Category: Reuse Repurpose


The Crazy Canners

20150105_44

Italian Style In a Jar

In a previous life I was with a true blooded Italian boy (yes, in this lifetime and yes I deliberately use the term boy and not ‘man’ ). He loved to eat Italian food and for the life of me I can’t remember what specific meal he wanted but this is what it morphed into that can either be served as a ‘soup’ or a ‘topping’. Everyone who has ever eaten this always comes back for more so I thought I would can it. Now of course you can’t can pasta (at least not that I know, if you do, please let me know!) but this is the basis for my Italian style dish.

For good eats you will either make it into a soup by putting the canned mix into a beef broth base and adding pasta and cooking (about 2 cups of pasta…

View original post 632 more words

The recent tragedy in California where 3 young men were stabbed to death and 6 young women killed and 13 others wounded by a lone, young, marginalized, mentally unstable young man welding at least one firearm has once again, gotten anti-gun control proponents talking again.
I offer my sincerest sympathy and prayers to all the families and friend involved in this very sad event and wish that it had not occurred. This will leave scars for life on all concerned and involved, and I am truly sorry for your losses and pain that you now carry.

However, we, as individual people and as a society need to take a deep breath and really begin to look at what created the circumstances in which a young man could go so far as to kill at least 9 people and wound 13 others. And I mean, really take a LOOK. Not just at the ‘tools’ the young man chose to end the lives of many and his own (ie guns and a knife), but take a hard look at how we deal with mental illness (most often by sticking our heads in the sand or just giving them a pill or two to medicate them into a fog).

We, both as individuals and a society need to take a look at what created a young man who felt so isolated, alienated, confused and disenfranchised that his only recourse was to retreat into ineffective, self-defeating anger and hate who could not understand that it is society itself is as we now know it, is built upon the chase of unattainable beauty, wealth and status that few ever achieve, is the real problem, not the young women. We promote beauty, youth, material things to the nth degree, yet we at the same time, also promote Globalism and ‘diversity’ in all places and things we do. The environment and social/economic equality is of the utmost importance. The individual does not matter, but we all do! Kinda opposite things yes? Confusing to say the least. Chase the materialism and yet save the world and be kind to all no matter what.

We need to understand that we as adults have created young men and women who expect the world to be handed to them and that we are allowing, through media and our school systems, our young adults in the making, to be indoctrinated into group think and mob rule. Our culture on the whole is falling into this problem. Communitarianism (Global Group Think) and mob rule (where by if you express and opinion different that others you are immediately shut up by any and all means including hate speech, name calling, marginalization and isolation by the group as a whole). We have unwittingly (or perhaps knowingly) made being a male somehow ‘wrong’. But yet we honor the youthful, beautiful male as something to be desired. We praise the man who makes a lot of money, we honor him and what he can do. We teach young girls that they can be and do anything they like, but by the way, you also need to blonde, a size 0 and that the most desirable ‘male’ is tall, muscle bound and has lots of money.

Everyone is equal but everyone is different and this is a good thing.

We teach our young children that diversity is great and good and that bullying is wrong, that we should be all inclusive no matter what but then they (our children) figure out pretty quickly that in order to make it to the ‘top’ you have to pick and choose and pack up with those who look like you or something on that theme. And by the way, we have also taught our children to ‘speak up’, that they have the ‘right’ to be heard and say what they want without any real consequences because personal ‘rights’ (and that means opinions too) are paramount. Does anyone not understand that this creates unsolvable conflict among all? That rather than promoting ‘diversity’ and ‘equality’ that we are simply setting up our children into little ‘groups’ of ‘diversity’ that have a mob mentality because they ‘have rights too’? Just look at flash mobs if you don’t believe me.

Are you starting to the get the picture?

Let me color inside the lines a bit more so you can see more of the picture.

