Category: Contest

The Patrol Bicycle, by Kim Kipling

No regular reader of SurvivalBlog needs to be encouraged to prepare for an uncertain future. Inspired and instructed by this forum, many of us spend great amounts of time, energy and money making preparations and setting aside tools, commodities, and supplies against the day when they are needed in an emergency, no longer available, or prohibitively expensive. And if you are like me, many of these items fall squarely into the category of “I pray I will never need this.” It is prudent to have them, but times will surely be hard if we ever have to reach for some …


Follow the Yellow Brick Road – Part 4, by J.M.

(Continued from Part 3. This concludes the article.) Resources Once you have your route options figured out and taken into account potential obstacles and hazards, the next step should be to take a look at potential resource requirements and availability. The first resource I will typically look at is food – I always have some amount of emergency food stocked in my travel kit, including bags of nuts, trail mix, Fritos, emergency ration bars, small freeze-dried meals, etc. However, for any trip home longer than 3-to-4 days it becomes difficult to pack enough food to account for the whole trip, …


Follow the Yellow Brick Road – Part 3, by J.M.

(Continued from Part 2.) The Weather The next thing I look at when starting a trip plan is what the weather will be like at my destination as well as locations between my destination and home. For a shorter get-home journey these may be pretty much the same, but depending on distance, terrain and weather patterns you might experience very different weather in locations even 10 miles apart. For route plans that I use on a regular basis I’ll usually include monthly averages chart and just check the 10-day forecast shortly before I pack. Here’s a screen clip of the …


Writing Contest Prize Winners Announced — Round 106

We’ve completed the judging for Round 106 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prize-winning writers are: First Prize First Prize goes to G.F., for: Pest Control for Keeping a Bug-Free Home.  (Posted April 26-27, 2023.  See: Part 1 and Part 2.) He will receive the following prize. The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value), Two cases …


Follow the Yellow Brick Road – Part 2, by J.M.

(Continued from Part 1.) Railroad tracks are another possible route that you could use to get home, but doing so can potentially be very dangerous – unless you’re in a grid-down scenario and you’re absolutely sure trains aren’t running then I strongly recommend you avoid them. If you can use them safely they could provide a possible route that’s typically isolated and free from obstacles. Railroad bridges are potentially less likely to be monitored or blocked, so if you need to cross a terrain feature like a river or steep gully while avoiding contact they may be a better option …


Follow the Yellow Brick Road – Part 1, by J.M.

In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy’s mantra is “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home”, and the entire movie is pretty much about her following a yellow brick road to get there. Many of us spend a good chunk of our lives away from home, whether it’s at work, on vacation, visiting family or friends, or just going on a camping, hunting or fishing trip. If you spend any amount of time more than a few miles (or kilometers) away from your home or bug-out location (BOL), there’s a chance that an emergency or disaster might strike …


More About Elder Care, by Hollyberry

When I completed my first article about mom’s health emergency, she was progressing fine and on the road back to good health. Two days after submitting the article to SurvivalBlog, my mom crashed hard. One of her  neighbors texted me, and left a voicemail. We were out walking the dogs and when I saw the text and heard the message, my heart sank. Mom went to the hospital with breathing issues and pain, by ambulance. I waited a bit and called the emergency room and was able to speak with the nurse who assured me mom was stable and now …


Invisibility: Increasing OPSEC – Part 4, by St. Funogas

(Continued from Part 3. This concludes the article.) Computer OPSEC I’ll let the reader research computer, email privacy, and encryption on their own but I do have two things I’ll pass on. When I hover the mouse pointer over a file in one of my computer folders, a box opens above it showing the author, title (which is actually my LibreOffice template name), computer owner, and date among other things. There are two ways to prevent this from exposing personal information about me than I’d prefer when I share documents or photographs. First, when setting up a new computer I …


Invisibility: Increasing OPSEC – Part 3, by St. Funogas

(Continued from Part 2.) Social Security Number It goes without saying that our social security number shouldn’t be given to anyone unless we’re legally required to provide it, and that’s not very often. On the other hand, if it’s a private business they can also deny us service. But there’s a caveat. After selling an item to a business for a large sum of money I went straight to their bank to cash the check. The amount of cash was small enough to avoid government paperwork but the bank demanded I write my social security number below my signature on …


Invisibility: Increasing OPSEC – Part 2, by St. Funogas

(Continued from Part 1.) Using LLCs An anonymous LLC is the most important tool available to ensure no one can connect your name to your physical address and provides other benefits as well. Using an online agent LLC’s are quick and easy to obtain with some starting as low as $99. Don’t be intimidated by “LLC,” it’s something lots of us non-business little guys have and they’re useful in many ways once you understand how they work. Why an LLC? There are many reasons as discussed below but the biggest reason is that all county courthouses in the US maintain …


Invisibility: Increasing OPSEC – Part 1, by St. Funogas

I recently read an article on advances which have been made using ear recognition as one more way to track us and violate our privacy. Since facial recognition systems are sometimes inadequate due to factors such as faces hidden by hair or covid masks, additional recognition technology using our ears is being developed. I don’t need to mention all the other ways modern technology is being used to violate our privacy or that our rights are being eroded by the day. The article brought to mind a book I read while looking for a place to set up my homestead: …


Behind the Scenes, by 3AD Scout

In April of this year, SurvivalBlog published “WHEN WAR COMES”. In that 2-part article, we explored some reasons why war is coming soon, what life might look like, and what we can do to be better prepared. Since writing that article, I have done a lot of research. Ninety percent of intelligence is open source, that is it is, in the public domain. It takes a lot of time, a little training, and a little luck to find the puzzle pieces and start connecting them. There are a lot of people out there who are stating that war is coming. …


Some Options for AR Pistols, by Legal Eagle

Several years ago, I ran across an article on the versatility of the .300 AAC Blackout round. One of my hobbies is hand loading ammunition. The adaptability of the cartridge was interesting. In the summer my wife and I live near Yellowstone on the Wyoming-Montana border. We often enjoy camping and fishing in the area I grew up in. We don’t have an RV, just a tent and cots. Nothing fancy just as my father and I camped in the sixties. Most of our favorite spots are remote and I had been looking for a firearm that was more than …


Air Rifles as Survival Tools, by S.C.

Quiet, hard-hitting, accurate, affordable, and reliable. A good quality air rifle in .177 or .22 caliber meets all these criteria. No, you don’t have to spend thousands. Just one hundred to three hundred FRNs will provide you and your family with a nice rifle and several thousand pellets. Springer and now gas ram rifles take care of problem pests around the garden and homestead, rabbits, gophers, ground squirrels, starlings, and crows are dealt with humanely and did I say quietly? My German-made Dianas, both a Model 34 Classic, and a Model 34 EMS, and both in .177 caliber are equipped …


Proper Load Securement: An Essential Safety Skill, by Swampfox

Our preparedness lifestyle often requires us to haul things. Bulk supplies, fuel, farm equipment, and heavy vehicles are just a few examples. I have a background in construction, industry, and transportation. I have been trained in load securement techniques that conform to OSHA and DOT standards, and I apply them in my personal life. Load securement is not only for the workplace. Why? I want to avoid the consequences of doing a job improperly. In my previous career in the poultry industry, employees had to follow a lot of rules. We had a saying: “Rules exist because somebody did something …