And damned glad I did.

Found ALL the little issues with my gear. 

And I’m gonna need a bigger boat.

Mehbe not cuz of the fishies though,,,,

Volume and speed,  more volume than speed.   Fully loaded, Lyssa maxed at 4 and cruised at 3.4.  Those are BlueJeans numbers.  Granted, it was wyld water day and paddling uphill slows a body down,  but I could feel how sluggish she was.   Aft waves had more control over her than usual: might have been a balance of weight issue, she was pretty loaded,,,

Longer is faster, longer with higher decks means more (or in my case, better loaded) gear.  Needz a bigger boat if I wanna get serious about playing with kayakamping,,,,

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Back at the Buffalo now.  Lyssa n gear all loaded up; just takin’ a minute to re-orient meself.   Just paddled 4 miles of open water, straight line right down the middle of the lake.  No boat traffic to speak of today (yet).   Time to go home and set it all back up and get some fans blowing the moisture out, get some other stuff cleaned up (including me).

————————————————

and home now,,,, porch looks like a damned rummage sale with gear stretched out on lines to dry and a tent set up on one side.   Voo is truly cunfuzzed about all the smells of woods and lake and fishes and Dawg only knows what else was out there.   At least he isn’t trying to mark everything as his,,,, I might get a bit miffed if that leg hikes up,,,,

I’d love to give y’all an exciting story of adventure and what not, but,,, Hell, I was cooped up in a tent for 12 stinking hours, mostly sleeping it away, sitting out storms.   I think there were three that blew through overnight.   I know come 5 AM, it was silent as the grave out there, no boat traffic, no winds, no thunder, no flashing dancing lights in the sky.

and WET!!!  

And I figured out, a tarp does NOT work as a ground cloth for a tent.   The only thing DRY around that campsite was UNDER THAT TARP and everything over it was wet or damp as hell.  Including inside the tent.   I had standing water under the sleep-pad when I packed out.   SO,,,, Either the tent had a leak (one very small one I did see) or I kept tracking it in with me when I braved the downpours to take a leak (most likely scenario).  Normally when I camp, I use a rainfly and a hammock.   I would have done so this trip, but I wanted that ‘wet test’ of the tent.   If I am kayakamping, there may be times where I won’t have access to trees that will support a hammock so I keep that tent as an ‘alternate’.   It didn’t fail, but my ‘delight’ in it is less than stellar.   I do like my hammock though, so I am a bit biased.

All in all, was a good shake-down run of my gear, and only one item is getting changed out.   Would like a folding skillet instead of the 10″ kitchen skillet I took, but it worked, worked well and stowed “well enough” (that handle was the glitch in stowage.) 

No bear run-ins (did see tracks on the beach) no punked skunks trying to raid my food,,,,      Actually, I didn’t see a damned thing as for wildlife yesterday.   I did see a flock of geese on the wing this morning, but that was it.   I guess all the traffic ran everyone under cover,,,,

Home, safe, dry and clean; all the gear is getting in the same shape, slowly.

and tomorrow is socialists day,,, Thinking of my post for that and will tap it out laters.    

Live

Learn

Laugh

LOAD

ROFLMAO UPDATE!   Finished putting the last of things away, rolled up and back in thier respective bags, and RRRRuuummmmBBBBLlelleesss!!!   Bam!!! Kentucky Monsoon hits,,,, Sitting here on the porch watching the water fall, but it sure is a pleasant change being able to look out at it while dry, compared to being cooped up in an enclosed tent with only hearing (of which, mine is faulty) to warn of dangers.

Good start, WYLD waters, loved the paddle out.   

About 2-ish, I started looking at camps.   3-ish, was setting up and getting squaw wood for my fire.   Good thing too.

