Month: August 2019

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — August 24, 2019

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On August 24th, 410, Rome was overrun by the Visigoths in an event that symbolized the fall of the Western Roman Empire. This is a moment in history that we would do well to remember. An empire that ruled the known world was corrupted from the inside to the point that they could not defend themselves from a much weaker enemy. This could conceivably be the beginning of the dark middle ages. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 84  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round …


Build the Plan vs. Test the Plan – Part 5, by T.R.

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(Continued from Part 4. This part concludes the article series.) Moving on to drinks as a subject, I prepared a similar smaller “cube” container for drinks and soups. More coffee filter packs, zip lock bags of tea taken out of their cardboard retail packaging, hot cocoa, more honey, powdered lemonade tubs, powdered ice tea, Tang for astronauts or space aliens we might meet (just kidding) that I found in the pantry, instant coffee, another jar of coffee mate, a red plastic Folger’s coffee tub of ground coffee, a few boxes of flavored Emergen-C powders that give you 1000mg of Vitamin …


Editors’ Prepping Progress

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To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in the Comments. Let’s keep busy and be ready! Jim Reports: I’m getting close to my September …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — August 23, 2019

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August 23rd is the anniversary of the declaration of the independent state of “Franklin” in Eastern Tennessee by the settlers there in 1784. Unfortunately, the Continental Congress rejected it, so the state of Franklin never became a reality.  Pictured is John Sevier, who served as “Governor.” — Seed for Security, LLC has announced a sale: Their Super Survival Pack is now 20% off. This pack includes 4 lbs. of survival seeds and 2 pints of healthful grains. All of their seed is heirloom, non GMO, and none is hybrid. Their 5 page detailed Seed Saving Guide is included. This offer …


Build the Plan vs. Test the Plan – Part 4, by T.R.

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(Continued from Part 3.) Later that morning/early afternoon, we sat down at the kitchen table (having brewed a pot of coffee on the spare camp stove from the basement according to our “A” plan) and talked through this. We needed a balance of water, fuel, gear/shelter, food and safety/security. Optimizing the mix of these five items (plus cash and valuables) and optimizing how to pack them efficiently with some degree of access to the right items in what order took significantly longer than either of us expected when a filter criteria of “not coming back” was inserted vs “we are …


Economics & Investing For Preppers

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Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at investing in AR Lowers and Pre-1899 guns. (See the Tangibles Investing section.) Precious Metals: Jim Cramer: Here’s Why You Should Own Gold. o  o  o Estate stores dealing with rash of fake gold scams Economy & Finance: At Wolf Street: In Hilarious IPO Filing, …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — August 22, 2019

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August 22nd, 1992 was the second day of the Incident at Ruby Ridge. FBI sharpshooter Lon Horiuchi wounded Randy Weaver and Kevin Harris, and murdered Weaver’s wife, Vicki. It should be noted that in 1994, after being acquitted by a federal court, Weaver filed a federal civil rights case against the FBI and U.S. marshals stemming from the siege. In 1995 the government settled Weaver’s case for $3.1 million. It is commonly thought that had the weaver family stayed with the trial, the award would have been the full $200 million. In true FBI style, Lon Horiuchi was not prosecuted …


Build the Plan vs. Test the Plan – Part 3, by T.R.

(Continued from Part 2.) Some background: I still work almost full time, but portions of the year are full throttle 60+ hour weeks and other blocks are much lighter, with my husband retired from the military. We wanted a vacation in terms of scenery and wildlife and we wanted to test our plans across a number of elements. To appropriately field test our plans with a degree of stress testing that would replicate a certain amount of tension present in real threat condition whilst isolating certain elements one at a time to calibrate parts of our plan in a systematic …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

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SurvivalBlog 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 another wolf attack and feature an excellent letter forwarded by SurvivalBlog’s Editor-At-Large Michael Z. Williamson. Democrats Threaten Supreme Court with Expansion By way of the news aggregation site, Whatfinger.com: The …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — August 21, 2019

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In 1986, Lake Nyos in Cameroon erupted with an estimated billion cubic yards of carbon dioxide gas. The gas had apparently been accumulating in the crater lake, held down by the weight of the water. When it finally erupted, the gas cloud smothered and killed every living animal, including insects, in its path until it dissipated. Outsiders learned of the disaster when they approached the villages and found animal and human bodies on the ground. The best estimate is that 1,700 people and thousands of cattle died. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 84  of …


Build the Plan vs. Test the Plan – Part 2, by T.R.

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(Continued From Part 1.) During 2018, I made a dot chart counting how many days fit into each category A, B, C and D in terms of readiness and then converted the “dots” into a percentage of time for the year. As a corollary, if things are leaning environmentally towards TEOTWAWKI, then we would already be limiting our “D” types of trips away from home and/or starting to pursue our exit via our “B” plan scenario. If things look particularly grim but quasi-temporary, then we would limit our “C” scenarios to avoid leaving home for long blocks of time and …


JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

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Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. The focus is usually on emergency communications gear, bug out bag gear, books and movies–often with a tie-in to disaster preparedness, and links to “how to” self-sufficiency videos. There are also links to sources for both storage food and storage containers. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. This week the focus is on nature’s greatest predator: the humble mosquito. (See the Books section.) Books: The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator o  o  o Peter …