Our Wildfire Evacuation, Part 5, by SoCal9mm

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(Continued from Part 4. This installment concludes the article series.) OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT: Make sure you wait until the last moment to do your Christmas shopping – seriously, I never have to worry about “rescuing presents” when I procrastinate. Stupid “get-stuff-done-early”… Laundry – have enough clothes so that you don’t have to go commando next to the washer, waiting for your lone pair of choners to get clean. Trust me, not cool. Air – we worry about food, water, shelter, protection, etc., but we rarely worry about preps for air. Dust and ash are (relatively) easily removed from breathing air …


Our Wildfire Evacuation, Part 4, by SoCal9mm

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(Continued from Part 3.) LESSONS LEARNED OR THINGS THAT WORKED OK: Priorities – again, having a to-do list for the day really helped us, even one that we just made up on the fly. I really wanted to ensure there was no firearm left in the house, and I really wanted to get the flammable materials out of the shed. We took the diesel cans with us, and we left the propane tanks in front of the house at the street (per fire department recommendations). We really wanted to clear our fridge before everything spoiled, which would have ruined it. …


Our Wildfire Evacuation, Part 3, by SoCal9mm

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(Continued from Part 2.) OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT:  Radios – both Motorola radios AND handheld ham radios were left behind that would have helped us stay in contact between our 2 cars. Cell phones worked (thankfully), but I noticed bad connections nearly every call. NOTE: if we had a better means of communication, W. could have taken her car to the other neighborhood exit to see if traffic was flowing better and reported back to me to either follow her or stay where I was (oh well, hindsight and all that). Scanners, or even scanner apps – having access to information …


Our Wildfire Evacuation, Part 2, by SoCal9mm

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(Continued from Part 1.) So we put this plan together on paper, that’s all that we needed to do, right? Um, no. Practicing an evacuation drill is probably at least as important as having an evacuation plan. After I had revised our plan into the checklist format, I knew that we needed to practice it to see if the timeframes were correct (i.e., could we actually do all the stuff that I’d written down on the 1-minute checklist in 1 minute?). Shortly after the Tubbs Fire (in October, 2017) we did a walk-through of the house and pointed out all …


Our Wildfire Evacuation, Part 1, by SoCal9mm

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Editor’s Introductory Note:  At nearly 10,000 words, this is one of the longest multi-part articles ever to appear in SurvivalBlog. It will be presented in five parts, concluding on Saturday. Despite its length, this is some fascinating and detailed reading. The author’s insights and “lessons learned” are quite valuable, and they go far beyond just the particular concerns of wildfire evacuation. — On the evening of December 4, 2017, the Thomas Fire started in Ventura County, California. By the time it was over, about 440 square miles had burned across Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, more than 1,000 structures were …


Globalists Only Need One More Major Event to Finish Sabotaging the Economy, by Brandon Smith

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This article first appeared at the highly-recommended Alt-Market blog. It is re-posted with permission. — As I predicted in my article ‘Trump Trade Wars A Perfect Smokescreen For A Market Crash’, published in March of 2018, as well as in my article ‘The Trade War Distraction: Huawei And Linchpin Theory’, published in December of 2018, the US/China trade dispute has escalated into an all out war with no end in sight. The claims of many analysts and skeptics a year ago that the trade war would be over quickly and that China would fold to US tariffs has been proven …


A Gravity-Fed Rainwater System, by Tractorguy

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(Standard Disclaimer: Use the information given below AT YOUR OWN RISK. The author accepts no responsibility for any negative outcomes of the application of the following information.) We are all familiar with the axiom that we can live thirty days without food, but only three without water. We are indeed fortunate that, in most locations the Good Lord rains it down on us once or twice a week — all we have to do is catch it in something. Much has been written and many ideas forwarded about rain water collection. However, most of these fall short after the water …


Perennial Vegetables: A Must Have, by D.P.