As  I was getting a good bed of coals for cooking, I heard the rumbles,,,,

As I was finishing that meal, (mmmnomnomnom) the first sprinkles hit.  

and here I am, 6 oclock, stuck in a tent with rain.   A SMALL tent at that.   You can see it in the above pic, single man tent, with a vestibule area, where all the stuff that can’t get wet is hiding out, as there is no room inside with my long-ass carcass.  The PFD and dishes are outside hanging from a tree, my little camp chair is out there too; leaned against a tree so as to not have it puddling water. (I brought everything except the kitchen sink,,,,  Even brought my keyboard 😉  )

Lyssa is on shore, pulled up high behind a bush and layed on her side so no water build up in the cockpit.

I’m dry, I’m safe, and I’m BORED!!!  LOL   good sleepin’ weather as the old timers like to say.   Not hot (now) comfortable in the tent with the sleeping pad inflated and a nice pillow  the rainfly is doing what rainfly’s should do, keep the water OUT,,, and the pitter-patter of rain on it will help me sleep, if I weren’t all wound up like a top.  Too early for bed dammit!!!

Limited signal here, hard to upload pics, and weather app is sluggish as all get out.  Can’t see the radar to find out how long this is going to be on me.  Earlier I checked and it showed it rolling off over night, and clear early morning.    Just have to get through till then right? and hope it doesn’t change for the worst between now and then.

LLLL

Recall the broken Kat thing?  Mentioned that Zoomies is a scaredy-kat about mice. That Mama is ‘semi-retired’ from the mouser game.  Will watch them and only pounces when they happen to cross paths, but won’t pursue,,,

So I bought THIS (yes I get a kickback if ya buy)

DAMN GINA!!!!

Knew I had mice,  but the first kill shocked me! (Not the trap, its occupant)  damned packrat!!! Big’un too!!!   I’m certain the batteries took a hit pushing those electrons through that brute.  Minus tail,  must have been 3 1/2″ long.

Since then, its been a steady stream of ded-meeses.  4 so far.   Damned Kats rilly have been suckin’ hind teat at their jobs.  I’ve a handle on the situation now.  With cold and wet months coming,  the woodland residents wanna move in even more so than they have,  and I may just pick up a second unit.  Cleaner and apparently MORE reliable than spring traps.  They walk in, they don’t come out on their own.

Muhahahaha!!¡!!!

Sure would feel a tiny bit better than the walking on the sun I have been doing today.   Its DAMNED HOT,,, Running abouut 70% humidity maybe higher (reading the gauge in the house,,,)  and sweat just beads and rolls off.

And Oh-boy, to be back in that time of life again…

You can never go home,,,,  When that realization hits, its profound.   Its not that things aren’t there (may be, may not be) but YOU are different as well.  I learned that lesson repeatedly over the years.   It’s getting a bit easier to swallow, though I will never like the taste.  

I haven’t changed, but I know I’m not the same,,,

The illusions we create in our heads to hold onto what WE THINK reality is.   So many of us, individual, and yet, so connected by existence,,,

And the crazy of the world is infecting us all, in no small part due to that inter-connectedness we share.   Once upon a time, the insane were sequestered from “general pop” to limit any spread,,, Those doctors that did this may not have thought of it as a spreadable disease, but they took steps as if it were.

Those things we feel in our gut? Totally real: our guts are just as much in tune with ‘reality’ as the instinct laden Kat is.   Listen to those ‘gut feelz’, they may not be clear as to what they are warning about, but they are NOT wrong.

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Back to the J.O.B. this AM, and said culprit was dressed down by Bossman,,, and said asshat tried to throw ME under the bus wheels.   Said that all the problems were present the entire time he was using the gear. (and bossman told him flat out to stop lying.)

Me, personally, would have told him to turn around, leave, and not come back.   Bossman is much more charitable than I.    

