Episode-825- Listener Calls for 1-23-12
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So we missed Friday because I was flying back from the SHOT Show in Las Vegas, so are doing our call in show for last week on a Monday to catch up. Today we have some calls today on some great stuff. Today we hear about dealing with neighbors dogs, buying land, keeping cash assets liquid, prepper groups, theft of a bug out bag and more.
Remember to be on a show like this one just pick up your phone and call 866-65-THINK. The best way to improve your chances of being on the air is ask your question or make your point up front, then provide details. Also call from a quite area with a good connection and speak up so you can be well heard. I can’t put all calls on the air but I do my best to get most of them on.
Tune in today as we discuss…
- Yep I said something totally wrong and dumb last week
- Thoughts on keeping topics interesting for prepper group meetings
- What do you do with surplus cash you want to keep “liquid”
- How can you store food long term if you are doing the paleo diet
- What can we learn from Israel about a nation facing internal and external attacks
- What options are there in very rural areas for business class internet service
- Concerns and gotchas when purchasing an “industrial property”
- Preventing and recovering from BOB theft
- Prepping for the highly mobile due to career or military service obligations
- Dealing with dogs owned by neighbors specifically aggressive dogs
- Dealing with health insurance costs if you are self employed
Additional Resources for Today’s Show
- Members Support Brigade
- TSP Gear Shop
- Join Our Forum
- Emergency Essentials – (sponsor of the day)
- HarvestEating.com – (sponsor of the day)
- Episode 763 – The Paleo Prepper Mindset
Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK and you might hear yourself on the air.
Welcome back Jack! Hope you had a blast at the shot show.
@Jack,
Interestingly enough, I saw a SHOT show video about a Colt design that has a .308 lower that has a drop-in .223 upper (mag well fits inside .308 mag well). So, if someone really wanted that, it is apparently available.
@KAM definitely something that could be done but you really can’t go the other way, talk about a brain fart, well guess after four years I was due a good one.
@Jack,
It happens, and honestly, I wish more people had the confidence to say “I got that wrong,” when they do.
Jack,
Charles in Iowa (aka, RationalHusker) – I called about the cash/liquidity question. Thanks for the verbal smackdown. Your advice about investing in the property (via utilities/improvements or increased principle payments) confirmed our plan, but I am one of those that does tend to freak out about inflation. Every time I see cash build up, I get nervous. I know you’re right about needing plenty of cash in both deflation and inflation. I tend to lean on the Peter Schiff’s of the world moreso than the Karl Denninger’s, for some reason. Truth is, we’re really seeing bi-flation, and in any case, Cash is King, at at times, like you said. Sorry if I frustrated you, but thanks for your passion and logic…a good combo.
@RationalHusker, cool brother glad to help. Also understand when I sound frustrated and snap a bit it isn’t ever really at the caller or person who emailed me. It is about the marketing and hype that makes people buy into things.
ahhhh!! where is the hidden show 823?!?!?!
Point of intrest on this mixup is that when you download the mp3’s, no show numbers have been skipped.
Keep up the good work Jack.
Duncan
Really? Are you talking about in the iTunes Feed? because I am looking at my feed right now and I am mission 823. 822 was published 1/17 and 824 on 1/18. Whats the name of your show for 823 and when was it published???
*missing
823 doesn’t exist.
What is the title of show number 823 then??? I don’t have any 823 in my itunes page and I have downloaded all episodes!
Help my OCD Jack. I’ve listened to every episode! Episode 1000 (coming this summer! is really going to be labeled episode 999!) This can not be!
Episode-821: epi-00821-listener-feedback-1-16-12.mp3
Episode-822: epi-00822-mike-gaisor-on-the-economy-as-of-jan-2012.mp3
Episode-824: epi-00823-dan-vamos-from-homestead-dividends.mp3
Episode-825: epi-00824-calls-1-23-12.mp3
“It’s easier to feed your neighbors than to shoot them” – I love it!
@jandg, to be fair to Steven Harris he said it long before I did.
Jack, what you are saying about service members is very true. I have a friend who is an Army recruiter. Not only are they already limiting re-enlistments already, they are very tight on who they let in. The Army is being very tight with who they allow to join at this time.
Ugh it torks my jaw when people don’t control there dogs. I have 3 and they are under control 98%of the time. (We have little mishaps from time to time) Just because you live in the country does not excuse your responsibility. We do fence to keep others out more than to keep ours in. However we also need protection from wild animals so I can live with that. But when I go on a walk and have dogs coming at me it just ugh!!. Even in parks or public places. People that don’t follow the leash law. I wish I could write them a ticket. They always yell out the same thing. Oh my dog is friendly he won’t bite. We have him under control Really then why is he growling over here at my dog and not by your side. I have gone off on more than one person. Will carry spray from now on.
I love dogs and it sounds to me like some one forgot to tell the neighbor dog that that part of his yard has been sold. Good advice given. he could also try to have a snack handy like a hot dog to give to the dog. Learn his name. Calling out his name and saying go home. The people here don’t respond well so I have had to get to know the dogs on my own.
