Age Old Old Age Paranoia

Am I Getting Ready To Hunker Down Or Just Bug Out?


I just realized today that looking at me and my stuff from the outside, one could easily accuse me of becoming paranoid in my old age middle age.

For instance, ever since I moved to Florida back on September 12, 2001 (I was supposed to leave Atlanta on 9/11 but the dang Saudis got in my way), and continuing over to St. Simons Island, Georgia and now the past few years up here in Knoxtown at the Turbo Pup Compound I've spent more and more time and money on stuff that I don't need yesterday or even today, but that I might need in the event of an emergency next week or next month or next year...

...or the year after that.

Stuff like gallon jugs of drinking water sitting around in the bottom of hall closets.

Or the 1.5 KW electric generator that's still shrink wrapped in it's original cardboard box.

How about dozens of candles and matches and lighters and the two antique oil burning lanterns and wicks and fuel in the Dining room Sideboard cabinet?

And then there is the kerosine heater likewise sitting in it's original packaging unopened in the basement beside the generator.

Now it's come to my attention that not only do I need to worry about living past a Hurricane when residing on the Ocean or a snow/ice storm here in Knoxtown, but now with Obama and the Democrats' lax attitude toward the production of Nuclear weapons by North Korea and now Iran...

I'm still short of some other critical components in my ultimate dooms day inventory.

Things like extra charcoal for my grill to be stored in the basement for future use.

Or some additional canned non-perishable food stuffs--possibly some military style MRE's (meals ready to eat)--to cover a few weeks if not months,and now I want to build something to protect a few pieces of electronic equipment in the event of an Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) attack by some wild eyed towel headed morons.

I have an extra laptop PC and a AC/DC radio and some other stuff that would be valuable in the event of an infrastructure breakdown and I've learned that in order to keep a giant blast of electrical noise from frying everything that it is possible to build what is called a "Faraday Cage"--basically a metal screen enclosed storage box, area, or even an entire room...which is connected to a dedicated ground wire and grounding rod.

The idea is that through the laws of physics (which I understand but won't bore you with Gausian surface theory this morning) the system will collect the burst of energy from a lightening strike or nuclear EMP bomb and short it around the shielded area and into the ground in an effort to protect the delicate chips in modern electronic devices so they won't fry themselves.

So any way, now instead of spending time blogging further this morning, I'm going to go back to my research efforts and hopefully in the next couple of weeks I'll add this feature to my ever growing basement bunker complex.

Meanwhile, don't be a stranger. Just call before you stop by, and knock before you enter, because until after the November election my trigger finger is a little twitchy for some reason.

Regards Y'all...

Nothing To Say...

...So I'll Say (Write) Nothing...













(Stay tuned to this channel for a good rant shortly.)

Retarded Television

If You Wonder Who's Voting...


I don't know, but does anyone but me lose their mind when they try to watch TV during the hours between about 4 AM and 7 AM?

Apparently the demographic is either pimple faced kids seeking acne cures, middle aged men with sexual "performance" issues, vain women looking to cover up their "skin imperfections" so they can catch a man buying the "performance" enhancing drugs (and hoping for an erection which lasts longer than four hours) else they are people who want to sit on the sofa watching videos about "cash flow" systems and buying real estate with no money down.

Then of course there are the people that want to lose 257 pounds, 3 ounces in eight weeks using some sort of exercise machine which hides conveniently under the bed or in the closet while eating some sort of food shipped to their door in little freeze dried packets which tastes like something prepared by a professional chef in a five star restaurant.

But I have to ask...what about ME?

Old slightly past middle aged guys who have survived our Acne years, given up on things like sex and making much money and not really caring about losing the weight gained while consuming pounds of butter and bacon fat?

All I can say is thank GOD for the Internet and YouTube and important videos like this one:



Gnuck...Gnuck...Gnuck...whoop whoop whoop...

(MORE...a half hour later)

Then there is stuff I still have like this on VHS Video Tape:




"Looks like this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship..."