BUT, said asshat is going to be assigned to some work detail I am in charge of, and, well, I may not hold grudges, but I never forget getting a knife in my ribs either.   Dude will be on my shitlist for a LONNNNGGGGGGGGG time.  Try to throw me under the bus?   WHILE I WAS STANDING THERE,,,,      DUMB, SUPER STOOPID DUMB. 

breathe,,,,,,,

Long weekend forthcoming,,,, probably already covered it.  Still haven’t made my plans final yet.   Weather is somewhat in question, and another aspect I hadn’t considered: TOOLS.    Not sure I am comfortable leaving Buffalo parked in a strange place for a couple full nights/days, unattended and no security (other than the occasional park ranger/sheriff doing a drive through,,,,)  Not going to take them out TODAY, but I may hold off on going until Satyrday morn, and unload my box here, on Friday.   I could just un-ass the whole box, but that thing is damned heavy,,,  I has a lot of tools I bring to the table no matter where I go.  (and the truck only holds a small percentage of the tools I have available.)

One thing I do expect this weekend: LOTS of boat traffic.   And that means dancing waters for me.   YAY!!!   

Even if I don’t go camping overnight(s), I am going to play in waves, dammit!!!

Live like tomorrow is judgement day. Learn as if you were never taught a thing.  Laugh to peel the paint from the porch eaves, and LOAD LOAD LOAD,,,, then do some more.

The post on the drones this morning,,,   Didn’t spend a whole lot of time on it as I was put back on core drilling today.   Reason: the others managed to fubar one drill to death and destroyed one of the $600 core bits.    These aren’t the diamond core drills: they go through stone just fine, but you hit that Re-bar,,,, just stop, STOP!   Nopes,,, they thought they could cut through that shit.    Might have been what ate the drill up,,, Dunno, but its burned up, let the magic smoke out and all.   Not even a week old.

And the bone heads did all of this in the five days I was NOT on the job.

There were some other issues at hand that I am not listing (too many TO list,,,) and to say that WHEN I see the culprit next,,,, well,   A dressing down is in order.  BUT, the best thing would be Bossman and Son of doing the dressing down,,, 

I don’t see that happening for reasons out of my control, and don’t like it.   Dude is costing us, slowing MY side of the job down since I am either fixing his screw-ups or being put in his place to take over,,,    grrrrrrr

_________________

back to the drone thing.    LOTS and LOTS of options available.   Honestly, for most people/preppers, a simple sneak and peek drone is likely the top of the list of what they would need.   IF that route is what you are looking for, then DO get the simple cheapy-cheap ones that only operate on a wi-fi broadcast.   300′ range AT BEST and usually quite a bit less.    Yes, that is one option you want to take when learning this thing, because it doesn’t ‘fly’ like a plane even if the controls are similar.   You want to find the under $100 toy to play with to learn.   I did, and I had my sights on bigger, faster, better; especially in the FPV side of things, but circumstances changed (and yes, I am giving the hairy eyeball at Trumped for that because it was his Tariffs that made getting certain hardware out of my reach, at exactly the time I had just started shopping.)  On the side of that though, In some ways, I am also thankful for it, because that is one DEEP DARK hole you throw money into.   Much like boats,,, A hole in the water you toss cash at.    In the case of drones, a hole in the air, and sometimes, they don’t come back,,,,   (EVERY remote aircraft comes with an unknown expiration date.)

And what they are doing with stuff these days???

Just look at the SIZE in the first five minutes.   Think of what can be put in one, think about the number of controls on most helicopter type controllers (Like 14 channel radios!)   You only need 3 to fly most models,,,, 4 if you are running ‘closer too real life’ with ailerons.   Drop bays, triggers, you name it, are simple add-ons.   And the clarity/signal of the FPV transmitters is more robust from just 8 years ago.   We used to get signal break up just going past a tree; now they are solid even at long distance (so long as line of sight still)

sigh,,,, getting my creative juices flowing when I have other things to I’m obligated to (KAYAKS!!!).   

But there is a learning curve in everything, and drones/FPV/ autonomous units have a BIG learning curve.

