Notes for Saturday – February 14, 2015

February 14 is the birthday of Medal of Honor recipient Jack Lucas (born 1928, died June 5, 2008). During the Iwo Jima campaign, this 17-year-old won the Medal of Honor for unhesitatingly hurling himself over his comrades upon one grenade and for pulling another one under himself. One of the grenades exploded, and Lucas absorbed the entire blasting force of it with his own body. PFC Lucas was the youngest Marine ever to receive the Medal of Honor. (He was just 13 when he forged his mother’s signature to enlist.)

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Our friends at the View From The Porch have reported that the BATF is about to classify the XM855 round as an armor piercing pistol round and force it’s removal from the market. You may want to stock up on such items. As of this writing, there seems to be plenty of stock, but you don’t want to get caught short handed.

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Don’t forget the Camping Survival’s Mountain House Sale, which ends today– February 14th. It would be a good time to replenish your stock!

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Today, we present another entry for Round 57 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $12,000+ worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course (a $1,195 value),
  2. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be 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,
  3. 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 then 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),
  4. Gun Mag Warehouse is providing 30 DPMS AR-15 .223/5.56 30 Round Gray Mil Spec w/ Magpul Follower Magazines (a value of $448) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt. (An equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions.),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  7. A Model 120 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a 340 value),
  8. A $300 gift certificate from Freeze Dry Guy,
  9. A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo,
  10. 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,
  11. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $300 gift certificate, and
  12. 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. Acorn Supplies is donating a Deluxe Food Storage Survival Kit with a retail value of $350,
  4. The Ark Instituteis donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package–enough for two families of four, 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,
  5. $300 worth of ammo from Patriot Firearms and Munitions. (They also offer a 10% discount for all SurvivalBlog readers with coupon code SVB10P),
  6. A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials,
  7. Twenty Five books, of the winners choice, of any books published by PrepperPress.com (a $270 value),
  8. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $150 gift certificate,
  9. Organized Prepper is providing a $500 gift certificate, and
  10. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. 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,
  3. *Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  6. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit,
  7. Montie Gear is donating a Y-Shot Slingshot and a Locking Rifle Rack (a $379 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 57 ends on March 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.

What I Learned From the Midwest Ice Storm of 2011, by J.M.

The three elements of nature that cause damage– sun, wind, and water. My bet is on the last one, especially the frozen kind. Preparing and acting upon it are two entirely different and opposite things.

The rain started in the middle of a Sunday afternoon, without much concern at first. Although the weather report at first said the possibility of ice was real, it would stay south, in Ohio.

Lesson #1: Nature is fickle, and even NOAA cannot always track the line between rain, snow, and ice. Predictive weather paths can give you a false sense of security, and margins of error are costly. Unfortunately, the prediction of a little bit of accumulation of ice turning to snow was wrong. It was all ice, at least for my area in Southeast Michigan, and we paid the price for the miscalculation.

All was well until dark. The warm upper atmosphere and the cold air clashed as it swepted out of the northwest. By the time I looked out the front door, two hours later after dusk, it was too late. Ice hanging like chandeliers had already formed on the trees and power lines in front of my house. A hundred-foot tall pine tree that had survived decades of inclement weather soon bore witness, the branches cracking and shaking to the ground in piles. I shut the door and told my wife that we had better fill the bathtub and water jugs with water for drinking and flushing the toilets.

Lesson #2: Don’t trust others when you are first responsible for yourself and family. Local authorities on a large-scale emergency are only reactionary and are little prepared themselves for a regional disaster.

Before I could fill the bathtub up halfway, the lights went out. I had backup power, so I had a false sense of security that I soon paid for. I looked out the back window to see the transformer located on a pole above my outdoor shed explode in a shower of sparks. It was the fourth of July, except it was February. Luckily, I had moved the wood pile and it wasn’t behind the shed, as the situation was only going to get worse from here.

