Greetings and Salutations!
Sorry for a double night missed but ‘reasons’ and the pinched nerve is still bugging me… and nope. This’s NOT from lifting, this’s from my original injury from waaay back in the day and this cold snap has made Ye Ole Sons of Arthritis come back with a bloody vengeance.
It’s been cold around here… and yeah, I know…
Some of y’all live in the Arctic Circle compared to me.
But if you choose to live where snotsickles are a regular thing 6 months out of the year, that’s on you. I grew up in the frozen barren wastes of Hoth, and have no need nor desire to return there. I blew that snow encrusted A.O. and left it for the Tautauns and Wampas.
Reminds me of a few of my more savage classmates from High School… that or one or two of my first dates…
Don’t ask.
So FINALLY got the disk to slip back into place in the lumbar via an inversion table that I’ve had kicking around out in the garage for about ten years or so. I completely forgot I had the thing until Sapper brought it in from the garage and told me to give it a whirl, as he was sick of me gimping around… that and he had to load and empty the dishwasher as I can’t (or I should say couldn’t) bend at the waist to save my life for a week or so there.
Some folks say NOT to use those things
I’m of two minds,
One Negative is the danger factor… and yeah, it’s sort of dangerous to use. Lots of Docs have spoken out against using them, and well, also being upside down hanging while locked in is sort of placing myself at a disadvantage right?
However, and despite all the negative reports, for Me? It works and works well. I literally felt the disk (I think I even heard it TBH) pop back into place. SO here I am, and I’ll probably be using it more frequently as I’m far more energetic these days, feeling a LOT like my old self, and getting ‘back in the saddle’ both mentally and physically.
It’s been nice to get back there/here.
And because of it, I got a LOT packed into today.
Went a saw a man about getting the oil pan done on the Boat. Still too pricey for my blood however I did get ONE piece of intel I have to research next week. Seems that The MWR People (Morale Welfare and Recreation) at McDill have an Automotive Self Help Shop!
Now when I was back on active duty, we had one in Germany, and it’s where I learned to turn wrenches beyond what DeadDad had taught me. I learned quite a bit. Now what I need to do is find out if they let disabled Vets use the place. If they do, a Bay with a lift costs only $24 an hour! And they have two mechanics on hand to assist, as well as ALL the tools and modern conveniences that one would find in a top tier repair shop.
THAT is what the mechanic ordered!
I can (and have done) oil pan replacements before. It’s just I need either a lift, or a pit to work in… and there’s nothing available until potentially now!
Figure $70 for the pan/gasket/goop on the ‘zon (already priced it) and $75+/- for the bay… figuring three hours as I’m old, cranky and don’t want to rush it… add an additional figure $100 for the oil and filter… which I -have- to buy from them according to the website… no outside loob allowed!
Call it a max of maybe $300 to do what the cheapest mechanic in town wanted $750+ for? Game, set, and match!
And if it goes smoothly, and I talk to the Mechanics who’re there on duty to assist, I might be able to get the AC Operational before we descend back into Hot n’Hoomid weather again. Here ‘s hoping right?
Otherwise, the news I also got today is very interesting.
Sapper an I whilst out doing errands stopped into a local Silver and Gold Dealer to check things out, and see what is happening locally. While we were there, the guy tells us that everything has come damned near to a stop. One of the biggest refiners of silver in the country, Elemetal has completely stopped buying scrap silver and selling silver bullion.
The guy running the shop said everyone in the business is ‘frozen in place’ as Silver closed at $90.85 in US Markets on Friday, despite ALL the claims that it was going to ‘crash low’ due to ‘volatility’. I pointed out that the US Mint has shut down sales to ‘recalibrate’ right here on this blog long ahead of the rest of folks…
That was a few days ago…
And it seems they DID recalibrate.
I got an email from a substack I read called Silver Academy
The hyperlink will take you to the article that I got this news from, but it seems the US Mint has recalibrated:
Yessir.
There’s recalibrating and then there’s this.
That IS the ‘live pricing’ on uncirculated One Ounce coins, selling for $169.00 a throw! Proof coins being a wee bit higher at $173.00! As stated:
Proof Silver Eagles jumped 82%, from roughly $95 to $173 per ounce, while uncirculated and backdated Silver Eagles soared 86%, from $91 to $169. The message is unmistakable: the old silver price system can no longer function under real-world constraints.
