SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

Our weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters. — At Clark Howard’s site: Food Expiration Dates: What You Need To Know.  The included charts are quite useful. Here is an excerpt: “Here are the most common terms you’ll see: Best If Used By/Before: Peak flavor or quality, not a safety deadline Use By: Last date for best quality (safety only applies …



Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — April 14, 2026

On April 14, 1849, Hungary declared itself independent of Austria, with Lajos (Louis) Kossuth as its leader. — On this day in 1865, just after the effective end of the American Civil War, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth while attending a production at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., and died the next morning. — April 14, 1881: The famed Four Dead in Five Seconds gunfight in El Paso, Texas. — Today’s feature article is a guest post from a long-time SurvivalBlog reader. Because it is partly self-promotional, it is not part of the writing contest …


SurvivalBlog’s American Redoubt Media of the Week

This weekly column features media from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. Today’s feature photo: The Blitzen River Wilderness Study Area (WSA) is located 60 miles south of Burns (less than 1 mile south of Frenchglen), in Harney County, Oregon. Frenchglen is named after Pete French, with whom my Shirk family cousins had a well-publicized range war. The northwestern edge of the WSA is adjacent to Oregon State Highway 205. (A public domain photo, courtesy of the BLM.)  The thumbnail …



Preparedness Notes for Monday — April 13, 2026

On April 13, 1012: A ransom of 48,000 pounds was paid to a large band of Vikings, led by Danish warlord Thorkell the Tall, for the liberation of Canterbury, after a raid on the city and the capture of Alphege [Aelfheah] Archbishop of Canterbury — April 13, 1743, was the birthday of Thomas Jefferson. — And on April 13, 1933: First flight over Mount Everest, by Lord Clydesdale. — We’ve just started a two-week-long sale on all of our pre-1899 antique shotguns at Elk Creek Company.  There are some deep discounts. This sale will end on Monday, April 27th, 2026. …


Recipe of the Week: 

The following recipe for Sweet Moroccan Lamb Stew is from SurvivalBlog reader Cartol in Delaware. It makes 4 to 6 servings. Ingredients 3 pounds lamb shoulder on the bone, trimmed of excess fat 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 2 large onions (about 2 pounds), grated or finely chopped 3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped 1 teaspoon ground ginger 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (divided use) 1/2 cup sugar (divided use) 2 pinches of saffron threads, lightly toasted and finely crumbled or powdered in a mortar with a little salt Salt (to taste) Freshly ground black pepper (to taste) 1 cup water …




Preparedness Notes for Sunday — April 12, 2026

On April 12, 1811, the first US colonists on the Pacific coast arrived at Cape Disappointment, in what is now the state of Washington. — April 12, 1933: US Navy commissioned Air Station Sunnyvale (later renamed NAS Moffett Field) in Santa Clara County, California — at the southern end of San Francisco Bay. — April 12th is the birthday of the late novelist Tom Clancy. (Born 1947, died October 1, 2013). It was Clancy who almost single-handedly created the modern techno-thriller genre, with his first novel, The Hunt For Red October. Coincidentally, Tom Clancy’s first literary agent is now my …


JWR’s Meme Of The Week: 

The latest meme created by JWR, based on an idea suggested by my brother Bruce Rawles: Meme Text: This Bird’s Problem is Medical… It Has Irritable Owl Syndrome Notes From JWR: I was pleased to see that this meme was included in a meme video by Johnny B, on Friday. (I sent it to him early.) 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:

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. 6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For …


Preparedness Notes for Saturday — April 11, 2026

The Battle of Ravenna was fought on April 11, 1512. French forces under Gaston de Foix defeated the Holy League in this major battle of the Italian Wars. — April 11th is the birthday of John Milius, who was born in 1944. He both wrote the screenplays and directed the films Dillinger, The Wind and the Lion, Big Wednesday, Conan the Barbarian, Red Dawn, Farewell to the King, and Flight of the Intruder. He also wrote the screenplays of the first two Dirty Harry movies as well as the first draft of the screenplay for Patton (before Francis Ford Coppola …


The Editors’ Quote Of The Day:

“And it came to pass, when Jabin king of Hazor had heard those things, that he sent to Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph, And to the kings that were on the north of the mountains, and of the plains south of Chinneroth, and in the valley, and in the borders of Dor on the west, And to the Canaanite on the east and on the west, and to the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite in the mountains, and to the Hivite under Hermon in …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — April 10, 2026

On April 10, 1633, the first imported bananas went on sale in London in the shop window of Thomas Johnson’s apothecary.  Pictured are some banana vendors and their wares in Chennai, India. — And April 10, 1827 was the birthday of General Lew Wallace. He wrote books (author of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ), sculpted, practiced law, painted, played the violin and made them as well.  He was U.S. Ambassador to Turkey. And he served as the Territorial Governor of New Mexico. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 124 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing …