Odds ‘n Sods:

Here at the ranch we just finished filling the wood shed. Some of my fellow church congregants might deride me for cutting any firewood so late in the summer, but I make a habit of cutting only dead-standing or recently dead-fallen trees that are dry, but not rotted. When you have so many Red Fir and Tamarack (properly, Western Larch) trees to choose from as we do here in our corner of the American Redoubt one can afford to be picky.    o o o Jay in Missouri mentioned this informative primer: Guide to Online Coin Bidding and Buying    …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“With national governments in collapse at the end of the XXth century, something had to fill the vacuum, and in many cases it was the returned veterans. They had lost a war, most of them had no jobs, many were sore as could be over the terms of the Treaty of New Delhi, especially the P.O.W. foul-up – and they knew how to fight. But it wasn’t revolution; it was more like what happened in Russia in 1917 – the system collapsed; somebody else moved in. The first known case, in Aberdeen, Scotland, was typical. Some veterans got together as …


Notes from JWR:

It came to me a bit late in the year, but I just realized that 2012 is the 125th anniversary of the patent of the world’s first automatic shoulder-fired battle rifle, the Mondragón. Talk about being far ahead of one’s time! The inventor, Manuel Mondragón was born in 1859. And speaking of fully automatic firearms, isn’t it high time that we repeal the National Firearms Act of 1934, and disband the BATFE? Or, failing that at least repeal the unconstitutional and never properly enacted 1986 machinegun production freeze, and declare a one-year amnesty period to register or re-register any un-papered …


Essential Medical Skills to Acquire: Splinting and Casting, by Cynthia J. Koelker, MD

In the introduction to this series I gave a brief outline of the medical skills that a layman should acquire when preparing for TEOTWAWKI. Injuries will be common among people required to be more active than they are accustomed to.   Lacerations have already been addressed in Parts 1 and 2 of this series.  Next we will turn to injuries that required immobilization for optimal healing including sprains, strains, and fractures. To begin, what’s the difference between a strain and a sprain?  To strain means to overstretch a muscle or tendon beyond its capacity to resist without tearing.  A sprain means …


Pat’s Product Review: Springfield Armory “Loaded” 1911

It is no secret in my family that my all-time favorite handgun is the good ol’ 1911 – in some shape or form. A 1911 was one of the first (not the first) handguns I ever owned, and my love affair only grew over the years. I have lost count of the number of 1911s I’ve owned in my lifetime, but I’m sure its a safe bet, that I’ve probably owned a couple hundred 1911s. I’ve had everything from plain old Mil-Spec 1911s, to custom made guns from big-name makers, and well as building a good number of custom 1911s …


Harry’s Book Review: Castigo Cay

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Castigo Cay, by Matt Bracken Copyright Date: 2011 Publisher: Steelcutter Publishing ISBN: 0-9728310-4-5 Kindle edition available. Suitable for children? No. Probably not for most of the ladies either. Castigo Cay is an intense novel, as evidenced by the fact that I managed to find the time to devour all 537 pages in only 36 hours, while also living the rest of my life. Once you get into this one there is no good time to put it down. At its core it is reminiscent of Richard Connell’s The Most Dangerous Game and not just in the plot twist, but also …


A B2Ops Book Review: Rohan Nation

Rohan Nation: Reinventing America after the 2020 Collapse. A Novel by Drew Miller; 583 pages. I read the book’s introduction and was immediately drawn to this story not unlike how Katniss drew me to The Hunger Games. “ACE continued her slow, careful sweep of the valley with the night vision scope of her rifle. The first rays were oozing over Cuchara Pass, starting to reach the western, upper mountains of Forbes Park. Dark or light, anyone foolish enough to walk out in the open meadow valley would be easily spotted…………..She lifted the assault rifle up to her left ear and …


Letter Re: Water Quality in the Inland Northwest

James, I am just getting ready to explore the Pacific Northwest.  What has come to my attention is the horrific nuclear  (Hanford) and toxic metal (mining) contamination of all the rivers in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.  The Columbia River and its tributaries are a toxic soup. Even Lake Roosevelt, above Spokane is filled with heavy metals due to mining in Canada.  [Some deleted, for brevity] Thanks for all your hard work. – Barbara H. JWR Replies: To start, the Hanford Nuclear reservation sits right next to the Columbia River. It is down river from Idaho. Furthermore, the Columbia is down …


Letter Re: Smart Phone Maps

Mr. Rawles, My wife and I don’t have a lot of money and we didn’t want to pay to have a smart phone so we chose to have basic phones.  A friend recently upgraded to a new carrier and gave me his Android X with a 16GB SD card in it for $25.  I was happy cause we could use to entertain the kids on road trips or what have you.  But I recently found out that I can download Offline maps onto the SD card.  I’m sure you’ve seen an SD card for these phones.  Its about the size …


Recipe of the Week:

Rose’s Bean Hamburger Casserole Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Sauté in a large skillet: 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil 1/2 cup onion, chopped 1 cup celery, chopped 1/4 cup chopped green pepper, chopped (optional, or other chopped veggies or olives) 1/4 to 1/2 lb. hamburger (or ½ pint jar hamburger or other meat) When the meat is brown, stir in: 1 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon pepper 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt 2-1/2 cups cooked beans 1-1/4 cups (about 1 can) tomato soup, tomato sauce or diced  tomatoes 1 beef bouillon cube, dissolved in 1 cup hot water 2 cups cooked rice …


Economics and Investing:

Chipotle Ends the Penny Before U.S. Mint Does. (Thanks to Gregg P. for the link.) Food prices jump will hit poor, World Bank warns. Global food prices have leapt by 10% in the month of July More Monetization: Debt crisis: ECB should launch ‘unlimited’ bond buying, says OECD. Somehow, I don’t think that a country buying their own bonds is what Bing Crosby had in mind. (Thanks to G.G. for the link.) Items from The Economatrix: Charlie McGrath:  Collapse, Civil Unrest are Unavoidable The “Euphoric” Economy and Why “They” Didn’t See it Coming Into The Meat Grinder:  A “Market Meltdown …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Most of New Orleans still without power; patience ‘wearing thin’. (Thanks to G.G. for the link.)    o o o I will be a guest speaker (via teleconference) at CharlottePrepCon, on September 8th.    o o o F.G. sent this: Guns in America, a Statistical Look. The article mentions that there are more than 129,817 federally licensed firearms dealers in the United States, compared to 36,569 grocery stores. F.G.’s comment: “Is this a great country, or what?”    o o o To round out our family battery here at the Rawles Ranch, I’m looking to purchase an antique Swiss 7.5mm …



Notes from JWR:

Founders: A Novel of the Coming Collapse is still on track for release. Please wait until its release date (September 25th)–which is also our planned Book Bomb day–to place your order. Thanks! — Today we present another two entries for Round 42 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally …


How To Find A Post-TEOTWAWKI Job, by D.M.

The Schumer has hit the fan. Hyperinflation has crushed the economy, an EMP has disabled the United States, or some other disaster has brought TEOTWAWKI. And you’re not ready. Your retreat isn’t stocked up, or you haven’t found one that fits right. Or you have, but you’re far away from it. You’re stuck in the city when the SHTF, or you’re out traveling and you’re far away from your new home. The credit-card infrastructure has sizzled. Your credit card is only good for opening insecure doors. All you have is the cash in your wallet. Travel to your retreat, if …