Desert Cat's Paradise

Obama Forgets His Wookie At Home

2012-01-25T20:22:00.002-07:00

...gets his candy-ass handed to him by a little blonde girl in AZ:

Obama Has Heated Argument With AZ Gov Jan Brewer | RealClearPolitics

Skunk Plague Redux?

2012-01-22T19:48:00.011-07:00

Two skunks and one raccoon dead in the last two weeks. I'm beginning to wonder.

Last week I caught one red-handed inside the cat feeder. I couldn't very well shoot him in there lest I spoil the cat food and probably the feeder itself. So I blocked off one entrance and set the trap at the other one. Sure enough he was in the trap by morning. The raccoon was caught the conventional way by setting the trap in the wash outside the fence.

This evening when I went outside to fill the cat feeder, I heard an odd scratching sound coming from under the storage trailer. Flashlight in hand, I saw Irene under the trailer, but she was not the source of the sound. It was another skunk, trying to get into the cat enclosure by crawling through the hollow rear bumper of the trailer! Well he was the proverbial sitting duck. I popped him with a .22 round, shoved his carcass out of the bumper, then retreated to the house as Satan's Own Perfume billowed forth from his orifice.

I lost count somewhere over 25 skunks last time this happened...

-----------------
Progress Pics
I wired the low voltage breaker box this weekend, or at least the supply side together with the battery equalizer.

The other end of those wires are here at the battery posts. It looks a little rat's nest-ish, but this is a temporary setup as I will be upgrading the battery bank probably before the end of this year. Nickel Iron batteries, baby!

I also got a decent start on installing the conduit spine that will run the length of the house to distribute the low voltage (12v and 24v) power.

I miscounted some parts and so ran out before I was done. But that corresponded closely enough with running out of time so it wasn't a major issue.

Not pictured is the additional foam fill I installed around the lower solar hot water tank. I still need more cans to complete insulating this tank. It was hard to judge the effectiveness as today was a hazy partly to mostly cloudy day and, as a result, I didn't get enough hot water to shower with.

I meant to take more photos of this as it went together, but this is Mom's greenhouse completed as far as it will be for now.

In five years or so, when this UV stabilized polyethylene finally gives up the ghost, she will replace it with the same clear corrugated panels that are on the roof.

In the meanwhile it is producing hot air every sunny morning, and that is reducing her winter heating bills. This window fan pushes house air into the greenhouse and it returns fifteen or twenty degrees warmer via another open window.

She is also growing lettuce and radishes, which we have eaten from already. But the main reason for building this was the winter heating benefit. She keeps her house cool at night, but as soon as the sun is up and shining on the greenhouse, the house temperature jumps ten degrees in short order.

"Tuk tuk tuk", I say, and the chickens come running.

I have a handful of Sahara mustard I pulled from my garden for them. They love this stuff. It is edible for humans too.

I wondered on this blog several years ago whether this would make good chicken food and it does. It is a weed and somewhat invasive at that. But it grows like a...well like a weed, and makes a high calcium green for the chickens. So I've been thinking actually of gathering seed and deliberately planting it in winter "chicken pasture" beds.

What else? In the evenings this weekend I've been working on a planned upgrade to my bass guitar.

I bought an inexpensive bass to start myself out with, and as I've gotten better at playing, I've been wanting the bass to sound better to match. A while ago I bought a set of Ernie Ball flatwound strings, and the improvement was astonishing. Now I'm gutting the innards and starting over with higher quality electronics.

Here it is with strings, pick-guard and electronic innards removed.

The first thing I did was improve the grounding contact under the bridge. I have long suspected the ground wire was not making proper contact with the bridge, because the bass would pick up a lot of hum when my hands were off the strings.

Next I lined the inside of the pickup cavities and the electronics cavity with self-adhesive copper foil. This will be tied to ground as well to shield the electronics from stray hum signal.

The back of the pick-guard over the electronics also got a foil shield.

As I write this, I have just gotten started wiring up the new components on the back of the pick-guard. I am upgrading the standard jazz bass wiring to include a series/parallel feature via the push-pull-potentiometer combo at the left. The wiring diagram is in the background, but for any interested it can be found at seymourduncan.com, here.

The normal arrangement is for the two pickups on a jazz bass to be run in parallel. By running them in series I get a volume boost in the mid-range. Just a nifty feature I wanted to play with. There are many more interesting modifications available at Seymour Duncan.

This project will be finished another weekend evening, as I am out of time and need to head to bed for my 4:30 AM wakeup time. Gotta leave myself time to deal with any more skunks in the trap in the morning...

Jumping Stilts!

2012-01-22T10:08:00.000-07:00

Any FPS gamers out there in my readership?

I am sure I'm not the only one who, after spending a few hours in the physics of the Unreal Tournament (or other FPS universe), came back to the real world wishing for the jumping and running capabilities I had gotten used to "in there".

Well.

I do believe that problem has been solved:
Pro-Jump Jumping stilts | PowerBocking | PowerSkips | PowerBocks | Jumping Stilts not Powerisers Powerizers fly jumpers Velocity Stilts Powerskips 7leagues 7mileboots Kangaroo Shoes

This stuff gives me goosebumps to watch.

Yes, yes that's it! That's the way we can jump in the Unreal Universe.

What with my nearly half-century old out-of-shape frame in the real world, I'd probably kill myself though.

The Day the Music Died

2012-01-19T21:46:00.012-07:00

Jonathan Holden, RIP

I am still in shock at the news.

J. Holden, 60, dies; promoted roots concerts

Jonathan brought an incredible diversity of musical talent to Tucson. He was one of those rare individuals whose vision and passion for music was capable of pulling an entire city another small step above "cow town" status.

We often enjoyed the concerts he promoted over the last many years. He will be sorely missed.

Rhythm and Roots

Whither now?

Progress Pics

2012-01-17T10:57:00.005-07:00

Ok ok, I'm blahhging!

First some pics from last week's unphotographed work. This is the swale I cut and filled to capture rainfall for an expanded orchard area, looking north with uphill and the neighbor's fence to the left and downhill to the right.

What I am trying to do is snag a bit of runoff at this location along the fence that otherwise would continue further north before entering my property.

This is looking south. You can see the reverse slope and berm I created along the left side.

For clarification, since some have asked in the past, yes it is legal to capture runoff in Arizona. In fact it is encouraged as a water saving measure and called "rainwater harvesting" in writeups generated by the jurisdictions. In some watersheds this is taboo. Not here to the best of my knowledge.

Friday I cut and taped a sheet of plastic to form a bag about 4" diameter larger than the lower solar hot water collector tank (2" each side). I filled it with foam fill, as far as the ten cans I bought would stretch. I'm short of the top, so will be buying more and finishing this next weekend.

The point here is that I noticed the system loses all of its heat overnight. This is an effort to retain some of the heat gain to transfer it over to the next day. The top tank will be more of a challenge, because it will be exposed to sunlight. Black poly will not do, as it will break down in short order. Foam fill itself breaks down in sunlight.I'm looking at fabricating a metal canister to contain the foam fill around the tank.

Saturday was an exercise in frustration and futility. First I discovered that the PVC solvent cement I thought I had on hand was still good--I last used some a couple months ago. But no, it had gelled into uselessness in the interim. So I burned up part of the morning running into the local hardware store to pick up more.

Then later I discovered that one of the fittings I had grabbed out of the 1-1/4" bin at Home Depot was, in fact, a 1-1/2" fitting. And seeing as that was to be installed at the start of the run at the breaker box, it put a complete halt to that part of the project.

What I managed to accomplish Saturday was merely this one conduit run from the breaker box...

...to this junction box under the house.

Real productive day, that.

Sunday was another wildly productive day. I made another batch of pemmican bars, but this time I used freeze dried hamburger crumbles from a storage food company. I flubbed the quantities though. I should have used a single #10 can for the recipe I had devised. Instead I put both in, and spent the rest of the day melting additional quantities of tallow until I got the quantities rebalanced.

This will not be a repeat however. Whereas the dehydrated hamburger crumbles that I made myself last time had the meat juices removed and boiled down separately for use in sauces, it is apparent that this freeze dried meat has the juices dried in to the product. The result is that the product is a lot saltier than I expected, which overwhelmed the chocolate and cinnamon flavor I was trying to establish. I will go back to making my own dried meat next time.

Because of MLK day, I also had Monday off. To complete my writeoff of this weekend as a near loss, I managed only to get these cables properly terminated for installation when I finally get the correct parts for the conduit next week. Part of the day was again burned off in what turned out to be a futile attempt to find those missing parts at the local hardware store. From where I am located, even a run to the "local" hardware store will eat up a significant portion of the morning. They did not have what I needed.

I gave up and went into town early.

On the way out I was greeted by some breathtaking views. These photos do not do the scene justice.

I try not to become jaded at the beauty of the valley where I live, but sometimes right after a rainstorm it just leaps out at me and I am reminded anew.

I'm A Picker, I'm Grinner...

2012-01-12T20:25:00.004-07:00

You're the cutest thing that I ever did see,
I really love your peaches, want to shake your tree!

The Bankster Party, Illustrated

2012-01-11T11:37:00.001-07:00

Vox Popoli: Hope and Change: Republican style

Mitt Romney's top ten campaign contributors:

Goldman Sachs
Credit Suisse Group
Morgan Stanley
HIG Capital
Barclays
Kirkland & Ellis
Bank of America
PriceWaterhouseCoopers
EMC Corp
JPMorgan Chase & Co

Any questions about who owns Mitt Romney?

Any questions why I say it does not matter who wins the general election if Romney is the eventual Republican nominee?

Disconnect

2012-01-10T18:16:00.003-07:00

I've been getting mixed messages from my various sources regarding what is going on. On the one hand, the various alternative news sources, including and especially Zero Hedge, Market Ticker, and The Daily Bell, continue to chronicle the ongoing economic meltdown in Europe and the very real likelihood that the US financial system gets pulled down with it.

In the noosphere I am detecting a sense of optimism about the future however.

I suppose it would be reasonable to expect this, given the fact that the reality of the situation is lost on most people. The rate of job losses appears to have leveled off, and the manipulated statistics appear to indicate a weak recovery ongoing.

Starting from 2004 onward, I knew something was up, and the noosphere readings reflected an increasing pessimism and fear through maybe the first part of last year. Is there really a sea change, or is this driven by unwarranted optimism?

Dreams have been funky lately too, but the best I've been able to make of them is a reflection of my subconscious state, influenced as it often is by things I may not be consciously aware of during the day. Zombie apocalypse stuff last night, floodwaters raging in the streets the other night. Whatever.

Deep Tinfoil Hattery

2012-01-10T17:32:00.003-07:00

Interesting theory nonetheless:

Did the Dimona Dozen murder the Fukushima 50?

Fukushima may in fact have been caused by an act of war under the cover of an environmental disaster.

Jim Stone, arrested, detained without charges for his article and research on Did the Dimona Dozen murder the Fukushima 50?

The author makes a case that a lower intensity earthquake (about 6.3) was used as cover to destroy the Fukushima plant, and he fingers Israeli intelligence and their STUXNET worm.

http://www.jimstonefreelance.com/fukushima1.html

Progress?

2012-01-09T21:06:00.003-07:00

Yeah, there was some, and no, I didn't end up taking any pics.

My chief accomplishment was reshaping a spot adjacent to my existing olive orchard to accommodate a couple of additional trees and to capture additional runoff from the neighbor's parcel. I also got a start laying out the fence line for a cross-fencing project I've had in the plans for a while. I ended up busting the blade hitch on the tractor...again.

