There has been some advancing and some marching in place for me as of late---

Advancements include:

Almost being able to touch my goal of 30 days of long duration stored  food.

Producing and storing free power from my solar panels------&

The gardens are pretty much all in with as wide a variety of produce possible thanks to my garden goddess wife-- the brains of our urban farming plan.

Last but not least we are a farmers market vendor come July opening day.

Marching in place problems include:

My 110 inverter does not seem to want to provide power to plugged in appliances so I'll have to work on that issue to actually use the power I'm producing and storing.

My vacation did not prevent my grumbling desire to be retired.

Most of all I am still very, very concerned about the state of our society and am becoming more and more of a doomer with every day that passes.

As I've stated in previous blogs working on personal independence as a doomer has really no down side...there are nothing but ups in so far as an investment, since everything one works at can be utilized in a day to day normal life style----my problem is that as time goes on the concept that we are fucked becomes more and more apparent to me. That we Americans are now incapable of technologically swimming out of this swamp that the past 60 years of elitist ruling class leadership has dumped us in.....this i must admit, marks a major change in my personal thought process's and daily mental state. 

Read this from Scientific American for a long term look at what some of our problems are completely outside of the current economic meltdown:

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=civilization-food-shortages

Despite how i feel i am still driving on with a personal agenda of what individuals should do, restructuring how i work within my groups of my town and my work towards a better, smaller, more noble lifestyle----when it all goes away----because as each day goes by i am more and more convinced whatever we think this is that we have built ------- it is going to go away---

i got snuck up on with the tax increase on cigarettes.  I didn't see that one coming for some reason.

Please don't  misunderstand---I'm not some irrational teabagger---higher taxes are going to be required on EVERYTHING very soon and unfortunately cigarettes have borne the tax brunt for a long time---- this new addition to tax per pack just pushed the per pack cost over the edge of reason...(i am always awaiting the lard-ass tax to balance things out but.....) 

The fourfold increase in the cost of a cigarette, from already insane heights, immediately pushed my survivalistic, tin foil covered head into uproar status---regarding these insane costs and possible supply disruptions..... i am now in the process of stocking up on loose tobacco and rolling papers---tobacco i determined absolutely must be the next self-sufficiency storage project.  My first order for roll your own smoke supplies is in today and as time goes by I'm sure that our vacuum sealer machine will be getting a work out securing future cigarette supplies that will become necessary as a hedge against our cultures, seemingly bizarre future.

http://www.wikihow.com/Roll-a-Cigarette

I realize i can't project every possible need for my Urban Homestead----but i should have been ahead of the game on the cigarette tax issue and am disappointed in myself.

After all my doom and gloom i do not believe i tried to find an  inspiring way to close this so i settled on the inscription on the Georgia Guide stones:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Guidestones

maintain humanity under 500,000,000

in perpetual balance with nature.

Guide reproduction wisely improving fitness and diversity.

Unite Humanity with a living new language.

Rule passion-faith-tradition and all things with tempered reason.

Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.

Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.

Avoid petty laws and useless officials.

Balance personal rights with social duties.

Prize truth-beauty-love-seeking harmony with the infinite.

Be not a cancer on the earth

leave room for nature

leave room for nature

take care

warren

In two weeks  I'll be business traveling again on a couple of trips out of town--at the hands of the sadist air carrier community. I absolutely despise traveling by air today. It is the perfect storm example of what is wrong with our country---but i cannot be rid of this requirement unless i retire-which of course would be stupid under the country's present economic circumstances...i did take a couple of days off prior to traveling to hermit up and get my head right next week prior to hacking my way through the air travel system...tonight my wife and I are going to the local farmer's market seller's pot luck dinner and organizing function....i love being involved in the farmers market because to me a farmers market is community socialism in action...it is us taking care of us....as usual I'm writing, reading, computing, gardening, and philosophizing...not necessarily in that order. 