Our communities are being destroyed…that means families, friendships, group identification or it is such that we are put into ‘boxes’ of ‘community’ based upon stereotypes which are decried by all and yet encouraged by the policies of our government. Yes, I am speaking directly to the feminist movement and ‘gender equality’. I am sorry, but when we as women came out of the house back during World War II we went to work to support the men who were fighting. Yes, we as women are capable of doing great things on our own, heck, I own my own home and business by myself, but when we begin to chase the materialistic world we begin to fall into ‘traps’. Our children are raised by someone else, we know that the most ‘beautiful women’ get the highest amount of money and the best ‘things’ so we race to the gym and have created eating disorders all types. We dishonor our sons, fathers and husbands by putting ourselves and our NEEDS before theirs all in the name ‘equality’. And then wonder why we can’t find a husband or why so many young women are single mothers struggling to make ends meet. Don’t get me wrong here, I am all for being given the OPPORTUNITY to have the choices available to me and my own daughters. But I don’t buy into the hype that I get to wear the pants and that men are useless. But this is what is ingrained into our culture now in so many forms, from the loss of meaningful work to the war on poverty (I mean, we are women after all and can do it all, don’t NEED YOU MEN thank you very much.

So is it any wonder that boyfriends, husbands or men in general don’t stick around? After all, you can take care of yourself and don’t need ME you got it goin’ on GIRL!). Take a deep breath now…stop and think…we honor and admire ‘beautiful women’ by objectifying them. We have taught men, our young men, that ‘to get it’ is all we are good for to them, or that a woman who is not the model is somehow ‘less than’ (which is odd since we are ‘equal’). But I am digressing here. And not all boys or young men or adult men are like this. But I ask you to question the values we knowingly or unknowingly instill in our next generation and our own thinking. I am in no way saying that women belong in the kitchen or teaching only. But I do question just how far we have taken ‘raising women up’ and the toll it has taken on our country in the name of equality and social justice. We have created a culture where by the pursuit of beauty and materialism and/or entitlement has destroyed so much in terms of good relationships (with others and ourselves) that we are now facing a generation of young men and women who don’t know which end is up and have no guiding light in which to follow.

We have a culture in which drugs, sex and violence is glorified, but is frowned upon at the same time. We have a culture that is rapidly being turned upon each other in the name of ‘safety’, ‘the environment’ and ‘equality’ and ‘justice’. We are being manipulated into packs that fight amongst ourselves over trivial matters. We are spoon fed through the media what to think, what to do, how to do it, when to do it. We are made to believe that what we see on TV or here on the news or learn in school is the absolute TRUTH and our reality is or should be everyone else’s. But we have forgotten that we are not all the ‘same’ and while I believe in equal basic rights for all human beings, I am not buying into the game that we are indeed ‘all equal’. I know for sure I cannot be firefighter, though I know some women can. I understand some women are better suited to fighting than raising children, just as some men (like my #2 son) are excellent with children. But we are being forced into ‘diversity’ based upon ‘equality’ and ‘justice’ and all this does is create divisiveness, anger and finally…action. And increasingly that ‘action’ is in the form of some sort of violence or show of force against those perceived as the oppressors. But yet we are being groomed more and more into homogeneity…meaning we are equal, group think, mob rule. Nothing more, nothing less for anyone no matter what. How did this work in the past and right now? (think USSR, Nazi Germany, The EU).

I am just touching the tip of the iceberg here on what is going on. I am deeply troubled by what I see on youtube and facebook, especially how the 20 somethings and younger seem to think violence and mob rule or ‘their rights’ are somehow more important than another’s. That they can say and do anything because no one says NO. After all, we are free to do and be who we are right? That is equality and justice. We as adults see this and do nothing, say nothing, after all, that’s just how it is right? That’s just those kids.

Until a young man actually takes action on his rage of confusion and then, its all about the gun isn’t it?

Its all very sad and I pray that from this pain, we can all make a change.

If you believe in freedom please help boycott the companies who are apart of the Agenda 21 initiative which seeks to control you and what you can and cannot do with your own land, property, what you do and don’t eat, what your behavior, living style and so much more.

ExplosiveReports.Com

MONSANTO-1

Jurriaan Maessen
ExplosiveReports.Com
January 24, 2013

The global front group of the Agenda 21 program which was formalized during the UN’s 1992 Earth Summit is proud to welcome Monsanto as its newest “member”, joining the likes of such “sustainable” businesses as Coca Cola, Dutch Royal Shell and other global leviathans.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) has put out a press release, announcing that Monsanto has joined the effort for “global sustainable development”. The Council consists of several global mega-corporations such as Dutch Royal Shell and Coca Cola, to mention just a few.