I was going to rework part of the solar hot water system to bypass the lower tank during the winter, but changed my mind about digging into it this weekend. I'm going to try adding insulation to the tanks first to see if that helps the winter hot water production.

I will be switching gears to the solar electric project and to the fencing project going forward.

And Now A Word From Another Famous Frenchman

2012-01-02T08:06:00.004-07:00

CLIK

(no translation required)

Happy Anniversary!

2012-01-02T06:00:00.002-07:00

Ah, eet is zhat time of zhee year again, baybee!
Les Fleurs! Les Bonbons!

...et la passion du cœur!

Ah my littel stinqueur, mon petit parfumées! Ma chérie! Your kisses, zhey set my heart afire. Tu me rends fou!

Le toucher de vos doigts sont comme de la soie. Your caress inflames my désire. Ma passion coule pour vous seulement.

Je t'aime! Je vis d'amour et d'eau douce. Twenty four years of l'amour! Let it never come to an end!

Google translate

Best of 2011

2012-01-01T21:31:00.002-07:00

Cooties!

Bullshit

Jasmine Loves Sammy

Ultimate Dog Tease

Smoothest. Coffee. EVAR!

Oh The Horror!

Solar Shower!

2012-01-01T18:34:00.005-07:00

This weekend I made the connection between the solar tower's hot water system and the house plumbing system. Shark bite fittings and PEX pipe made the transition.

Just inside the the house is where the water supply to one of the west bathroom sinks comes up. This is where I spliced in the hot and cold lines from the tower.

I am still working on threading through the dedicated dishwasher connection (the x-hot, unregulated supply). I have it about 80% threaded through the dust and spiders and insulation under the house. Thus it is not yet connected in this photo.

With the connections live, I filled the system and let it begin to heat in the sun. Saturday was hazy and the water never got hot enough by the end of the day. I finished insulating the remainder of the pipe that were slated to get insulation.

Today I spent much of the day threading this heat tape onto the lower collector headers. I should have done this *before* the lower tank was installed. Somehow I thought I'd have more working room than I ended up with. It was a painstaking process involving contortions and fishing the tape through the many twists behind the lower tank with a makeshift reacher consisting of a nail on a stick, and a long-handled pliers. But I persevered and it's on.

Late this afternoon the hot water coming off the top of the collectors and entering the upper tank was about 103 degrees. I thought that might not be quite hot enough for a shower, but after grubbing around under the house all afternoon, I took a shower using that water anyway. Hot enough! Maybe two or three more degrees would be perfect, but that gas hot water heater is now turned off and will stay off except for occasions when I need more or hotter water than the solar system will produce.

I am W00t!

---------------------------

Update:
Today I completed the extension of the PEX waterline to the dishwasher location and connected it at the other end. It just needs the adapter to the dishwasher water line.

I got back to installing the low voltage distribution panel, getting it mounted with the necessary cutouts to interface with the existing solar control panel and the battery load balancer unit.

Next up is the installation of the blower fan that will siphon hot air off the top of the tower and distribute it into the house. This will run off the low voltage system, so getting that system up and running is prerequisite.

Welcome to 2012

2012-01-01T08:09:00.005-07:00

Ah, how well ABBA says it!

Sometimes I see
How the brave new world arrives
And I see how it thrives
In the ashes of our lives
Oh yes, man is a fool
And he thinks he'll be okay
Dragging on, feet of clay
Never knowing he's astray
Keeps on going anyway...

Happy New Year
Happy New Year
May we all have a vision now and then
Of a world where every neighbor is a friend
Happy New Year
Happy New Year
May we all have our hopes, our will to try
If we don't we might as well lay down and die
You and I

Just change the date reference in the song and it is contemporary to today.

I narrowly escaped being subjected to a night of KC And The Sunshine Band, but also missed an opportunity for a new year party with Rick Braun, Jonathan Butler and Euge Groove. Instead I brought in the new year in the Cat family tradition--while sawing ZZ's tucked comfortably in bed.

Neither have retrospectives on the past year and resolutions for the coming year been part of my tradition. I'm more of the Dilbert school of thought** on the holiday. But just a little bit of it this year for a change:

In the wider world, the socio-economic breakdown has continued to deepen and become undeniably obvious to many more people than were willing to recognize it before. At the same time, the grip of the bifactional ruling party on the minds of the typical inattentive American is weakening--little cracks in the facade of their Hegelian dance have appeared here and there. Ron Paul is surging amongst those wakening from their blue pill slumber, and the Powers-That-Be are shrieking in response. If they cannot paper over the cracks and lull the sheep back to sleep with some blue nostrum, then we can expect much chaos going forward. They will not go without pulling everything down behind them.

In my personal and family life this year has been a year of reconciliations in a number of ways. May this trend continue into the new year.

My friends, my sense is that we have a rather rough patch ahead, the likes of which we have not seen yet. My wish for this new year is that we pray together and hang together, lest we hang separately.

**

Anonymous, Bitchez!

2011-12-27T20:23:00.002-07:00

Anonymous Explains Why 2.7 Million Stratfor Emails Were Hacked | ZeroHedge

Update: Speaking of a house divided:
Press Release: Stratfor hack NOT Anonymous

They are not exactly a highly structured, monolithic organization, it would appear.

Who is "Anonymous" really, after all?

In the comments at that top linked story from Zero Hedge, an alleged member of Anonymous describes some of the sub-groups under the larger umbrella of Anonymous, and their differing agendas. Worth a read for background info.

Progress Pics

2011-12-26T19:40:00.004-07:00

This was a truncated work weekend, being that the holiday straddled the bulk of it. Also I had to do some furnace repairs on Momcat's furnace (thermocouple went bad, and then the fan motor froze up.) Still between a couple hours each on Saturday and Sunday afternoon and today, I got some stuff done.

I finished extending the hot, hot! and cold lines down to the bottom of the tower...

...and terminated them where I will switch to PEX and sharkbite fittings:

I drilled holes through the base of the tower and into the house to run the PEX. As it turns out I need to get three 90 degree sharkbite fittings to install right inside the house wall to meet up with the nearest hot and cold water pipes. So I stopped on that part of the project for this weekend.

I got started installing the pipe insulation over the collector system pipes:

The insulation that will be exposed to the sun got a black pipe tape wrap as well:

Next week I will install these heat tapes on the bottom manifolds. My hope is that I can reduce the number of nights I need to drain down the panels by heating the bottom manifold this way. Otherwise any night below freezing (which is most nights in December and January), I'd need to drain the panels in the evening and refill them in the morning.

Blue Christmas

2011-12-25T18:06:00.005-07:00

Alone now again. Daisycat went home this early afternoon. We had, the two of us, a very good time Christmas Eve, but the mulled wine we enjoyed did not agree with her system come morning, and she went home early this afternoon still feeling green.

Post-Christmas, I'm always left feeling blue. Three hundred and sixty four days I like my balance of solitude and company, but today I miss the big family gatherings at Grandma Cat's house, where my uncles and aunts and my many cousins congregated for the day. The adults held the main floor, and we kids either occupied the second floor or the basement, depending upon where Grandma's roomers were staying at the time. It was a hugely anticipated event--not so much for the food and presents, but for the infrequent occasion I had to visit with my cousins.

Grandma died years ago and everyone moved away. Dad died a few years ago. I never had kids, and my nieces and nephews, cousins and second cousins are scattered across the country. Now it seems only special occasions even bring Daisycat out here.

This song sums it up for me.

I'll be home for Christmas,
If only in my dreams...

Someone, somewhere is snugly ensconced in the midst of a big extended family gathering, nibbling yet another bit of dessert or one more bite of that wonderful stuffing, basking in the glow that only a gathering of good kin can bring.

Unfortunately that is not me, not this year.

Thanks for coming around, my dear readers. Here is hoping your Christmas was indeed merry and bright.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T09:52:00.001-07:00

May the peace of our Lord fill your spirit this season.

Leroy the Redneck Reindeer

2011-12-24T19:03:00.001-07:00

This is Daisycat's new favorite Christmas song.

Merry Christmas yawl!

(God help me...)

Martyr

2011-12-22T21:39:00.003-07:00

You keep telling yourself that you are right,
That your cause is just,
That you are keeping the law.

Perhaps you will convince yourself, someday,
But the look in my eye, before you shot me,
Will haunt you forever.

December 21, 2011

2011-12-21T16:17:00.004-07:00

One year from today, the Mayan calendar reaches its Zero Hour.

Given the events of the last few years, and the last six months in particular, I will be completely unsurprised to find us in the midst of a complete SHTF meltdown by this time next year.

Candidate Match-O-Matic

2011-12-20T18:04:00.000-07:00

Having trouble understanding which Republican candidate for president best reflects your views? This interactive test matches your views with the politician most closely aligned with them:

Candidate Match-O-Matic

By Request

2011-12-19T12:59:00.000-07:00

Click to embiggen...

Progress Pics

2011-12-18T16:58:00.006-07:00

I finished the construction and installation of the permanent ladder. Behind the ladder I installed the cold water supply to the mixer valve, and the regulated and unregulated hot water supply lines to the house fixtures. (The unregulated line will go to the dishwasher).

Up to the top of the ladder, the lines continue higher...

...and end at this contraption.

This is two mixer valves installed back to back. The first one off the top of the tank will be non functional initially. It is intended to be plumbed to a future tankless water heater, in order to provide automatic backup hot water on days when the sun fails to heat the water sufficiently. The valve will pass through water from the solar tank (via the cold water inlet) as long as it is hot enough. If it is below the set point it will draw water through the tankless heater (via the hot water inlet), triggering the tankless unit operation.

The second mixing valve is hooked up conventionally to mix cold water with the hot water on those days when the solar hot water is too hot for normal faucet use. The unregulated tap running to the dishwasher allows the use of high temperatures for this purpose only.

Down at the lower tank, I plumbed the cold water inlet...

...and installed an expansion tank.

The tank is inverted to allow the water to drain out on those occasions when I need to empty the system for hard freeze protection.

There was rain forecast for today. It was kind enough to hold off until about 4:30 PM, allowing me nearly a full day to work on this project.

Left to do is to extend these lines under the house with PEX and hook into the house system, then pressure test these additional fittings. Once they are confirmed to be leak proof, I will install the foam pipe wrap on all the pipe not exposed to the sun, with the exception of the bottom headers that will get an electric heat tape wrapped over them.

After than I will put it online and begin saving beaucoup propane costs.

Note of interest: photos taken with my new camera gifted to me by my nieces.

What Makes You a "Suspected Terrorist"

2011-12-14T21:31:00.002-07:00

Storing more than seven days of food makes you a suspected Terrorist

Welcome to Fascist America.

She's Gone

2011-12-12T23:12:00.006-07:00

Rest in peace, my little dollface.

The gray tortoiseshell on the right in this cat pile is Dolly, aka Poochie. She died this evening of severe respiratory infection complicated by difficult to treat diabetes, age approximately eleven years.

It has been a challenging year with her diabetes regimen, but I wouldn't rewind it. There were lessons and testing in there for me.

I'm really only starting to process the loss...

------------
update: She bore an uncanny resemblance to the original LOLcat (see right sidebar).

In Case You Missed It

2011-12-12T16:58:00.002-07:00

Detainment Camps Going Live: FEMA Seeking Subcontractors To Provide 'Temporary Camp Services' In All 50 States by Mac Slavo

Combine this with the recently passed legislation which authorizes the establishment of domestic war zones and the subsequent detention of those who are suspected of engaging in "terrorist-related activity" (remember how broadly the government has defined this phrase), and Alex Jones is looking more and more like a prophet rather than a tinfoil hat nutcase.

