Garden hose

[sm]

Hey, I am the resident rebel, traditional, practical , and hso's calls me a minimalist member,...other names too, still...

Remember, I am one over 50 years of age, raised to think out of the box, think on my feet, and it is mindset, tactic, and then equipment in the triad of survival.

Not all areas of the country are as pro self defense as others, and we are a global society with THR members all over the world, and restricted.

-Prevention uses.

I had a hose get a split, time to splice. I got to looking and I supposed age and the way it was put up, had kinked and weakened - who knows?
I had about 4' I just cut out and tossed in the truck set to make sure I got the splice the right size.

I also wanted to make a 10' section for a easy to use short hose and not mess with this long thing I have.
(Good idea so I thought, long frigging hoses are a pain in the butt at times though).

~~ 4ft of garden hose hurts, in the event a carjacking, or I was caught getting in /out of the truck.

I ran to visit a lady and I had drilled two hole in the floor up next to rear entrance and had some Rebar. Stick this Rebar in, and up against that door, it will not open, second hole is back only far enough to let door be cracked about 1 1/2".

Cardboard tube from paper towels a bit tacky and wear, so this yellow garden hose fit over the rebar and the door does not get dinged.
Lady was happy.

She was needing a door stop, her plays out and so with a slip joint I cut a small pc, and it works like a champ for a door stop...old trick we did back when I was a kid.


Now I know from court cases, from various participations, anything used in defense is going to be scrutinized, add THR does not promote illicit ideas.
2x4 found on the street and used - fine. Hammer nails intentionally and the jury is going to eat you alive.

Meaning, don't do something stupid and mess with a garden hose to make it more...just don't.


Serious Situations:

One other reason I wanted another short hose, was to get water out of a BIG Water bottle.
The lady that has some water in case of emergency, cannot lift these, she can siphon into smaller containers as need.

Easiest way is to insert hose, get water in it, and smaller container below will let gravity pull the water in , down, and pull water down from the emergency water bottles she has.

Same trick works for gas as well.

Auto parts stores have a splice to use on heater hoses...these come in the same sizes as garden hoses.
Meaning we have spliced a vehicle heater hose, with a garden hose to get by, until heater hose could be secured.

Might come in hand if matters get serious sometime.
Ask the parts folks to see the Gates heater hose splice assortment, and see what your vehicles take...


Yeah I know, not as hi-tech and all as some stuff out there, still a garden hose is a proven defensive tool, and not just for fires...

She likes her yellow door stop, got a spare in her purse for travel uses...

 

[coelacanth]

I like the way you think. . . . .

besides, if hso said it - it must be true. Right?

 

[Pax Jordana]

That's why I love sm's stuff - open your mind enough, you're never without something to boost your bashing. I like to think of it as beatdowns on a budget


OK, technical question. You made a door stop from a piece of hose? Do you slice across like carving a spear point from bamboo, or just open it up on one side?

 

[sm]

Pax Jordana,

Re: Door stop.
Depends on the hose, and the clearance on the door.
In this case this hose is a yellow, heavy duty, reinforced design. It is sorta thick and stiff. So I cut about halfway down the "tube" or "cylinder" if you will.

This allows more flex allowing for hose to "get up and under".

Some of the green ones, and especially the flat sprinklers (hose with holes by design) don't need to be cut.

These will grip floor surfaces of all types well, and the harder one pushes the tighter it wedges.

As shared in the Door Stop thread, one might be wise to have a door stop for public restrooms, hotels, or even in school/office setting to keep a door shut.

 

[sm]

There were no gun schools, or training schools when I was coming up, except for those that went into the Military or Law Enforcement.

We kids, boys and girls, played cowboy/cowgirl and Indians, Army, and then TV come along and in black and white, 3 stations, and at 9:30 pm the TV programming went off and the Test Pattern was on all night.

Had an Indian,and just the bestest target for a kid with a Suction Dart 1911 style gun you ever did see.

Adults must have gone to college, and us kids did not know it.
I mean they would get up in the morning and "Somebody snuck out of bed and put all these circles on the TV glass".

<looks away, innocent, still anywhere except at the adult or TV>

FWIW adults don't believe gold fish sitting near the TV set blow bubbles after everyone goes to bed and bubble burst and that is what causes them circles on TV sets...


