet, but bought one based on a good review about the Real Avid AR-15 Scraper Tool
Here’s a recommendation from Erin Palette: The Merck Manual of Medical Information: Second Home Edition
Have a UCO lantern, but prefer beeswax? UCO beeswax candles for candle lanterns
One way to buy UCO stormproof matches: UCO Stormproof Match Kit with Waterproof Case, 25 Stormproof Matches and 3 Strikers. I had thought I’d make my own waterproof matches using parafin, but after watching a demonstartion of the UCO matches, I decided to just buy some. I ended buying several packs, and the Exotac match case. It holds only 12 matches, but hey, it’s tactical aluminum! (I also have various other waterproof match cases, and the UCOs will be going into those, too, probably mixed in with some strike-anywhere matches. Use the regular matches in normal conditions, but have the UCOs there for when you need them.)
Finally, who doesn’t need a spool of Stainless Steel Lockwire? Why would you need that? Well, if you also have a Clamptite Tool (listed, but not available at Amazon), you can use it to make all sorts of emergency repairs, or even planned-out permanent constructions.
Also via Erin: Potassium Permanganate, which is pretty useful stuff, and lets you feel like you’re a mad scientist along the way. (Also available in other sizes/quantities)
Thanks, Jed.
I’ve gotten in the habit, mostly, of copying my text before submitting it to the whims of the internet. I still forget and lose stuff though.
I was moving yesterday. We have one of those enclosed cargo trailers and I was worried, after emptying the trailer, that the wind would blow it into the ditch on the way back home. Got lucky on that though. We were missing power for several hours; sure is nice to have a woodstove when the heat pumps stop working.
Hauling a trailer in that? Better you than me, Paul!
Wasn’t really a big deal here. Lost one tree, but it was precariously perched, anyhow, and it didn’t come down in a way that was even inconvenient, let alone dangerous to anybody. Otherwise, this storm was no worse than the two earlier in the week.
Weird, though. It was whisper-still all day. Then — wham! — the wind hit the south side of the house like a truck. Blew scarily for about five hours, then went away as quickly as it arrived.
Hope all you other west coasters — and east coasters, too — fared well. Have a nice weekend, Colorado, Arizona, and Texas. 🙂
And amen on the thanks, jed. Great list and thanks for including my Amazon links.
Thanks a million to whoever sent us a bit of their warm the last few days. Got up to 65 for a little while, and no wind. Even opened the window in the storm door to let in a bit of fresh air around noon time today.
Going to snow Sunday night, of course. Nice while it lasted. 🙂
Glad you got your roof sewed back on tight, Claire.
Season three finale spoiler: They all die.
Especially that mascara wearing dude that has you smootching your monitor. He perishes from an overdose of metro-shame. 😉
Oh A.G., you are such a cynic. And a wishful thinker.
Actually, although the mascara-wearing dude is indeed smoochable (and the sexiest pirate since Errol Flynn), the one I’d smooch my monitor for is the man with the glittery croccodile skin. I’ve always been a sucker for the outsider-type bad boys.
A noun, verb, and adjective: Ugh.
My high hopes of marrying you off to a former 0311 NCO turned lumber baron are rapidly fading before my eyes! What’s to be done? Tsk tsk. (Begins to hang and slowly shake head).
😉
mascara-wearing dude?
glittery croccodile skin?
What in the wide wide world of sports is a-goin’ on here?
Secret code. 😉
No, seriously, it’s a discussion about characters from Once Upon a Time — namely Captain Hook and Rumplestiltskin. A.G. does not share my love of the show.
Well, as long as you weren’t talking about Twighlight.