So does my garage and now so does my side yard.

I scored big today though.

My friend Steve GAVE ME this little trailer AND the riding mower today!!

I have been hounding The Wifely Unit for at least the last two years about getting a riding mower and it has been like talking to a brick wall.

All of a sudden yesterday it’s OK. After it got brought up I find out why, it’s because her Dad is 80 years old, has Old Timers and has a yard big enough to put two freaking houses on.

She thought that I could just throw a riding mower in the back of my truck, haul it 35 miles, mow her Dad’s yard and then throw it in and bring it back.

Really?

Get a clue!

My friend Steve told me a week or so that he had a couple of riding mowers but that they needed work. He got them given to him.

So I texted him and asked if he still had one.

Yes he did and then he says he even has a little trailer it will fit on.

So he sent me that picture up top.

He said the engine started with starter fluid, the gas line has been disconnected at the tank.

AWESOME!!

I have been wanting a little Utility Trailer for a long time too!

He picked it up at an auction for $20.

I got up early and headed out to his place this morning. He even bought me breakfast .

It took some doing to get the mower on the trailer, the steering is locked up but he did have some ramps. A bunch of two old farts huffing and puffing, some lifting and dragging but we finally got the mower on the trailer.

No lights, no safety chains and no pin for the latch on the tongue.

At least it fit the 2 inch ball mounted on my rear bumper.

Then he proceeded to load up the back of my truck with all kinds of stuff!

If you haven’t guessed yet, both of us are Pack Rats.

Metal gas cans, new post hole diggers, a new propane tank, air hoses for my compressor, knives, a heavy duty cart, a Kindle, just all kinds of stuff!

His Wife was glad to see it go and I was glad to get it!

Steve is the oldest friend I have. We have been Partners In Crime for damn near thirty years now that I think about it.

One of those friends you may not talk to for months or a year but when you do it’s like it was last week.

One Hell of a nice guy.

I was worried about getting stuck in his yard because the back tires on my truck are needing to be replaced in a serious way. Bigger than shit I tore the hell out of his yard. I had to back up and get a run 4 times even though there was barely any slope because it’s been raining like hell here for the last two days.

Ruts and all now.

He wasn’t too worried about it, less to mow now.

I finally left his place and went straight down the hill about a mile to a Bi Mart and went in and got some stuff for Safety Chains, hooks and a clip for the latch. Screw the lights, the thing was narrow enough you can see the back lights on the truck.

I stopped at my brother’s place on the way home then eventually got the whole thing home.

Then I couldn’t get a hold of anyone to help me get it off the back of my truck, through the gate and into the sideyard. No jack or wheel up front and it’s way too heavy for me to try and jack around with by myself. I called my kids, Nephew and a Buddy. No one available. My Buddy Finally called me back and he came over to help. He’s pretty stout but we still fought the damn thing getting it through the gate. After tossing down some plywood cut offs we got it rolled out into the side yard and parked.

Both the trailer and the mower need a whole bunch of work but all that is going to take is my time and some parts.

It’s not like I don’t already have 400 projects but this lawn mowing gets to be a serious problem and nobody can afford to have a service come in and take care of it.

You might as well ask a pig to fly trying to get the kid over there to do the Father In Laws, forget him doing it here.

He is young and out and about all the time.

That leaves me.

So whatever it takes, I am going to fix this mower.

The trailer also needs some serious attention but that won’t be so labor intensive.

New bearings and seals, maybe a hub, a couple of tires, wire up the lights and a little welding on that headache rack up front. Oh yeah, a set of fenders.

Not that big of a deal all in all. The mower is going to be the biggie. I do have the nose cover but it’s broken all to shit with a chunk of the plastic missing out of it.

I’ll figure something out there.

My very sincere thanks to my friend Steve, this is eventually going to make my life a lot easier in the long run.

If I live long enough to get it all fixed.

The very same people who won’t give you enough time to fix something right in the first place will almost always give you time to do it the second time.

This pretty much kicks off the festivities I was hoping we could avoid but at this point it looks like WWIII has officially been unleashed..

I don’t give a fuck who you are, lobbing missiles at another country’s Embassy is an Act of War.

