February 24 Bunker Index - Special Announcement!

Hot dang. We got us a new book.

http://www.amazon.com/Last-Pilgrims-1-Michael-Bunker/dp/0578088894/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330094634&sr=8-1

The Last Pilgrims by Michael Bunker. If you liked his book "Surviving Off-Off Grid" then you'll really like this one. It's fiction set in a gritty but realistic future and demonstrates how various communities and mindsets might survive a permanent collapse of the "modern" infrastructure. In the novella, I was completely caught up in the characters and setting. Today is the day to buy a copy and it's even available on Kindle. I can't wait for Volume 2.

February 23 Bunker Index - Hot and Muggy in Houston

The dawn finds me in a cheap hotel in Houston. A customer has retained my services for part of today (all I would concede to) and I traveled out here late last night. They are a small company that has a service that a big company desires and their computer systems cannot handle the load the big company is about to throw at them. They're like the proverbial toad who has caught a heron ... it's too big to swallow but too good to let go. Who eats who is yet to be seen.

It's getting harder and harder to leave the farm, not particularly because there's so much work to be done, but because things have achieved a level of normalcy and I desire to be there instead. I need these financial resources to help me achieve some of the projects that remain (a well, the materials to finish the cabin, and the fencing and livestock) but it is a hardship for me to leave.

Especially for a city like Houston. If it's not my least favorite city in America, it's in the top five list. Crime infested, dank and smelly, and filled everywhere you look with the things I hate most about cities. When I was a child, everyone (mostly rural poor) spoke of Houston as the place to go to get rich. Many of my kinfolk gave up the agrarian lifestyle to come "make it" in Houston. Some did indeed make it, and the city life broke their families and their lives.

(Gen 4:16) Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

(Gen 4:17) Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch.

We cannot forget that the first city was built by a man who was fleeing the presence of God and trying to avoid punishment for his sins. I never think of anything else when I see the distant glow of a city on the horizon and the skyline first comes into view. Lord almighty, if you decide to smite Houston for its hubris and its part in the destruction of Your world, then let it be sometime after 5pm today when Houston is in my rearview mirror.

1. Even if you win, you might lose. This man spent 112 days in jail waiting for his trial after he was forced to shoot a raging drunk in self-defense.  In the course of those 112 days he lost his job, his apartment, and all of his belongings.

2. The Feds are making an all-out propaganda assault against raw milk.  They want all things that you can produce to free yourself from the system to be illegal. I prefer raw milk every time over the pasteurized stuff. At my house, we call pasteurized milk "dead milk". It's the rotting corpse of milk. It USED to be milk but now it's a pus-filled liquid waiting for the bad bacteria to reinfect it and take over. I absolutely despise pasteurized milk.

3. Facebook's secret censorship list is leaked by a Third-World contractor.  Interesting what made the list.

4. There are hints of our government arming Syrian rebels. This worked out so well in Libya, after all. No trustworthy link yet. Watch this one develop.

February 22 Bunker Index - Let the Probing Begin!

I'm still here. By now I bet some of you were thinking last night's UFO's had carried me off. Maybe they considered it and rejected me as not a representative specimen of the human race. I suspect that might be true!

I went out to the sawmill in Santa Anna this morning and picked up some mesquite. It's for a special commissioned project I've got going on right now, but it's enough planed pieces to make about 30-40 knives! I'm surprised. It was cut exactly to my specifications (which will save me a LOT of labor in the finishing of each knife) and only cost me $25. It adds roughly $1.60 to the expense of each knife, but seeing as how I'm not going to be burning through one sander belt per knife (at $8 per belt) then this is an enormously good idea. I continue to get more efficient at the knifemaking. Which is a good thing!

I'm still having power problems. I can't run a belt sander on any power solution I can come up with. My generator is still down so it looks like I've simply got to get that going before we can move back into production with the knife shop. It pulls 120 and 4.2 amps, but somehow that's too much for the 1500 watt inverter I'm using. I think the voltage drops down too low when it kicks on and that shuts everything down. Not much I can do about that reliably for now. Looks like it's fix the generator or nothing. I think it's an inverter problem. The inverter I have is a hodge-podged vehicle inverter so it's not really designed for these solar applications. We'll have to come up with something else there. I was holding off on purchasing the proper inverter for awhile longer. It's expensive.

Looks like the day is mostly spent and there's not much newsworthy out there so I'll skip the roundup for today. I've been putting tin up on the roof at an awkward angle and now I have a bad case of "hammer shoulder". Anyone know an off-grid solution for a bad shoulder? Normally I would have put an ice pack on it but that's not feasible without a freezer.

Too Weird

I'm not the most well-grounded individual, but tonight was truly weird. Kat and Jared were outside with me while I was puttering around in the workshop and they suddenly start to exclaim about some lights in the sky. I go over to look and it's these weird orange lights somewhere over towards Lake Brownwood. They did all sorts of acrobatics in the sky, sometimes winking out and then coming back on in a different location. They did not seem to be planes. After a short bit we saw the lights (and heard the roar) of some fast-moving military jets coming from the direction of Abilene. The strange orange lights disappeared and then the jets grouped up in a formation and headed full tilt back out towards Abilene (and presumably the Air Force base out there).

This is probably the weirdest thing I've ever seen. I've seen some things in the sky that I couldn't explain before, but this was probably the strangest and longest duration event ever.