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In this article, I’ll explain why I consider perennial vegetables a “must have” for my self-sufficiency garden. It was during the time I lived in Kamakura, Japan, a once short-lived capital of Japan about an hour southwest of Tokyo, the place where both of my sons were born, that I learned to garden. Fell in love with it really. At that time my wife and I lived in a small duplex. All rooms were floored in tatami mats (straw mats). You couldn’t wear shoes on them, one of the few customs which the Japanese wouldn’t allow under any circumstances. The …


Garden Lessons – Part 2, by R.R.

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(Continued from Part 1. This installment concludes the article.) There are numerous videos on the web about this process in building your seed-starting set up. It’s simple and again a one-time effort and expense. I’ve never even had to change a bulb after three years. I also have a surge protector that the three lights and three seed mats are plugged into. I then plug that surge protector into a timer so the lights and mats turn on/off automatically for around 10-12 hours each day. The next thing you have to plan is: when to start what  seeds or seedlings. …


Gardening Lessons – Part 1, by R.R.

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So… You think that you can garden? Got the books, got some seeds, and you grew something once. Sure, it’s easy! Well, good for you. It hasn’t come easy for this guy. I’m the so called green-thumb in my house. House plants, no problem. Landscaping around the home, got that. Garden as if our life depends on, not so much. I managed lawn and landscaping crews for seven years during and after college. We did some major commercial work and I know more than the average homeowner about these things. I have to admit that vegetable gardening has been a …


Picking a BOL by Pete Thorsen

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Many people think that there are very troubled times ahead for the United States. Some who think that realize if that comes to pass their current residence could make their very survival problematic. So what to do? Move now or if tied down, like because of a job, etc, then maybe set up a bug-out-location (BOL). Great but where would you go? And what would be the determining factors in BOL selection? The “where” and the many deciding factors will likely be different for just about everyone. And anyone who has ever been house hunting knows that buying a house …


My Experience Using Dynamite, by C.L.

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As a frequent reader of SurvivalBlog I saw your recent request for articles on the farm and ranch use of explosives. My story may resonate with many of your readers in that I used dynamite for the projects mentioned here although I had no previous experience with explosives. These episodes occurred many years ago and though the legality issues (permitting, purchasing, etc.) may have changed the techniques of actually using dynamite are still applicable. Before getting into the heart of the matter I offer the following summary points: 1. I am not offering advice on the use of explosives.. I …


Eccentricity: A Viable Solution, by Kit Law

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I watched as my 11-year-old son tightens down a sheepshank knot on a sled loaded with firewood. The two-year-old team of oxen stand ready to move forward up a 14% grade on a 1/4 mile trek toward home and the wood pile. Five feet of snow has fallen over the remaining part of February into the first week of March. A sled trail of packed snow reaches from the circular turn around of our log landing area out towards our home. This packed trail of snow facilitates the easy transfer of cut firewood to its final destination via our homemade …


Writing Your Survival Story, by Heliwr

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Story telling has been around ever since God created man. Someone who can tell a good story is often a popular guy. While some stories are purely for entertainment purposes, others are instructive. Of course those of us who are children of the King know that the Bible is the greatest story ever told and is both entertaining and instructive. For those ‘Preppers’ who like to read there is a plethora of “Post Apocalyptic” novels to choose from in bookstores or at the Kindle Store on Amazon. Some of these disaster visualization books are quite well done, while others… not …


Estate Planning For The Prepared, by David E.

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As Benjamin Franklin once observed, nothing is certain except Death and Taxes.  If you’re like most people, though, you find the topic of planning for your own passing uncomfortable.  In fact, it’s more comfortable planning for TEOTWAWKI than planning for one’s own death.  Many find it so uncomfortable that they avoid planning for it at all. A lack of a good plan, however, leaves your loved ones in bad shape: they could be saddled with months or even years of legal proceedings, have to pay onerous taxes that could have been avoided, and your years of preparing and saving could …