Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice.”

– Montesquieu (1689 – 1755), French lawyer, man of letters, and political philosopher

Budget Planning- Part 3, by Sarah Latimer

Goals and Self Discipline

Before we jump into the section on budget expenses, I want to emphasize the importance of self discipline and getting a handle on what money should be used for. I realize I have spent a lot of time writing about money already, but to properly utilize and manage our money requires the proper perspective of what it is, whose it is, and how we are to view it. Getting a handle on it is just as much about this intellectual understanding and psychological perspective as knowing how it is being utilized and making concerted choices about how it gets used going forward.

To determine how you should best use your resources, which include money as well as time and effort, you need to determine your own life priorities and goals. How you spend the bulk of your money, time, and effort should line up with your life priorities and goals. If they don’t, something is wrong. Are your financial goals, related to your life priorities of survival in a SHTF situation, to get out of debt, buy a bug out location, and/or buy a home and land in the Redoubt or somewhere else? Are they to put in a well, buy neighboring property, build your livestock, build your larder, buy a large solar system for the house, or something else? We should all have some clear goals in mind and match our financial goals to those. Our life goals should also include more than hard assets, too. Are we learning, teaching, and caring for others?

Success is not defined in financial terms if you are a believer in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God’s Son told His twelve apostles not to take any money or even an extra coat with them as they went to minister. That may seem unwise, but they knew that He was their Master, and they trusted Him. So often, we read the parable in Luke 19:12-27 and hear sermons in church about the nobleman who left some of his servants with money to use for conducting business while he went away. There were some who complained about the master’s rule over them. The first two servants used the money given to them to increase the nobleman’s wealth, while the third buried the money because he said that his master was strict and he feared he might lose it. The master took the money from the third servant and gave it to the first, and then he had all of those who grumbled against him killed. Verses 26-27 say, “For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him. But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.” It seems to me that Jesus is saying that money (and all that God gives to us) is a tool to be used and not hidden away to be worshipped or in fear of being stolen, and we must recognize and submit to our Master, above all, without grumbling. I can’t recall a single sermon where I have heard that last part included. Maybe I wasn’t listening well at that point, but it seems to me to be paramount that the story was as much about having contentment and faith in our Master as it is in wisely utilizing the resources He gives us, as we are His stewards of all things. He is the Creator, so really there is nothing that we have that we created. We use things to make things, and in doing so we have some creative resemblance to our Father, but none of us make something out of nothing or our mere spoken word. Even we ourselves are His creations, as He set these complex bodies and the reproductive system in place from the beginning. This just amazes me, especially when I look at all of the universe and see the complexity, order, and balance. From this parable, we learn that we are to be wise stewards of the resources given us by God (including money) and we are to submit to our Master’s authority without grumbling. There will be a day when we are judged for our actions, and I believe our use of financial resources will be part of that. Are we using money for trivial, fleeting pleasures or for sustaining life? Are we people of our word and meeting our financial commitment to others or are we always caught up “short” and asking for mercy from others?

Money also should not be a motivation for our affections toward someone or for soothing our emotions, as in the example I gave in Part 2 of my “shopping therapy”. Neither a sizable bank account, investments, nor stuff should be the main source of our security and contentment. Bank accounts and things can disappear in the mere blink of an eye. I know this, personally. I have had it happen on more than one occasion. Jobs are lost. Homes burn down. Theft occurs, and things break and decay. None of the objects of this world last or are secure. However, the relationships we have with God and people, our health (physical and emotional), and our own understanding, knowledge, wisdom, and experience are what endure and can get us through all kinds of situations, including new starts and TEOTWAWKI, even if we have no money and minimal resources. A large bank account that has disappeared will mean nothing. Even a stock pile of gold and silver will mean little if you are hungry and thirsty and there is no one around from whom you can buy food and water. As has been said many times before, “You can’t eat gold.” However, knowing how to obtain these things may be the difference between surviving and dying.

Get a handle on what money is. It is a tool that we need in this society. It, however, is not even close to being everything! Things are not everything, and they will not make you a better person! Though the commercials and ads that we are bombarded with try to convince us that we must have their product to be accepted and loved, that is a lie! Be able to walk away from just about every deal out there, unless it is a one of a kind item that you need in order to accomplish the goals you have set. You can’t make a good deal if you are overly emotionally invested.

