Greetings Me Droogs and Droogettes!
So we got the Red Headed Nukular Firecracker here for the weekend. We spent the day running her as ragged as I/She could possibly do. Being a couple years past the Big “50” certainly doesn’t help.
And to all who say “Ahhhh BC, yer a spring chikin compared to me!” Well, granted, I’m not that old leastways by the Stubfarts would say (per Filthie) but as DeadDad used to say “It ain’t the years boy, it’s the fucking mileage!“
And to quote Captain Willard from ‘Apocalypse Now’:
“Absolutely Goddamned Right.”
To be completely honest, my fucking odometer has turned over the 100k marker at least 3 or 4 fucking times already…
Mileage INDEED
Jes’ Sayin’
But yeah.. the realization, that despite the “things still seeming the same ole’ same ole’ ” In Reality? Notsomucho. Case in Point:
That’s the Nukular Gran #1 at about 5.5 months…
Which has now turned into this:
Speaking as one of the Grandads…
I need more weapons…
Preferably Belt-Fed…
Or a RPG…
Either way, I’m easy.
Donations welcome. Mexican Cartels, Krainian or Russians, I’m an equal opportunity weapons donation kind of dude…
I already hooked up OtherGranDad with a 12 Gauge Combat Pump and a Brick of Black Aces Tactical Double Aught Buck…
If That doesn’t work, well… we’ll have to break out the ‘bigger stuff’
So… that being said…
Tonight is now the quarterly battery check:
I keep a pretty good assortment of rechargeable batteries… A VERY big pile of CR123As and Double A’s as well… As well IMO you should too.
Now, the nice thing about all of mine is that I can recharge them via a solar panel set. I have two mini-backpack panels for emergencies:
One First Generation GoalZero, and then a second panel I got back a while ago. Think it’s 3rd Gen. The first panel is like 10 years old (the Logo is the giveaway) The second is about 5 years old. They can also be daisy-chained to double the output. Each panel is Problem is the batteries (the original ones) are toast, leastways as of tonight’s quarterly recharge mission. 30 minutes in a fast charger and zero change? Yep. They’re done.
Gotta say, ten years of use, and they had quite a few charges/recharges… guess this was the last roundup. Definitely paid for themselves over time.
So, it’s a “must do” sort of thing. I mean the very last thing I want IF shit goes ‘pear-shaped’ is to bust out some gear, and find out “I gots no juice” so to speak. Sort of those nightmare scenarios that the ‘hunted’ person finds a gun as the ‘mystery killer’ is closing in, only to find out, the weapon hasn’t got any ammo…
I mean I have a UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) Battery Backup that keeps the ‘net and my PC for work operational during the rather frequent summer-storm blackouts we have here in Flor-reee!-duh! I got it from Spawn before he cut ties… It was pretty much almost D.O.A. but I watched a YouTube vid, and found out replacing the Li-ion battery was FAR cheaper and EASIER than buying a whole new UPS. Ordered me the two needed battery cells, and I now have about 30 minutes (on both PCs running, one tower, three monitors plus the router and hub for the router, as well as the I.P. phone and some other sundries…yeah, it’s a lot) worth of time. Thing is, because of the redundancy at the main Internet Hub, the local area network will still be up.
My understanding is the majority of internet infrastructure has about 12/24 hours worth of battery power. The exception being major hubs like NYFC and the business districts that have generators specifically designated to keep the net up. Locally? We got about 12 hours I figure. Last power outage, I was able to keep online until the UPS died. I might look to get another one on eBay thats close to death too, and do the same thing…
It’s cheaper and more effective that way IMO.
But yeah, prep checks…
VERY IMPORTANT
What have you done lately to stave off stupidity?
I’d recommend y’all do what I do, and make a spreadsheet that lets you know when to rotate/charge/replace/update your gear.
Dead Gear = Dead You and Family
Not so good IMO.
So, More Later
Big Country