I completely understand you. A stray pit bull trapping me in my garage was the final thing that pushed me to get my concealed carry license. My garage only has the external garage door for an entrance. And, while I was in there, the dog came running up barking and growling at me. I was home alone, and couldn’t even yell out for help. I was about to grab the chainsaw to fight my way out when the dog went away. Though, I have also started carrying pepper spray for that kind of situation.
Jack, on the neighbor’s dog issue – I believe the breed in question was an American Bulldog, not English. Both are molossers but very different variations on that theme. An American Bulldog is a serious guard/protection dog and NOT to be trifled with – English Bulldogs, not so much, unless you fear being slimed. 😉
Both breeds, when well-bred and well-raised, are total sweethearts to family & friends and your advice about getting to know the critters was right on. I’ll bet the caller will have no trouble once the dogs know he belongs there.
In regards to the guy who has a prepping group – maybe have a weekly discussion about issues that you heard on a podcast that week – so everyone who has their fave podcast [TSP of course] could bring up what they learned, or already knew, and others can bring up what they know about the subject. This would just be a way to randomize topics.
btw-
I wish i had more time to be on the blog – because i hope to meet other Brooklyn preppers & homesteaders. so speak up if thats you!
-bloodyrich in brooklyn
@LJH,
Correct – they are American Bulldogs, and resemble Pit Bulls in stature and head shape. Very nice looking, athletic, healthy dogs. But they are very, very agressive. Especially the female…the owner says “She doesn’t like adult males (human).” Like Jack said, I’m hoping familiarity solves the problem. I do appreciate them on one hand…built-in defense/security fed by others 🙂
Jack mentioned pepper spray, which I do carry. One at least one occasion, I had my hand in my pocket on the spray ready to use it on the female dog. But I’d prefer that they get to like me/us, not hate me.
I’m very supportive of the HSA plans. I’ve had one for a couple years now, and had minor doctors visits mostly. Which are still cheaper than the difference of the premium for the low deductible insurance per month. Well… I broke my collar bone New Years Day, riding at my local motocross track and paid a visit to the ER. I was a little concerned about what it was going to cost. List price of the ER visit $1400. The insurance price which I owe, roughly $550. Expensive, Yes. But I know that many regular plans are nearly $250 copay for ER visits. Just thought I’d share because this was a sort of worse case for myself and It still pays to have the HSA. In addition, most companies are contributing to their employee’s HSA which makes them even more affordable.
Regarding paleo food prep — I think folks freak out about how to handle long-term storage because anything other than perfection is no good in their eyes. For instance, my daily food comes from fresh fruit and veg, healthy oils, eggs, and meat from my freezer. Maybe this isn’t the best way to do things, but I have a lot of the foods I eat on a daily basis put back in dehydrated or freeze-dried form so that I can go to them if I have to. And I have a plan to store stuff posthaste with my pressure canner and dehydrator if power fails to my freezer that’s keeping all my wonderful grass-fed beef.
I eat paleo for health reasons. In times of stress, the last thing I want to do is start eating grain, to which I have an immune response (and a whopping blood sugar response), so I’ve given this whole thing a lot of though. It’s not as hard as folks think to put back dried meat, veg, and fruit, and there are plenty of canned options too. Just because I don’t eat canned green beans right now doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t when I had to choose between those and wheat berries.
This philosophy isn’t entirely “eat what you store and store what you eat” because yeah, I eat onion, mushrooms, peppers, and berries every day of the world, but I’m not going to choose to use the dehydrated and freeze-dried versions of those foods every day of the world.
Lastly, you could always go with a suggestion that I heard on one of Robb Wolf’s podcasts — get a 55 gallon drum of coconut oil. 🙂 Right now, I just have my 5-gallon pail, and that’ll have to suffice for now. 🙂
I work from home as a software consultant and I need to have solid internet service and do have cable or DSL service in my area. I tried satellite and it didn’t work out for me as the latency was too great. I have also used a Verizon MiFi card and that worked OK but did not give me enough bandwidth to download large files and was not consistent enough.
I recently had a T1 installed, and it’s expensive ($429/month), but it works very well and allows me to host services and have unlimited bandwidth, as well as a business SLA, public IP address space, etc.. Not recommended for private/personal use, but if you run a business from home, it’s awesome.
@Josh where it is affordable it is the best option for any business. Many would consider 429 expensive but if I could get a T1 for that price at the homestead I would do in this second. 429 is a lot less than the rent for TSPN! Unfortunately with a T1 you have two charges the connection charge and the loop charge. The loop charge for me is crushing about 1200 dollars a month.
Wow, $1200 for the loop, that’s insane!
I went through a broker to find the deal I got and includes the connection and the loop. You’ve probably checked that already, but if not, that’s an option.