Which is what Asian Guy and a bunch of other have been yelling for a while… the US COMEX is bullshit and now? Real-Time pricing is coming out, hence the ‘freeze’ in so many areas of the market…
No one know whether to shit or go blind so to speak.
I’m curious if I’ll see the delivery of those 3 ‘dirty’ Eagles I bought at $77 an ounce back on January 3rd. At this rate I’m doubting it. If I -do-? That’ll be about a hundred bux profit each before it even gets in the door. And currently, the APMEX is selling random year coins going for $109.22
IF you use a credit card and only buy less than 20 coins…
And for those who’re asking about why I was calling them ‘dirty’ Eagles, they’re just that… circulated, maybe tarnished but complete US Silver Eagles… They may not be pretty, but they ARE worth waaaay more than I paid for them ALREADY.
Which is why I’m wondering IF they’ll ship or decide to play the game of “Oh so sorry, here’s a refund!” of my $240 as it’s in the smol print that they can do that.
We’ll have to wait and see I guess.
Monday I’m figuring some form of fuckery will be afoot with COMEX and ETFs… I mean it was (the fuckery) was going on ALL week long, but despite the best attempts of the Large GloboHomoHebrew banks to try and drive the price down via bogus ETF Paper Trash and dumping TONS of fiatbux, silver still rebounded like a Weeble
“Weebles Wobble but They Don’t Fall Down!”
If you remember that, your childhood was Epic!!!
So yeah, I’m watching, and waiting and I’m just going to sit on my paltry Silver Stash. IF and only IF it gets into nosebleed levels of valuation will I sell, and IF I sell, it’ll be so I can get some ‘things’ that have been on the “Wants/Wishes/Needs” list for the Post Apocalypse… a Barrett .50 or maybe a M-249S belt fed… something that keeps me feeling all warm and fuzzy… I mean the coins themselves are great and hold value
BUT
IF everything goes utterly in the shitter?
Having a bunch of shiny baubles is great but does you no good IF there’s only a barter economy… I’ve read it in a LOT of post SHTF books… I mean a One Oz. Gold Coin? Great. Currently (as of now) spot s $4500+/- a few hundred. Thats while money is worth something
You can’t eat it, and it might be worth something in trade, but in reality? Silver and Gold only hold value as long as there’s something of value you can exchange it for… and TBH, depending on what you’re bartering for, a Loaf of Bread and a Gallon of milk might be worth that One Ounce coin IF fiatbux become Weimar Script or like Zimbabwe, where they drafted One Hundred Trillion Dollar notes:
…and the reason it’s so recockulas is that the “smart money people” i.e. people who HAD gold and silver were already long fucking gone before the place collapsed into the festering shithole it became (and still is from my understanding)…
And that right there
THAT is a big thing.
The “Smart Money People”had other places they could go that had not collapsed like Zimbabwe.
-I- personally think that WHEN (not if) the de-dollarization and inevitable bed-shitting of the economy happens, I’d rather make sure MY value is locked in going LONG with Steel, Iron, Links, Lead and Good Frens to back me up, ‘cos I have a feeling that if we The US economy. take a “Ye Olde Giant Shytte”, the rest of the world is going down with us, so better to have that Barrett and 5 cases of .50 APIT or a M-249S that your friendly local gunsmith knows how to work on… than to be stuck with a bunch of shiny-shiny that does you no good until AFTER everything recovers…
Which could take decades.
And any bets that you’ll find plenty of that shit just laying around after the fact? Hell… some people are just ‘loot drops’ waiting to happen… go figure.
So More Later
Big Country
What if, and it’s a biggun, OMB were to try and put us back on the gold standard? Either before or after the dollar shits the bed? Thoughts?
He’s trying to get EVERYONE on digital (his own digital included), while his cronies scarf up all the gold and silver.
Just wait and see how they hoodwink the masses, again.
HA HA HA
that fucking jew drumpf is NOT your buddy pal… he’s playing his part to con the goyim into believing in Murka FURST! RAH! RAH!
now go fight for schlomo er, i mean uncle scam, free dumb, and libertardy.
this fucker is going to bring us all down to post ww2 germany status. he truly is rhyming with hitler. it’s all a show, and the outcome is already written. the Fusa will be defeated in every way. i hope i’m wrong, but i don’t think so
tfA-t has spoken
Cold keeps out the mud races and commies.
But the welfare sugar tits go far here so they tough out the winter.
Inversion tables are a gift from God for good health!
I have been in construction for 35+ years and has really helped keep me healthy and uninjured.The decompression of the spine allows the little donuts between spine bones to refill with fluid,think of them a s shock absobers.