I had a Bearcat scanner with fresh batteries, so I had the local catastrophe well monitored. Already the police, ambulance, and hospital were at duty, but I couldn’t keep up with all the 911 calls. I dwelled at that moment on taking a chance of going to Walmart for extra everything. I went outside and soon regretted taking that chance. I reached the car and realized the vehicle was covered with an inch of solid ice. Before I turned to get my utility bar to chip away at the mess, I found myself in mid-air grasping for the car door to help right myself. Instead of standing, I hit the asphalt; all 200-pounds of me was bouncing on the ice-covered driveway. I pulled my head forward, barely in time to prevent hitting my head flush thereby keeping consciousness. I couldn’t move. My back locked up, and the air in my lungs was gone. I couldn’t breathe. I heard no one come to the garage door to see what I was doing. The frozen ice had already covered my face. Finally, I started to breathe again. I couldn’t stand. I rolled slowly side to side, until I landed on my stomach. I crawled on my elbows up the driveway toward the garage doorway. I had full strength in my arms, but my lower legs were weak, leaving me unable to rise up. Those fifty feet felt like a mile. By the time I crawled to the door, my wife opened it and I rolled in.

I asked my wife to get the electric heat pad and plug it into the DR Series 2400 Watt Inverter/Charger I kept in the corner of the garage with my battery bank. I forgot to check it immediately after the transformer blew. When the power goes out, it automatically goes from charger to inverter mode instantly. I later found out the 30 amp fuse had blown.

Lesson #3: Keep multiple extras of whatever you think you really need. My wife grabbed the hand warmers I kept in the kitchen drawer. This was a chemical solution for my locked up back. Non-electrical items are key in any emergency situation and I buy these in bulk now. After taping the hand warmers and later some icy blue gel packs to my lower back, I was able to stand again.

No cell phone worked. We still had a land line, but since most of my friends had cell phone I couldn’t reach them. Land lines have back-up batteries and operate on low voltage, which is an advantage in a crisis situation. I called my aunt, who also still had a landline, and made sure she had no immediate problems. I told her to take her medicines out of the fridge and put them in the garage, as most attached garages stay just above freezing in the winter. A thermometer revealed it was 36 degrees in ours, so we emptied our refrigerator and stored the goods in coolers out there. We taped the freezer shut, so no one would accidentally open it and let the cold out.

We had installed a Hearthstone wood heater with soapstone in the living room. It gives off heat slowly and evenly instead of a red hot steel one that burns anyone who suddenly touches it. My wife uses aluminum coffee cans filled with rock salt that absorb the heat and provide extra heat also. Although the central heating system was down, we were still warm. In the breezeway that separates the kitchen and utility area from the living room and bedrooms, we hung a blanket to keep the immediate areas more warm. The kitchen was cool the next day, but we only prepared meals and didn’t spend much time in there.

With the inverter down, I still had a generator for power, but I decided not to use it at that point. I did have several smaller inverters– 300 to 700 watt size– to use for smaller appliances, which I used with the deep cycle batteries. The DC sump pump with the batteries helped to keep the water entering the sump pit from flooding the basement. I let my son do the lifting, as my back was in no condition to carry 100-pound batteries. Two six-volt batteries in series parallel produce 12 volts and run the DC sump pump, bypassing the AC sump pump. In the argument of Tesla’s AC versus Edison’s DC system, Tesla’s AC system clearly is much better delivering power over great distances, but in an immediate power down situation DC power in a homestead has advantages over AC. Small appliances can be run fully charged in a power down situation. Any appliance found in a RV can be run on DC.

By morning, I surveyed the damage from overnight. Trees and power lines were strewn across the roads. The people on my street who dared to go out decided to leave altogether instead of staying in their unheated homes. Our neighbor across from us left to go live with her grown children. I went out in my backyard to get a closer look at the blown transformer and discovered a power line was down the width of my entire yard, just missing my shed. If it had landed on my shed roof, it would have burned down, and with the gas can I kept inside, the shed might have blown up. That was a close call. It was six days before the power company finally installed a new line. They decided to put the new transformer in a new location, closer to road access. That was a good decision. The clean up on my street took several days, even after the power came back on.

A Big Berkey water filter gave us a gravity-fed clean water system. Draining the hot water heater also helped provide water for flushing toilets. Lighting was done by oil lamps and LED flashlights, a low tech solution. I missed work for a few days but safety was my first priority after my fall. I found lead acid deep cycle batteries are the weak link in any solar home power system. If you cycle them down more than 50 per cent over and over, you soon lose capacity and shorten their life. Newer technology in batteries lessens the problem but they are more expensive. Oh well. Communication is paramount in staying in touch with the outside world. FRS and CB radios can offer immediate help. Shortwave still has a place and is not obsolete.