They will buy you were in a knife fight with a Indian and poking a garden hose knife, in the wee hours...three times,....never use a excuse more than 3 times in a row.
Oh you can use it again, just rotate these excuses...until adults take that class in College they never seen to leave to go to...

*wink*

 

[hso]

and hso's calls me a minimalist member,...other names too

It's them other names that others don't get to hear.


Doubled over garden hose with sand in it makes a handy beater for knocking things loose.

The old style brass nozzles screwed onto the end of a hose can knock things loose also.

I have to try the door stop trick with a hose.

 

[sm]

I am about so tall and Mentors have pieces of garden hoses and lessons on using screwdrivers, pliers, file, whatever to defend against attacks.

Right off I could have told them the canes they did the day before was a heckuva better choice than anything shorter.

Stick beats knife if you will.

Garden hose was pretending to be anything one might have, screwdriver, pliers, file, flashlight...
Cops, Military, civilians and even kids.

Safety is important, even while learning lessons.

Canes were garden hose we stuffed newspaper in with a stick or coat hanger.
Semi-Rigid, good enough to share lessons and Safety again in folks not getting hurt.

Cops and Military folks used these garden hoses to practice lessons.
It would be many years later, before Nerf would even come about, the toy rubber knives and all, did not hold up well, and the plastic handles could and did break and actually not that safe.

 

[sm]

Remember that TV?
We kids, boys and girls played and played hard.
Cardboard box for a fort, or tank, playing Cowboy/Cowgirl and Indians, fighting Japs and whatever else.

WE knew Cops, Military, Fireman, Postman, Nurses, Docs and other professionals.

WE wore our toy six guns, or 1911 clones, Fireman badges, stethescopes, and doctors bags...we were kids, we were encouraged to use our imaginations.
WE had folks we knew or went to visit Professionals.

Kids grow up, and we guess them scars on upper left arm where we got the Polio vaccine, must of had antigens against Cooties.
Girls noticed boys, Boys noticed girls and we left our "wanting to be like" Cops, Army, Fireman, Postman, Nurses and Doc stuff at home.

Oh we still did lessons, some kids had dad and moms that were professional, just kids grew up and did not run around pretending to be something they were not.

Cops kid, would leave his little Cop Jr badge at home.
Military kid, left his canteen and pouch with little first aid kid at home

Still...I remember.
Girls would would get lessons, and garden hose "knives" were made up.
These girls this day were the ones where it was showing they were girls.

Cops , Military, and Nurses and Docs, explained some serious "fact of life", there was no giggling, and no blushing.
It was laid out and put on the table. Anatomy chart and even a skeleton to show what was what and where.

Girls used the garden hose against the Cops, and others, bigger, and stronger, than they were.

Scarecrows were set up, now the girls did these lessons using the pocket-knives they carried every day.

A couple of Docs ordered and paid for Christy Knives [tm] and besides/in addition to the pocket knives these girls carried everyday, they were to carry these Christy knives.

Each girl has their personal pocket knife looked at, besides being checked to make sure sharp, and pivots oiled, each girl's knife was made sure that slip-joint could be opened one-handed, and each girl got private instructions for them, and the knife tweaked for them.

All of us kids went through this, boys and girls alike.
Boys got private lessons, girls got private lessons and we all did them together.


WE might end up on the ground and have to grapple, for a gun , knife, screwdriver.
Garden hose "guns" or "knives" or "screwdriver" and it was just proper to have girls grapple with girls (ladies) and boys grapple with boys( men).

Proper was set aside, it would upset some of the day, and even today.
Still the deal was serious, and evil does not care about proper.

WE kids, and the folks I grew up with as mentors, were respectful of gender and all, still life is life and evil is evil.

Teenage boys and girls grappling, and sure anatomies were touched, and all...it was not about "coping a feel" - serious lessons and surviving was.
I mean a lady might grab a little boy and do things...
Another lady might grab a little girl to do things...
Male grabbing a teenage girl, she had to look past the touching, groping and being "felt up" while in a fight.

Garden hose was a very useful tool then, still is today.

Husband's and wives can use a garden hose, or Nerf and wrestle on the bed, or dining room floor for instance.

Parenting, Mentoring and serious lessons, not wanting to be like someone or something, just wanting to survive and being safe in the lessons.

 

[sm]

Shotguns , Firearms, moving targets...

Garden hose with a trigger sprayer is one helluva tool to teach shooting, and applies to hunting, clays and defensive use.

