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 “HJL”. In an update on Puerto Rico, we can see that this is fertile ground for church missions.
Easy Vegetables
Reader T.J. sent in this video from GrowingYourGreens on what he believes are the top three easiest vegetables to grow. This is actually a pretty interesting vlog because most of this gardening is done in an urban area on very small plots of land. If you are stuck in the city or suburbs, this is a good channel to follow. Just don’t stay in the city too long when SHTF hits.
Christmas Power Outage
While much of New England had a white Christmas, about 20,000 people in Massachusetts were in a blackout condition. The cause was a quick change of temperature and high winds. Most of the outages were on Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard. The loss of power really isn’t a big deal in itself, but it underscores the need to have backup sources of heat. Even if your house is heated with fuel oil or propane, most modern heating system require some form of electricity to operate. While this power outage was quickly dealt with, you don’t want to be in that situation where you are weeks without heat in your shelter. Thanks to G.P. for the link.
Why They Can’t Stand You
Ever wonder why your neighbors who know you prep can’t stand you? Reader T.J. sent in Canadian Prepper’s video describing the normalcy bias that most people have and it’s resultant effect of their on your relationship with you. If they know that you prep, they also know that they don’t prep. Canadian Prepper believes that this causes a situation where they need to ridicule you so that you are not a better person than them. Of course, the appropriate thing to do would be to start prepping. It’s never to late to start, you just may not get where you need to be on short notice.
Getting Manure for Christmas
While I certainly understand the concept of expressing your frustration, perhaps sending the U.S. Treasury Secretary a box full of manure is not the most appropriate thing to do. The person did own up to it immediately, but the gift prompted an investigation by the Secret Service. The sender, in an interview with KPCC was expressing his disdain with the recent tax plan passed by congress. He does, however, compare his gift with Jesus overturning the moneychanger tables in the Temple. We’re not so sure about the validity of that claim. Maybe he needs to spend a bit more time studying the Bible. Thanks to S.M. for the link.
Volunteers and Cities Clash over Homeless
We could see this one coming for several years. As the government attempts to take more and more control, they are also tripping over themselves and hurting the homeless while claiming to help. Reader H.L. notes:
“There are many causes of homelessness in America: mental problems, lazy, few job skills and little desire to improve them, high cost of rental housing, deteriorating economy, inflation, etc. etc.
“However, instead of city/town officials banning feeding a hungry homeless person, they should send some of the city/town paid employees to the site, find out what is going on, collect data, talk to those feeding the homeless, talk to the homeless and try and help with the problem. Instead, most officials hire some almost clueless Social Worker who in his/her office without real knowledge tries to craft a usually overly costly plan. Banning someone from handing out food is cruel. Sounds like the time of Charles Dickens and Victorian England.”
The Ultimate Survivalists
Recently, on a business trip to Oklahoma City, deep in the heart of an urban area, I awoke at three A.M. to hear the yipping of coyotes. Being from a rural area, I knew I wasn’t confusing the sound with feral dogs. Now a reader sends in this: Coyotes Are Colonizing Cities. Step Forward the Urban Hunter. The coyote is one of the most adaptable animals I have ever seen.
Update on Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico has all but dropped from main stream media, but 30,000 people are still living without electricity in the mountains more than three months after Hurricane Maria slammed the island. While much of the continued problems can be directly blamed on mismanagement from local corrupt politicians as well as “aide” organizations that misuse funds, there still exists a great need. This is fertile ground for missionary outreach from churches across the country.
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Please send your news tips to HJL. (Either via e-mail of via our Contact form.) These are often especially relevant, because they come from folks who watch news that is important to them. Due to their diligence and focus, we benefit from fresh “on target” news. We often “get the scoop” on news that is most likely ignored (or reported late) by mainstream American news outlets. Thanks!
An interesting juxtaposition: “banning feeding a hungry homeless person” and “Coyotes colonizing cities”. See the connection? Should we allow and encourage people to feed feral cats or coyotes? Than why allow the feeding of the homeless? It is no different from bringing them beer or cheap wine. They are homeless because they are mentally ill and/or addicted to drugs and alcohol. Becoming their codependent in their addiction is not helpful. If you really want to help the homeless first convince the ACLU to take up a hobby instead of interfering and round these people up wherever you find them and give them real help not food or money.
There are lots of causes of homelessness. I think the main cause is government interference and government regulations, which are unconstitutional. It makes it so people can’t afford to jump through all the hoops. Besides that, it is the place of charities, churches and individuals to help people as they see fit, and the government should back away and let them.