February 21 Bunker Index - Pleasant Mornings

Man, it's cold in the cabin today! Yesterday warmed up to about 70 degrees outside and it was nice and pleasant but last night plummeted down to the high thirties. The fire went out around 3am and I got up and put some more wood in and then we slept in again until 8am when cold once more drove me from my bed. Normally I get up around 6-7am and begin my day, but lately I've been having a bit of a sleep in. I figure I might as well. It's dark outside until about 7-7:30 and really too cold to be very comfortable out there. Also there's nothing that seems to need doing so badly that it forces me out of bed in the wee hours. At least for now. That will change.

Sam the dog barks sometimes in the night and I'll lay awake for awhile listening to see if it's a car or if I hear any sounds (other than him) outside. So far nothing but I often find deer tracks down by the creek on the next morning.

The mud is drying out. It's less a struggle to keep your boots on now and more just a nuisance. It appears about half an acre of topsoil has migrated inside of the cabin though so now that it's warm and dry I think we need a thorough cleaning.

Life is pretty leisurely right now. My temporary workshop is now complete and relatively dry, if a little hodgepodge. Mostly I used "make do" lumber which was the scraps and ends we had laying around. My desire for uniformity is at odds sometimes with my desire to not go buy any more wood.

Walking by faith, with Jesus guiding your steps, is not always comfortable, but ease and comfort is replaced by a deep sense of satisfaction in your soul.

1. Iran threatens preemptive actions against ... everybody.  War will be upon us soon. I do not know if this will be another "bloodless" war where Americans hurl death from the skies and send the sons and daughters of the rural poor to die in a foreign land. It may very well be the spark that ignites the tinder of the world and brings the war to our own shores.

2. England has sent a warning to Britons living in Greece that they should get out before the country implodes in riots and violence as more austerity measures appear to be about to be voted in.  Do you wonder who in our own future will hold the purse strings and demand "austerity" from the American people?

3. Police recently shot and killed a 54 year old woman who was also a Sunday School teacher. Apparently her crime was that she didn't stop fast enough when the jackboots ordered her. "Failure to show proper deference to a cop" is now grounds for murder. Witness accounts don't line up with the official police story but the authorities are standing their ground in not doing anything about this murder. This will be something to watch unfold. The murder of an Iraqi war vet by police has become commonplace. Let's see them try to explain about what a dangerous threat elderly Sunday School teachers are.

February 20 Bunker Index - Hold On to Your Hats

Boy, it's windy today! I guess between the sun that's come out and this west wind out of the desert it'll dry up the standing water pretty quickly. I'm glad for it. Today's challenges are getting a roof on the workshop and the other wall up. The tarp solution just didn't work out at all. Everything in there is soaked. I'm also having to replace my heavy watt belt sander with a much smaller palm sander. It'll still work just as well, I hope, and I don't need miles of surface area to sand. Just a knife handle. I simply don't want to run the generator every time I need to finish up a knife handle.

This is my "fix it" week. My truck has some sort of short in the electrical system that's preventing all of the lights from coming on, including brake lights. The Texas Department of Public Safety has informed me via a written warning that they frown on my hillbilly mobile running about the highways without brake lights, even though I promised to only drive in the daytime and both me and the trooper agreed that anyone who rearends a vehicle in broad daylight, brake lights or not, is a complete idiot. So I'll go improve the local economy some via automotive repair. I usually get good service at the mechanic places. They take one look at my truck and know that I'm likely to be a regular customer.

1. Looks like OPEC (the surviving members we haven't killed) is tightening the screws.  Even our old friend and ally (when they aren't sending terrorists to crash planes into our buildings) Saudi Arabia is cutting its output.

2. Bahahaha! Army soldiers are wearing "fake breasts and empathy bellies" in a new 3 day class so that they can better relate to pregnant mothers. Once photos of this leak to the enemy, it should inspire them to a new level of fear and terror.

3. Experts are warning about the rise of new "impossible to treat" bacterial diseases and infections.  I guess God is going to show the world that He's still sovereign over our medical system.

4. In South Carolina, the police state grows. Nothing like watching these Southern states capitulate. Since my return to Texas, I have found the south to be a little too much "law and order" for my taste.

Good Days

After 4 straight rainy days, the weather has broken and the sun came out. The creek has been overflowing its banks and there's been nothing but standing water outside our door. It's mostly drained off now, but the ground is saturated and walking around anywhere is an exercise in keeping your boots on. Don't fall or you'll make a nice mud angel.

The batteries in the solar system got topped off for the first time in days. My generator is on the fritz (won't start) and it's been too muddy to get the vehicles down to the house so they have to be parked out on the county road. I'm sure that pleases the sheriff to no end. He gets excitable whenever he sees a strange vehicle in the county, but I suppose by this point we're no longer "strange". Or if we're still strange, we're at least a familiar strange. Don't worry, folks. I'm going to do a complete pictorial and walkthrough of the solar setup so far here pretty soon. I know several of you are interested. Hopefully nobody will spot any design flaws that are soon to be electrocuting me to death.