Measure your height in morning and mark on wall like you did as a kid on birthday,thenin evening after a good say 5-10 minute table visit do again,you will literally be at least a 1/4 ” taller gthen a.m. measure,docs hate em excepting honest ones as they do away with a lot of needless and potentially harmful surgery.
Hell,military uses em know at jump schools and have shown a great reduction in injuries.
As for metals,keep stacking!I never wanted to see then go this high so quickly but here we are.
Careful with the inversion table. Yer’ not stretchin’ your dick, this is your spine. Once you go past horizontal that upper body (and you have a big one) exerts a force opposite spines are designed for. Less is more. More time, less inclination. Try to relax while you’re onnit’. Move your pelvis side to side while you make yourself relax.
When you’re getting back vertical, go slow. As in sloth. Let your spine adjust as that force vector changes.
I’ve always said that the only 2 precious metals I collect are brass and lead.
The TRUELY universal currency.
Sedition,while I agree the most “precious ” of metals some of us might have so much we will never use it all,even supplying friends/family/ tribe.
With that said,I had yet another of those pesky boating accidents…..,sigh.
Metals are when you have all other bases covered and want something that will hold value as a investment,that is where pm’s come into play.
Unfortunately, I’m not convinced that the “system” will be around long enough for gold and silver to be of any real use unless it’s cashed in relatively soon.
Be it internal or external, things are heating up and I’m not sure how much of the infastructure ANYWHERE will be valid. Any country’s currency is just faith money.
No ouija board, just a gut feeling.
Cover as many bases as possible, but I’m leaning heavily towards boom booms.
There is no future civilization without silver, much as there is so much demand now.
The boom booms get you or your heirs to the rebuilding times, but if there isn’t anything to build back better with it will take a lot longer.
Same reason you don’t go Captain Calley in a place you would like to re-settle, houses take time and precious material to build.
Why bother to pay attention, comment or plan to fight is your planned future is Gaza?
I will second that on the inversion table.
Bought half of my meager silver @$14.00 oz, some @ $5.00 oz.
Held it for a long time, 26 years till present. I wish I still had the 32 Gold 1 oz SA Krugerrands I had though.
Proof coins, although worth/cost more are a poor investment. When SHTF no one will pay the premium for them, just to melt them. In Mad Max World they will be worth no more than the 1 oz coin dug out of the asphalt. They will pay spot, same as a dirty coin or round.
Plain old “dirty” coins and junk silver, as well as scrap jewelry silver is the way to go.
Of course, always be aware that the cockholsters in government will try to take it from you.
When buying precious metals, do not leave a trail if you want to keep it.
You can make bullets from silver. Ask the Lone Ranger.
RE; Back issues. Get yourself a mini-Trampoline, look up how to use it online. Wife asked for one for Christmas (first thing she has ever asked for in 44 years!) Got it and after she put it together and had used it, I tried. Decades of sciatic pain, arthris in the left hip and a back full of D.I.S.H., a type of arthritis that effects the soft tissue in the back, I did a couple of minutes and had immediate relif, after a few short sessions I no longer limp and my back is functional again with very minimal discomfort, not debilitating pain. 10 minutes 3 times a week is all I do. Anywho, give it a try.
Highlander
re : rebounder
.
a:
In a few weeks, I turn 74yo.
I skip rope on our mini-tramp, it helps me with balance and coordination.
.
b:
I do Paleo sprints with the dogs, maximum effort for twenty seconds, then walk to a normal pulse, repeat.
.
c:
https://youtu.be/RYmzCy6AGTw?si=H48KKB9-LH-Qi6O0
Our favorite Freedom Fighter LILLY GADDIS discusses a Red Light bed.
My chiropractor has one, I think it helps with trauma and age-related degeneration.
Monday is a feral holiday, FWIW.
Just a user, not getting a dime, but Bullionexchanges dot com is almost always the cheapest (lowest markup) and free and fast shipping. Usually 5 days to middle of nowhere where I am
They are still showing random (ish) silver eagles at about $100 (about $107 with CC). free shipping over $200 (not hard).
I’ve found they are cheaper to buy via CC than to buy cash from my local LCS. (explain that)
just what i’ve found from lots of research, and TBH I haven’t bought in the last few months.
Reasonable @moment,that said,wish they did wire.
Monster boxes for almost 50 thou…….,sigh,bought a bunch when 14 thou,glad but guess a few more would have been nice!