Since I'm not busy watching "Dancing With The Stars" etc. but am writing my observations about the collapse of the world financial structures and preparedness to deal with the aftermath, I'm sure I am on some government goon's watch list.

So be it. As long as I can stand before God with a clear conscience, I am good. What is to come is in His hands, as my efforts were inspired in the first place by His leading.

Those who talk armed insurrection are fools. They do not understand the scriptures if they believe that they can prevent what is written therein. The Enemy and his minions obviously believe that they can do so, which is why "the nations rage", but they are the greater fools. It is written that the Beast will make war against the saints and will prevail against them. (Rev 13:7-8) It is the Lord Himself who will cut short this tribulation.

What will you do in that day? Will you stand with the Lord, and thereby find yourself in the multitude beneath the altar? (Rev. 6:9-11) Or will you join in an ill-fated, human-inspired effort against the Beast and his devices? No, refuse the Mark as you must (Rev 13: 16-17, Rev 14:9-11), but as with this, in all aspects of your life remain obedient to the Lord.

In light of the linked story, consider this:
9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear. 10 He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. Rev 13:9-10

This will indeed be a time of severe testing of faith and patience.

Progress (Such As It Is) Pics

2011-12-11T19:39:00.003-07:00

Hampered as I was by a persistent head cold, and by concern over a sick cat, I did not get much accomplished this weekend.

In the garden I mowed the paths between the beds. I waited on this until we had a hard frost, because lots of little creatures use the tall grass and flowers for habitat. After hard frost, most of the humming, whirring, chirping sounds characteristic of a meadow have fallen silent, so I make the assumption that they have either gone to hibernation or in the case of most adult insects, they've died off.

This is not quite how I envisioned the paths. Originally they were to be grass that got mowed regularly, with the clippings blown into the beds for mulch. With the flowers that grow riotously in the paths plus this unique micro ecosystem created by regular watering in the midst of the desert, I can't bring myself to do that except after the end of the season.

Rather than getting to any plumbing, I elected to begin construction of the permanent ladder/steps that go inside the tower to provide access to the upper water tank and appurtenances.

Here it is partially installed.

Secret Fed Bailouts Dwarf TARP Twenty Times Over

2011-12-11T08:38:00.002-07:00

This is the "partial" audit of the Fed that Ron Paul was able to extract from Congress. Even so the results are flabbergasting. TARP was "only" $800 billion:

The first ever GAO audit of the Federal Reserve Reveals $16 Trillion in secret bailouts

To place $16 trillion into perspective, remember that GDP of the United States is only $14.12 trillion.
The entire national debt of the United States government spanning its 200+ year history is "only" $14.5 trillion. The budget that is being debated so heavily in Congress and the Senate is "only" $3.5 trillion. Take all of the outrage and debate over the $1.5 trillion deficit into consideration, and swallow this Red pill: There was no debate about whether $16,000,000,000,000 would be given to failing banks and failing corporations around the world.
...
The list of institutions that received the most money from the Federal Reserve can be found on page 131 of the GAO Audit and are as follows. [Note: these are all major stakeholders in the privately owned 'FED' -CR]

Citigroup: $2.5 trillion ($2,500,000,000,000)
Morgan Stanley: $2.04 trillion ($2,040,000,000,000)
Merrill Lynch: $1.949 trillion ($1,949,000,000,000)
Bank of America: $1.344 trillion ($1,344,000,000,000)
Barclays PLC (United Kingdom): $868 billion ($868,000,000,000)
Bear Sterns: $853 billion ($853,000,000,000)
Goldman Sachs: $814 billion ($814,000,000,000)
Royal Bank of Scotland (UK): $541 billion ($541,000,000,000)
JP Morgan Chase: $391 billion ($391,000,000,000)
Deutsche Bank (Germany): $354 billion ($354,000,000,000)
UBS (Switzerland): $287 billion ($287,000,000,000)
Credit Suisse (Switzerland): $262 billion ($262,000,000,000)
Lehman Brothers: $183 billion ($183,000,000,000)
Bank of Scotland (United Kingdom): $181 billion ($181,000,000,000)
BNP Paribas (France): $175 billion ($175,000,000,000)
and many many more including banks in Belgium of all places

View the 266-page GAO audit of the Federal Reserve(July 21st, 2011): http://www.scribd.com/doc/60553686/GAO-Fed-Investigation

Source: http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-696
FULL PDF on GAO server: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d11696.pdf

Gosh, how handy to own a central bank, such that you can have them write you a two and a half trillion dollar check when you're a little low on lunch money!

And some of you *still* think Occupy Wall Street is the problem.

Bankster. Lamp post. Some assembly required.

Gerald Celente Hits The Roof

2011-12-10T22:00:00.001-07:00

As readers know, I've been following Celente for a while, due to his prescient forecasts
I knew Gerald Celente got screwed in the MF Global collapse. I hadn't heard him talk about it until now.

Gerald Celente: 'IT'S FASCIST. CAN'T YOU SEE IT?" - Part ONE - YouTube
Part TWO

This is worse than I realized.

Welcome to Fascist America.

Money Chart

2011-12-10T08:38:00.001-07:00

The author of xkcd has put up a fascinating chart in lieu of a cartoon here. It encapsulates a ton of information in a relatively small space, employing the "picture worth a thousand words" principle:

xkcd: Money Chart

There is plenty of grist for thought, no matter what your political/social persuasion.

As for me, I intend to print out this sucka on the biggest format I can set it to (probably 36"x 48") and use it as a conversation starter.

Still Recovering

2011-12-09T21:00:00.000-07:00

Having arrived home to my farm for the first time in two weeks this afternoon, I'm still unpacking and coming to grips with the reality that I not only escaped Vegas (third circle of hell), but am not, in fact, still lost in the icy Minnesota wastelands. Too much stirring of ancient memories--somewhere deep inside me I had begun to be convinced I was trapped in the grip of Old Man Winter's icy claws again. I'm shaking off the sensation as I shake off the head cold I caught.

In other news, my sister and her family bought me a new digital camera, and here I left it on my desk in the apartment when I left this morning. Dang! I planned to try it out this weekend taking pics and videos. Yes, videos! I now finally have a camera that can capture vid clips, and I intend to use it here and there to post videos together with my progress pics. But alas! Not this weekend.

I think the way I feel this evening, I will be up for working on my projects starting tomorrow. I bought more of the plumbing parts I need to inch closer toward a working solar hot water system.

Those of you who recommended the shark-bite fittings, hey great tip for small projects. But dang dudes! I bought a handful to interface my solar system with my house water system--maybe 8-10 fittings total--and nearly dropped my jaw when I saw the register tally. It wouldn't take much of a project for shark bites to make the project cost scream into the stratosphere. I think for most of my cheap and easy type projects going forward I'll stick with solvent-welded PVC. Sure the PEX roll was dirt cheap, but the the fittings way more than made up for the savings.

First-Hand Review of Sarajevo SHTF

2011-12-08T10:25:00.003-07:00

I like finding these people when they are ready to open up and discuss their experience. Nothing beats first hand experience of SHTF for winnowing out theory from reality:
Incredible Survival Q & A From Serbia

----------------------
Also:
FerFal's classic treatise on post-collapse Argentina

----------------------

Where's Waldo?

2011-12-06T12:51:00.003-07:00

Notice a common thread between these prominent figures in the Eurozone?

If you were an international banking cartel hellbent on taking over a continent, how would *you* do it?

Homeward Bound

2011-12-05T05:47:00.001-07:00

I've been out and about, traveling the country. It will be damn fine to be home again in my tropical paradise.

For Marti

2011-12-03T16:19:00.001-07:00

2011-11-30T23:48:00.001-07:00

Comfortably Numb

2011-11-27T09:29:00.006-07:00

My frustration with the right-wing retards who refuse to see who is responsible for the looting and destruction of our financial system that has been going on in this country is only exceeded by the left-wing retards who think communism is the answer to it.

Bugger the both of you!

Guest Post: Comfortably Numb | ZeroHedge

Both the Tea Party movement and the Occupy Wall Street movement are a reflection of the mood change in the country, which is a result of government overreach, political corruption, dysfunctional economic policies, and a financial system designed to enrich the few while defrauding the many. The common theme is anger, frustration and disillusionment with a system so badly broken it appears unfixable through the existing supposedly democratic methods. The system has been captured by an oligarchy of moneyed interests from the financial industry, mega-corporations, and military industrial complex, protected by their captured puppets in Washington DC and sustained by the propaganda peddling corporate media. The differences in political parties are meaningless as they each advocate big government solutions to all social, economic, foreign relations, and monetary issues.

There is confusion and misunderstanding regarding the culprits in this drama. It was plain to me last week when I read about a small group of concerned citizens in the next town over who decided to support the Occupy movement by holding a nightly peaceful march to protest the criminal syndicate that is Wall Street and a political system designed to protect them. My local paper asked for people’s reaction to this Constitutional exercising of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. Here is a sampling of the comments:

“What are those Occupy people thinking?! The whole concept is foreign to me. There are always going to be the haves and the have nots. Get over it. Blame yourself for not paying more attention in school or not working hard enough. Just wish people would take responsibility.”

“If they worked half as hard actually working as they do being a pain in everyone else’s ass, they’d be rich! Being born does not guarantee success or wealth. Only hard work does. Maybe we should let them all occupy a jail cell or two.”

“If the goal is to irritate hardworking suburban commuters on their way home, that sounds like the perfect time and location.”

“Let’s hope they don’t pitch tents and trash Lansdale. They need to look for a job, not occupy the streets.”

“I work, and even if I wasn’t working I wouldn’t (march); I would be out looking for a JOB!”

I was dumbfounded at the rage directed towards mostly young people who haven’t even begun their working careers and have played no part in the destruction of our economic system underway for the last 30 years. The people making these statements are middle aged, middle class suburbanites. They seem to be just as livid as the OWS protestors, but their ire is being directed towards the only people who have taken a stand against Wall Street greed and Washington D.C. malfeasance. I’m left scratching my head trying to understand their animosity towards people drawing attention to the enormous debt based ponzi scheme that is our country, versus their silent acquiescence to the transfer of trillions in taxpayer dollars to the criminal bankers that have destroyed the worldwide financial system. I can only come to the conclusion the average American has become so apathetic, willfully ignorant of facts and reality, distracted by the techno-gadgets that run their lives, uninterested in anything beyond next week’s episode of Dancing with the Stars or Jersey Shore, and willing to let the corporate media moguls form their opinions for them through relentless propaganda, the only thing that will get their attention is an absolute collapse of our economic scheme. Uninformed, unconcerned, intellectually vacant Americans will get exactly that in the not too distant future.

Bunch of knee-jerk reaction retards, yes. I can't even read some of my old conservative blogger haunts anymore. They are full of this kind of thoughtless crap and blame-shifting. It isn't about hard work anymore people! It is about the fact that all of your hard work is now being stolen from you, (literally!) by an elite who have dropped nearly all pretense of operating under the rule of law. You don't know any of this because you're looking to Hannity, Limbaugh, Fox News, et. al. for your "Truth". This makes you no better than the NPR/CNN/MSNBC zombies. It is not part of their agenda to set you up with a comprehensive knowledge of what is going down any more than the liberal version of the "news" is. Divide and conquer is their motto. Keep them sheep banging their heads against each other so they miss what the wolves are doing.

