Letter Re: A Solid Solution On Securing Home Defense During A TEOTWAWKI Situation, by B.M.

HJL,

Home safety is an assumption that you need to fully analyze, being just 40 miles out from a city. I’m two hours away from NYC and about a 40 minute drive from the NY border, yet I see NY plates all of the time. (They often come here, day in day out, to escape their city lives for whatever reason.) Cars/mobility make it possible; a tank of gas will get you around 350 miles in a small car. Some of the people here have roots in NYC, meaning when things get bad the relatives will appear. Being only 40 miles out, they could walk to your location in two days if they are in great shape or in a week if they aren’t fit. Granted they have no reason to unless you’re located near a prime target location (i.e. super market, Walmart, or chain distribution center). Some smart people will know how the food is handled, where it comes from, and what they need to do to acquire it. Those people will seek those locations out. So, if you are down the street from Walmart, you are in a more dangerous area then you realize. Once the fools are done looking for big screen tvs and Jordans, they will be hungry and have to work at finding calories.

At some point the house you occupy might be taken over or burned, and you will have no choice but to leave it for your life and family’s life. Prepare for that now. Siege warfare has been around a long while. It isn’t a new concept.

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Hugh,

Reading the critique responses I was a little disappointed in them. B.M. offered an idea that has some merit. We as fellow preppers should not be too quick to pull the trigger with a dismissal of such. I do not want to become that “armchair quarterback” and poo-poo an a idea on face value. I remember that one idea leads most of the time to better ideas, case in point, those of us that grew up in the 50/60s time frame remember rear fender skirts on classic auto, which were a fad back then; the removal of which was by a lever mounted on the underside/inside of the skirt. Thieves would spend about 10 seconds to pop them off and run for the hills. I had an occasion when it happened to my car. My solution was to glue single-edge razor blades to the hidden lever on my replacement ones, and while coming out of a local movie place late one Saturday night I discovered a fair amount or blood on the pavement and also on the side of my car. Yes, I was a happy camper that the person(s) unknown had received a little “street justice” and also that the skirts were still in place.

For any given circumstance there are solutions– some good, some bad, some ugly. Our goal should be to take a problem and come up with a better mouse trap solution versus just trashing one solution on its face value. Let’s all try to offer our “expertise” with a positive solution to people who are trying to do it right. To all of us, if I was living in a primary residence 40 miles outside of any major population area, my focus should be (and in my case was) to get the hell out of Dodge. (I did that in 2012.) Relocation to a redoubt location in the western states for me is a better solution than trying to focus on maintaining a potentially unattainable location.

The old sniper’s Credo “locate, isolate, eliminate” should be food for reflection. B.M. you at dealing with a tremendous problem, and my prayers and sincere hope is that you find the best one that gives you the return for your efforts.- John in NV

Economics and Investing:

Video: SPROTT MONEY & SRSROCCO INTERVIEW: Where Does Silver Go From Here?

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Podcast: Negative interest rates to hit the US

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Items from Professor Preponomics:

We’re Now Just One Big Shock Away from a Global Downturn (Zero Hedge)

What Does It Cost to Produce a Barrel of Oil? (CNN Money)

Expedia Lays Off 40% of Orbitz Staff in Chicago (Seattle Times)

VA Spends Millions Promoting Obamacare (Washington Examiner)

Figures on Government Spending and Debt (AP via CNS News)

United Health’s Obamacare Reckoning (Wall Street Journal)

Insurer’s Warning Signals Troubles with Obamacare (USA Today)

The Secret Stock Market Accounting Trick (New York Post)

Iron Ore Bust Getting Worse, Bankruptcies Coming (Contra Corner)

The Collapse of Commodities in One Simple Chart (Visual Capitalist)

Odds ‘n Sods:

SurvivalBlog reader B.B. sent in this article discussing the failure of the U.S. government to perform its most basic function: Armed militias and concealed carry: It is Lexington and Concord time.

