It's that time of the year again......

     It's that time of the year when West point Cadets meet the Midshipmen from Annapolis in the annual tradition of the ARMY-NAVY game. This year is special, NAVY is showcasing their new uniforms, the old NAVY ensign. Yes, it is the flag that was reserved for the oldest active ship in the fleet until G.W. Bush signed a presidential order after 9/11 for all Naval ships to fly it as their Ensign.

   Here are some pictures of their game uniforms.

   So Senior only has one thing to say "GO NAVY, BEAT ARMY!!!!!!

   Senior

AR Pistol with Sig Sauer SB15 Brace

    I have talked to several people, even fellow group members about an AR pistol with the Sig Sauer SB 15 pistol brace for sometime now, since I do have one. Here is a video that explains the brace pretty well, the do's and dont's, and difference between this pistol with the brace versus a SBR "Short Barreled Rifle". Enjoy.

Senior

Project SSF (Senior Survival Food)

    I mentioned something about this a few weeks ago in a blog post as I have been thinking about doing this for some time, but with everything that has gone on the past few months, I just really haven't had time, as I had other things I wanted to take care before it turned cold. This is not a new idea, if you browse the net, there are many other people around that have done something similar to this, whether they use mason jars or other packaging.

     I originally got this idea from DUKE. We had done a MLK weekend camping trip several years ago and the rest of us had Mountain House packaged food or expired MRE's, as one person found out the hard way. He showed up to cook with I believe Lipton cup-o-soup packs, vienna sausages, and some other things. We all sat around heating our water to go into the pouches, while DUKE stirred all his stuff in a mess kit and cooked right in front of us. There was a discussion going around at the time and he remarked about his cost for his food compared to what we paid for the freeze dried pouches. ok, fast forward to today.....

     I have used mylar bags that are similar to the ones Mountain House uses for their packaging in my own food stores. Instead of using the larger bags, I started breaking the stores into smaller, more easier to manage sizes. Here is a link to the site I purchased them from, USA Emergency Supply. 

    I, like many of you have eaten a Mountain House freeze dried meal before. I like them better than the other brands by far, but there are a few issues I have with them. First issue is the lack of variety they have and some of their product line I really don't care for. Second issue is the amount of freeze dried meat that they put in the meals, which to me is hardly any for the price I pay for them. Final issue, of course is the price. 

     I have the bag, now the next step for me was to decide what meal so I want to make.

Knorr pack run around $1.00 each.

    I decided I will use the Chili Mac mix as my test meal as I like chili mac, I sure as hell ate a lot while in the Navy. Since it is hard to find freeze dried meat in local stores, for this project and I am not using TVP or HVP that's in Mountain House, I placed an order with Honeyville and purchased a small can of beef and turkey.

   Next, I open both packages. The recommended serving size for the beef was 1/2 cup. Well I want to make this can stretch so I reduced down to a 1/4 cup.

     I place all the items into the zip-loc mylar bag and place a 500cc oxygen absorber in with the food and remove as much of the air from the bag and zip it shut. I also used an iron to heat seal the top strip of the bag to ensure that if the zip-loc seal does leak, I have a secondary seal.

    Now to break down the costs and weights for each bag:

Mylar bag with shipping: $0.43

Box of hamburger helper chili mac with tax: $1.60

O2 absorber with shipping: $0.22

Freeze dried beef with shipping: $2.18

Grand total for a pouch of Senior Survival Food (SSF): $4.43

Grand total for MH Chili mac from Academy sports with tax: $8.54

Total savings of: $4.11

Total weight of the MH Chili mac: 4.80 ounces

Total weight of homemade: 6.20 ounces.

   By no means am I knocking Mountain house and their products down, as I stated earlier, they are the best tasting ones on the market compared to the other brands but I have a few issues with them. I am looking for a low-cost alternative that I can have more options with. I wanted to also put a picture of the packaging when the 500cc O2 absorber was finished but I will post a picture when I open it and try the meal out. I will do a part two to this post.

   That's all for today, if you have comments or suggestions, please post them and lets get the discussion going.

Till next time, stay safe, carry often, and get ready, it's coming soon.

Senior

A shout out to all my shipmates, How about a HELL YEAH!!!