If you can't wake up to what is really going on and realize that you share common cause with these...distasteful, smelly, hippy, OWS protesters, and join forces with them to apply the heavy political pressure that will be required to make *any* dent in the oligarchs monopoly on power, then you will deserve the rape that you (and they, and the rest of us) will continue to receive.

Perhaps someday soon you will waken (maybe when you say "Ow! You didn't even use any lube!") But I'm not holding out much hope for you. When your neighbor loses his house, you will assume it is because he was a filthy freeloader who didn't pay his bills. When your 401K is nationalized, you will scream bloody murder at the theft, and will be directed by your handlers to blame "socialists" in government. When your mother loses her Medicare coverage and her Social Security check is slashed, you will scream bloody murder about how she was "owed" this, and depending upon whether you are left or right, your handlers will direct your rage in the appropriate direction.

But you will refuse to see that your view is every bit the managed view as "those idiots on the other side". You will refuse to lift your head far enough to recognize that there is a power structure that has one hand each in the puppet-left and the puppet-right, because that realization is far too disturbing. There is not "us" and "them". There is "us" and "us" and the "them" is the power behind the facade, the little man behind the curtain. You are being played for their purposes, not your own interests. Your prosperity is the last thing they care about, except that you have just enough toys and distractions to leave them to their machinations.

My Daisy-half actually watched through that entire video I linked below--the one about the money-masters. It was tremendously eye-opening for her, and quite disturbing. When she was done, she concluded that most people should not watch it, because they could not handle the truth. The despair they may feel could overwhelm them unless they have a hope that transcends this world. I disagree that most people should be sheltered from this truth, but I agree that the reason most people avoid it is that it does indeed take more than the average courage to face this truth.

What about you?

Who Owns The Federal Reserve?

2011-11-26T23:00:00.001-07:00

Reminder: The Federal Reserve is not part of the US Federal Government--it is a privately owned banking cartel.

Included at this link is a chart showing who owns it:
The Federal Reserve Replies on its Stock Ownership and Treasury Purchases

Invalidation

2011-11-26T20:50:00.003-07:00

A Good Time To Buy More Silver

2011-11-26T17:13:00.000-07:00

The price has faded back to $30+ again, and this appears on the horizon:

A Silver Price Surge Coming? Sprott To Buy $1.5 Billion Of Silver Bullion!

Morning Mood

2011-11-25T21:29:00.000-07:00

Suck it up, DC.

Up Next: Syria

2011-11-23T15:13:00.000-07:00

Aircraft Carrier CVN-77 Parks Next Door To Syria Just As US Urges Americans To Leave Country "Immediately" | ZeroHedge

HFS! Just in time to distract the world from the implosion of the EuroZone, a new war imminent in the ME.

Yeah, "Teh Won" sure earned that Nobel Peace Prize of his, didn't he? That would be via the "Nuke The Moon" theory of peacemaking...

Progress Pics

2011-11-20T19:21:00.007-07:00

I finished the pemmican late last weekend, then put it in the freezer. Friday I popped them out to individually wrap them. Here are the cinnamon pemmican bars:

...and some of the chocolate pemmican bars:

Also Friday I finished constructing the piping connections between the tanks and between the tanks and the solar panels. Don't ask me how. I've almost accepted that plumbing takes a long time, but for some reason I blew through the plumbing parts I bought in a single afternoon.

I have yet to connect the system to the house plumbing, but I hooked it up via a temporary hose fitting for testing:

The system had two leaks. Saturday morning I repaired those leaks. Here is a tip I discovered works well: if there is residual water preventing proper heating of the pipes using one torch, *two* torches can sometimes overcome the problem. With two torches blowing on a fitting I was able to get it repaired.

But the weather refused to cooperate for further testing.

Sunday dawned clear, but before ten AM the skies became partly to mostly cloudy, and in the afternoon transitioned to a hazy semi-overcast.

Still despite this, by mid-afternoon the water at the top of the tank had increased to 99 degrees. When I drained them, the average temperature of the drain water was about 90 degrees. So I call this project a success. On a clear day I will have hot water, even in the winter. I have a future project to extend this capacity that will rely on a small wood burning device similar to a large rocket stove to heat additional water on cloudy days.

In the mean time, I will be installing a temperature regulating valve and connecting piping to the house. Solar hot water could be anywhere from tepid to scorching, depending upon the amount of sun in a given day. This needs to be regulated before it hits the faucets. I need to reconfigure a couple of things at the top of the top tank to accommodate the temperature regulator. I thought to install it at the point the water will enter the house, but I learned upon reading the instructions that it needs to be located very near the hot water outlet at the top of the tank. I am also considering installing an expansion tank to protect the system, should I or someone else forget to drain the system when the supply lines are turned off.

Finally I got further progress on my cat feeder. These are the entrances--narrow and tall, just enough to fit a cat but not larger creatures.

EU Needs To Die

2011-11-20T08:08:00.001-07:00

EU bans the claim that "water can prevent dehydration"

German professors Dr Andreas Hahn and Dr Moritz Hagenmeyer, who advise food manufacturers on how to advertise their products, asked the European Commission if the claim could be made on labels.

They compiled what they assumed was an uncontroversial statement in order to test new laws which allow products to claim they can reduce the risk of disease, subject to EU approval.

They applied for the right to state that “regular consumption of significant amounts of water can reduce the risk of development of dehydration” as well as preventing a decrease in performance.

However, last February, the European Food Standards Authority (EFSA) refused to approve the statement.

A meeting of 21 scientists in Parma, Italy, concluded that reduced water content in the body was a symptom of dehydration and not something that drinking water could subsequently control.

It is SCIENCE!!!11!

It is hard to have any sympathy for the imminent collapse of the Euro experiment, when this is the kind of crap that issues forth from Brussels.

Except that their collapse will pull us down with them.

Still Think The Banksters Don't Run The Show?

2011-11-20T07:51:00.001-07:00

Here's a little more help for you.

From the comments here, The Complete And Annotated Guide To The European Bank Run (Or The Final Phase Of Goldman's World Domination Plan) | ZeroHedge, commenter TruthInSunshine offers the following:

The New York Times version of events makes Goldman seem so benign that it's literally sickening - Andrew Ross-Sorkin has his grimey little finger/claw print all over this New York Slimes expose.

It's very quite simple as to how this will play out (and why).

Either you do or don't believe some or all of the following:

1) The European Union is inevitably destined for failure (and the odds, for reasons to be reference below, of a fast & furious implosion have grown exponentionally higher over the last 6 months) as it's simply not possibly to have a central bank (the ECB) usurp the ability of the very disparate political, social and economic allegedly sovereign nations of what is now the EU to print their own money, given the radically divergent political social and economic stability/instability the peoples of these nations find themselves facing (e.g. Greeks vs Germans; e.g. Belgians vs. Italians), and given that those nations (few as they may be) that are solvent don't want to face the consequences to their own health of what would be bailing out the many nations that are not solvent (by many, I mean the predominant majority, and not insolvent by any small % of their annual GDP, either, with demographic ticking time-bombs on their balance sheets in the form of entitlements, also).

2) If there is any chance to hold the EU together, whether for another couple of years or maybe 5 or 6 years (before the reality of math slaps the unicorns & rainbows delusion of a common European Union in the face again like a bucket of Icelandic Sea Water poured on the face of Spaniard sleeping in a hammock in Santander on a warm and sunny day), it means that the solvent few must give their consent (via the body politik, who definitely rarely have the best interests of their consituents in mind, but will only do what is best if they feel sufficient rage and the very real theat of untoward consequences for selling out) to the ECB to go ahead and fire up the CERN-esque Printing Press at the ECB.

3) Such consent to print Euros at faster than the speed of light pace will toss all of Europe into an inflationary environment that will make any time since post WWI or circa-WWII look positively tame, and in fact, the inflation resulting from what would have to be a massive devaluation in the Euro, which is not a reserve currency (despite claims of such de facto status or 'waiting in the wings' status to the contrary), will far exceed anything that respective European Nations that form the EU saw back in the late 1970s, prior to turning the legal process of the hows and whys and how much and other such question pertaining to the printing of their own currency over to the ECB. It would not be hyperbole to claim that real average per annum inflation of 10% to 20% a year for a lengthy period of 5 to 10 years could be not only possible, but likely (that would result in a 50% to 200% increase in the cost of living over a 5 to 10 year period, for Europeans, depending on how long the ECB monetization had to endure, for those of you keeping score at home, and that assumes that the process will yield the desired results, and put things back together again - a big assumption). Again, even with this monetization, loose ECB policy and absolute policy goal (stated or not) of inflating away EU Zone debts enacted, it has the possibility of not only not resolving the disease that is causing the EU crisis, but of exacerbating it (especially given that solvent members of the EU will be dragged down and drowned, inevitably, with their far more numerous, non-solvent EU brethren, which carries with it a special set of political and social risks as the process gets to the flailing-clutching-gasping for air stage).

4) If the solvent members, mainly Germany, declare nein!, then the winding up of the European Union turns into an outright implosion, Icelandic style, but on an obviously monentous scale, with debts purged and investment losses accelerating into a process that clears the pipeline in maybe a year or two, but giving the ability of the former EU members (and what could be a new set of non-core former EU members) to get back to a lifestyle consistent with their means, and taking their own monetary and economic policy back from the EU, with no one imposing austerity upon them, with the corresponding element that they need to have the cash to do what they want to do before they decide to do it (e.g. maybe not so generous pensions, transfer payments and huge public sector employment, etc. etc.?). Conversely, the solvent members, whether still forming a core-EU alliance, or parting ways completely, are not threatened with a perverse sinking of their living standards, as they no longer have to subsidize the former hopelessly and helplessly insolvent member states.

5) If the implosion caused by a decision to not authorize the ECB to devalue the EUR is taken, then the brunt of the losses spurned by the non-repayment of debts falls far more on the shoulders of investors (whether individual or institutional buyers of equities or bonds [sovereign and otherwise], and CDS/CDO), rather than the taxpayer hammering that would result from trying to keep the EU intact.

6) There can be no question that this train wreck could have been seen, and was in fact seen coming, for years now, and that there have been the sleaziest type of manuevering (see rest of this section as to the why of the 'sleazy') by the likes of the Goldman Sachs & JPM and their filthy ilk, to seize upon this latest crisis, who have now ramped up efforts to do everything they can to accelerate the crisis, and who are assuredly betting on positions that will reward them many, many times over, while knowing full well that a) they literally have a voice in the governments of key EU Member States and the ECB itself through former (and even present) agents of their firms as to how to influence the decisions that will be made, and b) if things go wrong for them despite 'a', they will simply fall back on their "we're too big too fail because if we did, it would only assure and hasten a global economic collapse, and therefore give us our taxpayer backstop; here's the blank check Mr. President, Mr. Treasury Secretary & our very dear friends (and colleagues) at the ECB & Federal Reserve (and in select EU governments), so go give your scary speeches to the public now about 'martial law' and 'tanks in the streets' and we'll fill in the number on the check."

So, my friends and fellow takers of the red pill, we all can clearly see that Old Man Rothschild - you know, the Great Red Shield House of Financial Empire - which just so coincidentally established its roots in Germany back in the 1600s, and then successfully gained control, through devious and brilliant chessmanship, of the global fiat supply (would you plebes like some inflation or some deflation to separate you from your homes, property, other inherent valuable and even your food?) - is back at the SSDD playbook, with all the right pieces (and lackeys) in place, whether political actors or banking and banker proxies - and is set to reap yet another Great & Bountiful HARVEST for the Money Masters.

