Thoughts on TSHTF

This is a good read about life in a failed nation state. A lot of info to glean but notice what is the biggest trend for trading on the black market

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-01-30/venezuelan-pirates-rule-the-most-lawless-market-on-earth

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Recently The Girls have been impressed with my ability to pick shit up. Not like back when I was healthy and pulling 7hondo plus but with some rather simple tools. Any rate got me to thinking….. dangerous past time I know….. that I don’t recall any posts about mechincaly lifting heavy stuff. Really we are talking about dirt simple tools, tools practicality every farmer and general mechanic knows about, tools so common a lot of us never think twice about them, tools which would make a huge difference in your ability to eat the shit sandwich of life when things are at their semi worst.

In no real order…..

Block and tackle. Huge fan, I am pretty sucky with explaining it and mehcinal advantage but here is a decent video on the topic. Remember these are the basic lifting tools/ technology men used to build all that old school ancient shit that’s still around and impressing us in the here and now

Come alongs and hand lever chain hoists. Damn near interchangeable but not completely. I tend to see come alongs/ cable pullers as linear pulling tools, like winches and hand lever hoists as over head lifting tools. Either can do either but it’s easier to pull with a come along and it’s easier to lift and lower loads with a lever hoist….. and I don’t really like lever hoists. I prefer chain falls, or chain hoists. Same same just depends on what they call them in your area. If I was on a tight budget, I would get the hand lever hoist because of its slight advantage in lifting . If I had a better budget I would buy a come along and a chain fall. Thats just me. You wont fuck yourself if you only get a come along, and really 3, 3 ton come alongs and some basic rigging skills/ tools and you can move some heavy fucking shit. Tldr; get what fits your budget, get at least 2 lifting/ pulling devices. And the shit to go with them like snatch blocks and lifting straps, chains, wire ropes etc etc. What ever you get, get 3 ton or better. Problem with better is, then it becomes hard to find chains, lifting straps, snatch blocks etc etc to fit your lifting/ pulling capacity….. yeah recap of an older post. You get what you pay for you cheap fuckers but 3 tons seems to be a very workable working range

Don’t know this guy but I thought this video was an excellent introduction. Video quality sucks but the dude seems to know what he is doing. Knows more then me at any rate

If you play around on the YouTube you will find guys using come alongs for all sorts of clever work short cuts. Watch them and keep in mind how versatile they are.

A bed mounted cherry picker on your truck. Get one. Mine is a 1/2 ton. This is what got all of this started. Most of the time The Girls humor me as some kind of sex machine/ adorable crazy ass redneck. Then they act semi dumbfounded when I actually use whatever bit of redneckery effectively. In this case I picked up a rather hefty chunk of petrified wood with one of these and set it down on my trailer. I could have used the winch too but I will leave that for another day when I feel like toying with them some more. The Girls thought the cherry picker was stupid when we left the house and 40 mintues later they were changing their minds. Loved it. Couldn’t find any decent videos of one in use but there are a lot of them for sale.

I have a wheeled gantry crane at the farm. Something like the video bellow but mine is more robust and a bit less mobile. Always a trade off. The one at the farm is rated for 3 tons and is from fastenal, it has a 3 ton chain fail hoist with a trolley so you can move the hoist to any position on the rail. It’s a fairly useful tool. Hand chain hoists are slow going, as you will see in the video, but they don’t really break and the whole damn thing is fairly mobile. I don’t use it very often but it is damn handy to have a round and I could use it for a lot more things if I didn’t have more modern tools available… tools that rely on gas, diesel and or electricity…….

Remember 2 things. #1) I ain’t endorsing any products on this post. I picked the videos because I thought they were good demonstrations of how these work. #2) zombie apocalypse or no, work has to be done and heavy shit has to be moved. These are the tools you can use to move all sorts of heavy shit when you don’t have a forklift, help or electricity.

Making amends, redemption in action

Old pirates, yes, they rob I
Sold I to the merchant ships
Minutes after they took I
From the bottomless pit
But my hand was made strong
By the hand of the Almighty
We forward in this generation
Triumphantly
Won’t you help to sing
These songs of freedom?
‘Cause all I ever have
Redemption songs
Redemption songs

Lets agree to ignore the politics of the lyrics

I rescue pit bulls with a guy I know from the motorcycling. He is good at being a man and these days he is a good man too. Better man then me in many ways. Rich in the ways of integrity, love, friendships, stories and adoptive family, poor in cash.