    To all my shipmates. Yeah, I have posted this before, but hey, I like it.

Senior

Veterans Day

      As we pause to remember our Veterans today, please reflect on what they have done for this great country. As we wait so anxiously for our President to give this years Veterans Day address, uhhh, well he is not around. Is it shocking, no but typical. So searching this morning, I have found a past video of an former President that did not read off a tele-prompter, nor did he have a uh or um in every 5th word.

Senior

Happy 20th to my beautiful wife

   I want to announce to the world that I am the luckiest man to have the greatest wife. I have been fortunate and blessed to have you by my side for 20 years supporting me through the ups and downs in both our lives. It has been hard and tough at times, but there is not a perfect marriage, but we made it work and every time i looked over my shoulder, you were there. I love you with all my heart and look forward to the rest of our lives together.

Since we met in Jacksonville, FL, why not have Jacksonville's own Shinedown and one of my favorite band to sing a song.

Senior

Happy Hallows Eve

I know, its sick, but how many of you have thought of doing this. Thanks to a friend for sending this to me. I might put something like this at the end of my driveway next year.

Senior

Nice and relaxing weekend so far, airing some gear out, cooking some wings, and conferencing on a project.

    Today was a beautiful day here in the upstate of South Carolina. The sun was out in all its brightness, and the temps warmed up to a real nice 75 degrees here at the house. I have been wanting to do this for the past couple of weeks so today was the perfect day. I broke out the Cabelas 6-man geodesic tent and a smaller 2-man that I let the boys play in from time to time, to let them air out. After we were done setting them both up, I think they are getting in the mood for a camp out one night, so I think I will plan something out for them. So the boys and I locate the tents in the storage building and commence to setting it up.

From bag to this in 15 min (1 adult, 2 Kids)

35 min's total time (1 adult, kids quit)

    Once this one was setup, I let the boys put the smaller one together, with some guidance from me of course.

   So after they were done, they got in the tent and became camping kids. This is one of the best things to occupy their time. You should have heard some of the ideas they were generating. I, on the other hand decided to relax a bit in a hammock.

     I was just about out, when JUGM was calling for me, as she was about to head to town for some shopping, which meant fresh chicken wings from our local meat shop. After she left, I got out of the hammock and grabbed a chair and slid up next to the boys in the tent and had a good time chatting with them. Of course, later this afternoon, I like cooking, and I like chicken wings.

Yes, I know, I should be cooking them on the ground.

     This afternoon, I had a discussion via text with John over at MSO about a project I was working on. I am always looking for cost savings, as he is as well. Looks like we both will be doing our own versions of this product and trying them out with panel of judges. Stay tuned, hopefully I will receive all my materials this week and have them ready for next weekend. Not like this project is new, but I will publish my results in a future post.


     Well gonna sign off, SEC football is on and my team is playing. Stay safe, carry often, and don't ride public transportation with a bunch of sneezing riders.

  Senior


     

Few notes to pass on, new resident here, views of recent news events and some group stuff.

    Hello everyone, things are moving right along here in rural South Carolina. As you may have seen at my better half's blog, JUGM has been busy being a mom again with 18 chickens, and she is doing a great job at it. Soon, the oldest pullets will be providing me with fresh eggs, god I love cheddar cheese omelets, yum!!!!

    Went to the county complex to find out why I haven't received my property tax bill and they stated they were a couple of weeks behind in closing the books. Go figure right? Well I am pleased to announce my property taxes for the year is $222.37. Gas here as of today was $2.70 a gallon.

     Been doing some work each evening on the tractor. I want to get my gun range up before the ground freezes. I haven't had a chance to go to SCDOT and put my name on the list to receive free fill dirt from their jobs. I probably wouldn't get any right now, they have had several roads around here that washed out within the last month from 8" of rain in a 3 hour period, so fill dirt is at a premium.

    We have a new resident that is starting to pass through the garden. I have had a few of his friends running around properties adjacent to us and along the state road we live off of,  I will look for him this weekend as I am in the stand.

