Bugging Out With a Cat, by Feline Tamer

Picture this: “Honey, this is it! The collapse I’ve been talking about all these years! The power’s been off a day and a half! There’s no running water! There’s no cell phone service! We’ve got to bug out now!” My wife is frantically chasing our male tuxedo cat, with the brilliant original name of “Tuxie.” She grabs her prized pet and tries to drop him into a crate, an animal carrier. Tuxie hisses, swipes at wifey’s arm, jumps down and scurries away into a bedroom. “Owww, he scratched me!” she wails. I grab a couple more bottled waters and stuff …


Countering Rampant Food Price Inflation, by SaraSue

When one of my daughters, who has a good job, starts complaining about how insane food and supply prices are, I pay attention.  She has started shopping at Walmart searching for the lowest possible prices.  Her recent cart rung up at $450 and she didn’t buy hardly any food – mostly toilet paper, paper towels, dog and cat food, a few household items, and enough food for a few good meals for her family.  She exclaimed, “This won’t even last us a week!”  I keep telling her to shop Costco for certain items – you get way more product for …


Fixing a Canning-tastrophy, by St. Funogas

It was Bette Davis who famously said, “Old age isn’t for sissies!” When you’re 15, hearing this for the first time only makes you scratch your head. At 35, it’s pretty comical. But about the time you’re getting that first social security check it’s not so funny anymore. During my recent first canning experience of this season, I made a mistake that fell firmly into the not-funny category. Fortunately, there was a way to fix the error. It wasn’t fun, but was still a fix. Getting in the Canning Groove I have a little hideaway cubby space under the kitchen …


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 declining population of wild turkeys in the United States. Why Are Wild Turkey Populations Declining? I found this posted over at the Outdoor Life …


Basic Home Safety Plans for the Duration – Part 2, by Michael X.

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Sadly, I have found that it is very easy to not use the proper protective equipment. If I happen upon a piece of work that needs doing, I have a tendency to just start it. If a person doesn’t think about the proper tools and processes used for a task, they may not use them. If they don’t think about the risks with the work, or they decide the proper tools and PPE is inconvenient to get, they may just start the job. I have learned some hard lessons …


Basic Home Safety Plans for the Duration – Part 1, by Michael X.

With the current state of decline afflicting many of the institutions of our country, many people may feel our country is at a tipping point and our lives will revert back to near-pioneer status. Those who feel they are prepared to continue living on separated from the sagging society and decaying government may soon be isolating themselves at their preferred location, whether it is the bug out location, homestead, suburban ranch, or even a bug-in location in a populated area. Once you are at your preferred location it could be for the long haul and things will get harder and …


“Bidenomics” Is A Fraud Based On Deliberately Misrepresented Stats, by Brandon Smith

Economic issues are some of the most politically abused issues often because the data politicians exploit is easy to present out of context. The vast majority of the public doesn’t spend their time immersed in the intricacies of monetary policy, unemployment stats and the processes of inflation vs deflation. They hear a soundbite on the news or social media once in a while, assume it must be true and then go on with their day. This is how economic crisis events always seem to take the population by surprise – The establishment tells people all is well and no one …


Defensive Spray Selection, by SwampFox

Important introductory Disclaimers, Provisos, and Warnings: The author has no affiliation with the companies selling the products mentioned in this article. No financial or other benefits have been derived, and no sponsorship is involved. The product testing mentioned in this article was not conducted scientifically, and was conducted only for the sake of curiosity. Testing chemical agents on yourself is not recommended, and is potentially hazardous to life and health. You should not attempt to replicate the test described in this article, and you should not use chemical agents on yourself, other people, or animals, except in self-defense and in …


The Time It Takes, by SwampFox

I work as a truck driver. That means I spend a lot of long, boring hours driving from state to state. I have a regular route, covering the same roads each day. On good days, not much happens that is new or exciting, and to pay attention to my job I need a bit of entertainment in the background. So I listen to a lot of audiobooks. A handful of these have been survivalist fiction or preparedness-oriented. I have discovered that many authors and readers may possess some unrealistic ideas about what a prepared life looks like, or what life …


PV Power Challenges and Solutions, by Tractorguy

This article should be subtitled: “And, the importance of regular visits to your Bug-Out Location (BOL).” Back in August of 2020, I wrote about the solar photovoltaic (PV) power system at my Bug-Out Location (BOL). I believe it was General Electric that used to put on all their professional product literature, “Our policy is one of constant improvement.” That’s great advice for all of us! In the last three years, I have made some refinements and corrected some significant shortcomings in it. My BOL is deep in the woods, a quarter-mile off the road, and is surrounded by trees. That’s …


Lessons From a Road Trip, by Richard T.

In April of this year we made a road trip from our home near the upper Mississippi River to the southern tip of Florida. In a previous article I covered navigation, communications (between driver and passenger), and maneuvering in traffic on that trip. This article is about other aspects of the same trip and what worked, and what didn’t. This trip had a two-fold purpose, to make a visit and to deliver cargo. Late the night before we were going to leave we decided to take the truck instead of the car as we needed the room for the cargo, …


A Low Power Communications Station in a Bucket – Part 5, by Tunnel Rabbit

(Continued from Part 4. This concludes the article.) RTL-SDR and SIGINT The photo at left shows a 2.GHz panel Yagi (a directional antenna) that was installed on a field expedient 30-foot wooden pole that is stabilized with guy wires. It is for use with a RTL-SDR dongle and a laptop to detect the signals controllng the movement of line of sight (LOS) drones that would emanate from the direction of the most likely avenue of approach. Its range of detection would be greatest when placed above the top of trees. In the world of radio, ‘Height is might’.) The link …


A Low Power Communications Station in a Bucket – Part 4, by Tunnel Rabbit

(Continued from Part 3.) Crossband Repeaters The Anytone AT5888uv, or the TYT TH-UV8000, a 10-watt handheld ($79) are examples of what I prefer in a open-banded transceiver with a crossband repeater. These use only one dual-band antenna, and are true two-way cross-band repeaters. For low-power operations, the TYT TH-UV8000 is the most practical. The Anytone AT5888 moblie with 50 watts of power, can do the same job and be a base station transceiver, yet it would draw more power, and when in use as a repeater, it can not be a base station transceiver. So, get both!


Globalists Suggest ‘Finance Shock’ and Climate Controls, by Brandon Smith

At the end of June government leaders and think-tank power brokers from around the world met at the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact in Paris. Participants include United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and World Bank President Ajay Banga. The supposed purpose of the summit was to find financial solutions to the goals of tackling poverty while simultaneously curbing “planet-heating emissions.” As with all climate change related events the discussion in Paris inevitably turned to international centralization of power and the formation of a global consortium to fix the …


A Low Power Communications Station in a Bucket – Part 3, by Tunnel Rabbit

(Continued from Part 2.) Photovoltaic (PV) Power Power can be supplied by an internal or external source. For long-term fixed installation, a single wire pair can deliver power from a 12 to 24 vdc from a PV panel to a battery stored inside, or placed outside, or directly to the voltage step-down converter inside. A Baofeng battery eliminator can accept the higher voltage of a PV panel and step it down to 7.4 volts that the transceiver requires. However, there is no battery present to be charged and consumed after sunset, whereas with the voltage step down covert charges the …