Displaced Texan

AVB, My understanding is that she did not pass away in the house, but died in a nearby hospital. I hear she loved the house dearly. She was, by all reports from neighbors who knew her, quite meticulous about the inside and outside of the house. I had not consumed any brisket, Tex-Mex, or bourbon prior to the incident. Lol I'll add that I'm not crazy, my mother had me tested.

That's a cool idea, 1LT. I'll check it out.

I'll preface this story by saying I dont believe in ghosts. My wife and I live in a 60 year old 3 bedroom Cape in South Jersey. No kids. We have a dog. This happened a few years ago. My wife was blow drying her hair in the master bathroom. I know she never walked away from the hair dryer, because I could hear the pitch change (Doppler) of the hair dryer as she moved it around to dry her hair. I was sitting in my chair in the living room, watching the news. I was NOT drinking.......not a drop of bourbon had touched my lips. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked up, and I saw an dark haired old woman (wife is blonde and considerably younger) peering around the corner from the kitchen, looking at me. I KNOW what I saw. I very calmly got up, and grabbed my pistol, and cleared the house. Nothing. Wife never missed a beat drying her hair, and never knew that I had just done a full security sweep of the house. Dog never barked. I chalked it up to a long day, and let it go. Never told my wife about it because I was a bit embarrassed at my own silliness. About a year ago, I was talking to one of my neighbors, who grew up next door to my house. I told him what happened, and described the figure who peered around the corner at me. He said..."that's Theo! The original owner of the house!!" The hair stood up on the back of my neck. He went on to tell me she loved that house, and was meticulous about it. Described her to a 't', and she was exactly what I saw that evening. We have heard some strange crap in the house since then, but never had a 'sighting' of Theo again. We do have objects in the house move quite frequently. My wife collects old glass/ceramic electrical line insulators. She places them in the kitchen window. We find them moved around, even swapping order, on a regular basis. I know it's not me moving them, and I know she wouldn't make that shit up. I'm not going to say that I believe in ghosts or anything, but I DID see something I am unable to explain in my own home. Had anyone told me that story, I'd say they are full of bovine excrement, but I saw that with my own eyes.

Newtonian, that's the smartest thing I've read all damn day.

Those were all things I 'knew'....more or less, but got in a hurry/lazy/complacent. Believe me, that WON'T happen twice, getting caught unprepared like that again. I tell my wife ALL the time to fill up at the 1/2 tank mark, but failed to follow my own advice I got my Ham radio Tech license, and carry a handheld with me or in my ruck. Backup comms. Regarding cell phones, I found during the blackout, text messages got through well enough, but it was next to impossible to make a phone call. Not too many pay phones left these days either. I have a 'winter' and 'summer' GHB, differences being spare clothing that is in the ruck. I also keep one of those .mil issue wool blankets in the trunk of the car. Food items in the GHB consist of several protein 'Power Bars' and water (and an extremely lightweight water purification kit).Not exactly ideal, but it's light, portable, and will do for the short run. It is something I'd like to improve on, however. Fwiw, the water purification kit is a Sawyer. Very small and lightweight. Fits very easily into a Nalgene bottle I carry in the ruck. I also have an IFAK in the ruck (summer and winter). I rotate supplies to keep items fresh. I also carry a small, folding camp shovel in the car, if I ever had to dig a wheel out of snow, for example. Tool kit was always in the car, as I use it for work anyways, but I also added a LED headlamp to the kit (changing a tire at night). A flashlight is great (one on my person, spare in the GHB), but it takes up a hand.... My home preps improved significantly too. My wife laughed at me a bit about prepping until Hurricane Sandy. Even though we didn't get hit hardly at all (power outages mainly), we had what we needed if things did get ugly. She doesn't laugh any more.

LMAO!!

Never heard GHB as being in reference to a date rape drug. I happened to be working at Johns Hopkins University Medical center a few weeks back when the riots broke out in Baltimore. I was fairly close to that mess. My hotel (a very NICE inner harbor hotel) was about a mile from ground zero there. Shit CAN hit the fan, in a very bad way, very quickly.

GHB=get home bag. Contains some items to make life a litter better in a bad situation. I gave a few examples of more realistic SHTF situations one may realistically encounter in my post above.

