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SHANGRI-LA SUCKS

As last Friday was our observed holiday, I came in for almost two hours to do food pick-ups, then went into town for some shopping/water/trash etc. The normal weekend shtick. I just got an extra twelve hours out of the deal. So I was pretty relaxed and rested. More than the usual weekend. I’m sure that the average Mr. Suburbia spends his weekend mowing the lawn ( shooting putrid showers of partially dried dog feces into the neighbors yard if he is too busy to pick up after the ball-licker first ), yelling at the kids and scratching himself in front of the plasma screen ( Wood Flat Screen LCD/Plasma TV Stand Entertainment Center w/DVD & CD Storage + Stereo Component, Tivo/Cable Box, XBox, PS3, Wii Games Storage – Soft Cherry Finish ) watching a tax payer subsidized sports team. I usually don’t care to have my extra reading time interrupted with house maintenance projects. But I was so rested that I wanted to get out and do some manual labor. I had been pestering the thrift store people to give me the couch cushions on furniture going to the dump so I had anywhere from twelve to fifteen free slabs of poly foam insulation. I went ahead and insulated the pit ceiling. I got almost the whole area covered and those without material got the last of my irregular rigid foam boards. Now the legions of spiders will be a lot warmer.

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Then, very satisfied with my redneck Tim Taylor ( Home Improvement – The Complete First Season ) accomplishments, I went ahead and read the book “The End Of Wall Street” ( The End of Wall Street ) I had gotten from the library. If you love economics, you should like this book. If you just want to know a little about how the economy started sliding in 2007 due to the sub-prime mess, try to find the DVD from PBS covering it. The book is pretty heavy reading. And it is a bit apologetic towards the Federal Reserve Bank. I think they are manipulative monsters out to kill us all, this books author treated them as helpless and clueless minor players. About the only other complaint ( albeit minor ) I have is that he made it seem that the crisis is over now. If you are a Keynesian Puke that thinks FDR ( New Deal or Raw Deal?: How FDR’s Economic Legacy Has Damaged America ) was a god and that Obammy is firing green shoots out of his tan ass, this might be your assessment also. In purely financial terms, perhaps the federal government nationalizing all the investment bankers failures stopped the crisis. But if you side with me on thinking that the decline in energy ( whether from Peak Oil or simply the steady unstoppable import decline, it doesn’t matter economically ) is behind the spark that brought down the house of cards, you know we are no where close to resolving the mess.

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I was reading Creekmore this morning and noticed he is giving strong consideration to moving. Or, he has decided but not just where. I like Creekmore. He might go out of his way not to offend anyone, privately thinking we are all a bunch of mouth breathing asshats, which is rather gentlemanly of him. He won’t scream at you that the sky is falling and we are all going to die. But, hey, we all have our failures. I mainly like him because his example means I’m not the only crazy fool living in a trailer. Well, not the only crazy fool that writes a blog while living in a trailer, anyway. People say, Jim, you crazy bastard. You shouldn’t live in a tin box ( Travel-Trailer Homesteading Under 5,000 NEW 3rd Edition Revised and Updated ) in the middle of winter when it regularly stays in the teens while cloudy. Of course, I get all agitated and the only come back I have is to point at them with a trembling finger and spray saliva at them as I scream that Creekmore lives in a trailer too. That shuts them up because of course he is the one everyone reads and listens to, while with me they just try to calm me down, even if they don’t mean it. Anyway, I’m thinking about Creekmore (http://www.thesurvivalistblog.net/ ) moving and this gives me today’s idea for an article which is another reason I like the guy since he does most of my work for me.

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Your demigod Rawles ( How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It: Tactics, Techniques, and Technologies for Uncertain Times ) moved to Idaho fifteen years ago. And then had to move again ( although in the same area ) after being harassed by legions of fans. And that was just from people reading the early versions of his novel. I like the novel, up to about page 300 after which it takes a dive. But, come on! Who the hell likes an author so much they harass the guy? He’s writing another book, you douche. Don’t pester him. I’ve had one guy pester me, and he was just trying to be polite and buy me dinner while in town. Of course, I turned him down as it was unplanned, as I don’t like spontaneity at all. I think I offended him, and I felt bad about it. So that wasn’t even really a pestering as it was someone trying to draw me out of my shell and try to feed me. But, really, what does everyone expect? I’m annoying and ornery on screen as well as in person. Ask the wife. What I’m going to eventually get at is that I can’t relate to adoring fans, nor do I understand them. Next, we have myself, my beautiful self ( I got no feelings, for anyone else- ladies and gentlemen, the Sex Pistols [ Never Mind the Bollocks ]). While at the casino I got nervous after my savings account got to five grand. Good Lord! I better spend some of this before inflation eats it all. So I bought a lot in Elko, sight unseen. Four grand, marked down to $3,300 for cash. For Nevada, that is pretty cheap. And then had to buy another for commuting to work and a third combining the best of the other two lots ( paid off, close to town ). Then, there is Creekmore. Bought land in the area he grew up in. Had connections for handyman work ( not something you can do as a stranger moving in to town ). The land was paid for, and he had gardens and a creek and other good stuff. And things get bad enough he has to give up all those advantages.

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We all moved to Shangri-La ( Shangri-La ) and discovered it sucked. The best planning, the investment, and something happens later or something you didn’t foresee and suddenly your great survival plan takes a big crap. You have to move. Again. When you don’t plan on moving from the city until the economy dies or missiles are launched, or whatever, what happens if your destination turns out to be a place that develops a problem? Here were three guys that, to be modest, knew a hell of a lot more than the average Joe regarding prepping, and their initial retreat proved unliveable in one way or another. In their case, outside forces conspired against them. In my case, a bit of bad planning ( unknown to myself, winter lasts six months here, not three, and snow on the road made my potential commute from the first lot unrealistic ) plus a bit of outside “help” ( Florida deciding I needed to pay another two years on my now adult child screwed my financial plans ). If you are smarter and have better luck than us, fine. Don’t move to your retreat until it’s too late to change your mind. Otherwise, take a lesson from this.
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My e-mail is jimd303@netzero.com
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Anyone can submit a guest article. No minimum word length, no writing skill necessary ( just get the idea across ). You retain copyright ( this must be your original writing ) and I’ll just use the once. I’ve yet to turn down an article, just don’t use the N Bomb or libel another that can sue me. Send by e-mail. Payment will be your removal from my enemies list.
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