I converted a gas generator with a conversion adapter kit to use propane years ago, and a 500-gallon tank provided ample fuel for the week-long blackout to keep the freezer on. The power did come back on, and everything slowly got back to normal, but I’ve been thinking lately what would happen if you had to go a year or five years without juice. Civilization and the population would be scaled back drastically. Everything is doable with the proper resources and man power. No electric power, no refrigeration, no cars, and technology strangled by the lack of energy will be daunting indeed. The solution is around the corner, but it may not reveal itself until after another major war and /or economic collapse. Still, GOD makes a way no matter how grim it appears. Having stuff (solar panels, water filters, and all of that) gives solace, but we only have the CREATOR to protect us. Amen!

Two Letters Re: Caring for Babies in a Post-Collapse World

HJL,

Instead of stocking baby food in jars, I have the Kidco Food Mill. This neat item allows baby to “eat what we eat”. While little baby food jars are good for barter, if I had one or more babies show up at my front door, I would want the food mill. Life would get easier and less stressful right away. – C.G.

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Dear Survival Blog:

FC makes some great points in his article on caring for babies in a post-collapse world. We raised our 11 babies and spent very little on baby food because we had a small hand-powered baby food mill that we used to grind up our meals to feed the infant. Anyone preparing to deal with babies in an extended crisis would do well to have one on hand. They are readily available through online retailers; just search for “baby food grinder” or “baby food mill”. (Obviously all the rules about introducing new foods one at a time initially still apply.) – EF

Odds ‘n Sods:

It gets worse even quicker from here… Tweeting for Treatment in Venezuela. – H.L.

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Want To Start A Blog in Philadelphia? You’ll Need A $300 License For That!. – RBS

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Officials in Missouri are SUING THEIR OWN RESIDENTS for Voting Against Red Light Cameras. – H.L.

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Homeland Security to be put in charge of info spying. – P.S.

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CNN Anchor: ‘Our Rights Do Not Come From God’ – T.P.

This CNN anchor fails civics class: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…” – Quoted from the Declaration of Independance.

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Here is an entry opportunity into the Redoubt area for someone who is serious about making the move. It’s not alot, but it helps, and the hours would allow a young person to spend plenty of time with the family or hold a second part-time job.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him. But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.” Exodus 23:20-22 (KJV)

Notes for Friday – February 13, 2015

Today, February 13th, is the birthday of both Robert Charles R.C. Sproul, Jr.(born 1939), a well-respected American Calvinist theologian, and General Chuck Yeager (born, 1923), the first man to break the sound barrier.

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Today, we present another entry for Round 57 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $12,000+ worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course (a $1,195 value),
  2. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be 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,
  3. 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 then 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),
  4. Gun Mag Warehouse is providing 30 DPMS AR-15 .223/5.56 30 Round Gray Mil Spec w/ Magpul Follower Magazines (a value of $448) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt. (An equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions.),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  7. A Model 120 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a 340 value),
  8. A $300 gift certificate from Freeze Dry Guy,
  9. A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo,
  10. 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,
  11. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $300 gift certificate, and
  12. 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. Acorn Supplies is donating a Deluxe Food Storage Survival Kit with a retail value of $350,
  4. The Ark Instituteis donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package–enough for two families of four, 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,
  5. $300 worth of ammo from Patriot Firearms and Munitions. (They also offer a 10% discount for all SurvivalBlog readers with coupon code SVB10P),
  6. A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials,
  7. Twenty Five books, of the winners choice, of any books published by PrepperPress.com (a $270 value),
  8. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $150 gift certificate,
  9. Organized Prepper is providing a $500 gift certificate, and
  10. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. 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,
  3. *Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  6. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit,
  7. Montie Gear is donating a Y-Shot Slingshot and a Locking Rifle Rack (a $379 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 57 ends on March 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.

E-readers: My Personal Alexandria, Now Less Flammable!, by ASC

Imagine that you wake up one glorious morning, except you discover that it has hit the fan. You wake up in a brand new world, filled with dangers and struggles that did not exist the day before. Depending on how you have prepared, you may be bugging out to your pre-determined bug out location, or you may be bugging in and locking down your primary home and using it as your shelter as you move forward in this dangerous new world.

