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Greetings, y'all.
I'm Dave, and have recently joined the site.
I've read the first three books in the "Going Home" series, and have the last four on order (Hurry up, Amazon!).
As you can probably guess from my user name, I'm in Kentucky (I won't be more specific than that for now, though.). I'm in my 50s, and have quite a few experiences to draw upon, which I'm willing to share with y'all.
By education, I'm an electrical engineer, although I've been working as a computer programmer for the past 30 yearws (and, yeah, I know that when the NEMP/CME happens, I won't be doing that any longer; But, for now, it's mostly fun and pays the bills.). I've been specializing in cryptography for the past 16 years (but, I can't get much more specific than that). I do know a lot about cryptography, and related fields, such as com-sec, which I'm willing to share.
Despite my high tech activities, I'm a country boy at heart, and live on a small farm, which always seems to require a lot of work to improve (Ok, who are we kidding here? It requires a lot of work just to maintain.). I have an old horse, although at 29 years of age, he's really too old to get any work out of. Eventually, I'll be getting another horse or two, so I'll have some transportation in a SHTF event (Yeah, I really ought to get a cart/wagon and harness, too.).
We also have two trucks here, although they're gasoline powered, and, most likely won't be functional following a NEMP/CME event. The diesel tractor should, since it will function with no electricity at all (Ever roll-start a tractor? I have, many times. You just have to be sure you park it on a hill.). I do need to work on getting more fuel storage for the farm, although one has to be a little careful with stored fuel, not only due to the fire and theft hazards, but also because it will go bad. Stored gasoline will jellify over a period of about 3-12 months, unless a fuel stabilizer is added (and, fuel stabilizers are expensive) [1]. Diesel fuel is a bit better about not jelling, but it can have bacteria attack it.
[1] I've heard rumors that virgin/straight-run gasoline is less prone to jellification, but the octane rating of that is usually too low to be useful as a motor fuel, while trying to find it can be difficult, and it can be quite expensive once you have located a source (Do we have any petro-chemists in here?).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline#Chemical_analysis_and_production
For most of the 1980s, I was a volunteer on a local governmental emergency response team (No, I wasn't a "fed", nor was I DHS, which didn't even exist back then. This was strictly county level stuff.). We were, primarily, a coordination and logistics team that assisted the local emergency service outfits (fire, police, ambulance, etc.) when things happened that overloaded them. However, I got out of volunteering with the team back around 1990, since that kind of a job is a young man's game, and not only was I getting too old, but my real job responsibilities were changing such that I couldn't just drop everything and run out of the office when the pager went off (and, that wouldn't have been fair to the rest of the guys/gals on the team, not knowing whether I was going to be able to show up or not). But, I have quite a few stories from that era that I can share, since we were called out, on average, about once per month, at least if anyone is interested in reading them (I'll have to emphasize that these will be personal remembrances, and in no way official, and very well may deviate from the actual sequence of events as my memory has deteriorated over that 30 year period.).
I have been an amateur radio operator for over 40 years, and currently hold an Extra Class license, the highest class available, in the amateur radio service.
I also target shoot quite regularly, using a variety of calibers, both smokeless and black powder, since I have a range right out back of the house. I really need to get my bow restrung, but just haven't gotten around to it.
Dave
I'm Dave, and have recently joined the site.
I've read the first three books in the "Going Home" series, and have the last four on order (Hurry up, Amazon!).
As you can probably guess from my user name, I'm in Kentucky (I won't be more specific than that for now, though.). I'm in my 50s, and have quite a few experiences to draw upon, which I'm willing to share with y'all.
By education, I'm an electrical engineer, although I've been working as a computer programmer for the past 30 yearws (and, yeah, I know that when the NEMP/CME happens, I won't be doing that any longer; But, for now, it's mostly fun and pays the bills.). I've been specializing in cryptography for the past 16 years (but, I can't get much more specific than that). I do know a lot about cryptography, and related fields, such as com-sec, which I'm willing to share.
Despite my high tech activities, I'm a country boy at heart, and live on a small farm, which always seems to require a lot of work to improve (Ok, who are we kidding here? It requires a lot of work just to maintain.). I have an old horse, although at 29 years of age, he's really too old to get any work out of. Eventually, I'll be getting another horse or two, so I'll have some transportation in a SHTF event (Yeah, I really ought to get a cart/wagon and harness, too.).
We also have two trucks here, although they're gasoline powered, and, most likely won't be functional following a NEMP/CME event. The diesel tractor should, since it will function with no electricity at all (Ever roll-start a tractor? I have, many times. You just have to be sure you park it on a hill.). I do need to work on getting more fuel storage for the farm, although one has to be a little careful with stored fuel, not only due to the fire and theft hazards, but also because it will go bad. Stored gasoline will jellify over a period of about 3-12 months, unless a fuel stabilizer is added (and, fuel stabilizers are expensive) [1]. Diesel fuel is a bit better about not jelling, but it can have bacteria attack it.
[1] I've heard rumors that virgin/straight-run gasoline is less prone to jellification, but the octane rating of that is usually too low to be useful as a motor fuel, while trying to find it can be difficult, and it can be quite expensive once you have located a source (Do we have any petro-chemists in here?).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline#Chemical_analysis_and_production
For most of the 1980s, I was a volunteer on a local governmental emergency response team (No, I wasn't a "fed", nor was I DHS, which didn't even exist back then. This was strictly county level stuff.). We were, primarily, a coordination and logistics team that assisted the local emergency service outfits (fire, police, ambulance, etc.) when things happened that overloaded them. However, I got out of volunteering with the team back around 1990, since that kind of a job is a young man's game, and not only was I getting too old, but my real job responsibilities were changing such that I couldn't just drop everything and run out of the office when the pager went off (and, that wouldn't have been fair to the rest of the guys/gals on the team, not knowing whether I was going to be able to show up or not). But, I have quite a few stories from that era that I can share, since we were called out, on average, about once per month, at least if anyone is interested in reading them (I'll have to emphasize that these will be personal remembrances, and in no way official, and very well may deviate from the actual sequence of events as my memory has deteriorated over that 30 year period.).
I have been an amateur radio operator for over 40 years, and currently hold an Extra Class license, the highest class available, in the amateur radio service.
I also target shoot quite regularly, using a variety of calibers, both smokeless and black powder, since I have a range right out back of the house. I really need to get my bow restrung, but just haven't gotten around to it.
Dave
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