Define SHTF. Many scenarios to think about. Most do not involve large scale mayhem. SHTF on a small(er) scale is more likely a realistic scenario. Natural disaster, such as an earthquake, hurricane, ice storm, tornado? Riots or looting? Terrorist attack? Financial collapse? Power grid failure on a small (or large) scale? I was caught in midtown Manhatten during the blackout in '03. In many ways it was a good 'drill run for training' for a real SHTF situation. I learned quite a few things from that experience, and it has certainly changed how I do business, especially when I go into a city for my job. For example, I no longer park in those underground parking garages if I can at all help it. My car was parked at the underground lot at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer center. I DID get it out, but it was a nightmare. I try at all costs to park in an above ground lot. Even if I have to walk, or take a cab to get to my destination. I also make SURE my gas tank is full prior to entering the city. Once i was able to get my car out of the underground garage, I had 1/4 tank of gas. Not good. Took most all of that to get cross town, and wound up camping out at a gas station, hoping power would return, so I could fill up. Fortunately, early the next morning, a few enterprising 'yutes' came by with a 5 gallon can of gas. Most expensive 5 gallons of gas I've ever bought in my life. I was able to expense it later, but damn!!! This brings me to my next point... Cash. I now always carry a couple of hundred in cash. I was fortunate enough by a fluke to have $300 in cash on me that day. I used to just travel off my credit cards (personal or company expense accout), and had a minimal amount of $$ on me. Not anymore. There is always a pocket knife, a small flashlight, my iPhone, and a battery backup for the iPhone with me. At all times. GHB is also in the car. Among many things, there are some food items, and water in the bag. There are many other lessons I learned, but those are the highlights. SHTF doesn't need to be EMP, nuclear war, terrorists, locusts, fire, or flooding. It will probably be localized, and it can happen any time. Some very simple planning and preps can make your life MUCH easier, and who knows, may save your life, when 'SHTF' happens.

It sounds to me that this guy is an oxygen thief.

Barton's Carpet did some good work for me a few years ago. They are in Runnemead.

PSA's PTAC line is the low end of the products Palmetto State Armory offers. When they first started that product line, it was plagued with problems. That was a year or two ago. Things may have changed since then. I have used the Premium CHF uppers, and have been extremely happy with them.

What about propane or LP gas powered refrigerators? The few I have seen use battery power for electronics/lights. Danby (maybe) was the brand name....

2-3 cans depending on how many coats you do

Agree on the PlastiDip. Holds up well and easy to do.

I didn't notice that rig has double mag pouches. Mine has single, for total of 4 mags. It fits very comfortably with 4. I agree with H.E. 8 is too many on the chest. Just checked, mine was made by Spec-Ops gear. I bought it years ago, think the design is slightly different now, but I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one from them. I have several of their T.H.E. rucks, great quality gear.

I have a clone of that rig and I like it very much. I think I paid somewhere around $50 for it a few years ago.

Bahahahahahahaha!!!

In case you haven't been following along here, the Southern states succeeded from the Union due to several factors, oppression from the North being one of them. The Federal govt imposed unfair tariffs and taxes upon the South on raw materials at the behest of the Northern states. Slavery was a part of it, but remember the North had PLENTY of slaves, including good ole New Jersey. Remember also that Lincoln didn't really care about freeing the slaves. He did so ONLY to save the Union. Read his memoirs and papers. He was actually quite the racist himself, claiming that blacks and whites should not intermix at all, that physical and mental differences between them made segregating the two a wise idea. His thoughts, not mine. Remember also that the Republican controlled Congress in 1862 wrote the legislation freeing the slaves ONLY in the South, and exempted the North, and the territories that fought along with the Union. Remember also that there were many free blacks that willingly fought (and died) on the Confederate side. I'd say that neither side was Lilly white. Racism, slavery, racial injustice, oppression, existed on BOTH sides.

I use the BCM Mod 3 (medium) charging handles on all my AR's. I consider it a mandatory addition to mine.

Now, the Mayor of Memphis wants to dig up the graves of a Confederate General: http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/memphis-mayor-wants-to-dig-up-dead-confederate-war-general.html Stupidity has no bounds.

He needs to be run out of town on a rail.

Not drinking anything yet, (hell, it's only noon), but I have my eye on some Eagle Rare 10 year old bourbon for tonight. Just a nip.

In light of today's Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage:

I've said it before, and I'll say it again....a VERY slippery slope we are going down. (Meaning calling for 'bans' of ideas or symbols we don't like).