fkongSurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at the invasion of Argentine Black and White Tegu lizards.
Coronavirus: More Evidence of Long-Term Lung Damage
Over at Chris Martenson’s Peak Prosperity: Coronavirus: More Evidence Of Long-Term Lung Damage. (That part of the discussion begins at the 13:15 mark.)
Large Invasive Lizard Gaining Foothold in Georgia
Reader Tim J. sent this: Large invasive lizard gaining foothold in Georgia, officials warn. A snippet:
“The Argentine black and white tegus, which are not native to the U.S., were first spotted in Florida — but now, officials believe the lizards have established themselves in Toombs and Tattnall counties in Georgia…”
Free Speech Is COVID’s Latest Casualty
At CBN News: Free Speech Is COVID’s Latest Casualty: Doctors Silenced, Protests Censored, Americans Treated Like ‘Children’. A pericope:
“Also, the censoring can often feel one-sided since it’s conservative viewpoints that are routinely shut down.
‘Many of these social media organizations are frankly acting as if the American people are children – they are our parents who know better and they should censor what we see and write. I have a lot more faith in the American people, Spakovsky says.”
A Free Big Berkey Raffle
Over at the SurvivalRealty.com web site, they are raffling off a Big Berkey water filter. There is no cost to enter the drawing, and there are ways to place multiple entries.
Hillary Clinton Panics, Seeing Armed Michigan Protestors
Hillary Clinton calls armed Michigan lockdown protests ‘domestic terrorism’. JWR’s Comment: Just because someone is exercising their First Amendment rights, it doesn’t mean that they need to leave their Second Amendment tools locked up at home. Much like a muscle that atrophies with disuse, any right that goes unexercised for many years devolves into a privilege, and eventually can even be redefined as a crime. Open Carry is an important reminder, at public events. Just be careful about “brandishing” laws in many states, and therefore do not point a gun directly at anyone. Pistols should be holstered, and long guns should be carried slung and either muzzle up or muzzle down. But definitely carry your guns loaded. Don’t be disarmed by political correctness. Even some concealed carry advocates now complain about open carry. They should get over it. We must all respect each other’s rights, and the way that we do so is properly left up to the choice of each individual. Open carry and concealed are both Constitutionally protected antecedent rights For the record, I’m Pro-Choice: You can choose either concealed carry or open carry.
India’s Bumper Wheat Crop Can’t Get to Market
By way of the McAlvany Intelligence Advisor’s Your Daily G2 newsletter comes this Reuter’s news article: India’s farmers gather record wheat crop, but cannot move it. Here is a an excerpt:
“The country-wide lockdown, introduced in late March to stem the spread of the new coronavirus, has led to a labour shortage across rural India, crimping the harvest and preventing the bagging and movement of it.
The largest crop gathered globally during the pandemic, which is worth more than $26 billion, according to traders, may serve as a test case for other harvests coming up around the world, including Brazil’s main sugarcane and coffee harvests and Southeast Asia’s second rice harvests. India is the world’s second-largest producer and consumer of wheat behind China.”
China Hits Hong Kong with New “National Security” Law
China Tightens Grip On Hong Kong With New “National Security” Law. JWR’s Comment: Per the terms of their treaty with England, Hong Kong is not to come under mainland China law until 2047. It seems that those tyrants just can’t wait…
Fired Deputy from Parkland Debacle Will be Reinstated
Another item sent by Tim J.: Deputy fired over Parkland school shooting to be reinstated with back pay: reports. Here is a quote:
“Sgt. Brian Miller, of the Broward Sheriff’s Office, was the first supervisor to respond to the 2018 shooting that took the lives of 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, according to the Sun-Sentinel.
An arbitration ruling this week found the sheriff’s office “violated” Miller’s “constitutional due process rights and improperly terminated him,” the BSO Deputies Association, a union that represents deputies and sergeants said, according to the Miami Herald.
Miller will also receive full back pay and get back his seniority. He made more than $137,000 in 2018.
An investigation by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Commission found that although Miller arrived as the first shots were fired, he failed to go into the school and didn’t radio anyone for 10 minutes, The Herald reported.”