As far as I’m concerned we should have already seen video of Tehran Burning on the news.

One way or another,

We ain’t going nowhere.

I pulled part of the following from a comment Wes left on my What Was Old Will Be New Again post from the other day.

He said that he had cut his comment way down so I emailed him and asked him to elaborate a little more. He did and I think it is absolutely spot on but even then he said he cut it short because he doesn’t have the time nor energy to try and educate people anymore.

He is too busy walking the talk.

For those who may not be aware, Wes is a fantastic gentleman who I have had the great pleasure to meet with very briefly a couple of times.

He hunts, he farms and he along with his family are basically as self sustaining as anyone I could personally point to as an example of what it takes to live and thrive on their own anymore.

He is also a fantastic wordsmith in his own right and has penned a couple of stories about his experiences growing up that Kenny posted over at his old site a couple of times that I just absolutely loved.

Unfortunately I can no longer find those as Kenny has let the domain lapse on that old site due to having so many problems with it.

I will try and contact him later to see if he still has those stashed away.

Anyway, the comments Wes left are brutal assessments of what the true state of Mankind really looks like from someone who knows what it takes to live and thrive the hard way.

Down deep, if you are really honest with yourself, I think you will see his point.

Long post – Delete:
short edit:

I had damned near a book written out in response to this but anymore my heart just isn’t in it. For all but a few the human race is doomed.

Sadly if we ever suffer a situation where cheap, abundant energy goes away most folks will be dead or thinking about eating their neighbors within two weeks.

The simple fact is learning about carpentry, electricity and electronics, mechanics, hydraulics, hydrology, animal husbandry, farming and food growing, resource extraction, sewing, hunting, fishing, foraging, food processing and preservation, alternative energy sources, health and medicine, dentistry, firearms, shooting and reloading, and on and on and on — hell even manual skills such as how to use a shovel efficiently is beyond all too many let alone figuring out how to make do with what they have, forget about it.

Like I said most people are just going to be shit out of luck.

That was his self edited comment that he left, this is the longer version and it is a bullseye.

“I’ll have to learn. No, you’re going to die”

Originally written as a comment to the post What Was Old Will Be New Again

If we ever lose cheap, abundant energy, petroleum based or electrical take your pick, most people are going to die.

I went to a home to help with a guy with a repair. At the home his two young adult step children were visiting. They live over the mountains in a blue hive.

The conversation went something like this:

Stepdad “Here you explain it to them”

me “explain what?”

stepdad “about survival”

me “I’m just here to fix a piece of equipment”

stepdaughter “he’s nuts, he’s become a prepper”

lots of cross talk about prepping, conspiracy theories and disaster scenarios

finally me “look ignoring the causal event what if something really bad happens?”

the girl “we’ll just drive over here”

me “no you won’t. Unless you get out in the first hour the highways will be a parking lot.”

the girl “well I guess we’ll have to walk.”

me “what if it’s the winter and there’s three to six feet of snow on the ground?”

the girl “I’ll find a way”

me “ok, what are you going to do for food because on foot it will be a several day hike at best?”

the girl “I’ll have to shoot a deer”

me “have you ever shot a deer?”

her “no”

me “do you have a gun?”

her “no, I’ll have to find one”

me “have you ever shot a gun”

her “no I’ll have to learn”

me “ok, so let’s say you find a gun, figure out how to load it, find a slow deer that will stand there and commit suicide, what are you going to do then? Have you ever dressed out any animal?”

her “what does dressed out mean?”

me “eviscerate”

her “what does eviscerate mean?”

me “gut the deer”

her “that’s gross, do you have to be so blunt?”

me “well, I can tell you haven’t gutted a deer before so what are you going to do?”

her “I’ll have to learn”

me “once it’s gutted what are you going to do to process the carcass?”

her “I’ll have to learn”

me “no, you’re going to die”

that was the end of the conversation.

The sad truth is for most people there is too much to learn, about too many things, in too short a time for them to survive. In my estimation at the macro level there are five things needed for physical survival – breathable air, potable water, food, shelter and defense. Each of these topics has multiple sub points.

