JAB

Nice - I think you will enjoy it.

  In the same vein as your statement, there is a guy on another forum to which I belong who calls them 'ear, nose and throat' guns.

I used to look at the minis and think that they would be pretty well useless.  Then I read folks on some, other forums talk about how much they liked theirs and started changing my mind.  When I came across the one I have, used, at what I still believe was a great price I decided to go for it.  Now, I'd kind of like to add a couple more.  In fact, I have to confess that I might one day decide to get one of the 1 1/8 inch barrel, .22LR only models just so I can carry it in the 'enclosed' style belt buckle.   http://northamericanarms.com/accessories/l-accessories/l-cc/belt-buckle-enclosed.html   For years, that was the only belt buckle that NAA offered and only made them for the shorter .22LR models.  They now offer a 'skeleton' belt buckle - including one that will fit the magnum versions - but I don't really like the way it looks (nor do I think it looks very safe or secure.)   http://northamericanarms.com/accessories/m-accessories/m-cc/bbs-m.html       Maybe you just need to put a laser on it...   http://northamericanarms.com/accessories/m-accessories/m-cc/sll-naa-1.html   Yeah, okay, so that is kind of like putting a Flowmaster muffler on a go-kart.

Have y'all seen the ones that have the 'case hardened' look with the antler grips?  I haven't seen any in person but based on the pics from their website I have to say, "Da-rool!"   http://northamericanarms.com/slider_images/image10.jpg

Great minds. When I read the thread title, I thought, "Well, first there is usually a loud SLAP sound followed by, 'Get the hell away from me!'"

I've heard of the dry ice method but I am more interested in working small, like half gallon, quart and pint jars. The O2 absorbers just seem better suited for that. The only time I have been around dry ice was in college. We got a keg at a buddy's house. He was a chemistry major working on his Masters at the time with free access to dry ice via the school lab (IIRC they had a machine that made dry ice.) We went by the lab and got a cooler full, put the keg in a big trash can and packed dry ice around it. Kept that keg of Fosters nice and cool.

Apparently AMC is partnering with a University to offer an open enrollment online course where University faculty will teach classes based on incidents from that week's episode. Sounds kinda interesting, to me. More details: http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2013/09/04/walking-dead-online-course/2763385/

Does anyone know of any brick and mortar stores in the Knoxville or Chattanooga areas (or points in between) that sell oxygen absorbers of the size/type used for home food storage?  Although I have never used O2 absorbers I know that I can order them online.  I just prefer to buy most things across a counter, if possible.

  Thanks for the ideas.  I really don't know how likely it is that my employer would check my vehicle.  I have worked here for eight years, now, and to my knowledge they have never checked vehicles on this campus.  My 'concern' is that I guess it would only take one bomb threat or other, similar 'prank' to have dogs sniffing around the parking lot.  Of course, weighing the odds of that happening against the odds of needing to defend myself on the way to or from work...well, I won't say any more.   Mostly what I was talking about, above, was that it is difficult to stash a long gun in my vehicle where I can be certain that it will never be seen, even incidentally.  Further, because I work at a private college (school), I am not even sure about the legality of keeping a long gun in the vehicle (getting fired would suck but getting charged with a crime - especially a gun related crime - would suck even worse.)   A handgun would certainly be better than nothing but if I ended up (worst case) schlepping cross country in a situation where A. I might have to take small game for food and B. I might have to defend against threats, I would prefer having a shotgun or rifle at hand.

I probably will try it out on a small scale. Maybe just do a small jar of crackers and one of pretzels or something and see what they are like after a few weeks. If it seems to work, I will likely do more. If it works extremely well and I start doing it a lot I was actually thinking that tossing in an O2 absorber before sealing might REALLY extend shelf life but, not having worked with O2 absorbers before am not sure how they would do with the warm food/jars.

Thanks for the replies, guys, but I am afraid that I must not have been clear as to what I was asking.  What I am talking about is using the oven to 'can' DRY goods.  By 'dry' goods, I mean 'shelf stable' things like crackers, flour, dry rice, dried beans and even snacks like chips, pretzels, etc. where 'food poisoning' isn't really a concern but keeping the items from going stale quickly, getting weevils, etc. is the purpose.  It also isn't about dehydrating the items as the things I am talking about are already 'dry'.  Instead, it is for things where you don't want to introduce liquid as you would in the normal canning process.  It is intended more as a substitute for things like sealing in food grade buckets or going to a LDS cannery than as a substitute for 'normal' home canning methods.   I do have a dehydrator for drying things and I have a pressure canner for canning things like soups, fresh fruits and vegetables and stuff like that.  I also have a 'Foodsaver' (if I can figure out how to operate the darned thing - it is an older one and came from a yard sale with no manual but appears to be 'all there'.)  I wouldn't use this method for things that should be preserved using 'regular' canning methods - just for dry goods for which the traditional home canning methods really wouldn't work.   Maybe my question would be more clear if I post a link to one of the write-ups on the subject that I have read:   http://aworkingpantry.blogspot.com/2012/06/oven-canning.html