Facebook Bans all Brighteon Links
Reader D.S.V. sent us this: After “Plandemic” video goes super viral on Brighteon.com, Facebook bans all Brighteon links, regardless of content.
Surgical Masks Can Reduce CV Transmission By Up to 75 Percent
Fox News reports: Wearing a surgical mask can reduce coronavirus transmission by up to 75 percent, study says
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You can send your news tips to JWR. (Either via e-mail of via our Contact form.) Thanks!
Re. Michigan open carry
Concealed carry is supported by the 2nd Amendment.
Open carry supports the 2nd Amendment.
Big difference in my book.
I am not a hamster
The hamster study was a little strange. I read it to see how they put a mask on a hamster. But of course they did not and therein lies the problem with the test. What they really did was surround the cage with cloth. Not a comparable test. The biggest problem with the surgical mask is that a substantial portion of what you exhale and inhale goes around the mask.
I don’t have a problem with someone choosing to wear the mask. I don’t have a problem with a business requiring the mask in their store. The problem I have with masks is that it is obvious that they are being required not because of their effectiveness but simply so that a business or politician can claim that they are doing everything they can. Kind of a legal “get out of jail free card”. I get that but it begs the question; can they mandate that everyone goes along with this fiction AND can they fine or imprison you if you don’t. IMHO that is the end game not too different from what they have done to General Flynn. For political reasons they will weaponize the justice system against you. Then it will be used against those they disagree with and to silence anyone who might still believe in the constitution.
There is really only one answer and that is the constitution is superior to all other laws and good (and bad) intent. The politicians want to destroy the constitution by a thousand cuts.
Also I would be very afraid of the politicians efforts to enlist citizens to spy on and tattle on their fellow citizens. This is the way of Nazi and Communist regimes and is the antithesis of freedom.
Two observations about our Covid-19 crisis that are very telling:
1. It is surprising how easily and eagerly our law enforcement has embraced the suppression of our constitutional rights in the name of “protecting us”.
2. It is also surprising how eagerly so many people choose to spy on and tattle on their neighbors.
I expected this from our authoritarian politicians but not from “the people”.
They already have tattle tale programs. Called Contact Tracing for Covid. A free course organized by John Hopkins U.
1984?
Private companies have the right to censor. This site censors content and commentary and is no different.
You can’t have it both ways.
Matt:
There is a huge difference. At SurvivalBlog, we’ve never claimed to be anything but a private information service–a form of private publishing. And we reserve the right to delete comments that we find vulgar, insulting, injurious, false, or libelous. We must do so, or we open ourselves up to lawsuits. The difference is that the big social media platforms alternately claim to be both publishers and platforms (i.e. a utility, like Ma Bell), whenever it suits them. They need to choose one or the other. If they are a platform, then they cannot censor. OR, if they are a publisher, then they cannot claim the legal immunity of being a public utility. They cannot have it both ways.
This is exactly correct, and a point very well made. Social media cannot have it both ways — essentially cherry picking the law to suit their political objectives. The “publisher vs. platform” debate was briefly the subject of Congressional news coverage, and should remain actively before us until it is resolved. It’s a subject that should be covered in much greater depth.
Where is it written that a platform cannot censor or moderate? Pretty sure there is no legal basis for this claim, even before the death of net neutrality.
It is political censorship that is the issue. Not simply blocking foul language. The tech giant social media platforms could literally sway national elections, by effectively silencing some users, and amplifying the voices of others (with tools like rankings and “featured” content.) That is frightening.
Racism and Hate Speech are political and to censor them is ethical, to not censor them is unethical
I agree that those should be be censored by private publishers in private venues. But they should not be censored on platforms. A platform is a Public Utility. It is the 21st Century equivalent of a soap box set up on a public square. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech in public places, even if some people find it offensive. Placing restrictions on truly public speech is dangerous, because it puts power in the hands of governments, corporations, or NGOs–who then get to decide what they like or dislike–and inevitably this arbitrary power gets abused to censor political speech or to exclude the speech of entire groups of people. That is what is happening in the present day, in China.
I find hate speech, racism, demeaning or degrading Insults and Propaganda for unethical behaviour including genocide and murdering children absolutly offensive even if most of it never was directed at me.