It's a Big Club, and 99.9999% of us ain't in it, so remember that if you haven't taken the proper precations, quit playing a rigged game on their terms, as they beat you over the head with the Big Club (as they pepper spray your sister in the face, kick your family out of your house, take your farms, turn the riot police or military loose on the citiizens they always told you were there to protect you, fire live ammunition at you, or even design and implement plans to overthrow your government if you are just so unfortunate enough to be living in an alleged sovereign nation that has rich resources - or anything that can be leveraged to extract blood from you for that matter, such as being able to buy up the rainwater and aquifiers to charge you for the privilege of drinking the water - and especially so if your government has no fractional reserve central bank bearing the Red Shield™ Mark of Approval, ala Federal Reserve 'Bank' or Central 'Bank' of England style).

All you blue pill takers, disregard this, because it's - you know - the talk of conspiracy theorists and such.

For those with a strong enough CONSTITUTION to have already swallowed the red pill, or who think they can and would like to try, The Money Masters, bitchez!

The Money Masters

Earworm

2011-11-18T21:33:00.000-07:00

Anyone else remember this?
Hamster Dance

Trainwreck

2011-11-15T16:32:00.000-07:00

Guest Post: Economic Collapse? We’re Soaking In It! | ZeroHedge"Knowing that a train wreck is coming, and actually seeing it happen, are two very different things. Always keep this in mind…"

Indeed. Despite my years of prepping and bracing for it, I expect to be nearly as stunned as the totally oblivious when the bottom of the canyon finally arrives.

Progress Pics

2011-11-14T21:05:00.004-07:00

I know it's become a standing joke here by now, but it still amazes me how long plumbing takes to complete. I got less done than expected, partly because I ran out of parts and partly because the rain drove me under cover for one of the weekend days.

Here is the drain line from the collector panels joined with the drain line from the pressure/temperature relief valve, and a tee connection open to the drain line from the bottom tank:

Drain exit outside the tower:

Lower tank connections to the collector panel and the drain line complete, together with the check valve and frost protection bypass:

On the rainy day I got a start on building a more permanent outdoor cat feeder station.

The idea is to make it raccoon proof by making the entrances too small, and making it cardinal resistant by putting the food opening deep inside the enclosure (scary for the birdies to venture that far into a closed space).

Today I finished a new batch of hamburger pemmican. This time I split the batch and flavored some of it with chocolate and some with cinnamon.

Pretty tasty stuff if I may say so!

Elsewhere, the winter cover crop is making lush headway:

Dirty Filthy Commie Hippy?

2011-11-14T08:35:00.004-07:00

Listen.

Careful... careful... Listen to the words. Think about what you know has happened, especially over the last ten years or so. Listen to what he is actually saying.

There is a grave danger that if liberty-minded conservatives continue to refuse to engage these people, that Marxist elements will continue to have outsized influence. This sentiment is if anything, more powerful in favor of libertarian-conservatism or conservative libertarianism than any form of collectivism.

It is *precisely* this wedding of state and corporate power that he rails against that is responsible for the bloated State that we small government conservatives and libertarians rail against!

God, if I could shout into the ears of some of these so-called "conservative" bloggers who keep insisting that the banks did nothing wrong, it's the government, blah blah blah, "idiots! You are nothing more than sock puppets with an R by your names fighting against sock puppets with a D by their names. Wake up and figure out who's got his hand up your collective asses!"

I've talked to Tea Party activists who agree strongly with me that the banks that can't stand on their own should have been and should be allowed to fail. And yet these same people can't possibly see the slightest resemblance between their grievances and those of the OWS. It's like applying a crowbar to pry the lid off a heavy concrete crypt to let in a few rays of morning light and air out the stale, moth-infested left-right dichotomy that has been hammered into their heads by their handlers.

"Close that lid! You're letting in a draft, and besides I *like* my little hermetically sealed world!"

I could say all of the same things about the left with the script flipped. They are just as convinced that corporations are the root of all evil and that more government power is the answer. Idiots likewise, and just as blind to the reality. But since I am myself a conservative, my frustration lies mostly with "my side".

A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Bankster, Inc.

2011-11-13T10:43:00.001-07:00

Are Banksters Trying To Steal GOVERNMENTS? in [Market-Ticker]

No Karl, they have owned these governments for decades, controlling them via the intermediary of pliable politicians and ubiquitous advisers in key positions. They've simply decided it is time to start exercising more direct control by having their own people in top positions.

Positioning for the implementation of their endgame, no doubt.

Oh The Horror!

2011-11-12T08:46:00.002-07:00

Sound check with the embedded webcam on a new netbook. Be sure the children and small pets are out of the room before clicking:

I've been amusing the hell out of myself with these takes. I had no idea... No one can accuse me of having a flat affect, that's for sure. And I am at my *least* animated self this early in the AM. God help me, but I'd probably die laughing from watching a vid of myself under a full head of steam.

Morning Mood

2011-11-12T08:10:00.000-07:00

Dismal skies this morning in the desert. Typical Arizona winter storm moving through this weekend.

Native Arizonans I know seem to love days like this. Not me. I spent far too many years in Minnesota to ever love a cold cloudy day again. It drags me down, saps my energy, makes me want to weep unaccountably.

Give me sunshine every day, baby.

New "Core Euro Zone"

2011-11-09T17:03:00.003-07:00

Wake me when they settle on ten nations...

Game Over? Reuters Says Germany, France Exploring Idea Of Core Euro Zone, End Of Existing Structure | ZeroHedge

The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. 13 These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. Rev 17:12-13

Ten kings of one mind who unite their authority with a new central authority. Sounds like what they are proposing. Everyone knows that one of the chief reasons the Euro is doomed is that there is no central governing authority for the currency. I very much doubt this will happen without these ten nations giving up a significant amount of their autonomy and sovereignty to this new "core Euro structure" (symbolized by the "beast").

If these ten also happen to be the ten nations of the old Western European Union, I'll really sit up! That will be enough to convince me.

Italy Sparks Market Bloodbath

2011-11-09T14:58:00.001-07:00

Crap. I am getting seriously nervous that this time is not going to be another false alarm...

Italy Sparks Market Bloodbath: Financial Stocks Collapse | ZeroHedge

Greece is like a gunshot wound to the big toe. Italy is like getting your leg blown off. If this is it, this will be 2008 on steroids. No one, but no one can bail out Italy, and then the Euro is done, together with pretty much all of the TBTF banks on both sides of the Atlantic.

This is where all the big plans of the Oligarchs come in...

Vox has more: The Fearful Foundations Of The Fourth Reich

Progress (Such As It Is) Pics

2011-11-06T20:03:00.004-07:00

I worked all weekend on the solar heater plumbing project, but for some reason I have few photos to show for it.

I flushed a bunch of solids out of the lower water tank prior to adding fittings to it. All of the whitish grey stuff is hard water deposits that came out.

Fortunately in this application, the tanks will not accumulate new hard water deposits. All the heating will be occurring in the pipes in the solar collectors. After considering that fact, I decided to upsize the collector drain line to facilitate future flushing.

Here is a contraption I will let you guess at its purpose. The upper brass device is a check valve and the flow through the check valve is from left to right.

It is installed here incorrectly. It will actually go on the lower tank bottom inlet, between that inlet and the bottom of the collector panels.

The left side will connect to the bottom of the lower tank, the right side will connect to the bottom of the collector panel. Let me know what you think its purpose is.

I ran out of parts mid-afternoon Sunday. I tried to switch to the solar electric distribution panel, but realized I need a specific size bimetal hole drill that I don't have, in order to drill a conduit hole in the existing solar control panel. More Home Depot shopping, and another weekend.

Chantilly Lace

2011-11-06T10:32:00.001-07:00

"Oh baby that's-a what I like!"

We Have A Date

2011-11-05T22:35:00.001-07:00

"In The Absence Of A Credible Plan We Will Have A Global Financial Meltdown In Two To Three Weeks" - IMF Advisor | ZeroHedge

So whatcha sayyin mister imf advisor? Is this short bus going to make it's long awaited meeting with the canyon floor?

Crap.

Today was "Move Your Money" day. If you haven't done so, I'd highly advise (as I have been advising for over a year) you move all remaining cash out of TBTF banks and into a credit union, or if it is not a lot, into your mattress.

Or better yet, make one last run to Sam's Club or Costco or your favorite online preparedness supplies website and buy what you need to batten down the hatches.

'course this all depends upon said IMF advisor actually knowing the score and accurately reporting it...

Common Ground

2011-11-05T09:07:00.001-07:00

But But But.... (More Evidence) in [Market-Ticker]

My take, reflecting my view from the start of these protests, is that this represents a *tremendous* opportunity for libertarians and classical liberal type conservatives to shape the direction of this angst and move it toward real solutions.

We have a common enemy--a corporatist state gone mad. We can have common goals when we get in there, mix with these people and discuss our mutual concerns. Those who are trying to stir up partisan hatreds are servants of the corporatist state they *claim* to hate, because to keep the people divided is to keep them helpless and dependent upon their left-right dialectic Handlers!

If Karl Denninger, a Capitalist and a libertarian/classic liberal evangelist, can take the mic at an OWS event, talk his view, and receive *cheers*, this is clearly *not* a fundamentally Marxist/communist movement.

Oh sure, the Marxists would like to do, and are doubtless trying to do, the same thing we could be doing. They don't have a monopoly on this though! If Robert Schulz, Karl Denninger and others are getting huge traction and being well-received, there is tremendous opportunity here!

Given my support of the right over the years, it pains me to have to say this, but there is a tremendous amount of bullshit being spewed by Tea Party and other right wing voices lately, and it is time you-all *wake the hell up* and smell the coffee! Your loyal support of the banks, just because they are a "business" and therefore "good" in your ideology does not square with the Reality of what they have done over the last ten years especially. Your hatred of government does not square with the fact that your beloved banksters virtually own the government via their revolving door staffing policies and campaign support.

Clue Bat Time--the bankster class and the government are two divisions of the same entity. This is called corporatism, and it used to be called by another less savory name, but it is what it is. And it is the same thing that both you and the OWS hippies rail against. Wake up! Recognize the two-headed monster! And start *talking* to those "damn hippies". You might be surprised.

A Woman's Glory

2011-11-04T23:21:00.002-07:00

...is her long hair.

Yes, that's Halle Berry. Why? Because I googled up this image of her for a comment at one of Vox's sites, and I've been looking at it the rest of the day, such is the marked contrast with the short-haired version of Ms. Berry.

Other movies starring Halle Berry
Halle Berry perfumes and fragrances

Move Over Tea Party

2011-11-03T17:32:00.001-07:00

Looks like ~~significant numbers of~~a few people are waking up, shaking off the groggy haze of the false left-right paradigm and getting at the heart of the matter.
OWS Constitution Working Group: Look Out Tea Party! in [Market-Ticker]

This is an interesting development, to be sure.

Progress Pics

2011-10-31T15:57:00.012-07:00

I completed my hamburger pemmican experiment this weekend. I had ordered some "grass fed beef tallow" that arrived Friday, just in time. The dehydrated ground beef from last week (two five pound chubs) went through the blender in batches to powder it. To the powdered beef, I added twelve ounces of walnuts blended to a coarse powder, about two cups of raisins (my currants and goji berries did not arrive in time), and about a quarter cup of honey. Over this I poured a quart of melted beef tallow and mixed it together, then poured the whole thing into a glass pan to cool.

The result hardened up in a few hours in the fridge, and I cut it into bars. I tried wrapping them in parchment paper, but that didn't work out too well--the paper does not take tape, and by itself won't stay together. I ended up wrapping them in tinfoil.

