Thursday, October 2, 2014

Thursday's Thoughts



The Timberland SQ2. This is actually the tent when somebody says tent.. The tent covered by a rain fly is below.

It battens down nice and snug and is exceptionally well ventilated


It is an easy 2.5 person tent


especially with the vestibule which is accessible from the interior.
  • A couple of days ago I saw a pic on a news browser with a description to the effect, " Fans line up to exchange Rice jerseys". There were hundreds of people. I literally have no idea who Rice is or what he is accused of and I am quite sure I am all the better for that fact.
  • Wait, by osmosis I think I have learned he was the one who beat up a girlfriend- right?
  • We're watching Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure.
  • Party on-dude.
    An old video camera which surfaced from the detritus of one of my former lives recently. It was purchased to film me and my buddies machine gun competition performance. A former in law threw the charger way after I left it at her house. When I asked her about it she said, I didn't know what it was, so I threw it away.

    It was noted to be in the bag of recycles in the bed of my my truck.

    Since we were camping as is so often my wont I challenged myself to a thought exercise- to wit: What would we do  if we were stranded on a deserted island with only a dumb, ancient video camera?

    At least we wouldn't go hungry

    and I would feel less sad and bummed out while rockin' my awesome bracelet and you would have somebody to look up to who is accessorized cooler than you.

    We could use this quite powerful lens to look at bugs and stuff. Or yeah, I guess we could start a fire or whatever. Quit shivering you big whiney baby.
  • A few days ago as of this writing (09/23/2014) I learned William Tweed embezzled as much as 200 million dollars- in the 1870s. That is bind moggling. I knew Thomas Nast's cartoons were part of his downfall but I also learned their omnipresence led to his identification after he fled and was found working as a seamen on a Spanish ship. He died in jail of pneumonia
  • On 08/29/2014 I wrote in my journal of truth justice and the American way: "People oddly get offended when I won't let my children watch a movie the offended party has determined is OK for their children to watch. Just because you feel guilty doesn't mean I have judged you as such."
    A great comfort product with at 2.5 ounces a very low weight burden. It is an REI branded inflatable camping pillow. It won't work well in a bag that doesn't have a hood and a pillow pocket type hood is even better but I love it. There are some ideas bouncing around in my head-brain to keep it in one place overnight. Place a dab of Velcro in my sleeping bags and on the pillow might be a solution but I don't know.  Somebody smart tell me what I should do please.

    Big Agnes Double Z-Core mat. Get one yesterday if you camp at all- even if you use a cot. Inflated it is 4 inches thick of awesome. It has a two piece valve that allows inflation without air loss then very rapid deflation when it is time to head back to civilization. Get the wide/long. You'll find it in REIs awesome section.

    I almost always lay everything out as we pack up to head to the casa. Everything gets cleaned and repacked. Trash and dirties are separated and I consider what did and did not get used, what might work better etc. It only hit me on my last trip- it is a holdover from the Army. Interesting.
  • Scatter brained or scatterbrained? Oh, according to my spell check it is all one word.


    In the back seat of my truck. Some things just because you can do them doesn't mean you should- others, because you can- you absolutely must.
  • This morning (09/24/2014) on the way to work I tapped my brakes a bit causing the orange in my passenger seat to fly off and shoot forward like it had been shot by a fruit cannon. It's friend the apple I took note remained in place. Later a woman thought it best to pull over into my lane and stop- as quickly as she could. The apple flew forward when I braked. I saw it take off, heard it bounce around and I assumed it turned into applesauce somewhere under the seat. The problem is I can't find it. No, I haven't turned the truck upside down and shook it out- but a good 5 minute search was fruitless.
  • Ha- fruitless- get it?!



    In the morning it was slightly bruised looking but not soft in the least. When I got home it looked like this. I blame ebola.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

When ebola really hits you're going to be ready, with your tent, weapons, and camera-derived fish hook.

an Donalbane said...

While they're not much esteemed in the gun purist culture (of which I am nominally a member), I think the Hi-Point .45 carbine would make a great utility 'car gun' or 'trunk gun' for TEOTWAWKI or WTSHTF. They're inexpensive, and supposedly reliable - few if any FTFs or jams, even if they're butt ugly.

el chupacabra said...

Hiya Kate- You got that right. THIS is how the zombie apocalypse begins. It may still be too early for me to talk about it now but for those of us in the know- a nod is as good as wink...
Besides, I want to save some of the cool peeps like you and Don.

Hey Don- That is the gun I've been considering although we might go .40 cal. I say, "we" and "considering" as I can get one each for FG and myself so we match.
I'm a hopeless romantic.
Yep, they're ugly as a mud fence but that and their in the gutter price should stand as a dare to Rhino line them in OD or tan, hang lasers and flashlights off them, glue Velcro to the slide to put one under the dash of your car- I could go on but you get the (Hi) point.

an Donalbane said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
an Donalbane said...

[Had to make a minor revision]

Lol. Interesting you mention the Line-X/Rhino/Herculiner finish - am seeing more and more 'off label' uses of the coating - I think that would be a viable application, although from a weight perspective, Cerakote would suffice just as well.

Have had the convo with many a person in my office re: 9 vs .40 vs .45. You are of course correct to get whatever matches your handgun(s) (and, yeah, I think it's absolutely appropriate and romantic to share calibers with FG). I have advised several folks to get .40 if they're not already committed to a caliber. As I no longer have a 9 mm (better suited for European zombies than American ones), and have never owned a .40, I mention the .45 'cause that's my car carry (and another is home defense), so the .45 carbine would complement them.

If I were to go real gun-geek, I would lament the lack of a .357 Sig version of the carbine (in most cases, it's just a barrel switch-out from the .40 - I don't think they'd even have to change spring rates, though that might be different with a longer bbl). THAT would be awesome.

el chupacabra said...

The 40 cal (pronounced foaty cal) in my estimation is more better as it has a high velocity and broad cross section also the mag capacity is nice for the preceding two qualities.
Interestingly I came into the first two foaties by accident and was sold