Consider the breadth of food alone. Raising livestock, growing a truck garden, foraging, fishing, hunting and all the attendant details that go with each of these. What and how many species of livestock? How about their feed requirements? Hay you say. Where is it coming from? How are you going to put it up? Materials for fencing, vet supplies? How many varieties of garden plants? Where does the seed come from for next year and the year after and the years after that? How about irrigation? Fertilizer? What wild game with what weapons? Ammunition? What fishing methodology? Once food has been acquired and there is no electricity to power the freezer how is it processed and stored?

Extrapolate these types of questions about everything, and I mean everything else. I’ve seen people that didn’t know which way to turn a screw to tighten it. People that don’t know what a combination wrench or ratchet is. How about understanding the basics of internal combustion engine theory and the differences between gasoline and diesel engines. Have any of them ever hot wired a car, truck or farm tractor. It’s fairly easy on the old tractors, not so much on the newer ones all computer controlled.

Turning to the home front what are these people going to do when they turn on the tap and no water comes out. I’ll guarantee most of them have never given serious consideration to providing safe drinking water for themselves and those dependent on them. How about preparing that food you’ve somehow grown or raised?

And the gangs, it won’t matter what you think you have, if you can’t protect it you are at the mercy of the next group that is stronger or bigger than your group. Who stands watch, for how long and how do you know they haven’t been killed because they got bored and took a nap because nothing ever happens.

I could go on for pages of different topics and the discussion will be the same, too much to learn in too short of time. Us deplorables will have an edge of course because we’ve been dealing with this type of shit since childhood. All the others, it goes back to my earlier comment, when all goes south, I’m sorry, you’re going to die.

wes

wtdb

It isn’t pretty to think about but Wes speaks much truth here.

The human race is so disconnected from the land and the harsh realities of what it takes to survive without cheap and easily available energy that without it, most would perish.

Sue there are pockets here and there but the vast majority of people have absolutely no idea what it truly takes to provide the basic necessities of life for themselves anymore and to be honest I would have to include myself in that category .

It’s not so much that I don’t have the knowledge, it’s that my body is pretty much shot at this point. I simply do not have the physical ability to work as hard as it would take to be able to supply all the needs of myself and especially those of my family if I had to start from scratch.

I would very much like to thank Wes for providing his insights and I would dearly love to be able to visit with him for more than a short period again and again.

He and his entire family are amazing people.

People these days may have the attention span of a flea but they have the memory of elephants when they get fucked over.

I know I do.

Highest Gasoline Prices in History Hit All 50 States, National Avg Increased 20 Cents in Just Four Days

March 10, 2022 | Sundance | 

The nationwide average for regular gas is now $4.32 a gallon, according to AAA. Just yesterday it was $4.25. In just a few days gasoline has eclipsed the highest price ever recorded by 20¢.  The previous record was $4.11 in July 2008.  Unfortunately, there is no end in sight.  Anecdotally, my neighborhood gas station went up 75¢/gal in just three days and is now $4.95.

Nationally, Diesel prices are also at record highs, with the average cost at $5.06 a gallon, up almost twenty cents overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, this will increase transportation costs for all goods being delivered.   The speed of the current rate of increase is very troublesome.

We all know it’s only going to get worse and we all know it is deliberate.

I seem to recall something about an election coming around a bit later.

Nobody is going to forget this shit.

I absolutely guarantee that.

When the Commie Bastards try cheating the election again, because you know damn good and well they are going to, I think there is going to be enough hell raised the very next day that these complete assclowns are all going to be looking for rocks to crawl under.

The ones that don’t get shit canned right out of the gate anyway.

There is no way possible that they are going to retain their majority either way at this point I think.

I’m pretty sure that anyone who stops by here will remember hearing this at some point in the past.

There is only one small problem with that these days and I’m sure you have heard of that too.

While The Great Depression churned out an entire generation of Pack Rats out of necessity, things today are not what they were then.

All these electronic Gee Gaws and computerized everything that we have in this Modern Age are for the most part, unserviceable and made as cheaply as humanly possible.

Something that has been anathema to me for many, many, years.