You are fully stocked with enough food, water, and other supplies for a long while. However, Murphy’s Law will always be present, and within hours, days, or weeks, a situation may arise that you had not planned for. Perhaps your water source has been compromised. Maybe your stored food has gone bad and must be replaced. It could be possible that a family member has developed a medical issue for which you do not have the correct, conventional medications to treat. The list of potential issues is endless.

At some point in this post-SHTF world, you WILL be faced with a situation that you have not prepared for. How will you deal with this issue? How will you gain the experience or knowledge required to fix it? You will not be able to get a repairman, doctor, or blacksmith out to your homestead to fix whatever is broken. In order to take care of a problem yourself, if you need to learn about a specific that you had not learned in a pre-SHTF world, it will also be much more difficult to obtain that knowledge at that point. Libraries will be abandoned, bookstores will be closed, and experts will no longer be readily available. You’ll need a library of information available to provide the guidance and knowledge that you require.

In a post-SHTF world, there are going to be so many necessary skills needed that it will be practically impossible to learn, through application and practice, everything that a survivor would need to know ahead of time. Therefore, an E-reader would allow you to store documents needed for this new world.

Why an E-reader?

I have always been a book lover. I am constantly in the middle of a book. I have started to use an E-reader. While my E-reader– a Kindle Fire– has been great for me, there are many other models available. All of the guidance below can be useful, regardless of the specific model of E-reader used.

Once the decision is made to start preparing for the inevitable, many of us recognize that we will need to keep copies of first aid manuals, foraging references, as well as a host of other reference materials to help us survive.

As I started to put together a list of these reference materials, I quickly realized that keeping paper copies of this information is going to be very heavy, take up a significant amount of space, and be very difficult to carry around on a regular basis. It is effectively impossible.

Then it hit me. Why not use an E-reader to serve as a library? An E-reader can contain hundreds of e-books. An E-reader isn’t just for e-books, either. Depending on the capabilities of your specific model, you can also load up maps, Adobe Acrobat files, photographs, and anything else that you consider important.

Unlike a regular book, an E-reader has its own downfalls. How do you keep it powered in a post-SHTF environment? How do you keep it waterproof? What about the possibility of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) rendering it useless? These concerns will be addressed later in this article.

Where to get Ebooks?

The Weekend Prepper website, theweekendprepper.com, put together a fantastic article on how to find free books for a Kindle. While these instructions are specific to a Kindle, a person who uses their iPad or any other tablet can download and use the free Kindle Reader app. This software is available for all Apple and Android smart phones and tablets.

Paraphrased From the Weekend Prepper Article:

Amazon publishes a bestseller list for the Kindle every day. These books are not specifically for preppers or anyone else. There is a gold mine of options though, depending upon your particular interests.

How to search for free Kindle books

  1. Go to the main Kindle ebook page.
  2. Use the search box at the top of the page and type in your search terms. Enter, in the Search field, whatever topic you wish to have more information on. Some ideas include: prepping, first aid, essential oils, survival, water storage, et cetera.
  3. Click on the Go button.
  4. Now that you have a list of all the books related to your specific search, you will need to sort your results to find the ones that are currently free.

    • On the top right of the page, you will see a pull down box labeled Sort by: Go to that box and select Price: Low to High.
    • Once you do that, you will have a list of all the books related to your search, with the ones at the top of the list being the ones you can download for free.

As of the date of writing this article, there are over 25 free books when I searched for “prepping”. There are over 100 free e-books when searching for “survival”.

The pool of available free books changes frequently. Figure out what topic you want more information on, and take a few minutes every few days to perform a few searches. Over time you can build up a great collection of reference books at no cost to you. Even if you stumble across a must-have book that never seems to be made available for free, most kindle books can be purchased for a very modest investment of a few dollars, which is a small price to pay for a valuable resource.

It should be noted that “you get what you pay for” most of the time. Many of these free e-books are barely the size of a pamphlet. Some ebooks I have downloaded are less than 30 pages long. Many of these free “ebooks” have information that can be found elsewhere. While some of these smaller eBook may have valuable guidance, you may be able to find identical information in larger, more comprehensive books.