Home Repair Yields Cooking Revelation?

Here...Try This Recipe...


So when we moved into this old house in April 2008, while it was in pretty good shape for something made of bricks and wood which was only three years younger than I was, there were still a few nagging little details which reared their ugly heads every now and then...

...and over the past 2-1/2 years I've been playing "Whack A Mole" with them on an individual basis based on the priority and reality of the consequences should they be ignored.

Things that might fall on my head or electrocute me or cause me to drown were top priority, but as the days and months on the calendar have passed us by the list has gotten shorter and now we're down to silly details like replacing Kitchen Oven vent hoods and also most recently, the "Lazy Susan" or "Lazy Susie" or "Lazy Mildred" or even "Lazy Bob"---that turntable thing commonly found under the base cabinets in the corner of the kitchen.

Apparently the old couple that owned our house before we moved in stored a used Datsun Pickup Truck under the counter or allowed their kids and/or grand kids to use the devise as an amusement park merry go round or something...

because the darned thing was cracked and broken several ways and as a result prone to flinging 24 ounce cans of tomato sauce out of the cabinet onto your bare feet or else losing things like raw potatoes back in the neither regions behind the round shelves only to rot and produce lovely odors better relegated to the basement or bathroom than the kitchen.

So any way, a couple of weeks ago I bought a new one on line and managed to cut the old mangled one out of the cabinet and cram the new one into it's place, but the top shelf seems to want to refuse to stay locked to the vertical shaft/pole so early this morning I found myself sitting in the kitchen floor disgorging all of the canned goods out of the cabinet so I could lift the shelf and take a monkey wrench and a sledge hammer and crush the bolt holding the shelf into it's final position.

I'm proud to report that as of this morning it's going to take either a stick of dynamite or a Muslim Suicide Bomber to remove that shelf from my kitchen.

But I digress...

while going through all of the crazy cans of stuff I'd forgotten I'd bought I was stuck with an idea for a late night snack--actually a soup concoction--which worked out pretty dang good if I do say so myself.

Here's the recipe for Virgil's "Creamy Mushroom Chicken Spinach Tarragon Mushroom Soup."

(OK...I have to work on the name a little, but you get the idea...)

Ingredients:

(2) tbsp Bacon Grease
(2) hands full of baby spinach
(1) 7 oz Can Sliced Button Mushrooms
(1) 12 oz Can Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup
(1) 5 oz Can premium chicken Breast (or diced chicken breast leftovers)
1/2 14 oz Can Chicken Stock
1/2 Cup white Wine

dash of sea salt
couple of dashes of white pepper
couple of sashes of black pepper
1/4 tsp of your favorite hot sauce


Putting it all together...

Dump your bacon grease into a two or three quart boiler and get it hot over medium heat.

Drain your canned mushroom slices and toss them in the hot bacon grease.

Give them two or three minutes to heat up, then throw in your baby spinach and cook until the spinach wilts.

Turn the heat down and reserve the mushroom/spinach mixture on the side in a bowl and spoon out your cream of mushroom soup into the boiler and add the chicken stock and kick the heat back up.

Open and drain your chicken breast pieces and pull the leaves off your Tarragon and dice them up real fine.

Add the Tarragon and salt/peppers to the mixture and keep stirring.

When things start steaming and bubbling a little, add back in your mushroom/spinach mix and dump in the white wine and the chicken chunks.

Take a big swig of white wine for yourself now if you want to.

Hey...take two swigs...I'ts your wine...

Simmer everything for about 15 or 20 more minutes, then grab yourself a napkin and bowl and spoon and EAT.

Regards Y'all

The Redneck Gourmet

(For those that don't read my terribly neglected cooking Blog--The Redneck Gourmet -- I will cross post this recipe and thus it is written in the style I use in/on that forum.)

Construction Progress

Diggin' Holes And Makin' Sawdust...


