October's colors were ramping up the farther my pickup and I traveled North.  The aspens where starting to turn as I sped up the I-75 corridor in mid-Michigan.  The kinds of trees were changing as I progressed, from venerable, old oaks in the middle of a wheat field, to these aspens, quaking in the sun, their leaves with bold hints of gold, mixed with the waning greens of summer.  I thought about the parallel situation that happens as one travels to higher elevations, almost anywhere in the world.  You might start out in a jungle, near sea level, but as you progress inland and up, the flora changes, just like it does as you head North, or South, for that matter.  At some point in your upward progress, you're going to encounter something like a quaking aspen, then pines, or other conifers, then that will give way to perhaps some scrubby pines and willows, then tundra, then barren ground with not much, then snow/ice.  Same thing with going North.  Same progressive shift in vegetation.  Pretty weird really, but logical.

Now that we've got THAT out of our way...

I was on a trip to Northern Michigan, to meet up with my brothers and some friends.  The plan was to do some bird hunting, mostly Ruffed Grouse and Woodcock, but I had also gotten prepared to hunt waterfowl by picking up that stamp as well.  It seemed like it took forever to get all my work done and get out of town.  It had already been a long drive - about 6 hours so far, with about the same still to go.

As I worked my way farther North, the solid wall of aspens was giving way to an ever more frequent smattering of conifers.  Ah, the Great White North!  I love it!  The Zilwaulkee bridge was a distant memory now, with it's floodplain and mile upon mile of grasslands.  Saginaw Bay had flown by in the bright, crisp daylight, a glimmer in the distance.  Now I was working northward toward Grayling, but struggling to keep my eyes open!

A couple days before, my brother had texted me to say, "You're not gonna believe this, but it looks like some Marine died in my cabin!"  What?!!!!  Yep, some guy had been running from the law, holed up in my brother's cabin and got himself peppered with .223 caliber ventilators.  We still aren't sure what it was all about. Sounds like a Jason Bourne film, or a Tom Clancy plot, only the "hero" got snuffed out quickly, like a candle.

My brother warned me that we were going to have to spend some of our time repairing the damage the swat team had done.  "You'd think they would have taken care of that themselves!", says I.  "Nope.  They don't do that.  It's just shoot out the windows, frames, etc., dig out the bullets, hastily clean up all the shells, and such and hit the road. Dirty dogs! 

So I'm pulling into the place, in the absolute middle of complete nowhere, tooling up the trail that leads back to the cabin, and see smoke up ahead.  There's my brother, burning a mattress.  He looks up at me, in my pickup, and warns me not to breathe the smoke, "It's that guys blood! You never know..." Wow!  Craziness, indeed.

Yeah, that guy died in one of the bunks in our dormitory in the cabin.  How?  Why?  The only information we got was of limited use, and likely incorrect.  Back to the Jason Bourne notion!  He must have heard something he wasn't supposed to know, I'm thinking.  Holy crap, things like that actually happen.  And how in the world did they find the guy?  We're talking nowhere land here!  He must have had a tracking chip hidden somewhere inside his body.

That's all for now.  I'm off to start a series of novels based roughly on this incident and make millions!

Ciao

A World of Flowers

Yep!  It's March 1, 2018!  I've been highly remiss.  But anyway, I forgive me.

I am going to document the profusion of flowers I've found on my little piece of property, last year...

Ok, so it's now April 22, 2018, and I managed to get back to this thing.  So, as promised, here are some shots from last year's flower crop, wild or otherwise, in Glendale, Ohio, USA.

Endless Hot Water in an Offgrid Scenario... or not

Here's another excellent little video that Engineer775 put together showing how he made a simple thermo-syphoning hot water heater that uses wood to do the work.

Enjoy!



Panchito

Where Has All Our Freedom Gone?

Greetings and salutations,

I just finished watching a trailer for an upcoming documentary featuring some of the best minds in freedom out there today.  I'll let you figure out who those folks are as you watch this short film.  Meanwhile, I will throw out this question to you - "Do you REALLY want to be a free person, free to make your own decisions, grow your own food, build your own dwelling, take your money where you want to, go wherever you want to go when you want to go there, talk to whomever you desire to have a conversation with? Or, are you content to let the hoard of blood-sucking politicians and government welfare recipients (government employees) force you to do their bidding, blindly walking through life like the slave you're becoming?  Huh?  Well?  Think about it!  Think through your answer carefully!  Don't brush my questions off and move on with your life...