 

     Well seems the latest crisis that we are seeing is EBOLA. Well, like we didn't see this coming. I mean, really, we have bumbling IDIOT as President, the head of the CDC and Prevention is a MORON, "We will make things worse if we restrict travel from West Africa"? AYFKM!!!!! Lets put is a clear as possible, if your body has this virus and you step foot on my property,

     This is what will happen.

    Then....

   Can I be any clearer than this? I will not risk infection of my family, PERIOD!

    All eyes are the upcoming mid-term elections, and I have been asked, do you think the Republicans will take the Senate? Yes, it is possible, I am optimistic, but my main concern is, will they wont do anything to fix what is "F"d up with the country. Probably not, face it, all these politicians are all about power, plain an simple.

     Saw the First lady, Michelle Obama was dancing with a turnip? Uh, Really.

     Are you that desperate for attention? Pretty pathetic for a first lady, but typical for someone who have never been proud of her country.

    Debates in Florida are underway, here is the next Florida Governor.....

    Sorry, but when you cry like a baby about a fan during a debate, then you are labeled a cry-baby. Whats next, glass of water? Paper to take notes?

     I copied this from a website, and I quote "Southern Oregon University students claim university officials threatened to call the police and take disciplinary action against them last week after they passed out free copies of the U.S. Constitution and asked other students to sign a petition to end limitations on areas where students can demonstrate."

solution: exercise your second amendment rights, that will take the heat off. 

     This weekend will be a busy weekend, we have a large gun show in Charlotte to attend on Saturday, and I mean large, helluva lot larger than anything in Jacksonville and Sunday, we have another group meeting at one of the members houses. He has chickens too, so it will be good to see his set-up. I guess I can say I some seniority now, we now have a new member. I have brought along from the group in Florida that you need to have members that have a specific skill set. I agree with this whole-hardheartedly. The new member is a certified EMT in several states, pediatric care, and may not make it back for the meeting as he is on a wilderness EMT certification course for trauma care and extractions from the wilderness.
     I really like how this group is well structured with a combination of military veterans and regular everyday people. Yes, we have military specialties and have a good combination with USAF, USA, and USN, but I really like the ideas of the members who haven't served. Hey, everyone chooses their path in life, that's what makes us the United States of America, we have the freedom to choose. With myself and many career veterans, we sometimes think we have all the answers, yes we do, in a military environment, but as retired members, we have to adapt to our new commands in the real world and who else to look to than everyday professionals. Looking forward to hosting here at the house in the coming weeks for a cookout, maybe I will have the range somewhat done by then.

     Well its getting close to bed-time. I will try to do another post in the coming days. Stay safe out there and look out for the Ebola Zombies. Carry Often!!!!

Senior

Odds and Ends since my last post.

     Well we are almost done with the month of September and the weather is starting to turn more nicer here in Carolina, I'm sure Warlock will agree. It wont be long before all the leaves start turning and then everything will shift to picking them up. Things have been going great up here, except for the excessive rain we have had over the past 2 weeks, but it could be worse.
     JUGM and I have been throwing the idea around about getting rid of the ATV and going with a Honda Pioneer 700-4.

    I like them, they would be a good get out of dodge vehicle for a family of 4, but we thought about it and decided to go with this.

 

    We ended up getting a Mahindra 22HST 4WD Diesel tractor. I have two more implements coming this week, a 5 foot PTO tiller for the garden and a 5 foot blade for grading the drive way, but I did do some repair work from the 8" of rain we got in 3 hours last week on the driveway, and even with the front loader, it did great. Our family friend, the Farmer has 2 different sized auger's that will work this tractor and already has offered to loan me them whenever I need them. Yesterday, we spent most of the day working here on the hill, and I will tell you, I think this is one of the best things I have invested in. Yes, I have a 1948 IH Farm-all cub as well, but this thing does a hell of a lot more. I will still use the Cub in the garden, but not for the heavier work.

    Deer have been all around the property, but for the past few weeks I have had to deal with some pesky Raccoon's in my deer feeder.

    

    Early in the week, I caught my second raccoon in the trap. This one was going to some "Colored" folks, but when the farmer, myself and NW went to their house, they were all excited about a meal, until they found out that it was still alive, and I heard the record scratch off the turn table. The farmer even told them, "It doesn't get any fresher than this". Never seen someone so scared of a little raccoon. Well we left and took it a local cemetery and let him go, he took off like a bat leaving hell.