The local telco had a crew out for 2.5 weeks splicing wires and installing repeaters to get the signal to me. I had a chance to chat with the crew and they are not going to make any money on this deal, ever.
about the “Thoughts on keeping topics interesting for prepper group meetings” topic, Check out http://www.meetup.com/ click on find at the top. It is a social thing where you can find people of similar interests. I joined a hiking group in our area, and have seen 3 gardening groups and 1 Auquaponics group (http://www.meetup.com/Idaho-Aquaponics/) in our area. I need to check them out. It would be a great way to meet other people, or get groups together for sharing preparedness.
Good to have you back Jack…..I know what you mean about being at home- there’s no place like home LOL! Sounds like you need us as much as we need you. I am honored to a part of this community.
Jack,
About rural internet. What our community did was attend a Rural Roads meeting, essentially a meeting that coordinates various gvt departments and discusses issues with the public.
We made the argument to the county supervisor that there was a danger to law enforcement officers and fire department that they would respond to a call and not be able to use radio to communicate. Additionally the local fire station uses DSL to communicate.
Basically the county sup. was convinced that in the interest of officer safety they needed to have cell signal. So he called the cell company and “asked them” to put a tower out here. Apparently in the interest of good relations they did, and this facilitated internet over cell service. Also since the fire department got DSL, it was no big deal to get it at the house.
TL;DR Use the government by appealing to officer safety to pressure cell phone companies to install services outside their profit margin.
“Close down the pig trough of insurance money that doctors, hospitals, and pharmacueticals are feeding on…”
That was great!
In regardes to the Soldier and prepping, here is what we did when I was growing up and later when I served on AD. We used our cases of long term storage to take the place of our bed frames. Each case is six cans and you put three on each side and down the middle of a King size bed under the box and you have 54 number 10 cans of long term food. More if you do that with the kids beds too.
Container gardening is also a good thing, since you can just dump out the dirt and take the container with you. Storing food and water for the family is key, you won’t have an issue but your family might especially if they are off post. But since AR 525-27 has been published the Army is beginning to plan for off post families needs also. But why count on it?
Jack is right, you can be forced out, QMP is back, and they are starting at the top this time. E9’s and E8’s are getting QMPed now, SMA Chandler is on the warpath for NCO’s that can’t make weight, pass a PT test, or are not taking SSD’s. (Structured Self Development) So start making plans for what you want now.
Don’t be like some Soldiers, getting $1,124 a month and paying $793 a month on a car loan. Now is a great time to save money, live under your costs, live a pay grade lower than you are, and look for deals (not all are on post).
One more thing: getting out does not mean you’re going to get a job because employers love your military experience. Vet unemployment is running at 18% over all, and for 18 to 24 year olds is over 33%. So keep working on your education, after all the Army is willing to pay your tuition right now. If you have a degree when you come out your better able to get a civilian job. Your military training does not often transfer to civilian certification.
@Top,
I could not agree more! Specifically for young guys like you mention. If you get out with 20 and a full retirement with half pay and benefits it gives you some time to figure out what you want to do next. When you are 22 or 24 or what have you and your only experience is throwing lead, cooking chow or turning wrenches times can really be tough at first. I was 21 when I got out as I joined for three years when I was still 17, I was so young and OH SO STUPID. I figured anyone would want to hire an Airborne solider full of energy with a great work ethic. NOPE!
I don’t think any employers gave two shits about being fresh out of the military. If any did they were also vets so finding a vet owned business hiring will help you. I ALWAYS gave any vet preference if they were honorably separated and even remotely qualified for a job. The thing was finding them to be “even remotely qualified” was difficult.
Now what I can tell you is once I clawed my way up from the bottom, got real experience and proved myself THEN employers did seem to value my prior service. In fact I would say it was highly valuable at that point. In some ways military service is kind of like a college degree. It doesn’t mean much when the ink is still damp on the discharge or degree but prove yourself to the market and later on it carries a lot of weight and respect.
Now if I were 20 and in cammo again I wouldn’t really seek a degree, I would go to school for programming, web development and database work. I would take every course I could get Uncle Sam to pay for, if it counted to a degree great if not the skill is what I would want.
In this day and age if you can learn marketing and web programming you can really do well in any niche. Marketing is something you really can learn as you go with, programming takes a lot more time to learn and I personally believe that getting at least some formal training at first will benefit you greatly. It would be a better use of off hours than chasing girls at the NCO club, though that was fun too.
RE: Health Insurance and HSA’s:
1) NRA members should check out the member benefits section of the NRA website. As members, we have access to health insurance plans, some of which are priced very nicely. Not available in all states, and not all the plans are that great but it’s a resource that’s worth a look.
2) HSA’s aren’t available as a stand-alone product; you can only get them in combination with a “qualified” high-deductible health plan.
I’m in for a Lake DeGray event.
Jack,
At the end of the ep you mentioned what would happen to Vegas if the SHTF. Well google the video game Fallout New Vegas. This is cheap entertainment to answer your question… if anything ask your son, he may have it on Xbox 360.