The tarp on my workshop doesn't hold water so we're going to have to invest in some real walls. Or at least plywood. If it's good enough for the house then it's good enough for the workshop. We're fully moved into the cabin now, only using the RV for a refrigerator, shower, and occasional cookstove when we have something that isn't feasible to cook on the woodstove. About 2am each night the fire has died down to the point that it's cold enough to wake us up and I have to go down and throw a couple more logs on. That usually holds us until about 7am, which is time to get up anyhow. Past few days though we've had a bit of a sleep-in as we don't want to get out from under the wool blankets. We're in for a spell of warmer weather though so it should get better.

We're adjusting pretty well now. We have a good dinner most nights, then some cocoa and we sit and watch our new show on one of the laptops. We like "Tales from the Green Valley" which arrived middle of last week. I understand there's a couple of whole seasons in the series and I'm looking forward to them all. I only wish they had a recipe book to go along with it. That simple farm food is right up our alley! To get some of that today is considered "artisanal" or gourmet, but back in the day it was normal peasant food. How times have changed! The rich people eat peasant food and the poor people now eat processed corn. I think we can flip that around easily enough in our own household.

The week starts tomorrow and there's a ton of work to do. My truck needs repairs, the generator needs repairs, and I need to churn out three raised beds this week to be on schedule for March. That's planting time around here and I'm determined to get things going for spring. I think one of the steel panels on the roof is loose too. As I'm laying in bed here up in the loft typing this entry out, I can hear it banging in the wind. I'm not looking forward to a trip up the ladder to the roof. That's not a pleasant excursion in the wind, but if I go when it's not windy then I won't be able to find the loose one. Ah well. Challenges to be overcome.

These are good days, praise the Lord. We're blessed.

February 17 Bunker Index - Entropy Finds Us

Seems like a lot of things are breaking this week. The sink in the RV is broken and won't turn off properly and our generator won't start. We have a 1500 watt inverter but there are a couple of things that it won't run (such as some tools in my workshop and my wife's laser printer). It's just one that's meant for automobiles as a temp solution until I can get a proper one, but it does 99% of the trick already. It's longevity is what is in question.

These are all little annoyances which add up over time. It's wet and cold here too, which isn't helping my mood this Friday morning. I haven't yet had any coffee and it's 9am!

Still, there are many enjoyable experiences to be had and most of the bad is simply my mood and our lack of adjustment to certain aspects of this new life. The woodstove is burning along nicely but it doesn't seem to heat up the far end of the cabin very well. Poor placement on it, I think. We would have been better served with one of those little round stoves right smack in the middle of the cabin, but that seemed a major hazard with little children playing about.

Ah well. Life continues. We go into another weekend, and a long one at that. Monday is President's Day where we celebrate men whose ideals and beliefs we've long since murdered. I wonder how long we'll continue to celebrate "heroes" of whom we don't teach our children. We've already forgotten the small men who brought those "big" men into power.

1. Federal agents have a shoot out ... with each other.  Do you think the deceased will be tested for steroids, and if so, will the results be released to the public?

2. Longest period of unemployment since the Great Depression.  Does that mean this is the new Great Depression, only nobody will admit it?

3. In a destroyed and bankrupt city, Chicago schoolteachers are demanding a 30% payraise. Do they not already have some of the most lucrative pensions in all of the nation? More draining of the public coffers.

4. The real reason the American government desires Syria?  Got to keep the war machine running. If resources don't get back to Rome, there's no amount of bread and circuses that will keep the illusion intact.

February 16 Bunker Index - Being Content

We are all going to have to learn how to be content with less. This is a saying that gets thrown out a lot, but how true it is. Think of your favorite foods ... are they things like pineapples or bananas which only grow in the tropical regions? Will there not come a season where you have tasted them for the last time?

This world is imperfect. You're always too hot or too cold, too hungry, or too tired. The next world is better and within the fullness of God's plan you may get to enjoy it. We must nurture contentment in our circumstances because it does not come naturally. Discontent is the natural state of man. Look at all of the wealthy rockstars and celebrities. Even with the best surroundings that money can buy, their lives speak of discontent and often end tragically in the same types of circumstances that the worst homeless heroin addict might endure. Discontent is always present in the absence of the Lord.

1. A truck with explosives in it was found near the Kansas statehouse. The truck had specialty plates issued to U.S. paratroopers and two men were arrested. Not much useful information in this article. I'm waiting to see if the media picks this up as one of those "right wing terrorist militia" types they love so much.

2. Radiation spikes have been seen in Tokyo. Bad news for the Japanese!

Internet issues today. Having trouble getting out. Y'all have a great day!
Internet issues tod

February 15 Bunker Index - Hungrytime

Should you decide to go off-grid there is a phenomenon I would like to tell you about. I initially thought it was just my own family's experience but after talking to a number of others who have went off-grid I learned it is quite common.

Your reliance on the world will actually increase for a short time as you transition.

It seems counterintuitive doesn't it? As I consider it, however, it makes more sense. Few people will go from a happy, carefree life in the suburbs to an off-grid lifestyle. There is usually a process. First you see the cracks in the facade, then you begin to prep, and then you begin to become more self-reliant through gardening, livestock, etc. If you decide to then turn an on-grid home into an off-grid one (difficult to do) then it's a pretty simple transition. But if like us you decide to move to a more sustainable location, you are faced with what will feel like a big step backwards.

We go to the nearby grocery store at least once per day. Usually in the morning to get a cup of coffee and something to eat for breakfast, and then later in the evening for dinner. We simply do not have the storage space yet for more than one meal for a family of seven. Our new gardens are not yet producing, and it's the middle of winter still so our chickens are only half-serious about laying (we get about 4-6 eggs per day ... enough for 2-3 people for breakfast).