But that wasn’t always so. He started off well enough, tough up bringing but nothing horrible. Out of high school, into the military to be one of those girls with penises and went off the rails after that. Coke (and I recently learned, dog fighting )mostly. He rode with a bad crew, which I knew when I meet him because of the black blotches covering up old tatts. Out and out bad. Fucking up put him on the path to being on the wrong side of a law man’s gun but that’s not how it played out when he caught a case.

He walked away from it all one night after a dog fight went wrong. He was killing dogs when an inner voice said what the fuck are you doing. The full weight of fucking up hit him like a sledgehammer. He grabbed the dogs he hadn’t killed and hauled ass. Told his old crew he was done but he wouldn’t rat, fully expecting to be beaten and possibly killed when he returned his colors, but he showed up on time with his cut and his ink covered so they let him be.

A few months later the cops were at his door. Knock knock, are you so and so, yes I am, you are under arrest, you have the right to remain silent…. While they were putting bracelets on him he told the cops I won’t resit. I fucked up a lot, but I wont hurt you. There is a gun in the house and some dogs. Get the gun, let me put on my pants and I wont lawyer up. Longish story short he was up front with the law about what he did but refused to rat on his old crew. Pissed them off and the law threatened him with telling everyone he went state witness and throwing him in Gen Pop. He told the DA, I am a Christian now, I won’t lie, I won’t contest anything I did. I’ll do my time but I won’t rat. After some days of legal bullshit the DA told him to get a lawyer we’ll work something out but you need a public defender. My friend got a pretty hard sentence but not the worst. The judge added he would never be allowed to own a dog or be around dogs again. My friend asked the judge to reconsider that part, basically saying I am a worthless son of a bitch, I earned my time but when I get out I have to make amends to the dogs. I never hurt anyone that wasn’t in the life and they had it coming, but the dogs never deserved what I did to them . When I get out I have to make it right, to the dogs. Judge kept the can’t own dogs part, tossed the other.

My friend did a nickle, Got out way early because even the hard ass CO’s spoke for him. He got out, found a church full of old folks who werent pisssy about his tattoos and jail time, learned he could get some help from the VA, learned to work on bikes and started helping out at animal shelters. My friend told me once he heard the

what the fuck are you doing voice he lost the desire for whores, coke, money etc. Gone. He said he went 9 years without thinking about a woman until he meet his wife. 9 years, no boner. Saw her, boner. He went to talk to her. Laid all his bullshit on the table and said date me any way. She did and they have been married 17 years now. He patched shit up with his kids, He has grandkids, him and his old lady don’t make much money, his best year was 53k, they live in a 1 bedroom, 1 bath low level apartment and like all true bikers, his Harley is best ride.

They are a good couple. An odd couple. Him with his tattoos and hard face, her with her church girl for life vibe, but they are happy and she understands his drive about rescuing animals.

I didn’t know most of this. I guessed the out bad, coke, gang life, jail time and conversion stuff. Ain’t the 1st guy like that I have meet but he told me the full story about 2 weeks ago. We were working on finding a home for this dog he found. Amazing dog, beautiful and friendly and she surrived an unkown number of days of 19 degree temps with no food, no water and only a plastic dog hoise to keep her warm. She surrived with her temperment entact. We needed a foster home for her, and my new dog was too aggressive to bring in another. I asked him about keeping the new dog. He said I can’t man, and explained why

The Ton has seen broken men before. Hell The Ton has been broken ourselves but I ain’t ever seen a man that convicted of his pass. I don’t know how the scales of cosmic justice work but I do know a man can’t give anymore then him when it comes to animals. He even talked me out of killing an opossum once. Sometimes I wish the fucker would slow down because I need the break. 3 dogs in one week is a big deal when your house is full of dogs and kids and you have 2 full time jobs going on but I am a fucking sucker.

The point behind all this? There ain’t one really expect to point out how rare it is for a man to completely turn his life around like that. Not sure what it takes, but I have not yet meet the woman who has done it.