This week's bizzaro item is the conservative teabaggers...when the conservative political element of this country protests publicly they should all wear t-shirts emblazoned  "I'M WITH STUPID" above arrows pointing in all directions....it is as if all the crazed Cat Lady's in the US and every citizen's insane Uncle Fred go out in public on a pre-arranged day holding signs----the best part was the signs held aloft---it was----a smorgasbord of weirdness---attached by a stick to wrinkles, bad sportswear and the inability to think independently----the funny part is that if the folks holding the no socialism signs were hit by a car---they'd be instantly bankrupt by medical care costs---but lets not let realism get in the way of a chance to wear my American flag sweatshirt---

With all my smoking deviousness, taxes have finally caught up with me---the cost of cigarettes has just exploded...a leap of 5 times the already insane cost---due to new federal taxes----my personal strangeness within this situation----is that i am not outraged as if i was some kind of trailer trash republican teabagger...i am actually calm and resigned to the issue-----We as a culture need the cash to address specific, expensive problems within our society and as always raising the tax on cigarettes is the most popular place to start---this is the way it works now---and soon everyone's, favorite little sin, will get whacked---higher booze taxes for drinkers, higher electricity taxes, higher gasoline taxes and without a doubt a new FAT TAX on fat folks---so i am philosophical on the issue---i am cutting way,way back on consumption and stockpiling cigarettes---at the same time looking for supplies for hand rolling my own---this is just pretty much a verification of my belief in where American society and culture is going---back to the dark ages--luckily i am better prepared than the majority of Americans for it...i am,however,somewhat pissed at myself for not seeing this coming and laying in a stockpile of cigarettes in advance---i was focused on stockpiling food first, which is the correct thing to do i guess.   

Back to work i am, carry on eh? Let's play catch up on some of my the items I've been experimenting with...I received my mimo monitor and it is most excellent! Still learning it and right at the moment i have it set up as a mirror to my xps laptop screen but it is extremely clear and very,very bright...i am very pleased with it ....i received my predator and Shaun of the dead action figures and they are observing as i write this...I downloaded Google Chrome and just started using it this evening and i think i like it but i am strange with new things and will just have to hang out with it for awhile---the blog is different because it appears as if the Chrome download changed my blogger operational controls all about. Please forgive my change in formatting....

I have now a, fully charged by the sun, Huge Battery in my solar shed--awaiting what i decide to do next---I'll probably go guerrilla solar----

http://worldwatts.com/gadgets/Guerilla%20solar/----for right now---we are still pondering, and planning a greenhouse investigating options---and i placed my final order completing my goal of a month's worth of MRE's on hand...it is not enough to cover forever, but it's enough to give us time to work out the how of getting food in the upcoming funky times... 

alright that's it for now---take care of yourself and others around you---stockpile essentials---plant flowers for yourself---and for your neighbors...

warren

I am creating my own power---my main bank of 4 solar panels are producing and this power is being transmitted to and stored in my newly obtained gigantic gel battery! I've struggled working out the how of solar power with my patched together, on the cheap, Chinese system.... but adding a decent battery in line was the necessary, missing element....IT WORKS....it will take 3-4 days of charging by the system before the battery is capable of providing free-sun-stored power on demand...

The 5Th element in all this is the way i am---the way i am feeling about generating electrical power--generating your own power makes you actually feel powerful....seriously....it is no wonder to me that many corporations have actively blocked, or lobbied against solar power---producing your own power and food prevents we as individuals from being held as wage slaves...Think about it for just one moment....If we used our minds and our earnings on the technology and the methodology to set us free as workers --- zero debt, universal health care, housing self-sufficient in power and water, low cost electric/public transport/bicycles---then our societal demand cycle would be smaller and that demand would be for higher quality goods and services---this could mean we would work when we wanted or needed to--based on our demands and needs---not those of corporate ownership---not to just keep our heads above water economically or to make the corporate leadership fatter----as labor becomes more valuable due to scarcity, we would have to be paid at a higher level for our work, and work in a better environment, they would be competing for us---not the other way around----of course, type A personalities or other mental deficient's would still fall victim to the "you must buy this, you must, you must get ahead, you must have this syndrome" but those persons, destined from birth to be weird would be the only victims of what we all experience now...we are controlled, enslaved by the designed in leverage of being two paychecks away from disaster.

Regardless of where you live, rural or urban, if we were to live within our means, garden the majority of our own food, manufacture our own power, grow our own marijuana, work when we needed to or wanted to...what a life we could have...