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JWR was just a repeat guest on the God & Guns podcast. His hour-long interview begins at the 34:00 mark.

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Preparing your kids for total surveillance: Kid’s toys are recording and transmitting every conversation. Sent in by B.R.

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Not for the squeamish: Deadly kissing bugs reported in more than half of U.S., spreading Chagas disease – Because it isn’t bad enough to be bitten by the bug, they have to defecate in the wound. Sent in by D.S.

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‘Staggering’: 680,000 Muslims to U.S. under Obama

Notes for Wednesday – November 25, 2015

November 25th is the birthday of economist and comedian Ben Stein. His unscripted monologue on economics from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is one of the most memorable scenes in American cinema. By the way, Stein spends part of each year at his second home in Sandpoint, Idaho, so he is an honorary Redoubter. I’ve heard that he plans to retire here.

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The countdown is running! six more days until the release of “Land of Promise”! It will be available as both a Kindle e-book and a trade paperback, but the paperback ordering option won’t be visible at Amazon until December 1st.

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The Homestead Store is having a 10% off sale on all of their handcrafted drying racks with shipping included. The sale runs from today til December 1st. Just enter the code DRY10 at the checkout to get the discount.

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Today, we present another entry for Round 61 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, chromlined barrel and a hard case to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR type rifle to have 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 pmags 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 from Sunflower Ammo,
  9. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating both an AquaBrick water filtration kit and a Stainless Medium Scout Kelly Kettle Complete Kit with a combined retail value of $304, 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 FloJak EarthStraw “Code Red” 100-foot well pump system (a $500 value), courtesy of FloJak.com,
  3. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  4. A Model 120 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $340 value),
  5. A $300 gift certificate from Freeze Dry Guy,
  6. A Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
  7. Twenty-five books, of the winners choice, of any books published by PrepperPress.com (a $270 value),
  8. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  9. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  10. Safecastle is providing a package of 10 LifeStraws (a $200 value)

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A $245 gift certificate from custom knifemaker 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. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit,
  8. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value), and
  9. 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 61 ends on November 30th, 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.

It’s TEOTWAWKI and the Living’s Easy, by N.M.

I’m talking about the upside of long-term, remote, Rocky Mountain survival. The very fact that you are reading this essay means that you are concerned about the state of the world around you and that you have serious concerns about what you are seeing. Whether your concerns center on the threat of attack from outside forces, economic collapse, fears that elected officials in the American government are taking us irreparably away from the government envisioned by our founding fathers (my concern), or the Zombie Apocalypse (my wife’s favorite), you’ve decided that the time has come to prepare for the possibility that life as we know it really could end. Nobody is as prepared as they would like to be, and most of us do not have the financial resources to have our own personal retreat, fully stocked just waiting for normal life to implode. That means the rest of us will have to resort to getting away from the chaos around us and going where we feel we have the best chance to persevere. Growing up in Colorado and going on annual elk hunting trips, my safe place would be deep in the mountains. The Rocky Mountains offer a great many positive attributes when it comes to getting away from the end of the world. The geography makes it easy to isolate yourself. There is an abundance of food, if you know where to look and how to catch it. Water, moving downhill like it does, is often collected in predictable places. Coniferous trees offer ample opportunities for primitive shelter and concealment. In some ways, trying to make a life here would have some unique advantages.