There are homeless people who are just down on their luck. They are usually smart enough to take advantage of the many programs offered to them and they get out of the homeless situation fairly quickly. Those who do not choose not to take advantage of these programs because they require treatment for drug and alcohol addiction. These people want to be addicts or to put it another way choose not to undergo treatment to end addiction. You cannot help them by taking care of their physical needs so that they can then beg and steal enough to take care of their addiction. All you are doing is is prolonging their misery.
As a retired l.e.o.,dealing with the homeless for 20 years,and also volunteering at a faith-based homeless ministry,One Guy is absolutely right-on regarding the reasons for the majority of those who are homeless. It’s alcohol and/or drug addiction, and most choose to be in that predicament, it’s a choice.
Puerto Rico
So much to say about this article and examples about how not to be prepared.
First, these people live in hurricane alley and have made no preps to survive a hurricane and then complain because they are miserable. What do they expect? I have to be skeptical with todays press, did this area even have electricity before the hurricane?
You would think that an area that has been wiped out and has no electricity for months wouldn’t have call for a nail salon, but evidently nice nails are very important. And the poor people have to go to bed at 9PM because they can’t do anything after it gets dark. I must wonder, are they doing anything during the day besides waiting for somebody to come take care of them? Heck, I go to bed at 8:30 myself because I have to get started early the next day making a living, maybe somebody should feel sorry for me.
One featured fellow in the article has drug a bunch of debris together to create a shack for his family to live in while they continue to wait for FEMA to come build them a new house. Is there anything wrong with NOT depending on the government to build you a new house? Good golly take some pride in yourself and DO something to change your current condition and DO NOT depend on the government to take care of you!
I’m really not cruel hearted, but I’m way past tired of hearing these folks complain that other people aren’t doing things fast enough to suit them.
I have never understood why people allowed the introduction of gas heaters and stoves that are dependent on electricity to light/work. What’s the point? We have steadily refused to buy stoves and heaters that won’t light on their own. Why? Because if the power goes out, which it very often does, we wouldn’t be able to heat the house or cook. Well, actually we could. We have a generator and we have multiple ways to cook/heat off grid. But we still refuse to have gas appliances that depend on electricity.
I suppose that a box of manure would be taken as an insult if people didn’t embrace the poo (as Jackie clay calls it). I don’t know if I’d take offense or not. I’d probably go put it in my garden. I am all the time moving manure around anyway. If someone spent a lot of money and work to send me some, it would kind of amusing. Hopefully it would be enough to make it worth their effort.
I saw this in the news and thought it was a business opportunity for some enterprising person. Who hasn’t been upset enough with a government, business, or other frustrating human to want to send them a box of manure? With the right preparations, perhaps we could even skip the Secret Service interview. 🙂
Fifteen years ago, having just moved back to the DC Metro area from Colorado for work, we were in the path of the remnants of a hurricane. Trees and branches took out the power all over town, including our block. I was out walking the dog when I saw a power truck cruise by, and thought to myself, that was quick. Unfortunately for me, that truck was conducting triage assessments on downed lines. Our line was down due to a large limb, but only affected one block, about twenty homes. Repair priorities went to larger outages, and it was a week before the power came back on for us. Fortunately, we had a larger cooler, a gas stove, a gas water heater and candles. Other than no TV, we really didn’t notice the lack of electricity. And this was about twenty miles from the Capitol.
More manure from the left. I guess his child psychologist mind reads the applicable portion of scripture to say “My Father’s house is to be about ever increasing taxation but you have begun turning it into uncaring racism”. The irony of this situation is a Godless leftists using the scriptures by twisting them just like their spiritual father (Satan). In Jesus’ time this shrink would be a cheerleader for the Sanhedrin…
I survived the great Christmas power outage on the Vineyard! Guess I need that wood stove installed ASAP. Cheers!
For years and years we tied to get Puerto Rico to join the union and they balked. Fast forward some years later when they run themselves into the ground, drugs have overtaken their culture as well as their minds and money is at an all time shortage and suddenly they want to join but we don’t allow them.
They talk straight junk on us all day long but as soon as the hurricane hits they become solid American citizens. Pshhh flat tire that noise
Let this be a lesson to everyone who claims they are bugging out to an island too on limited resources and travel issues associated with it after a disaster or even a manmade issue. Look back to WW2 on how easily the Pacific islands fell to invasion and how hard life became once those resources were depleted by thugs and the invading armies
Homeless due to government interference and regulation? What liberal hogwash!
This scum is overrunning Southern California. I will give them this. They sren’t stupid enough to winter in Denver or Couer d’Laine.
They leave their feces, along with their used hypodermics, everywhere. They camp in settlements at the Orange Court Courthouse. Deputies have to escort women to their cars at night.
Along the Santa Ana Rver they have set up their own “neighborhoods” and “streets.”
90% of the people living in these Meth Havens refused government assistance recently.