--i apologize--it is just as I've aged i understand more of where i/we/me have fallen off the pathway...this is not a bitter thing, it is more of an AHA! moment--of what we could do to easily change our daily world..i was willingly stupid for all of my young years---I simply do not wish to spend my end years in awash in more of the same wage slave system. I am just trying to voice thoughts I have had for years....even tho so many people i know at work laugh at me and my "socialist" ways...

I have been experiencing this action figure jonesing--something that just came over me with no explanation...I currently have a Predator action figure in route and last night i ordered a Shaun of the Dead action figure!

Shaun of the Dead is one of my all time favorite movies--it's a movie i watch when i want to see something but nothing i can think of appeals to me--Shaun always appeals---I couldn't believe there was an action figure available---when i saw it in the window i just had to have it for the nerd cave...."need anything from the shop?" Researching action figures as a whole I found the Toy and Action Figure Museum--here's a link--it looks like fun...

http://www.actionfiguremuseum.com/main_page.htm

Below is a link to the British "Independent" newspaper with a very interesting, very scary, article on the economic meltdown that is occurring in Dubai.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html

Followed by an article advising the best thing for the average American to is to screw off our credit card repayments and instead build up a reserve cash fund to see us through the tougher times ahead.

http://biz.yahoo.com/usnews/090403/03_suze_orman_and_the_new_rules_of_credit_card_debt.html?.&.pf=banking-budgeting

Aren't we stupid---look at what we do to public transport that we actually have that's working---

http://www.11alive.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=128771&catid=40

Someday-Someday we will smarten up----

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1884956,00.html

I've been off work this week, i got a ton of stuff done but this time off allowed me to think and write more than i usually do and I've enjoyed it---above all else keep on being as self-sufficient as possible... enjoy yourself and those around you...

I took a week off---there are times when after 44 years of working officially, i just can't stand it anymore--literally--can't stand it. So i took a week off--in order to keep myself working---i had to take time off...of curse i had a to do list..and part of that list was---

Shoveling horse shit for the gardens--for two full days--I'm from New Jersey--sometimes cops are on horses--that's about my horse experience--shoveling two trailer loads of horse crap has been an interesting new experience to say the least...the thing about New Mexico is that a shovel full of anything usually blows away, usually on you (because of the wind) usually before you can blink---so I've spent the past few days literally covered in shit. I guess that means that i am now an organic old dude.

My huge,new gel battery for the solar panels came in and the next step is trying to hook things up so that everything works properly...and so on and so forth...I'm just enjoying owning my own self for 5 days and getting stuff done..

We as a nation are finally cool---we had an all too brief cool segment with President Kennedy and Jackie but it was a small island of cool----surrounded by 58 years of gray suited old guy, with squinty eyed, cheated on wifey, in power because they were "safe". I am so hoping we perhaps have grown up.
Things can have such an unacknowledged impact on me....

50 years ago next week---Fidel Castro, and some of his crew came to New York City---(Che wasn't allowed in)--for meetings and to speak at the UN...yes they did--

I've just never been right and my 8 year old reaction to their visit proves it.

---i was living just outside of New York... surrounded by ultra conservative, know-nothing adults---who instantly despised anything that could possibly upset their version of the world which meant they especially hated these guys---I was alone in my 8 year old world being simply awestruck at the news reports of the Revolutionaries...they were beyond cool...to me they were rock stars--I remember seeing pictures of them in the NYC papers. They were long-haired, bearded, (unbelievable!) dressed in green combat fatigues with black berets, wearing pistol belts and combat boots--smoking cigars---not only smoking cigars but....smoking cigars with their combat boots up on the furniture at the Plaza Hotel---THE PLAZA!! They were so different from anything i had every seen or known--these guys just seemed to have their own way, their own thing happening---plus from what i could tell in my little brain, they owned their own county? I did have this child brainpan vapor lock thing going on---guys who owned countries didn't look or act like these guys---the guys who owned our country were fat--had no hair at all--and wore plain gray suits with ties--

50 years later and i still remember this visit and I'm still different..

