Obama blocks Iraqi nun from describing Christian persecution. – T.R.
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CDC Report: 35,369 Vehicle Accident Deaths, 505 Gun Accident Deaths. – JBG
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Environmentalists to Plunge Manhattan into Darkness to Protect Mating Frogs. – T.P.
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Up to 400K Children Born To Illegal Immigrants in U.S. Annually, One In 10 Births. – B.B
“And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.” Luke 11:1-4 (KJV)
On May 2, 1945, the Soviet Union announced the fall of Berlin and the Allies announced the surrender of Nazi troops in Italy and parts of Austria.
Welcome to SurvivalBlog’s Precious Metals Month in Review, where we take a look at “the month that was” in precious metals. Each month, we cover the price action of gold, and examine the “what” and “why” behind those numbers.
April was an up-and-down month for just about every asset class, and gold was no exception. After big boosts in the first part of the month to briefly touch the $1,220 mark, gold bounced in a tight range on either side of $1,200. After ending the week at a three-week low on the 24th, it came roaring back the next Monday to gain over $20, and built upon that. First quarter GDP showed that the U.S. Economy only grew at 0.2% from January through March, causing stock markets and the dollar to fall, and gold to hold on to gains. This was reversed at the end of the month when first-time jobless claims dropped to the lowest level since the peak of the dot-com boom in 2000.
One driver for oil prices, and to a lesser extent gold prices, has been the expanding conflict between Iran on one hand, and Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf oil kingdoms on the other. The ayatollahs of Shiite Iran have filled the power vacuum in Iraq after the U.S. military left, and are supporting the Shiite government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. This forms a “Shiite Crescent” between the Sunni oil kingdoms on the Arabian peninsula and markets in Europe.
For its part, Saudi Arabia has been the major financier of Sunni rebel groups in Syria, including Al Queda and ISIS, and is fighting Iran to determine who will be the major Muslim power in the region. However, like the mad scientist bent on ruling the world who sees his creation turn against him, Saudi Arabia is now dealing with the very real threat from ISIS to its own existence.
The Sunni vs Shiite regional conflict took a new turn when a Saudi-led Arab coalition began bombing rebel positions in Yemen. The Shiite Houthi rebels had seized power, chasing the Yemeni president to Saudi Arabia for asylum. The Saudis accuse Iran of funding the Houthis, in an attempt to encircle them with hostile regimes. The situation in Yemen is complicated by Al Queda in the Arabian Peninsula and ISIS (both of whom are financed by Gulf oil kingdoms) fighting both the Yemeni government and the Houthi.
The U.S., which had been operating in conjunction with the now-overthrown Yemeni government to conduct drone strikes against Al Queda, sent an aircraft carrier to block an Iranian merchant ship convoy that was taking aid to the rebels. Later, the Iranians attempted to send a cargo plane to the Yemen capital, but Saudi Arabian fighter jets bombed the runway as the plane was on final approach.
While Saudi Arabia may be thwarting Iran in Yemen, the Persians have scored some victories of their own. Using the successful framework agreement between Iran and the major nuclear powers regarding Iran’s nuclear program as cover, Russia has agreed to send advanced S-300 anti-air missiles to Iran. These mobile anti-air systems would make any Israeli or U.S. airstrikes against Iranian nuclear facilities difficult, if not impossible. Russia, who was a major trading partner with Iran before international sanctions were imposed, is eager to beat Western oil companies to the punch for when sanctions are lifted. These missiles may also change the dynamic of the negotiations themselves, as it reduces the threat to Iran of Western attacks if an agreement isn’t reached.
Money printing by the European Central Bank is helping EU stock markets, but the inability of Greece’s new leftist government to come to an agreement with its creditors over receiving additional bailout money is weighing on the markets (and increasing gold demand among Greeks, who fear government seizure of their bank deposits.) The Syriza party in Greece, who won January’s elections, want to maintain and even expand the nation’s welfare state, and refuses to privatize state-owned industries.
Warren Buffet replies that maybe Greece leaving the EU would be an object lesson, showing that debtor nations need to get their act together and not depend on living off the taxpayers of other nations perpetually. Portugal, who went through the same tough bailout terms as Greece and is actually repaying bailout loans early, has urged Athens to take its medicine, reduce waste and corruption, and get its economy back on track. But the abrasiveness of the college professor who is now Greece’s finance minister has alienated his counterparts in the rest of the EU, to the point where he was told to his face what they thought of his threats and lack of any real plans. This led the Greek prime minister to pull him from direct negotiations in an attempt to get a deal done before the government defaults.