Placing no restrictions on truly public speech is dangerous because it places power in the Hands of demagogues, … and those power gets abused the for hate crimes, enslavement, conquest, genocide and so on
ThoDan – please read the First amendment.
An interesting article on the subject…
https://www.city-journal.org/html/platform-or-publisher-15888.html
Matt, that is nonsense. If a private company has a monopoly on the public square of every town in America, it is as public a utility as AT&T was when it was broken up.
Tim Wu is an (admittedly liberal) law professor at Columbia University; worked for Obama. But he has written three highly readable, cogent books on what Big Tech is doing to the culture, the marketplace of ideas, and the intersection of political speech and the economy. I learned a great deal from his 2010 book, ‘The Master Switch’, and even more in this latest book, ‘The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age’.
It’s amazing how similar the ‘Masters of the Universe’ (Big Tech moguls) are to the Gilded Age oil, banking, steel, and railroad barons. Same hijinks and tactics, same goal: monopoly to attain obscene wealth.
This is one of those rare areas of political economy and constitutional law where plain ethics can bridge the Left-Right gap. Trump has been a consistent suck-up to industry; every industry. Oh, he plays to the cameras and tells the little guy he’s fighting for them (because he truly does), but he fights just as hard — actually harder — for industry and the investor class, whose respect he has never quite been able to garner, and likely never will.
Read Tim Wu’s book; you’ll see your facile *laissez faire* position melt like sugar in a downpour. Doesn’t stand up.
I see clearly enough. They are a private company and they censor pretty much what they want. No matter what you’re saying it’s happening and has been for years. It will continue as well. It doesn’t mean I agree with it or really even care as I don’t use it. It just is and will continue to be. So understanding that I work around it.
D.M. and Matt, I wholeheartedly agree that this has been happening for years. According to this podcast: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/why-press-downplayed-1918-flu
the press was muzzled during the 1918 pandemic. The censors were mostly government officials. They actually threatened newspaper publishers
with arrest.
The interview goes about thirteen minutes. Fair warning, the source “On the Media” has a left of center perspective.
And, I’ll have to check out Tim Wu. As readers of this site know, I draw my education from the entire political spectrum. Sometimes I get uncomfortable with what I am reading. Many times I disagree with he author. Part of the learning process.
Carry on in grace
I concur!
See: https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-considers-forming-panel-to-review-complaints-of-online-bias-11590238800
Also read Tom Fitton,we do not have “media” we have propaganda
Oh no medical staff are getting censored lol.
Are these the same ones who said “don’t wear a mask because it won’t help” or “only medical staff needs the N95s” or “the N95s with the one way valves are dangerous and you shouldn’t use them but should give them to medical staff so they can use them” or is it the ones on tv every night crying bout not being able to go home when they don’t even work in a hospital treating anyone and are now laid off like we don’t know who they are or is it the ones who claim the car wreck, gunshot, suicide etc. died of Covid?
Ain’t nobody round here listening to them anymore anyway. That credibility and trust is gone. The big joke is “don’t let me die of Covid then vote democrat”.
I do agree it’s one or the other. We all know what [a social media platform] really is.
You are right, Matt in Oklahoma! This subject has come up often in our home…
Don’t wear masks because they don’t work, even though they seem to work for the healthcare professionals.
Don’t wear masks because you won’t know how to put them on or take them off, and clearly you (the American public) cannot be trained.
Now we’re supposed to use scarves made from fabric that isn’t suitable for this purpose from any standpoint?
None of this passes even the most rudimentary test of reasoning let alone science. A little bit of actual education about this virus (and viruses generally) would go a long, long way. Application of a few critical thinking skills would
The fact is that there weren’t enough masks to go around, and that’s a terrible shame. It’s inexcusable in our views. As a country, we need to take preparedness much, much more seriously. President Trump said it well with the words: The cupboards were bare. As a nation, we should never allow this to happen again — from the standpoint of governmental efforts, and as well from the standpoint of efforts made by individual households.
JWR has produced excellent preparedness information. This site is a tremendous asset. There are many others that supplement the SB as well. If each of us works forward from where we are to a stronger preparedness position, and we demand that our policy makers do the same, we can “make tracks”, and fast. Executed well, these efforts will pay future dividends in ways most probably cannot even imagine in the present.