I can't describe the taste exactly, but it is very palatable. Once I started eating, I had to keep eating until the piece I alloted myself was gone. Nummy! Sunday I ate all the crumbled pieces from the cutting--about two thirds the size of one of the bars--and I was not hungry again until evening. This week I will be using these as meal replacements (2 out of 3 meals) to see how I feel. They may become a mainstay of my diet (paleo).

Next time I will use muffin tins or other small molded pans. They come apart too much in cutting, and a muffin-sized piece of pemmican may be just about right to cover for a couple meals.

I had to take a detour from my regular progress this week, as Mongol Hord... er, bermuda grass was threatening to overrun the paths and escape from the pond area. If you're not familiar with it, bermuda grass is commonly used for lawns in the southwest because of its toughness in the face of our climate. But where it is not wanted, it becomes a highly invasive, pernicious weed. Well this bermuda grass is a weed. It came over on some plants I transferred from the Tucson garden and has been slowly gaining strength in the pond vicinity. This summer it decided to make a break for it, and in the last couple of months it has finished surrounding the pond and headed across the paths for broader pastures.

Until now.

I tracked it down and grubbed it out completely from this half of the pond area.

Here is the battle front where I quit after two days work.

I will need to come back to this soon, as I discovered later it is making a run across the path near the gate also. I hadn't seen this previously. Once I have it contained, I will work on eradicating it right at the pool also. It needs to be gone completely before I can start other plantings. Once I have other stuff growing here it is much more difficult to work around to eradicate the bermuda.

Elsewhere I have a fine crop of cats...er, vetch and rye coming up.

Jasmine in the rye.

A rare photo of Thomas looking at the camera.

From left to right, Roscoe, Clyde, Jasmine, Thomas.

Whenever I come outdoors and sit down, especially morning or evening, I am shortly surrounded by cats. If I am not in motion, it *must* be kitty time!

Poochie.

I did get back to plumbing my solar hot water heater Sunday and today (I took an extra day vacation this weekend).

Reconfigured panel outlet.

Hot water inlet to the top storage tank from the panels.

This will get reconfigured. I bought these braided wrap flexible hoses, thinking to provide a point of flexibility to accommodate any future movement of the tank in relation to the tower. But the are not going to work. They have 1 inch fittings on each end, but the hose itself is barely 1/2" inside--too small for this application. I need the large diameter to allow robust circulation driven only by the thermal convection from the panels. In its place will go a pair of 45 degree bends and 1" hard copper. This will allow enough flex that I won't be worried about it.

Halfway up the tower, sixteen feet above the ground, this is the top of the storage tank, and the hot water outlet to the house. The top of the tee will be fitted with a 1/8" air release valve, this being the high point of the system.

The process is, as usual, rather slow. But I was thinking about "shark bite" fittings, and honestly it would not speed things up much for me to use them. I would still need to climb up here to take measurements, then down to measure and cut the pipe, deburr the ends and polish them to fit smoothly in the fittings, then climb back up to fit it all together. The process of sweating the solder joints is nearly as quick as the click together joints are.

The difference to me, is that there is an aesthetic and artistic element to working with metals directly. Perhaps the word I want is "craft" and "craftsmanship". There is something very satisfying taking copper pipe and fittings, silver alloy tin solder, flux and applying heat to meld the disparate parts into a new finished construction. I do not get the same sense of satisfaction from creating a solvent welded PVC joint, and doubt that a click together fitting would do the same.

A freshly soldered pipe joint is a thing of beauty to me.

The other great advantage of working with soldered copper is that when, inevitably, my design changes, it is a simple matter of reheating a joint to pull it apart and reconfigure it. Surely "shark bite" fittings offer this same flexibility, but solvent welded joints need to be cut out, the fitting discarded, and a new fitting installed. A sad waste, and especially frustrating when your design changes on the fly, as do mine so often.

Last thing before wrapping it up to head into town, was to pull out the old water heater that will become the lower storage tank to look it over and begin prepping it for installation.

The idea is that once the upper tank is full of hot water, the hot water will migrate to the lower tank, providing an additional reservoir of hot water after a long hot day of water heating.

Update: Here are some useful links.

An interesting looking book on solar hot water:

Looking for "shark bite" fittings? Buy them online here:
Shark Bite Fittings

Also, this looks to be a good book covering the essentials of the Uniform Plumbing Code, including a section on PEX piping and also good ol' copper pipe. This is one DIY book that gets a lot of high review marks at Amazon:

It really looks pretty comprehensive, treating the entire house plumbing system from fresh water supply through sanitary drainage. I can't tell how detailed their treatment of soldering technique is. It seems that within a generation this could become a lost art, which would be a shame.

I also can't tell if the book contains that handy list of expletives so necessary for the completion of any plumbing job. Calvin's dad found that list useful, as I recall.

This Is Good

2011-10-30T15:58:00.000-07:00

This made sense on the first read through, but I realized parts of it fell out of my head after I was done reading. Linked here to re-read a couple times:
The Greatest Short - Why All Correlations Are Moving To 1

Basically it explains why, for small fry, it makes sense to hold tangible assets to hedge the future.

Somehow I Missed This

2011-10-25T10:13:00.001-07:00

Centers For Disease Control (CDC) Warns About Zombie Apocalypse, Urges Americans To Prepare

Well Isn't This Exciting?

2011-10-24T16:55:00.001-07:00

Vatican calls for global authority on economy

Let's see, a "supranational authority with worldwide scope and universal jurisdiction to guide economic policies and decisions"? Translated, that would be "one world government" and "one world central monetary authority".

Nothing good can come of this. Couple this with an implanted data chip and we're there.

---------------------
Update: Interesting rabbit hole, courtesy of Dread451.

Progress Pics

2011-10-23T21:05:00.007-07:00

I started out this weekend intent on making significant progress toward getting the solar water heater connections to the storage tanks soldered up. I first finished the tank shelf, adding a block and a shelf extension to support the last tank leg, then adding a support post to help hold up the 400 pounds of water that will be up there when it is full.

But gathering up my soldering supplies and equipment, I realized that I was out, completely out of propane gas for my torch.

Blast! I hate when that happens. It's not like Home Depot is ten minutes away out here. It was okay though, because with a few minutes thought I came up with a list of at least five pending projects that I could do instead.

I had purchased parts to set up a proper wired irrigation timer a while ago, including pipe and hose thread fittings to interface with my existing hose-based irrigation setup.

I got that solvent-welded together.

Next up, the GFCI outlet in my pump house stopped working last week. This is where I planned to plug in the irrigation timer power supply.

I have come to hate ground fault circuit interruptors with a mad passion! They are too sensitive to ground currents, tripping at the slightest hint of moisture outdoors. I can't tell you how many times I've had to reset the damn thing after a rain when I found power to my storage trailer cut off. And this one is the *third* one to fail completely since I started my progress on this farm. Three GFCI's in less than five years! You expect an outlet to work for the life of the building, more or less. Twenty plus years at least, no?

These things are maddening. If it were not for code requirements, I'd yank them all from the outdoor applications, leaving them only to protect outlets by indoor sinks.

I got my satisfaction though.

Today's lesson: parallax correction. (Shut up.)

My QO load center and breakers arrived this week also. I did little more than open the boxes and look it all over. Installing this was one of those alternative projects I did not get to this weekend. These will serve the 12 volt and 24 volt circuits in my house.

Then I did a little multitasking this afternoon. While rewiring the tractor to accommodate the new ignition switch, I simultaneously prepared some of the ingredients for a "hamburger pemmican" experiment I'm doing.

Yesterday I cooked up ten pounds of hamburger in a large pot, together with several cups of water. I put this in the refrigerator overnight, and this afternoon I peeled the fat layer off the top, leaving the gelled meat below.

I reheated the gelled meat until the gel melted and it was back to a broth/meat mixture. I separated this using a mesh colander. Meanwhile I reheated the fat on low heat until all of the moisture was driven out. I filtered this through another mesh colander.

I bottled the filtered fat for later use in the recipe.

The strained meat went onto teflon sheets and then into the dehydrator. I ran out of teflon sheets before I ran out of meat. Fortunately I had some parchment paper on hand. I seem to recall directing the Daisy half to purchase enough teflon sheets to cover all of the shelves, for just such a case as this. This was several years ago, and apparently it never happened.

The broth got boiled down until it was reduced by about 2/3 volume from the original.

This broth was poured into a glass pan and put in the refrigerator. When it gelled again, I cut it into cubes, and will try freeze-drying it for long-term storage.

This stuff tastes great! There is nothing at all in it besides meat juice--no salt, no spices, nothing. Even so, it evokes images of a heavenly gravy when I sample it.

The simul-task was wiring up the tractor with the new switch.

I realized when I bought the switch that it was not an identical match to the existing switch. When it arrived, I mapped the terminals in each condition (on/off/start). It was nothing like the original switch, so I traced the wiring harness out and redesigned it to fit the new switch.

Elementary, really.

The fuel pump comes on at the right time and the starter turns over correctly. There was no gas in the tank and I was out of time, so I am not 100% certain I have it right. But close to that.

Vox Popoli: No limits on self-defense

2011-10-23T12:20:00.006-07:00

Attention: When you instigate an assault, you must have every expectation that a can-o-whoop-ass could be opened up on you.

Vox Popoli: No limits on self-defense

Why were these women not charged with assault? The minute Water Buffalo No. 1 reached across the counter and slapped the cashier, it was on. When they vaulted the counter to go after him, their fate was sealed. Why was she not charged? Because the prosecutor wouldn't have a case against the cashier then. Self-defense is a positive defense against a charge of assault.

He should be found not guilty, possibly should not even have been charged. The women could/should be charged with assault and attempted robbery (attempting to pass a counterfeit $50 bill, then assaulting the cashier when he wouldn't accept it), or left to lick their wounds in payment for their bad behavior. This was 100% self-defense. Once you are faced with the certainty of your assailants intent, you never, never stop your counterattack until you're certain your assailant has been neutralized.

In other words, if you happen to be armed, you unload the magazine into the f###er. If you're defending yourself with a metal rod, you keep whacking the beasts until they stop trying to get up again to attack you. Did he take a couple whacks too many? Possibly, possibly not. We can't tell from the angle we see. If I were serving on the jury, I'd give him the benefit of the doubt.

Had the gender roles been reversed, the cashier would have been paraded as a national hero and a huge victim. Stupid damn Politically Correct cops and prosecutor!

"Justice is blind"? Bullshit.

----------------------------------

Are you a small woman? You've got no business assaulting *anyone*, let alone a man. Are you full of "Grrl PowR" propaganda? Reality Check: You've been set up to be seriously injured or killed someday.

If you don't have the raw physical power to end it, do not ever start it. The law does not matter in the immediate circumstances of the confrontation. You'd put your own life on the line to prove something that is a myth anyway? Regardless of what the law ends up doing to the one you assaulted with your grrl-powr, you'd be a fool, and you would deserve the ass-kicking you got.

-----------------------------------
Update:

BWAH!!

This Is Illuminating...

2011-10-21T21:46:00.002-07:00

Tying It All Together (For Tom And Others On The Right) in [Market-Ticker]

Denninger on the meme emanating from the Tea Party re: "government stole capitalism in 2008". This explains a lot that I didn't fully understand previously.

Queue-up right-tards for your daily dose of Fact and Reality!

alex the girl

2011-10-19T21:11:00.000-07:00

alex the girl

I'd like to point in the direction of someone who has been on my blogroll for all of the years that I've been blogging. Except for one short note we exchanged via snail mail years ago, I've not had any interaction with her, as she does not have comments on her site.