There are many possible subjects that you may want more information on. Downloading a book on “Building the Perfect Bug Out Bag,” may not be needed, if you have already learned and prepared one. The focus of these e-books should be to develop a library of books to provide guidance on performing tasks that you are not already familiar with. The focus should also be on obtaining reference materials to provide guidance you are unable to obtain otherwise.

I will admit that I have some printed reference materials, but these are quite minimal. I do have an emergency first aid reference that I keep with my first aid kit. I have an Essential Oil reference with my EOs. I have paper copies of road maps as well. Other than these documents, everything else is loaded onto my e-reader.

What About Other Documents?

While it is relatively easy to develop a library of actual eBooks, there are many other resources available. In addition to these ebooks, one can load other documents that would be viewable on their E-reader. I have found many resources for free Adobe Acrobat files. Some of my favorite resources include, http://urbansurvivalsite.com/ebooks/ and http://www.armageddononline.org/disaster-prep-help.html. Together, both sites have thousands of documents available related to prepping, including many Army Field manuals, first aid, food storage documents, and documents covering many other subjects.

Maps: Having copies of topographic maps loaded could potentially be a life saver. The U.S. Geological Survey runs a store where one can download many topographic maps free of charge. The website, store.usgs.gov, is the starting point for these searches. It would be helpful to have maps available covering the area from your current home to any and every possible Bug Out location available to you.

Whatever else you wish to load onto your e-reader, once downloaded to your computer, it is just a simple matter of transferring the documents to your E-reader through the charging cord. With my Kindle, I also have an assigned email address that I can wirelessly deliver these documents to the device from any email address.

I have also loaded a number of family pictures on my e-reader. I can use these pictures for a variety of purposes, including reminiscing. I can imagine, in a long post-SHTF environment, that family photos would be quite a treasure, despite their impracticality.

Protection from the Elements?

Waterproofing an E-reader can be done in a variety of ways. There are a number of cases available that provide the protection required. Personally, I am skeptical of these integrated cases. Since there are ports for charging and headphones through the case to the device itself, I worry that these openings would not provide protection 100% of the time. After use, if I neglected to properly seat the seal into the hole, water could enter and destroy my device.

My preference would be for a strong, resealable waterproof bag to store the E-reader in. When I needed it, I could remove the device and then replace it when I am done. I do acknowledge that if I didn’t seal it back properly, this plan could fail. This option seems to be the superior choice for me personally.

We deal with the elements regularly, but there will be a number of concerns specific to a post-SHTF world. How do we address recharging the device when the grid is down? How do we keep our E-reader safe from an electromagnetic pulse (EMP)?

Recharging our E-reader in a Post-SHTF world?

To address the recharging needs of our E-reader, solar-sourced energy is probably going to be the best bet. There are a number of portable solar chargers available on the market today. Being the cheapskate that I am, I am building my own using this plan: http://www.instructables.com/id/Solar-USB-Phone-Charger-with-Battery-Backup/. If DIY isn’t your thing, you can find over 60,000 results on Amazon.com when searching for a Solar USB charger. There are other options for post-SHTF recharging as well, such as wind or hydroelectric, which are beyond the scope of this article. (Check out other SurvivalBlog articles for this information.)

What about an Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP)?

From Wikipedia: An electromagnetic pulse (EMP), also sometimes called a transient electromagnetic disturbance, is a short burst of electromagnetic energy. Such a pulse may occur in the form of a radiated electric or magnetic field or conducted electrical current depending on the source, and may be natural or man-made.

EMP interference is generally damaging to electronic equipment, and at higher energy levels a powerful EMP event such as a lightning strike can damage physical objects such as buildings and aircraft structures. The management of EMP effects is an important branch of electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) engineering.

An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) is a concern and is certainly within the realm of possibility. When compared to all of the other potential SHTF scenarios, it is much less likely that we will need to deal with an EMP in comparison to all of the other things that could cause the end of the world as we know it (TEOTWAWKI).

However, we are preppers! We always try to consider all of the variables and find a way to address every potentiality.

To “harden” your E-reader for the possibility of an EMP, a simple Faraday Cage could be employed. A Faraday cage shields the interior of the cage against external electromagnetic radiation. There are many inexpensive options available to the prepper:

  1. An unplugged microwave oven.
  2. Metal garbage can with a tight fitting lid.
  3. A Booster bag, commonly used by shoplifters to steal items with RFID chips. The Bag is lined with aluminum foil to electronically seal the RFID chip inside so it does not alert store security.
  4. A cardboard box, properly covered in aluminum foil.

