Month: December 2024

Reloading for the 1891 Argentine Mauser – Part 1, by Tunnel Rabbit

Remember that 1983 movie, A Christmas Story? It beautifully recreated a classic scene that captured the wonder and magic of Christmas, the anticipation and excitement of Santa’s arrival and the delivery of that Red Rider BB gun. In my case, the rifle most recently delivered by Santa was not a Red Rider BB gun, but something just as wonderful, yet better suited to an old man who is beginning to reminisce, something that is perfectly suited for the old man, but you could not know that until you had it in your hands. To my surprise, the fit and finish, …


A Book Review for the Children in Your Lives — A New Prepper Pete Series

Dear Readers, I want to bring to your attention an illustrated survival book series for your children.  These would make great Christmas/Hannukkah/Birthday presents. The series is called Prepper Pete and Friends and is written by Kermit Jones, Jr.  Ten years ago he started the series and published four books.  After a long hiatus Mr. Jones is adding more books to the series. The first four original books in the series were: “Prepper Pete Prepares, An Introduction to Prepping For Kids” “Prepper Pete’s Twelve Days of Prepper Christmas” “Survivalist Sam Stocks Up, The Four B’s of Prepping”, “Prepper Pete’s A Gun …


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 located in the American Redoubt region that are of interest to preppers and survivalists. Today, we focus on Bureau Of Land Management (BLM) control of western lands.   (See the Region Wide section.) Region-Wide An update: In August, Utah and 12 other states filed a suit, challenging BLM control over western lands:  ‘Without merit’: Feds respond to Utah’s public land lawsuit. …



Preparedness Notes for Monday — December 16, 2024

On December 16, 1497, Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama became the first European to sail along Africa’s East Coast. He named it Natal. — The Romanian Revolution began on December 16th, 1989. No less than 1,066 civilians died in the successful attempt to overthrow the dictatorial President Nicolae Ceaușescu. — December 16th, 1928, was the birthday of Philip K. Dick, who died March 2, 1982. He penned a remarkable number of sci-fi novels and novellas that have been adapted into movies, including Blade Runner, Total Recall, Screamers, Impostor, Minority Report, Paycheck, A Scanner Darkly, Next, and The Adjustment Bureau. Though …


MyTopo Waterproof Topographical Maps, by Thomas Christianson

Have you ever tried to read a map in the rain? Or a map that got wet when a canoe tipped over? Or a map that accidentally got dropped in creek that you were crossing? If you have, you know that water and maps are not on very friendly terms with each other. MyTopo Waterproof Topographical Maps offer outdoorsmen a more weather-resistant navigational aid than traditional paper maps. MyTopo maps are waterproof, frostproof, and stand up to repeated folding better than traditional paper maps. They are available in the newest post-2009 USGS quads, the classic pre-2009 USGS quads, game management …


Simple Farm Cheese Recipe

Reader Brian H. wrote to ask me about how I make the Farm Cheese that I’ve mentioned a few times in the Editors’ Prepping Progress column. I don’t claim any special cheesemaking knowledge.  The following Simple Farm Cheese recipe that I’ve used many times comes from “The Cheese Queen”, Ricki Carroll, in her excellent book “Home Cheesemaking”, pages 104-105: Ingredients 2 gallons of milk 1 packet of Direct set mesophilic starter or 4 ounces of prepared mesophilic starter 1/2 teaspoon liquid rennet (or 1/2 rennet tablet) diluted in 1/2 cup of cool  unchlorinater water. 1 Tablespoon of cheese salt. Cheese …


SurvivalBlog Graphic of the Week

Today’s graphic: How Americans Heat Their Homes. (Graphic courtesy of Reddit and Maps.com.) JWR’s Comments:  In the Midwest, natural gas is popular in urban areas, and propane in rural areas. Despite the advent of electric heat pumps, propane is gaining in popularity in the southeast and Texas, where higher electricity rates and power outages have made many residents reconsider their home heating options.  The extended grid power failure in Texas in February, 2021 was a wakeup call for people who rely on electricity for home heating and cooking. The supply of natural gas was also partly disrupted, but propane users …



Preparedness Notes for Sunday — December 15, 2024

December 15, 1929: Swiss pilot and photographer Walter Mittelholzer was the first man to fly over Mount Kilimanjaro. — December 15th is Bill of Rights Day. The Bill of Rights became law on this day in 1791, following ratification by the state of Virginia. We encourage our American readers to gather publicly and read the Bill of Rights aloud. — December 15, 1923, was the birthday of Uziel “Uzi” Gal (born Gotthard Glas). According to Wikipedia, he was “…born in Weimar, Germany. When the Nazis came to power in 1933 he moved first to England and later, in 1936, to …


Staying Sane and Happy in Isolation, by M.J.E.

When an October snowstorm brought down leaf-covered tree branches all over the city and onto the power lines, we were without electricity for nearly two weeks, and took in our friends who had neither a wood burning fireplace nor gas appliances. During the pandemic, lockdowns found people all over the world sheltering in their homes in isolation. In the dead of winter, with feet of snow on the ground, getting out of an isolated cabin can be not only dangerous, but sometimes impossible. Since we all prep, we have food and water and heat, our people are fed and the …


JWR’s Meme Of The Week: 

The latest meme created by JWR: Meme Text: Daniel Penny Was Found Not Guilty It Was Because He Did The Right Thing It Was Not “By Reason of Fabulous Hair” News Link: Jury finds Daniel Penny not guilty in subway chokehold death of homeless man. Notes From JWR: Do you have a meme idea? Just e-mail me the concept, and I’ll try to assemble it. And if it is posted then I’ll give you credit. Thanks! Permission to repost memes that I’ve created is granted, provided that credit to SurvivalBlog.com is included.  


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priesthood. And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest, Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better …


Preparedness Notes for Saturday — December 14, 2024

On December 14, 1542, Princess Mary Stuart succeeded her father James V to become Queen Mary I of Scotland, at just six days old. — December 14, 1702:  The famed forty-seven Ronin (leaderless samurai), under the command of Ōishi Kuranosuke, avenge the death of their master in Japan. — December 14th is the birthday of the late John Warren Wadleigh (born 1927, died September 24, 2013). Wadleigh was better known to many SurvivalBlog readers by his pen name– Oliver Lange. He was the author of the best-selling resistance warfare novel Vandenberg. — This is also the birthday of Air Force …


Twelve Live Gifts that Keep on Giving, by Mrs. Alaska

In the spirit of the season, I offer a “Twelve Days of Christmas” list of LIVE gifts that keep on giving to us here, at a remote homestead in Alaska. 1- Gallon of red wiggler worms, divided among my food gardens. They eat the kitchen scraps I toss there and rapidly improve the soil. 2 – Years’ worth of seeds (many degrade after that: check with a float/sink test each year). 3 – Rabbits (1 buck and 2 does). They can be mated at about five months and over the year, fill our larder. (In the photo at left, can …