Best of luck to us all,going to be a interesting week economically.
barbarous relic.. Pfft.
The plan may be to hyperinflate first to pay most of the debt and crash the big banks and Fed. Then issue a revalued, gold backed currency directly from the US Treasury at $20000+ per ounce of gold. Wipe out all consumer debt and revalue all mortgage debt. It would be hard on Joe Average for a while as no one would issue unbacked credit (outlaw fractional banking) but we would recover. The government could function by confiscation of all the scumbag banksters personal assets and those of the billionaires funding the communist insurgency. The few States such as Florida that have made gold and silver legal money are probably clued in that something like this could happen.
US Treasury was hijacked by the FedResBank eons ago,they pay the FRB .08 to make a .05 nickle.
It’s a giant scam where the FRB pays itself with US taxpayer monies going into private hands and federal institutions like the Treasury can’t operate without FRB permission and subservience.
Our entire monetary system is beyond fuk’d , and no one is going to save it. They’re stealing every last penny before it all collapses.
Everyone is still hoping the gov’t will save us, wake the fuck up, they’re looting it faster than you can pay your obedience taxes.
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Pretty sure the Fed does not pay income tax to the government either. Oy Vey!
correct. the jews plan is to destroy everything and wipe out the goyim. anyone who believes other than that is suffering from the murikan dream…. wake the fuck up
there will be no recovery- what ewe see is what you get. nothing
now eat your fucking bugs
Check out JM Bullion. I have been buying through them since silver was $14 and they are excellent IMO. Have yet to sell back, waiting for the price a little more. They are A+ rated with BBB. Personally I wouldn’t pay more that 15% over spot. Just my $.02.
Done business with J.M. in the past. Prompt reliable service, no complaints. Free shipping over 200 if I remember right.
Shooter
Same. JM has been fair with me for years. As of 11AM 2/18/26, JM has 1oz rounds for $5.99 over spot. Spot is $90.88 rn.
I had an interesting incident with JM a while back. At the time I had a private mailbox to send my PMs to as I was away a lot. Some beaner showed up there when I had a shipment come in on the day it was delivered and claimed I was his boss and he was picking up my mail. Good thing the girls there knew me (always gave them a nice gratuity at Christmas) they asked him for my phone number to “get an OK from me”. The number he gave them was a burner in Las Vegas. I live in Florida. Las Vegas was where the shipment originated. Of course they called the cops but Jose didn’t stick around. I called JM Bullion and explained the situation as the only way beaner boy could have known about the shipment was inside info. JM called me a few days later to thank me as one of their employees was caught giving out this type of info so his homies could steal packages and had done so several times. So guard up people. I now pay for the faster, signature required shipping. Thieves and scammers are everywhere and it will only get worse.
Population of the USA 342million. How many of them own silver or gold? How many of them have actually even held it in their hand? How many of them even know silver is $89.90/ounce right this second?
When I go to the bank ATM often times people before me will have left their withdrawal slip. I look at them. More often than not they have a balance under $300.
Cold > niggers any day of the week and twice on Sunday…
Two things that actual silver coins can do are help keep water drinkable and when applied to an open wound silver releases ions which inhibit infection.
You’d be surprised at how much silver we use in healthcare to prevent infections.
Pirate ships used to keep silver in their water barrels to keep it from going green and nasty.
You can slap a silver coin to a wound and wrap a bandage around it and be fairly certain that it won’t get infected so long as you don’t have dirt and debris in it. Give it a good flushing and wrap it up.
Silver is also essential to many high tech toys..like missiles which use 800 lbs of silver, and many computer type gadgets which rely on silver’s extreme conductivity….it’s an important industrial metal.
Don’t forget eating with real silverware.
Somewhere I have an old 1830’s silver soup spoon I used camping on all my extended mtn man horse trips, need to dig it out and start using it daily again.
My silver camping spoon practically razor thin. I have no idea how old it is.
Let’s see…….
Some research to do….
Does My State allow purchases using PMs? I think they do, but I need to verify. Ditto for GoldBacks.
Then…….
How much silver does a Silver Stacker stack,
if a Silver Stacker does stack silver?
I’m thinking of a wheelgun I was talking about earlier, possibly a Ruger Blackhawk (5″? 6″? barrel) in 454 Casull/45 Colt. Plus holster. Plus ammo.
A Bisley grip will tame recoil much better than the std Super Blackhawk plow handle grip, the Freedom Arms .454 Casull uses a modified Bisley grip also.
