Category: Retreat Logistics

Optics — Seeing Is Believing, by Littlebird

When you think of all of the needed equipment during or after an emergency, I am willing to bet that optical devices aren’t at the top of the list.  We will think about and plan for just about everything except seeing what is around us.  While pondering things to prepare for, I had the thought: What would be some items that would take some doings to replace?  While it is highly doubted that FEMA would come to your rescue I am almost certain that they will not arrive carrying the items that I’ll point out. Glasses If you wear glasses …


Lessons Learned on Standardizing the Home Firearms Battery, by Thomas N.

In the last few months I started the process of better preparing my family for emergencies. Like many SurvivalBlog readers I was more prepared than most but could be better prepared. I had already laid in some provisions and equipment. When I started volunteering for the Sheriff’s Department, we were all encouraged to obtain Red Cross 72 hour bags for all family members and to make a family G.O.O.D. kit. My wife and I realized after reading “Patriots” that we had much more work to do. The focus of this article is my efforts at standardizing my home battery applying …


Two Letters Re: Some Home Chemistry Tricks of the Trade

James, Just a quick note. [In his article on home chemistry,] RPM suggests acquiring some Pyrex measuring cups and bowls for handling hot liquids & mixtures. Pyrex is no longer made from the low thermal expansion Borosilicate laboratory glass. The trademark name was sold to a Chinese firm and the glassware is now made from regular soda lime glass [you can tell from it’s bluish tint] – and may shatter from rapid changes in temperature. People around the country are being injured from the “new” Pyrex as it literally explodes on their stovetops. This is corporate greed at it’s finest! …


Letter Re: Curbside Bulk Item Pick-Up Days

Hi, I just wanted to remind people that in some areas of the US with spring, there also comes curbside bulk item pick-up via local town and city trash service. This can provide a wealth of items from the trash of others. I have gotten so many things from this that I cannot even begin to list them all. Everything from children’s toys to hand tools to gas powered equipment such as mowers, tillers, snow-blowers, etc. Many of the items were in excellent shape and required only a clean-up. Others require a bit more work but can easily be made …


A Personal Journey in Preparedness, by Mountain Man

I’m fairly new to SurvivalBlog but now it’s an every day read. I wanted to write and share my own journey of preparedness with you and your readers. After living with three and a half million people for about 22 years, a move to the country was long over due. I made the decision to get out of the city back in 1999, when I starting to take things a bit more seriously with all of the talk about Y2K. I was really hoping that something would have happened back then so I could test my skills at being prepared …


Letter Re: How to Stock up on FDA-Approved Prescription Medicines

Mr. Rawles: I have been a registered pharmacist for 34 years. Most drugstores and insurance companies allow you to get up to a 90-day supply of prescription medications at a time. The “Refill-Too-Soon” edit, which is what prevents you from getting a prescription right after getting another one for the same drug filled is usually set at 75% of the days supply. For example, if you are taking a high blood pressure medication once a day, then a 90-day supply is 90 pills. Seventy-five percent of ninety days is sixty-eight days. Therefore, if we use April 1, 2010 as the …


Letter Re: Package Delivery OPSEC

Hi Jim, I am constantly making efforts to prepare for an uncertain future and I thought I was practicing good OPSEC. I do not discuss my efforts except with fellow preppers and my wife, I do not have anything outside my house that says “prepared”, and I generally stay low profile. One of my friends just decided to make a purchase of 50 food grade buckets with me so we could share the shipping charges. I was shocked when one of my neighbors just called me to say, “Scott: What the heck are you preparing for?” I raced home to …


Long Term Situational Awareness Can Give You The Edge, by Todd S.

I’ve been fortunate to live in the same general area for my entire adult life, the Rocky Mountains of Utah. I am very familiar with the area made more so by various employments, a variety of interests all centered around the outdoors and twenty years of being a Scout Master. Being familiar with my surroundings for a long period of time increases my knowledge base of useful things to know, information unique to my immediate surroundings.      I have always been curious and a great observer, of both people and things.  Some years ago my brother mentioned something to me …


Letter Re: An Easy Method to Determine a Year’s Supply of Any Regularly-Used Items

Dear James; Here is an easy way to determine a year’s supply of anything. You just need a calendar, a pencil, and the ability to count to two. Say you’re down to your last jug of cooking oil. Instead of buying one at the store, buy two, and write the item you purchased on the starting date on your calendar. Now, every time you replace that empty item, buy two more, instead of one, and rotate the oldest. At the end of the year, when you transfer over Birthdays, etc, to next year’s calendar, be sure to add the items …


Incremental Preparedness: The Good, Better, Best Approach, by Jeff B.

For many, the idea of preparedness seems like an impossible undertaking. The amount of equipment and supplies needed is staggering. When I first came to the realization that I was under prepared, the gap between what I had and where I needed to be was too much for my public servant’s paycheck to bear. I would spend a lot of time discussing preparedness with a group that I would go shooting with, and all of these meetings would always gravitate to “which weapon do you plan for X meters?” or “how many rounds do you think I need for X …


How to Prosper in a Salvage Economy, by Tamara W.

A salvage economy is a post-production economy. The economy is based on salvage and then reuse or remanufacture of salvaged materials. The current modern equivalent of this are those individuals who sort through trash heaps and dumps for recyclable materials. The historical equivalent of this are the stone masons in Egypt who tore down ancient monuments for building material. For example, the lost Pyramid of Djedefre was thought to have not been built until its foundations were found, including a mortuary temple and queens’ pyramids. Where did it go? Must of it was used to build buildings in Cairo from …


Forges, Foundries, and Factories, by JIR

While you are deciding what to store away, don’t forget about the needs of your grandchildren. They will need reference books. After TEOTWAWKI, any survivors in the USA will be living on capital. I am talking about capital in the form of basic commodities, like grain, legumes, clothes, fuels, and machines. Some of this capital needs to be replaced almost immediately, like food, for instance, but some of it will take generations to wear out completely. Until we can replace everything we use up, we will not be truly recovered. Eventually, we will need to replace our generators, tractors, firearms, …


The “Power of Ten” Planning Model, by Sandkicker

This article has nothing to do with any special properties of the number ten, but rather refers to a progressive planning method based on the size of a problem. This is a way to organize thinking and planning for chaotic situations.   “If you fail to plan, you’ve planned to fail”.   It would be irresponsible to present any particular plan as suitable for everyone, however, these are some guidelines on how and why you should develop your own plans.  Why do I have the nerve to write this piece?   I’ve been in the middle of more than one “adventure”… and in …


Letter Re: Tool Maintenance and Spares

Sir: Hand tools are nearly useless if not properly maintained. This concept seems under emphasized in preparedness literature. One should have a stash of assorted files and sharpening stones, as they can be broken or worn out. Items like hacksaw blades that are nearly impossible to make at home should be acquired in quantity. People should also buy a quantity of tool steel and drill rod suitable for fashioning cutting tools. Thanks for your advice on your blog site and for your novel “Patriots” . Regards, – Jim J.


Letter Re: Clothing and Shoes, Post-TEOTWAWKI

James, Okay, a year or three goes by, [after TEOTWAWKI]. My wife can sew, but where do you get cloth and thread? I love Goretex (since I live in Western Oregon), but where do I replace those great Hi-Tec boots? No one seems to be discussing what happens when a shoelace brakes after Schumer is in session. You can hardly find them now. Cloth – one will make a spinning wheel and loom after “the fan” has become clogged! All that I can recall is an anecdote about the early Oregon Trail, when the newly arrived – skinny and starving …