Food

Harvesting an antelope, deer, elk, or moose would create enough meat to feed a family for anywhere from two weeks to three months, depending on the size of the animal. While deer and elk hunting as we know it can be considered difficult, and by no means are you assured of a successful hunt, the dynamics of hunting these creatures change dramatically if the hunting season changes to year-round. I observed something interesting when, after hunting all my life in late October in 3rd rifle season, our hunting camp decided to start going several weeks earlier in 1st season. The deer and elk had been shot at and hunted aggressively for several weeks by the time 3rd season came. They were much more wary of human presence and as a result it was more difficult to get close enough to them to shoot at them. In 1st season, they hadn’t yet been hunted and we would regularly see deer and elk in close proximity to human camps, especially near sunrise and sunset. In a situation where you are no longer required to apply for a license and hunt only during the week-long period specified on your license, the probability of a successful hunt increases dramatically. Another reason your odds of success would increase is because you would no longer be limited in what you could shoot at. For example, this year I obtained a cow elk license, and my father who hunts with me got a bull elk license. Even if we party hunted (which is illegal in the state of Colorado, even though it happens in 75% of all hunting camps), I would only be able to shoot an antlerless elk, or a bull elk that had more than 4 points on each antler (Colorado Department of Wildlife regulations). After a week of hard hunting, we broke camp and went home empty handed. If I wasn’t bound by those rules, however, I had opportunities to take shots at a group of three deer, a huge moose, and a cow elk that I hesitated to shoot at because I couldn’t tell through the timber if she was a bull or a cow. In a primitive living situation, I would have had plenty of meat to feed my family.

There are more opportunities for smaller game, if the idea of harvesting a giant antlered creature seems a little overwhelming. In my time hunting and camping in the Rocky Mountains, squirrels, chipmunks, and rabbits are all very common and can be efficiently hunted with or without guns. A little .22 rifle is ideal for these types of animals, but for people with families, arm your nine year old son with a slingshot and a pocket full of rocks, and turn food collection into playtime. Birds like wild turkeys, pidgeons, and grouse are also plentiful. A shotgun is obviously preferred for them but not required, especially if you were able to just draw and shoot if one crossed your path.

Unless you locate to an extremely high elevation where temperatures at night get too cold, there is a short growing season in the mountains were you will be able to grow a respectable number of vegetables. Peppers, green beans, tomatoes, lettuce, and other vegetables can be raised. Ground will tend to be rockier than ideal, but if the will is there it can be done. I won’t claim to be an expert on edible plants in this area, but the information is readily available on the Internet and can be found at sites like http://backpackingtherockies.com/edible-wild-plants/ or http://www.coloradoplants.org/.

Safety and Security

When cities are no longer safe and people are starving in the suburbs, we will be living modestly but comfortably deep in the Rocky Mountains. There won’t be any elaborate security systems. There won’t be any neighborhood watch. There won’t be any 911 emergency response. There won’t be anything like that to make sure your person and your property remain safe, but it will still be one of the safest places a person can be. The biggest reason is an easy one to comprehend. EVERYONE WILL BE ARMED! Your typical hunting camp has thousands of dollars’ worth of gear and guns and 4-wheel drive vehicles. Large canvas tents are simply zipped shut while people go out for the day to hunt. It isn’t possible to lock up all your valuable gear while you are away, and yet there is very little concern that your gear will be taken because it takes a suicidal mixture of bravery and sheer stupidity to try to rob people that are armed like a group of hunters.

In the fiction of James Wesley, Rawles, his characters are heavily armed with high capacity automatic and semi-automatic rifles (among other things). In a scenario where you are trying to wait out the collapse of society in a place like a farm or a ranch where a road on a map can take you to their doorstep, that kind of firepower is necessary. Large, highly armed bands of brigands and looters must be deterred by force. It is not as essential to be armed that heavily deep in the mountains. By going deep enough into the woods and away from the roads, you take yourself largely out of the line of fire from groups like that. While protecting your life and the lives of your loved ones after the world falls apart means that you are forced to start with the assumption that everyone is looking to take from you, you are more likely to encounter similarly-minded individuals who have decided to wait out the end of the world as far away from most other humans as you could get. I would still argue that you would want as much firepower as you could get your hands on, but if I had to I would still feel pretty safe with my elk rifle, my Glock 19 handgun, and my .22 rifle along with several thousand rounds for each.