The press-release notes that by joining the Council “Monsanto is taking an important step along a continuum towards developing a more sustainable agriculture system – one that improves our daily lives, respects our global environment and recognizes the importance of the world’s small-holder farmers”.

President of the WBCSD, Peter Bakker, stated that “a future…

View original post 624 more words

Often there is talk about ‘when to leave’ if the SHTF. Frankly, no one in the world but you can make that judgment call based upon your particular set of circumstances and the situation at hand. My only hard and fast rule about ‘when to leave’ or get out of dodge is this: If it is life threatening…or highly likely to be so, it is time to get out or leave.
With that said, often times it won’t be that obvious and it then becomes a matter of how much control and power you have within the given situation/circumstances or are likely to have that motives (or not) you to stay or go…misreading the situation due to fear and doubt about trusting your own heart and gut instinct can and will have consequences.

Fear and doubt are going to be the two major factors that determine most peoples actions if and when it hits the fan.

Some will become paralyzed, deer in the headlights, in complete denial and act as if everything is just fine. Selco, who survived the Bosnian War of the mid 90’s speaks about this and the results. Guess who died first?

Others will fall into the learned helplessness position…I can’t do anything about it so why even try? Keep your head down, don’t talk about it and it won’t happen/I won’t have to take action. The fear and doubt here results from not having the confidence within themselves to do for themselves or having the fear of making a mistake and getting wacked for it. Often you see this behavior within people who have been prisoners of war or abuse victims. The doubting of themselves and their ability to trust themselves and instincts (not irrational fear based ones) and others for that matter, leads then into apathy. They KNOW what they need to do, but can’t. Skinner proved it with his dog experiments. Everytime the dogs tried to eat they’d get shocked to the point that they would cower if they even saw a bowl that looked like food and wouldn’t go anywhere near it and starved to death. This is a simplistic view of learned helplessness but a lot of people, when faced with something resembling change/SHTF will go with it. Guess who dies next?

Then we have an interesting type of learned helplessness that I see ALL OVER this country…I can’t, so you will/have to. For decades we have had ‘wars’…wars on poverty, wars on drugs, campaigns against this, that or the other…drinking and driving, teen pregnancy. Its called dependency upon the system or some ‘authority’ for some form of survival assistance. In this case you will find people, who like junkies, will just sit and wait for some higher power (ie someone else) to come and save them just like they always have. And if you really think about it, people who stay at jobs they hate and are completely unhappy have this learned helplessness/dependency mindset, because they believe that, this is just what life is about.
Guess which ones go next or turn to addictive behaviors, violence or some other form of ‘getting what they deserve’? so much for the learned helplessness at this point…either they go down or they fight ‘for their right’.
Those that choose to ‘fight for their rights’ become very dangerous and controlling. They swing the opposite way in dramatic change/SHTF situation. They will not CARE. For once the drug has been taken away they seek it out like a junkie who has run out of money. On the otherhand, the person who stays stuck in a job they hate, a life they hate will find ways of coping that will keep him/her anesthetized or will just check out literally or figuratively.

Now we can step it up to something a bit better…those who see what is going on, takes some action, but then gets frozen (see the above three) and can’t go any further. Here again we have fear/doubt, power/control playing within the person. There is less fear/trust issues but enough that they will do just enough to fool themselves into believing that they have done all they can do to help themselves (or others). These people in my opinion are the sheeple, done all I can, what more do you want, you take care of the rest…Next on the food chain, they fall into a false sense of security because they have ‘done their best’ but still stick their head in the sand. When it hits, they struggle and try, but ultimately roll over to despair and learned helplessness.

Next up, we go to those who are able to see past fear and doubt that is ego based. They know what may happen and take steps to prepare to take care of themselves and theirs but its not fear based…its merely a risk assessment and then taking the next steps. They act not out of fear but out of confidence that they do have control (somewhat) over the ‘ending’ or their lives. This can play out several ways in the real world, but you can recognize right now these sorts of people…they are first responders, preppers, those who say, okay, yep, it can happen, I know it can and might/will….and they think it out in a positive way (if they go negative they fall into the above category). They might be scared, might work from fear initially but they see the risks and take positive action to get ready. They do NOT hide from change, rather they see it may happen and then change behaviors to make a more favorable outcome. These types of people might stay ‘just in case’ but they sense when’s its time to go/leave BEFORE panic hits.
They survive and learn to adapt. The mind set is ‘okay, what do I have to do?’…it’s the first stage of total personal responsibility.
They tend to live with a steep learning curve.