The national government in Greece has resorted to seizing the cash of local governments in an attempt to cover welfare, government salaries, and debt payments, after draining the state-owned businesses of cash. The Central Union of Municipalities and Communities of Greece vehemently opposes Athens seizing the money of towns that have managed to stay solvent (translated from Greek.)
Greece right now is surviving on emergency liquidity assistance that the European Central Bank has been doling out to private Greek banks, leading the German finance minister to call Greece a “bottomless pit.” The ECB, realizing that the Greek government is using these funds to play for time against the EU in bailout negotiations, has been which will allow the collapse of the Greek banking sector.
Despite the assurances of EU governments that a Greek default and exit from the Eurozone can be “contained,” analysts expect a rush into gold by people looking to protect their money from bank failures or government seizures should the worst happen.
Big currency brokerages have adopted voluntary, unenforceable guidelines for behavior, saying “everything’s fixed now, there’s no need for government regulation of currency markets.” But James Rickards says “Until you start actually arresting people, putting some CEOs in jail, you’re not addressing the cultural issues that are at the heart of this.”
This “promise to behave, you don’t need to watch us” comes as the Justice Department goes after a criminal felony plea from Citigroup’s U.S. currency operations, which would destroy 70% of the Too Big To Fail bank’s revenue. In related news, Deutsche Bank paid a $2.5 BILLION fine for manipulation of the LIBOR rate. If they were willing to pay that much to stop a criminal probe, one wonders how much money they made.
Some precious metals analysts are suspecting that Citibank recently manipulated gold prices downward during negotiations with Venezuela’s central bank for a $1 billion gold swap deal. Gold hit a five-week low the day the deal was inked, then jumped $24 an ounce.
More and more people are taking their money and running away from the stock market, as prices keep climbing. Investors are bailing on stocks at a rate not seen since the height of the financial crisis in 2009. Check out this chart showing the drop in liquidity. Ronald Reagan’s budget director, David Stockman agrees, calling this the most leveraged stock market in history.
He isn’t alone in this assessment. Mohamed El-Erian, one of the biggest names in Wall St, has pulled almost completely out of the stock and bond markets, saying they’re too expensive.
Gold imports in India more than doubled in March to 125 tonnes from a year ago.
The Hindu festival of Akshaya Tritiya – considered by many in India to be an auspicious time to invest in gold – was celebrated on April 21 this year, with one major jewelry retailer recording a 30% jump in gold sales compared to last year’s festival.
Australia’s Perth Mint, a major player in the bullion markets, announced multi-month highs for sales in the first quarter.
A daring armed heist in Mexico against a McEwen gold mine saw $8.5 million in gold concentrate trucked away. The company’s CEO expressed confusion over the robbery, noting that the company had an understanding with the local cartels.
Russia purchased 1 million ounces of gold last month, as it continues stocking up. It isn’t just Putin’s government buying up the yellow metal. The margin requirements for paper gold contracts in Russia have almost doubled, as more and more people pile into the market.
The other Big Red Nation, China, is set to break gold import records for the first quarter.
Back in India, the government is trying to convince Hindu temples to lease out some of the billions of dollars worth of gold that have accumulated in their vaults over the last few centuries. Seeing as how that would probably require the temple offerings to be melted down, and the temples would not receive the same physical pieces of gold when the lease was over, there is a growing opposition to the measure. How would you react if your church said it was going to melt down the gold cross your grandfather donated, in order to make money off of leasing it?
One large jewelry corporation in India is looking to secure its supply chain by buying entire gold mines.
The day before this month’s horrible GDP report, someone put a huge $6 million bet on a spike in gold prices by mid-June. Guess this is one time we’re rooting for the speculators.
The governor of Arizona vetoed a bill that would make gold legal tender, citing concerns that the state would no longer be able to collect sales tax on gold transactions. The Texas legislature has stepped up to the plate, with its own bill introduced that would make gold and silver legal tender in the Lone Star State.
Casey Research notes that gold has been up in almost every currency except the dollar this year, and the fact that it was able to advance in the face of a huge dollar rally bodes well for the yellow metal. “At $1,200/oz, gold is quite reasonable considering all the black swans flying overhead. As we often stress, owning physical gold for wealth preservation is a must in our fiat-currency world.”
Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers says the US has lost its role as economic superpower with the world’s embrace of China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
Ned Schmidt says that gold is at its cheapest point relative to stocks since 2007, and expects it to snap much higher. Gold prices more than doubled between 2007 and 2011, before the current correction began.
The big question everyone is asking this week is, “Why has JP Morgan increased its physical silver holdings by 11 times to 55 million oz?”
Doug Casey says, “I think what’s going to happen is that the world, not soon, but in the next generation, is going to go back to using gold as money.”
Are the Central Banks about to get blind-sided by a spike in inflation? Crude oil-fueled deflationary fears are subsiding, with oil up 40% in three months. Recovering crude prices will combine with central bank stimulus and money printing to cause a sudden spike in inflation, and force governments to cut spending and social benefits as the costs of borrowing climb.
A very contentious national election in Britain is scheduled for May 7, which could lead to a major crisis in UK and European financial markets that would doubtlessly spread world-wide. What would happen if Greece AND Britain leave the EU at about the same time?
We end this month with a question: Which would you rather have, 8 ounces of 24K gold, or an Apple Watch?
– Steven Cochran is the Content Manager/Editor for Gainsville Coins
I’m going to say a few things about this book that I found while reading a few online blogs on a few survival-related websites. I found this book on readfomag.com and ordered it directly from them for about $70. I don’t get anything in return for posting this, and I am happy with the purchase.
This book encompasses a reality for me. You don’t know what you just don’t know. Sure, I was in the military, and I know how to hike and camp and shoot a gun. While I have some military experience, the author of this book was a highly-trained Army Ranger and then Special Forces operator who actually had experiences in war zones. Surviving in war zones and prepping or learning about survival generally aren’t on the same spectrum for most preppers. Here is what happens: we generally buy more stuff and don’t worry too much about skills.
What this book documents is what you need to be a survivor as a working militia member, prepper, or war fighter in general. I’ll summarize the basics I’ve gleaned from reading it.
He covers physical training, being strong and fit, and how that relates to not having a heart attack on your way to whatever is happening. It’s a seriously big issue.
In a critical look at most people I know who are preppers, the self check-off list almost never starts with being fit. It starts with acquiring more stuff rather than what you as an individual can actually do. Can you run five miles? How about hike 10? Do you actually know your limits, or just what do you think you can do?
The author gives some examples of how to get fit using cross fit and weight lifting, and he has some systems listed along with everything he does; he suggests further reading on this subject matter from other expert leaders in the field. From reading this information, I’ve changed my personal fitness beliefs and found a new belief. I believe there is going to be a lot of nice, almost new, hardly used stuff laying around when bad things happen. (Because some people won’t get off of the couch that’s in front of the TV.) That is a fact. JM says, “Stronger people are harder to kill.”
He covers tactics on unarmed and armed fighting, weapons, keys to engaging targets, how to shoot fast, getting your jammed weapon cleared, combat reloads, tactical reloads, as well as some of the detailed info about running battle drills and sighting in your battle rifle. That “how-to’ knowledge is something I’ve yet to find anywhere else. You can buy army manuals, but they don’t cover all the details. He explains some of the info in acronyms, like point of impact (where your shot lands) vs point of aim– POI vs POA. It would have been cool to get all the acronyms in the front of the book. Being military, I get it, but some of the non-military people wanting to pick up this info might need a notebook to take notes. This book is loaded with info. Paging back through my copy, every page in this book has a scribble of a good idea or some key fact I wanted to highlight, plus I highlighted parts and underlined other parts that I found key.
He covers medical training– TCCC tactical combat causality care– which is something that until reading this book I’ve never heard of. Everyone buys a few medical items while prepping just in case you get cut, burned, or sick, but he covers in-depth ideas about using a CAT-T tourniquet. Again, the fact that guys will drop big bucks on stocking up on guns and ammo but won’t buy an IFAK is a problem. He breaks down lists of what should be in there and how to use the items. Fish antibiotics and use of the right pain reliever are also mentioned in depth as well as carrying a shot buddy and self and buddy care.
There is only one negative on the book. Some of the pictures in the book are from other open sources, while some pictures being re-sized have created issues with blank pages.
One place in the book has a few pictures actually covering the text (needle decompression on page 150). I would say it’s the one place in the book some of the good info is lost, but I’d seriously recommend hands-on real life training before attempting to do more advanced first aid like needle decompression anyhow. Being personally weak in this area, even though I’m CPR/first aid/military first aid trained, I’ve ordered a DVD unrelated to his book that teaches TCCC. If you get an IFAK, you should understand everything in that lifesaving kit.