     Also late in the week, I received a package from Amazon.com. I have pretty much equipped my AR pistol with its last accessory, a Sig Sauer SB15 Pistol brace, and let me tell you, it does the job. 

 

      Well I had my first meeting with the new group here in SC and I am pleased to report that it went well. I was amazed at how many projects they have going on, which these projects are very essential. They all are working toward HAM licenses, which I have been wanting to do for awhile. They have also enlisted the help of some local HAM operators for training. They were also in the process of placing a large group order with Emergency Essentials to save costs on shipping, so I jumped in on the order. I have plans on making my own "Mountain House" meals with smaller Mylar bags that are similar to their bags, minus the labeling. One thing I received was a broken down schedule of discussion topics for 9 months so at each meeting there are items and areas of concern to discuss as a group and hear every one's opinions on that particular subject. I have also been invited to lunch this next week to assist in vetting a new group member, this should be fun.

   Its getting late, so I will sign off. Hope everyone battles evil Muslim extremist in their dreams and wake up victorious.

Senior
    

Life is just trucking along, and meeting new friends

    Well its been a few weeks since I have done a post, so I thought I would drop a quick post to let everyone know that I am still breathing, sorry no pictures in this one. As the title states, life is just trucking along. Work has been ok, except last Sunday when I got a tentative job offer with Department of the Navy at NAS Jacksonville. Yes, USAJOBS continues to be a pain in my ass. Here, I accept a job and move 5 hours away and after being here one month, I get a job offer for a job I applied for in March, yes March. It took them 6 months to find someone to fill that position. How F*$&#*G!!! ridiculous is that. Of course I thought I could make it work, and accepted the position, but after sitting down and looking at the logistical expenses of me living in Florida by myself and the the expense I would face and time away from the family, I rescinded my acceptance and told the HR guy. "If the decision was 3-4 months earlier this wouldn't be an issue". So life continues on.....

     Since I have been here in SC, I have been searching for a group of like-minded individuals that think like me and recognize that we are at a sad state in this country and think of self reliance and force protection principles to sustain us into the future, basically what I had in Florida with Stephen, Duke, and the others. This past Tuesday, I met with two gentleman, one (John) was at that past training event I attended, the other I have never met. I have kept in contact with him since the training and didn't realize he is a member of a group in my area. I met them at a eatery and had lunch with them. I guess you can say it was somewhat a "vetting" process, that's what I took from it. This afternoon, I received and email inviting me to their group meeting this Sunday afternoon. We'll see where this goes. The initial impression is that this group is made up of numerous backgrounds and skill-sets so it will be interesting to see how many members there are and how everyone personalities are. Will keep you posted.

      This afternoon, I had some roof repairs to do. Tuesday night we had some bad storms come though and dumped a S*(&)*&D! of rain on us and have a good leak. So this afternoon I was on the roof with a 3.5 gallon pail of Wet-Dry placing a new layer down around the chimney enclosure that my dad did years ago. I could tell its been awhile since it was last done as there were cracks in the previous layer and one specifically that had water in it. Of course, while I was up there, JUGM starts screaming, one of the chicks decided he was big and bold and took flight out of the make shift brooder. My natural reaction was what happened, but then I heard foul language coming out her mouth, of course directed at the chick, so I went back to what I was doing. So over dinner, I get a item added to my check list which consists of constructing a new brooder. It never ends here.

     Well I shall get back to watching T.V. Hope everyone has a great rest of your week.

Senior

New follower and review of a past training experience

    I would like to welcome a new follower, Longtime Wife has decided to follow me and I thank you for clicking the follow button, welcome aboard!!! I have added her blog in the hyperlink contained in her name, go over and say hi.

    Since I have been real busy over the past few months, I almost forgot that JUGM got me a very cool fathers day gift. She found a tactical training course just north of Charlotte called Wolf-Fire Firearms Instruction and thought it would be cool for me to go have some fun. I took the drive up there on a Friday night for the weekend.

     Rain was in the forecast so we all set-up camp under the tin-roofed barn. Of course I had my hammock set-up and I got a great night of sleep. 

