Dirty sonofabitch just keeps throwing sliders and curve balls at me.

I will win, eventually.

No matter how much “Shit That Bubba Did” I run into.

I got a text message from one of the Sister In Laws this morning at 0830 stating that the battery in her car was dead.

This is the same one who was complaining about her battery a week ago.

She is obviously not smart enough to take care of this on a Saturday, her day off, when most places are open, eh?

No, let’s wait until Sunday Morning and then call Phil and make it his problem.

Fuck me runnin’, this is why it’s illegal to bitch slap people.

Because it should be legal in instances such as this.

It starts out with her wanting to know if there is anybody, on a Sunday mind you, that will come to your house and change out a battery.

WTF?

The ONLY outfit that I know of that does that shit is Triple A.

Fuck no, she don’t have that, of course.

After I explain that, I tell her that Auto Zone will change out your battery in their parking lot if you can get it there.

Of course this still means that I have to drive the fuck over there and jump start the fucking thing.

I thought about all this for about ten whole seconds and said fuck all this bullshit, I’m not dealing with the potential of the thing dying on the way over to the nearest Auto Zone, or them not having the right battery and then me having to go jump start the fucker again, I’m just going to go buy a fucking battery, drive over there and change the motherfucker out in her damn driveway, because again, she is too fucking stupid to take care of this shit on her own.

Now the Wifely Unit chimes in and calls me stupid for doing this and yadda yadda yadda.

Fuck this noise, see ya later.

I go get the battery, drive over there and the very first thing thing I get to do is fuck around with massive corrosion on the hold down clamp, then clean the gross terminals, swap the fucking battery out, test the charging system, have her start it and shut it off and have her try it again.

Nothing.

Not a click, nothing.

I check the connections and they are good. The battery is good, try it again.

Vrooom, it fires right up.

Repeat this a couple of times and it did it again but then started right up on the second try.

Then it started up several times in a row.

I dunno if she has an ignition switch acting up or if she just wasn’t pushing the clutch pedal down far enough.

Either way, I tells her I am done here.

The old battery was older than shit and it was definitely bad so it needed changing either way.

Of course I chewed her ass for not taking care of this shit yesterday and waiting to dump it in my lap on a Sunday morning.

Like I don’t have enough shit to deal with.

She ate the core charge for my trouble so there is that. Then she did pay me in cash for the battery.

I told her flat out that if she has anymore trouble with the fucker that she is on her own. I absolutely do not have time to fuck with it.

A 2008 Toyota Corolla with 245,000 miles on it?

Oh HELL no!

After I got back from Horror Freight earlier, I drug out a bunch of tools and “shop consumables”, you know, those things you get charged out the ass for by repair shops like rags, brake clean, that kind of shit, and went at it.

The very first thing I see is more Shit That Bubba Did, right out of the gate.

The picture is blurry but if you look closely, you will notice that some COMPLETE FUCKING MORON PUT THE LUG NUTS ON BACKWARDS.

The cones are sticking out, instead of in like they should be.

Ye Olde Snap On 1/2 inch drive air powered bolt snapper made short work of that shit and off the wheel came.

I redid the other side first with the new hub but because I just did it last weekend, I didn’t have any problems with that.

This side however, was pretty much exactly like that one was the first time.

Completely FUBAR.

To wit,

After I finally got the wheel and hub off, I was greeted with this shit.

The inner bearing on this side was fucking GONE also.

Sigh.

Go back in the garage and dig the bearing puller kit back out, rinse and repeat.

This one came off HARD.

After I got it off finally and got the spindle cleaned off I saw why.

Big grooves gouged in the spindle.

It took a long time and a bunch of emory cloth to get that shit smoothed back out.

I messed with this little project for a good two hours easily.

The whole time it is overcast, cold, windy and off and on raining with some hail thrown in just for fun.

It would start in and I would have to beat a hasty retreat back into the garage and wait until it blew over before I could go at it again.

Eventually I got the little sonofabitch put back together though.

And wouldn’t you know it, because that’s the way it works for me, LITERALLY five seconds after I got the last lug nut tightened up, started to snag the socket off the air gun so I could start putting stuff away, the clouds parted and the Sun came out.

If you look in the background you can see the Sun shining off the brand new crop of bright yellow Dandelions that I get to attack soon.

But that part is done.

I win again.

Naturally, right after I got done cleaning everything up and was putting the last tool away, the Fed Ex guy shows up with the little plastic fenders I was waiting on.

Someone up there has a wicked sense of humor.

Fuck that, they can wait.

I’m not sure I have the flat bar I need to make the brackets out of anyway.

It actually was a good thing I decided to wait.

Twenty minutes later the clouds came back, the sky opened up and it just hailed like a motherfucker for a good ten minutes straight.