There are hundreds of plans online for building your own simple Faraday Cage.

Based on the very small likelihood that it will be an EMP that causes TEOTWAWKI, many preppers do not use a Faraday Cage. I am guilty of this, as much as anyone. Considering the ease of putting one together and the potential loss of information, I would challenge you (and me) to make a Faraday cage part of your preps. Inside, I would also keep my solar charger, a USB thumb drive with all of my important documents scanned and copied. I’d also store any radios or any other electronic devices that are vulnerable to an EMP.

How would you add documents to an E-reader in a Faraday Cage?

If an E-reader is constantly stored in a Faraday cage, it will be impossible to update the device with any new documents or eBooks. On your own schedule, you could remove the device from the Faraday cage and power it up. Once the device is powered, you can start the download process for all of the nifty prepper documents that you wish to install on the device.

As long as the device is out of the Faraday Cage, the device is vulnerable to an EMP. For maximum protection, the device should always be stored inside the Faraday Cage.

In Closing

In my esteem, an E-reader is an absolute necessity for prepping. Why?

  1. I am not smart or talented enough to know everything I may need to know in a post-SHTF world.
  2. I don’t have enough time to learn it all, either. Between working and raising a family, there are barely enough hours in the day.
  3. I do not have the resources or ability to keep paper copies of all of the information I may need.

In a post-SHTF world, knowledge will be a very valuable resource. My E-reader will become my personal reference tool. I have it stocked with books, maps, plans, and much more. If I am faced with a scenario I am unfamiliar with, I will hopefully have reference materials on my E-reader to address the situation at hand.

References:

How to find eBooks:

Free Adobe Acrobat Documents Related to Prepping: http://urbansurvivalsite.com/ebooks/

EMP Information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse

Faraday Cages: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage

Letter Re: Caring for Babies in a Post-Collapse World

Mr. Hugh,

I would like to add to the article on caring for babies. My mother-in-love told me that when her daughter was born, she contracted a stomach virus within hours after birth. She survived the virus, but her intestinal tract was very sensitive. The pediatrician put her on a formula of goat’s milk and rice water– water drained from boiled rice. This might work for the baby in your scenario as well. Goat’s milk is an excellent alternative to human milk, and rice is a grain that is very easy on the digestive tracts of infants and elderly folks as well. I am stocking extra rice for that reason. Also I saw a formula for an electrolyte solution for adults using ingredients that can be stocked for longer periods of time than the electrolyte solutions sold in stores. There may be one for children and infants or maybe the adult version could be diluted. I also bought some thermometer strips that we put in our emergency medical kits. They don’t give an exact numeral readout, but they give a ballpark temperature (within one degree) reading based on the color that shows on the strip when placed on the forehead. (I like it better than trying to get a temp at the other end.) I think I paid less than $2 for each strip. As for diapering, don’t forget diaper pins and plastic pants. Or you could get a package of assorted quilting safety pins. As a last resort for plastic pants to go over the cloth diapers, you should have some rolls of plastic and Gorilla Tape in your preps. Just don’t tape the baby! – DSR

Economics and Investing:

Sweden cuts rates below zero and starts QE – G.G.

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This is the first time I’ve seen this gold ‘buy’ signal since 2009 – Dominic Frisby

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Items from Mr. Econocobas:

Guess What Happened The Last Time The U.S. Dollar Skyrocketed In Value Like This?…

US Weekly Jobless Claims Total 304,000 vs 285,000 Estimate

Food Stamp Beneficiaries Exceed 46,000,000 for 39 Straight Months

U.S. Foreclosure Activity Rises 5% in January

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“As we used to say in the mountains, ‘Breathe. Breathe again. With every breath, you are alive.’ After all these years, this is still the best advice I can give you: Savor your existence. Live every moment. Do not waste a breath.” ? Nando Parrado, Miracle in The Andes

Notes for Thursday – February 12, 2015

The knife industry lost a legend and icon as the Buck Knives Company Chairman Chuck Buck passed away last week: Industry Legend Chuck Buck passes away.