It does not matter what a shotgun mfg says, what a barrel or choke is marked, what a box of shells has written on the box, or what the Internet or any one else says about a Shotgun and its loads, and applies to any firearm and ammunition for it.

This is etched in granite!

Shotguns have to be patterned, and one easy way to show a new shooter, no matter what age, that pellets do not arrive at the target at the same time ( shot string) is to trip trigger on sprayer on a garden hose.

Moving targets such as a ball rolled across a lawn, with a garden hose with a trigger sprayer instills and ingrains eye to hand coordination, picking up the target, pulling through, lead, keep swinging , slap trigger, and follow through.

That is the Swing Through, or Pass Shooting method.

Sustained Lead and Snap Shooting can also be shared with a garden hose and trigger sprayer.

I do this with kids, we do the safety rules, so everything is serious.
We may attach a target on a clothes line, used a rod and reel to pull the target across.

"Wait, Wait! The pattern is different on the target that when I when I shot the same target not moving!"
*puffs chest* *big grin*

The kid got it!

I do this with new shooters of all ages. The brain remembers, and with no noise, no felt recoil, a lot can be done with a garden hose in regard to shotguns.
BB Guns with the sights removed too.

Brister shares moving targets in his book.
Mrs. Brister does not get enough credit in her contribution in regard to moving targets and patterns in that work. *wink*.


Above applies to hand guns and rifles too.

Yeah I know this is not the way TEEM SEEL 37.5 trains and all, but hey, you wanna learn and survive or post from your armchair? *snark*

 

[Valkman]

I'm the same age as you sm (I remember the post about '55) so tell me how to do it all without getting out of my recliner - it hurts too much.

 

[sm]

Heck if I know, all I know is what raised with.
It used to be Arkansas was abbreviated "ARK".

Now everuthing done got up and got all hi-faluting, whippersnappers speak in acronyms and I don't understand all this fussing and debates about AR vs AK - I mean I could care less about the sports teams of ARkansas and AlasKa playing each other.

I just want a package to get to Arkansas, Alaska, Alabama or Arizona.

"We need a zip code sir, it assists like 911 does".

Great! I grew up and survived without 911, cell phones and whatever the hell we gots now, and zip codes are mandatory now?

Whatever happened to?

Uncle ____
123 street
City

My letter got delivered just fine in two days as well!

It all went downhill when the Drive In Picture Shows started going out, one could not send in a postcard and have a gun delivered to the house C.O.D, and the price of beer quit being $4.99 for a case of 24 cans.

50 yards was the quals for Cops with revolvers and now it takes umpteen bazillion round mags in semi-autos for a 15 yard qual.

Shotguns - if we can see it, we can fell it.
Toss the garden hose over, we got lots of game to clean here...


Take me back to the Five & Dime Jimmy Dean , Jimmy Dean...

 

[Valkman]

I do remember Drive-Ins, the Five & Dime and my Dad walking into Sears and buying me a .22 rifle for my birthday. Sweet.

 

[JohnBT]

"It used to be Arkansas was abbreviated "ARK"."

I still want to say Ar-kansas. My grandfather was born in Virginia in 1891 and that's what he was taught and that's what I learned from him as a toddler.

Back then you could quit school after the 6th grade and still know enough to eventually leave the farm and get a job as a telegrapher for the railroad.

I have his key and sounder on the mantle.

John

 

[eliphalet]

Stop using that yellow hose to siphon with, run down to the hardware and buy some of that new fangled clear tube, no more mouth fulls cause you can see it coming.

Yeah, why the change to two letter states instead of three. Which is Maine anyhow, is it Me or Mi or Ma?

Baseball bats made great "bazooka's" and playing Army was one of the most popular games.

Remember "hide and seek"? How many years since you saw kids play that?

A 12 year old could walk down the block with a 22 and no one said nutttin. Billy's Mom didn't like it but nothing was said out loud.

Your 5th grade "project" was building a wooden musket at school cause you were studying the pioneers.

When half the boy's in the neighborhood, or at least a good percentage had a BB gun and could shoot em right out in sight of everyone.

Gosh do I remember the drive in, some wonderful memories.

When you could walk down the downtown street of the bigger city not to far away, at midnight, with your girl, and not need to carry and still felt, and were safe.
Some of that same area I would avoid driving through now after dark even with a firearm.

