Nowhere Road - Copperline Hills

I was rethinking my post the other day on investing and realized copper is perhaps another metal one might want to invest in to ride out the Hard Times ahead. Unlike gold and silver, copper doesn't have to be a sterile investment. Certain forms of copper can produce a pretty high return on your initial investment.



These nice country boys mention Colonel Vaughn Wilson, whose stills can be ordered at Copper Moonshine Stills. Not that I would ever recommend buying such a thing, unless you want the BATFE to kick in your door with a SWAT team on the mere suspicion that you might not be paying your fair share of federal liquor taxes... after all, that is the only reason distilling is illegal; it's a holdover from Prohibition.

What am I thinking?

Just got off the phone with a buddy who's a beekeeper. I had expressed an interest in beekeeping last fall and he's keeping me honest. So I guess, come April, I'll be setting up my first hive. We'll see where it goes from there. That'll be about the time our two goats kid as well. And I will need to start gathering wood in the spring. This is going to be an interesting year.

In which I opine on the superiority of stocks...

First off, let me state that my philosophy of saving is quite abnormal. I don't believe in amassing a large fortune. If fortunes are given, one must carefully consider what the Scriptures and the Fathers say about wealth: how difficult it is for the wealthy to enter the kingdom of heaven (the Master); that one's excess belongs to the poor (Chrysostom); and that riches are fleeting (James). That said, one must manage one's wealth carefully, as it is a gift of God. My first responsibility is to my family, and in order to provide for them, saving is a necessity... living paycheck-to-paycheck won't pay for a roof replacement, and going into debt (aka slavery) for the same should be my last option. In addition, in my case, I must manage my children's money for them while they are still young. Therefore, it behooves me to carefully consider what constitutes a good investment versus a bad investment.

There are a number of things one can do with one's money. Here is my opinion of each.

Friends on a journey

A family we're close to are driving from Alaska down through Central America. I think they're insane, given the high level of violence, particularly in northern Mexico, but it's not my choice. In any event, I'm following their travelogue here: http://alaskanrambler.wordpress.com/

What the heck?

Tech News Daily says Nothing to see here, move along.

I don't know what to make of this. I reflexively don't buy into the hordes of conspiracy theories, but this is just wierd. The burning question nobody seems to be asking (except Tech News Daily) is whether or not this is simply an anomaly in reporting. Still, this user-created map of the mass animal deaths that have occurred in the last week or so is a little disconcerting:

Here's a link to the Google map page.

I was going to post something about the trivium and quadrivium...

...but I decided against it. Instead, I stoked up the fire in the woodstove and made our (the kids' and my) favorite comfort food for lunch: mac & cheese with hot dogs. Yep, that's right: mama is out and about, and papa is feeding the kids. Sadly for them, my culinary repertoire is primarily grill-centric.


I say "sadly" only from the perspective of the parent that realizes the lunch he just made for his children is not exactly what those skinny dieticians would call "healthy" -- but then again, I can't recall the last time I looked at a dietician and thought, "You know, she looks really healthy." Nope. Every dietician I've ever known or met looked like an extra from one of those "Feed the Poor African Kids" commercials Sally Struthers used to do on TV when I was a kid. I look at them and immediately think, "This person will not do well in an economic collapse." They've got no stored body fat, so if they start going hungry, their body will immediately start consuming muscle mass instead of utilizing the body fat that God designed for exactly that sort of situation.