If you couls start a channel on YT like Flite-test did, it could pay for itself, but most of us have things we call JOBs that kinda get in the way of the fun stuff like that.   (and OH man AM I LOOKING FOR MY ESCAPE POD FROM THE HAMSTER WHEEL)

ANywhoos,,,, If you are thinking you need to add a drone to your preps,,, spare yourself some lucre and get the cheapy-cheapy one to learn, terrorize the local cats and get GOOD at controlling it BEFORE you jump in whole hog and get one of those high-speed lo-drag racing drones that have as much tolerance of ‘oops’ as the Hindenburgh did.

watch the following ONLY IF you don’t get motion sickness.

That takes some skills.   hard won skills even not knowing how many drones he demolished learning what NOT to do.

Get the cheapy first,,,,

and find the local drone geek and pick that brain, make alliances, and VERIFY allegiances.   Most of them are quite liberal in indoctrination, but very libertarian on the beliefs.  Find the ones that are open minded to ‘what if we do X?’ and start building that Rebel Airforce.

More up in AM, not droney stuff.    Just thinks stuffs

Trying to not let the world at large get under my skin or deep into my cranial region.

Live

learn

laugh

LOAD

BCE posted this last night, and I always catch up in zero dark.  

Some thoughts.    MOST ALL drones in use that I have seen are rotary winged,   Blades no spinny, droney no fly.  

That thought was the one behind the current anti-drone ammo being sold.   A shotgun shell that holds a weighted net to be fired at the drone: the net binds the wings and droney becomes dead weight.

and as fragile as those blades are,,,,   Not that they are fragile, but they must be made thin, and lite, due to the nature of the beast, and they are spinning at incredible speeds.   They shred fairly easily when they come into contact with other fixed objects.   That was the basis behind the Ukes using a drone with a ‘stick’ to down some of the russian fixed wing drones.   Little fuzzy drone with a stick follows behind fixed wing drone and shoves that stick into the prop: prop comes apart at speed and now fixed wing is a glider with high ratio sink path.

Trying to think outside the box here.  Lots of ECM stuff in comments over at BCE’s, but I much prefer more direct kinetic or mechanical solutions.  Much less that can go wrong, easier to train on, etc etc etc.    Think AK47 solutions.   does the job and built so a tank could drive over it and it still work.

That the battle space has taken to tech was unavoidable.  That it has evolved so quickly,,,, Hell, we HAVE been here before.   Back in WW1,,, planes.    Planes totally changed the battle space and tactics and the OldGuard was caught flat footed.  

Time doesn’t repeat, but she sure does rhyme, no?

I thnk what bothers me the most about this trend, is how American MIC manages to overbuild EVERYTHING.   Yeah, the MIC was the first to use RPV in war.   and the damned things were built like fullsized warbirds with electronic packages on them that required GROUND CREWS.    The stuff the Ukes have been using is off the shelf CIvvy designed TOYS and they have a ground crew of ONE,,, with a portable control unit that can hide faster than a feral cat.   The Russians are keeping pace apparently.   Seeing how that FOG-D is from their side   (and Russia has been leading the charge in ECM-CECM for over a decade now.   THEY should know the best counter to ECM is a direct physical line.)

Sadly, I need to trundle my arse to the shop for a day of J.O.B. and chasing the elusive FRN’s.    More thoughts on this later.   (and if you want to further see whats capable, Look at the  book I have listed in the sidebar.    Its a bit dated now (only a couple years, but thats decades in the FPV world.) but still holds some clues as to what we are up against.  

Live, learn, laugh, and load,,, more later

Socialists Day upcoming,,, potentially a three day weekend at the J.O.B.  

IF’n sO,,,,   Thinking of loading up BlueJean and heading to the lake as soon as I get released from the duties on Freeday/notfreeday,,,

Why BlueJean???   Cuz ol’Gurl just holds more gear, and if I am gonna go for three  nights, two full days, I want to carry a bit more than I can stuff in Lyssa.  No other reason.