90%.
The recent Bel Air Wild Fire was due to this scum.
As long as the prombkem is someone else’s problem, some people don’t give a damn. I , fortunately, don’t live in close proximity to them, but I certainly feel sympathy for the families, especially those with kids, who do.
So what’s your solution to homelessness? More government regulation, plus more money being removed from the pockets of hard working Americans?
Rose when you can figure out how to overcome human sin nature then you will have a real solution. The vast majority of these urban outdoorsmen are drug and alcohol addicted volunteers for this lifestyle. They don’t want to live within the strictures of basic human decency and you can’t push them to, no matter how much you want them to.
My solution?
It involves the use of barbed wire.
It’s amazing to me that because I advocate for the freedom to throw away your money by giving it to homeless, in whatever method, I am labeled as a liberal. How is it liberal to advocate for smaller government? How is it liberal to advocate for Constitutional rights? If your rights are taken away at the point of a gun, then you have no rights. Some in this thread are advocating taking away the rights of homeless without due process. Some have admitted that not all homeless are drug abusers. Some are adamant that every one of them is a drug abuser, which totally shoots in the foot any argument they have because it’s simply not true. I do not advocate for feeding drug addictions. But I’m also smart enough to know that after the Christian community advocates to round up all the drug abusers, then next will be the Christians, and we will have given up our constitutional rights to due process and there will literally be no recourse.
I haven’t been handed an easy life myself, but I have never in my life been dependent in any way on government assistance, even when it was very, very hard. Most of my life, I have literally been one step above homelessness. It angers me to see friends argue that such and such law must be imposed on private landowners “for the good of society.” THAT is liberalism, not advocating for freedom. It is the laws that cause landowners to have to spend so much money that cause many people to be homeless. And don’t tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about, because, remember, I have spent most of my life barely above the homeless level.
Here’s what I’m saying. Respect the constitution, if not for yourself, then for me. Had it not been for that antiquated constitution, I’d have been homeless myself many times. I was given the right in this great land to work my tail off until it hurt and try to make something of myself. When I couldn’t afford a car, and didn’t have anyone to teach me how to drive, I bought myself a bike and I rode it miles and miles to a low end job in freezing weather for years. I hauled groceries home on that bike. Why? Because I wanted to be independent and free. I have known what it is to be hungry and dig in dumpsters for food to fill my belly. I’ve known what it is to have the employees come out and threaten to call the police if we didn’t leave. We weren’t drug abusers. We were hard working people trying to make it.
Those were dark days, but let me tell you, they made me who I am. Once you have been hungry, you never ever forget. This is the reason I am a prepper now. This is why I put up food and work so hard to never waste anything. This is why I married a farmer who has never known hunger, despite also being dirt poor. I used to envy farmers, because I knew that even if they were dirt poor, they had food. I wanted so bad to have that opportunity to have that much food. I used to dream of having my own cow, because I could drink the milk. Why is it illegal to sell raw milk? Why do cities have laws against having cows? Chickens? I wanted a cow so bad as a kid, but we lived in the city. But I couldn’t drink homogenized milk, and raw milk was illegal to buy. I needed the cream, due to nutritional deficiencies resulting from our makeshift diet. Do you realize the implications of homelessness? Did you think of all these things I listed when you say all homelessness are drug abusers?
Am I advocating for drug abusers? Absolutely not. I hate drugs of any form, because they alter the body. It makes them not in control of their faculties. It endangers other people’s lives and that is a violation of their constitutional rights. No one’s constitutional rights should be violated.
I not advocating for forced charity in any form, either by the government or anyone else. But let me tell you, had it not been for the ministry of churches I went to, I wouldn’t have made it. There were saints who did take me into their home at times. They gave me rides across the country when I needed it. They helped me learn how to survive in the world. The lessons they taught me, a little at a time, are what helped me to become a productive citizen. No government agency could do what they did.
In the county where I now live, I know of so many instances where churches came together and helped people who needed help. There is very little government programs here, partly because we are such a small county, partly because it’s just a way of life to take care of our own. There aren’t a lot of rich people here. There’s a lot of poverty. But if someone needs something, someone they know will find someone to help and meet that need. It’s how it should be. And yes, I have personally gotten involved in people’s lives and made them better, because I know what it’s like.
Re: Volunteers and Cities Clash Over Homeless
Quote from the article “Cities, volunteers clash over feeding homeless in public,”
“Food is a human right, and you don’t force people to do what you want them to do by withholding food,” she said.”
Consider the phase from the above sentence “Food is a human right,”.
As a Prepper in a SHTF situation are your food supplies and further extending the list to your preparations, etc., the “Rights” of others”?