That tapered off and turned to rain and that went on for another twenty minutes.

It ain’t no joke when they say that if you don’t like the weather around here just wait ten minutes, especially this time of year.

So I did manage to get something done before the deluge.

I still have a shit ton of things I need to get done.

I just got back from the parts house because I ran out of shop rags and I needed a real short 10 mm bolt to put a cart back together with that been sitting in the bed of my truck for two weeks.

Then the mowers, then…

Yard Work.

Oh My God the yardwork that needs doing around here.

Then there is also this motor and VFD that keeps calling my name.

I swear that I am going to wind up working on that after ten at night if I ever want to get that done.

There just aren’t enough hours in the day.

All I know is that the battle continues.

I went to put new bearings in the hub that were shot last weekend, got almost all done and discovered that the hub had been machined out where the grease cap goes in because the inner bearing had disintegrated and that caused the wheel to kick over and the hub to rub against the spindle nut.

The cap no fit no mo’.

So after work yesterday I hauled ass across the bridge to an outfit that I used to do business with and snagged some parts.

First thing I snagged was a new hub, bearings, seal, two new spindle nuts and a grease cap.

I already have the greasable bearing caps and might throw those on today instead.

.

While I was there, I also picked up a swiveling tongue jack with a wheel on it so I don’t have to throw my back out every time I need to move the damn trailer.

I got that on last night, in the rain of course.

While I was there I got a price on a set of 12 inch wheels and tires. I was going to pick up a couple at Horror Freight last week but I wasn’t sure of the bolt pattern. Shoulda Coulda Woulda, the tires are shot on this thing.

Yeah Shoulda, this outfit wanted $80 apiece for them and they were two for that price at the Chinesium Emporium.

I went over there this morning to grab them but sure as shit, someone snagged them while I Dilly Dallied.

Crap.

However, thanks to some EXTREMELY GENEROUS readers, you know who you are, I was able to dip into Phil’s Temple of Tools Emergency Fund and get something else that I was wanting for this little unit.

Thank You, Thank You, THANK YOU!

Yes siree, I want to mount that little Bad Boy and a small battery on the front of this little bugger so I can DRAG shit on instead of trying to PUSH shit on.

Sweet!

So I am now getting ready to go back out there while it isn’t pouring rain and swap out the bad hub, redo the other one that the bearings are also shot in and start looking at what it’s going to take to mount that little winch on the thing.

I am also waiting on some plastic fenders I ordered last week that are supposed to show up today.

I will have to make brackets for them but that will be pretty easy with some 3/16’s X1 flat bar, a couple of bends and drilling a few holes.

So as usual, I am busier than a cat trying to bury shit on a hot tin roof.

I still have the engine swap to do on the mowers and I still have that 220 volt motor/ VFD to install on my Smithy 3 in 1 machine. That thing whispers my name every time I slip by it sideways and it’s driving me nuts but first things first. My Father In Laws lawn is going to be knee high by the time I get this trailer done and that mower going.

So off I go.

My sincere thanks again to you for stopping by here and my very sincere thanks to those who have chipped in to the Tool Fund.

You have made my lower back very happy.

We are Americans.

We don’t take shit from anybody.

The New World Order assholes are going to learn this the hard way just like the Nazis and the Japanese did.

BFYTW.

Americans are some of the most honest, hard working, innovative and compassionate people on this planet.

History has proven this time and time again.

We are also the most vicious sonsabitches this Earth has ever seen when pissed off collectively.

Also proven time and time again.

These rat clever bastards who have been yanking our chains for the last few years are just that, rat clever.

They aren’t actually all that smart.

If they were, they would have thought twice about enraging a hundred million heavily armed people who have no problems burning entire countries to the fucking ground.

They think they have this all figured out.

They haven’t bothered to take note that we literally haven’t even BEGUN to fight back.

When that switch gets flipped there will be no place on or under this Earth that they will be safe.

It will be Seek And Destroy, Terminate With Extreme Prejudice, until there aren’t enough of them left to try this shit again for a thousand years.

They have been begging for it and By God’s Grace, they are going to get it.

Remember what it is to be an American and pass that down.

The Media has already jumped the shark, they are going to be very high on the list of those who must pay for their transgressions.

The Medical system is also full of those who must pay.

The crooked politicians however are going to be Enemy Number One.

It is coming. As sure as the Sun rises in the East, the pendulum is going to swing back.

It has already swung as Far Left as it is going to and has started it’s return trip.

The signs are everywhere.

Keep you head held high and keep your damn wits about you.

They have been goading us because they think they have some clever plan to neutralize us.

I am here to tell you that unless they plan to kill us En Mass that they have very seriously underestimated just who they are fucking with.