Set some big life goals, talk about those as a family, and keep those on the forefront of your mind when making family decisions and certainly purchases or business decisions. It makes it much easier to say “No” to the many temptations that get in the way of achieving our goals. For example, when we began working toward getting out of debt, I was in the habit of buying whatever I thought the family needed or wanted. However, Hugh and I regularly began to look at our income and talk about our goals, which included a strong desire to get out of debt so that no one could take our property from us. As I found myself at the grocery store or other stores making purchase decisions, it became easier to walk away from non-necessities when I reminded myself that $4 or $40 could be applied to debt rather than purchasing that item. Everytime I considered buying something, no matter how small, I thought about my need to get out of debt and made the judgment of whether the cost of the item should be applied to buying the item or left in our account to pay off debt. When there was extra at the end of the month, we added that to the debt payments, paying the highest interest rate items first. If a family farm is the goal, maybe you can curtail some expenses or choose a less expensive one in order to more quickly attain the goal. If you have made a financial commitment to someone or taken out a loan, you should certainly remember this no matter how attractive some item is that was not on your “need” list. If it isn’t needed, it is coming between you and your ability to meet your commitment or attain your goal. It is a stumbling block to your success. Walk away! Next week, you won’t miss that item at all. You’ve been doing with it and you will be able to do without it in the future. It is not a need.

This takes practice, but regularly reviewing goals and talking about them will help. Setting a budget and sticking with it will also help. One of the very best methods for forcing a person/family to stick to the budget is to use cash in envelopes marked for specific budget categories. Once the budget is set and goals are realistic, this also helps serve as a disciplinary tool. When the cash in my grocery budget envelope gets low, I have to cook from what’s in the pantry and freezer. Doing this has been a great exercise to teach me how to make the choice to walk away from what I desire and discover that I am just fine afterward. Many people do not know what that’s like. They see something they want and use the credit card, thinking they will figure out how to pay for it later, but later never comes. What does come is the stress of opening the credit card bill and then having to pay it and get collection calls and increased rate hikes, et cetera. Don’t do this!

It is my opinion that credit cards are evil, and debt is bondage! That Bible tells us the same thing. I hope you are out of debt and are pursuing life goals that are beyond getting out of debt. Land, a storehouse of food, tools, water capturing and filtration equipment, weapons and ammo, solar power, and all that is needed for independent living off the grid should be priorities. The knowledge to do these is priceless, and much of this is available here on SurvivalBlog without any cost to you! Take advantage of what is free.

Budget Expenses

There are fixed expenses (those that are long-term commitments for approximately the same amount each month, like rent or home mortgage), and what I call flexible expenses (like groceries, credit card payments, and entertainment). Let’s tackle the current fixed expenses first, because most of those are likely costs that cannot be quickly changed. If you don’t know the cost amount right away, remember to keep your financial notebook near where mail comes in and then write down the actual expenses as they come in the mail (or email). Within a month, you should have most of the information you need to begin getting a handle on your budget and making much better choices that guide you toward your life and financial goals.

Fixed Expenses

List all of your reoccurring monthly fixed expenses and then out to the side write the amount you spend in each of the categories. For example, write Rent/home mortgage…$1,450.

Your list of fixed (long-term) expenses might include:

  • Regular tithe or charitable support donation,
  • Home mortgage/rent,
  • Homeowners insurance and property taxes (or renter’s insurance, if renter),
  • Car insurance,
  • Gas and electric bills,
  • Internet bill
  • Telephone/cell bill(s)
  • Cable or satellite television bills,
  • Life insurance premium,
  • Medical insurance premiums,
  • Monthly savings/investment commitment, and
  • (Other long-term commitments specific to you and your family)

Really watch and be accurate with these numbers so that your plans will be accurate too! In Part 4, we’ll cover the rest of the expenses– flexible ones, and begin looking at some ways to creatively cut expenses. Once you have captured all of the actual expenses, you can begin to make choices on what to cut back on and what to increase, within the boundaries of your income.

Letter Re: Prepper Axioms

HJL,

It is most certainly true that people should not choose to bug out in certain situations unless they have a sustainable location prepared in advance. However, many SurvivalBlog readers work far from home (well over 2,000 miles for me) and we absolutely must have detailed plans in place to get back to our families in a TEOTWAWKI event. This will become more common in a severe economic downturn. In that case, you’d be wise to have those packs prepared the author of this article speaks against, just in case your primary mode of transportation doesn’t get you home. And what if disaster strikes your rural location and it’s better to get out than remain in place? Think earthquake or other similar disruption where wells can stop producing due to pipe damage, power is down for months, roads are impassible, your home is a loss, and the weather is harsh. That’s a valid bugout scenario that is much more likely than an EMP and therefore should be on your preparedness list.