From chapter 6 and 7, it’s small unit tactics and training from an operator’s point of view. This includes how to move and shoot, land navigation, contact/action drills, searching captured, dead enemy actions, patrolling/defending, and hasty attack/ambush drills. Yeah, shoot him in the face.
Chapter 8 is the guide to fighting in the darkness. It talks about how to deal with the disadvantages and advantages given under the cover of night. Here he mentioned formations and what works and what doesn’t, including going against bad guys with expensive gear.
Chapter 9 is about defending your place, having escape and rally points, and it includes info on belonging to a group survival vs staying in your home and waiting for them to come to you. By then it’s too late. It includes defense by using offense and ideas in that line.
Chapter 10 is hide and seek for adults. It’s escaping and evading a superior force and covers the 7 P’s of training.
Chapter 11 is about planning an operation from start to finish (more sergeant stuff). Basically, it’s understanding why you are doing what you are doing, and from start to finish a plan of action be it a “conduct a security patrol” to ”surveillance of an enemy base”. Being a leader, you have to know what happens when that plan goes wrong. You have to know what you and your team have and how they will either complete the job or fail. He works along a lot of lines about understanding your strengths and understanding the enemy’s weaknesses and abilities in order to keep you and your people alive.
That leaves me where I am, in the Appendix, reading the blog excerpts level 1, level 2, and level 3 of gear. From what I’ve read, oh, I’ll be re-reading it and taking better notes. What I said in the start of this report that “what you don’t know you just don’t know” is true. This book over almost everything else I’ve read (and I’ve read a ton of wilderness survival and first aid kind of books, including the stuff from that web site with rook) and nothing is really close to this book, its knowledge, and JM’s experience.
There are a few short comings related to layout, pictures, and some issues with blank pages (due to the pictures). One thing I wish JM would have done is aside from putting some links to experts (like every chapter), he could put some trusted sources of gear in there (and to be fair he mentions some companies who manufacture great gear. Very few stores have these specialized items on the shelves, and specialized means expensive. Having an acronym list would be helpful to people reading this that weren’t in the military, too.
JM totally went through a very descriptive appendix with explanations of going from ALICE to MOLLE gear and its advances along with what works best, in his opinion. (These were blog posts.) I’d love a list of basic gear, as these loadouts worked pretty well for this guy, but again it’s not the stuff you have around you but what you do with it that matters. (Again, where is the best place to get the items he listed? That is the question! Going and dropping cash like the government plowing through tax dollars isn’t viable.)
It’s a more than worthy book. I’d even say this is in my top three books. I’m looking forward to ordering vol2. I’ll be back in to it taking notes and using his experiences in my life to make life better. I don’t think I can give it a higher rating than that.
To recap, I think I’ve been enlightened from this book. If you’re weak in an area, seek hands-on instruction from a competent expert instructor. If you want to lift more and get strong, talk to a good personal trainer. Want to be a lifesaver? Get a doctor who can help you learn those skills. Want to survive uncertain times? Find a guy who has survived war zones and learn from his skills. It’s an outstanding book. I hope a DVD for the arms training might be coming out in the future.
Fitzy in Pa.
We Used to Shoot Looters – Now we give them “space.” – T.P.
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Happy May Day! Communism Killed 94 Million In The 20th Century . G.S.
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The Threat to Melt the Electric Grid. – G.G. (Site requires subscription)
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For those who like the 1911 platform – The .45 caliber pistol. Still in the running for a brand new military contract.. – T.P.
“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, that they separate themselves from the holy things of the children of Israel, and that they profane not my holy name in those things which they hallow unto me: I am the Lord.” Leviticus 22:1-2 (KJV)
May 1st is the birthday of the late Joel Rosenberg, a Canadian-born novelist and gun rights advocate (born 1954, died June 2, 2011). He is not to be confused with Joel C. Rosenberg (born 1967), who is another great novelist and the author of The Last Jihad series.
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Today, we present another entry for Round 58 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $12,000+ worth of prizes for this round include:
First Prize:
Second Prize:
Third Prize:
Round 58 ends on May 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.
Do you recall the frog in that joke about how you boil a frog and the answer is by slowly turning up the heat? It’s done that way because he doesn’t notice the heat until it’s too late to jump. Let me tell you the story of how that frog joke relates to me.