     During the night, there was some very in-depth discussions on our current state of affairs ranging from the economy to self-defense and where we think things are going and who and what we are all about.  I think the last time I checked my citizen eco-drive, it was after 0200 and the snoring commenced, not just mine.

      Daylight arrived and it got hot very quick. After breakfast, training began with a safety brief. The instructor, David is real big on safety, and I commend him for that. It doesn't matter who you are and your level of proficiency, you can never have enough safety. 

     First session of the day was designed for tactical pistol. This was not standing in front of a target and shooting, this was elevating your heart rate and moving behind cover, running all-out and engaging targets, and point shooting. I was very pleased with how I and the others did, I heard for many years in the Navy, train like you fight and fight like you train. If you encounter a real-life situation, is you heart rate going to be 60-70 beats a second? Oh hell no!!! You will be above 120 beats a second so why not learn to shoot with an elevated heart rate and adrenaline in your veins? Make sense to me.

     Second session of the day was tactical rifle skills. You think I did running in the first session, think again. My team mate in the drills, John from a neighboring county here in SC, and who has attended several courses here suggested we do "Burpies". Now, I had no idea of what a burpy was, but later learned that John is really big into cross-fit and after the explanation, it was similar to 8-count body builders I did in the Navy. Now try doing those damn things after already running, with a tactical vest on, then running 50 yards before firing your first round. Thank god I didn't have my plates in. The instructor had one of his friends come out and do some camera work and I am happy to say, I have pictures and I can still run very fast. That session lasted I think maybe 3 hours, could have been more or less since I was dehydrated, tired, and lost all conception of time. Here are some of the pics.

Notice the angle of shooting to reduce exposure when shooting

John and I discussing one run.

    After the day was done, would I recommend this course or a course similar to this, HELL YES!!!

I learned a lot during this course. First, evaluate what you carry equipment is. If SHTF happens during the summer, there will be many people out there that will find out the hard way, that's kind-of why I wanted to do this in an extreme environment, to test myself. You will also learn what equipment set-up is good for you. I wish I had brought an AR or my AR pistol because shooting 500 rounds through an AK beat the crap out of my collar bone, and had a few magazine issues with mine. After closer review, it was the 2 TAPCO magazines I was carrying. 

    Second, accept criticism from the instructor. David on several occasions told me to try a different way to handle the weapon to improve accuracy and sight alignment for speed shooting and by-god it worked. The pistol session was not as bad as the AK took on my collar bone, but it was a good pain. 

    Finally, if you train during the hot and humid summer months, take a lot of water and gatorade with you, holy cow it was hot. I intend to continue with training and will return when it cools off some.

    Senior

   

Decisions, they are very tough and painful.