I am bothered by comments on the Gray Man mindset. Yes, we need leaders, but that doesn’t mean you won’t have to deal with authorities already in place that may be hostile towards those that counter their community management philosophy such as preppers, religious conservatives, and those not willing to share what they’ve stocked up with everyone else. The Gray Man exists to be an unseen influence at those times, gathering intelligence, understanding the political landscape, identifying like-minded people, arranging for the movement of resources. In the event of outright conflict, the Gray Man serves a valuable role in clandestine activities. So while one may try to make the case that the Gray Man is a cop out compared to stepping up and leading, I’ll leave you with this question: In the history of low-level conflicts and outright war on any scale, how valuable was the role of clandestine intelligence operatives? There’s a time to step up and be an outspoken leader, and there’s a time to quietly work behind the scenes to work towards common goals.

I work in a community where I expect a great need for the Gray Man approach early on in a WROL event, and I also have a well stocked rural location in the American Redoubt to travel to, and extensive plans to make the trip if the need arises.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Coup Attempt in Turkey: A Feast of Pretexts

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Black Lives Matter near Union Station in Washington DC on July 20. Note the presence of police. “Protesters let black people through blocked locations but not white people,” (WTTG) – T.P.

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France: After the Third Jihadist Attack – D.S.

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Michigan Goes Total Police State With Roadside Saliva Check Points – H.L.

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Video (1 minute): Bizarre behavior from Clinton– M.T.

Notes for Saturday – July 23, 2016

On this day in 1942, the systematic deportation of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto begins, as thousands are rounded up daily and transported to a newly constructed concentration/extermination camp at Treblinka, in Poland. Never Again!

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Today, we present another entry for Round 65 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Tactical Self-Contained 2-Series Solar Power Generator system from Always Empowered. This compact starter power system is packaged in a wheeled O.D. green EMP-shielded Pelican hard case (a $1,700 value),
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate that is good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper with a hammer forged, chrome-lined barrel and a hard case to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel, which can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Gun Mag Warehouse is providing 20 Magpul PMAG 30-rd Magazines (a value of $300) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt; (an equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions),
  6. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  7. The Ark Institute is donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package (enough for two families of four) plus seed storage materials, a CD-ROM of Geri Guidetti’s book “Build Your Ark! How to Prepare for Self Reliance in Uncertain Times”, and two bottles of Potassium Iodate (a $325 retail value),
  8. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  9. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating an AquaBrick water filtration kit with a retail value of $250, and
  10. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Second Prize:

  1. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  2. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  3. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  4. A Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
  5. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  6. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  7. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  8. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A $245 gift certificate from custom knife-maker Jon Kelly Designs, of Eureka, Montana,
  3. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  7. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value), and
  8. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).

Round 65 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Mesh Networks, Digital Radio, EMP, and Metal Buildings, Oh My!, by R.V.

We are working on a grass roots Internet style network at my radio club. As I am a very curious fellow, I am currently reading Wireless Networking in the Developing World, which is a free ebook. This book, of which I am 1/3 of the way through reading, seems to exercise every possibility in connecting these wireless routers. The pros and cons of various management strategies and switching tactics are exhaustively discussed. Sources and software are named, making it a great reference. What got me started is the Ham Radio version of this, which is described online, which is a project of my ARRL club. My interest was aroused by a presentation on digital radio at a club meeting.

Interestingly enough government emergency management money is being allocated to replace repeaters in Georgia with DSTAR units, which are the ICOM version of digital radio and the one that was adopted by emergency management people in Georgia. I understand that there are two other standards out there from Motorola and Yaesu, depending on the choice of the local emergency people. The three are mutually exclusive, meaning none will communicate with the other. A marginal upside to this is that you might adopt one of the other two and have a mostly private network.

