My latest read on the Kindle...

Well I finished Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse -- by James Wesley, Rawles from Ulysses Press (for a link you can look at my Twitter feed on the right-hand side of the blog)

Let me start off by saying it was a great read, loved the book. Good storytelling, good character development, although in one of the early chapters a couple of interesting characters were brought in. Very interesting background, I was excited to see were they were going to fit in the story... They were not mentioned again till the finial few chapters, and then it was almost just an afterthought appearance to finish the story.

But with all that said. I still enjoyed it. Now for the actual subject matter. The book follows the main character from the prepping for a disaster, through a social-economic crunch of what first appeared as a world-wide event, later on it sounded like only an American event (the UN fighting to take over the US, importing troops from around Europe, if they were as badly impacted as the US they also would not be able to mobilize.) But again that didn't bother me. Still a good book. What bothered me, from a prepping stand point was the over militarized group the book was about. This group in a real life setting would be .1% of the population. For starters you have a group that mostly make over 100K ten years out of college. They highly educated, attempting to be self-reliant. Yet they do not have a reliable PV solar battery charging station, and instead have to use a hand-crank generator to charge small electronics. While the group installed an underground 1k gallon storage tank for diesel and Gas, they did not have propane appliances. While they were able to build claymors and thermite grenades they could not impede vehicle traffic to their location.
Now this post is not a sideline second guess on the plot or anything, just an honest review of a good read, from my point of view.

I will start the second book (Survivors) sometime this weekend, in the hopes that it will be a little more down to earth. My biggest hopes is that it have the same quality of characters and character development.

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My insanity on display www.pioneeringaz.blogspot.com

After dinner treat...

A shot of D3 Dark Rum (Want to learn more about D3? See my links below, they are a local distillery specializing in rums), a Coke, and a Hershey's bar! That's what I call a good afternoon!

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My insanity on display www.pioneeringaz.blogspot.com

Food porn!

Something I usually post on Facebook, but today I thought I would post it here. I wanted to do something nice for the wife, and wanted too show how much she means to me, so after work I went and picked up some chicken, bacon, beans and rice, and cilantro to make dinner. I also saw a cute yellow flower to take home also! I'm so not sleeping with the dogs tonight!

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My insanity on display www.pioneeringaz.blogspot.com

Couple of good Blog posts

Over on my "Jatico Shared" thingy, You'll see a couple new blog posts I shared from Google Reader, the first is from MDR (Modern Day Redneck) and the second is from I Wish on Shooting Stars (which is MDR's oldest daughter) A couple of great posts on the need to be prepared, I don't want to give too much away, I just would like to give everyone a heads up and take a read if they can... Now back to work!

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My insanity on display www.pioneeringaz.blogspot.com

Another wall completed...

Couple more days off and the outside will be 100% sealed! Just in time for another heat wave. I hope this wall doesn't dry too quickly, I'm afraid if it does, that it will crack. The wall we did last week turned out good with only a few cracks. I'm sure the heat had something to do about that. This time I'm going to try and keep it sprayed with water, so it doesn't dry too fast. We just needed to get the outside done before it starts to freeze. I'm sure freezing would do a number on it while its still wet. We're also doing a little more rustic job on the back, no one is going to be outback to see it up close, so I see no reason to spend too much time making it look finished and polished. That should also speed up the process on the big wall in the back. Looking forward there are a few large gaps between logs were a little creativity will be in order, to get it sealed and looking right.

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My insanity on display www.pioneeringaz.blogspot.com

End of day...

Just before dinner on a nice relaxing day, we hear a blood curdling scream for "mommy and daddy". Our little one was cruising down the driveway, probably close to 20 mph and wiped out! She hit so hard she broke one of the pedals in half! So cool... Well not for her, she has a bad case of road-rash on her cheek and chin. Both hands. Across her chest (tank tops are worthless!) and her stomach. She also has a big bruise on her thigh from what I assume was a handle bar. All in all though she escaped a pretty serious accident with minor scraps and bruises.

Well an hour later, she's all cleaned up, calmed down, and ready for dinner. Such a fun night.

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My insanity on display www.pioneeringaz.blogspot.com

Taking some time to decompress

It's been crazy busy at work this past week. The whole month at the big orange is dedicated to our cashiers, with a Gold Cup contest on theme, decoration and costumes. Then we have a contest in the store to see who is the best at speed and accuracy. We also have a couple of games like a scavenger hunt where they have ten minutes to find and gather a dozen items from the store... Sounds like fun huh? Did I mention we had to do all this in the same week? Add to that me fighting some kinda funk the past week and I'm beat!
So beat in fact that I stayed home today. Not sure if it was the 20 hr day yesterday, or the lack of sleep the past two, or the pizza and fudge I had last night before bed, but I feel like the bottom of someone's boot going through a steamy pile of road apples... So I took the day off work, curled up in a comfy chair and read... That was until I was asked to help little one with a science project for school. Today she is learning about matter. So we took a little walk to a canyon on the property, and went rock hunting. We found some iron, quartz, sandstone, some small jars for air and water, and put them in a box. Sounds like fun huh.
Well, she had fun learning what matter is and that is what really is important... Now back to my comfy chair and get back to my book. I am feeling a little better, the nice 12 hr sleep last night did the most help I'm sure. Not to mention the homemade soup the wife made...

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My insanity on display www.pioneeringaz.blogspot.com