Year: 2021

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — August 19, 2021

August 19th is the birthday of Philo Taylor Farnsworth (1906-1971). Farnsworth was an American inventor who is best known for his image pickup device that formed the basis for the fully functional and complete all-electronic television system. Among his many other inventions was the Farnsworth-Hirsch fusor, a small nuclear fusion device that remains a viable source of neutrons. At his death, he held over 300 patents, mostly in radio and television. — Two Special Prayer Requests: First, blog reader “RKRGRL68” wrote: “I just wanted to reach out and ask my SurvivalBlog family for special prayers as I just found out …


Shooting Drills for WTSHTF – Part 2 , by T.Z.

(Continued from Part1. This concludes the article.) Intermediate Shooting Drills Once you are accurate and consistent with static supported positions, start practicing static unsupported positions. The prone, kneeling and standing unsupported positions do not have a sandbag or table to support them (hence, unsupported positions), so you must create a stable platform with your body position in order to maintain a clear sight picture. Creating a stable platform in the prone unsupported position is executed by placing your elbows on the ground and driving the buttstock into your shoulder. Your shooting hand should be lightly gripping the handle of the …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

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 rural population losses. Rural Population Losses Add to Farm and Ranch Labor Shortage As reported by the Newsmax news site: Rural Population Losses Add to Farm and Ranch Labor Shortage. …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — August 18, 2021

August 18th is the birthday of Meriwether Lewis, an American explorer, soldier, politician, and public administrator that is best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. — The deadline to submit comments on the ATF’s proposed receiver reclassification rule is tomorrow, August 19th, 2021. Please leave your polite comment, ASAP. Note: When you write your comment, include “Federal Register Number 2021-10058.” Without that, your comment will not count. — Just two days left!  We are nearing the end of a two-week sale at Elk Creek Company,  In honor of gun designer James Paris Lee’s …


Shooting Drills for WTSHTF – Part 1, by T.Z.

Shooting requires constant, realistic practice to hone and maintain your skills with a weapon. This is especially true when preparing for the possibility of human beings attacking you or your family. Many people shoot for target practice or hunting, but they do not train for hostile encounters. Training with firearms for prepping must be intentional and planned, not merely a recreational activity. In this article I will show how to train for hostile encounters, including drills you can do with or without ammunition. Given the enormous breadth of this subject, I will be limiting the scope of this article to …


SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This weekly column is a collection of short snippets: practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. We may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters. — A video interview and tour with the late, great Mike Oehler: Idaho modern oldtimer builds underground & solar $50 houses. He passed away on February 2, 2016, at age 78. o  o  o Reader J.A. wrote: “Regarding the article “Winning The War On Weeds – Part 1, by St. Funogas” where St. Funogas uses/suggests using carpet, blankets and especially …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence–on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations. Its preparations are concealed, not published. Its mistakes are buried, not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised. No …


Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — August 17, 2021

While salmon fishing near the Klondike River in Canada’s Yukon Territory on August 17th, 1896, George Carmack reportedly spotted nuggets of gold in a creek bed. His lucky discovery sparked the last great gold rush in the American West. His two companions later agreed that Skookum, Jim–Carmack’s brother-in-law–actually made the discovery. — Today we present a guest article. Unfortunately, it was too short to qualify as an entry for Round 96 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. By the way, Round 96 ends on September 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a …


The Hi Point 4595 Carbine, by Rick C.

I am a firm believer that two is one and one is none. I had been looking for another .45 ACP to compliment my Rock River 1911 which, aside, I am very pleased with. At one time I had a Glock 36 that I sold when I needed some money, or thought I did, and I still have the holster. Can’t let that go to waste, right? However, I began to think of a pistol-caliber carbine. I, and many others, believe it is a good idea to have a handgun and a rifle in the same chambering. This point of …


SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today, an update on a fatal grizzly bear attack in Montana. (See the Montana section.) Region-Wide Air quality deteriorates to very unhealthy in the Inland Northwest. o  o  o Counterfeit Killer: The Fentanyl Crisis in the Inland Northwest. o  o  o Massive Fire Near Wyoming Border …



Preparedness Notes for Monday — August 16, 2021

Some Observations on Afghanistan From JWR: Some of the “experts” predicted that Afghanistan might fall to the Taliban within 18 months after Creepy Joe Biden’s April 14th pull-out announcement. But now it is looking like 18 weeks is a more accurate prediction. The latest headline: Afghan president flees country as Taliban move into Kabul. You may recall that back in April, Biden set September 11th as the deadline for withdrawing all U.S. forces. It now appears that there could be a full change of government to Taliban control before then! A side note:  Whenever someone of the caliber of Biden’s …


Seodon FRS Handheld Radios, by Pat Cascio

Ever since I was a little kid, and built my first walkie-talkie (CB radio) – and the darn thing actually worked – I’ve been fascinated with radio communications with other folks. Of course, CB radios, are mostly a thing of the past now – everyone has a cell phone – but a good two-way radio certainly has its place for Preppers. I spent considerable time searching for what I hoped would be an economical set of fairly reliable compact two-way radios, that would serve my purposes, during a SHTF scenario. Of course, price is always a consideration for me. We …


Recipe of the Week: Trench Fruitcake

The following recipe for Trench Fuitcake kindly comes to us from SurvivalBlog reader Allie E. This recipe dates to World War I, when English and Scottish families often mailed parcels with fruit cakes to their sons, grandsons, husbands, and nephews serving in the trenches of France and Belgium. Hence, the name: “Trench Fruitcake” or just “Trench Cake.”  This makes a great storage food treat, to break up the monotony of other stored foods. Some tinned fruitcakes have been eaten after 10 years of storage with no significant change in flavor or consistency — although of course their nutritive value diminishes, …