Anyone used this for a gun lube?  Notice that I am not talking about regular, old WD40.  This is silicone spray and comes in a can like the one in the link:   http://www.wd40specialist.com/products/silicone-lubricant/   A few years back when I sent my P3AT back to Kel Tec for warranty work the documentation that was returned with it stated that they recommend a silicone based lube.  Well, I still haven't found any gun specific lube that states it is silicone based.  Last night at Walmart, I was looking at the lubes, etc. and came across a silicone spray that said it was not safe for plastics, etc.  I considered trying it, anyway, and just being careful not to get it on the grips of my pistols that have plastic grips.  Then I saw this WD40 silicone spray.  The text on the can (and the website) states that this one is safe for plastics and pretty much any, other materials.  I bought a can and figure I will give it a try but was just wondering if anyone else had tried it.   I like the idea that it is supposed to dry on the surface to which it is applied.  If it works, I like the idea of not having oil to run off or having to fool with grease.

    Yikes!  Especially if the disaster in question were related to weather coming inland from the coast (meaning folks from Florida, South Carolina or the Gulf areas etc. might already be jamming the roadways.)

I've read a couple of write-ups of how to do this and it sounds pretty easy, straight-forward and effective for those of us for whom, for whatever reason, five-gallon, food grade buckets or similar may not be the best option and who may not have ready access to a cannery.   All of the write-ups I have read describe pretty much the same process.  Also, as sort of the biggest 'con' to using this method, they all point out that it is not a method approved by the FDA, etc.  I don't really care much about whether or not the government types have approved it because I don't plan to share my food with them, anyhow.  One person who did a write-up claimed that dry canning can keep crackers crisp and tasting more or less right for months or even, in some cases, years.   Anyhow, I am thinking about this not just for being prepared but just for general use.  Living alone, it is sometimes hard to use up things like crackers, flour, sugar, etc. before those things get old, damp or so on.  I'd like to be able to break larger containers down into pint or even jelly-jar quantities for long term storage if this method really works.  I did a search of TGO and only found one instance where anyone had mentioned using this method and that was almost more 'in passing' rather than in any kind of detail.  So, anyone tried it?  If so, how well did/does it work?   For longer term storage, I also wonder if using the oven canning method and then dropping an O2 absorber into the jars before sealing would be an option.

My situation is similar to yours in that I live in a rural location but I work in a more metropolitan one - although I am closer to home than you as home is about 30 miles or so from work.  Luckily for me, my job is right at the edge of the city of Knoxville (definitely Knox County but I'm not entirely sure we are actually in Knoxville or if we are just barely outside of Knoxville) so I am not 'trapped' in the downtown area.  It is the western edge where there is often a lot of traffic, though.  Again, luckily, Knoxville hasn't entirely eaten up the 'outskirts', yet and coming out of the complex where the building I work in is located, I only have to travel about fifty feet on a busy road before I can turn off and take back roads/country roads pretty much all the way home.   Honestly, if I got enough of a 'jump' on the situation, I believe I could drive home.  The big 'choke point' for me is that getting home requires crossing the Tennessee River on one bridge or another no matter what route I take.  By the time I get that far, though, the traffic on the bridge along the non-Interstate route will hopefully be manageable - although it will still be a PITA.   My main concern is that, because I work on a satellite campus for a private college and because even having firearms in our vehicles is against the employee policies, I wouldn't be all that well equipped for a situation that required shooting my way out of trouble or where I ended up needing to take small game for food, etc.  Hopefully, though, I could just haul butt home in the vehicle or at least get close enough that the emergency food supplies I'd have with me would be enough to walk the rest of the way home.   Either way, I'd want to get home as quickly as possible so I could bug in and get ready to yell at all the folks who THINK they are just going to grab a bag and bug out to a rural area to get the hell out of my yard.

My initials.  Clever, huh?   Oh, well, at least my name isn't Sherman Herman Isaac Taylor.  That would make for some interesting initials (my dad's first name was 'Sherman' and my mom used to call him Sherman Herman Isaac Taylor as a joke.)

