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1. I’ve put a stop to the County coming into our property for an “inspection “. My neighbor Ray told us about their inspection in late summer. Whereby six county people were out walking our many acres of property and taking photos saying it was an assesssmnet. I raised Cain back then and then they emailed me a PDF about their law to inspect while a dwelling is under construction. He said they will be out in two weeks and I said I will be present. But I did stop them from waltzing the property without my knowledge for that trip.

   Now any thoughts from anyone ? I beileve this is a violation of constitutional rights about private property. Especially when he stated they will walk the inside when it’s finalized. What????

   This might escalate to a Constitutional attorney real quick and even a second amendment action if you know what I mean. I don’t want the county on my property every six years is what they said once construction is complete.

   Any thoughts / information would be great. God bless.

   1. Thankfully, in most parts of the American Redoubt there are no building permits required, outside of city limits. (As you drive into many town and cities, there are small signs at the city limits that say “Building Permits Required.” Outside of those areas, they can’t use “permits” as an excuse to “visit.” In most of the Redoubt, landowners can admirably be described as “fiercely independent”, and the phrase “not without a warrant” is often heard.

      Most livestock reporting tax systems in the Redoubt are “self-reporting” systems, simply because they don’t have the bureaucratic busybody manpower to visit even a fraction of the ranches. But I’ve heard that in some locales, they now use Google Earth for verification. If there is a variance between what an rancher reports and what they can see in Google Earth imagery, they send you a bill. That must be aggravating.

      1. In our very small rural county in Mississippi, there is only one guy who does building inspections, and he wears many hats, including director of homeland security. Most of what he does is assign 911 addresses. Our county just enacted building inspections, and they are voluntary, whether by code or by being lax. Our supervisor said, well, if you don’t get it inspected, you just won’t be eligible for flood insurance. My husband said, “oh well, I’m not worried about flood insurance.” He holds the philosophy that it’s our own responsibility to build things so they won’t fall down and be smart enough to take all our own precautions. Many in the county do as well. And thankfully, most of the county officials respect that. We have had a lot of influence on county politics through the years, and it has helped matters.

         1. What county?

      2. About Google Earth: about 6 years ago, I was researching that, and found that governments can’t use Google Earth for those purposes unless they have a license from Google. Without such a license, Google Earth is just for personal, non-commercial, non-governmental use. Maybe a complaint to Google is in order.

   2. I would put up a lot of No Trespassing signs. And a Beware of Dog sign, with a large dog house, and a water bowl, with water in it. Nobody wants to be attacked by a dog.

2. For Seed starting: I have 2 4′ baseboard heaters which I have enclosed as a bench to start seedlings. This bottom heat gives a faster germination. I start later because the sun is stronger and the greenhouse heat is minimal.

   Johnny’s Seeds has a good chart for when to start according to your last average last frost.

   Fedco seeds is a very good source for Northern gardeners. Good tasting vegetables at good prices, with good germination.

3. I also have a pre-greenhouse starter room. I use fluorescent grow lights because the light is much more pleasant and they give off enough heat to keep the room in the mid-70’s during the winter which is optimum for most seedlings. The downside is that they do use more electricity than the LED’s, but not very much in my real world tests.

4. “Remember: There is a huge difference between just owning gear and actually getting out there to use it.” From what I’ve seen, that and lack of COMMs (such as local AmRRON nets) are the Achilles heal of prepping.

5. Found the recommendations for snow gear extremely helpful since I will be moving to an area that has weather from climate in about a year. Also, timely since the second ad on your blog is COLD TIMES: The coming Mini Ice Age by Dr. Anita Bailey. It’s worth every penny. She obviously walks the talk. I can’t recommend it enough.

6. Fire Kindling Practice
   Your post reminded me of Jack London’s story “To Build a Fire.” I have always considered it one of the best written stories. I remember the movie adaptation scared my littlest boy a while back but he still remembers the simple mistakes that were made.

7. I have to say I really enjoy reading these. It kind of reminds me of journal entries of the early explorers. Which has made me want to up my game in documenting my own journey through life.