It isn’t any coincidence that they have been testing their tyrannical ways on other countries to see what they can get away with.

The Canadians surprised everyone when they stood up and said ENOUGH EH?

These cretins behind this are acutely aware of the fact that we have enough firepower to take on Russia, without the military stepping off a base, by ourselves.

They have been walking a tightrope because of that fact and that is why they are so desperately trying to infringe on our Second Amendment at every opportunity.

Passing stupid laws that make criminals out of law abiding citizens and turning their heads when their favored Thugs mow innocent people down.

I have some news for these idiots.

Pass all the laws you want. Outlaw guns completely. Put it all on paper and send your goons to come get them.

I double dog dare you.

They might even get a few.

However, the minute that news of these raids gets out, your days are numbered from then on.

We aren’t going to take that shit for one fucking second and you damn well know that clear to the bottom of your rubbery spine.

Flap your gums and make your threats.

You ain’t seen nuthin’ yet.

That, I guarantee you.

Because we are Americans.

Thank Fuck It’s Fucking Friday.

It’s not like I won’t be busy as hell all weekend just like the 9 hour days I put in last weekend but at least I don’t have to start them at five O:clock in the fucking morning.

It’s been a long week and it’s going to be a long day.

I can feel it in my sore assed feet already.

But hey, I have a job and a guy has to do what a guy has to do.

I get that.

The list is long though and not only is it supposed to rain all weekend, they are talking snow over 1,000 feet next week.

Wednesday morning it was 29 degrees here. Thursday afternoon it was 77 degrees. Today is going to be crappy and then cold and rain.

Welcome to Spring in the Pacific North West.

This is what a Home Run looks like folks.

Talk about Shrinkflation.

The very first thing that went through my head is just how much did this contraption cost?

Thousands no doubt.

If you want a workout honey, grab a mop and a bucket and get busy.

Yep, yet another thing telling me that I’m getting old and feeble.

The last few weeks I come home from work, without actually busting my ass hard mind you, take my damn boots off, flop down in my recliner and the next thing I know,

He had surgery yesterday and came out last night and sent me an email this morning but this is the first time I get to sit down and type this. This quote was in the body:

“What he told me the plan was to put the ankle pieces in place and fill in the voids with bone dust from a cadaver and a bonding agent. Then a plate attached to the heel that runs up both sides of the leg and attaches to each leg bone.” Deathray.

When he gets up to walking in about eight weeks we can call him “Dead Man Walking…” He still needs your prayers and healing thoughts. He has a long, bumpy road ahead of him with pain and learning to walk again…

My apologies to the author and you my readers also.

I should have posted this several days ago but I have just been crazy busy.

Worse than usual.

I believe this is part 5, I will have to go back and edit this after I post it and add the links to the previous articles at the bottom.

YOU SHOULD ALL BE DOWNLOADING AND SAVING THIS INFORMATION!

INBREEDING DEPRESSION

This was the first article I originally shared and the response was the impetus for the rest of the foodgrowing articles. I was moved to write it because I take a long view to preparing for survival and there’s more to it, survival, in the long term than the short term. I also left it period correct for when it was written in 2015. 

******************** 

Over time there’s been a few posts concerning aspects of survival, post TSHTF beyond beans, bullets and TP, so I thought I would throw out something for your consideration. 

Have you ever felt you had something in the bag only to wake up one night at 2 am, in cold sweat, with the realization the bag has a hole in the bottom big enough to drive a Mack truck through? 

Or how about recognizing that as far as you went, it wasn’t quite far enough? 

Another one that hits home is, You don’t know what you don’t know. 

With the three above thoughts in mind the following is a discourse of an overlooked facet of extended (measured in years) survival when you are doing it all, or at least most of it, on your own. I am going to examine a relatively narrow aspect of the act of growing and producing your own food. 

Conditions are presumed to be so dire we aren’t going to be running down to the local garden supply or pulling up our favorite online vendor to order plants or seeds. A natural response to this situation is the growing of heirloom or open pollinated varieties (plant varieties that breed true) allowing us to collect seed for future years production. There is a hidden danger here though. 

Let’s set this up. 

A group of people are some amount of time, it doesn’t really matter how long, into their post apocalypse survival. Their energies are mostly expended in protecting home and hearth and producing enough food to keep them alive. 

Spring rolls around, they get their asses in gear, tear up a chunk of ground and stick some seeds in the soil. Harvest comes and they’re set with another winters supply of food. They carefully set aside some of the harvest to collect seed from. This process is repeated each year, they plant, harvest and save some of the harvest to save for its seed. 

