Category: Contest

AAR: Winter Storm Uri, by Rocket J. Squirrel

Editor’s Introductory Note: The following is the third After-Action Report (AAR) that we’ve posted in SurvivalBlog about the recent severe winter weather in Texas. Anyone who lives in a temperate region should read these AARs closely, and learn from their experiences. Make adjustments to your home/retreat’s backup power system, water system, heating sources, and insulation. If nothing else, these AARs illustrate that you need to now how to repair copper, PVC, and PEX pipe, and keep the requisite tools and repair pie and fittings on hand. — I live in a suburb south of downtown Houston, Texas. We woke up …


A Prepping Change: My Move to New Mexico, by M.J.

I recently moved from Southern California to New Mexico because I requested a transfer to my employer’s office out there. I lived most of my life in Southern California; please feel free to read my 2019 SurvivalBlog article about prepping there. The road trip was long, but interesting. I drove through the beautiful desolation of the Mojave Desert on I-40. I saw vistas worthy of any Louis L’Amour novel. There weren’t many passenger vehicles like mine; most of the vehicles were trucks. After the Mojave, night fell and I was rolling through the Kaibab National Forest. I caught a glimpse …


Lessons Learned from the Texas Deep Freeze, by B.B.

Texans had two weeks warning about the artic cold set to hit the state last month. Yet most Texans were not prepared. It is estimated that 80 people died from the cold and lack of power. Some froze to death from lack of heat while others died from carbon monoxide poisoning trying to stay warm in foolish ways. It started Sunday night with rolling blackouts in my area, but complete power outages in some areas. For my family, rolling blackouts continued through Wednesday night, ending in the early hours of Thursday morning. During this time, many lost water service, either …


Leatherman Wave and Skeletool, by The Novice

It was a beautiful late-July evening in southeastern Alaska. I was on a work team helping a missionary supported by our church. The missionary’s organization was updating an old fishing lodge to serve as a halfway house. The goal was to provide a place to mentor native Alaskans who had recently been released from prison. I was tired in a good way. We had been busy all day clearing land at the lodge for a sawmill site. Now we were enjoying a quiet evening. A friend from church was fishing on the river nearby. I was just watching, because I …


Basic Computer Privacy and Security, by Liber T. Y.

First of all, a few disclaimers: 1. I am not a computer geek and I am not good at coding. I am merely a layman who has found some useful tools for computer privacy and security and knows a thing or two about computers (I’m also not a lawyer so any legal ramifications should be talked about with a legal professional). 2. This article is about what a layman can do to secure their computer and browse privately in the Windows operating system (OS). As such, not all of the products listed herein may work in an Apple or Linux …


Volume Vegetable Gardening – Part 2, by J.T.

(Continued from Part. 1. This concludes the article.) Onions 1. Onions can be started anytime between February 25 and April 27. I grow my Walla Walla onions from seed not from sets that have been started by another grower. You can begin harvesting these about 125 days after starting the seeds. 2. Using the small containers, start by filling each with 90% starting material then soak each one. Next, put 50 to 60 seeds in each pot, then cover 1/8″ with potting soil, then very slowly add enough water to soak the last 1/8″, trying hard to avoid the seeds …


Volume Vegetable Gardening – Part 1, by J.T.

This article describes the steps required to raise a variety of 14 vegetable plants from seed starting to a successful harvest. I’ve been at this for 50 years and feel like I am getting closer to getting it done right. I raise vegetables and fruit, manly to sell from a roadside stand. Yearly, I grow about 4,200 pounds of vegetables and 1,500 pounds of apples, plums, and pears. Our family uses only 30% of this yield, so that leaves a lot to sell. The following are what I believe are the most important preparation and focus points for a successful …


Preparedness Principles – Part 2, by Old Bobbert

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) Bobbert’s Principle #5 – Principles are never my personal possession I try daily to practice the principles regularly promoted on Sundays as being the right way to conduct my life, and as to how I should treat others, and what to teach my family, But I am also fully aware that these fundamental principles are not owned by any belief system. We can confidently look to any, and every, good and worthy example for enlightenment and information. Additionally, as preppers / leaders, we must never forget that “Being Wrong Does Not Make …