It is so strange that at this late stage in my life that I've gotten into action figures. Go figure---3rd childhood maybe? Action Figures, Robots, Anime

But so far I've developed a bizarre collection based only on characters which I'm focused on as within my weirdness---Hellboy--Einstein---Batman--and Ghandi----to add to this weirdness i recently ordered a Predator--so it's Einstein vs. Predator...E.v.P...so to say----at any rate I've discovered that ordering the odd action figure and having my favorite characters hanging about my nerd cave pleases me...and sometime that's enough...

This week the catastrophic results of wall street banker greed and republican toady stupidity wormed it's way into my personal world---12 of our employee's have to go---(classified as temporary---we permanent status employee's are safe this time around)---Our UPS guy said they laid off 26 employee's at our local UPS depot when we were talking yesterday...GM's actually going to go bankrupt, there's really no way around it---we do absolutely need to start calling this situation we are in, what it is, it's a depression... Things are going to get very difficult soon....realize it....

For the first time in 8 years I felt proud of my President----thank God for Obama---what a difference--having a stylish, savvy, intelligent President and first Lady represent our country at the G20 conference---the entire world loves them--and therefore may forgive us for the recent past---your electing the fear mongering,torturing, redneck Bush-Cheney--maybe they will, at least i hope they will forgive us---speaking of rednecks:
the 2012 hope of the republican party---Sarah Palin--- well her sister-in-law broke into a strangers home in Alaska, twice by the way, and stole $400.00. She's in jail at the moment....no way of knowing if this is the meth dealing sister-in-law in law or different one---I just shudder to think of what could have been---what a total dipshit gene pool going on there.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/04/03/Gov-Palins-sister-in-law-arrested/UPI-92021238805027/

I spent this morning shoveling shit--(pony shit--mixed with digested hay to be precise)---a small trailer filled to the brim with it--the gardens love it, the smell made me feel as if i was working for the circus---but nonetheless we were the envy of other nearby gardeners---it appears as if gardening seeds are getting more difficult to obtain--perhaps it's just my observation but there are more and more seed items sold out on gardening websites....we are researching and considering buying a green house kit---my wife's a little hesitant about it--since a good one is somewhat expensive around $3000.00--but as far as I'm concerned having a greenhouse right now is a better investment than having money in the bank--the US banks philosophically suck, i do not wish to support them in any manner and the return on savings is nothing---we'll have to see how we go with this but i want one...

Items I have recently purchased include:

A big--i mean a really big----gel battery specifically designed for solar panel systems....i am hoping that this larger battery specifically designed for a solar power system will be the missing link in my home power set-up...panels ---to regulator--to battery--to inverter...i hope? I just ordered a small secondary monitor for use by either my laptop or my netbook. Manufactured by MIMO---powered by the USB ports this little, rotating, rascal will give me dual monitors anytime--any place--i want one-I'd been thinking about one of these for a long time and finally decided to purchase----in the ongoing saga of emergency food i just received my order of another case of 12 MRE's for the home emergency supply depot---I'm nowhere near the month's worth of emergency food i am demanding to have on hand so the hunt for reasonably priced MRE's continues.

During my continuous web hunt for useful self-reliant concepts to fight the possible effects of our economic depression---- i discovered an entire sub-genre of humans and their machines which were new to me--- Rat-Bikers....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_bike

What really interests me is a sub-genre within a sub-genre the individuals that combine Rat biking with survivalism...sort of a Road Warrior--zombie fighter technology and mentality combined on two wheels. This may actually may be a worthwhile philosophy to pursue---Orlov does advise in his book "Reinventing Collapse" that migratory groups may stand the best chance of success when society falls--please understand that there is no way i am switching from urban self-reliance to rat biking as a methodology---I'm too old for it---but as a concept i enjoy it and will gladly steal any useful concepts from the genre. Plus it's just way cool---run a search on rat bikes and you will find the concept of combining art, motorcycling, and survivalism interesting---if i was 20 again ratbiking would be definitely a way for me...

I do not want to work anymore--but i am 4-5 years from retirement...it is a struggle everyday without exception.

I wish the economy would either repair itself or collapse--I'm tired of being in the dazed and confused middle ground...

I love working on my house and being left alone...

I want to have cats again...i miss having a cat....

I hate it when i get something organizd and turn around to find it not so two days later...