Lost Books

There was a recent study where it was determined that digital books do not have the lifespan of old fashioned paper books. Good quality paper books can easily last 500 years or more with minimal care. Digital books are reliant on specific technologies. I’ve some 3.5 floppies lying around and I’ve no idea idea what’s on them and that’s a fairly recent technology. 

All my important reference books are real physical books. Digital has advantages. Whole libraries can fit on a device that fits in the palm of your hand. That’s great until the device breaks or the batteries go dead. 

I have digital copies of my scooter’s repair manual. When on a longer trip I always make sure to have digital copies on at least two devices. One of them is a Kindle book reader as the battery life is much longer than that of a phone. 

Digital note keeping never felt right to me. Maybe I’m just old. That being said, it’s nice having my crucial information written down in quality notebooks. I’ve also cheap notebooks for specific tasks. If you have to work under a car and need specific information, a few notes on a cheap notebook works much better than a digital tablet. 

I’m old enough that my notes are often written in cursive -which is almost like a secret code to young folks these days. 

-Sixbears

On the Road

No, I’m not referring to the Beat novel by Jack Kerouac. Today it’s about keeping vehicles on the road. I just shelled out over $500 getting exhaust of my Ford Escape sorted out. I knew for months there were minor exhaust leaks and now I know why.

Some industrious yet barely competent welder shoe horned in an exhaust never meant to go on an Escape. That was interesting. Fixing that fix required more than I could do on my own -especially working outside in the ice and snow. 

A few weeks earlier my wife’s car needed new tires. There was no way the old ones were going to make it through the winter. 

More expensive than those items, however, was the cost of keeping the vehicles insured. If you’ve had to insure a vehicle lately you probably noticed a steep increase. In my state of New Hampshire car insurance is not technically required. Of course, you’d be personally liable for damages and that could ruin a person. Then there’s the issue that as soon as a state border was crossed I’d be breaking their laws. 

With a little searching I was able to save $600/year in car insurance. The kicker is that the whole year had to be paid in advance. It’s been an expensive few weeks. On the bright side, I just paid $2.89/gallon for gas so that’s nice. 

-Sixbears

Beard disguise

It seems that any guy who doesn’t want to be recognized grows a beard. That can be pretty effective. A couple days ago I ran into a cousin of mine and I only recognized him by his voice. He’d grown a beard. It wasn’t a regular beard but the sort of beard that a hobo with no access to running water grows. He’s probably not hiding from anyone. He’s just gone to seed. 

To me it seems it would be more effective to normally have a beard. Your disguise is shaving it off. Shaving a beard is a lot faster than growing one. Don’t do the rookie trick of shaving it off just before you do something drastic -especially if you have a solid tan everywhere else. That fresh pale skin is a dead give away. It’s the sort of thing the TSA looks for. 

So I’ve got a beard but I’m sorta fond of it. Maybe I’ll just shave my head. 

-Sixbears

Dark Days

Well it’s official. I was listening to the news on the radio. A meteorologist stated that Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire just had the cloudiest January on record. No wonder I had to turn to grid power so much. 

It was still worth having a solar electric system as I kept the battery bank charged up. Even without sun the batteries can keep the household going for a few days. At least it was during January, a month that’s not normally very productive. 

On the other hand February can generate good solar electric power. The days are a bit longer and the tend to be sunnier. Winter sun has some advantages. The lack of leaves in the trees is a plus as my panels can have some summer leaf shading. The big advantage is that snow reflects a lot of light onto the panels. Solar panels are also more efficient on cool days than super hot days. 

There’s some sunny days in the forecast so I’m looking forward to that. Sunshine is like free money falling from the sky. 

-Sixbears

My Illegal Border Crossing

The Canadian Border used to be a lot more porous than it is now. Back in the day you could enter Canada with a driver’s license and a birth certificate. More often than not they wouldn’t even check those things. 

Back when I was a teenager I was working for a furniture company as a delivery driver. This is in the days before satellite navigation and google maps. The boss handed us some hand written directions and sent us on our way. So there we were, two teenagers looking for a place off a dirt road in northern New Hampshire. 

We got lost and crossed a rickey bridge. Eventually we ended up on paved roads again, but all the signs were in French. Somehow we had crossed into Quebec. I turned to my partner and said: let’s retrace our steps and get back to the US before someone notices. 

Nobody stopped us and we even found the right delivery address. All’s well that ends well. 

-Sixbears

Your Favorite Disaster

Preppers tend to have their favorite disaster. There’s that one thing they feel they are particularly prepared for. That can be fun and all, but is prepping a game to you? The stuff you actually should be ready for is probably a lot more mundane.

In early 2020 I met a guy who felt the major health crisis was the time to buy a new gun. Okay . . . 

Don’t get me wrong it’s always fun to buy a new gun. My gun safe wouldn’t be so packed if it wasn’t. However, he probably should have been planning for supply chain disruptions instead. Remember when toilet paper was in short supply? 

Often it comes down to the basics: food, shelter, and water. Medical supplies are good as is having some sort of backup power. A backup method of communication could be a life saver. If nothing else you can assure friends and family you are fine. That way they won’t be tempted to risk life and limb in a disaster zone to check on you. 

The biggest drain on my preps wasn’t a natural disaster or civil unrest. It was plain old job loss from an injury. My two years of preps looked pretty good -except it took 4 years to sort out my finances. That’s where having a tribe is essential. Friends and family helped get us through. 

Prepare for the most likely things first. Then treat yourself to that rocket propelled Zombie Killer 5000.

-Sixbears

Ah Texas . . . sigh

So now Texas is acting like it can overrule the Federal Government. That’s not a thing. Abe Lincoln settled that question some years ago. Either they don’t know History or are pretending to not know it. It’s a shame that we have governors who don’t know how government works. Considering we had a President who didn’t know how government works it’s no surprise.

Apparently settling the border issue is now off the table as a certain Republican would then have nothing to run on. 

In the mean time there are desperate people drowning in the river. Of course, they aren’t voters so I guess their lives don’t matter. Being downright mean to refugees is policy -for shame. 

We are a country of immigrants. Deal with it. Due to grandstanding political posturing we aren’t fixing the problems in a sane manner. 

-Sixbears