However her writing invariably strikes a deep chord in my soul. She gets at things in a certain way, and sees a lot of things in a way I cannot but agree with.

There is an inner aspect of who I am that is very much like who Alex is on the outside. For the infrequent times that she posts and the infrequent times that I check out her blog to see what she's posted, she serves as something of a Beatrice to my Muse. I can't help but get in a thoughtful mode after reading her musings.

Progress Pics

2011-10-16T19:06:00.005-07:00

This weekend was about getting the water tank installed in the solar tower. Here it is painted black to help convert sunlight to heat.

And here it is on the shelf I fabricated for it. In between was a whole lot of up and down the ladder, cutting and painting bits of wood, fiddling with the baffles to make it fit, and then the daunting task of hoisting it up there via pulley and rope and then tying it off while I assembled the shelf where it would be lowered to. All the while it is about 110 degrees in the upper reaches of the tower.

I am woofed.

The rye and vetch planted last week is coming up.

The challenge is keeping after the harvester ants who would like to carry it off as soon as it sprouts. I went after a bunch of nests this evening, and there are probably more that I missed.

Automatic Chicken Coop

2011-10-16T07:41:00.000-07:00

The latest issue of Backwoods Home Magazine arrived in my mailbox this week. In it is an article about automating your chicken coop with solar powered lights and an automatic door. Since I'm lately thinking heavily on alt-energy projects, and I've also been frustrated that any animals besides the ones that Momcat is willing to care for, have to wait until I am retired and out here permanently, this sparked my interest.

Alas, it is not up on their website yet. The "current issue" is actually the previous issue. Which is, of course, the advantage of subscribing. I get first look at the newest stuff. If I remember, I will link it here as soon as it is available.

But from last issue, this article about storing your prep supplies was useful:
Survival storeroom by David Eddings Issue #130

Why is OWS Pissed?

2011-10-13T15:58:00.000-07:00

Most of these 'tards can't string together two coherent sentences, and the communists/socialists (otherwise known as the D Squad) are busy co-opting their movement and turning it to their own ends.

So Business Insider has done the job for them and compiled a rather indicting collection of charts showing just what it is that is animating the animus:

CHARTS: Here's What The Wall Street Protesters Are So Angry About...

Just sayin'...

Reality 101

2011-10-11T21:36:00.000-07:00

If you're not reading Denninger, you should be. Daily.

He may be an asshole, but he is right at least 90% of the time.

Read and be enlightened:
Krugman LIES Outright: Banking in [Market-Ticker]

Same Beef

2011-10-11T10:20:00.001-07:00

...if we could get past those attempting to pigeon-hole us into Left-Right. Hawaiian Libertarian gets it right:
Hawaiian libertarian: Divided & Conquered: Tea Baggers vs. Occupussies

Raised the ire of a Tea Party activist last week when I suggested that the Tea Party ought to be down there protesting side by side with the Occupy Wall Street crowd.

It's true, whether she wanted to admit it or not. The essential problem both sides see is the same. What both sides need to do is shake off the "handlers" trying to channel their beef into one party or the other, one Hegelian side of the dialectic or the other. The problem is Big Government AND Big Business, the symbiotic monster eating our Republic. To be divided into left-right again is to become assimilated into the very Borg that you are protesting!

Shake off your blinders and see the whole beast!

-----------------------------------
Update: Thanks Vox for the lucid reiteration.

When Life Gives You Lemons...

2011-10-11T08:31:00.000-07:00

(not what you think...)

Progress Pics

2011-10-10T20:34:00.004-07:00

This was a Suzy Homemaker weekend. I requested Daisycat come out here this weekend, and so I needed to get the house cleaned up again prior to her arrival (that is backwards, I know). It took me most of Friday plus half of Saturday. This is why I do not clean it except for company. It would take just about the same amount of time if I did it every weekend, and as you can see, that would leave very little weekend for Progress.

I picked up a tine shaft key for the tiller last week, and so after housecleaning, I repaired the tiller and tilled the garden while Daisycat petted the cats, wandered around looking at my hovel, and then sowed the vetch and rye seeds for the winter cover crop.

The first bed nearest in the photo on the left was turned over about three weeks ago. Because I saw abundant vetch coming up all on its own, together with daikon radish and a handful of beans, I left it alone to do its own thing. The fine lacy plants in the foreground are the vetch seedlings.

The northwest "field" also got sowed to the same crops. The northeast field is still sitting fallow, because I plan to get the tractor inside the enclosure to level it first before I plant it again. I don't want to spend too much effort building the soil until I get the soil in its final position. When I get to doing this I will probably also at the same time expand the field around the corner to meet up with a wash that runs along the south side of the house. This is part of my grandiose, long-term plan to capture and utilize runoff in my fields.

Daisycat left Sunday at noon, and the place felt empty until I got used to it again. I spent the remainder of Sunday and today (Columbus Day) working on the solar tower again, getting it ready inside for the installation of the first hot water tank. I modified my plans slightly and will be installing the top tank completely above the hot water collector panels. It just happens to fit better that way. But I needed to adjust the location of the baffles, and today I got started building the platform it will sit on.

Also arriving this week is my battery equalizer. This was a fairly big ticket item I needed in order to utilize 12 volt as well as 24 volt power directly from the battery bank. Without this unit, drawing 12 volts off half the battery bank would lead to unequal charge across the batteries, which would in turn cause premature aging and failure of the bank. This unit balances a 12 volt load across the full 24 volt bank. Now I need a junction box to mount it on and a circuit breaker panel to distribute the power to loads around the house.

The replacement ignition switch for the tractor arrived late today. Replacing that will be a project for another weekend.

Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone

2011-10-09T13:03:00.003-07:00

This house just ain't a home,
Any time she goes away.

I'm a goddam addict is what I am...

Art appreciation note: I really like this original version of the song a lot. It is exactly what it needs to be without unnecessary embellishment.

Daisycat's Morning Mood

2011-10-05T14:43:00.001-07:00

"I don't want to work.."

"...I just want to bang on the drum all day!"

PM's Versus Stocks

2011-10-03T07:17:00.000-07:00

Progress Pics

2011-10-02T07:23:00.005-07:00

Friday and Saturday I installed the cement backer board panels onto the interior of the shower and tub enclosure.

First panel.

Done on one side.

A couple panels short overall. I need two more to finish the interior and the space immediately below the shower door on the exterior.

Today I will be switching to some garden and yard work and may post update photos later.

OT, I picked up these guitar stands for dirt cheap on Amazon a couple weeks ago. Under $5 each, I grabbed three--one for the apartment and two for here on the farm. I'm looking at picking up another inexpensive bass guitar and then modding it with a few high end components--strings and pickups specifically--to give me a practice instrument for the apartment.

When I was single, I had my guitar out where I could grab it any time and play. When I got married, Daisycat nagged about having it in a case, "because of dust". However a cased instrument is an unplayed instrument, at least for me. I never played guitar for years and years as a result.

Having my guitars (not to mention my keyboard) out and easy to access means I can grab it anytime and run through some riffs or a lesson or two. If it is cased and put away, taking it out feels too much like formal "Practice Time", and so it never happens.

So out they stay, on their snazzy dirt cheap stands!

------------------
Update: beset by equipment failures.

I got the beds in the main garden mowed, and then I planned to switch to doing some drainage grading around the driveway with the Li'l Kitty. The ignition switch was not powering Li'l Kitty's fuel pump, and when I tried to pull the wire terminals off to investigate why, the switch came apart.

Back to the garden then. I'll do the tilling. Halfway through the first bed, the shaft pin on the right tine set sheared off.

Dead in the water on two counts. I got the parts ordered (new ignition switch, shaft key assortment) so I can pick up again another week, but this is putting me behind in getting the garden turned over to winter cover crops.

And here I thought I'd get my garden turned over *early* this year...

How to Make a 16 Brick Rocket Stove

2011-09-28T07:57:00.000-07:00

Ok, this is way simple: Arizona Preppers Network: How to Make a 16 Brick Rocket Stove

You get the benefits of a rocket stove with scratch-minimum outlay.

The only thing is those adobe bricks will disintegrate fairly quickly under the very high temperatures the stove produces. But they're practically free to make from clay and straw.

For a more permanent stove, buy firebricks and high temperature mortar to construct it (still not terribly costly).

Morning Mood

2011-09-27T08:11:00.004-07:00

A hot summer night, fell like a net
I've gotta find my baby yet
I need you to soothe my head
Turn my blue heart to red

Chorus:
Doctor, doctor give me the news
I've got a bad case of lovin' you
No pill's gonna cure my ill
I've got a bad case of lovin' you

A pretty face don't make no pretty heart
I learned that buddy, from the start
You think I'm cute, a little bit shy
Momma, I ain't that kind of guy

(Chorus)

I know you like it, you like it on top
Tell me momma are you gonna stop

You had me down, 21 to zip
Smile of Judas on your lip
Shake my fist, knock on wood
I've got it bad and I've got it good

(Chorus)

Also:

You're the cutest thing that I ever did see.
I really love your peaches.
Want to shake your tree !

(I spent the last thirty years thinking this was a Jackson Browne song...)

False Flag Imminent?

2011-09-26T21:29:00.002-07:00

Some people seem to think so:

Government Officials Fleeing DC Link Rats Off A Sinking Ship

Tunnels to at least 13 underground bases being sealed off

Not saying anything except that "this is interesting".

-----------------------
Edit: Something else "interesting" for those who follow these things, is that the time period of this exercise (Sept 26-29) happens to include Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets). Yes, I just saw two or three of you just sit up real straight to take notice.

Oh boy...

Progress Pics

2011-09-25T19:56:00.004-07:00

I fabricated and installed the last framing beneath the doors of the shower enclosure...

...installed the nailing blocks between the studs, and applied a thick layer of waterproofing silicone caulk between the tub edge and the studs and nailing blocks...

...installed insulation between the studs of the exterior walls (after puncturing ventilation holes through the original insulation to prevent moisture being trapped...

...and installed a waterproofing black kraft paper layer over everything where the cement backerboard will go.

In other news, the solar thermal and wind-turbine driven evaporative cooling system continues to do a reasonable job of cooling the house now that the humidity levels have dropped. I still need to construct the automation controls as well as the 12 volt pump for the evap cell and the 12 volt booster fans for the hottest part of the summer.

I will probably be shifting gears back to my several alt-energy system projects as the weather cools down again.

MAJOR Silver Buy Opportunity

2011-09-23T17:14:00.008-07:00

The spot price for silver dropped a second day due to heavy paper silver selling pressure driven by a rumored (true) CME margin hike. This is bad news for paper silver traders, but an Incredible (!!) opportunity for those of us accumulating small amounts of physical silver when we can afford to.

This is a no-brainer easy 25% off sale. Buy while the buying is this good.

-------------------------

Update:

*tink-tink-tink-tink-tink*
Silver Eagles are selling on eBay today for about a 20% premium* over spot in lots of 5, which is a tad high but not too far from what I've historically seen for this coin (17% a year ago).

There are many more where these came from.

It's a darn shame I have no means to buy this week.

--------------------------------------

*note for those unfamiliar with this market, there is always a premium for small denomination coin and bullion over the spot market price for sliver. The reason is that the spot price is set based upon large, heavy bars of silver. The premium reflects the extra value created from minting the silver into small denomination coin and bullion. Different coins carry a different premium, and it helps to know what the typical premium for a given coin is in order to calculate whether the price you're seeing is reasonable. I would try to limit the premium to 10% over spot when buying "junk" silver, that is, pre-1964 American silver coinage. You can usually see eBay auctions ending in this range. Different silver bullion products carry a different premium for various reasons. American Eagles seem to have a higher premium, but what you pay on the purchase side will usually be the same you receive back when/if you sell the coin later on eBay, so it's not a big deal.