The mask is a sure reveal that it is “PANICDEMIC” changed to a “PLANDEMIC”. I live on the border of states that are the least locked down and most locked down and the differences are astounding,masks(any face covering) either not needed or don’t go in public,economy opening back up or shut hard but the real difference is the politicians from daily(or more)briefings with constant new rules and edicts,doom and fear(follow my illegal orders or you will die/kill others) to occasional calls for minimal(for this occasion) actions and return to”normal”(?)
Matt in O, Loved your comments in this entire paragraph. Wonderful.
The last sentence is the creme de la creme:
The big joke is “don’t let me die of Covid then vote democrat”.
Many blessings to you and yours!
Definitely pro-choice in regards to Carry. Those who grype about open carry are (D)bags that can go home and cry to momma.
I’m more of a smart choice carry proponent. Walking around with the butt of your gun hanging out of the back pocket so it can be taken like it was at McDonald’s didn’t help anyone but rather created extra work and many safety issues for a multitude of people.
There’s a right way and a wrong way.
That’s where I stand on it- I support either open or concealed carry, but any time you carry (which IMHO should be all the time) you need to be responsible.
Pro choice / smart choice, yes I am. that being said, I don’t agree with what happened in Michigan, but I wasn’t there and so don’t know the facts. Do I carry, yes I do, hopefully no one will know until I need it. As far as Hillary panicing, she has always had a problem especially if she isn’t the one calling the shots ( no pun intended, sorry about hat ). and that deputy being reinstated at Parkland, doesn’t surprise me one bit. Unions are usually democratic controlled one way or another or have been in the past. Now I’l get off of my soap box before I fall off.
India’s wheat crop will most likely rot where it is unless they do something to distribute it. It almost feels like there is a conspiracy by governments to create the most pain and suffering in the long run by utilizing the Covid 19 as a weapon to bludgeon the population of the world into more government control. At the moment we have two horses of the apocalypse in sight, plague and famine.
The extreme stupidity of many of the Governors overreach of authority is leading many to rethink that there needs to be a reset of governmental powers back to the original Constitutional limits on government; an unlikely event as the Roman circus continues to mollify the unwashed multitude. Eventually even a kicked dog will no longer tolerate the abuse. Here in the US they are debasing the currency to where money will no longer have any value by creating trillions of unpayable debt backed by valueless make believe bonds. News flash: their paper, crypto, and electronic money has no basis and will fold faster than a pricked balloon at some time in the near future. There appears to be absolutely no way to stop this downward spiral so it is up to us to prepare our families for the truly bad times just around the corner. I believe that anyone thinking that the governments of the world have any way of preventing a total crash are living on hope, and hope is a terrible plan. With all this optimism I think I need to take a walk.
Well said. Also, I really appreciate your stating:
“At the moment we have two horses of the apocalypse in sight, plague and famine.”
Seems I read something like this somewhere,I wonder how popular Ayn Rand is in India? Atlas is looking pretty disinterested.
In regard to the tegus lizard. I am pretty sure that they could be a great source of protein. Having consumed both rattle snake and iguana I can assure you that they both do taste a lot like chicken. I will have to try one of these to see if my theory is true. Can’t be any worse than Wuhan bats.
That is exactly what I was wondering! Currently in WA, so no chance of anyone I know giving it a try. I grew up playing with a rattlesnake rattler that my dad brought home, but have never eaten any snake, just seen it in movies.
I think it would be awesome if you cooked several a few different ways and told us about it… Loved the joke.
Sorry, I live in Ca. so it will take awhile for the lizards to walk here, unless some wonk decides they are pets. When they show up I will try a few. I remember my grandfather who lived in Kingman, Az. telling me that they used to go to Needles Ca. for the annual Chuckwalla lizard BBQ. further east in Hackberry Az. they would have an annual rodeo and Burro BBQ.
with 10 million recipes for chicken we should be ok.
I wonder how hard these lizards are to kill. I read two years ago that a week long hunt in Florida for the pythons that are decimating wildlife there was called off for lack of success. Even with experienced professional hunters, very few snakes were killed.
