Preparedness Notes for Thursday — April 16, 2020

April 16th is the birthday of two notable novelists– the late J. Neil Schulman (pictured) and Samuel Youd.

Agorist-Libertarian activist J. Neil Schulman (born April 16, 1953, died 2019) ^[1] was best known as author of the novel Alongside Night ^[2].

The late Samuel Youd ^[3] (born 1922, died February 3, 2012) was the British novelist who was best known for his science fiction writings under the pseudonym John Christopher ^[4], including the survivalist novel Death of Grass ^[5] (titled No Blade of Grass ^[6], in the American edition) as well as the Tripods Series ^[7] of young adult sci-fi novel series. A fascinating man ^[8], Youd wrote prolifically, using eight pen names. He was a good friend of sci-fi novelist John Wyndham, and both of them were famous for writing what are often called “cozy catastrophes”.

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A big milestone, for one of our favorite homestead vlogging families (Good Simple Living): Moving Day – Family Of 6 Sells Dream Home To Move Off Gri ^[9]d. They just moved from a city lot in Battle Ground, Washington (in western Washington) to 20 acres off the grid in North Idaho. There, they’ll be building a house. (They are temporarily camping in their trailer.) To help welcome them to The American Redoubt, please consider subscribing to their channel. My goal is to help get them to the 75,000 subscriber mark in the next two weeks.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 88 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest ^[10]. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses ^[11], excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper ^[12]. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees ^[13] in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product ^[14] from Sunflower Ammo,
7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses ^[15].

Second Prize:

1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 ^[16] Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
3. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
4. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord ^[17] (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
5. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

1. Three sets each ^[18] of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of ^[19] Directive 21 (a $275 value),
3. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections ^[20], a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
5. A transferable $100 purchase credit from Elk Creek Company ^[21], toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Round 88 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail ^[22] us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.