[TJ]

“I said, `Jill, if there's ever a problem, just walk out on the balcony … take that double-barrel shotgun and fire two blasts outside the house,”‘

“You don't need an AR-15. It's harder to aim, it's harder to use and in fact, you don't need 30 rounds to protect yourself.”

I won’t mention who gave this advice since I don’t want to get into politics and I have seen politicians of all political stripes give horrible self defense advice. But the above quote is certainly way up there on the bad advice scale. Along with being wrong on so many levels – especially choosing a firearm with extremely limited capacity and then letting the criminals know you have emptied it and are now defenseless – the advised actions break several laws and put innocent neighbors at risk.

[TJ]

I have a closet with a pair of bifold doors in my office and have a machete mounted on the inside of one of them. The closet is too full of stuff for anyone to get into and you can’t see the machete when the door is open but it is easy to reach around and get a hold of.

This makes for quick access if I hear something happening elsewhere in the house but can’t get to one of my firearms in time. It also could provide access to a weapon if I was ever forced to show a criminal where some of my valuables are. They would be fairly distracted looking at all the boxes and other stuff in that closet and I might get an opening.

[TJ]

I keep a few pounds of beans and rice in my work vehicle because it doesn’t take up much space, has a good amount of calories and is great for mixing in with other fresh items when camping. I also usually have a week’s worth of various other food items in there as well.

But in my get home bag I just keep some emergency food bars. They last a long time and don’t taste so great so I won’t eat them in a non emergency situation if I get the munchies. I will most likely be using that bag to hoof it home as quickly as possible in an emergency and don’t want to have to spend extra time cooking.

[TJ]

I’m stuck working in the desert on a construction project this Halloween so my costume consists of a hard hat and vest. I won’t be winning any contests this year;)

[TJ]

My magic 8 ball keeps answering “ask again later” on this one. I suspect the odds are low at the moment but if Putin continues to get pushed further in the corner with the increasing arms support being given to Ukraine and decreasing support from the Russian population then anything might be possible.

It sounds like the Russians have been expanding shelter capacity for their civilian population over the past couple decades. As far as I can tell the US has put little to no effort into protecting civilians. If things go haywire Putin just might decide that he can come out ahead in a worse case scenario. He will at least have access to a much larger workforce to put things back together once the radioactive clouds clear.

[TJ]

Glad to hear that the storm is sliding by you Jeff! Looks like the people directly in its path are getting pummeled. There are likely to be a lot of painfully learned lessons to draw from this event.

[TJ]

Hi David, thanks for that info. I agree that not being with the rest of our family when things go wrong is an important topic. It is a prime concern of mine. Now that I’m back on my feet again I’m also back to working out of town for a week or two per month. I drive to my work areas so don’t have to rely on the airlines to get me home but can still be anywhere from 2 to 6 hours away if a sudden emergency came up.

The one advantage I have is that I know my neighbors well and can trust them to keep an eye on my family till I can get home.

[TJ]

I’m not a big fan of being EMFed and having my 4A rights violated every time I go to the airport. Will be even less of a fan if I have to do it every time I want to buy some groceries.

Feels more and more like we are living in a prison with the anti self defense crowd trying to watch and control our every move.

[TJ]

My fall is looking pretty busy now that I’m mostly back up and running from last years medical event. Gotta squeeze some extra field work in to rebuild the depleted bank account. I’m also busy rebuilding all my lost muscle with some lifting and martial arts sessions and I need to retrain all these new muscles how to shoot fast and accurately again.

But will also be doing the usual hikes and bikes with the family and hope to squeeze in a nice weekend camping trip or two as well.

[TJ]

There is a whole lot of information here to pour through and absorb!

The hard part for me is choosing which lessons to focus on first and making sure I take the time to solidify them before jumping into the next topic.

I don’t know if Jeff has everything precisely planned out enough in advance to etch it all in stone on a calendar? I just keep an eye out for the emails announcing what is coming up and poke around here to make sure I haven’t missed anything new.

[TJ]

I like the idea of combining the sheath with the magnet since I have a young son who is always climbing and crawling around the house. I can’t quite picture exactly how you are connecting the sheath to the magnet from your description but I’m sure I can figure it out.

Since I only have 1 quick access handgun safe in each floor of my house I’ve been trying to make sure I have some alternative options in the other rooms in case I can’t get to the safe. Thanks for the idea Buck and Richard!

[TJ]

Most of the lock picking tools I see advertised look really cheap and flimsy. I haven’t been able to find anything like the set I got a long time ago that were nice and small but fairly sturdy. It only took me a little practice to learn to open cheap padlocks and the cheap Kwikset home lock that was on my old cabin. I hear that Schlage locks are more difficult to pick but have never tried. It seems that most home break ins are smash and grabs if they can’t find an open window or door. Guess many criminals would rather risk making a little noise than taking the extra time to pick a lock. A good alarm system or loud dog is probably a good investment.

[TJ]

I don’t think the card method will work on the dead bolts on my doors. I used to be pretty decent with a lock pick. Many years ago I worked in an area that was publicly owned open range but some of the nearby locals would put locks on the gates to keep trouble makers away. I preferred to pick the locks when I could instead of cutting them. Unfortunately I lost my picks somewhere along the way and haven’t found a new set I like. I have a spare key basically built into an exterior wall of the house that I could get into if I ever lost my key. Good luck to the criminal trying to find it and get it out without a neighbor noticing. It would be much easier for them to just break a window.

[TJ]

I hope to get to the fair if my work schedule allows. This time of year is also a great time for some longer hikes and explorations now that the temps are cooling down.

[TJ]

I’m hoping my son will save me some of his candy. He is a good sharer but my wife might eat all the extra candy before I get home!

[Author]

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