I am nothing if not independent, and the feature of Amateur Radio that is most appealing is that it facilitates independent communication. Unfortunately, DSTAR gives radio a firm link to the Internet and throws cold water on the independent communication feature. While it may be really cool to talk to Idaho on your 2 meter HT via a repeater at each end and the Internet in between, what if that leads people to never explore 80 meter so you can hear the news from the Redoubt no matter what? That’s not a question I can answer. Rest assured that I will figure out that 80 meter thing. My main problem is a Yaesu appetite with a Baufang budget.

The crux of what is up is a member of our radio club, who dreams antenna configurations in his sleep and does not round the speed of light in his calculations, is working on flashing particular Linksys routers to change how they operate so they will seek out similarly flashed (meaning the programming or firmware is permanently changed on the chip) wireless routers with higher gain antennas than are normally found on wireless routers. My antenna obsessed club member has not shown me how to flash these units yet. (For the uninitiated, all Hams are antenna obsessed.) We are waiting on an opening in my schedule. Unfortunately the flashing I learned in college has little or no application, being the medium for the last thing you have to communicate to someone followed by a hasty exit.

What is interesting about the antenna is they are both directional and omnidirectional, depending on the application. Examples of off the shelf models can be found on eBay. My Ham friend is, of course, making his own.

So, we are working on establishing an independent Internet in a two or three county area with multiple paths for data flow and may even reach Atlanta. Any Ham with a ridge top house or business location is quickly victimized, since we are trying to establish the main spine, so to speak, of the installation. What is one more antenna sticking out of a tree or your chimney top, right? The ones we are using are about 18” long and contained in a ¾” PVC pipe with a cap. An old frying pan from good will or the sheet metal on your chimney serves as a ground plane. My wife will never miss that pan nor notice the added protuberance on the roof, surely.

The Linksys WRT54G routers with model numbers 1 through 4 and maybe 5 have more processing capability and memory than was necessary for the advertised task they were intended to carry out. A unit can be obtained for $10 to $30 at Good Will or a similar institution. A description of the reflashing process can be found at http://www.diywireless.net/reflashingrouters.html where they go through the hazards and the steps to accomplish the task. I found the term “bricking your router” amusing but hope I miss the first hand experience.

All this equipment is low power running on 12 volts DC. House power and a battery back up from the office supply can handle the day to day operation. Be sure to get one that has 12 volts of battery in it. If push comes to EMP shove, you can bypass the transformers that go from 120 vac to 12 vdc and back. A 20 to 100 watt solar panel, low end solar charge controller can be kept in a metal cabinet with an identical backup router for later that completes the set up.

When selecting a solar panel, the key feature is a “bypass diode”. Without that, anything that shields a spot on the panel makes that part of the panel perform like a resistor. Resistors have lower voltage. Silicon cells are supposed to produce voltage. Pretty quick, your efficiency is destroyed by random shading without the bypass diode feature. Of course, I learned that after making a purchase or two. Ready, fire, aim! All the major lessons of life are seared into your memory by shame, grief, pain, or all of the above.

My thought is that we can attach a camera here and a camera there and monitor the progress of traffic, wheeled or otherwise on major thoroughfares in addition to exchanging data. The inexpensive infrared technology featured previously on SurvivalBlog, for which you are loudly wishing for an article, potentially has application. I too am wishing for that article. Having notice of any sort, regarding the movement of the Golden Hoard as you call it, would be advantageous.

What is fascinating about this radio wave stuff is that every point along the wave is a potential source point. So, if you envision the rock in the water and the resulting concentric circles of wave energy radiating, you have the beginning of the picture. At the point where those circles hit an impenetrable object but for a pin hole, the waves stop across the plane but radiate out from the pinhole in the same concentric circles but at a lower intensity. This phenomenon is how you get signals around corners. Every point along the wave acts like a pin hole. It is also why metal buildings make lousy Faraday enclosures.

I have listened to all the fussing and complaining from tenants I can stand about the roof of my building. I have sent any number of people onto the roof of this industrial building to stop the leaks. It is empty now, so I have decided to bang around peeling layer upon layer of caulk and coaxing security screws out of various spots to figure out what might be the problem. It turns out that the initial installer of the roof failed to remove the wax paper backing from the mastic tape before the next roof panel was settled into place and screwed down. Typical of industrial buildings, the pitch is only 1 in 12. Most any heavy rain makes it leak in its current configuration.