It also seems like half of the tools I need have been either lost in the move or are buried in storage, so I find myself repeatedly running to Home Depot or some other big-box store to grab something. Nothing is handy and nothing is yet organized.

But take heart! It does improve. Over the first year, so I'm told, things begin to come together. Indeed, even in my own household at the 2 month mark we've begin to adapt and figure out ways to be more efficient. I suspect by mid-spring we will be doing quite well and have a thriving homestead up and going. So long as the Lord continues to bless our efforts!

Oh, by the way, the world is supposed to end sometime this morning. Something called a "Carrington Event" is going to fry all of our electronics and then we'll all die, so if I don't see you guys later and you suddenly find that there are cannibal biker gangs roaming the streets then you'll know what happened.

1. In New York, the policy of stopping and frisking people who the police feel "look suspicious" has risen to an all-time high.

2. State inspectors rejected a lunch a schoolchild brought from home. When did they gain this authority? More and more parents are finding that their authority over their child effectively ends when they child walks through the school doors.

3. A man was thrown in jail because he didn't have a license for his dog. Good luck avoiding the police state.

4. A sheriff's deputy shoots a Marine who was getting into his own car and about to drive away with his own two teenage daughters. Deputy claims he was protecting the girls because the man was acting erratic. Clearly there is more to the story, but the situation explained sounds like the deputies surrounded him and then when he didn't immediately acknowledge the police authority, they shot him.

February 14 Bunker Index - Be My Valentine

My wife and I don't do Hallmark holidays. No mother's day, father's day, or Valentine's day. It's ridiculous. However, I do like to buy everyone a chocolate bar on these special occasions. That's a simple little festival around here. Everyone can sit down and eat their chocolate bar together and share a moment. The family that can make a party out of $5 worth of chocolate bars is ready to weather just about any storm.

1. The Muslim Brotherhood warns America ... give us money or we'll attack Israel.

2. In the Strait of Hormuz, a standoff is underway with Iranian boats and drones shadowing the US aircraft carrier. We are getting closer and closer to war.

3. $5 gas is just around the corner this summer. Are you ready? The unemployed have something to look forward to ... at least they won't have to pay a fortune to get to work.

4. A new poll shows 44% of Catholics strongly disapprove of Obama's performance. Why would Christians have voted for Obama in the first place, knowing his platform and beliefs?

Muzzling the Ox

(Deu 25:4) "You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.

Occasionally to aid with tasks I lack the knowledge of how to do or would require more manpower than my family can provide, I employ workers from off the farm. Usually these are neighbors, family members, or friends.

One of the things I feel strongly about is the line from the Old Testament where it speaks of muzzling the ox. I don't have an ox, I don't use one to tread grain and I don't own a muzzle. So how does this verse apply to me? Well, I think Paul reiterated this to Timothy in the New Testament to further our own understanding.

Those who work in our employ are added to our strength. It is a blessing to have them. We are honored by their service, even though we pay them for their labors. I like to make sure they are paid what they are worth, but my additional belief is that they should be treated well while they are in your employ. If a worker is here at breakfast time, I always try to offer them coffee. If they are here at lunch or dinner I offer them lunch or dinner. These are little things, but I think they are important. I think in these ways, as well as more monetary ways, we show obedience to God in honoring the workers who have been sent to aid us.

RE:The Amish

I saw a thread recently where it was discussed how the Amish might fare in TEOTWAKI.

Some points I'll make based on my limited contact and understanding of the Amish:

1. Whatever cellphones or gasoline tractors a particular Amish sect decides to use, they will still do 99.99% better in a grid collapse event than the rest of America (and probably most of the people discussing how poorly they might fare). This is because, while they do adopt some technology, they do not depend upon it for the essentials.

2. I'll put a strong work ethic and a willingness to endure up against a desire for leisure and comfort piped in via copper cables and water pipes any day of the week.

3. Property ownership among the Amish has INCREASED over the past 4 decades while property ownership amongst "normal" Americans (including homesteaders!) has collapsed down to about a sixteenth of what it was at the end of WW2. This shows they have something in their culture that the average American culture doesn't have.

4. My only concerns about the survival of the Amish would be whether or not the "average" Americans would turn on them and take their possessions by force in a grid collapse event. I do not see pacifism as a viable survival strategy, though I suppose it is very good for the soul. However pacifism is part of their ordnung and I don't believe it is more of a biblical thing for them, so I'm not sure it would stand up to a long term disruption. Maybe for a few years, but I think after a few Amish families got butchered and eaten then they'd probably incorporate a right to self-defense (and defense of your community) into their tenets. Maybe not though. This is just my thoughts and does not represent the Amish in any realistic way.

The Quotable Ernie

The man who is willing to pick up a gun to fight for his freedom but unwilling to pick up a hoe and work for it is a bandit, not a patriot.

February 13 Bunker Index - Warm again!

At the time of this writing I am fully on solar and sitting by a roaring woodstove. Well, sort of roaring. By the time we got the pipe finished it had already warmed up to 60 degrees outside, so it's hard to tell how much actual heat this thing is putting out, but it's going. Praise the Lord!

There are still so many things left to do on the homestead, but each day brings some new quality of life improvement. Just being warm again is an enormous blessing. The small things bring great pleasure in these days of simplicity.