Agree. I can’t shoot a Super Blackhawk with the factory wooden plough handle grip. I “can” with a Bisley or a rubber grip, hard to find one with the Bisley grip though.
Shooter
Yea I love my Ruger Bisley Vaquero…
They’ll probably let you use the MWR garage/hobby shop. I work with a bunch of DoD nasty contractors and they can use them too (RHIP). Most of the ones I’ve seen make you do the safety check out and POL cleanup rules but it’s really a great place.
Wheel gun goes for how much at moment,stackers can cash in privately and buy a few no problem if they wish and still have full stacks.Some though will live with their cherished 1911’s/govt. model/70 series,to each their own.
You can just count on getting a “Sorry, here’s your money back” on those coins pal. There is no way in hell they are going to eat a loss, especially when there are hundreds of thousands of people waving money at them begging them to take it.
Remember in prepping that you always “prep for the scenario”.
In End of the World scenarios then beans, bullets and bandaids are the best thing to have.
However if society is still kinda functioning then precious metals especially silver is good to have.
I heard a story awhile ago about the Fall of Saigon where South Vietnamese choppers would land on the carrier off shore, unload people and then they’d push the chopper in the drink to make room for the next one to land. Anyway the South Vietnamese “corrupt as hell” officials had suitcases of money.
Those with South Vietnamese money found out it was worthless since South Vietnam didn’t exist.
But those with silver or gold were told they’d exchange that for US dollars at the current exchange rate.
That’s called fungibility and silver and gold is seen as money all over the World.
If you had precious metals in Weimar Germany you could buy hard assets like land, houses and even bankrupt businesses for pennies on the dollar.
Now for The End of the World scenarios, I remember that scene in the movie The Road where they are in a bunker and there are a bunch of gold Krugerrands collecting dust and were totally useless.
Rest assured, the whales in the market will be fed. I read a piece sometime ago about this. They called it “the harvest”. We’ve been in a ‘loot the treasury’ phase for sometime.
Whatever. It’s big club, and ain’t none of us in it.
I think some of the politicians are in on it, but there are those that are simply too greedy and stupid to get it. I think we give them too much credit.
When things go pear shaped, what you need is barter items – booze, boolits, shelf stable foods, MREs, bandages. Things people want. Having the metals is great, but you don’t want to have to hand over one or more chunks for half a pack of pop tarts.
Man getting access to a lift – and dudes standing by – you’re golden. No reason not to take advantage of that. That thing must have been thoroughly thrashed to need a new oil pan.
I used a floor jack to do brakes and shocks on a pickup. Saved a ton of dough. Pretty much had fun – if it doesn’t draw blood you aren’t really into it – 😀 Also did a cat-back exhaust system which was the tits whenever I drove into the parking garage at work.
Define “money”.
I had a 2005 focus wagon that needed an oil pan. I think fomoco had some steel issues in that year. Car was in good shape otherwise.
As to money, why would I sell any food? Even if I grew it. Better to have and not need that need and not have.
Need to rethink things. But going after some deer next week. That will be more fun than waiting for the wheels to fully leave the cart.
Budget for more time on that repair. Things almost always come up.
About 20 years ago I was working at a dealership. Had to change an oil pan on an S10 pickup.
Trans and had to come out as the trans was covering several oil pan bolts. Which meant the transfer case and driveshaft had to come out too.
Got that far and with the oil pan loose, found the front axle housing blocked it from dropping far enough to clear the main caps. So the housing had to be unbolted and dropped a few inches. Then put everything back togethor.
This was with a lift in a professional shop setting and it still took me nearly 2 work days.
Probably won’t have that as yours is a full size so the layout is different. But it does have front IFS setup and an axle housing bolted to the frame. They tuck them in there close to the motor, not a lot of space like the old days with a solid live axle.
But the point is, stuff always comes up.
I can agree with that. “Stuff” always comes up.
I had an ’83 Chevy S10 p/up that had sat for years, lots of problems, fixed one at a time.
One was the oil pan was leaking. I wanted to drain, drop, and replace the gasket. I crawl underneath, and there’s a crossbar. Being young and broke, the best I could do at that time was tighten up the bolts. Seemed to work, stopped most of the drip-drip.
Check the oil pan gasket carefully. Some will state on the package not to use sealer. I’ve seen soft OP gaskets with sealer on them, squeeze out to the sides when the bolts are tightened because the sealer acts as lubricant. Search carefully for the small print.