Next, we have those who fit into society but see beyond the myth…they are not radical nor paranoid, they just see through the illusions. They know and understand where events are leading and prepare accordingly. They tend to be preppers, survivors. They are almost inherently those who instinctively know what to do or not to do. Many are first responders or sheep dogs. But they also know their limits and family is first. They stock pile just in case. Even if just a bit. They WILL leave before things get bad because they see the writing on the wall before hand because they have no fear or doubt about what they feel or think. They will survive. They will find others to trust and work with. THEY THRIVE.

Lastly, and this has to be addressed, we look at two types of no matter what survivors. The paranoid type who has gunned up, fooded up, hunkered down, and sees everything and everyone as a threat. That’s great. But that is FEAR in over drive. Isolation takes over as a manifestation of fear and honestly, they are just as bad as the helpless/dependent but have staying power and WILL come into conflict with others because they doubt and fear others.

I don’t know, this is just how I see things as someone schooled as counselor, criminology major and having worked as a domestic violence counselor.

But here is the bottom line…fear and doubt will control you. When this happens, you don’t know what will happen. Being prepared, even if a bit will give you a sense of control and put aside some fear.

So where do you fall at this time? You have the power of choice in this matter. When do you are making personal decisions you gotta first understand where you are coming from.

Rat shot / snake shot

I was there lol

VaCreepinOutdoors

Image

 

Rat shot, snake shot, bird shot, What ever you wish to call it. How well does it work and what potential uses does it have? So I picked up a few boxes and found out. It is sold as “pest control”. To use it as a “pest control” solution seems a bit extreme. There are certainly cheaper more effective ways to deal with rats and snakes. And who is going to wander around with a gun loaded with these rounds?

Lets look at reliability. The ammo comes with a warning that they may not work reliably in all firearms. This is where it is important to test them with the firearm you intend to use them with. The construction and light weight may not have enough pressure to cycle your firearm. Another issue with the .40 cal is that the spent casing is considerably longer than the spent casing…

View original post 415 more words

ISD…okay…just what is that you ask? I is for improvised, S is Storage and D is for Device…Improvised Storage Device…yeah, okay, okay, I will admit that older son #2 came up with it and he is an admitted warfare nut and everything is put or translated into militaristic terms if you communicate with him. But hey, an ISD sounds lot better than ‘repurposed’ or ‘recycled’ doesn’t it?

So what is an ISD exactly…well, see the picture below for a few ideas…

20130920_2

Of course the wonderful, multi-purpose 2 liter soda bottle. I use these to store rice, flour type products, popcorn, salt, sugar and other liquids (not water though as they are too thin as I have found out for long term use/storage). Gatorade bottles are great too for storing rice, flour, liquids and BEANS very easily. (Anyone who has tried to get beans into a 2 liter soda bottle knows what a pain in the rear that is let alone get them OUT and I am not into self torture food storage). How about those lunch meat containers? Put them into the dishwasher and guess what? Instant free storage. Old salad dressing bottles are great for making your own salad dressings, storing ‘homemade’ liquid soap or, if you are like me and buy in bulk, putting that liquid into a manageable container. I save and reuse the spice bottles too, again, great for breaking down from bulk purchase to manageable and you can use them to make and store your own toilet/tub scrub. One gallon water jugs that have been used? Either refill them and put outside for use as grey water (flushing toilets, watering plants, etc.) or refill with some other liquid purpose (recently I made bug killer from concentrate and used a one gallon jug to store extra in). I saved the empty laundry detergent containers to refill and reuse with my own laundry detergent and make gallons of bug killer from concentrate. Cottage cheese containers, sour cream containers? Yeah, those things that we constantly throw away…perfect for storing non-food items in such as nails, screws, thread, crayons, you name it…if it fits, it stores. Big vinegar containers I reuse to make large amounts of cleaners using vinegar. And, I will admit to reusing those zip lock bags too, a simple scrub and air dry and you get more than one use out of them. I save and reuse anything that is a ‘container’. I have a couple of totes with clean empty containers in them ‘just in case’. You never know…Any one with more ideas? Please do share your reuse ideas for ISD’s…improvised storage devices.