Snow snow snow

Perhaps it is weird but I hope for power failures so I can practice for a real emergency. What is weirder is my daughter said this weekend during the big "EPIC" snow storm here on the east coast that she "hopes the power will go out, we have the most fun when that happens". The boys agreed, my wife just shook her head. But alas the power did not go out and all my prep work for the storm was mostly for nothing. We only spent one day inside eating microwave buttered popcorn and drinking hot coco while gathered around a ceramic space heater in the middle of the living room. Not because we needed a space heater our central heating works fine, but because it was just family fun.

The next day the boy 19 and I shoveled out the truck and we went around saving as many folk as we could and getting some Christmas shopping done in the empty stores. Who would have thought just days before Christmas the stores would be void of people. It was very pleasant.

I think practice of emergency situations is important. I know in my heart I should practice more with my family. I typically only practice when the power really goes out. Turning the breakers off and not having hot water might upset the wife. Helping people extract their vehicles from the snow was great practice and way to much of a work out, I am still sore, as is the boy.

My children are older now the youngest being 17 and almost out of high school and the rest adults. They have some interest in prepping due to their crazy father but it is a game to them. Some of our great family memories are of us popping microwave popcorn, drinking coco and watching the weather channel while the rest of the neighborhood is blacked out. God made generators to pop microwave popcorn and run portable AC units so we could all be comfortable with our mattresses all in one room while the power was out. This is the kind of memory my daughter was speaking of during this last storm.

I do not know if they will continue to prep as they grow older. My 19 yr old son who helped the most rescuing people this weekend said that he needs a larger shovel for his car, or maybe two, a spade and a snow shovel. My daughter 21 who recently ran out of gas wants now to get a couple types of personal protection devices (she can not carry a gun on campus) that she can rely on and a small gas can for her car. These things give me hope.

My oldest 22 is in the marines and is receiving a medal for helping in the Philippines during the huge tropical storms they had. So obviously he makes me so proud that I get a lump in my throat as I write this. My middle son 17 is thinking hard about joining some service, and I am doing my best to guide him. Having spent 6 years in the Navy as a Construction Electrician in the CB's I hope he listens a little to me. My daughter 21 has spent years as a dance instructor for her local dance studio and is going to the university as a math major so she can teach high school math and be the dance coach, at her old high school where she is currently already an assistant coach. My 17 yr old is a fine young man who wants to enter the Navy like his old man as EOD to protect his fellow warriors from IED's. Scary to his Mother and I but how could I not be proud of a goal like that.

I see all the stories of young adults who are lost and wandering the world with little to no purpose and I wonder how on earth I ended up with such fine children who every day make me so proud to be their parent. I believe that prepping and talking to them about the possibilities of horrific change in the world has help in no small way to guide their choices.

Yes they are somewhere between Conservative and Libertarian, they are not very religious. They are familiar with guns but none of them own a gun. They are not hugely political and certainly are not a threat to the govt like some govt. officials write documents about. They just want a chance at living a life at least the same as what I have lived and I hope better than my life.

This is likely our last Christmas together and even this one our son 22 the Marine is in Japan. I wish them all Gods Speed in life and I know due to their character they will all be fine.

Bullets...

Got my order of ammo last night.

I thought I had ordered 5 boxes of OO buck but checking back it was only a single box.
Oh well that is how it goes if you are not carefull.

The wife unit does wonder why I order ammo for weapons we do not have. My answer is always "Yet" and she smirks.

I do have a plan to get the .22 cal weapons this month so I can take the girls to the range and not intimidate them.

Tonight is suppose to be a scary snow storm so when I get home from work the boy and I will pick up some fuel, water and a couple other good to have things.

I should make a list so I dont forget.

Bad Viscount

Well it has been almost a month since I blogged.

Mostly due to Christmas. Instead of getting sweet prep items I am getting cool kid items.

But.... as of yesterday I own my truck and the bank does not.
And the BoA CC is chopped up and gone forever!

I also this morning got some ammo but not the whole allotment for the month.
50 .380 jhp
50 9mm JHP
525 .22
20 308
20 .12ga 00
20 Russian unknown maker I hope they don't suck

All from a new vendor LuckyGunner.com

So there we have the update

New List Change

My daughter had a small traffic accident last night. She is ok. The car is ok. She was rear ended so it was not her fault. But in chatting about the accident at work my teamlead told his crashing into the curb story a couple of nights ago. So I have now added some obvious additions to the internal and external vehical tool kits on the kits list.

Added a hydrolic floor jack and a 4 way lug wrench.

Also I am going to come up with a schedle to follow that will allow me to keep my gear in good condition. Generator running once a month, and stuff like that.

