Month: April 2023

JWR: A Bit of Sick Leave

I’ve come down with what seems to be a bad cold.  I’m hoping that this isn’t the dreaded Omicron variant of the WuFlu. For the first time ever in 18 years of writing and editing SurvivalBlog, I’ll be taking a few sick days, to recuperate.  Don’t worry, folks. I’m only 62 years old and I’m doing all of the right things:  Plenty of fluids, bed rest, extra Vitamin D3, Vitamin C, and Zinc.  I’m also taking a five-day course of 12 MG Ivermectin tablets. As I’m writing this on Thursday afternoon, I’m still sick abed but now actually feeling a …


Preparedness Notes for Thursday — April 6, 2023

Today is the birthday of famous American newsreel and radio journalist/narrator Lowell Thomas. This is also the birthday of novelist Vince Flynn. (Born April 6, 1966, died June 19, 2013.) His death at age 47 was a loss to the literary world. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 106 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000. A Gunsite Academy Three Day …


Moving to the Country: If Not Now, When? – Part 3, by St. Funogas

(Continued from Part 2. This concludes the article.) Financial Concerns, Taking a Vow of Poverty In my case, retiring early and cashing out most of my 401k took a leap of faith to say the least. It helped that I was debt-free and willing to put up with almost any inconvenience and suffer financially if necessary if it meant finally getting to live my dream life in the country. That was my primary goal above all else. How to get by if the funds ran dry was only a secondary concern that I’d deal with later if necessary. That’s how …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is 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. In today’s column, we look at the near-record snowpack in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains. California’s Historic Snowpack: More Flooding Ahead? ABC television: California’s historic snowpack and the runoff’s potential impact on …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Ever since the decline of the Arabian Empire, more than a thousand years ago, generals, sultans, and califs have attempted to unify the peoples of Arabia, and particularly of the province of Hedjaz, because it contains the two sacred Mohammedan cities. None were successful, but where they failed, Thomas Edward Lawrence, the unknown unbeliever, succeeded. It remained for this youthful British archæologist to go into forbidden Arabia and lead the Arabs through the spectacular and triumphant campaign which helped Allenby break the backbone of the Turkish Empire and destroy the Pan-German dream of world dominion. The way in which he …


Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — April 5, 2023

Today is the birthday of Baron Arisaka Nariakira (April 5, 1852 – January 12, 1915.) He was a lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army. The inventor of the Arisaka Rifle, he is regarded as one of the leading arms designers in Japanese history, alongside Kijiro Nambu. — On this day in 1614, Pocahontas married John Rolfe which ensured peace between the Jamestown settlers and the Powhatan Indians for several years. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 106 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power …


Moving to the Country: If Not Now, When? – Part 2, by St. Funogas

(Continued From Part 1.) Design Features and Customizations Every place I’ve ever lived had a large living room and a smaller kitchen. I made the kitchen the largest room in the house since we spend a lot of time cooking, baking, and playing board games. There’s a loft on both sides of the kitchen leaving an 18’ ceiling with a large skylights above, giving the room a much larger feeling as well as making it bright and cheery, even on cloudy days. There’s a large 4’ x 6’ picture window to enjoy the view. The cat wanted 8” wide window …


SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: 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. — Our Editor-At-Large Michael Z. Williamson suggested this 2011-dated CDC report: Noise and Lead Exposures at an Outdoor Firing Range. Here is a key quote from the report:  “The only potentially effective noise control method to reduce students’ or instructors’ noise exposure from gunfire is through the use of noise suppressors that can …



Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — April 4, 2023

On the 4th of April, 1291 the siege of Acre began. A 220,000-man strong Mamluk Muslim army besieged 15,000 knights of different orders — including the Teutonic, Templar, and Hospitalier. This was one of the most important battles of the Crusades. Despite being outnumbered, the knights fiercely-defended the city, meanwhile evacuating women and children. The city fell on April 18. And 10 days later the last seaside Templar tower was conquered. The surviving Christians were enslaved. This was the end of the Jerusalem crusades. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 106 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction …


Moving to the Country: If Not Now, When? – Part 1, by St. Funogas

With winter ebbing and spring headed our way, some folks are probably thinking a little more frequently about getting out of the city once and for all. Having “been there done that,” it saddens me to read comments on SurvivalBlog from people wanting to start living a simpler more self-reliant lifestyle in the country but they just can’t seem to make it happen. For some of those, I’m confident they could turn their hopes into reality if they could learn to think out of the box, rethink normalcy, toss some of their fears aside, and make some sacrifices to make …


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, we cover the rollout of high-speed Internet to American Redoubt locales. Region-Wide The national broadband map still looks patchy, in the Redoubt. o  o  o Starlink internet coverage, cost, speeds and the latest news — what you need to know. o  o  o Eastern Oregonians …



Preparedness Notes for Monday — April 3, 2023

This is the birthday of Washington Irving, an American author, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for short stories like Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, but he also wrote several biographies and served as the US Ambassador to Spain from 1842 to 1846. — Today’s feature article is a review written by our Filed Gear Editor, Thomas Christianson. But first, the results of the writing contest judging.


Writing Contest Prize Winners Announced — Round 105

We’ve completed the judging for Round 105 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prize-winning writers are: First Prize First Prize goes to Greg X., for Finding, Buying, and Improving My Bugout Location.  (Posted March 14-16, 2023.  See: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.) He will receive the following prizes: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 …