Thursday, December 22, 2011

The power of words

One of my favorite examples of someone standing up to the machine is when Jim Morrison and the Doors sang on the ed sullivan show. Jim Morrison was asked to not say “higher” when singing “Light my fire” on the ed sullivan show.

Its amazing how people get so offended by a “word”. But then again, words have power. If words can be controlled, then whoever controls the words has the power.

The the people are told we can and can not say certain things (besides foul language), by following those rules we make ourselves sub-servant to whoever said we can not say certain things.

Free people can not allow themselves to be silenced. When free people agree to be silenced, we are no longer free, but instead, we are servants.

As free people it is our duty to stand up and speak, and speak we must for it is our duty.

Freedoms and duties go hand in had together, one can not exist without the other. If free people ignore their duties, they will slowly lose their freedoms.

If free people want to lose the things they hold dear, all they have to do is sit down, be quit, and do nothing. Those that lust for power will slowly erode the rights of those that are quit.

Copyright Kevin Felts 2011

The future of the US

For those of you that have not been paying attention and voting for the same two parties over and over, I blame you for what you are about to read. The two party system will be the downfall of the US, and I directly blame the voters.

My personal opinion, its just a matter of time before protest become violent.

I think there will be 2 driving factors, maybe 3 factors – Cost of living, Unemployment rates and maybe Inflation.

Cost of living – with free trade the US is having to compete against countries that allow their citizens to be exploited by large international companies. Why have a part built in the US, have to pay a liveable wage, pay taxes, pay benefits such as health insurance, sick days and vacation, when the company can move to communist china and get workers at almost slave labor wages. The higher the unemployment rate, the lower the wages, that is just the way things work.

As wages continue to stagnate, the cost of everything else continues to go up. Some refried beans my wife and I buy to make homemade burritos with went up 8 cents a couple of weeks ago. 8 cents might not seem like a lot, but when the can cost $1, that is an 8% increase. The average rate of inflation is around 3%. That means 8% is almost 3 times the rate of inflation.

The cost of basic items, such as food is going up at a steady rate. Ground meat – ground round is $2.25 a pound, ground lean is around $4 a pound. My wife fixed some homemade tacos a few days ago, and it cost us almost $10.

Unemployment rates – the factories are gone, they are not coming back, get used to it. bill clinton did a flip-flop on NAFTA and GATT, so regardless of which of the 2 major parties you vote for, you vote for a group of liars.

If you want our factories back from china, then vote like it. The only solution is to vote the two major parties out of office, and to do that, people have to vote differently. Elections have been worthless for the last 2 decades because congress keeps passing the same types of laws. Sooner or later the vast majority of people are going to lose all hope.

Inflation – with the federal reserve printing money out of thin air, who knows where inflation is going to go. The US dollar is backed by very little physical property. Unlike the gold standard where the value of our money was backed by gold, the current dollar is not backed by anything.

The cost of basic items, such as food is going up at a steady rate. Ground meat – ground round is $2.25 a pound, ground lean is around $4 a pound. My wife fixed some homemade tacos a few days ago, and it cost us almost $10.

People with no hope – are likely to turn to violence. When the people can not longer afford to buy food, pay their electric bill, buy gas to go back and forth to work, people are going to be pushed to where they think they have no other option but violence.

The people that have no hope are the same people that vote for the same political party year after year and hope for change. If you want real change, stop voting for the democrats and republicans and vote for another party.

The US government knows that civil unrest is on the way, that is why bills such as the Indefinite Detention Bill. What government that respects the will of the people would want to hold its citizens without a trial? The US federal government is out of control, and the voters are to blame. If you want real change, then vote like it and vote for someone besides the big 2 parties.

Copyright Kevin Felts 2011

Stockpiling survival gear in 2012

As 2012 approaches, some of us might be thinking about news years resolutions. Along with the typical lose weight and stop smoking resolutions, I would like everyone to post suggestions related to how prepared you and your family are. Where do you need to make improvements. On top of your own preps, what do you family members need to do to improve?

For example, my step-daughters have no can rotation system setup. I thought about buying them some wire racks and then help them get some kind of system going to help them keep their can goods rotated.

In 2011 I tried to focus on fishing supplies, getting a can rotation system working, stockpiling #10 cans and storing food in mylar bags.

Stockpiling food:

Right now 3 superpails are taking up an entire bottom shelf of my shelving system.

I have 2 shelf units installed, on the bottom shelf I have:

3 super pails on the bottom shelf of one unit

Up to 108 cans on the bottom shelf of one unit

I would like a better way to store my superpails. But where do things balance out? Do 3 five gallon superpails equal 108 cans? Would I be better off storing the superpails in a closet and storing 216 cans on the bottom on the shelving units?

This video is how my shelves looked in October 2011. In the past few months there have been several changes made.



Fishing Gear:

I would think to throw a special thank you out to the person who sent me a box of fishing gear. The person asked to remain unnamed, you know who you are, and Thank You.

Some of the stuff I have been stockpiling are trotlines, droplines (noodles), hooks, fishing line, weights,,, and so on. During the spring of 2011 I tried to buy a bunch of perch fishing stuff - small hooks and weights. I was hoping to take the grandkids and my kids fishing this past summer, and we went a few times.