The point is, every component of that building is sealed against the intrusion of water or soon will be using caulk or rubber in one form or another. Every screw has a rubber washer, and every thread has caulk applied or should. Each panel is mostly insulated from the other. The exterior of a metal building does not form a continuous barrier to electromagnetic radiation yielding numerous point sources. Evidence of this is in the observation of certain electrolytic processes, indicating that static electricity is traveling down the gutter brackets, gutter, and down spout to the ground and not through the frame of the building. On a roof with hardly any rust in evidence, there was a rectangular hole under the bracket on the corner of the roof.

Building lessons here include the need to do the math and figure out how much mastic tape and caulk is enough and inventory what the contractor has brought to the job. Second, don’t go cheap on the supply of screws. The contractor will push to finish the job, even if it means using extra security screws featuring odd shaped ceramic heads, which are a booger to remove during future maintenance efforts. Third, it is not just about grounding. It is also about continuous uniform surface. I recognize that mesh of a certain size meets the requirement, but again that is continuous and uniform.

The point of this is that DoctorPrepper is right. Metal buildings may dampen electromagnetic waves, but they do not come close to eliminating them. More layers of protection are required. Certainly there is a dampening effect, otherwise my cell signal would not be so lame in there.

And, to return to the original point, you can have an Internet connection as it was originally intended by its inventors with the magic that is electromagnetic wave energy. You can maintain it as an independent mode of communication, come what may, that is decentralized, self-healing, and resilient potentially able to provide valuable intel.

My wife mused out loud the other day about how interesting it would be to occupy my head for just 30 minutes. I think I had connected two dots while seeking a missing debit card that had no apparent relationship in her mind. The two women in my office, upon hearing the story in unison and spontaneously shouted, “Five minutes would be plenty.” Sorry if this adds up to more than five minutes, but hitting 1500 words is a real chore for the guy inclined to the one liner.

Letter Re: Prepper Axiom #5

Dear James and Hugh,

Your writer of the day for June 20th brought a smile to me when I read his comments on the fallacy of “bugging out”. This topic is one that is near and dear to me, both personally and professionally as the design director for Hardened Structures and as a former infantryman and Boy Scout. Even with my training and experiences (or especially because of this training) it’s really inconceivable to me to think of providing 2,000 calories per day, every day for my family of four indefinitely, out in the boonies, with only a pack and a rifle, without at least a small plot of land to develop into a micro farm of sorts.

One of my own axioms with clients who ask about bug out planning is: “History has been very unkind to refugees.” So you better have a really well planned place to go and establish life ahead of collapse and not be rejected by the locals. This takes time, being on site personally, and not just a “retreat” that you do not habitat on a regular basis. This usually gives most people some pause, and to those who still really think they are going to be Rambo or Daniel Boone while bringing along the women and children, I mention, “The state of California allegedly has about 480,000 deer roaming about, while the human population is 50 million. Think about how that ratio works out. Who will get those deer? Would it be out-of-towners or the locals who know the terrain?”

However, I am also no advocate of staying put in an urban center during an extended grid down event. I do not know what a future collapse will look like, but we know for certain how things look right now in Venezuela and how New Orleans looked during Katrina and the USSR during the WWII Siege of Stalingrad. – In Stalingrad, the city was cut off from all outside support by the Nazi siege during the winter of 1942-43. After the food ran out, people ate all the birds, rats, squirrels, et cetera, and then later went and dug up the bones from these to mix with even sawdust to make some form of soup or gruel. After that, it was not safe to let your children out of sight, as cannibalism was rumored.

This horrific topic always seems to be the end game of extreme starvation– cannibalism. It’s even mentioned in the Bible on more than one occasions

And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass’s head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver. And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. And he said, If the Lord do not help thee, whence shall I help thee? out of the barnfloor, or out of the winepress? And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This woman said unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow. So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her son. And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh. – 2 Kings 6:25-30

And

Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds. – Eziekel 5:10

Our family, having left urban life in 2013, see daily how utterly foolish our “expertise” was at being preppers in a suburban environment. If you want to have any hope of survival in a post “grid down” event, one needs to either have a very robust, well stocked, and expensive bunker (well over $200k) or be established in a rural location with a home that is capable of operating in an off-grid mode. In the years since we moved out of the city, we are daily reminded how the local folks’ daily life skills so far exceed our own. Folks’ daily life includes raising small livestock for food, gardening, handyman skills, logging skills, hunting and fishing skills, and more! Some are things which my wife and I do have some background with from our childhood, but WOW! How much more the local, life-long rural folks know, and it’s not considered anything special. It’s just life to them. We are learning fast and making great connections by showing respect for our neighbors and being willing to laugh at ourselves with them about what we don’t know when they show us a better way.