Last words…if you are going to shoot a lizard or any other critter for food, always be aware of what is behind the prey before you raise your muzzle.
Carry on in grace
I have always questioned “open carry”. 1) You are making yourself target #1, 2) You are forcing your belief system into the faces of others by the use of intimidation, [yes, open carry is a type of intimidation] 3) it counteracts the “do no harm” and gray man philosophy, 4) your ego comes across as an emotional development problem. So what is the point after all? All the purposes of carrying a weapon and expressing your 1A and 2A rights are just as viable concealed.
Jima: Yeah for you! A very sensible comment.
So am I expressing my 1A rights by concealing what I think and believe? Are you intimidated by me expressing what I think and believe? Does this mean I have an emotional development problem because I express what I think and believe? If more people open carry, it them becomes the norm. The only reason anybody is intimidated by somebody open carrying is because it has become unacceptable from a lack of people exercising their 2A rights. If you want to carry concealed then do so, I sometimes do also. But how is it wrong to carry open? How is it an “ego” to carry open but not an “ego” to say how you think and believe? The same with “intimidation”. Maybe you are too easily intimidated. I love to see people carrying open. I usually comment and thank them. Maybe it should be odd to see somebody NOT carrying. Where I live it is very accepted and hardly noticed unless your a stranger.
@toytrkman Touche’! Exactly right, and well said.
Toytrkman……I agree with everything you said in regards to open carry. I carry open more than I carry concealed and here in Oklahoma nobody gives an open carry guy or gal a second look. I guess it depends on what part of the country a person lives as to whether seeing someone open carry gets that person all shook up and they have to take a milk and cookie break in order to calm their emotions. I once was eating in a popular restaurant here in OK and the place was packed. Myself and my friends were seated at a table in the middle of the room when I saw a person walk up to my side and stand. I looked up and saw that it was the owner of the restaurant. He looked down at me and said “I just wanted to come over here and thank you for carrying your gun in my business.” He went on to explain that he felt safer knowing that there was a law abiding gun carrying person there who could help him should he be robbed. He patted his leg to let me know that he too was carrying. He stood there for about five minutes talking guns and then that conversation morphed in to politics. He owns two of these restaurants here and I always make it a point to open carry when I dine at his establishments and I enjoy leaving my money at a business like that. I’ve also had a Walmart cashier tell me the same thing. So to any man who gets his little pink panties in a wad from seeing someone open carry I say MAN UP!
jima:
Open carry is MY choice. I prefer to carry concealed, but again, it is MY choice. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to do it. Your not liking SOMEONE ELSE’S choice is just too darn bad.
You talk about forcing someone’s belief system on others. Aren’t you doing that right now?
If I’m making myself a target, isn’t that my problem? Did it occur to you that perhaps seeing someone armed may have PREVENTED a crime? Do you ever wonder how many violent criminals open carry? I’ll wager that none of them do.
It seems by your comments that you would enjoy seeing law enforcement personnel harass people observed open carrying.
How many other Constitutional rights should be scrapped based exclusively upon your personal opinion? Is wearing a Cross in public a form of intimidation? Some people might say yes, so should we ban it?
The only reason for “concealed carry” was as a response to anti-firearms legislation designed to protect criminals. The open or normal holstered carry of pistols was too frightening for sheeple after a generation or two of unconstitutional rule. Open carry is also necessary under some circumstances,95-100 deg. day,are you going to wear a jacket? Is it not more sensible to just carry?
If the public policy that government advocates is universal mask usage, why didn’t the hamster study have a FOURTH set of cages where there were surgical masks on both the infected AND the healthy?
Isn’t that the most important data point to gather and publicize?
Live in Alaska no one even blinks with a slung long gun or handgun in a holster.
Need a gun Bloody bears have been running around the big fishing rivers since it is locals fishing and no pesky out of staters/tourists chasing them off with a close photograph
Hillary Clinton should be tried for treason and [if found guilty] executed for her role in the coup against President Trump and her role in Uranium One. BTW, her husband should share the same fate for selling/giving the Chinese our nuclear secrets and missile technology.