You could cruise on a buck or two's worth of gas

No LH action rifles that I remember, that wasn't good, but we did have other actions for us lefty's and right handed one's did work.

Glad I moved far away where at least some of that can still happen.

 

[Pax Jordana]

personally speaking, steve, I was too young to remember the 80's.

So I'm glad you make these threads. Lots to learn, and elders are becoming a rare commodity.

alright fellows, carry on..

 

[sm]

My contention is, folks today are not "having" to Improvise, Adapt, Overcome as we have a more "civilized" and "hi-tech" society.

Back in the day, being more rural, even semi-rural, folks had to do what they did with what they had.

Stores were not open 24/7/365.
Blue Laws, and stores closed on Sundays.
Stores were not open any later than 6pm - Except later on Friday night when they stayed open until 7pm, to let those that worked in town, shop, after work.
Or.
Holidays, and these stores stayed open really late - 9pm.
Eventually, Friday night extended to 8pm and 9pm throughout the year.

Folks driving into the city, had time to get in to shop.

Best recall, when the first indoor mall opened, it was a huge deal to have this mall stay open, Monday - Friday until 9pm and Sat until 8pm closed on Sunday.

Folks planned ahead, got what they needed. No Wal-Mart, so if you had a baby, you stocked up on Diapers.
No running to Wal-Mart at 2am.

Medicine - well everyone knew the Druggist in town, he/she had delivery , and would even run it by themselves on the way home.
Emergency hit, call the local Druggist, or Doc, and they would run into store/office and get what you needed for a sick kid after hours, or on Sunday.

Now, Nurses, Doctors, Plant workers and others working shift work, had to plan schedules around these store hours too...
Forget running to Wal-Mart after working 3pm -11pm and getting diapers...no Wal-Mart, and no stores of any kind open!

Society has become spoiled, complacent, and "don't have to" as a store is open and they can get what they want.

Example, folks bought gas and did not wait until morning, they kept tanks filled. Gas stations were not open all the time either, except truck stops.

So a nurse has gas, and on the way home the car smell like gas, it has a leak somewhere.
Gets home, and fuel line is split and losing gas.

She is on call...what if there is an emergency in the night?

Extra fuel line hose was kept, neighbors did, worse come to worse, borrow the hose off a tractor, farm truck, whatever and fix it.
Use the garden hose to siphon gas, to fuel her car in the event they get called in.

Folks did this, and worked with neighbors, paid all this back, and did for one another.
Still, it could be your family that is the reason this nurse would be called in.
Neighbors even loaned each other vehicles, for when a simple fix could not be done.

--

We did not have 911, we called Law, Fire, Ambulance direct.
Fire breaks out, folks used garden hoses to assist one another.

We could burn trash in burn barrels, and common sense said to have the garden hose hooked up, water on, nozzle kept it "off" unless we needed to turn it "on" to deal with fire.

Call Fire Dept, and folks used garden hoses while waiting for FD or Volunteer FD to show up.
No cell phones, no portable phones.
Folks were not raised to hit a cell phone and just stand watching a fire - they took charge, pitched in , others pitched in and Improvised, Adapted, Overcome...like screwing more than one hose together to reach.

Even in Apts, and Retirement places. Not just for outside...
Fire Extinguishers, well back then, the ones we have now where not out.
Baking soda works for grease fires still today.

Attachments to fit a bath tub or kitchen sink, to adapt to a garden hose to use indoors.

Not all apts had washer/dryer inside.
Those that did, and what folks do even today, is get a "Y" to run off water that feeds washing machine.

You can use a garden hose inside an Apt, Condo, even business if you have too!

While waiting for Fire Dept to arrive...

Fire Extinguishers run out, or decide to not work, whatever...do not pull all your eggs in one basket thinking a cell phone, fire extinguisher is going to keep you safe...

Garden hose might be old fashioned, it still works, delivers water, and puts out fires.

 

[1200 meters]

I found that a piece of 1/2 inch wire rope (cable) cut about 16ins long and frapped at each end with a piece of wire but leaving the last 2ins at the top end loose and twisted open is a pretty nice attention gitter. Blitz

 

[Chortdraw]

Saw things before WW2 and all the way to the present, have things ever changed, but we got to see it all. All I really have to say...is,,,I'm really glad I got to live in those times. Would not change a thing so I would be real prepared if I had to do it again. Sort of miss Howdy Doody though.