Shelter and Warmth

Much of the Rocky Mountain range is covered in coniferous trees like pine trees and fir trees. In the last 10 years, the Mountain Pine Beetle population has grown to record high levels. The Mountain Pine Beetle burrows into various types of pine trees to lay its eggs and is responsible for the death of a staggering number of trees in states as far south as Arizona and as far north as British Columbia. It is an alarming sight to see all of these dying pine trees in what would otherwise be a beautiful pristine forest, but it can make survival in this area somewhat more manageable. Should you decided to build something more permanent than a canvas tent, there is an abundance of useable pine trees that have been ravaged by the Pine Beetle and have fallen in the woods. In fact, there is more than there has ever been. Large, lodge pole pine trees litter much of the forest floor and would make ideal building materials for a solid simple lean-to structure that could be made in a day and last as long as you needed it to.

For the same reason, you will also have no trouble finding fuel for your campfire. Clearing out fallen timber from around your camp will often provide you with enough firewood for several weeks and also help protect your camp from forest fires. Fifteen years ago, when we would first set up our camp for hunting season, we would have to leave camp and go to an area where we saw some dead pine trees and chainsaw them into a small enough size where they could be loaded into the trucks and taken back to camp. Now we wander around just outside our camp and take the trees that have fallen near camp in the last year, and we also take down a few trees that are near camp that are dead and pose a risk to fall and injure people in our hunting party or damage our property. Gathering enough firewood to keep our camp warm for the week used to take half a day, and now it only takes a few hours.

I believe that food, safety, and shelter are three of the issues that most of America would struggle with if TEOTWAWKI ever comes. Although I, like most of America, am not as prepared as I would like to be, I know where I can go to survive and care for my family and get away from the chaos that threatens to take civilization apart. I know that life anywhere would be difficult, and secluded mountain life is not different. It would take faith, a strong will, and lots of hard work to make it, but when the world does fall apart, those are going to be the shared attributes of all survivors.

The Smoking Gun of Monetary Fraud

Back in December of 2013, when the protracted rumors of the Quantitative Easing taper finally came to fruition, I posted my conjecture in SurvivalBlog that to compensate for the lost dollar value of the tapering, the Fed would make some backroom deals with one or more nations to either: A.) Swap debt purchases (their ugly paper, for ours), or B.) Secretly buy more of our own debt, through intermediaries.

Then in late 2014, the proverbial smoking gun was found. Citing some research by the often-cited Tyler Durden of Zero Hedge, Jeff Nielson at Bullion Bulls Canada wrote:

“Belgium is a nation whose total GDP was reported at $535 billion (USD) in 2014, but is projected to fall to $464 billion this year, an enormous, year-over-year contraction of more than 13%. Yet what we are supposed to believe is that during a recent four-month period, the government of this faltering economy spent $161 billion ‘buying U.S. Treasuries’ (i.e. lending money to the U.S. government) at virtually no interest.

That works out to nearly 100% of Belgium’s GDP over that four-month period (at the previous size of Belgium’s economy, in 2014), and more than 100% of GDP if we look at the catastrophic estimate for this year.

There is no rational scenario we can construct where even the world’s healthiest economy would choose to lend 100% of its GDP (to a Deadbeat Debtor). Here readers need to understand that our GDP is not the nation’s ‘profits’, it’s simply a measurement of all economic activity. Thus, on a practical basis, no nation could ever muster that much capital, much less “loan it” to another government.”

Meanwhile, similar monetary hijinks have been played by the Bank of Japan (BOJ). This was documented by the editors of the Equedia Investment Research Newsletter, who wrote:

“Is it a coincidence, or an agreement between two nations, that a day after the end of US’ QE program, Japan announces yet another “surprise” increase in added stimulus, sending both U.S and Japanese stocks higher?

Is it a coincidence that the US has accused other countries, such as China, with currency manipulation, but has never accused Japan who has unleashed more QE per GDP than any other developed country in the world?”