Soyboy….

Soyboy…. I like the term. It’s funny as hell and I was onto the dangers of soy consumption pretty early so i get to do a little extra crowing but soy boy status is serious shit for men.

The problem is less that there are soy boys around, because there has always been useless men, and more about how most men are bitches. Most of the men who think they arent a soy boy fall top dead center into the soy boy category and never realize it because the hallmarks for masculine behaviour have been reduced to near on zero.

Let me explain. Odds are good you read soy boy, thought of pajama boy and laughed and let’s face it he deserves to be laughed at. Women do (or did) their thing to police the herd, boys and men “bully” to police the wolf pack. So you laugh at him and maybe said thank God I aint one of them pathetic dudes.

Well….what do you do on the regular that is robustly masculine? From what I can tell most men’s anti soy boy claim is based on some weak ass shit like the kind of office job they do, beer they drink, played some sport in school,lifting free weights and maybe voting for trump….. all of it weak mother-fucking-sauce my friend. I love booze, beef, cigars and gym time but none of that would have impressed our forefathers but here is the good news. This ain’t nothing you can’t fix.

Now everything I am fixing to say is based on physically healthy adult men. You’lose no status with The Ton for being born crippled, being elderly or being busted up from shit like car accidents, IED’s and the like. We ain’t all dealt the same cards and we all move in and out various positions in life. It ain’t a big deal and it ain’t any kind of shame

The shame lies in wallowering in your soy boyhood.

Three things separate men from soy boys. #1 your capacity and talent for violence, enduring long term exposure to harsh envriomets and facing serious risk to life and limb on the regular. Normally you can’t really separate those three masculine foundations, but sometimes they are. Nor does a man have to go to any real extremes to move from bitch to legit. Get a 3 star rating on all the man card items and you’ll be the type of man most men will want in their platoon

Violence is a man’s 1st job. His 1st responsibility to himself and others in his crew. Violence is how you keep other dudes from monkey stomping your ass, stealing your shit, raping your bitches and enslaving your get. Being a civilized society we mostly farm that shit out to other men these days but nothing changes the golden rule as in violence is golden. If you are the kind of guy who has to call 911 when someone kicks in your door…. guess what?
You’re a bitch. If you are the kind of guy who has to turn the other cheek vs choosing to turn the other cheek you are a bitch.

Here at Camp Ton Coastal we live in a 2 story home, which sits up on top of some stilts. Same as the other 6 houses on this stretch of inter coastal bliss. If someone were to kick in the door while we are all up stairs, tucked into our comfy space age foam mattress beds… well I would stay up stairs, have one of The Girls call 911 and kill the motherfuckers the second they step foot on the stairs leading up to my family.

If we were sitting on the deck, watching the world go buy and someone kicks in the front door…. them cats anti nothing but paper targets at that point.

Wouldn’t really work that way though. Who ever breaks into my place will be doing me a favor. I have pit bulls and presa’s to feed. The reduction in dog food expenses would be welcome

Any rate. The difference here is threat level vs paper work. I have no moral issues with killing someone because they broke into your house to steal your tv. That’s a fair trade in my book. What I don’t want to waste time on is the legal bullshit. Reasonable and prudent given how laws protect the wrong sort of people these days

You are a bitch if your only choice is to call 911 because you lack the tools, training and mind set to defend what is yours.

Same with turning the other cheek. You cannot turn the other cheek if you lack the capacity for retribution. Christ turned the other cheek ( @ that moment in time) while possessing power beyond our comprehension. It’s cool if some guy pissed you off and you elect to let shit slide because it ain’t worth the legal hassle to you or it’s a religious commandment. If you have to let shit slide because you can’t brawl….. well you know the deal. And the worst kind of chumps church up their bitch status with religious edicts

While violence is the corner stone of masculine sovereignty and manhood it is also the easiest deficit to overcome here in the usa. There aren’t to many places where you can’t find a good pistol and good tactical pistol training. An intro class and a tactical class with the occasional refresher course and you have the needed basics covered. However that ain’t enough to move up to full on man status. Those schools give you skillz, they don’t do much to delvope the proper mind set.