----------------------------------------
Oh and Karl? Lick me! Debt that cannot be paid back, will not be paid back. Money that is debt that is defaulted upon is functionally the same as money that is "printed", however far down the road the can is kicked before the default eventually happens.

This is one of your Giant Blind Spots. To the degree that some see commodities as an "investment", you are correct. They are not. They are speculative gambits. However a whole lot of other people see precious metals as a simple store of value. You yourself cannot see any good place to deploy your capital in the current economic conditions and regulatory regime. Gold and silver are just fine as capital storehouses until opportunities begin to present themselves again. They are also far superior to fiat as a savings vehicle for future procurement of basic necessities during a hyperinflationary period.

However when the dollar sees a sudden surge in value due to transient events in the stock markets and a *simultaneous* transient event in the PM markets, only a blinkered fool would scoff at the opportunity presented. Talk to me again in a few weeks when silver is back up to $40/oz, k? As they say, BTFD!

Natural Diabetes Help

2011-09-23T13:54:00.001-07:00

I stumbled into some new homesteading blogs via a site that Phelan of "Homesteading Neophyte" co-blogs at, and on one of them I came across this post regarding natural blood sugar control remedies:

The Back Forty: Greening My Blood Sugars

Posted here for perusal and future reference.

Buying Opportunity Developing In Silver

2011-09-22T12:55:00.000-07:00

24-hour Spot Chart - Silver

Because of the weirdness of how paper silver is linked with the dollar and other currencies, there is a buying opportunity opening up for physical silver. Prices are below $36 at this hour.

I don't have spare funds until next week, so I'm chomping at the bit just a little...

The Smell Of September 2008 In The Air

2011-09-22T10:05:00.003-07:00

As usual, ZeroHedge has coverage no one else will touch.

I mean yeah, there have been so many creaks and rumblings as the Titanic has continued to slip beneath the waves these last two years, that it is almost background noise now. However, the Fed's announcement yesterday and subsequent events since then, have a more ominous deep crushing sound to them than I've heard in a while.

In summary, the Fed basically admitted that we're still in deep deep shit and the markets reacted accordingly. Simultaneously BAC's rating was downgraded, and events in the CDS markets indicate a deepening skepticism regarding sovereign debt across multiple nations. As one wag at ZeroHedge put it, "contagion" has been upgraded to "gangrene".

Hold onto your hats, cats! And keep prepping while the sun still shines on your personal situation.

Don't do this, whatever you do:

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Update: There is this too--Lloyds of London, without warning, withdrew all of its money from European banks. If this firm, which has for 323 years made its living by accurately calculating the odds of future disasters, suddenly backs completely out of an entire sector, that ought to be a screaming 100-foot high red neon DANGER sign.

-----------------------------------------
Update again: Here is a little number for Benny and the Helicopters

Earworm

2011-09-20T10:57:00.001-07:00

Apartment Hunting

2011-09-19T22:19:00.006-07:00

We looked at apartments this last week.

"This one is a fixer-upper Huzz-Bin! Look, no front wall! No way."

"What a mess! When did they last repaint?

"Ah, well about 1200 AD actually..."

"Nice neighborhood, but the units are kind of small..."

"Low doorway. Who lived here? Pygmies?"

"So when it rains in my kitchen, what do I do? Wear this poncho?"

"Here comes the rain again..."

"Ooh! Look at this place! It's a big complex...

...with amenities! See the community center...

...and the ball court..."

"It's got multi-story units."

"They still have to put on a new roof before I'll even consider it"

Oh give me a home
Where the buffalo roam
Where the deer and the antelope play...

Progress Pics

2011-09-18T21:47:00.005-07:00

This weekend the humidity is finally low enough for evap cooling to be viable. So I opened the vent to the tower...

...turned on the water to the cooling cell pads...

...and watched the system keep the house about 15 degrees cooler than outdoors as the temps climbed toward 90 degrees.

In other words, it works!

As I noted a couple weeks ago, I was only here today, having returned from the mountains yesterday afternoon. I did get one of my garden beds turned over.

I might have done more but I spent part of the afternoon diagnosing and repairing a stuck float needle valve on the tiller's carburetor. I was tempted to grumble about this, but I reminded myself that I had no particular agenda for today except to check on the cats and give them some attention before returning to work tomorrow. This afforded me the opportunity to become more familiar with the tiller engine and the fuel system in particular. The fuel had evaporated in the float bowl and residue on the needle valve kept it stuck in the closed position. Disassembly and cleaning was all it needed. It ran fine after I reassembled it.

Meanwhile Momcat's greenhouse is progressing nicely.

She bemoans the fact that age and infirmity limit how much she is able to accomplish each day, but she gets far more done than 90% of women her age, healthy or otherwise.

Trapped

2011-09-09T19:21:00.010-07:00

I am supposed to be in town right now and heading out for our trip up the mountains tomorrow morning. I didn't make it past the last big wash on the road out before it crested with a flash flood coming down out of Oracle. The storm was brewing, and the nature of the storm told me there was a good chance the road would be in trouble, so I scrambled to get myself ready to go.

Ten minutes earlier, and I would have had no problem.

I saw water gushing across the road in places where I had no idea a wash existed, and the second to the last one I crossed heading out nearly swamped me (4x4 notwithstanding--there's only so much good that does when the water washes up over the hood as you hit an unexpected dip below the running water...). So when I came upon this last one, I knew there was no crossing it tonight.

I met a couple more of my neighbors as a result. There was quite a lineup of us on either side of the torrent by the time I left, watching and waiting. According to the old coot who showed up behind me first, that wash would not recede probably for many hours. He figured we were stuck there for the night, since the washes behind us were also going strong. He said we might as well have a party, asked me if I had any musical instruments, and told me he had a bottle of sake he was breaking out. I had a sip for the sake of cordiality.

You folks think you know real characters from Hollywood characters I'll bet? Nope, you'd mistake this one. This guy was right out of an old west movie set, except he was the real thing. Huge full beard, floppy hat, overalls and boots, even the voice was right. Think "old timey gold prospector" stereotype, and you have it.

And he's one of my neighbors.

I had to back up once as the waters rose.

The high water mark was up near where I stopped, and then it went back down a little ways. At first I thought the crest had passed and was going to diminish shortly. But Old Coot said that wasn't the case. What happened was that the wash finally dug itself a gully, a brand new channel across the road and was riding down in there now, so it just looked like the waters had receded.

He was right. The road was no more, and where it had been, the wash had carved a three or four foot deep gully maybe twenty feet wide, moving swiftly enough to sweep away even full size pickup trucks. A young ranch hand came up in his 4WD full size lifted truck, and even he wasn't going to try to shoot that crossing yet. From what I've seen of the aftermath of this type of flood, the banks on that new channel are nearly vertical right now. The water would have to recede before even high clearance 4WD could make their way across it. Once a few big trucks claw their way up the banks, that will make it possible for lesser vehicles to do the crossing. This being Friday evening, the chances of the County getting out here and cleaning up the mess before Monday is pretty slim.

My gut told me that the washes between here and home were going to be crossable. After waiting a while I turned around and headed home. So now I'm here for the night. Power was out for several hours also, but came on about an hour ago.

I am hoping for crossable conditions by morning, but there is still a vast swath of rain showing on the radar.

We shall see...

Update: One of the features of our weather radar is a screen that shows estimated rainfall (based on the echo density over time). There is an area stretching from Green Valley toward Patagonia that appears to have received up to five inches of rain this evening! That is a big deal for a region that averages 12 inches per year! There's got to be some massive flash flooding going on over there.
---------------------------------------------
Update final:
Here is what the wash looked like the next morning:

Where I am parked, the water would have been up to the headlights, and as you can see, the wash was still deeper by at least a couple feet at the low point.

This is the channel behind where I'm parked. It was probably four feet deep at the center.

Progress Pics

2011-09-05T22:25:00.007-07:00

"Desert Cat, why is it taking you all month to frame up a simple shower surround wall?"

Because there are ten thousand fiddly cuts to make in order to provide nailing surfaces on the inside *and* outside corners of an eight-sided shape, that's why! Every inside corner and outside corner requires a piece of wood on both sides of said corner to securely fasten the sheetrock (outside) or cement backer board (inside). Also the tops and bottoms of each facet, inside and out.

Take a look at this series of images and try to get a feel for how many individual pieces of wood there are, and how many of them include angled cuts, or are ripped narrower than a standard 2x4.

(hint: most of them).

I could not have done this without my table saw. Not practically.

There is definitely more wood there after this weekend's efforts.

I know where I will be going during an earthquake or storm. This thing is going to be rock solid by the time I'm done.

And I am still not yet done. Here is a layout for the section of wall that goes under the tub at the door openings.

I also have yet to provide the required nailing surfaces along the bottom of the inside facets.

I expected to be further along by the end of the weekend, cutting and attaching these cement backer boards to the inside surfaces.

I will be on a hiatus for the next two weekends. I will be here briefly, but only to check on the cats. We are going on our semi-annual trip Somewhere Else (TM), to wander about taking pictures of trees and rocks and weeds and shiat.

RICO Case Brought Against JP Morgan/Chase

2011-09-04T07:58:00.000-07:00

YES!

"Here It Comes" (RICO Case Against JP Morgan/Chase) in [Market-Ticker]

Tax The Poor

2011-09-01T21:05:00.000-07:00

They are not paying their fair share, and there is no way to balance the budget solely on the backs of the so-called "rich". A 100% tax on all income over $1 million would not come close to filling the budget gap:

Appeal To Emotions When You Lose On Facts in [Market-Ticker]

You want all these Federal programs? You ready to see it taken out of YOUR paycheck to pay for it?

Fear Sets In

2011-08-31T17:46:00.001-07:00

Fear Sets In, Panic Begins, Ruin Perceived, Prepare for Gold $2100 :: The Market Oracle

A confluence of major perceptual factors is flowing in the national mindset. Fear is setting in. The early stage of panic is evident. A growing perception of ruin can be spotted. People are responding to numerous high profile stories, each of which is important in painting a mosaic of extremes, none of which would have occurred in the 1990 decade.

Yeah well, welcome to the party. You're a little late.

Frustrating to me is that I only managed to wake up a couple people long enough ago for them to have made modest efforts to improve their position for what is now finally becoming manifest.

The rest either did not believe it was true, or did not feel sufficient sense of urgency to lift a finger to do anything.

I need to be reminded from time to time also, as I occasionally get my head full of wild home improvement dreams while the basic alternative energy, heating, and cooling systems under construction have yet to become fully functional.

General Fuzz

2011-08-31T09:44:00.001-07:00

I want to give this guy a plug. He is a musician, creating what he calls "lush melodic instrumental electronica."

I just know it's fantastic music by which to do my engineering work:

General Fuzz

He has five albums that he gives away for free download. That kind of generous sharing of talent deserves recognition and success, measured in ears listening at the very least.

I downloaded these albums maybe a couple years ago, and came across them again in my music folder yesterday, and wondering why I haven't played them as much as they deserve.

Go. Listen.

DIY-gasm!

2011-08-30T17:15:00.000-07:00

Crown-Molding.com

Vox Day In Three Panels

2011-08-30T14:07:00.001-07:00

Funny 'cause it's TROO!