I suppose that's what the world lacks right now ... simplicity. More doing with humble hands and less arrogant talk.

1. Obama has proposed $800 million in aid to countries swept up by the "Arab Spring".  That's $800 million more than we have for people who are instituting Sharia law, murdering Christians, and raping women who dare to walk out into the street alone.

2. In Syria, the government is taking detained civilians and strapping them to its tanks in order to prevent the opposition from blowing the tanks up. This is not particularly a matter of your survival unless of course you happen to be detained by Syria and strapped to a tank.

3. Christians in Syria fear genocide if the Syrian government falls. The Syrian government is at least somewhat secular so it has prevented the Muslims from murdering Christians. It's a difficult position to be in when the guys protecting you from being murdered by your neighbors are also willing to strap civilians to tanks.

Snow??

It snowed about a quarter inch. It's already melting ... but, c'mon. That's ridiculous. It interrupted the installation of the woodstove too! I can't crawl around on a metal roof with snow and ice on it!

Thoughts of Today

Earlier we were discussing a little advertisement on the back of a hot cocoa box. It showed a smiling, happy family sitting around drinking cocoa. The caption read, "Today the pond froze solid and we skated all day." It was done in sepia tones to make it look like an old photo.

My oldest son remarked on this as a bit of advertising trickery. How very true. Today if you allowed your children to skate around on ice that had just frozen you just might be turned into the government for child endangerment.

I remarked that it's the nature of corporations and the industrial system to use as a marketing tactic the very world they helped to destroy. It's the same phenomenon you notice with office and industrial parks ... they are always named after what they destroyed. i.e., "Peaceful Meadow Office Park", "Shady Oaks Industrial Park", "Whistling Creek Shopping Mall".

---

Many consumers live blissfully unaware of the potential of a major and permanent disruption in the delivery system. The stores will remain full of toilet paper, canned goods, and chocolate. Sleep well, oh ye sleeper!

But in some there is a glimpse of an awakening. They peek through the cracks in the facade and a cold chill runs down their back. "But what ... what ... what if that stuff isn't there?"

It's the horror of horrors. The consumer is deprived of his means of consumption! The very first thing they latch on to is the concept of "prepping". I know because I was once there. "In case I can't buy all this stuff, I'll just buy it now and store it!" That was my mindset, and a foolish one it was.

Somewhere along the lines I realized that if you stockpile 30 days of food then you've set 30 days for you to die. If you stockpile 300 days of food then you've set 300 days to die. I thought, "I'll store enough food for me to get by until I can plant a garden."

You can't just plant a garden and get enough food to get by. Most soils are terribly depleted and take a long time to build fertility. Plus, the techniques of the successful gardener need years to hone. What a horror it would be to learn about insect predation, drought, frost, or disease while watching your family slowly starve. And you can't expect to plant a 4'x8' garden bed and learn those skills. They don't fully apply as you scale up!

In order to get by you must turn from the concept of being a consumer and go to being a producer. A producer of food, raw materials, or small cottage industry. These are the things that preserve your famnily and set a course of obedience to God. Will they keep you alive? Maybe. There are no guarantees, but I will say that survivalism and preparedness are a losing proposition without that obedience.

---

The first thing new preppers and survivalists latch on to as a means of ensuring their survival is the "bugout bag". I have a "get home" bag, but no bugout bag. Where would I bugout to? Is there a group of people who wouldn't also be in equal jeopardy who would be willing to take us in? Do these bugout bag neophytes think that if they pack a compass and some extra socks they'll make it out to the farmland and survive? Why do they think they'll survive in the farmlands? The farm people are hard and hardy and many of them won't survive ... and they certainly won't welcome refugees traipsing across their property, even if those refugees packed a bugout bag. Do they think they'll trade skills for food once they reach the rural countryside? If I had a dollar for everytime I heard someone say about something I was doing that they'd read it in a book that it should be done differently. There is a profound difference between book knowledge and actual hands-on experience, as I have learned somewhat painfully.

February 10

A hard rain came through here last night. Three sides of my workshop are protected by a tarp, but of course the wind came in from the one direction that was not protected. Now everything is soaked. I'm going to have to go through and sort out what I absolutely need onsite and what needs to go back to the storage until a permanent (and rainproof) workshop is completed. This is what you might call a mixed blessing. We needed the rain, but I didn't need it in my workshop.

A couple of days ago I hurt my back (doing something stupid) so I've been on light duty for the past few days. It's amazing how much you can accomplish if you put yourself on light duty. There are countless little tasks that need doing (from cleanup to organizing) that are normally hidden by the bigger tasks. I've just about exhausted myself doing little things. Go figure.

The clouds have cleared and it's sunny outside. I'm generating about 300 watts of power as we speak and I'm not yet even to the peak generation time of 11am-2pm. I think we may even let the kids watch a movie today, we're so flush with electricity. Yeah, solar! Yeah! If I get some stuff accomplished this morning, I may even take a brief nap while the sun dries out the garden area a little so I can put out a new raised bed. Yeah, nap! Yeah!

1. It appears the jackbooted thugs of the establishment have already moved on one of the participants in the TV show "Doomsday Preppers". In this video they have supposedly went in and confiscated all of his weapons under some sort of psychiatric reasoning. I saw a lot of survivalists and preppers cheering on this show. Did they perhaps think that these people (who were probably fairly extreme even  in an extreme community) were some sort of litmus test or canary-in-the-coal-mine? Well, your canary has died.