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Today, we present another entry for Round 57 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $12,000+ worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course (a $1,195 value),
  2. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be 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,
  3. 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 then 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),
  4. Gun Mag Warehouse is providing 30 DPMS AR-15 .223/5.56 30 Round Gray Mil Spec w/ Magpul Follower Magazines (a value of $448) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt. (An equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions.),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  7. A Model 120 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a 340 value),
  8. A $300 gift certificate from Freeze Dry Guy,
  9. A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo,
  10. 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,
  11. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $300 gift certificate, and
  12. 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. Acorn Supplies is donating a Deluxe Food Storage Survival Kit with a retail value of $350,
  4. The Ark Instituteis donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package–enough for two families of four, 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,
  5. $300 worth of ammo from Patriot Firearms and Munitions. (They also offer a 10% discount for all SurvivalBlog readers with coupon code SVB10P),
  6. A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials,
  7. Twenty Five books, of the winners choice, of any books published by PrepperPress.com (a $270 value),
  8. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $150 gift certificate,
  9. Organized Prepper is providing a $500 gift certificate, and
  10. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. 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,
  3. *Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  6. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit,
  7. Montie Gear is donating a Y-Shot Slingshot and a Locking Rifle Rack (a $379 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 57 ends on March 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.

Caring for Babies in a Post-Collapse World, by F.C.

“How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.” (Matthew 24:19-21)

The shrill scream of a sick infant pierces the night. It’s your sister’s newborn boy, only six weeks old. Your sister, husband, and other two young children showed up at your country bug out location three days ago; they were exhausted, starving, and desperate. In the years leading up to the collapse, your brother-in-law openly mocked you for being a “crazy prepper”. Now, he’s extremely humbled and grateful for your taking him and his family in. However, with their arrival, this makes a dozen extended family and friends crowded into your small two-bedroom, one-bathroom cabin.

Now, let’s go back to the ill infant. Your sister has tried breastfeeding the baby, but because he had grown accustomed to bottle feeding, he rejects your sister’s best efforts. The baby feels warm to the touch, but you don’t have a thermometer to take his temperature. Why, you kick yourself, couldn’t you at least have included this in your preps? He has had his diaper changed, thanks to some spare sheets Sis has doubled up and fastened together with some large paper clips. That’s when you mentally kicked yourself again. You think, “Why didn’t I at least buy a pack of those cloth diapers I passed by at Walmart a dozen times while on my way to buy extra ammo?” Right now, you’d trade a couple of valuable ammo boxes for a dozen cloth diapers. You’d do just about anything to calm down that screaming baby!

Does baby have a headache? It’s hard to say. Even if he does, you didn’t think to buy any infant pain meds. Is baby dehydrated? Again, who knows? You blissfully passed by the Pedialyte on your way to buy an extra pair of long underwear for yourself, never considering the consequences of being ill-prepared for the very youngest generation in this post-collapse world.

Now, Sis, who is suffering from post-partum syndrome, screams in desperation and wakes up the rest of your bug out group. She threatens to bash the baby’s head against the wall to end both of their collective misery. Her husband snatches the infant from her arms before she is able to do so. Sis collapses to the floor, weeping uncontrollably, suffering from a full mental breakdown.

Oh, to just get a decent night’s sleep! Why didn’t you think about what was needed to take care of babies in all your preps? Why? Why indeed? Right now, in the relative comfort of your pre-collapse world, you may think, “Look, I don’t have any babies in the house. Why should I worry about that?” Well, after reading the aforementioned scenario, do you think it might be wise to rethink your priorities?

The good news is that there’s still time to act now. That passage in Matthew 24 describes desperate people fleeing the city in a post collapse world: “How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers.” Frankly, when I read that verse, I’m haunted by it. I wonder how many unprepared pregnant and nursing mothers will suffer the same fate described above, or worse. Indeed, there are many accounts throughout history of mothers and fathers who will become so desperate in a time of severe collapse and famine that they will resort to acts ranging from severe neglect of children to abandonment, murder, and in some terribly tragic cases even to cannibalism. This is even described in the Bible:

“The most gentle and sensitive woman among you—so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot—will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For in her dire need she intends to eat them secretly because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of your cities.” (Deut. 28:56-57)