     I know many of you have noticed that I have been absent for quite some time. As I sit here this morning, this time away has given me ample of enough time to make many tough decisions and to breath easy and relax some, and I will state again, RELAX some. I haven't had a real vacation in 28 years and the past week and half has been great. Now, getting back on topic, we all are encompassed by many factors in life that affect our decisions for ourselves, our family, our finances, and our happiness. Since I graduated from college last September, I have been searching for new employment. Yes, I was in the commercial lawn management/landscaping in Florida and at the age of 43, it is taking its toll on me, mentally and of course physically. Go spend 6-8 hours in temperatures in excess of 90 degrees with heat index's well over 100 everyday for over 6 months at my age. If you can do it, well by God let me know and you can buy all my commercial equipment and go get heat stroke. My goal of having this business was to sustain me with a very comfortable lifestyle through school, giving me the flexibility to manage my business and learn as I went through school to obtain my business degree, and time with my boys. It was also good to have my own business as most of you know, the health of my father took a turn real quick and was able to spend time with him up to his death. Well yesterday, I accepted a position in Charlotte, NC and will start in two weeks.
     Most of and some of you know that JUGM has been in SC for the summer with the boys, well now we can become a family again. This decision has not been very easy. JUGM's parents are not in the best of health, and I feel that I will be a crutch for her, her sister, and unfortunately, her brother as both of my parents are gone and they have someone to lean on and help with estate and probate issues. We talk every night about her parents, and I hear her pain in every breath. With that being said, I have an underwater house in Florida, thanks to the US government approving and giving houses to people who couldn't afford them or a house with property in SC that is paid for. So, the house will be rented out until I can sell and break even. Property taxes in FL, in excess of $1600 per year, and going up. Property tax in SC is $253 for the first year and after one year, I file my exemption as a disabled veteran and it drops to $10, yes $10 a year. Gas, roughly .30 cents cheaper per gallon here in SC, food prices are cheaper, utilities are 1/2 to 2/3 cheaper, and saving the best for last, my auto insurance will drop from $212 a month to $95 and some change, that's a $1404 a year savings.
      Living in FL for the past 28 years has giving me a humbled opportunity to meet some great friends and that is what is stinging the most with this move. Yes, I have friends up here in SC, most I have known since I was running around this hill-top in Pampers with theml, but over the years we have maintained good relationships, even with me leaving for some many years. This community here is a very close knit group, we all know each other and have for a very long time and we all support each other. Not saying that I didn't have support in FL, I did and will always be a friend to my fellow group members there. Hell, now there is another place to relocate too if it hits the fan.
      So, I hope this blog post shows that I am still alive, JUGM did not wax me and collect insurance money. I have had a lot of interviews here in SC and NC and it has finally paid off. I still am scratching my head why no business in FL that had open positions did not want to take a chance with a disabled veteran who is a college honor graduate? Oh, by the way, USA JOBS is a FUCKING JOKE!!!!!! Sorry for my french but the VA will continue to be screwed up until they let veterans in there to fix it, so stop with the diversity bullshit!!!!! In closing, I look back at this whole process, it took awhile but persistence does finally pay off.

Senior
     
    

  

In the woods for some much needed R&R

   The school year has ended, baseball is one game away from turning the lights off until the fall, and work has really sucked the past few weeks. We made a trip to god's country for some much needed R&R for all of us. We all intend to sleep late, eat high fat country food that makes Moo'chelle vomit into BO's taxpayer funded dress shoes, and may even fire off a few rounds like those poor bastards in Europe only dream of. I only have Internet on my phone so I may try to do a post this weekend, maybe from my hammock, who knows. As you can see,the dogs have beat me to it.

Senior

I'm back, now time to jump on my soap box and promote a Survival/Bug out product.

After a nice trip up to the house in SC, and dealing with some "DEATHLY SMELLS", yes, I had to remove a dead possum from under the house. He or she had been there for some time and must have climbed underneath after I left from a two day trip up to check the property a couple of weeks ago. I wont go into graphic details of how far I had to crawl underneath, but all that was left was bones, some skin and hair and a whole bunch of maggots. Yes, dry heaving in a confined space was in full effect. Hey, it builds character right?



Ok, as you seen in my last post about the Goal Zero Guide 10 solar kit, I am getting back in the mood to do some more reviews on bug-out/survival equipment. Now, before I start on the soap box, I have used this product numerous times. It has been put through cold temperatures, rain, tears in netting caused by shoe lace shackles on hiking shoes, and micro-bursts from thunderstorms and I can still use it today. Hell, it fared better than a pop-up camper. The item I am jumping on the soap box for is the Hennessey Hammock.

    This is my Hennessy Hammock Explorer Deluxe with the expanded rain fly. This picture is from our groups 2009 MLK trip to the river. I have found a video on YouTube that had a great review on the hammock, and trust me, this is strong advise from a person who is over 40 years old, you will never sleep in the ground again. This product is very easy to set-up and you have more options with the terrain that you encounter if you were in a bug-out type situation or even on a camping trip on uneven terrain. There are many videos out there on the web, so search them out and learn more about this product.



     When I had a tear in the netting, I emailed them to ask their advice and/or repair options, this company recommended a fix and wanted me to provide feedback on how the repair went. I went to China-Mart and bought some nylon thread and sewed the hole up and haven't been bitten by a bug yet. If you find a product that stands behind their product and wants your input, I don't know about you, but that says a lot to me.



   Well here is the video, if you have any questions that are not answered in the video, just ask me. I have experience in this hammock.



     Stay vigilant and safe out there.