Here's a little match to set your world on fire:



Get yourself free!

To Continue, Or Not To Continue...

I have been away from this blog for some time now, as anyone who follows me can attest to.  It's been, again, months since my last post.  The difference this time is that I have intentionally stayed away, which doesn't bode well for the popularity contest that is blogging.  "Why," you may ask, "have you refrained from your online literary persuits?"  I have my doubts as to the wisdom of publishing online, since learning of the wide-spread illegal surveillance being conducted by the US "government".  I nearly feel that calling my own government illegitimate is a completely justified position to take at this juncture.  Too much illegal activity is and has been going on for the last 40 years or so.  There have been entirely too few individuals involved in the political spectrum who can truly be called public servants, or moral individuals.

I recently finished reading a book by the name of Trance - Formation of America, which was written by someone who was deeply involved in MK-Ultra mind control, basically kidnapped by my government and used/abused in horrendous manners for many years until she managed to escape with help from a friend.  Don't read this book.  It will make you sick, and further will heavily undermine your confidence in the goodness of the US government.  But, if you want to be much more informed about the atrocious manners in which your tax dollars are being completely miss used by elected and non-elected government workers, read it, so as not to continue living in ignorance.

So, in light of the many, continuously appearing mismanaged, and/or illegal activities my government, or rather, employees of my government (which means me, I-the government of the USA) I am debating contributing ANY data to their corrupted cause.  I will keep you posted.

Over and out!

Panchito

Aquaponics in Action

Wow!  It's been awhile since I wrote anything.  I've been busy working 2 jobs. 
So what have I been doing that's interesting?  I've been building a combination green house and outbuilding for aquaponics.  The building frame is of welded dimensional steel framing, with straw bales and stucco on the exterior.  That's right, that thing is a straw-bale building, including the knee wall around the base of the greenhouse.  The system will house multiple tanks of tilapia, as well as growing towers and grow beds.  My client presently has somewhere near 2000 to 3000 tilapia in tanks, as well as several grow beds above them with various species of plants.
I've recently finished putting the polycarbonite on the greenhouse, but there are many air leaks that need to be filled with some sort of sealant.  The temperature is very low these days down in the 20's and Fahrenheit.  Snow is falling most days, though on occasion the temperature gets up to the 50s.  today we installed a propane heater and discovered that it's costing about $30 for 4-5 hours in propane costs.  That's pretty prohibitive, but we have other ways and means of heating the greenhouse, including geothermal, natural gas, and other including solar.  We may also put in a a rocket mass heater system that burns wood.  That would have pex tubing running through it and run the PEX tubing down into the knee wall that the greenhouse sits on, in the concrete floor, as well as a sump underneath the green house that has the gravel in it.  We're hoping that the gravel and something will act as a heat sink.  Eventually we will put solar water heating on the roof of the larger building.
Here are some photos of the building I've been working on, with more to come:

Having Taken The RED Pill...

Glen Jacobs does the smack-down on the political status quo, introducing his listeners to terms like Austrian School of Economics, Ron Paul, etc.

Check it out, I dare you!



Frank

More Info on Fukushima That You Don't Want to Hear

Indie media does it again!  Providing the truth when the World's "standard" media outlets try to cover it up.  Watch this video:



China Sindrome revisited...

The Dollar Vigilante

What?  The Dollar Vigilante?  What the...?

A friend of mine sent me a link, that lead to a link, that in the end lead to... The Dollar Vigilante.  What, you may ask, is that?

There's a guy by the name of Jeff Berwick, formerly of Canada, who is a somewhat famous and successful money guy, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.  The guy knows how to make a buck.  Jeff is also what he calls an anarch-capitalist.  Read that Anarchist/Capitalist.  That sounds like an enemy of the state to me!

He's formerly of Canada, because he left there some time ago, preferring to live in places like LA, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mexico, Argentina, and Chile (in Galt's Gulch).  I suspect the guy speaks Spanish...

