Basic Mountain Camouflage. (Visible, IR, Thermal) Hillsdale College.

This weekly column is a collection of short snippets: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters.

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First up, is this news: Federal judge blocks Colorado county from banning sale and manufacturing of specific semi-automatic weapons and magazines. JWR’s Comments: The impact of the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision is just starting to be felt. Bruen clarifies that a “text, history, and tradition” test must be applied. Hence, any sort of restrictions on “arms” that did not have an equivalent in force in or before 1791 is unconstitutional. This means that the vast majority of firearm, ammunition, magazine, knife, and sword restrictions now on the books at the Federal, state, and local levels must be rescinded! As an aside: America’s first gun law was a restriction on the sale of guns to American Indians. And that too would be unconstitutional, per the 14th Amendment.

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Any homeschoolers nearing high school graduation, or already graduated that would like an alternative to brick-and-mortar colleges and universities should consider Hillsdale College. They offer a wide range of free online courses.

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Reader C.B. mentioned a new instructional video from our friend Plaid Daddy, a.k.a. Garand Thumb: Basic Mountain Camouflage. Becoming Deadly in the Mountains (visible, IR, Thermal). It is 37 minutes long, but well worth watching. (Warning: There is some foul language.) Reader C.B. also offered these comments about fabric and NV/ IR:

“The more synthetic the blend of material, the more it’ll brighten/reflect under those systems, natural Cotton and Wool are much more dim than Polyester and Nylon materials. Nylon straps and bare hook/ loop squares glow fairly substantially under NV/ IR, you can use ash or dirt to dull them down. Rain shells also glow like crazy due to their material composition. There are only a few manufacturers that have NIR compliant dyes on the market, many aftermarket products use contract-compliant dyes and materials, but aren’t NIR dyes in large. Wash your stuff before use. Use detergents with no brighteners to remove residual optical brightener from your new clothing and gear. Plastic also reflects pretty substantially, all those buckles and clips are indicators, so dull them down with proper rattle-can action or camo paint. Tape the tabs of zippers too, they jingle and make noise. Certain outdoor use camo spray paints are better than others, some will light up hard. The Military uses Aervoe brand camo spray paint in part, Rustoleum outdoor also works well. A good way to defeat IR sensors on Drones is to use a Mylar blanket as an over tarp to cover the OP/ LP/ Hide and put some natural foliage (like leaf fall or some small light branches with leaves on them) or camo netting over it. You do not want the Mylar to contact your body (unless for practical emergency blanket use to combat weather injuries and such), but it works very well in a tarp covering application.“

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FOIA Request Uncovers FBI Effort to Get Americans to Forfeit 2nd Amendment Rights. (Thanks to reader P.A. for the link.)

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Lauren Southern comments on the slippery slope of state-sanctioned euthanasia: The Canadian Government is EVIL. Oh, and Lauren also recently posted this fun range video, from her recent trip to San Antonio, Texas: Shooting Guns with AK Jesus & Donut Operator.

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Two more responses came in about inflatables or folding boats for “Get Home” river crossings:

Gary wrote:

“Ellen S would be well suited to consider an Orukayak. I have operational experience with this folding boat. I would suggest that it will have greater maneuverability than inflatables in the same price range.

It is a capable and reliable design for still and moving water. Regular practice is required for competence in assembly and usage.”

And B.V. had these suggestions:

“I worked up-river and researched inflatables to float home if an earthquake downed the bridges, but didn’t buy one. A fishing boat hugging the shoreline seemed the best option plus you can fish. Worries are submerged trees and rocky shallows that gouge boat bottoms and destroy props. A reinforced inflatable boat, a premium life preserver and dry bags would get you across the river. A boat like the PackFish 7 seems durable and packs relatively easily. Advice based on the MR340 race is to identify landmarks from the river point of view and finish your crossing in daylight; otherwise, you’re likely to happily float miles past your exit. Choose wisely.”

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California Set To Ban Single-Use Propane Cans For Camping.

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The Firearms Policy Coalition has voiced support for the “Disarm the IRS Act” –H.R. 8762. This is a simple bill, with just four operative lines. This bill would bar the IRS from:

Buying firearms
Buying ammunition
Training with firearms
Arming their agents

Please contact your congresscritters, and urge them to co-sponsor this legislation.