After a few years they notice their plants aren’t thriving as well as they use to. Each year seems to be a little worse than the last. One year they experience an almost total crop failure, they don’t have enough yield to last to next harvest let alone have enough to save some for seed. Their examination of all the common causes, horticultural practices, soil conditions, irrigation, disease, pests and several other factors runs to a dead end and they are now in a world of hurt. 

…… 

This is where we can get hurt by something we didn’t know we didn’t know. When we collect seeds from our own plants and use those seeds for the next years crop and do this year after year we can create a condition known as inbreeding depression. Inbreeding depression is a fancy way of expressing we didn’t maintain genetic diversity in our plants and seed. In a nut shell (and this is a big topic) inbreeding depression over time eventually results in a reduction of germination, plant vigor, yield and seed development. In other words, crop failure, the very thing our group of people above experienced. 

Many people who grow a garden purchase fresh seed or starter plants from a variety of sources every year. These sources in turn acquire their seed for resale or the growing starter plants from a variety of growers. Even folks that propagate a lot or most of their seed will periodically get some seed from somewhere else, if nothing else through a seed exchange with another gardener. Some folks that garden in high density areas will even find their plants are pollinated by their neighbor’s garden. This ensures a fairly healthy amount of genetic diversity in our seed stocks and plants. 

Once we become dependent on only our own efforts to procure our seed we can be facing an eventual brick wall in our growing efforts, the result of an ever narrowing genetic line of parent plants leading to our inbreeding depression. 

Many researchers agree it is better to avoid or minimize inbreeding depression rather than dealing with its effects once it reaches deleterious levels. One means of combating this problem is to maintain several different genetic strains of seed each year over the course of several years. Instead of collecting seed from only one of our plants each season, collect seed from several plants each season and keep each seed sample separated and cataloged. Repeat this process every year. Now we have a seed bank with a range of genetic lines spanning several years. 

Lets say we end up with seed from 2004 through this year. This next winter everything goes to hell and we are left to fend for ourselves. We are now in a position to draw seed from several genetic strains and across several years when we plant. 

In 2016 when we get ready to plant we draw seed from 2004, 2009 and 2013 stocks. The year after that seed from 2005, 2006 and 2015 is grown. We never plant the same year groups of seed and lineage more than once in a short period of time. 

We also track the planting location of each years seed and the genetic strain giving us the opportunity to control the plants we collect seed from. We are now able to harvest our seed from a group of plants of known lineage, and protect the genetic diversity of our seed collection efforts. Through careful monitoring we can control the genetics of our plants and seed, much like we track bloodlines in livestock. 

If you already collect your own seed, I would suggest you consider purchasing (or acquire by some other means) some seed each year to increase the genetic diversity of your seeds. I do this each year to augment my seed bank and introduce a wider range of genetic diversity in the seed I am storing. 

If you don’t already collect your own seed I urge you to purchase seed from at least couple of different suppliers for the next few years (or however long we have) to build a seed bank that lets you start out with a wider range of genetic diversity than you have from that one pack each, of the veggies you currently grow. If you aren’t invested in collecting your own seed I suggest you take up the practice against the time when you won’t have the opportunity to purchase seed like you do today. 

This practice has the added benefit of helping protect you from a germination failure. Normally, with most species I grow I will get somewhere between 70% ~ 100% germination rate. There have been years though, where I have experienced one hundred percent failure of a certain seed group. Had I only kept that one seed group I would have lost at least that particular genetic strain and if my seed collection was narrow enough, perhaps that entire plant species. 

Protecting the viability of your food supply is as important, long term, as any other component of your survival efforts. 

foodgrower 

Qualifying statements: 

We currently grow or produce nearly ninety percent of our annual food needs for a family of six and could push this to one hundred percent without too much effort. This includes veggies, fruit, beef, dairy, poultry and bees. We grow several times over one hundred percent of our needs of several crops for sharing with our local community. We garden entirely organic. If you don’t garden organically you need to think about it because you will not be using inorganic fertilizers and bug sprays for long after a collapse. 

The above discussion covers a vast topic in a small amount of space. In the interest of brevity I deliberately left out a lot of fine detail and discussion that would take us down a lot of rabbit holes. It was not my intention to completely explore the subject but to expose the idea for consideration and offer the reader a means of dealing with the problem before it becomes a fatal issue for their long term food production. 

The above mentioned time lines and/or seed year samples planted (three) are used strictly for illustrative purposes and are not intended to suggest a time line for inbreeding depression to occur nor represent a suggested number of seed samples or pattern for planting in any given year. 

I have completely ignored the impact of topics such as long term storage and seed viability, undesirable crossbreeding and attempting to collect seed from hybrids, which can have a major impact on our efforts. 

Here are links to the previous articles.

Clever though.

So I can sit and swing while the world burns too.

WTF?