I was just reading about a new service he and his people are offering called TDV Homegrown, a sort of advise column, or columns, for those of us still living in the USSA.  We, the subjects thereof, opines Jeff, need what he has to offer, and that what is advise, delivered in three or four separate periodic installments.

Here is an excerpt from one:

Just look at what the US citizenry is up against:

Executive Orders 10990 & 10998 allow the government to take over all modes of transportation, highways and seaports, including personal cars, trucks or vehicles of any kind and total control over all seaports, and waterways.

Executive Order 10995 allows government to seize and control of communication media

Executive Order 10997 allows government to take over all electrical power, gas, petroleum, fuels and minerals

Executive Order 10999 allows the government to take over all food resources and farms

Executive Order 11000 allows government to mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision

Executive Order 11001 allows government to overtake all health, education and welfare functions

US citizens are being forced to be beholden to a destructive government, but there are ways to sidestep the government’s wrath! Subscribe to TDV Homegrown Today!

Executive Order 11002 designates the postmaster general to operate a national registration of all persons

Executive Order 11003 allows the government to take over all airports and aircraft, including commercial aircraft

Executive Order 11004 allows the Housing and Finance authority to relocate communities, build new housing with public funds, designate areas to be abandoned, and establish new locations for populations

Executive order 11005 allows the government to take over railroads, inland waterways, and public storage facilities.

Executive order 11051 specifies the responsibility of the Office of Emergency Planning gives authorization to put all executive orders in effect in times of increased international tensions and economic financial crisis

Executive Order 11310 grants authority to the Department of Justice to enforce the plans set out in Executive Orders, to institute industrial support, to establish judicial and legislative liaison, to control all aliens, to operate penal and correctional institutions, and to advise and assist the President.

Executive order 11921 allows the federal emergency preparedness agency to establish control over the mechanisms of production and distribution of energy sources, wages, salaries, credit and the flow of money into US financial institutions in any undefined national emergency. It also provides that when a state of emergency is declared by the president, Congress cannot review the action for six months. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has broad powers in every aspect of the nation.

Thousands of hours of congressional hearings, testimonies, white papers, executive orders, news articles and other documents make clear the agenda of turning the US into a police state of Nazi Germany, Soviet Union and Franco’s Spain proportions. Knowing where to start is a major impediment to understanding the process and acting quickly to ensure you and your family survive. With TDV Homegrown, that problem just became a lot smaller.

"We are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in America’s story’ – President Barack Obama"

But we Homegrown Dollar Vigilantes want nothing to do with this “next great chapter…” just like our fellow expatriates.

That was a tad long, no?  Sorry, but I thought that we all need a dose of reality regarding our beloved leader, his royal communist/islamist highness.  Look at what he's done.  Look!  Did you vote for him?  He's going to put you in a Fema camp!  Congratulations, and thanks for all your help.

Jeff believes he has accumulated a bunch of valuable information that can help those of us stuck in the USSA.  This info can be yours for only $150 per year!  Check it out, and help Jeff maintain his opulent lifestyle in foreign lands. :-)

Ciao,

Panchito

No Default Coming...

A friend of mine sent me this video of Bill Still.  I'm glad he did, although it served to piss me off even more toward the "ruling" class.  Give a listen.



How do we get the thugs in power to do this?  That is the question.  Please comment and post your ideas.  It's time to actually DO something about the way things are being run.

Ciao,

Panchito

Hey Big Spender...

So, I've been thinking.  We, the Citizens of the USA, are in debt for something like 17 trillion dollars.  That truly sucks!  I've been thinking about how I, myself, have not spent one dime of that money.  Have you?  I don't think so.  How is it that we are indebted to such a staggering degree?

I thought and thought and thought about this problem, and my response has come to be that our fearless leaders over the last 50 years or so, and especially over the last 15 or so years, are responsible for all those expenditures.

Okay, so those dumb asses took it upon themselves to get us into this level of indebtedness.  It's time to start clambering loudly that THEY need to get us out of this problem.  THEY got us into the mess we're in, after all!