2.  Now a unit of Marines has been caught posing with a flag depicting the notorious "SS" symbol of the Nazi stormtroopers. The Marine Corp said they would not be punished because it was a "naive mistake". Really? When your mindset is so corrupt that you don't have a problem posing in front of a flag used by mass murderers and then the system doesn't punish you for it, then it goes beyond just a few bad apples. These kids are EXACTLY where the government wants them. They are ignorant of God, ignorant of history, and ripe for whatever evil their institutions propose to them.

3. Does it concern anyone else that the LAPD (who now has a new war room) is considered the role model for successful law enforcement across the nation? They are notoriously corrupt and violent.

4. The teen suicide rate has skyrocketed. Why? Because they see the world that is before them and they have not been given the gospel of Christ. What they have been given is sugary, watery pap that cannot sustain Life as it does for you and me.

February 9 Bunker Index - Facing Forward

Thanks to all of you for your words of encouragement. I have been praying on the subject, and I believe I should focus my efforts on revealing the idols in modern society and in warning the faithful of what is coming. At least as far as this blog is concerned. I am pulled in different directions most days, but with effort and God's help I hope to keep my road fixed firmly in front of me.

I am currently working on a special knife project commisioned to help promote Michael Bunker's new book, The Last Pilgrims. I read the novella to this thing and it's a real thrill. The launch date is February 24th and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy. But for now I've got to figure out how to smoothly plane some small planks out of some mesquite logs. It's beautiful wood but I think I lack some critical tools to make the best use of it. So today is a research day to figure out how to best do this without either wasting materials OR cutting off any fingers.

1. $772 million seems like a lot of money for cell phone services. I've noticed when I go through low income areas that everyone I see seems to have a cellphone. These aren't expensive devices and the service isn't too horrible, but they still seem to be an expense that someone who is desperately poor would choose to live without. I guess I understand now how they can all afford them.

2. Russia doesn't appear to want to let Syria go without a fight. Been about long enough between major world wars, I suspect. The enemy sure would like to see a good one.

3. At least we are a society that still feels this is wrong. This abortionist is charged with multiple counts of killing living babies with scissors. The sick mindset of those who are pro-abortion is what enables this to prosper.

4. The show of the century. The news media is getting ready for a major war with Iran. Americans love to see the projections of our military power. It makes us feel like we're still on top.

5. Lawmakers here in the U.S. have cleared the way for the usage of military drones in civilian airspace here in America. Soon you will be the most watched and scrutinized citizens on the planet.

Quarrelsome

(2Ti 2:23) Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.

Does politics fall under the category of a foolish, ignorant controversy? Do I do wrong to dwell on this to the degree that I do? I believe that the murder of the unborn, or the innocent, or the wholesale destruction of countries in a war of ideology are matters of importance, but are they worth quarreling over? And can any discussion of them be had without it leading to a quarrel?

I am reflecting on this now in light of what has happened on one of the forums I participate in. Pointing out that an idol has clay feet is never going to be popular to people who worship that idol, and particularly when they don't believe they are worshipping it.

So many people have fallen away. When I spoke only of survivalism and related matters, I had many more people paying attention. Then when I included politics, many fell away as their politics differed. Now that I speak of religion and an unjust and evil society, many more fall away.

This is a road we are on and we must either follow it to its end or find a comfortable place to stop and wait for death to overtake us. I am a seeker, the same as you, and sometimes I will poke my nose down rabbit trails I have no business on, but the road goes on and sooner or later we must get back to it.

If hearing of Christianity disturbs you, then this is a good place to part ways. If you wish to only hear the usual platitudes about how great, just, and godly America is then you're probably not going to want to come along with me any further. If you are very fond of your idols and wish to cling to them then I wish you the best of luck and I must leave you behind.

The rest of you ... pick up your pack. We must be going.

February 8 Bunker Index - Getting Along to Get Along

It's easy to be popular and well-liked. Just make sure you never speak truth or say anything of importance. You'll be very popular.

But is that what is important? As a Christian, do you not have a responsibility to speak to the truth? I don't know ... I think those things are important but there are just as many bible verses telling me not to cast pearls before swine.

I do know that I'm unwilling to simply stand on a street corner and rant to those with seared consciences and hardened hearts. They love the world more than they will ever love truth and they get very angry when their consciences are pricked.

When God destroys this society, He will do so by tearing down each of the false idols we have built. We will see our government fail, our dollar fall, our ease and comfort stripped from us, and our military exposed for the evil construct it has become. Our punishment will be so great that for the next twenty generations of man they will shudder when they think of it.

There may be nothing that we can do to avoid this punishment ourselves. Even abject obedience before the Lord may now be too late. We may all die as martyrs as the evil trashes about in its death throes. Yet would you still not choose the path of obedience? Is it not STILL the greater path?

1. GOP lawmakers protest removal of "God" from an Air Force insignia patch. Why should they protest this? Is it God's Air Force? Are those God's bombs they drop? It's the government's military ... let them no longer cloak themselves in pretend.

2. Vigilante justice is on the rise in Detroit. Notice you have to hear about these things from overseas news. Our own corrupt media won't print it.