Preparedness Principles – Part 1, by Old Bobbert

In this two-part essay, I will relate some Profoundly Productive Proper Preparedness Principles:  “Protection From Failure.“ Part 1 is general, while Part 2 is quite specific and has lots of links. Disclaimer:  The contents of this article are offered only as educational information freely available to the general public. There is no intent to promote or enable any type of illegal, immoral, insurgent, destructive, dangerous activities, communications, or conduct. I find it distasteful that living in these times that I feel obliged to post such a disclaimer. — Introduction “Principles.”  It’s not just another dull word. No, it is an …


Re-Purposing Small Containers, by The Novice

The squeeze tube was invented by artist John Goffe Rand in 1841. It was originally designed to contain and dispense paint. By 1889, Johnson and Johnson began selling toothpaste in tubes. When I lived in Norway during the 1990s, I enjoyed dispensing cod caviar onto crackers from squeeze tubes. Squeeze tubes provide a convenient container/dispenser for substances that might otherwise be messy to use. One day recently as I was brushing my teeth, I was thinking that many toothpaste tubes are now plastic, whereas formerly they were usually made of metal. As I thought about this, I began to wonder …


To Freeze-Dry or Not Freeze-Dry, by J.A.

Our family began our self-sufficiency journey approximately 15 to 20 years ago at an LDS Home Storage Center location and we did not have a focused plan (Yes JW,R I should have thoroughly reviewed the list of lists, my bad!). In hindsight, we would not have gone as heavy as we did in wheat berries, beans and rice. However, that is water under the bridge at this point as we slowly work our way through the original purchases (wheat berry meatloaf anyone?). Since that time, our food storage has greatly diversified and if you have priced out certain freeze-dried items …


Constructing a DIY Composting Toilet, by SF in Oregon

Here is my description of my do-it-yourself (DIY) toilet that works like a charm. This is how to deal with the “S” part of when the Schumer Hits The Fan (SHTF). Of all the kludges I’ve built off-grid, I’m most proud of my toilet. As preppers, we tend to spend a lot of time on food (what goes in) but not so much on sanitation (what comes out). If you are on-grid with a septic system, great. But as many folks in Texas recently discovered with their once in a generation below freezing storm and subsequent power outage, without water …


2021 Winter Storm Lessons Learned , by Chill N. Texas

I am a long time reader of SurvivalBlog.com but this is my first time submitting an article to the blog. Much of this will be “train of thought” as I am reading through my notes that I was keeping during and immediately after the exceptionally cold winter storm that hit the Houston, Texas area in February, 2021. I have been “preparedness-minded” most of my life, but didn’t consider myself officially a “prepper” until about 10 years ago. I have generally had the support (or at least she humors me) of the wife when it comes to being prepared, but as …


The Long Range Game – Part 3, by Tunnel Rabbit

(Continued from Part 2. This concludes the article.) Common caliber rifles are the best choice for non-handloaders. But I’ve found that 7mm bullets are plentiful, as they are used in a long list of popular and modern 7mm rifle cartridges. Even if you do not reload, I would at least have the dies for each cartridge in your arsenal of rifles. As a reloader, I can make brass from other cartridges into 7×57 and other antique rifle cartridges, from such cartridge brass as 7.92×57, .25-06, .270 Winchester, .30-06, and others. And although it is perhaps too late to buy powder …


The Long Range Game – Part 2, by Tunnel Rabbit

(Continued from Part 1.) Mauser Models, and Excessive Head Space Small Ring (M1893-96) Mausers made in Germany can usually be safely loaded to a maximum pressure of 46,000 CUP. This rule applies to rifles also made in Sweden that used arguably higher grade Swedish steel available at that time. Mauser rifles were at first made only in Germany. Mauser sold essentially the same model with minor modifications, chambered for different cartridges. It is basically the same high-quality rifle that was made to shoot many different cartridges and had minor design differences that the customer requested. It was some like ordering …