Fighting takes you from bitch to bull faster the anything else on God’s green earth. Good fight training isn’t hard to find. Skip all the who flung dung bullshit. Learning how to spar, fight for points, bow or how to do funny zipper head dances called katas ain’t worth much. You need to get involved with a club which produces real fighters. Boxing, kicking boxing, ju-jisitu or MMA. Take your pick, 75 mins of either, 3 times a week and in 6 months your balls will start to descend. Start thinking about getting into the ring around the 6 month mark, get in the ring a good 5 or so times. Win loose or draw, your man cred will be on the rise after the 6 month point and fully established by year two/ fight number 3.

Fighting like this does the most for your man cred because fighting requires all the masculine virtues. The training is tough as hell. Builds ups your body, mind and soul. Around the 6 month time frame you will be in a position to actually choose turning the other cheek. Your hard heart and strong mind will drive your body past its old pain threshold. Your hard heart and strong mind will drive you to overcome the fear of pain, the fear of defeat and your 1st win will take you to the pinnacle of masculine pride and joy.

I talk mostly about brawling because that’s what I know best, from a professional and personal level, but its is only one piece of the puzzle. There are other things, and I will write on those other things as time permits.

I also want to offer a word of caution. Well a couple of them. #1 be smart. Pick a good fight club to train in. Don’t try to go from 200 pounds of flabbby bitch to UFC in 3 weeks. #2 & this is for the older guys…. a lot of older guys basically say “I did this that or the other thing in high school or college and therefore not a soy boy”. I call bullshit. Men don’t get to live in the past. As we age our status as men rest on different things but we can never get to far away from the foundational principles of violence, disregard for personal safety and the ability to endure harships. We don’t engage in those things as often, we don’t need to be as good as it them as we use to but we must retain the ability to do them effectively when required plus we have the additional responsibilites of leadership and authority. We no longer just do the hard, dangerous and dirty bullshit of life. We also make the decisions no one else wants to make.

We don’t get to rest on our lurals until old age betrays us or the Good Lord takes us home.

The Ton on the value of men

I am The Ton mother fucker! And I value men based on one factor alone.

Does he have https://tonsplace.wordpress.com/2017/04/18/game-dog-game-humility-and-who-to-trust-how-far-to-trust-him/

I value men based on their innate desire to cross the ring in order to destroy the other guy, his ability to ignore pain, exhaustion, fear and injury. Will he keep fighting even if he’s already dead on his feet? Would he rather die or be in jail then break faith with his brothers? That’s it. The complete value of a man. Will he fight when we fight? Will he lie to the cops and his old lady for the sake of his crew? Not for his own well being mind you but for his brothers. Does he got that shit when he looks you in the eye and says don’t worry brother, I got this shit?

Those are the kind of men to honor and call brother. Those are the kind of men to respect even when they are on the other end of your gun

Alpha? Beta? The Ton has 0 fucks to give about that shit. Can a man brawl? Does he fight hard even when hes getting monkey stomped? Does he ride hard, shot straight and always report the truth? Does he keep the faith with his crew? That is the sum total of a man’s value.

This is also on a sliding scale. We don’t owe these things to all men. Just the men in our crew. You owe the most to the man beside you. Next is the guys on your fireteam. Then your squad, your platoon etc etc. By the time that shit is spread out…. well you don’t owe that much to the guys in the same division vs you the guys on your gun crew.

Got it?

Well it don’t work that way with women. Women being inferior beings in all ways possible, cannot understand brotherhood or how to correctly value a man. Now they do get off on men who are good at being a man but it’s temporary. The more time she spends around him the more she will see he is less then perfect and when that equation tilts enough, the vag dries up and she will betray him in large ways and small

When a man is your brother he is your brother until he breaks the faith. Does he suck with a shotgun? Doesn’t fucking matter, he’s your brother and he keeps the faith. He can’t ride as hard as you? Doesn’t fucking matter because he keeps the faith. Does he drink to much and pass out on panic tables like it’s his full time job? Doesn’t matter as long as he keeps the faith with his crew. Does he annoy the shit out you because he talks to much? Doesn’t fucking matter because he keeps the faith with his brothers and you can trust him to the end.

Being good at being a man and keeping faith with his brothers is the complete value of a man according to the Ton Value System.