Two Letters Re: Implications of Directly Confronting Criminals

James This is a comment about the remarks that Dutch from Wyoming made about the man who moved from Colorado due to gangs. What did Dutch want the guy from Colorado to do? Start exterminating them? We all fantasize about doing away with the bad guys, but how do you do it and still stay out of jail or get the lethal injection? I retired from law enforcement from California and moved to Montana for some of the same reasons the man from Colorado did. I arrested hundreds, maybe thousands (never kept count) of gang members during my career. An …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Odds ‘n Sods: Joe from Tennessee mentioned this scary piece: Imminent US Dollar Collapse? Meanwhile we read, Oil Producers Shun the US Dollar. Gee, this starting to sound a lot like the opening chapter of my novel “Patriots.” If this does occur, the full implications of a dollar collapse will be far-reaching. Be prepared!    o o o Hawaiian K sent this: U.S. Criminal Probe Rattles $2 Trillion Municipal Bond Market. That is all we need–a municipal bond collapse, right at the same time as a dollar collapse. Do foreign investors need any more inducement to get out of the …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

King of Swamp Castle [gesturing toward the window]: One day, lad, all this will be yours. Prince Herbert: Wot? The curtains? King of Swamp Castle: No, not the curtains, lad! All that you can see stretched out over the valleys and the hills! That’ll be your kingdom, lad. When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built in all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a …


Note from The Memsahib:

I got a great view of a bull moose on Saturday. It crossed the highway about 300 yards ahead of our Explorer and was still near the road standing under some cedars when I got near. Since there was no one in either direction on the lightly-traveled highway, I was able to actually stop and watch the bull for several minutes. Visiting moose–especially bulls–are not an everyday occurrence here at the Rawles Ranch, so seeing one is always a thrill for us.


Two Letters Re: Opinion on The Retreat Potential of New Hampshire?

Hi, Jim: I appreciated your comments regarding New Hampshire as a potential retreat site in today’s SurvivalBlog item. While I live in Idaho and am mostly pleased with the state, I did have occasion to visit Vermont six months ago. I was highly impressed with several gun stores I visited, and from information I learned from the stores’ staff members. In actuality, I was very surprised that their gun laws were less restrictive than Idaho’s. Thanks for the blog and your writings. Cheers! – TLP JWR Replies: The gun laws in Vermont are indeed favorable (most notably the legality of …


Odds ‘n Sods:

SurvivalBlog reader “Rmplstlskn” mentioned a tale of woe, posted over at AR15.com: The “Fongman” (not to be confused with the character in my novel “Patriots” with same moniker) had most of his survival gear stolen from his unoccupied retreat. As I’ve mentioned in SurvivalBlog several times before: The best approach is to live at your intended retreat year-round, or have someone that you really trust live there year-round. If you are forced by circumstances to leave your gear unattended, the two best options are: 1.) Underground caches in well-drained soil, or 2.) Renting a commercial storage space that is within …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"In truth, a state that deprives its law-abiding citizens of the means to effectively defend themselves is not civilized but barbarous…revealing its totalitarian nature by its tacit admission that the disorganized, random havoc created by criminals is far less a threat than are men and women who believe themselves free and independent, and act accordingly." – Jeffrey Snyder, A Nation of Cowards


Letter Re: The James Kim Exposure Death Tragedy: Lessons to Be Learned

Mr. Rawles: I followed the search and rescue story [the tragic death of James Kim–stranded on a remote Oregon logging road] in the news recently and was struck with very emotional feelings about their ordeal. Apparently he and his family did the right things, but in the end bad luck and a lack of proper survival gear was disastrous. Putting myself into his shoes I feel that I too would have definitely tried to hike for help after a week of hunkering down and waiting for rescue. See the series of Google Earth images showing his path while trying to …


Letter Re: Some Good Things Prompted By SurvivalBlog

Jim, The following are some things SurvivalBlog.com has prompted me to do since I began reading it: I’ve had no debt for 20 years, but my meager holdings are now about 1/3 precious metals. Is lead considered a precious metal? 🙂 My freezer is full of elk, whitetail deer, and caribou. I added to my long-term foods during your Safecastle special, but I’m now reviewing the viability of my existing stocks. Like the realtor’s mantra of “location, location, location”, a survivalist’s creed should be “Rotate, rotate, rotate. “ A 10 KW Generac generator is ready to be wired to my …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Nearly every day after their home schooling, the Rawles kids have asked to go snow sledding. We are fortunate to have a great sledding hill in the national forest land that adjoins the Rawles Ranch. It is just a five minute walk from the house, The kids demonstrated their inventiveness by constructing a packed snow jumping ramp at the base of one of their longer sled runs. Our #3 Son regularly achieves “air”, clearing the surface for about 10 feet before landing in deep powder. Quite exhilarating. Speaking of inventiveness, at the dinner table last night I jokingly suggested the …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Whenever Destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men’s protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to it’s owners a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of a arbitrary setter of values. Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth produced. Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it. Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account which is not …


Note From JWR:

When you write your obligatory Christmas card insert letter this year, please mention that you’ve been reading SurvivalBlog. And if you send an electronic version, it would be greatly appreciated if you’d include a SurvivalBlog link logo or link text. Please spread the word about SurvivalBlog. Thanks!


Letter Re: Mobile Solar Power Systems

JWR, Here’s an item some of your readers may be interested in, Mobile Solar Power, it’s a mobile solar power setup and looks like it would fit in with a number of different scenarios. I spoke with the owner a few days ago and he said he will size the equipment to fit your needs/specifications. It appears to be made with high quality equipment and the owner said the batteries have a 10 year warranty, but with care, may last up to 15 years, otherwise the remainder of the equipment should have a life much longer than that. This solar …


Letter Re: Pros and Cons of Property On or Near a Utility Easement

Jim, The use of utility easements as bug-out routes has been mentioned here and elsewhere (e.g., the [online shareware] novel “Lights Out” by Halffast.) It seems to me, living next to one would have both pluses and minuses. Plusses: Handy access in case you need to bug-out and clear lines of sight (in at least two directions). Minuses: (If you choose to stay put) the necessity of monitoring bug-out traffic at least and the potential of defending your retreat from such traffic at worst. Are there other advantages or disadvantages? In the final analysis, would you recommend purchasing property adjacent …


Odds ‘n Sods:

 SurvivalBlog reader “Paje” put together a detailed analysis on the relative value of gold, dollars, and ammunition that he posted over at the AR-15.com forums. Nicely done!   o o o Rich at KT Ordnance mentioned this article at News With Views by constitutionalist lawyer Edwin Vieira: Will the North American Union Be American Patriots’ Last Stand?   o o o There is an interesting thread of discussion in progress over at The Claire Files on using water well hand pumps during sub-freezing weather.