In the summer of 2011 I ran a couple of trotlines and went fishing out on the Angelina river a few times. When June, July and August rolled around the weather got too hot to do anything outdoors. This summer was one of the hottest and driest on record here in Southeast Texas, and for Texas as a whole. Due to the extreme heat, I tried to limit my outdoor activities. The day time temps would hit 100 degrees before noon in July and August. With heat like that, being out on the boat fishing felt like being in an oven.



Plans for 2012

Some of the things I want to do in 2012 include reviewing my seed stockpile, buy a pressure cooker, plant a small garden in my backyard. Even if I do not plant a garden, I would like to buy beans or peas from the local farmers co-op. Then use the pressure cooker to store the beans and peas. Local farmers co-op is a great way to meet up with local farmers. Ask them what kind of crops they are growing, what kind of pesticide and fertilizer works best for what types of crops.

One of the things I really hope to do in 2012 is to plant a bunch of snap beans, and use a pressure cooker to store them in jars.

I would also like to make a homemade stew with a pressure cooker.

The ammunition at the camp needs to be stored in ammo boxes instead of just sitting on the shelf.

I would like to order a sardine can of 223 or 308.

One of the main things I wan to work on in 2012 is preserving my own food. Maybe even try to make jerky with my pit, which would be a good weekend project.

All right people, post your ideas, opinions, thoughts in this forum thread about prepping in 2012.

Catfish noodles

In this article we are going to be looking at making noodles to catch catfish. This type of rig may not be legal in all areas, so check the local laws before you do anything.

Buy some noodles from the local china-mart. The noodles might be seasonal, and should be found in the swimming pool supplies. So far I have only found the noodles in 2 colors – blue and pink.

Cut noodle into 8 inch lengths

Get some 3/4 inch PVC pipe, caps and some PVC glue

Cut PCV pipe into 9 1/2 – 9 3/4 inch long sections. 9 3/4 seems to work better then 9 1/2.

Glue cap on 1 end of pipe

Insert PVC pipe into noodle until cap comes into contact with noodle

Drill a 1/4 – 5/16 inch hole in the end of the pipe sticking out past the end of the PVC pipe



Wrap the outside of the noodle with whatever color duct tape state law requires the noodle to be. Since I live in Texas, the noodle must be white, so I wrapped the noodle in white duct tape.

Texas state law also requires that I write a date, my name and my address on the noodle. Just for something extra, I also write my phone number. Just in case I lose a noodle, I hope the person who finds it calls me and lets me know if there was a fish on the line.

After making up 6 noodles with PVC pipe, I think a good length is to cut the pipe 1.75 inches longer then the noodle. If the noodle measures 8 inches long, cut the pipe 9 3/4 inches long. This gives you 3/4 inch to glue the cap on, and 1 inch to protrude out of the noodle.

I was using just a noodle for my drop lines. While I was at the deer camp a few weeks ago a guy told me about using PVC, so I decided to make a few up and see how they do.

In theory, when the catfish pulls on the line, the noodle is supposed to stand up. Hopefully this will make the noodle easier to grab from the boat.

For the hooks, I plan on using Circle Hooks.

Circle hooks have a bend at the end of the hook. In theory, if the fish swallows the hook, its supposed to come back out out of the stomach and hook the fish in the mouth. As opposed to the typical j-hook getting stuck in the stomach of the fish and injuring the fish.

Instead of tying the string to the hook or noodles, I tie a loop knot on both ends of the string. Insert the loop through the hole in the PVC pipe, thread the other end of the string through the loop, and then pull tight.

Do the same thing to the hook. Thread the loop through the eye of the hook, loop the end of the knot over the hook and pull.

When you are finished, it should be just about impossible for the knots to work their way loose.

One set of circle hooks I am using, the eye of the hook is too small for the large trot line string to go through it. For this noodle, I added a 70 pound safety snap and swivel.

Post your comments in this forum thread about How to make noodles to catch catfish.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Friday and saturday

Friday evening:

Spent a couple of hours friday charging the battery to the boat, after a few tries the boat finally cranked up.

Got on the treadmill for an hour friday night:
10 minutes treadmill
10 pushups
5 minutes treadmill
10 pushups
5 minutse treadmill
15 pushups
5 minutes treadmill
15 pushups
5 minute treadmill
15 pushups

repeat for 1 hour

Saturday Morning

Got up, got my shower, getting ready to pack the gear up and head out on the boat

Friday, February 25, 2011

Good weekend coming up

Looks like this is going to be a good weekend - weather is supposed to be nice, gonna get a haircut, and maybe even go to a movie with my wife.

This evening when I get home from work the boat needs to be uncovered, battery charged, and gas cans filled up. Saturday morning my wife and I are supposed to head out to the Angelina River to do some exploring, fishing and take some nature pictures.

Either Saturday evening or Sunday, we are supposed to go see "The Eagle", which is showing at the Jasper Twin Cinema.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

First signs of spring are here

It looks like the first signs of spring are here. The wind is more out of the south then out of the north, the song birds are back, the first blooms are starting to appear, and the days are getting longer. Old man winter is losing his grip.

Before long it will be time to plant the garden, go camping, hiking, and go fishing on the river. Getting back out on the boat is one of the main things I'am looking forward to - taking my kids fishing and camping and my wife and I going fishing.

Last summer my son and I went on 3 camping trips along the river, hopefully we will do at least that many this year, if not more.