In March of 2015 there came news that European Central Bank (ECB)’s quantitative easing purchases of sovereign debt would become ongoing, and perhaps even expand. But the details of the ECB “asset buy-up” have been sketchy. The net effect has been so severely deflationary and damaging to the currency markets that several European nations have embarked on negative interest rate policies. (Switzerland was the latest to announce NIRP–a Negative Interest Rate Policy. They claimed that they had no choice because the Swiss Franc had artificially become so strong that it was hurting their exports.)

Clearly, the central banks have been lying to us. Japan has been buying up lots of U.S. Treasury paper, to make up for China’s gradual disinvestment in U.S. Treasuries. The currency manipulations of the past two years were so large that they were difficult to hide. There has been a lot of mutual back-scratching going on, between the central banks. There obviously were indeed some back-room deals made, just as I predicted. Through their legerdemain, Federal Reserve Chairpudge Janet Yellen was able to claim victory over the QE policies of her predecessor, but only because there were countless billions of dollars flowing through back-channel transactions. The full details of this perfidy have not yet been revealed, but when they are, I predict that they will shake the currency markets, and hopefully bring into question the adequacy of the entire fiat money system. The only reason that there hasn’t been a public outcry about this is that the mainstream financial press is soft-pedalling the story. But they really should be shouting it from the rooftops. We are already in QE4 or QE5, but it is all being done sub rosa.

Be ready, folks! Diversify. Reduce your dollar exposure. Hedge into silver, productive farm land, cattle (on the hoof), guns, and common caliber ammunition. Someday there will be another credit crisis, and this one will make 2008 look small, by comparison. You need to position yourself for the inevitable crash, before it happens!

There will be some warning signs. You should watch for any of these:

  • Hiring freezes and layoffs by investment banks and stock brokerages
  • News of reduced End-of-Year bonuses for bankers or stock brokers
  • Any “surprise resignations” by the heads of central banks
  • Currency volatility
  • Interest rate spikes
  • Large mergers and buyouts of investment banking firms
  • Hedge fund earnings warning announcements
  • Either a jump in inflation or a plunge into deflation
  • News reports of bank runs in any country
  • Federal Reserve meetings called on short notice
  • More countries adopting NIRP
  • Significant stock market selloffs
  • Social crises or civil war in deeply-indebted nations such as Venezuela or Greece.

Again, be ready! This time we need to be ready for “forced reinvestment” of our 401(k)s and IRAs into U.S. bonds, and perhaps even a Cyprus-style bank “bail in” of our personal banking deposits. If that happens, cash will be king. Get some cash out, now.

Any significant moves in interest rates will cause chaos in the derivatives markets, which for the past three years have become fine-tuned to react only to microscopic changes in interest rates. When the big swings in interest rates occur–and they will– then look for the U.S. taxpayer to once again become the lender of last resort. – JWR

Economics and Investing:

Items from Mr. Econocobas:

David Stockman: Wall Street Remains Clueless—–Even As The Brown Stuff Heads Straight Into The Fan

U.S. GDP Growth Raised for Third Quarter – It’s laughable to think the Fed will raise rates in December unless they want to bring this whole thing down..

National Debt Spikes $578 Billion in Three Weeks – This is astounding…

Items from Professor Preponomics:

21.6% of U.S. Children on Food Stamps (CNS News)

NYSE Joining the NASDAQ in Eliminating Stop Orders (Market Watch)

Household Finance: Spending Books Can Help You Save (Christian Science Monitor)

The Case for $1 Gas (24/7WallSt)

5 Devastating Obamacare Facts Every American Should Know (Breitbart)

Swiss Alternative Bank Breaks Negative Rates Taboo (Yahoo News)

Sprint Uses Creative Financial Engineering and Alchemy to Raise Cash(24/7WallSt)

Another Chinese Executive Has Vanished (Business Insider)

German Economy to Slow Next Year (Market Watch)

Consumers Bear Costs of Polluted Water (Urban Milwaukee)

Why Millenial Parents Get Their Financial Priorities So Wrong (Market Watch)

Brazil’s Middle Class Plunged Back Into Poverty (Yahoo News)

FBI: Protect Yourself From Heath Care Fraud or Health Insurance Fraud (FBI)