The second ice storm hit a few days ago– two days after the first one. The first one was a pretty inconvenience. Schools were closed for the day; we had a day off work; the freezing rain, which coated the branches and power lines, shone like diamond lace in a warming morning sun. People cheerfully went outside to enjoy the wonderful world of ice, sliding gracefully on large patches of ice on the traffic-less roads and taking pictures of the shining canopy of ice hanging delicately in the trees. People took pictures to show those who would not believe the ethereal world we enjoyed that morning. By afternoon, it had melted in the mid-January thaw.
The second storm shrink-wrapped our world in layers and layers of thick, heavy freezing rain. Three inches of ice sat on top of the stop sign on the corner, not the 4×4 post that the sign was attached to but the actual 1/8 of an inch wide sign. This ice destroyed stuff. It tore down power lines and crushed and twisted the towers like cheap beer cans. It ripped foot-thick branches from the biggest trees and bent the smaller ones down into the streets like a bow. It caved in the roofs of garages, sheds, and many older homes that couldn’t take the weight. The roads that were not blocked were worse than skating rinks. Cars, trucks, and vans filled the ditches on both sides. People grimly surveyed their surroundings and took pictures to show the insurance company.
The second ice storm left much of eastern Canada– an area as big as from Chicago to New York and Detroit to Atlanta– sealed, cut off, and vulnerable. Then, it got cold, and people got scared.
We had the hobby farm and were lucky enough to be at it when the second storm hit. We left the city after the first storm, because Sue wanted pictures of the forested hill behind the house, “It will be spectacular– a crystal forest!”
Waking up to our rooster crowing before dawn on the morning after the second storm, I didn’t know what time it was. The clock radio was out.
“The power is off.”
“It’ll come back on soon,” Sue’s voice was muffled by the blankets she was curled-up in. “Is the heat on? It’s cold in here.”
“Nope. The power’s out.”
“Hummpphhh. Can you pass me my socks?”
I was looking out of the window. We had no electrical power. No one did. It was dark outside. There was black, everywhere. No lights at all. It wasn’t that we had no power. It was that there was no power anywhere to be had. I fumbled around for the flashlight, looking in the drawer, the shelf, the closet, stubbing my toe, and finally found it– a lantern-style that cast a pale glow a whole four feet. It was better than nothing.
Under that weak light, I got a fire going. We had the wood stove– a big Vermont Castings Defiant—85,000 BTUs, with a cook-top and a glass door that allowed firelight to brighten the room. A checklist was beginning to form in my mind. We had twenty cords of kindling and firewood, two good axes, a hatchet, and a couple of buck saws. Heat was not a problem. Coffee would be good, though. Water…. Oh, well, guess they’ll be no coffee.
I went to the barn with our two Akitas and slipped and fell on my way there on the ice. I hurt my shoulder but not too bad and made a mental note to spread de-icer and sand on the pathways.
The animals were fine. It was warm in the manger. We had a small herd consisting of cows, pigs, sheep, and horses as well as a flock of chickens and turkeys. I fed our herd but kept them in the barn. I didn’t want them slipping on the ice.
Walking back to the house, I saw the firelight through the windows. It was nice. While spreading de-icer and sand, I worked on the rest of my checklist: a freezer and cold-room full of food, pots and pans, buckets, extra gas and diesel, the generator, the old sleigh and dog-sled to travel, and so on.
I entered the woodshed and could smell that Sue was cooking bacon and eggs. I fed the dogs. They looked at their kibble and then sniffed the bacon, giving me an accusatory look. Sue had the generator going. We had water and some power. Coffee! I was very pleased and said, “Good wife.” She laughed but still threatened me with her paring knife. We were fine; we had nothing to worry about.
The kids bounded downstairs and joined in the fun of adding wood to the fire, cooking on the woodstove, and eating a good breakfast. “It’s like camping,” said our oldest, Morgan. We listened to the solar, dynamo radio and received reports of widespread damage, lots of injuries, roads closed, power lines toppled, no electrical power, phones out, suggestions to wear warm clothing, use candles, crack a window, stay indoors, and so on.
“Dad, how long will this last?” our daughter Sheila asked.
“Shouldn’t be more than a couple of days.”
“Do you really think so? The guy on the radio said the power system was down and destroyed.”