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Fellow preparedness blogger and long-time friend Patrice Lewis posted some fascinating maps in her Rural Revolution blog: Population Density.

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“Once a Marine” had this comment:

“Excellent article by 3AD Scout. However, he barely touched on transportation, for people and goods. During both big wars, people outside urban areas often used horses and wagons in place of gas-powered vehicles. That won’t happen this time. Thus, the bicycle will be a conveyance of choice.

Silent, no gasoline or diesel fuel necessary, the engine runs on renewable fuel, much greater range and carrying capability than walking.

See this Made in America gem: Worksman Cycles

And this beauty from Africa: The Buffalo Bicycle.

And with a cart the capacity is increased enormously, and they are very easy to repair.”

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Jimmy A. wrote:

“I read with dismay Sara Sue’s article of 7-13-22. The State of Tennessee has “full disclosure”

real estate laws. Meaning that the Seller is required to report the “good, bad and ugly” to the Buyer

in regard to the property condition. Sara Sue describes herself as a “high tech professional” so it seems

strange to me that she would not do some basic research and ask appropriate detailed questions about the property before

making an offer. She has the basis for legal action assuming the statute of limitations have not run out…I think realtors in this state might have a strong lobby like the lawyers, so they get the legislature to pass minimum statute of limitation laws.

Even so, this constitutes fraud, and I don’t think there is a statute of limitations on that (or should not be). Call the Real Estate Licensing Board. Many realtors are almost shysters, with no real ethical concerns in regard to the Buyers. This is not a situation where ‘Buyer Beware’.”

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Reader H.W. suggested a YouTube video series on ham radio: OH8STN Ham Radio. H.W. says: “His portable power series is particularly excellent. It starts here: DIY ham radio battery pack. Thank you for the blog from the north Wisconsin woods.”

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Sara Sue sent this update:

“A tip on storing harvested potatoes that is working for me, if you don’t have a root cellar or basement. I purchased storage bins from Walmart, and poplar shavings from the feed store, layered the potatoes in the bin with plenty of shavings in between. They’ve been in the bins a few months and absolutely no spoilage. Do not wash them. Put them in the bins “dirty”, not touching one another, and don’t put the lid on. I keep them in a cool, dark, room of the house (northwest corner) since I have no available pantry space.

The garden has been “put to bed” for the winter although there are still a lot of potatoes to get out before our first frost mid-October. Waiting for a hay delivery and found someone local who will deliver and stack it for me in the barn at not a bad additional cost. It’s possible the dairy cow A.I. breeding “took”, but won’t be able to preg test her for awhile yet. The very big calf is coming along with her training. She’s been wildly rebellious and it’s taken some work to get her to understand who the boss is. She is much bigger than me!

I’ve started the cheese making journey. Supposedly, mozzarella cheese is one of the simplest, but I completely wrecked my first try. Reminds me of when I first started making sourdough bread. You just have to keep at it until you get the right results. I’ve started frequenting an Amish store and picked up a lot of cheeses that will go into the freezer for winter in case I can’t get the cheese thing going fast enough. Their prices are very good for sliced meats and cheeses. I’ve taken to shopping there rather than the local grocery store. Vegetables and fruits in season are plentiful, local honey, and it’s a great place to pick up bulk spices and seasonings at a reasonable price in a variety of sizes. Right now they are selling apples in bulk. Last month it was tomatoes and cucumbers. Would be worth a monthly trip if you have any Amish living in your state, especially if gardening is a struggle in your situation. Heck, I’d even drive to a neighboring state once a month”

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Our Editor-At-Large Michael Z. Williamson recommended a new video from Wranglerstar: Surprising Cheap & Useful Things You Didn’t Know You Needed. JWR Asks: Hey, scholars, what does sportlac, spell, backwards?

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MacHam offered this advice:

“In these inflationary times it’s always good to find a way to save some money. My son turned me onto grocery liquidators. My oldest boy manages a cool/cold storage warehouse. Cool is foods kept at 35 degrees Farenhight and cold is foods kept at -10 degrees Farenhight. My son has a huge freezer at home and it is always filled with the finest steaks and seafood. On our last family get-together he provided 10 pounds of shrimp at no cost to him.