Household Finance: Avoid the Holiday Spending Hangover! (Clark Howard)

Readers’ Recommendation of the Week:

Hugh,

I wanted to recommend a book that I just read called “Deadly Minutes vs Precious Seconds, a Primer on Armed Church Security from an Oklahoma Perspective” by Billy E Kuempe and available on Amazon Kindle. It is a well written treatise on how to set up a church-sponsored, armed security team, focusing on selecting the right team members and dealing with some of the interpersonal problems that arise. I think that it not only would be valuable for anyone looking to set up or improve on their security, but it also has value for those who look to set up a retreat with others, especially non-family members. While it does include a lot of Oklahoma specific legal information and does not provide answers for other states, it does at least provide a good guide for what sort of questions you need to answer for your own state. The book is $5.99 as a Kindle download, or it is free is you have Kindle Unlimited. – B.F.

Odds ‘n Sods:

If you live in flood prone areas or just areas with lots of waterways, then this might interest you (although its practicality is dubious): This Inflatable Boat Will Let You Carry Your Car Across Water. Link sent in by C.W.

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I think some of these dates are on the short side, but it’s headed in the right direction – The vast majority of expiration dates are bogus — here’s how long your food is still good. Link sent in by B.C.

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As most are already aware, Turkey shot down a Russian bomber today. Details are still sketchy, but I’m left with the questions “What were you thinking?” … aimed at both sides. SurvivalBlog reader Desert Duck points out that the novel Alas Babylon has a nuclear war started by a similar incident near the same port city in Latakia, Syria.

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A quick reminder to keep things in perspective – Prescription drugs far more dangerous to Americans than guns – D.S.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“A libertarian is a person who believes that no one has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being, or to advocate or delegate its initiation. Those who act consistently with this principle are libertarians, whether they realize it or not. Those who fail to act consistently with it are not libertarians, regardless of what they may claim.” – L. Neil Smith

Notes for Tuesday – November 24, 2015

November 24th marks the day that John Knox died, in 1572. (He was born in 1514.) AtheistAgendaPedia says: “Born near Haddington Scotland, he was influenced by George Wishart, who was burned for heresy in 1546, and the following year Knox became the spokesman for the Reformation in Scotland. After imprisonment and exile in England and the European continent, in 1559 he returned to Scotland, where he supervised the preparation of the constitution and liturgy of the Reformed Church.”

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The countdown is on! Just seven more days until the release of “Land of Promise”! Please wait until December 1st to place your order.

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Today, we present another entry for Round 61 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, chromlined barrel and a hard case to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR type rifle to have 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 pmags 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 from Sunflower Ammo,
  9. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating both an AquaBrick water filtration kit and a Stainless Medium Scout Kelly Kettle Complete Kit with a combined retail value of $304, 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 FloJak EarthStraw “Code Red” 100-foot well pump system (a $500 value), courtesy of FloJak.com,
  3. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  4. A Model 120 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $340 value),
  5. A $300 gift certificate from Freeze Dry Guy,
  6. A Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
  7. Twenty-five books, of the winners choice, of any books published by PrepperPress.com (a $270 value),
  8. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  9. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  10. Safecastle is providing a package of 10 LifeStraws (a $200 value)

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A $245 gift certificate from custom knifemaker 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. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit,
  8. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value), and
  9. 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 61 ends on November 30th, 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.

Our Family’s Journey to Preparing For an Extended Grid Down Event- Part 2, by Old Man

Katrina was one of those life-changing moments, when we awoke and realized how unprepared we really were. Katrina caused us to completely overhaul and step up our prepping. We changed many things, but for purposes of this article I will focus on the power aspects.

We began to ask ourselves what would we do if we had no power for weeks. We answered that question by taking an inventory of everything electrical in the house. Due to the work we previously did with reducing our electrical usage, we had a complete inventory. Additionally, as an unanticipated benefit, we had already optimized our electrical needs to the minimum. From that inventory we came up with a list and then decided how we were going to mitigate the loss of power. Here is what we came up with. Your milage may very.