Today our children know food comes from plants and animals on our property and around the neighborhood and not just packages in the store. The four year old knows when fruit is ripe to pick and how to tell a black widow from a crab spider and is happy to pick up worms she finds to put in the compost bin. I spend far more hours with a garden hose watering plants or a pick-axe planting more food plants or a come-along hand-winch stretching 100’x6’ horse fencing rolls than I do with a rifle or pistol on the range, but we do have a small makeshift back yard 25-meter range, so practice is just a 100-yard walk back to the fence line, and the orange painted steel discs attached to sawhorses are great advertisement that we are armed and skilled. Blackberries and plums are in season here in Oregon right now, and we have filled 5-gallon homer buckets of each, just in the last two days, with more to come over the next week or so. The blackberries are headed for the freezer, and plums will be cut in half and put in the dehydrator. These will last all through the next winter and beyond.

You can survive four minutes without clear air, about four days without clean water, and about four weeks without food. Be somewhere the air is clean, the water comes from your own property, and you can grow at least some of your own food. Even without a collapse ever happening, it has become the best possible “little life” I could ever imagine for raising our children and escaping the daily stress of the urban life. – D.

Odds ‘n Sods:

More information on the therapist shooting in Miami: North Miami SWAT Cop Shot Therapist In Order To “Save” Him From Unarmed Autistic Man – DSV

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An excellent treatise on dealing with the anti-police sentiment brewing in America: Fixing The Problem – K.T.

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A recall on AR500 Armor Level III Body Armor. If your armor is manufactured between February 2016 and March 2016 you need to get in touch with the manufacturer (844-887-8824 or www.ar500armor.com)

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It’s like the rabbit hole in Alice and Wonderland: German Officials Respond to Migrant’s Axe Attack by Calling for ‘Mandatory Islam Classes’ – H.L.

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Do You Need a Handheld Minigun? Of Course You Do. – What better way to burn off 4000 rounds per minute? – SEZ

Guest Article: The Best Oils For A Worst Case Scenario- Part 2, by Melissa Mink

#4- Cedarwood (Organic-Atlas)

This is a very useful but tricky oil that I would not recommend any pregnant women use. It can be ingested but needs to be an Atlas variety only. Others are toxic and cannot be ingested, so know your oils! This one is also an amazing calmer and is much more powerful, in my own experience, at soothing bug bites and stings than Lavender. If you have ever owned a Cedar chest, you know how amazingly effective it is at repelling bugs. It is also not an oil that will give away your presence if needing to hunt. Cedarwood will blend right into the surroundings of nature and not alert anyone to your presence. It is what we use indoors for repelling bugs and it works. It can also be used for allergies. I combine it with Frankincense and other oils to reduce selling and calm histamine when I have an allergy flair up, which happens often because I am allergic to a lot of things. For bug bites you can rub it right onto skin, but if there is an open wound dilute it a bit. It is highly anti-septic and will also work to clean a wound if needed. If you were hunting and need an all-purpose oil, this would be it. It works for pests, wounds, as well as calming calms stings or bites without a heavy scent. To get rid of lice and/or skin mites, simply dilute into a carrier oil and rub into skin or hair. For repelling bugs, rub (diluted) into skin, on clothes, or put onto a cotton ball and place it where ever you want pests and rodents to stay away. It works on mice and snakes as well. It is my indoor version of moth balls.

#5- Rosemary

This oil is one that many people can tolerate in their food and makes getting an antibacterial down the hatch a bit easier. It is highly antibacterial and should be considered when the common cold is going around or if having a bout of flu. You can add to foods such as spaghetti or soups for an extra bit of help with germ fighting. I ingest oils and have found that the best way to enjoy some of their benefits is to use them as you would an herb in food. So this one, being highly effective at killing germs and aiding in healthy cell reproduction, would be on my plate and in my first aid kit, if I were you. It is highly antiviral and antifungal as well, so it is a great one to reach for if dealing with an infected sore, toe nail fungus, ring worm, warts (not genital), or other skin infection or fungus. Reports have shown it being effective at aiding with things like Alzheimer’s, lung infections, hair loss, and memory loss. In case of an internal infection, since it can safely be ingested when diluted, it can be added right to honey (only like two drops) and swallowed. It should be in your first aid kit.