“Well, don’t worry we’ll be okay. We’ve got the wood stove and lots of wood, the generator and lots of fuel, and lots of food. We’ll be fine. It’ll be like in pioneer times, 100 years ago.”
“No Internet?”
“Not for a while.”
We got organized and fell into a routine of bringing in lots of firewood, having hot water and a soup or stew heating on the stove, hauling lots of water (using the dogsled to transport the buckets) to the barn for the animals, and monitoring the generator.
Other chores had to be done as well. We cut down the broken and bent tree branches around the house, barn, and sheds. We cleared the trees from the driveway so we could make it to the road and made minor repairs to the sleigh. (Fortunately, the harnesses were in very good shape.) Morgan and I worked outside all day.
Sue was in the house cooking and cleaning almost all of the time. Our daughter, Sheila, helped, because it was a two person job to prepare the food, cook the food, clean up after the meal, do the laundry, hang the clothes on the line, keep the fire going, and keep the generator going.
On the second day, the temperature dropped. Smoke rose in a single, thin line high into the sky from our chimney. Our neighbours were out checking on the folks nearby and sharing news about what was happening. It seemed everyone in our neighborhood was okay. The neighborhood was full of fairly self-sufficient farmers who were adjusting fairly easily to mid-19th century living.
“It’s rough in the city though,” said Mark, an electrician who lived next door and looked after our farm during the week. “Radio says that many people are suffering from the cold and have no food.” His wife, Karen, said her sister and her family were coming out to stay with them when the roads were safe. Sue said that we were in pretty good shape and, “if you need anything, just holler.” Since the phones were out, we all chuckled at that.
John and Carol from across the road were having trouble with their generator– a Coleman Powermate made in Kearny, Nebraska. It’s a good machine but not made for our weather; it was too cold for it. Mark and I walked over to see what we could do to help out. We managed to figure out a way to keep the generator going and adapted the fuel line to draw from a larger container of fuel so it would run for more than an hour. Mark wired their panel so they could run some things. “The furnace would be good,” shouted a parka-wearing Carol from the kitchen. We all got together that afternoon for an early dinner. We ate chile, homemade bread, and canned pears with fresh whole milk. We listened to the radio and talked about how this situation might become a problem for many who were not prepared.
By the third day we heard vehicles– 4x4s with good clearance and big snow tires– on the road. We carefully drove the five miles into the town near our farm, staring at the vehicles in the ditches that were shrouded in ice. We stopped counting at 20. Stores and gas stations were closed; there was no power. Banks had hand-printed signs in their windows saying they were closed but that a toll-free customer service number was available. In response, someone had taped up their own sign, which read “The ****ing phones are out!!” We parked at the bank and walked around to see what was going on.
People were out walking around, clustering together, anxiously talking about what was happening. Rumours filled the air about how things were in the city. They’d heard that people were hungry and cold, most streets were too dangerous to travel on because of the ice or downed trees; there had been break-ins and some looting; and the cops were out in full force but had extreme difficulty moving around with the roads being impassable. We turned and went back to our vehicle. As we drove out of town, people turned to stare at our truck, amazed and a little jealous that we could move around so easily.
The fourth and fifth days we stayed at the farm, not by choice. We all had to work, all of us, all day long, just to eat, drink, and get the chores done. Living this way was hard work and very tiring. We were all eating a lot. Sue and Sheila could barely keep up. Karen’s sister Wendy had arrived with her husband Peter and family. They had nothing, and since Karen and Mark didn’t have enough food stored away we were feeding them as well. I checked our freezer, cold room, and pantry. Worried, I walked to the barn, got a salt block, and carried it up to the forested hill behind out house, near the cedars and orchard, where the deer came to feed.
The sixth day we went back into town. The ditches were still full of vehicles. The stores were still closed, and the gas stations had signs up that read “NO GAS!!” The pumps were smashed. Morgan said it was a bat or sledgehammer. Sheila said it was a person. Both were right. The bank was closed, but a window had been smashed. It was wide open but still closed, observed Sheila.
Someone ran up to us saying, “Hey, can you drive us to the city?” “A hundred bucks!” they added hopefully. I shook my head and said I didn’t have the fuel. “At least you have a truck.” It sounded like an accusation and a little like a threat, but I thought it was the rueful comment of a cold, tired, and hungry guy. Still though, for some reason, I drove south out of town rather than north, where our farm is. Sheila said, “This is smart, Dad. They won’t know where we live.”
