Community cider pressing pot-luck last weekend! I wasn’t there, but furrydoc took along a box of apples from my tree and took these pictures: First the apples were washed, either in a dilute bleach bath or a vinegar bath (for those who didn’t like the idea of bleach on their apples). Then into the grinder and the press. The juice went into buckets. The pulp was caught in cheesecloth and taken to the host family’s animals. The juice … … is incredible. And I’m not just saying that because it has my very own backyard apples in it. My apples…
Author: Claire
Well, in some places that was as bad as everybody thought it would be. Oy, that picture of seawater flooding into the PATH station — impressive. A lot of phony photos of Sandy have been circulating, though. I’m not sure this one of a Niagra of seawater flooding into the World Trade Center construction site is real; it’s credited to the AP, but there so much to sort out yet. Is anybody hereabouts planning to participate in National Novel Writing Month? I’m thinking about it, but the idea scares the bejabbers out of me. “The Island Where People Forget to…
Storing water Again, I’m going to deal with the simple stuff here. I won’t cover things like rainwater catchment systems, homemade water towers, or underground cisterns. Once again, I’m just sticking with things anybody could do simply. The most basic thing Everybody should have a few days supply of water in every vehicle and every bug-out bag. The “official” recommendation is a three-day supply. A week is better, but water is heavy and three days supply will get you through most mobile emergencies. As with everything else, we need to evaluate our own circumstances and needs. Do you live in…
With post-Sandy comments You folks on the mid and upper east coast — batten down the hatches and good luck with that b***h, Sandy. I hadn’t been taking the Sandy reports very seriously. (How many media-touted mega-storms fizzle every year?) But this morning I heard a normally dispassionate meteorologist here in the west compare Sandy to The Perfect Storm of 1991 — only worse. Then he likened it to the west coast’s Columbus Day Storm. That one remains the biggest “wind event” to hit the U.S. since records have been kept; even the fringes of it, which I experienced as…
As we say in the snitch book, sometimes it’s self-defense. And defense of others. I’m sure David Codrea will say it if he hasn’t already, but yep, this is about another of those “only ones.” Those special, noble, trustworthy ones that the antis think should always be able to outgun the rest of us. I think we all owe this guy’s wife our thanks. —– Added per David C’s comment below: “We’re the Only Ones Anthrropophagic Enough.”
Can you fix a scratched DVD with a banana? Inquiring minds want to know. Oleg Volk doesn’t approve of the fixation on great marksmanship. Life in Uruguay. I think I could get used to it. Always has kind of struck me as “Switzerland south,” but cheaper. The Flagstaff, AZ, cop who committed one of the most prolonged and barbaric puppycides has resigned. It may be news to the Wall Street Journal that overseas banks, including the famous Swiss banks are tossing American clients out with the trash. But some readers hereabouts know it all too well. From first-hand experience. At…
Yesterday morning somebody had an offer up at the post office: Troy-Built 5500-watt generator, Briggs & Stratton motor, six years old, hardly used, $350. I’m not buying this generator because it doesn’t have an electronic start. I know from daily experience at the Desert Hermitage that if my life depended on successfully cord-starting a generator, they’d soon find my mouldering bones in the sand, cord still grasped in my skeletal fingers. (I have no problem starting a lawn mower, but that generator we had for a while: &^%$#@!) Fortunately, we mostly had electric starters. Other than at the Hermitage, where…
Snitching: This is how it works. This is a classic case of how cops twist people into doing their will. Naive young kid in trouble with the law. Scared. He’s maybe not the brightest bulb (though he may think he is). Cops “befriend” him and magically make his “crime” go away. Cops pay him — quite a lot for a part-time job for a kid. He’s so eager to “earn” the money and please his handlers that he persuades himself that he’s a “hero.” SO eager to please that he starts twisting and exaggerating the “evidence.” Classic. Absolutely. Except that…
Risk assessment I’m not a methodical person. My own best decisions have always been made by gut, and my best actions taken on “informed instinct.” Of course, not everyone works that way. And when facing a bewildering variety of unknowns, even “gut” people need tools to help them sort through the alternatives. Fortunately, some blog readers are experienced professionals in fields like security and emergency management. Today, I’m turning the blog over to one of those, MJR. Here’s his take on how to assess risks and decide which ones we should act on. —– MJR writes: One of the little…