If the food is yours, it is your right to deal with it as you see fit. But as Ayn Rand said if anyone tells you to sacrifice for others, it’s time to consider what that person is saying. Better, run.
Also, to differentiate between the types of Homeless, if your public library has free internet access to sources for a job search or assistance, notice who is using them. Then notice the homeless patrons who are not. Not that the old-timers don’t know how to use the system it is the recent Homeless who need assistance quickly before they spiral down too long. Unfortunately, not everyone can be saved. Women and children first is still true.
While feeding, or giving change to “street people” is your choice, consider the aftereffects of your actions. I have been cursed at, threatened and have had a bottle throw at me because I “disrespected” the person accustomed to free handouts, as if it is their right I denied by saying “Sorry, I have no change.” being working poor. Working Poor = one step above Homelessness. And for the downtown business owner it’s not much fun cleaning the urine stink on their property each morning.
As Florida is a Superhighway for the homeless for those with older houses having crawl spaces, a two-foot space separating the house on footers from the ground, check for signs of transits living there, i.e. needles. And signs, like the old Hobo markings designating a place to crash, chalk symbols, a piece of clothing. Give money to one person, expect others as your home will be put on a map. Yes, there are maps, verbal and otherwise, where to go. There are homeless camps with hundreds of occupants. Although I never witnessed it, Orlando, Florida, at one time was said to have thousands of homeless, mostly veterans, in the periphery of parks. I understand the VA is working on getting living spaces for the vets. Any large city open to expressways will have problems. Add an underground subway transit network and you have something out of a doomsday novel. Probably how the government perceives Preppers? Imagine a cartoon with a “Don’t feed the preppers” sign or exchange the two words in the article to see how mass subliminal conditioning messaging can work.
On the bigger picture, why is there an increase in homeless? Government regulations on small businesses and housing coupled with bureaucracy, job outsourcing, hidden inflation on an already devalued dollar? Don’t expect the government to fix the problem but please be consider of the surrounding community after you have done your good deed for the day. Invite them to your house for dinner.
Hopefully as the thin veneer of civilization wears away Christian Charity is one virtue that will survive.
Thank you
Re: OneGuy says above:
December 26, 2017 at 2:42 pm
An interesting juxtaposition: “banning feeding a hungry homeless person” and “Coyotes colonizing cities”.
Easy Vegetables
Christmas Power Outage
Why They Can’t Stand You
Getting Manure for Christmas
Volunteers and Cities Clash over Homeless
The Ultimate Survivalists
Update on Puerto Rico
Juxtaposition that.
Just kidding
Example Juxtaposition,
Easy Vegetables
Volunteers and Cities Clash over Homeless
Christmas Power Outage
The Ultimate Survivalists
Eat the Poor
Getting Manure for Christmas
Update on Puerto Rico
Why They Can’t Stand You
Eat …
Kudos to One Guy for his insight.
” Update on Puerto Rico “, my son came back from ” being ” part of the relief effort in Puerto Rico. He went there as a truck driver to move supplies, instead he was given the job of driving a passenger van moving people back and forth between a hospital and the hotel they stayed at. Yes, old San Juan is up and ready for the tourist trade along with the police protection. But the rest of San Juan and out lying areas almost nothing had been done or so it would seem. When I asked him what he thought, his answer was ” it’s a cluster f*** ” all around
The homeless has exploded because of the heroin users. Zombies. Laugh you may, but half the homeless is drug induced zombies.
There are 20,000 homeless on the streets of LA. The soft heads who have the “milk of human kindness” flowing through their veins speak of people being “down on their luck.” Bullfeathers (notice I am keeping this clean). Most of the homeless are addicts and alcoholics. As the adage goes, “Life is about choices.” They made theirs.
For the schizos among the homeless, the homeless activist got their way in the 80s, and no one can take them into custody now unless it can be demonstrated that they are a “danger to themselves or others.” In truth, they need to be rounded up for their own good. They wander the streets covered in grime, hair scattered in every direction, and in a near zombie-like trance while they carry on shrill conversations with themselves.
“Down on their luck?” Luck is what you make it most of the time, and it is typically the case where the homeless refuse help when it is offered–unless it is money with which to make another drug by. They don’t feel unlucky at all. In fact, the overwhelming percentage of them are happy with their plight.
LA spends millions each year on this scum. Fortunately for me, although I work in LA, I live outside LA and don’t have to watch my own tax money being spent on these people.
Just like with pigeons, you feed one and you will get dozens around your feet. The more the homeless programs expand in LA, the more homeless will flock here.
I just wish that all of the bleeding hearts who grieve over the plight of the homeless would take one home with them and administer their Christian charity to the homeless in their own living rooms and at their own kitchen tables. Now there is food for thought. I am not holding my breath about this, however.