  I have never really 'smoked' a lot of vegetables.  I have grilled plenty, though.   That salsa idea sounds really good and is along the lines of something I have done in the past.  As I said, I used the grill instead of the smoker but the idea is the same.  I was getting ready to can some tomatoes/homemade tomato sauce and decided that rather than blanching the tomatoes to remove the skins I would give them a quick char on the grill.  Worked great, the skins came off easily and I got a nice, smoky/roasted flavor in the canned tomatoes.  I have also grilled tomatoes and sliced onions to make fresh (eat it right then) salsa.   One thing I have done is smoked chile peppers.  Chipotle are, of course, smoked (and, usually, dried) jalapenos.  I decided to try doing some of my own (with pecan which is apparently a traditional wood for chipolte, as is mesquite.)  Well, that year I had an overabundance of habaneros and, never content to leave well enough alone, I decided to smoke some of them, too.  That first time, I kept the smoker going extremely low and slow for a couple of days and actually used the smoker to dry the peppers.  Since then, I have changed my method to smoking the peppers, first then putting them in the electric dehydrator to completely dry.  In fact, I haven't taken any pics but I have some ghost peppers, serranos and a few hot cherry peppers that I smoked after the above meats came off and just finished dehydrating.  I go a lot more dry than some so that I can crush the peppers into powder to be added just like any other seasoning to things I am cooking or used in my spice blends.   In the past, I did well growing peppers every year and would generally have a huge surplus to smoke and/or dry.  Where I live, now, nothing I plant does all that well (soil sucks) so I buy peppers and don't work with such large volumes but I still have to smoke some each year.

  Heh, people used to 'can' duck in earthenware jars with a cork stuck in the jar opening and maybe a little wax to seal them.  Of course, they did it confit style where the fat was rendered and then used to encase and preserve the lean.  That seems kind of odd to me, though, as fat generally goes rancid more quickly.  In fact, I have read some advice stating you should remove as much fat as possible before canning meat to keep it from tasting 'funny' after it sits for a while.   For that matter, people used to 'can' pork sausage and, to my understanding at least, they didn't even process the jars.  They would just fry the sausage in patties or balls, pack them still hot into jars, pour in the rendered fat/grease from cooking the sausage and put on the lid.  I think many folks would then turn the jars upside down until the fat cooled and solidified.   This barbecue pork was processed for 75 minutes at 12 to 14 pounds of pressure ( which is roughly 250 degrees - I had to keep adjusting it.)  My only concern is that the canning process might negatively impact the flavor.  Like you, I am sure it will be plenty safe to eat.   You might find the following, linked article interesting:   http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/clay105.html

  I'm gonna share a great tip with you that will keep your smoked meats from drying out, prevent having too much char on the outside (a little char/bark is good, too much is not) and generally raise your results to a whole, new level - a tip that I didn't come up with entirely on my own but that another smoked meat devotee shared with me.  In a word, cheesecloth.   Cut a length of cheesecloth that will be long enough to wrap around the meat a time or two.  Cheesecloth is generally folded and then 'rolled' up.  Once unrolled and cut, unfold the length of cheesecloth.  For ribs, I generally leave it folded in half so that one pass at wrapping makes two layers of wrap.  Leave the cheesecloth wrapped around the meat until time to take it off the smoker.  Keep the cheesecloth moist with the liquid of your choice.  With some experimentation, I have found that I like a mix of vinegar and water.  The vinegar gives a nice 'tang' that works especially well if you are doing dry rub with no sauce but is also good if you are using a sauce.  Now, you don't want too much vinegar - maybe 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water - and things like apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar are best although white vinegar will work.  Re-wet the cheesecloth every so often while the meat smokes   When the meat is done, remove the cheesecloth.  Now, this can be a little tricky until you get used to it and may remind you of articles in National Geographic or shows on Discovery where they are unwrapping a mummy.  One thing I will say is that it is generally best to remove the cheesecloth as quickly as possible - it gets harder to remove as the meat and cheesecloth cool.  You will probably need shears to help remove the cheesecloth as the heat/smoke will sometimes cause it to 'fuse' together a little.  Don't worry, though, at smoking temps it does not melt or fuse to the meat although it will 'stick' in places, sometimes.  For instance, on the pork butts most of the fat layer on the bottom pulled away from the meat with the cheesecloth.  That isn't a problem, though, and is kind of a bonus because it saved me having to cut that fat layer off.   Another good thing the damp cheesecloth does is that if you use a dry rub you can put it on before wrapping the meat - right at the very beginning - and the spices won't burn.  The pork butts I did this time got no sauce or seasoning beforehand or while smoking other than the vinegar (I made a 'table' sauce for it.)  The same goes for the chicken.  With a good smoke and the hint of 'tang' from the vinegar, it almost doesn't need any more seasoning (plus I didn't want to get too many spices going because of my intent to can it.)  The ribs got a pretty heavy dose of a rib rub of my own devising.