Who really needs a refrigerator that can communicate with your garage door opener?

I sure as hell don’t.

Especially when that overpriced refrigerator has a service life of two freaking years before some totally unnecessary resistor craps out in a Motherboard and you get to find out that because of the Supply Chain crunch that no new Motherboards are available and aren’t expected to be for some indeterminant time frame.

Now what?

Go buy another new Whiz Bang computerized refrigerator?

See Supply Chain Crunch and then look up this thing you have been hearing about called Inflation just for fun.

This meme was assuredly made to be tongue in cheek but it speaks much truth.

Ha Ha Funny right?

Try to find one of those old appliances.

They are out there but the prices are going up every day.

It’s not that I am picking on refrigerators either.

Everything is like that now.

All Major Appliances these days are garbage in my opinion unless you can find Industrial stuff and even then they are all digitally controlled.

Clothes don’t last either.

Even Levi’s Blue Jeans suck now, even though I quit buying them twenty years ago when they went Anti Gun.

They were WAY ahead of the curve.

Carhart just went Woke so they can kiss me where I sit too.

Anybody want to talk about vehicles?

HA HA HA HA!

You couldn’t GIVE me a new car.

Well you could actually.

I would immediately turn around and sell that sucker then take the cash and go find me something fifty five or sixty years old that had been restored instead.

So this time around when everything goes to hell things are going to be very different.

Sure, Grandma’s will still be able to save and reuse Bacon Grease, Aluminum foil and Cool Whip bowls like mine did but other than that, there won’t be any wearing things out like it was back in the day.

Point and laugh all you want, that was my and who knows how many peoples reality back in the day.

Other than a very few things, stuff just breaks now.

Everything is made out of plastic and plastic just doesn’t have the life span of Cast Iron or Steel.

3d Printing will only be so much good for so many things.

So when it all comes crashing down this time I think it will be real interesting to see how people are going to cope compared to our ancestors.

I think it will be the same except different.

After a whole bunch of trial and error.

I also think that because of economic reasons, the demand for quality, durable goods is going to make a resurgence.

People are going to wake up to the fact that cheap isn’t as good as they were led to believe.

Then we have the looming World Wide Food Crisis staring us all in the face.

For those who may have never had to deal with being broke and hungry, take notes.

All theses people who have to have new cars, big houses and a bunch of fancy shit are going to have a very rude awakening in their near future.

Same same with MLLIONS of Snowflakes who have come of age never having known true hardship in their lives.

The days of Instant Gratification are coming to an end and the double whammy of twenty second memory spans so many people have is going to effectively double the intensity of the pain that is coming their way.

Basic freaking necessities are going to be front and center for everyone’s attention.

Lessons learned and long forgotten from The Great Depression are about to be relearned anew by generations who have absolutely no idea of what is coming.

Food Security is going to be a high priority for people who have never been hungry a day in their life and have no idea where what they eat even comes from.

Gardening is going to be HUGE, just like it was during World War II and the Victory Garden program.

Look for shortages of seeds and especially fertilizer to be in the news here real shortly.

Thanks to Wes, I am covered for seeds and then some.

God Bless You for that.

I mean that from the bottom of my heart.

He spent a lot of time gathering, drying, sorting, packaging and labeling up a big box of seeds for me.

More than I could possibly plant in the space I have available.

I already shared a few with a daughter who gardens, I don’t want them to go to waste.

Canning and Preserving are going to be hot topics soon also.

Ain’t nobody going to be able to afford extra running around anyway the way the prices of fuel are going.

Might as well start learning some skills people.

I’m thinking about starting some open threads, so those of you who already have those skills can maybe share some of that knowledge with the rest of us.

It is going to supremely important.

Hard times are here now, most people just don’t realize it yet.

They will soon enough.

We are going to be seeing things that haven’t been seen in this country in ninety years.

They have a steep learning curve ahead of them and very little time to catch up.

When they do wake up, every possible thing you can imagine food growing, storage and preservation wise is going to be unobtanium shortly afterward.

Think Morons and Toilet Paper.

Gleefully stolen from Mike Miles over at 90 Miles From Tyranny.