8. It just a coincidence but today Commander Zero has written about show-shoes as well.
   http://www.commanderzero.com/?p=4763

9. Last year I went snowshoe camping with some friends and I picked up a useful idea- since adding a 20+ backpack to your body weight can negatively impact snowshoe use, I switched to pulling my backpack behind me on a small plastic sled that I tied to the outside of my pack. I could easily put the pack back on when the terrain got too tough, and just drop it back in the snow when I wanted to pull it. I attached it to my backpack using some webbing and buckles for quick removal.

10. Re: Fire Kindling Practice
    Just a couple of tips that might benefit others. For many years I have utilized cotton make-up removal discs coated with Petroleum Jelly to start fires in conjunction with a quality ferrocium rod. Discs prepared in this manner will give a reliable burn time upwards of ten minutes. Using them is simple; fluff the discs by gently pulling it in opposite directions separating some fibers and touch it off with a spark. The ferrocium rod I have settled on after testing numerous others is the “Gobspark” by Firesteel.com.
    Also, folks need to realize that during winter many trees and shrubs go dormant. They may look dead and break easily leading one to believe the branches are dry, this however is not the case and they will not work well as tinder or kindling. During the winter in wet conditions cut a 8″-10″ section of a large, dead limb no smaller than 5″ in diameter. Split the section until all of it has been split into small kindling. As you split it separate the kindling into piles sorted from the outer most sections to the inner most. The inner sections will be the driest, these sections are then shaved into tinder. In the winter part of my kit always consist of a small saw (my preference is a small “Wyoming” saw with wood cutting blades) and a large fixed blade knife with a single, plain edge such as the USMC “Kabar” pattern. I use the knife along with a wood club to “baton” the section of dead limb. I have never had a problem starting a fire with this system even in the wettest of conditions. These discs and ferrocium rod are part of my kit regardless of season. I keep these kits in all my packs, hunting vests and parkas. Remember 2 is 1, 1 is none! Practice this system become proficient with it before needing to use it in an emergency situation! Next to a means of acquiring/carrying water, a quality fixed blade knife (Quality does not have to be expensive!) this fire kit is my most important piece of kit.

11. We love snowshoeing, but it is exhausting. We would play the game of “Fox and Geese” in the yard /field when the children were little to encourage them to move past the awkwardness and to a level of comfort where they could run and turn fast with them on. Really helped me as well. I was amazed at how this practice improved our skills and strength/endurance.

    Potassium iodide tablets are finally with everyone. Except I did just realize that our daughter has a increasingly serious boyfriend and we might as well invest $8 to ensure she doesn’t negate the use of the potassium iodide by splitting her pack with him if they were needed…as youngsters in love are apt to do.

    As money has been available, I have been adding to our first aid supplies. This week it was Vitiman E soft capsules to help with healing and to keep scaring soft and minimal. As well, we have more disposable plastic gloves in large sizes, face masks and Kleenex. I realized with our cabin experience how valuable not spreading germs is and just how difficult it can be.

    I pulled together in one place a toilet bucket by putting the bucket toilet seat on a bucket and filling it he bucket with toilet paper, plastic bags that will fit it, plastic gloves and hand sanitizer. Now I think some feminine products would be useful in there as well. We had all the pieces in different places…now they are all together.

    We commute to work (me…8 miles) and to college/ AFROTC (.5 hour to 1.5 hour)…I will be checking the supplies in the cars to make sure they remain ready for a sleep in the car or walk home scenario. So far we have never needed the emergency supplies in 50+ years for Anything major. Thankfully.

    My order of caffeinated tea arrived. I’m a coffee drinker but also like tea. I usually drink herbal or medicinal teas, but decided that there was no possibility of storing enough green coffee beans and how the aroma might be a concern. Hence the bulk caffeinated tea order.

12. JWR :
    A Great Blog site. You and Mr. Latimer realy know how to keep us glued to the comp. for outstanding info thanx. Which brings me to my next point, winter/snow camo, I would like yours and any other peoples opinions of where, what type, and/or whom to buy from. The last time I did cold weather training was along time ago in Adak Alaska. Any and all lists and help in modern day winter/snow camo would help. I’am also HEAVILY looking into doing cold weather training at Thunder Ranch if they offer the class again. They did last year and I swear that if I did not know any better it sold out in less than a week of being offered, I’am on top of that little problem this year I have everything except….yep you guessed it winter/snow camo. Semper Fi.

13. I would love to see a link for the snowshoes you use.

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