Year: 2025

Preparedness Notes for Monday — June 9, 2025

On June 9, 1732, a royal charter for Georgia was granted to British military officer and philanthropist James Oglethorpe. — Today is the birthday of Jean Alexandre Francois LeMat (1824–1883). He is best known for the percussion cap revolver that bears his name. This clever revolver design has a cylinder that rotates around a 20-gauge shotgun barrel. — On June 9, 1940 Norway surrendered to the invading German army, during World War II. The citizenry was then quickly disarmed by the Nazis, so resistance was limited. (The invaders had access to the Norwegian police gun registration lists.) To limit reprisals …


Liberty Gold Water Test Kit, by Thomas Christianson

Testing for lead, free chlorine, total alkalinity, MPS, iron, nitrite, pH, bromine, fluoride, total chlorine, hardness, cyanuric acid, copper, nitrate, QUAT/QAC, carbonate and coliform/e. Coli bacteria, the Liberty Gold Standard Complete Water Test Kit gives a pretty good overview of the quality of a water source using a simple testing process. Costing $27.99 at the time of this writing at the Liberty Gold Standard website, the kit contains 140 test strips and three bacteria culture kits.


Recipe of the Week: Cinnamon French Toast

The following recipe for Grandma’s Cinnamon French Toast is from SurvivalBlog reader Ellen H. She says:  “For some variety, you can substitute the cinnamon with allspice, or nutmeg,  or cardamom, or some pumpkin pie spice.” Ingredients An unsliced loaf of bread. I use white bread or brioche, and slice it about 1″ thick.  Pre-sliced sandwich bread is too thin for proper French Toast! 5 large eggs. Heavy cream.  (Whole milk will also suffice, but cream is best.) Cinnamon, to taste. Sugar, to taste. Vanilla, to taste. Maple syrup, for topping. Directions Slice the bread. Slice into 3/4- to 1-inch slices. …


SurvivalBlog Graphic of the Week

Today’s graphic: A map showing the highest natural elevation in each county in the United States. (Graphic courtesy of Peakbagger.com, via Reddit.) The thumbnail below is click-expandable.       — Please send your graphics or graphics links to JWR. (Either via e-mail or via our Contact form.) Any graphics that you send must either be your own creation or uncopyrighted.



Preparedness Notes for Sunday — June 8, 2025

On June 8th, 1779, Admiral Horatio Nelson and Captain Thomas Hardy onboard  HMS Foudroyant set sail against the Spanish fleet. — On June 8th, 1776, Canadian Governor Sir Guy Carleton defeated American Patriot forces under John Sullivan. After taking heavy losses and the loss of General Richard Montgomery at Quebec, the Patriots were pursued by Governor Carleton. Halfway between Quebec and Montreal, at the Trois-Rivieres, the Patriots turned to fight. The Redcoats and German mercenaries killed 25, wounded 140, and captured 236, but Carleton allowed the rest of the 2,500-man force to complete their retreat. This battle changed the priorities …


Practical Multigenerational Housing, by Hollyberry

Editors’ Introductory Note: Outwardly, the topic of this article might seem tangential to SurvivalBlog. But please consider that a natural disaster, a societal collapse, or even just sudden unemployment might throw some odd groups of people together to live under one roof. It might be relatives, or it might be some close friends. Or it might just be “that guy who you know from church” with the well-honed tactical skills. Take this prospect seriously, and plan accordingly. (The painting above is titled The Bedroom, by Pieter de Hooch, dated 1658.) — JWR Proverbs 16:31 teaches us: “A gray head is …


JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR, based on a suggestion by SurvivaBlog reader Mike R.: Meme Text: Breaking News! Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Has Been Named: President of the Dunning-Kruger Society Links: A Guide to the Absolute Idiocy of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez The Dunning-Kruger Effect 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:

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, …


Preparedness Notes for Saturday — June 7, 2025

June 7th, 1099: The First Crusaders arrived in Jerusalem. — On June 7th, 1663: In the Hudson Valley, the Munsee and Esopus bands of the Delaware Indian tribe made a surprise attack on the Dutch settlement of Wiltwijck (later re-named Kingston, New York). They killed 25 settlers and took 45 more, as hostages. — June 7th, 1776: Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed to the Continental Congress a resolution calling for a Declaration of Independence. — June 7th, 1967 was the day of Jerusalem’s redemption from foreign governments in the Six Day War, placing it back under Israeli sovereign control …


Review: Springfield Armory Kuna, by Pat Cascio

Author’s Introductory Note: I mostly retired from writing more than two years ago, for a number of health reasons. I had several strokes plus a host of other health problems. I used to be able to type 100-to-125 words per minute, but now I can only type 30 words per minute. I was in the hospital several times – at one point, I had blood poisoning, and the ER doctor said I was within a couple of hours of dying. Not a good thing. During another hospital visit, I had uncontrolled internal bleeding and was given 21+ units of blood. …


Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make both long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug-out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year.  We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in your e-mailed letters. We post many of those — or excerpts thereof — in the Odds …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom. A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself. When the wicked cometh, then cometh also contempt, and with ignominy reproach. The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook. It is not good to accept the person of the wicked, to overthrow the righteous in judgment. A fool’s lips enter into contention, and his mouth calleth for strokes. A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — June 6, 2025

D-Day was 81 years ago, today. I was born in 1960, just 16 years after D-Day.  I grew up living near a lot of World War 2 veterans. I hunted with some of them up until the 1990s.  It causes some cognitive dissonance to consider that today, the youngest veterans of that invasion, assuming that they were then 19 years old, would now be 100 years old! – JWR — Today is the birthday of American gun designer Hugo Borchardt. (June 6, 1844 – May 8, 1924). He was born in Germany. He is best known as the designer of …


For Want of a Nail: A Preps Inventory System – Part 4, by J.M.

(Continued from Part  3. This concludes the article.) What I’ve covered so far are the absolute basic things you need to know to use Obsidian for an inventory management systems. There are a number of other potentially useful capabilities you can use to enhance your inventory system that I’ll cover next. Where’s Waldo? Another potentially useful feature of Obsidian is the ability to assign a geographical location to a note. Say, for example, you have a couple of buried caches that you want to include in your inventory and you’d like to be able to include a map of their …