3. A college is going to offer the abortion pill via vending machine on its campus. Oh, come Lord Jesus, come.

4. 23% more Americans are dependent upon the government now, thanks to Obama. Though I really don't know what Obama had to do with this. The fault lies with every American who lines up with his hand out.

5. Iran mobilizes troops to protect Syria. It looks like this is shaping up to be a big deal.

February 7 Bunker Index - Ignoring the Naysayers

You've received your marching orders. You're following God's plan. Why would you listen to those naysayers who sit by the side of the road and tell you that you can't accomplish your goals? There will always be people who try and mock you for your beliefs. Don't let them stop you.

Despite a gloomy start to the morning, the sun has come out and we're generating power. Over the past few days the weather has been rather dismal and the cloud cover has kept us from being able to utilize the solar to any real degree. Today might just be the first day in a week where I won't have to start the generator to top off the batteries.

I have a couple of goals for today, primarily to finish the woodstove pipe and to get my workshop covered and the bench set up for work. I have a shipment of blades arriving today or tomorrow and I'd like to get to work on them right away.

All is well on the farm. Not so well out in the world though there's still a shortage of good news items. I consider this the calm before the storm.

1. The FBI warns that "sovereign citizens" are a threat. Of course they are. Anyone who doesn't immediately capitulate to every whim and demand by the jackbooted thugs is to be considered a threat.

2. The archbishop of the military chaplains takes a stand against Obamacare. Think the FBI will have him arrested as a terrorist?

3. According to Infowars (grain of salt), a new bill has been passed by the senate which would allow airports to hire private security screeners instead of being forced to use TSA goons. This is a pretty big blow to DHS and may completely marginalize them.

An Army of Tyrants, Jackbooted Thugs, and Petty Bureaucrats Stands Above You

And every one of them thinks of himself as your master.

They control every aspect of your life from where you can dump your grey water to how big of a receptacle you can poop in. They collect a portion of every dollar that changes hands and toll you for traveling on the roads. They watch you through cameras, grope your children at the airports, and steal your sustenance. No sooner will a man hang out a sign reading "open for business" than they will descend upon him and begin to regulate.

What is called for now is a culture of resistance to the Federal beast. It should extend into every state and community.

Failure to do so means the slow strangulation of the last stronghold of freedom on the planet.

February 6 Bunker Index - Slow News Day

I started to do the BI this morning but there wasn't much in the news not related to the Super Bowl or Madonna. Not caring about either of those things, I continued on with my day until now. Still not a lot but I found a couple of items for your reading pleasure.

I'd been having trouble figuring out how to run the stove pipe from the woodstove up through the floor without burning my house down. Michael Bunker graciously allowed me to come look at theirs to figure out how. So I spent this morning doing that and then went into town and bought the other nitnoid parts I needed to do so. I'm blessed to have other off-grid Christians nearby who have already sorted out how to do some of these things. I didn't want to burn the cabin down as part of a learning experience.

We got the water tank up on the tower this morning and filled it up with water. That seems like a little thing, but it was the bottleneck for TWO major projects here ... the rainwater harvesting system AND the inside "plumbing". With it in place, now we can proceed with both.

Things are moving forward, though a bit slowly right now. I'm pleased. The rest of the world seems a little slow too.

1. Top Air Force scientist wants to create a "social radar" which will monitor a society's writings, thoughts, and cultures to predict trouble. Do we need that on top of the CIA scrutinizing Facebook?

2. In Atlanta, gang members videotaped a hate crime. I'm sure Eric Holder will find a way to say this wasn't racially motivated though.

3. A new bill in Florida proposes banning candy purchases with food stamps. Don't like it? Use your own money to buy what you want. Everything the government gives you for "free" comes with stipulations.

4. Chicago's "Big Brother" law now uses speeding cameras to generate revenue for the city. I'll not be going back there again. Now I've got one more reason why not.

Read and Absorb

As part of my down day I'm catching up on some blogs.

http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2012/01/shadow-of-claude-dallas.html

Read and absorb. Particularly educate yourself on the Bad Elk Precedent.

http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/177/529/case.html

You have the legal right to resist, whether the jackbooted thugs arresting you know it or not.

A Down Day

Last night I twisted my ankle walking around in the dark. I've been using stacked up pallets for a porch outside the RV and I stepped too close to the edge. So today is a light day of work, which is suitable. Some of our next projects really require more thought and planning.

I'm building a lean-to off the side of the powerhouse which I will use as a temporary workshop. I've got probably $800 worth of knife orders stacking up and I need to get back to it. Until the proper workshop is set up I won't be in full production, but I should be able to at least start getting some of these orders taken care of. That's important. I'm afraid if I keep the shop dormant too long then the small business I've gained will decay.

The sun is shining and we're generating over 300 watts right now. That's much better than we've seen for the past 3-4 days. Life is good!

Pray for Whom?

I heard on the radio earlier a pastor calling for prayers for our soldiers who are "defending our freedoms".

Exactly what freedoms are they defending? All of our freedoms are being stolen by the government whose uniform they wear while they are busy blowing up third-worlders.

So what kind of prayer do I offer up for them? Should I perhaps pray that they all have a change of heart and see that the real enemy is in Washington DC and aim their weapons accordingly?