So, it is evident that, in the future, things will get bad relating to both famine and the lack of essential supplies. Especially hard-hit will be pregnant and nursing mothers. So, what can we do right now to prepare for that unexpected arrival of a family member, friend, or other refugee with infants and toddlers, especially sick ones? What can we purchase that is available right now, which will no longer be available because all the stores will be looted or burned to the ground? What should be at the top of your list? Here are a few ideas:

  1. Glass baby bottles. Remember when your mother boiled those glass baby bottles to sterilize them between uses? As long as you handle them carefully, you’ll get unlimited use from them. Yes, you can also gently boil the plastic ones (between 2-5 minutes), but in the long run, glass will hold up better. Glass bottles should be boiled for 10 minutes to ensure killing germs and bacteria. (You may also wish to buy tongs to enable you to handle them and metal racks on which they can sit to drain and dry.)
  2. Baby formula powder. Keep in mind that many babies are used to popular brands, like Enfamil or Similac, and they may reject one or the other, so it’s wise to purchase some of both. However, these can be a bit pricey, so you may also invest in some of the less expensive generic brands offered by Walmart, Costco, or Sam’s Club. You can also purchase cans of ready-to-use formula. Some variations even include formula for babies with fussiness and gas, and also soy-based formulas.
  3. Cloth diapers. Remember when your mother or grandmother used to rinse out all those old cloth diapers in the toilet before running them through the washer? Well, in a post-collapse world, what do you think the chances will be of being able to run down to the local drugstore for a box of disposable Pampers? It’s not too good. This means it’s back to cloth diapers, which can and should be re-used. One of the few places where I’ve found them is good old Walmart. They sell a 10-pack of Gerber cloth diapers for around $12. Oh, and don’t forget diaper pins and fasteners! This item alone could be worth its weight in gold in a post collapse world, especially for barter. So, future barter items in high demand could now not only include ammo and coffee but diapers and formula!
  4. Baby meds and supplies. The following medications and supplies are among the most common for baby care:
  5. Baby clothes – Onesies, separates, pajamas, gloves, caps, sweaters, coats, and blankets. The thrift store is a great source here.
  6. Baby food– Jars of different varieties are plentiful at the present time, but don’t overlook such dual-use (adults and children) bargain items such as oatmeal, mashed potato flakes, and cream of wheat. For toddlers and older children, some canned and or dehydrated fruit can be mixed with water and mashed up and for consumption. Some cereals, such as those cheap generic bags of honey-nut Cheerios can be transformed into instant baby food by mashing them up with a little water.
  7. Baby vitamins – Very important! Those chewable flavored gummy ones are a hit with kids!

It may seem overwhelming at first when you ponder such a long list of items, but the idea is to start at the top of the list and try to pick up one or two items every time you visit either the grocery or discount store. When we stop to consider that the future collapse will be a time of “great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now and never to be equaled again”, it is clear that the coming tribulation will be much worse than anything described either in history or in the scriptures. If many of us can just do a small part to alleviate at least some of the suffering, it will all be more than worth it.

There are few things more stressful than having to endure hearing a baby’s desperate cry for hours on end and knowing you can’t do anything about it. The guilt of knowing you could have done something ahead of time and didn’t could be even worse. Therefore, I have concluded that in the course of my prepping, I’m going to make every effort to, at the very least, purchase some items to try to care for pregnant and nursing mothers. In so doing, you and I both may shine as a light of Christian compassion in a chaotic and godless world. If for no other reason, do it for your own peace of mind and a decent night’s sleep.

Letter Re: Trusts

Hi Hugh / JWR,

In reply to the post about trusts I would inform your readers of another kind of trust. There are a number of different kinds of trust and many I would not consider to be asset protection; there is however a trust that is known as a Massachusetts or Contract Trust. While most trusts are statutory documents, a Contract Trust is a Constitutional document and has stood the test of multiple court challenges from the likes of the IRS. Many very wealthy people have their assets in this type of trust. This trust does not die until the members wish it, which means that when I pass the trust lives on and my son (trustee) gains control of our farm and possessions. This means no estate taxes; no will; no probate. The only thing that I own is a 1987 Subaru that I use around the farm… The goal is to OWN NOTHING but still control your possessions and have asset protection. Yours in Liberty and Faith from the Redoubt, -DB