The way that it works is long haul truckers use his facility as the just in time delivery port. If a trucker has 40,000 pounds of beef he drops the frozen beef off and when the stores need beef they e-mail the warehouse and they send a pallet or two, the last few miles to fulfill the order. The 40,000 pounds of beef could sit there for days or even weeks . As you can imagine it’s all very precise and time sensitive. My son finds himself working 6 to 7 days a week at 12 hours a day, he loves his job.

One of the side benefits is sometimes a pallet will get damaged in shipping. If one box gets damaged than the entire pallet is filmed and the film is e-mailed back to the customer and asked: “What do you want to do with this damaged pallet? If they try and remove the damaged carton or two and they forward it to the store and the store counts 48 cartons instead of 50 they ordered, they will reject the entire pallet. In this litigious society, no stores will take any chances. The original owner then either donates the pallet to the local food bank and now more recently they’ll sell it to grocery liquidators. What happens to the damaged cartons? They get pulled from the original pallet and my son lets his fellow workers have first choice. My son showed me a 18-pound carton of bacon that had been clearly stabbed by a forklift fork. When we opened the carton 3 one-pound packages were badly damaged but 15 packages were left untouched.

So I wanted to know more about grocery liquidators. In the grocery business there many grades of groceries. From the very high end you will find in wealthy areas and at the low end is grocery liquidators. We have gone twice now and it is sort of a treasure hunt. Each time we go we find new things selling cheap. We bought and dried 5 pounds of peeled garlic at $1 per pound. We bought and dried 5 pounds of Shitake mushrooms for $9.00. They had 25-pound boxes of Roma tomatoes for $7. Granted all the produce is at, or past its pull date, but this is the New America we live in. Adapt or perish.

They had crate after crate of dented soda cans selling for 12 cans for a dollar. They had dented # 10 cans of almost everything selling for $1 per can. Some were dented slightly some were really mashed. We bought two #10 cans ( dented) of Heinze relish for $2 and will re-can these into pint jars in the future. This will make 12 pints. Dents on the side are okay with me, but if there are dents on the seal, I leave in the bin. The once valuable hand sanitizer, gloves, and masks were selling for pennies on the dollar.

Our current commander-in-chief has spent 7 billion dollars a day since being in office and our currency is turning into confetti right before our eyes. The gold standard for all inflationary times to study is Weimar Germany 1919-1923. It should be noted that in 1923, 91% of all income went to food, not rent. not car payments, but food. I would hope that your readers may glean some insight from this to benefit their families as we trod the same tired path as Venezuela.”

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Black Hole: as billions in American arms and aid enter Ukraine, US officials receive hand written receipts.

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And, last but not least, Doublemountainman had these comments on my recent mention of Balkanization:

“In rural west Texas, we grow all the grain for the cities. We raise their cotton, beef, and lamb. We drill for their oil, generate their wind energy, and are now sacrificing valuable acres to their solar panel fields. We milk their cows and cater to their corporate hunters. Other parts of rural America grow timber for their houses, mine their coal, and raise their chickens and pigs.

And what do we get in return? What comes out of these blue counties that we have traded all our hard earned dollars for? Insurance bills, liberal colleges we don’t even want to send our kids to, liberal politics, poor fiscal policy, automobiles that are too complicated and expensive to maintain (much less buy, who have more dollars of employee insurance in them than metal), pharmaceuticals we can’t afford, banks that are too big to fail, and regulations limiting our production, just to name a few.

Our city cousins have kicked our butt financially my entire adult life and the whole time their standard of living has grown leaps and bounds while we are deteriorating into a Third World country. We suffer the consequences of drought, manipulated commodity markets, increased input costs brought about by ridiculous money printing and the city slickers just keep getting their paychecks deposited into their accounts every month as if nothing is wrong.

And now on top of all of this, we’ve been made the enemy of the state because we aren’t pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, or pro-unlimited immigration.

You get the point, but it leaves me begging the question of the blue counties, “what have you done for me lately?”

When the Balkanization starts I know one family that will gladly help draw the new boundary lines.

These are interesting times we live in.

Thanks for your blog. It’s where I start every morning.”