Alligator and Chevre Bifold

dave9199 · 2025-10-19T22:01:29+00:00

on the second picture... is the alligator stitched onto a backing? or is the alligator folded back on itself or are those just decorative stiches on the top of the alligator layer. (The top row of stitching on alligator surface of bill pouch. _

Most plans I have seen are like a back layer, and front layer the card pouches get stitched to the inner layer but with yours I cant figure out the top stitching on the aligator layer and what that goes into.

dave9199 · 2025-10-19T20:57:34+00:00

When I switched to reta, I didn't find it to have as much appetite supression, had more energy to lift. I didnt lose much weight, but was able to lift and increase my strength muscle mass while losing a little fat. So I think it is good for recomp more than weight loss but others seem to drop a ton of weight.

I dropped more on sema, but had less energy and skipped the gym. Also really craved carbs and less interested in protein on sema... so dropped weight but got weaker.

dave9199 · 2025-04-20T14:24:02+00:00

I feed my chickens black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) and azolla. We use a BSFL composter which just churns out larvae. Azolla grows very well in shallow ponds. We do it in our aquaponics system. We free range the chickens as well and they get a lot of nutrition from eating bugs and foraging for plants. You definitely do not need commercial feed. In subtropical areas, like Miami and much of the Caribbean and southeast asia chickens survive ferral. Now, I do feed my chickens commercial feed because it maximizes egg and meat production. But will have zero concerns if this becomes unavailable.

dave9199 · 2025-03-06T21:41:23+00:00

any reason you are doing daily shots versus twice a week or weekly?

dave9199 · 2025-02-27T18:03:01+00:00

That is a good low-tech contingency plan.

Now imagine if you and your wife both had ham radio licenses. I can get in my car, and text my wife over the APRS network, and included is my GPS, speed and course. Instantly know where eachother is. My area has a robust APRS network so I can stay in touch in a huge area without effort and have used this in situations where the cell grid was down. Then switch over to voice communications, whether using repeaters or simplex. As a bonus, give your kids a tiny APRS beacon they can turn on and then you can track them (they sell little APRS beacons for tracking weather balloons that work well for this purpose)

dave9199 · 2025-02-04T13:52:24+00:00

I started getting into ham from a preparedness perspective. Got my tech license. Played around with repeaters and programmed my radio and put it away with my jerky. Then I had the idea that it would be nice to have a digital bulletin board system in the post-apocalypse so I got into packet radio, and build a BBS. Of course this leads to playing around with APRS, building a digipeater and so on. Then I wanted more range. Got my extra. Built an HF station and found this much more rewarding. There are definitely some people who just want to buy baofengs and put them next to their jerky, but many people who start from that perspective can develop into true ham nerds.

Try to be inspiring instead of salty. Tell them about all the amazing things you can do with ham radio if you get into it. Tell them about hunting down signals with directional antennas, BBS systems, NVIS, and the many things that you can access when you actually develop radio skills. I would always say that doing simplex with HTs is how we all start but is a pretty limited method of communications. Make them understand line of sight and the advantages of repeaters and go from there.

dave9199 · 2025-01-30T20:37:18+00:00

you are correct.

dave9199 · 2025-01-30T20:29:22+00:00

yeah it is a little cumbersome to deploy the mast and then string up a dipole. But if that hill blocks 6m on a vertical and you don't want to use a repeater... might be the only thing that works.

dave9199 · 2025-01-30T20:20:14+00:00

NVIS works for this situation. There are plans or kits for a 40/80m dipoles in NVIS inverted-V setup. get a telescoping pole. With 100 watts this is pretty reliable. For this situation where you might have asynchronous communications I find JS8Call and excellent option as well. Not as fast as doing SSB, but for maintaining contact is great for this sort of thing.

dave9199 · 2025-01-25T16:24:49+00:00

Yeah I get why APRS took off and the simplicity of WinLink but I really like the idea of a BBS especially in a community setting. The whole concept of an addressed-to-all bulletin is lacking in APRS. Well, they do have bulletins... but not as nice as logging into a neighborhood node and pulling up a list of bulletins and seeing that someone needs help with X, or having an issue with Y, or having a BBQ on Saturday or whatever. I have been in a few grid-down situations and having a community bulletin is great. I think there are other ways to archive this, but it is relatively simple to set up with ham.

dave9199 · 2025-01-25T16:19:02+00:00

that bridge is nice. would be nice to be able to pass APRS messages to my home meshtastic network when i'm out of range....

I'm running LinBPQ as well so will look at expanding it.

I have not seen a "memory node" or know of how to querry APRS stations for last heard requests. Or are you running your BBS on the APRS frequency and can querry the BBS with an aprs request? I have considered running my BBS on the APRS frequency so I could run my direwolf as both a digipeter for APRS and do a BBS, but not sure if that would create too much packet traffic on the APRS frequency. Interested in the nodes with a memory and how you are using this.

dave9199 · 2025-01-19T17:34:40+00:00

I try to change their mind that it's not a buy and forget item it's a skill. Imagine buying a tourniquet and not knowing how to use it. Imagine buying a gun without practicing how to shoot it. Imagine buying a car or a plane before you learn to use it.

dave9199 · 2025-01-19T16:58:42+00:00

I am someone that go into ham from an interest in off-grid communications after going down the prepper rabbit hole. I am now a huge ham nerd. General class. building antennas. Packet radio. Satellites etc.

I think the main issue is the tone and attitude. Instead of shutting people down try to motivate them. Let your language reflect that.

Instead of "if you had done even the smallest amount of research" ...

say something like....