Fortunately for me and the American Healthcare system I'm the Architect/Engineer on this adventure, and as a result younger, stronger, more flexible and resilient men are making good progress on my Neighbor's sun room addition project.

Here's a look at the first 10 days (16 days on the calendar) of work.

A ditch full of re bar waiting on concrete:

A Cement truck load slopping in the ditches:

Footers and back fill in place ready for the slabs:




Walls framed up, waiting on a roof:






Ridge beam in place and rafters set...






It will have a roof skin and shingles by the end of the day Wednesday...

...and it sure is easier to stand around taking pictures and pointing at drawings rather than running a saw and climbing scaffolding.

And of course I get some credit for the design.

Government Tax Break For The Dead?

Gee...Thanks Uncle Sam...


I haven't mentioned it here on the Blog before, but right now I'm arguing with the IRS over my 2008 tax return.

I've already submitted a revised return which at first they accepted along with a plan for me to pay off the additional taxes owed over the next few months in installments instead of in lump sum.

So far so good...

Then this past weekend I got ANOTHER package of information from them challenging my revised/amended return and rehashing my options including offering yet another payment plan, and this time the amount I owe is less than I said even though they screwed up my moving expense calculation.

Any way, I was wading through the IRS website trying to figure out whether to just accept their calculation or continue the argument--because based on their logic I owe even less if I press a few points--or just sign the agreement and mail a check when I found this little passage...
Get this...if you die in 2010 and your employer continues to pay you for the calendar year because of how your contract is structured...THE IRS GETS TO CONTINUE TO COLLECT SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE TAXES EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE D E A D...


Deceased employee's wages. If an employee dies during the year, you must report the accrued wages, vacation pay, and other compensation paid after the date of death. Wages that were constructively received by the employee while he or she was alive are reported on Form W-2 as any other regular wage payment, even if you may have to reissue the payment in the name of the estate or beneficiary.

If you made the payment after the employee's death but in the same year the employee died, you must withhold social security and Medicare taxes on the payment and report the payment on the employee's Form W-2 only as social security and Medicare wages to ensure proper social security and Medicare credit is received.

...snip...

If you made the payment after the year of death, do not report it on Form W-2, and do not withhold social security and Medicare taxes.

Isn't that total crap?

Unless you have little kids or a wife who can collect suvivor benefits when you die, the government still swoops in in every case and continues to steal money from dead people...money which they know that they will never have to pay back out because the person is DEAD...all in the name of "Fairness" and "income redistribution."

I guess it really is like they say...nothing is certain except for death AND taxes...

Kids Like This Will Save Us All

A Young Patriot...




If I were about 45 years younger...

Put This In Your Pipe...

And SMOKE It...


I have a copy of the Qur'an on the way to my house via Amazon for the purposes of lighting my Webber Kettle reading the words directly, but over the past five or so years I have personally read a good deal of the passages referenced in this video from pages on the Internet and find it to be a valid reference:




Doesn't that make you shudder in your stocking feet?

I believe that we need to extinguish the lives of many of these Bastards following this radical form of Islam, and anything else short of victory...unlike the pussyifcation of America found during the Korean and Vietnam War, will result in our ultimate demise.

For this reason I am completely happy that I never had any children (because men like me knew better than to take on the responsibility and then not fulfill the promise), but I worry about my Sister's young boy--my Nephew Reagan--and the other Children and Grandchildren of friends and relatives and an infinite number of other kids and grand-kids and young adults which are threatened by this ever expanding, ever growing threat.

I'm just happy I'm 51 rather than 21...

This is serious SHIT in my opinion, and you can call me a racist or a bigot or just a stupid old, mean old, ever greying ever balding moron or whatever, but understand this...

I know how to aim a gun and shoot it.

I can tell the difference between shit and shineola.

I don't give a damn what you or your mother or Congress or the Supreme Court thinks.

At some point my life is worth less than the value of the idiocy I can stop in the process of giving up the few years left over in the name of peace and justice and the American Way.

It's just that simple...