Day: October 21, 2009

Three Letters Re: Storing Food in Commercial Storage Spaces?

Mr. Rawles, I have a small follow up question/suggestion to your response regarding commercial storage spaces. In my area, I have a solid 4-to-6 hour drive in good conditions to get to my safety location from my greater metropolitan area home. After having to do this drive last year with the chaos of an incoming Hurricane, I decided to take advantage of your “Doug Carlton” suggestion from your novel “Patriots”. I decided to rent a small storage unit (5’x5′) at what I considered the half way point between my city and my objective location. I pay $20 per month to …


Letter Re: Should I Rent, or Should I Buy Property?

Sir; I have a question that I think would be of interest to a lot of your Blog readers: “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It“. I really enjoyed the book. It helped coalesce all of the concepts I learned in “Patriots”, [the now out-of-print] SurvivalBlog: The Best of the Blog Volume 1, and “Rawles on Retreats and Relocation”. One of your central precepts is that one should move to a “lightly populated rural area.” Okay. With some work, I can find and buy a suitable piece of property and/or house. But you repeatedly point …


Letter Re: Wood Stove Selection, Operation, and Safety

James Wesley, We have heated our current home with a wood stove and a pellet stove for ten years now. I disagree with one aspect of the recent article on your web site. Our wood stove in the basement is set up to burn coal as well as wood. Where we live in Colorado there are a large number of dead trees — from pine beetles — that we can and do burn for free. However, with pine wood even the best stove will not hold the coals overnight. Hence the ability to use coal is a godsend. When the …


Economics and Investing:

Reader Steven H. wrote to mention: VP Biden puts on his Captain Obvious cape and declares “This is a depression”. Of course, Joe Biden has developed quite a track record for the inability to keep his mouth shut–most notably when he revealed the “secret” nuclear blast bunker beneath the VP’s Residence. Ralph N. suggested this piece over at Volokh about how the FedGov conceals some of its debt: Treasury Inc.: The Shadow National Debt. (It is hidden under a TARP, dontcha know…) Commentary from analyst Niall Ferguson: The Dollar Is Dying a Slow Death. From the Housing Storm blog: Strategic …


Odds ‘n Sods:

F.G. sent us this: In trying times, hunters go after deer to put food on the table    o o o Reader Scott C. reminded me of a preparedness list that has been circulating for several years that deserves a link: The 100 Things That Run Out First in an Emergency.    o o o W..W. sent us a link to a news story on the long tradition of privately-owned firearms in Switzerland.