That night, our dogs barked, and it is rare for an Akita to bark unless there is some real reason. I went downstairs, half-asleep. The barking stopped. In the sheer quiet, I woke up. Hearing a growl and a scream, I ran down the stairs, grabbing the hatchet by the woodstove.
Our dogs were standing, fully bristled, out past the woodshed near the driveway. A flat-bed pickup was skewering down our icy laneway, and a guy in the flatbed was holding on for his life.
It took me a moment to realize that I couldn’t hear the generator. I looked around frantically, flipping the outside light switch on out of habit. I saw the generator in the laneway on its side, but it seemed fine. The chain had been cut, and there was some torn denim nearby. The denim had a Levis’ tag on it. It seems one or both dogs bit the guy in the butt as he was making off with our generator! As I laughed, I shrugged this off as a desperate but foolhardy act.
The next day, we had no choice. We needed supplies and had to go into the city. Morgan, Kiko, and I went into the city. We made several stops, buying groceries, camping supplies, fuel, and other items. Heading back out of the city, we went to a Home Depot to buy hand tools. Driving in we noticed a mob out front. A transport truck had delivered generators, and people were buying them right off the truck. As we slowed to park, we could hear a store manager using a loudspeaker and pitifully explaining that the truck brought only 45 generators. Hundreds of people were there, and they became enraged. Two cops were there as a precaution, but they could not stop the mob.
People who bought a generator could not get out of the mob. Desperate men were offering two and three times the retail price to those lucky enough to have bought a generator. Others were threatening those who had a generator. Fights broke out; men fell to the ground, bleeding, limp, and silent. Groups of men engaged each other in a melee. Both cops fell to the ground.
I tried to drive the truck around the mob. A small group of men saw our fully-loaded truck and surrounded us. They carried baseball bats; one had a knife; one had an axe.
While Kiko growled, I could hear my son’s thin voice ask, “Dad, what do we do?”
This is what that frog must feel like. Since the second storm we had had a hard but fairly comfortable lifestyle on our little farm. The small warning signs were not heeded; they were ignored as pitiable acts by a few lunatics. This danger was so immediate and real it shocked me like a touch of frozen iron.
The men wanted our gear and were reaching for it. I yelled to get away from the truck! The clubs rose and fell denting our truck. The man in front lifted his axe. I did not stop the truck. I held my son’s head down and drove my Ram 2500 4×4 with a fender high bush bar right at him. He swung the axe clanging off the bush bar. He was hit and spun to the ground. One guy held onto the box of the truck. I hit the brakes and then spun the wheel while accelerating wildly. We shook him off and got out of Dodge.
Mark, John, Peter, and I talked about this long into the night. Peter, who had had pavement under his feet his whole life, couldn’t believe it. He kept saying, “Civilization is not over!” Mark, John, and I thought differently, and we acted.
The fallen trees made a convenient barricade that had the advantage of being fully camouflaged. From the road, all of our laneways curved up to our homes through stands of hardwoods and cedars. We dragged the broken trees into our lanes, making an effective screen in every sense of the word.
We traveled by foot, skis, dog-sleds, or sleigh over the fields in the waning light of dawn and dusk. Our newly-formed paths could not be seen from the road, but we still had to be careful. We could not do without fires or generators, which caused a major problem– we could be seen from a distance. Our house was the biggest and with the most food and fuel, so we all decided to move into it. It was crowded but more efficient and safer.
We moved the usable supplies from the other places and then checked on them daily. The tree barricades worked, thankfully. No new tracks were in the laneways. We kept watch; someone was always awake and alert. We patrolled day and night with the dogs, baby monitors for communication, and the one shotgun we had. (We kept the rifle in the kitchen.) Canadian gun control laws were no longer seen as a blessing. We took shifts, and even Peter recognized the need for security. Six days after our reorganization, Mark heard trucks coming down the road. The baby monitor crackled a warning, and Sue yelled out to John, Peter, myself, and our boys. We all grabbed our gear and went to the barricade.
Sounds travel a long way when it is so quiet and so cold. We waited and listened to the trucks approaching. We heard them slow down as they passed Mark and Karen’s and then again at John and Carol’s. They stopped at our laneway. There was silence for a moment, and then we heard a guy yell, “I’m telling you, this is the place! I saw him in town a few days ago in his truck.” The trucks proceeded up the laneway.
They pulled apart our barricade.
Peter whispered, “Maybe they just want supplies.”
