Note- I’ve been swamped with duties elsewhere for the past couple weeks, between extensive studies in a foreign language and preparing for the winter (I heat with wood). I have a lot on tap, including a review of another higher power capacity End-Fed Antenna option (Marshall, you’re the man! Just bear with me Brother.) but for the moment I simply haven’t had the proper time on my hands to do it right. The world will spin properly shortly.
Pressure Busts Pipes
If you’ve ever wondered why a general Survivalist rule is in keeping at least a half tank of gas in your car, now you know why. By now you should be aware of the Colonial Pipeline gasoline rupture in Alabama, as it’s kinda a big deal and worse than what you’re being told. I have family that work in the fuel shipping industry, and they warned us based on what they know. Yesterday the public story was they were re-routing gas through the parallel diesel pipe, and today it’s that they’re building a temporary pipe. The truth is they still don’t have a plan. Gov. McCrory declared a State of Emergency but you wouldn’t know it by the lack of local news coverage. (They’re more worried about placating to males who wish to use the ladies’ room.) This could be due to not wanting to incite a run or the subsequent price gouging, but normally when the media keeps mum it’s bad. CP will get around to fixing it, once the EPA approves a plan and it satisfies the correct government oversight regulations and environmental concerns for non-offensiveness, but in the meantime, there’s gonna be a lot of sad pandas and short tempers next week(s).
But you should have at least thought ahead. I was talking about all of it while hauling wood with my Dad yesterday. He was telling me about the gas rationing of the 70s, and how my Grandad and many others beat it by storing their own. Many old houses still have in-ground gas tanks around here that long predate the 70s and were put in because it was simply cheaper to buy fuel in bulk for agriculture use. You won’t find this in suburbia. If you find an old farm house for sale, you just might find a buried tank (don’t tell the EPA). We just recently found a tank last winter by accident on a property my family’s owned nearly all my life. Large poundage tobacco farmers usually store red-dye diesel in bulk around here too for the same reasons today.
Does this mean bury a tank in your backyard on top of everything else you should be doing? No, because for most this isn’t an option. But it does mean if you call yourself a Prepper or Survivalist or whatever label you like, you should be aware of your surroundings and know where to source what in an emergency as well as being on good terms with the people from which you’re planning on sourcing. Trade and barter is important here, as is being versatile. (And if you’re planning on stealing it just know this- the meanest SOB I’ve ever known is an old Tobacco farmer who won’t hesitate to kill you should you threaten him. He’s got plenty of shovel and lime folks on his payroll too. All of the small towns around here are like this.) I own an older 4X4 diesel truck that makes finding fuel pretty easy. Red dye diesel runs just as good as green dye (don’t tell the tax man) but in the newer trucks, I dunno as they have a lot of EPA mandated crap that gets finicky when something isn’t exactly right. And no, my truck doesn’t look like some gawdy jacked up safari wagon. That crap ruins efficiency unless you’re actually driving a lot off road. As it sits, it’ll get anywhere I need it to and a few places I don’t. I also own two very fuel efficient cars that average 30+ MPG as commuters. Large SUVs and other gasoline guzzlers are kinda silly unless they’re diesel from an efficiency standpoint. But don’t mind my opinion, I’ve only grown up in the rural life and experienced both it’s rewards and hardships. Maybe that $60K + 12 MPG soccer mom grocery getter makes more sense for you.
…And more hardships are coming.
…Because pressure, per se, busts a pipe.
NY & NJ pipe bombings, MN mass stabbing, and a ‘transformer’ explosion in Charlottesville VA with no resulting smoke or fire. That’s a bit odd.
And not surprisingly, nothing is being said or done about any of these incidents within close proximity outside of local emergency responses. Because obviously it’s not a budding insurgency becoming increasingly brazen with each new step. Each of these locales have a population of folks willing to use violence, especially this pattern of violence, to further their aim as well. When I wrote my critique of ‘leaderless resistance’ as a concept, I pointed out that step three of a culturally directed resistance following frequent ‘isolated’ incidents would be overt warfare. We’re not quite there yet, but it’s getting close. And multiple factions who have demonstrated a propensity for violence are getting pretty po’d right now. Wait till this time next month if Hillary flounders further, when the Jill Stein anarcho-greenie crowd proxies go full retard (and who knows, maybe they already did with CP 48hrs ago and Duke Energy last year. The coal ash spill wasn’t investigated by LE, just by the EPA, who’s agents’ aim is in line with the goals achieved by the incidents. Monkeywrenching is an old-school Leftist favorite, btw). Because her crowd didn’t just threaten another oil pipeline last week. None of these could be considered ‘on the Right’ either, no matter how much our media gaslights us to think ‘Alt-Right’ is the new AQ.
But don’t worry suburbia, the government has top people on it- so don’t worry, because worrying is bad, so nobody panic, because we say so. Now let’s all huddle around and watch multi-millionaire athletes spit on our values while they make more money playing a game than we could ever hope for in ten lifetimes. Drink your Bud Light and eat your Nachos and laugh at the talking dog in the commercial.
Get your stuff straight. Go meet your neighbors today, at a minimum, or have a meal at the local greasy spoon. Read the flyers on the billboard or taped to the door. Get involved with the local Church congregation. Start meeting the wheels of your community and figure out how to contribute. Build networks. Figure out how they stay in the loop independent of conventional means, and get into the chain. Bum around the flea market or go to a fall gathering in town (every small rural town has one). Go shop at the local hardware store, even if he’s more expensive than Lowes. You’re paying for more than a product. I promise you it will get you a lot farther than just retreating and writing everyone off as some are so fond of telling you to do. It’s about to get more ‘interesting.’
May God continue to bless you and keep you. Stay safe.