And what is Ol’Dio planning with that little getaway?    Doing a full circumnavigation of Laurel lake with camping along the way.   Put in head left and keep going till tired, grab a spot and make camp, get up the next day and REPEAT,,,  The Kids will be fine, lots of kibble in the storage barrels; mama will just have to deal with Kibble and catch as catch-can.   She will be mad but oh-well,,,she ain’t gonna starve in three days,,,

But, Not sure yet as to what IS the current plan of J.O.B.,,,    I need to put out some feelers with bossman and get word sooner than later.   Want to make sure Da is in the loop (and will make a photostat of my chart with possible campsites and which areas I plan on hitting and which I will skip completely.)(FYI my chart is sealed for weather, can be written on with grease pencil and has emergency info on the back side under the seal.   Nothin’ fancy, since we don’t have tides or currents to deal with, but it works for keeping me in the right direction, and why I ‘got lost’ two weekends ago,,, no chart.   From the waters surface, things take on different perspectives and often look much the same as other areas.)

—————————————————————

Watching the propaganda outlets, on both sides of the aisle and some few indies/out of country sources.    It really puts a new light on just how IN BED our media are with the DEEP STATE (yes, I do think there is such a thing, and its whats in control, not the elected,,,)   I even see doubt seeds being spread about the TRUMPED/ RFKjr alliance, and soon to be Tulsi Gabbard among others.   Some are saying ‘bringing on so many ‘reformed Dems’ is gonna drive off his base.   I dunno.   A lot of his base is already from ‘reformed Dems’ seeing how the Demoncrap party has gone Full on Trotsky/Left of Lenin psychopathy,,,   

and like my earlier post,,, There is NO WAY they could convince me that a Kamal-Toes WIN is legit.   NO WAY.    The whole thing stinks of rotten garbage: TO MUCH CARRY OVER from 2020 hi-jinks with the addition of Lawfare against the opposition.   The whole thing reaks of ‘Banana Republic’ tactics, up to and including attempted assassination(s)  ((I bet there will be more attempts,, they still have a full 2 months between now and the day of voaating,,,   And another three months after that to play games with ‘not eligilble’ or any number of other games they want to play, like having Kamal-toes sit at the seat while Congress decides how to handle the electoral college,,,,   Think that won’t be a snafu from hell, even though, as one of the Nominees, she SHOULD recuse herself from that particular shit-fest (she won’t.)

And that’s why I am planning on campinmg over the weekend.   Phone will be with, but not active for surfing.    I plan on tracking my route, just because I’m curious what I can do in one day. (and I do plan on pushing)  I have not pushed like that since the last race, and that was a race, not ‘sun-up to sun-down-what can Dio do?’ sort of ‘test’.     I had planned on doing the camping thing during the following weekend, since that is my hatch-day weekend, but a three day weekend seems like the better move.    Will see, things still need clarified.   (am I thinking in circles?   I believe I am,,, dammit,,,)(that shit RIGHT THERE, is why I need a vakay from things,,,, )

On other subjects,   I am working out details of “HOW” I want to make this food drier/smoker.   If it were one or the other, it would be half done now.  Being both, there are some details I want ‘right’ before I get to cutting and welding.   One of the biggest details is “hanging rods or grates”   I like the idea of the hanging rods as they are easier to clean between sessions, but the grates make things more versatile (and more expensive) and there is an option of ‘why not both’, but I haven’t worked out the details on that as yet.  

When I start the welding/cutting process, I start taking pics and from there will work on the details post.    Till then,,,, patience grasshoppa!

keep on livin’

never stop learnin’

laugh like the gallows were a themepark ride

and load for large rampaging mutant zombie bears.

An update:

This is tracks from 4 trips on Laurel Lake.

You can see,  Ive purt-much ‘done’ the entire lake.

In chunks.

Conundrum: if I follow through with the plans above, do the whole lake in one weekend, whats next???  

May be a moot point, weather liars are saying this,,,

Not just rain: rain is no biggie.  That flashy bangy stuff though,,   and with the hot dry spell we’ve been under, we are due for t-boomers.

Its only Twosday,,, might change yet.