Ditto Obama for his role in the coup. Same for Clapper, Comey, Brennan, Rice, Stzrok and others. Until then, we can consider ourselves living without the rule of law.
Nathan, it’s true that rule of law does not exist at this point in our history. But just because the felons you named have gotten away with felonies doesn’t mean that THEY are to blame for our condition.
If you see a fat, lazy couple just keep watching TV together as their hellion kids set the house on fire, then the neighbor’s house, then the next, and the next…do you just blame the evil kids? Don’t the parents share that blame, for sitting there with full knowledge of the crimes being committed but not lifting a finger in discipline?
The highest and most basic (human) law in our republic is the U.S. Constitution. We stipulate in that law that we, collectively in our Militias, must ‘execute’ that law…ENFORCE it. We don’t authorize the creatures of that law to enforce it; we only authorize OURSELVES, in Militia.
Do you? If so, please send me photographs of your county Militia unit, and tell me all about the last few enforcement ops your unit has done in coordination/support of your County Grand Jury, against perps in office. We at TACTICAL CIVICS™ will publish it and invite you to do a podcast, so that other Americans can follow your example.
What’s that you say? You cannot provide one shred of evidence that YOU actually support rule of law in the manner we stipulate in the Constitution? Of course you can’t. And you and I are the parents.
Presently, We The People are not performing our most basic duty IN ONE SINGLE COUNTY among the 3141 counties and county equivalents in the republic.
We The People, 11 generations ago, enacted a law and claimed to be the collective sovereign over it. But NOT ONCE have We The People enforced it. That means we are still abdicating our duty and authority over American rule of law, by definition.
In this free PDF book, you get 47 brief essays, laying it all out in theory…https://tinyurl.com/ycf5zxex
In this 2-page document, you get step-by-step instructions on how to begin actually living this new way of life… https://tinyurl.com/ybpg3xgp
Walking around with firearms in public, supposedly for self defense, only makes the constitutional Militia continue to be a pariah in the American mind.
@DMZ- you have your path, and I have my path. You have your skills and I have mine. Good luck to you and yours. And don’t forget to remain humble.
By any chance were you at the Bundy ranch? It seems to me that that would have been right down your line.
Amen on all of the above!
Unsuccessful Coup d’etat = treason!
Had it been successful, all would have been considered “Hero’s of the Homeland” (fatherland, motherland, what’s the difference).
Jim said:
“Just be careful about “brandishing” laws in many states, and therefore do not point a gun directly at anyone. Pistols should be holstered, and long guns should be carried slung and either muzzle up or muzzle down. But definitely carry your guns loaded. Don’t be disarmed by political correctness.”
In my opinion, if one is going to carry a firearm to a rally then one should have already made up one’s mind that UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES will one be disarmed.
By anyone.
If one is going to get jocked up in armor and tactical gear then one has made the decision to fight if ordered to surrender by some thug wearing a government costume and carrying a badge.
That means there is a QRF waiting to come to the rescue if a stand is made. That means the needs of shooting, moving, and communicating have been addressed beforehand.
A firearm is not a fashion accessory.
Do not be disarmed by thugs wearing badges and government costumes.
As for Tegu lizards, I say they’re a great deal more valuable to America than most dog breeds like all the little toy things, and pit bulls. And an adult Tegu lizard, more than an iguana, can provide an entire meal for a small family with a couple of side dishes. I don’t think a pit bull makes very good eating.
Roof Koreans might not agree,bigger dog more meat. Send more rioters their dogs were delicious(sarc-adulterated movie quote)
As to the folks open carrying at the anti-lockdown rallies here in Michigan. The fact that so many people were armed is what kept the rally peaceful. Without the presence of so many armed citizens the policing agencies would have felt free to harass and arrest the otherwise peaceful protesters. The cops do not want a highly public firefight, especially if they might be outgunned.
Speaking of der Fuhrer Whitmer and her mindless dictatorship: I found the link to this at LewRockwell.com.
CONFIRMED: Governor Whitmer Begs Michiganders Not to Travel to their Summer Home — Then Her Cars Are Seen Parked Outside of HER SUMMER HOME!
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/05/confirmed-governor-whitmer-bans-michiganders-traveling-summer-home-cars-seen-parked-outside-summer-home/