Cooking: Our range is electric and not practical to power from a generator. While technically possible, there are better solutions. We opted to purchase a propane grill. This allows us to use it during the summer for backyard BBQs, as well as use it during power failures for cooking and heating water. As a backup, we have a supply of wood and pellets we can burn in our fireplace for cooking.

Heating: Our HVAC is electric/natural gas. As long as the natural gas is working, the electrical portion can be run from the generator. We incorporated the electrical circuit into the transfer switch previously installed. As a backup, we have a supply of wood and pellets we can burn in our fireplace.

Cooling: This is not really an issue. We have small, battery-powered, personal fans. In a worst case situation, we can just take a dip in the swimming pool.

Lighting: We decided that we would use portable, battery-powered LED lanterns and flashlights for lighting. We purchased a quantity that all run on AA batteries. We chose this route additionally as part of our light management strategy.

Refrigeration: We decided to add the refrigerator to the existing transfer switch. Our plan is to run the generator periodically to keep the refrigerator cold. We would then prioritize using the food from the refrigerator, then the freezer, then the pantry, and then finally from the larder.

Water: We are on city water, so we are in a tight spot. It’s lots of bottled water and water storage for us with the swimming pool as backup for washing, toilets, et cetera. I did install a separate transfer switch for the pool pump, so we can circulate the water using the generator.

Sanitation: We are on city sewer, so again we are in a tight spot. We can use pool water for toilets, and we have a camping portable toilet for backup.

Communications: Our main phone is a traditional landline phone. Our everyday handsets are cordless, so we keep a traditional 2500 style phone to plug-in, in the event of a power failure. For TV, we have a 12-volt TV that we can bring in from the RV and run from a jump pack with rabbit ears. Everything else, including radios, cell phones, et cetera can be run from rechargeable batteries and recharged from the 12-volt power system. (I have more on that in a moment.) For Internet, we power the DSL modem using the generator. We also have Internet via our cell phones.

Summary

For 120-volt systems, it really came down to needing to run the refrigerator/freezer (until the food is used up), the heater portion of the HVAC (only during winter), occasional Internet access, and occasionally charging batteries (when solar is overwhelmed). The generator could easily handle this and only needs to be run for a couple of hours a day. I ordered a tri-fuel conversion kit for our generator from U.S. Carburetion. This allows us to run the generator from natural gas, propane, or gas. Based on our usage, I set up a schedule to run the generator a couple of hours a day, and we have enough propane stored to get us through 60 days without power.

For 12-volt systems, it really came down to charging batteries/devices and running the Ham shack. What I eventually came up with is a completely solar powered design. I started with 500 watts of 12-volt solar panels, which is fed to a charge controller in the garage. The charge controller is connected to 210 amp hours of 12-volt glass matt batteries. The batteries are then connected to a 12-volt distribution system, where I have installed 12-volt powerpole outlets throughout the house (http://www. powerwerx.com). This forms the basis of our home 12-volt system. This system supports a continuous draw of 1 amp 24/7. This is sufficient to run our family’s repeater 24×7. It also supports the occasional running of various Ham radios. The system also is used to charge our various gadgets (phones, iPods, iPads, HT’s, et cetera). The system also has the capacity to charge various batteries using a collection of battery trays. I have two favorites– a Tenergy TN160 12 slot charger, and an Energizer CHFC2 8 slot charger. These come with AC adapters with 12-volt outputs; however, I made 12-volt powerpole cables so I can use these trays directly with the 12-volt house system. We now use the 12-volt system for our everyday living, and the best part is it is completely solar powered. Since this part of our life is already off grid, in the event of a prolonged power failure we would only need to supplement our power with the generator as mentioned above, for a couple of hours a day.