“Maybe,” said Mark.
The trucks came up the laneway. We had chopped two troughs in the laneway. Into each trough we placed a long log sawn in half lengthwise. The log ran from treeline to treeline. We poured water along the logs’ sides to freeze them into place. We placed the vertical sides facing each other with the round sides facing up and down the laneway. To get in or out, we could simply place another log, sawn in half lengthwise, beside these anchored logs, and the vehicle could drive over the wooden speed bump.
However, with the logs so placed, we created a space just long enough for a truck to get stuck between the 8” high vertical sides of these wooden curbs; the stuck truck couldn’t get up enough momentum on the icy surface to jump over the curb.
The first truck got stuck between the logs. Eight men poured from the trucks. I yelled out,
“You guys make fine targets.” They looked around but couldn’t see us for the trees.
The leader yelled back, “We don’t want any trouble. We need food.”
Mark looked at me, warning me. “We shot a deer yesterday. We’ll give you some meat. Get in your trucks and back down the laneway. Wait by the road. We’ll put it and your stuck truck by the hole you cleared out for us in those trees back there.”
“How will you get it out?”
Mark whispered, “They’re not so concerned about the food now!”
“You don’t need to worry about that. Just get in your trucks and get going.”
“You can’t stop us all.”
“No, but we can stop you. And you with the red hat. And you with the blue scarf. And the dogs will get you in the long coat.”
They left, grumbling. We put the venison in the truck and drove it down to the barricade. Mark was riding shotgun. The men were waiting by the road.
“Send one man up to get the truck.”
A small guy–the man who wanted a ride to the city–came up the lane. We melted into the trees. Looking around fearfully, he quickly jumped in the truck and drove away. They all left heading back towards town.
The next day– 13 days after the second storm– we heard several very large trucks coming down the road. We manned our hastily rebuilt barricade and saw a huge five ton monster of a truck coming up the laneway.
At the barricade, a burly young man, dressed all in white, got out of the truck and yelled, “Captain, should we pull this apart or cut through it? It looks man-made.” He turned towards the barricade. I saw the Maple Leaf on his shoulder. The army was here checking on us to make sure we were safe.
HJL,
I travel via motorcycle. I always carry a cheap $20 Cold Steel Kukhri. I’ve carried it in Mexico, Canada, and in several countries in southern Africa and South America. As it is seen around the world as a utility knife used by many of the locals, its presence has never been questioned. I carry the cheap one just in case it gets confiscated. Because weight is always an issue, I cut a hex hole in the blade that fits the big hex nut on my rear axle. Because of this I don’t need to carry another big heavy wrench just for that one big but important nut.
At one US-Canada border, they questioned my 3″ Spyderco pocketknife but not the Kukhri. – J.H.
Citibank Buys $1Billion in Gold From Venezuela. Maduro’s cash-strapped regime is so desperate for revenue that they’ve agreed to pawn 1.4 million ounces of gold, which amounts to $714 per ounce. – H.L.
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Items from Mr. Econocobas:
U.S. GDP Gained A Sluggish 0.2% In First Quarter 2015
US Homeownership Rate Drops To 1983 Levels: Here’s Why
America’s Student Debt Pain Threatening a Corner of Bond Market
Bird flu epidemic becoming critical. – B.B.
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NSA veteran chief fears crippling cyber-attack on Western energy infrastructure. – B.B.
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Hillary Equates Gun Owners With Terrorists, Says They Are “Prone to Violence.”. – D.S.
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A SurvivalBlog reader wrote in to tell us that there is a couple giving away their 20 acre goat farm in Alabama to the winner of an essay contest. Their intent is to move to Central America to assist missionaries in establishing goat farms there. There is a news story on it, too.
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You know how historical soft body armor succumbed to the historical crossbow, but how about their modern equivalents? 3 min. Video: Modern Crossbow vs. Level IIIA Body Armor Panel
“When you’ve crawled through the darkness, the light is so much more glorious.” ? Rita Stradling, The Lie Spinners
Today is the birthday of sci-fi novelist Larry Niven (born April 30, 1938). Along with Jerry Pournelle, he co-authored the survivalist classic Lucifer’s Hammer. April 30th is also the birthday of Ed Yourdon, who was born in 1944.
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Today, we present another entry for Round 58 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $12,000+ worth of prizes for this round include:
First Prize:
Second Prize:
Third Prize:
Round 58 ends on May 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.