      Heh, when I was going to U.T. and for some time afterward I lived at my grandmother's house at 2314 East Fifth.  For those unfamiliar, East Fifth runs parallel to Magnolia and that location is roughly two or three blocks from Cherry Street.  Further, because I also worked while attending U.T., I would often come home after dark.    As a bonus, guess where I worked for much of the time I was in college, during the school year - as in the job I would regularly be leaving after dark?  If you said East Towne Mall you got it right.   And all this was before I carried a gun.  Throw in the fact that I am pretty close to being about as white as Wonderbread and I guess I am lucky to be alive!   Seriously, though, the Magnolia area was rough even then - I am convinced there was a crack house on the corner of East Fifth and Olive back then and we had more than one drive by shooting on our block, including drive-by shootings on the same house on two, separate occasions - the house across the street and one down from us.  I was at home when one happened and heard the shots (but didn't see anything.)   In all that time, the only time I was out and about, got really nervous and still to this day believe that my life was in danger happened in a remote location in Blaine at a small, public boat ramp/gravel parking lot where I went to fish.  Some guys parked their car across the lot but pointed so they were looking right at me.  I could see that they didn't have fishing gear and my situational awareness started yelling to get the heck out of there.  I tossed my stuff in the back of my pickup, got in the truck and headed out - and those guys fired up their car and tried to block the exit before I could get to it.  If not for the fact that I had learned to drive on gravel roads - meaning I knew how to maintain control and outmaneuver them - they would probably have cut me off before I could get out.  That incident stuck in my mind and got me started thinking about getting a carry permit.  I didn't actually act on that thinking (although I should have) until the Christian/Newsom murders happened some years later (after I had already moved out of Knoxville.)   There are two points to this:    One is that it would have been terribly ironic to have come to a bad end in a 'safe' area like Blaine while living in the 'hood, often coming in late at night and walking down the street to the corner store on a regular basis.   Two is that there are no 'safe' places, only places where the threat level is likely higher or lower than others.   I will say this:  Even back then I would not let female friends or girlfriends come to that neighborhood to see me alone after dark.  Also, I think the area has possibly gotten worse since then.  My grandmother is deceased and the house is no longer in the family so there is little reason for me to go to that area, now.  That said, there are a few restaurants around there that I like to visit from time to time (Philippine Connection on Magnolia, close to Chilhowee Park is one.)  That area and the downtown area of Chattanooga are the only places I go with any frequency where I make an effort to carry a high cap semiauto because I worry that the revolver I most often carry may not hold enough rounds to deal with a possible threat.   On the flip side, I guess that is why it always seems silly to me when folks start talking about the capacity of a revolver not being 'enough' unless they live or regularly frequent such locations - because I lived in the 'hood for just over a decade, never carried a gun at all and lived to tell the tale.  I did have to use a gun to 'deter' three guys who were trying to break down our front door in the middle of the night, once - but the gun I used was a revolver and it was plenty to send them running without having to fire a single shot.    Of course I was also younger and less cautious at the time - not to mention I worked out a lot in the student weight room at U.T. (got measured for a tux for a friend's wedding back then and learned that I had a 63 inch chest, 13 inch biceps, 21 inch neck and a 38 inch waist - I am in nothing like that kind of shape, now) and kept my head shaved so I probably didn't look like the best target.

Deleted.  Double posted because I was figuring out the whole 'multiquote' thing.

I have figured out how we can totally decimate Syria or any, other country in the world without ever firing a single shot, launching a single missile, dropping a single bomb or putting any troops on the ground.  Simply convince the people of said nation to accept Barry O as their 'leader for life' with Pelosi as his right-hand gal and McCain as their regime's 'maverick'.  Put Bloomberg in charge of their national security and get some folks from the government of California to be in charge of their treasury.  Total annihilation of the target nation should not take very long - either via a self-induced implosion or because their new leaders piss off the wrong government, or maybe both - and the bonus is that our country would then be rid of them.   Really, though, bombing the crap out of them would probably be kinder, gentler and more humane.

  Well, starting a needless and prolonged war based on non-existent WMDs possibly because the leader of the country in question may have threatened your daddy nearly a decade earlier is pretty close.  Still, I agree with your basic point.

My nephew had a bolt action 20 gauge (don't remember the brand) that had a removable box magazine.  It wasn't very reliable, though - jammed pretty often and would just spontaneously eject the mag.  If a reliable one of those could be found, I could see that it might have advantages over a pump in that one could carry two or three spare mags with different ammo types to be able to quickly change the type of ammo being shot.

  Smoked pork loin is wonderful stuff.  I considered smoking one this time instead of the ribs but couldn't find a whole loin at what I considered a reasonable price.