My proposal is that we tax or penalize ALL the politicians, until this problem is eliminated.  We seize 90% or more of their assets immediately, with no remuneration available.  I don't know how much that will bring us, but it's got to be quite a large amount.  I also suggest we force them to work for minimum wage till they are at least 75 years old, then no pension or retirement allowed.  They will have to rely on their children and relatives for their livelihood.

I think this is completely fair in every way.  The politicians made the mess.  It's their responsibility to rectify it, and not by taxing US more.

Enough said.

Panchito

Late Summer Gardens

Have I been remiss in my writing?  Yes, and no.  My business has been SO busy this year that I have barely even thought about writing in the blog, let alone my other ones.  I've often worked from sun to sun and on multiple jobs during the same day.  Today I'm stuck at home, due to a worn out water pump and timing chain replacement in my pickup truck.  I had just purchased new tires, a nearly $800 expense, when my truck started overheating.  I was driving along in traffic on a side road, an older black lady in a somewhat beat up sedan next to me, when I started noticing that maple syrup-like smell of propylene glycol.  Thinking it was emanating from the aforementioned lady's car, I started considering getting her attention.  Then  something diverted my attention, and I was arriving at my destination to start some work.  When I began coming to a stop, I smelled it again, and realized it was MY truck with the problem.  Anyway, the mechanic called to say that my truck is done and I should come and pick it up.  The problem is, I am stranded at home.  Oh, well...

So today, I occupied some of my time with doing some weeding out in some of my garden beds.  My gardens are replete with every sort of garden plant, and weed.  I even have something that is supposed to be a useful garden plant, but has proved itself, despite a definite degree of beauty, to be a highly invasive and hard to control little pest plant - Perilla.  Perilla is a member of the mint family, and as such is an aggressive grower.  It mostly spreads via seed dispersal.  It is also known as Shiso in Japan, Chinese Basil, Beefsteak Plant, and many other titles.  Botanically, it is called Perilla frutescens.

Perilla is originally an Asian plant, but has been included in the cuisines of many disparate cultures, and is grown and/or is naturalized all over the planet.  I have no idea how it ended up in my gardens, but it is growing vigorously.  It is a striking and beautiful addition to my gardens, but like most mints, Perilla is potentially very invasive.  Luckily, it is also fairly easy to pull out!

Here are some shots of the little dickens:

Perilla frutescens

Beautiful, but invasive Perilla

Perilla frutescens

Perilla in my tomato patch

So there you have it.  Perilla, Beefsteak Plant, Chinese Basil, Purple Mint, are all usable names for this useful plant.  I say useful, but I've never used it to date.  My younger son periodically makes a beverage from the plant, as he does from Lemon Balm, and seems to enjoy it.  The smell is minty, with a hint of cinnamon, and anise.  It is used in many Asian and Latin American dishes, though I've not looked any up yet.  You can actually find it for sale in markets geared toward those "two" cuisines.  

Check back to find updates to this article, at which time I may have tried using this plant in my cooking...

Ciao,

Panchito

Warre-style Beehive

Greetings readers,
This post will give you an opportunity to learn about an old kind of beehive known as a Warre hive.  Abbé Warré, a French priest from way back.  Warré tried out over 350 types of hives during his lifetime, settling on what was his own design, though really an amalgam of many other styles.
I read about he and his methods at www.biobees.com.  There you can find his translated, downloadable book, complete plans, etc., to get you started keeping bees.  If ever there was a time when it was critical that we all keep bees, it's now.  Here in Ohio most wild bees of all sorts are now dead!  That spells potential disaster, folks!  No bees equals no food!
Most beekeepers you talk to will probably tell you to stick with the standad Langstroth hives, but I say do ANYTHING, SOMETHING, and these are easy to make.
So here are a few photos of the hive components I built.  Like always I say just dive in!
Enjoy!

En este articulo, le doy a ustedes una oportunidad de aprender de otro estilo de colmena para abejitas se llama estilo Warré.  Sí usted toque en el link arriba www.biobees.com, puede usted encontrar documentos de y explicaciones de como construir y manejar esto estilo de colmena para si mismo.  Tendría usted que traducirle al castillano para leerlo - lo siento mucho.

Engozale ustedes amigos!

Chao

Panchito