February 3 Bunker Index - Here Comes the Rain

Thich black clouds have gathered overhead this morning and it looks like it's going to be a gully-washer, which we need. The rain collection system is not complete, so I'm going to miss this one. Ah well. I have plenty of inside-the-cabin work to do today, as well as some business things to catch up on. I planted a bunch of turnip seeds yesterday so a good watering in is exactly what they need.

I am the only person in my family who likes turnips. Everyone else despises them. They love turnip greens though and it seems that may be the only purpose to our growing turnips. I can't hardly justify devoting precious garden space to a vegetable nobody likes and whose nutrition is easily replaced by other things.

Not a lot of "bad" news items out there today. Just the usual rumblings. For a Friday, that's not too bad. Maybe we're going into a pretty good weekend.

1. Labor force participation drops to a 30 year low ... down by 1.2 million. Even worse, statistics seem to indicate as the new tax season rolls around that a sizable portion of those who are still technically "employed" have traded high-paying jobs with very low paying ones, such as Walmart door greeter.

2. A Minnesota school shuts down inappropriate playground game called "rape tag". The game was apparently like the game you and I played as a child, except to "unfreeze" people you had to touch them inappropriately. Our culture has been degraded beyond repair.

3. A Christian convert in Iran received a 2 year jail sentence for the crime. This will be a hellish experience for her as Christian women have reported being reportedly raped and abused by guards as a method of systematic torture. It is important that Christians in a "free" country such as ours remember what Islam is and what it descends to when they have the majority.

4. Facebook found to be as addicting as cigarettes. You should definitely Facebook this.

Februay 2 Bunker Index - Cold and Gloomy

Well, I guess I'm through with fiddling with the solar for a few days. A cold front moved in last night. It's a clammy 50 degrees here today and overcast. I swear it's colder in the cabin than it is outside. Today's goal is to figure out how this stovepipe goes up through the floor and then how to get it out through the steel roof. Not a pleasant exercise in the least. It may rain later this afternoon, so I'm not sure how much of this we get done. Still, at this point, most of the needful things are complete and now we're just polishing. Bit by bit things are coming together.

The other night while we were outside looking at the stars, my oldest son asked how long we'd been here. We had to figure it out because both of us had forgotten. It's been about 6 weeks but it seems like a lot longer. My son said, "In Illinois each day was roughly the same. Here the days are full and rich."

I thought about that awhile. Can we ask for more in a day than to be full and rich? I'm tired each day at the end, but it's a good tired. Even on the days when I don't feel I accomplished much I did a lot of smaller things. Most of our needs have been provided and now we're working the kinks out of the systems, as opposed to figuring out how to do them.

It's a blessed life. God is clearly guiding and directing our footsteps. Even as events unfold elsewhere, we seem to be untouched. Hopefully by spring the desert will bloom.

1. Director James Cameron is bugging out. As the wealthy elites get out of Dodge, are you prepared to do the same?

2. A missionary couple was murdered in Mexico. Supposedly this was done by the drug cartels but it may have been the work of more mundane criminals. Who can say? The world is a dangerous place, but blessed are those who labor in the fields of the Lord.

3. Taco Bell is poisoning people again with a salmonella outbreak. I do like my Taco Bell. This is bad news.

4. A new medical paper released details a new super-bacteria that devours human flesh and is spread by sneezing.  Yuck. Hopefully I won't be going anywhere that I might get sneezed on.

5. Internet addiction growing among youth. I blame Farmville.

February 1 Bunker Index - Brought to you by solar!

This is my first Bunker Index post where the electricity has been provided in a true off-grid fashion. I'm pretty pleased. For the past 6 weeks the power has been provided via generator, but today we've accumulated enough power in the batteries via solar to do the update. It's cloudy outside, so hopefully the power used can be replenished in time to run a light bulb tonight. Praise God, but it's great to be able to make use of the blessings He sends us.

We're projected for rain this weekend and I still don't have the rainwater collection system up and going. I guess it will have to take a back burner to finishing the woodstove installation. We have water we can truck over to the cabin but we can't truck heat. Priorities must be established.

One of our favorite pastimes is astronomy. I like to sit outside on a clear evening and see how many stars I can name. It's a wondrous universe that God has created and I deeply enjoy looking at it. This is an off-grid pastime that isn't dependent upon anything outside. Better than television!

1. In New York, a group of nine people swarmed a small grocery store and made off with $38k in merchandise.  These attacks have become very profitable, it seems. Look for more of it in the future. At least until store owners arm themselves and start blowing away these thugs in the aisles.

2. An intelligence report released states that Iran is willing to launch terror attacks on US soil in response to military action against them. This is clearly some level of propaganda. Is it a terror attack if a nation state responds with violence to violence done against it? Americans have grown very comfortable with long range warfare done on their behalf. Can we stomach retaliatory attacks in our homeland? And while Iran might have the will, do they actually have the capability?

3. This article discusses the possibility of 5 major US banks declaring a default. Essentially it states that the banks are already in default but because they are still borrowing money from the Fed and aren't declaring it a default, it isn't really one. Hrm.

4. 23 boys and girls aged 6-10 were molested by their classroom teacher. Why, oh why, do parents still think they should entrust their children to these criminals and perverts?

5. Ron Paul has called for criminal charges against Eric Holder (and possibly more!) for their false flag operation "Fast and Furious". I'll go a step further and say that Eric Holder and any others found guilty of participating in this should be hanged for treason. We don't see enough hangings for treason anymore, which is probably why we're in the shape we're in.