Concealed weapons permit

Looking into my CCW, I could do it all myself and it would cost me a tiny bit less than going though my local shooting range. Seems like more of a pita then just paying a bit more for the classes at the shooting range, not to mention a refresher course on safety and shooting is never a bad thing.

Looks like only about $25 more for the effort and that is nothing since they take care of much of the paperwork. I will have to get off my butt and get to training. The dates for the classes are Dec 17th and Dec 20th.

Not much else going on this week as far as prepping, I missed the gun show. So now I have made sure I have checked the schedule at the expo center and it looks like they have it every 3 to 4 months but not exactly on the quarters. Last time my son and I went a couple months ago, they had all the items I needed (although the .380 apc ammo sold out before I got back to the table to buy it).

I have one of the best wives in the world, she is totally on board with prepping and encourages it. She is working hard on paying down debt and putting aside enough money to buy beans bullets and blankets. My middle son is always excited about it we call it the Zombie Apocalypse since it is a bit more fun than TEOTWAWKI or WTSHTF. And we both enjoy Zombie Appoc movies somewhat, I tend to like the funny ones much better than the ones with lots of gore.

My oldest sister is on board with prepping and my other sister already has a spot in WA state (yes I am so jealous). And they are doing very well already living the preppers life style. My mother does what she can. My biggest issue is the great distances between all of us. Sister one and Mom live in AZ while sister two lives in WA and I live in VA, I am hoping not for much longer.

But one thing at a time. I have completed my food lists and we should have a good start in less than a year. Now my wife wants to put together an "exit" plan to get the land ready and start working on that. So off to planning land again.

Ammo

Cheaper than Dirt .com is awesome.
I received my ammo so now I am one month closer to my 5 year supply of ammo.

My wife did ask me if we had guns for all the types of ammo I got.
I had to tell her not yet. But instead of being made to feel foolish she had me explain what gun on the list each round was matched to and what the purpose of that gun was and why it was on the list. She seemed much more interested than I would have expected.

.12 ga - Shotgun (best gun for everything defence, hunting)
.308 - AR-10 (Hunting, Battle Rifle)
7.62x39 - AK-47 (Assault Rifle)
9mm - Glock 19 (Compact Handgun)
.22 LR - 10/22 (Varmint Gun)

Glock 19 now has a home

Well my order from topglock.com arrived quickly and accurately
I ordered the paddle holsters Fobus holster and matching double mag pouch.

They work very nicely and I am happy with them. I can not wait to try them at the range.

Rough food list

I finished my roughed out food list this morning. I will be working on it more to get it refined.
http://viscounteldrid.com/Survival/oneyearfood.pdf I will add it to the sidebar below the Kits link sometime in the near future.

After working to put together the Tool kit in my Survival Kits list I found that I had a couple of items missing from the the list so I added them in and updated the lists. So there is an updated version of the Survival Kits List on the link under Survival Kits.

Good weekend...

Tried to get the DPMS .308 Sportical but it was not available.
So instead,

New Glock 19
Also should get the holster and mag pouches.

Weird experience at the gun store, my NICS check came back on delay but they OK'd me so it was all ok, I suspect they typed my name or something wrong.

Was able to do a safety class with JB and Paul, JB thinks the shotgun is very heavy.
We also ordered the first of 10 sets of ammo. So 9 more to go

Ammo:
15 00 Buck .12ga
5 Slugs .12ga
5 #1 Buck .12ga
50 #6 Shot .12ga
20 .308
50 .22LR
20 7.62 X 39
50 9mm

Picked up wrenches, vice grips Alan wrench's and files, most of the tools for the basic tool list and all the tools for the power tool list.
Finally picked up a couple of ponchos, nothing great but pretty good ones.
A pair of binoculars nothing special but I really needed them at the protest the other day and did not have a pair, now I do.

So all in all a pretty good weekend. And much progress on the prep work.
Had to spend $700 for the dogs (not so good for for prep)

Need to concentrate on long guns. I have found a couple places that sell the DPMS .308, but I think the next gun will be Marys AK-47.

Weirdness

Last night my practically perfect wife told me she wanted a power point of goals, including points of gear such as guns so we can move forward more quickly on our prep plans. So we are definitely on the same page and that will help a lot.

Prepping plans

Todays Plans.
come up with an action plan to try and do prep work every week if not every day.

Prepping

This weekend.
Remove Gasoline from the 5.5kw generator
Did paperwork on the land.
Ordered 2 pair of pants.

Purchased 100 rds of #8 buckshot (I think I will go with #6 from now on)

Ordered a Flease Jacket for Vibious and I.

Started blogging prepwork

Second Post

Set up my profile and followed wifes blog.

Not an alarmist, just un-trusting of the govt.
Just in case you think they will not:
Military seized guns in New Orleans:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm5PC7z79-8

First Blog

Started a blog due the wife starting a blog.

-Eldrid