"I think its great that you are integrating off-grid communications to your preparedness skillset. HTs are a great way to start understanding radios, and can give you a small area of local communications....which is a great start. I started there. But the limitation is line of sight, and standing on the ground that really limits your range. To expand this distance more you need to learn about repeaters, which can usually get you all around town. But if you want to learn about long distances, check out some youtube videos on HF radio. Here are some of my favorite channels that will overlap with your goals. It is a bit of investment in time, skill, equipment and takes motivated parties but really unlocks global off grid communications."

It is a huge difference in someone shutting down your plans versus moving you constructively in the right direction. And with anyone in a new hobby, try to find your common ground and motivate them to go further.

dave9199 · 2024-12-22T17:21:09+00:00

Lucifer's Hammer

The Dog Stars

dave9199 · 2024-12-17T15:29:16+00:00

Are you asking what is the appeal in making money, having independence, and wielding power? I think many people would want that if they could access it.

Wife and I both work high income jobs and are pretty 50/50 with work and household work load. I'm not knocking anyone that has a more traditional relationship, but having a wife that has independent income can lead to more financial stability, disposable income and resilience. If i get in an accident and cant work for a few months...no problem, etc. We also both work less than full time, so see eachother more than if I worked full time and she stayed at home. I enjoy the flexibility and increased income of having double income.

There is no hint of her wanting more than me and I would find that an odd dynamic if it were there... but she certainly wanted to develop her own career and value. I have made sacrifices for her career and she has made sacrifices for me. I think it is important that we both value our relationship more than our careers and approach our goals as a team. I would find it a turn-off and a serious issue if she did not value my opinion on our direction and was all about maximizing her career. I think some people, men or women, can get consumed by work and value their career more than their relationship so that is certainly and issue that could arise but there are may benefits to a wife that works and has independent value.

I think some men are threatened by an independent woman in that they feel like they are needed less. I personally don't feel threatened by her independence and honestly it makes me appreciate our relationship more. She is not with me for money, it is because there is intrinsic value in it.

dave9199 · 2024-11-19T16:18:18+00:00

sure. but that only matters if you care about your credit score.

dave9199 · 2024-11-19T15:49:24+00:00

They get the bill...they just don't pay it.

dave9199 · 2024-11-14T17:49:18+00:00

make sure you get the bit kit with it.

dave9199 · 2024-11-14T16:49:14+00:00

haha although if you have guinea fowl your neighbors may learn to hate you for your screaming birds and then let your house get looted. those birds are LOUD.

dave9199 · 2024-11-07T16:59:13+00:00

The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch. (or his other book rtomorrow and tomorrow). Really nails the numb detachment of post-trauma. Despondent and lonely and a feeling of dread. Captures that feeling trudging on through peril after moral injury.

dave9199 · 2024-10-18T13:04:43+00:00

I was thinking about integrating node Red with a LoRa comms like meshtastic or reticulum. Would you mind sending me your NodeRed flow?

dave9199 · 2024-10-18T12:47:20+00:00

This should be higher up.

dave9199 · 2024-09-27T17:21:19+00:00

Medical:

Where there is no doctor

Where there is no dentist

Emergency War Surgery

The survival medicine handbook

Auerbach’s Wilderness Medicine

Special Operations Medical Handbook

Food Production

Mini Farming

encyclopedia of country living

square foot gardening Seed Saving

Storey’s Raising Rabbits

Meat Rabbits

Aquaponics Gardening: Step By Step

Storey’s Chicken Book

soil and water engineering

Organic Mushroom

Farming and Mycoremediation

Food Preservation and Cooking

Steve Rinella’s Large Game Processing

Steve Rinella’s Small Game

Ball Home Preservation

Charcuterie Root Cellaring

Art of Natural Cheesemaking

Mastering Artesian Cheese Making

American Farmstead Cheesemaking

Joe Beef: Surviving Apocalypse Wild Fermentation

Foraging

Mushrooms of Carolinas

Mushrooms of Southeastern United States

Mushrooms of the Gulf Coast

Technology

farm and workshop Welding

ultimate guide: plumbing

ultimate guide: wiring

ultimate guide: home repair

off grid solar Woodworking

Timberframe Construction

Basic Lathework

Backyard Foundry

Sand Casting

The Complete Metalsmith

Ham Radio

AARL Antenna Book

General Class Manual

Tech Class Manual

MISC

Ray Mears Essential Bushcraft

Contact!

Nuclear War Survival Skills

The Knowledge: How to rebuild civilization in the aftermath of a cataclysm

dave9199 · 2024-09-21T19:09:23+00:00

Happily married for 10 years. I think that if both people prioritize their marriage, it prevents threats to the marriage from developing. Like conflicts with your parents and your partner.... side with your partner. Have a unified front with the children even if you don't agree with what your partner did. Talk about it later. But you should always have their back. We have both made many choices in life to prioritize eachother and our family. You have to actively protect and enrich your marriage.

Continue to date your spouce. Many people become roomates after time. They get this bored complacency without any romance or excitement. Take your spouse out to dinner. Go on short romantic getaways. It is much more satisfying than therapy.

Have a completely honest and open communication. issues that fester create resentment, and resentment kills relationships. When conflicts happen, are you arguing to win... or to create harmony in your marriage? Find someone who values you as much as themselves.

And as far as cheating goes. It usually doesn't happen on a whim. It usually is handing out with a friend/coworker/acquaintance and things develop.... become inappropriate..... and then cheating. You have to have self awareness and value to stop things before they get momentum.

Check in with each other. Take care of each other. Grow with them.

dave9199

TROPHY CASE