#6- Litsea Cubeba

This is an oil most people have never heard of. Also called May Chang, it is worth its weight in gold as far as I am concerned. I have used it with my own lung problems and on my animals with much success. One example is when my new chicks came to me with a bout of what certainly appeared to be bird flu, which isn’t new to chicken keepers or hatcheries by the way. However, my baby chicks were dying, and I had to stop it instantly; I did with this oil! Avian Flu is viral, and so I quickly reached for this highly anti-viral oil. I placed a few drops into a quart of water with Vitamin B and gave them only this to drink. All my droopy looking chickens perked right up, and they stopped dying instantly. Litsea is an Asian citrus pepper fruit that is used often in other countries as an antiviral. It’s so powerful it is used in Asia to treat pneumonia, TB, COPD, asthma, and bronchitis, and other bronchial issues. This is one oil I will never be without, Lord willin’. It is truly my favorite. I ingested and inhaled it with Peppermint when I was dealing with pneumonia and nasal polyps. I believe firmly that it aided in the healing process. I blended it with the Peppermint in equal parts, and inhaled it in the cup of my hands. These two oils combined could possibly help an asthmatic in a situation where an inhaler or nebulizer isn’t an option. I now use the blend daily in place of my rescue inhaler most of the time and have reduced those medical costs significantly. They can be added to a spoonful of honey (1 drop of each), diluted and rubbed onto chest, and inhaled by the hands. I also put the blend onto the back of my tongue to get fast relief. It helped me so much that I was able to decrease my inhaler and nebulizer intake by 3/4ths. I did have to end up also taking a steroid during the worst of it, but the Litsea/Peppermint combo was very helpful (I believe) at killing the problem (infection or virus) that was causing my pneumonia. All flu and colds are also viral. We cannot overlook that more antiviral medication should be available, so here is an option in an emergency or worst case scenario. Here are the other things it has been shown effective at aiding in treating: athlete’s foot, skin tags, stress, eczema, psoriasis, skin infections, skin fungus such as ringworm, indigestion, inflammation, and warts. It’s easy to use on animals as well as humans for all the mentioned above. This is my “go-to” oil for animals. From skin issues, infections fungus, virus, and ringworm to any bronchial issues, this is the animal oil for most of my natural animal husbandry needs. All my new birds get this in their water with honey and vitamin B daily instead of antibiotics. You must change daily if using honey or it could ferment the water and leave them with nothing. So only add honey to animals water if changing daily. I then slowly wean down to weekly use of the Litsea on all birds and then to monthly. *At the first signs of Cocci, I was able to do this and stop an infestation before it started and only the one sick bird was lost. Highly effective at stopping disease and particularly virus in humans or animals! A total MUST for your emergency/first aid kit.

#7- Frankincense

This oil of oils and worker of good things is my ultimate cream topping on the pie. Frankincense (Carterri) has been shown effective for many uses. I would use for any wounds, diluted and combined with Clove oil. The nick name of Frankincense is “Heal All” because of its ability to help restore tissue growth and aid in good cell reproduction while also prohibiting tumor growth. I have, when sick, added it to my fruit smoothies to gain the possible healing effects by getting it into the body. I have seen a difference when I used it and also noticed a bit more energy than before. Sickness time has seemed to be shortened as well. Frankincense is my “go to” when allergies strike. It has been shown to be a calmer and help to block histamine when taken internally or breathed in. It can be dropped into a diffuser or diluted and rubbed onto nose, placed onto back of tongue, or breathed in from cupped hands. It is a main ingredient in my blend called Allergy Stop. It is one I would definitely keep around for any wound care in a first aid kit.

Here is the kit I have put together: Essential 7, The Essential Oil Survival Kit Remember no essential oils should be applied to an open wound without being diluted. Also some people are more sensitive to essential oils than others, so be careful and start out with a very small amount. I am not a trained physician and cannot give any medical advice. I am simply sharing what I would do, what has helped me or what I believe to be helpful to you in a “worst case” emergency type situation and a doctor or vet isn’t able to be reached. It is a good idea to have backup plans, because you never know what might happen, but please do not deny someone you know the ability to see a doctor if it is needed and available. I cannot/will not be held liable for anything you try on your own based on this informative and educational blog post. I hope you found this information helpful.