Senior 

Op-test of Goal Zero Guide 10 solar kit and thinking of bloggers in the Florida panhandle

     Today I did some op testing of the new Goal Zero Guide 10 Solar kit I purchased from amazon. Well before I start, I want everybody to think of our blogger friends, Mamma and Papa Bear, and the Marine over in the panhandle. I know they aren't in Pensacola which has some major flooding, and I mean major flooding, but they are in the panhandle and I hope they are all good-to-go over there.

     So today, I finished up early this week and after the rain came through around 1100, the sun popped out and here I am with a new toy so I took my half charged goal zero AA batteries out to the patio and angled the panels at a 45 degree angle to the sun and let it go. I am amazed at this product. Took just a bit more than a hour to fully charge the batteries. When I purchased the kit, I also added the 10 LED USB light and use it while I did this post.

 

 

     Here are the panels as they were positioned on a plastic chair on the patio. I will note that they will absorb the heat as well so if you have sensitive fingers, well wear some gloves. Also, Goal Zero recommends placing the actual charger behind the panels and the charger does heat up while charging, that's what I did.

     One thing I am impressed with Goal Zero, they don't require that you buy their rechargeable batteries. All they say is to use the Nickel/Metal Hydride batteries which I have several sets of Energizer rechargeables and charged a set after the Goal Zero brand batteries with no issues. I don't know about you and your thoughts as a consumer, but I hate when I have to buy a companies products for exclusive use in their items. I think they added to their consumer value by thinking and marketing it this way.

 

 

     Well since this pretty much considered a controlled test as I am not on a trip in the woods or grunting the sounds of survivalism, when I do make a trip, I will take it with me and see how it performs in actual environments. Until next time, stay on course and clear minded, too many distractions in the world.

 

Senior

    

Oh, how time flies by

    As the title says, time has been flying by with work, baseball, and other things. Went up last week and checked on the SC property and things were good-to-go. I finally got the one claim against a major health care provider resolved with another one filing 10 days late, after the claim period ended, and the court allowed it to be valid since the estate was still open. If you could have seem me, I was pretty pissed and angry about the whole situation. Now, since both my parents are both gone now, I don't ever want to relive the nightmare I have had to deal with in getting an Estate settled and closed. I will be making trips over the next few weeks to finally close it all out. Handling Estates are easy, minus the IRS and MEDICARE. See folks, look forward to what we all will have to deal with in regards to a government who is broke and needs money and a health care system that has been turned upside-down for the sake of people who don't want to work nor pay for their health care. Thanks Dead-Beats!

    The 24th was the one year anniversary of my best friend and father passing away. This last Thursday was a tough day. If any of you have still have a mother or father that is still alive, make sure you spend as much time with them as possible, it will ease the pain when that day arrives. My father was always photogenic, and looking through the many years of pictures he always had a smile on his face. This was the last picture I took of him a week before he passed.

 

 

    Other things going on in my hectic life, well you know by now, BASEBALL. Today our semi-pro team for the Florida Marlins had a game and all of us loaded up and met some other kids and coachs from our team and had a day at the ball park. Before the game, the team held a free clinic for the kids and we all went on the filed and had a good time.

 

Little ND pitching


 

      Earlier this week I managed to score some .22 sub-sonic ammo. Hey, it shoots and will be great for some practice. I'm not happy about the prices, but I'm not driving all over in an attempt to find some.  

     One other purchase that I was in need of was a personal solar power charging system. Now I have a large solar panel to charge my battery on my camper, but I wanted something that is a proven system that I can put in my pack. I spoke with some other like minded people and I know Stephen has done a post about his, so I went with the Goal Zero Guide 10. The present time, I just wanted to get a basic set-up but I will be adding to what I have purchased.

 

   So there you have it, this has been my life in a nut-shell for the past few weeks. I'm sorry if I haven't posted much but like many of you, we all have things going on. Hope everyone has a great start to this next work week, and make sure you work very hard for all the dead-beats who don't want to work. Holy-Cow, it's Democratic Representative Charlie Rangel....... Kindof looks like some other blogger we all know.

 

 

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The doorbell rings and I smile.

Around 1830, the door bell rang, and I smile because I know what it is.

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