That brings us to where we are today. I have applied the learnings from this journey to our RV and retreat as well with similar success. The following are some tips gleaned from our experiences:

  • Not all utility companies are created equal.
  • Don’t assume that because the electrical grid has worked reliably for years that it will continue to do so.
  • Don’t wait for a crisis to go generator shopping.
  • Inventory your existing power use, look for opportunities to reduce usage, and know what is critical to have during grid down.
  • Don’t try to power everything with a generator. Be selective. The benefit is reduced expense in genset sizing and reduced fuel storage requirements.
  • Use solar power for battery/gadget charging.
  • Having a battery as part of the solar charging solution is important for cell phones, as you tend to come home and charge the phones overnight when there is no sun.
  • When charging battery trays, do so during the day. The excess power from the solar panels can charge the trays without depleting any power from the main batteries. Charging battery trays at night depletes power from the main battery bank and it may take a couple of days for the system to recover and come back to 100%.
  • I used an app from the Apple app store called “Boat Battery” to assist in my solar calculations.

In closing I wanted to share some professional “learnings” from Katrina.

Prior to Katrina, the SOP for data center disaster recovery was to perform regular backups of key systems, then store those backups in a secure offsite location. Then in the event that the data center was obliterated off the face of the earth, you had a contract with a DR company that would stand up a predefined list of hardware in their datacenter, retrieve your backups, and restore the backups to the new hardware. In a relativity short period of time, you would be back up and on the air again.

Then Katrina happened, and when it did it exposed a fatal flaw in that SOP. The SOP had been designed with the needs of a single company in mind. The idea was that if company XYZ lost a datacenter they would call up the DR company and execute their DR plan. The issue with Katrina was that it impacted such a large geographic area that it impacted numerous companies at the same time, taking out numerous data centers. These companies all had contracts with the same DR company it turned out, so when they all called the DR company, the DR company quickly ran out of hardware. So the end result was this:

The first companies to call the DR company got their hardware, then very quickly the biggest clients of the DR company got dibs on the remaining hardware. Everybody else got placed on a waiting list for equipment. With the just-in-time delivery model, it literally took months to get hardware and for systems to come back up, though it was expected to be just hours or days. So many companies got blindsided by this.

After Katrina, companies began to consume all available data center capacity as they began to build out their own DR facilities. This created other issues….

The moral to this story is always have a backup plan to your backup plan. Cheers.

Three Letters Re: An Alternative to Calcium Hypochlorite, by TLS

HJL,

Great article on the Pentair Intellichlor. A couple of things I gleaned from the Amazon listing attached to the article:

“…I’ve been told the power unit is simply a fancy transformer that reduces the voltage from 120V down to 12V…”

So, perhaps the unit can be run, grid-down, without the need for an (energy consuming) inverter? (directly from a battery bank?) And:

“It won’t generate chlorine if the water temperature is too cold. The water temp needs to be at least 52 degrees.”

Good to be aware of this limiting factor. – Best, P.R.

o o o

Hugh,

We all thought we’d hit a home run by storing up pool shock. Now my mind leans toward getting my prep team involved in building a 12V powered, portable “chlorinated solution generator” using one of the smaller IntelliChlor cells. What a barter resource. – DD in CO

o o o

Hugh,

A quick tip regarding the comment on stocking salt. Morton pool salt used for salt water swimming pools is 100% NaCl. I called them regarding its potential use for human consumption, and they replied that it is not approved by the FDA but it is pure. The pool salt sells in 50 pound bags for about $5. I can’t speak for any other brand.

Also, regarding the article “Obsoleting Sodium Hypochlorite”: This is an insightful and honest article on what seems to be a good product. One thing to add regarding your warning about cryptosporidium (warning 3): sunlight breaks down sodium hypochlorite (Editors note: Actually, UV radiation rapidly converts the free chlorine, which does the work of sanitization, into chloride, which is useless). If you are going to drink the water immediately, this is not a problem, and in fact, it may be a benefit. However, if the water will be stored at all, maintaining the recommended 1 ppm will likely require another addition after sun exposure.