Auction Update: PVS-14 Gen 3+ Night Vision Scope to Benefit C.R.O.S.S. Ministries

CURRENT BID is $3,600 (Bid by Reader D.J.G.)

Simply e-mail us your bids. I will post regular updates on the bidding. The final deadline will be Midnight EST on Monday, March 11, 2013. Thanks for your generous bids in support of C.R.O.S.S. Ministries.

We are continuing a benefit auction of a brand new AN/PVS-14 Gen 3+ Night Vision Scope. All proceeds (100% of your bid) will be donated to C.R.O.S.S. Ministries. (A very worthy Christian ministry that is sharing the Gospel of Christ in South Sudan. Their outreach method is unique: They are teaching rural villagers tactical marksmanship, water purification, and firefighting skills, free of charge.)

The monocular is one of these. (The same model that we use here at the Rawles Ranch.) These night vision scopes normally retail for around $3,600. (Although Ready Made Resources sells them at the discounted price of $2,695.) This monocular was kindly donated by Ready Made Resources, in cooperation with Night Ops Tactical.

Economics and Investing:

Debt based delusion: Fed spending far outstripping revenues, balance of trade, and business inventories decline.

Analyst: Bitcoin Took A Key Step Towards Going Mainstream, And That’s Why It’s Been Going Crazy The Last Two Day . Wow!: I just checked at CoinMill and the BTC to USD ratio was at 40.91 to one! (Almost $41 to buy one BitCoin.)

Gold Core reports: Russia, Korea And Central Banks Accumulate Gold On Dip Below $1,600/oz

Items from The Economatrix:

Service Industries In US Grow At Fastest Pace In A Year

JPMorgan:  The Consumer Spending Slowdown Is Here

Billionaires Dumping US Stocks, Economist Knows Why

Odds ‘n Sods:

K. mentioned a great piece over at the Backwoods Home web site: Low-cost raised beds. [JWR Adds: That design will work for a couple of seasons. But in the long run it has “more work” written all over it. Here in the Inland Northwest, the preferred material for building raised beds is usually 2″ thick cedar planks. Most of the small cedar mill operations have a “seconds” pile where they sell random-length boards that don’t meet marketable standards, for various reasons. (Wane, checking, punky spots, et cetera.) This lumber sells for just a small fraction of the cost of the higher grades. With each $80 to $100 trailer load of cedar “seconds” I’m able to build four raised beds that are 12 feet long, 4 feet wide and 18″ deep. They will last for decades, even in our wet climate. OBTW, I always staple on 1/4″ mesh wire netting to the bottom of each bed to keep the moles out. ]

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Mike Williamson sent a link to a graphic that illustrates the TSA’s latest “though shalt nots” for penknives on commercial airliners. It is bothersome that not only must the The Powers That Be make the sheeple jump through flame-filled hoops, but they keep changing the specifications of the hoops.

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Rand Paul Filibuster: Hour By Hour Footage Archive. Meanwhile, some “moderate” Republicans (read: RINOs) sided with BHO & Company. I was glad to see that a few left-wingers chimed in, in support of Rand Paul.

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I noticed an interesting ongoing thread over at The Mental Militia forums: Creating Hidden Storage

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“This morning, I’m pleased to join the President, the Vice President, and countless Americans in calling on Congress to enact legislation addressing gun violence – including measures to require universal background checks, impose tough penalties on gun traffickers, protect law enforcement officers by addressing armor-piercing ammunition, ban high-capacity magazines and military-style assault weapons, and eliminate misguided restrictions that require federal agents to allow the importation of dangerous weapons simply because of their age.” – Attorney General Eric Holder

Note from JWR:

Today we present another two entries for Round 45 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course. (A $1,195 value.) B.) 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, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) a $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear, E.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value), and F.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo. and G.) A $200 gift certificate, donated by Shelf Reliance.

Second Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training. Together, these have a retail value of $589. C.) A FloJak FP-50 stainless steel hand well pump (a $600 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. D.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300, E.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials and F.) Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) 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, C.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, D.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value. E.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value), and F.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 45 ends on March 31st, 2013, 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.

A Prepper’s Holiday by C.E.B.

A preface: This article is not about the perfect excursion to relieve your tensions regarding coming doom and gloom. If you need a vacation from your constant worry, then you have become slave to it. Slaves don’t get to take holiday in Babylon! I wanted to share with friends and family some holidays that I feel were instituted specifically with the prepper in mind.

Many of us are well aware of the practical advantages of observing the sabbath. For those of faith it becomes obvious through practice. Those who are not religious but still enjoy a day of rest will doubtless recognize that this day of laziness is not wasted. Not only does it offer us time to relax and recharge, but time to reflect on the six days of work (or perhaps lack of.).

My family have long been observant of the sabbath but had never observed other festivals of the Bible. (I don’t propose to convince the reader whether these festivals are commanded or not of modern generations, however.) I have chosen to celebrate them with my family and teach them to my children.

The keeping of these celebrations offers practical advantages to the faithful which only experience reveals fully and words do not suffice.

I have decided to only write about the two holidays with which I am most familiar and for which I have the most affection. Others more experienced may rightly point out that I deny justice to the wonderful holidays I have not included. But, my experience is limited by our slow rate of travel round the sun and lack of encouragement I received from our local spiritual community. Of the major holidays required of the ancient Hebrew people, I find most useful the holidays of Pasach and Sukkot, otherwise known as passover and tents/tabernacles.

Celebrating these holidays starts by finding them. It’s not as simple as looking to the calendar and saying “Look, July 4th. Fireworks!”. Yet it is simple none the less, and does not require inspection of a device that must be carried with you or placed on your wall. Every small child learns quickly that the sun passes across the sky during the day and the setting sun marks the end of outdoor playtime. Some (my children) learn that time of day and direction can be generally ascertained by watching for this sign. What was once common knowledge to the lonely shepard and astrologer alike and is no longer common knowledge, is that by watching the moon it is possible to determine what day of the month it is with a small margin of error. It won’t help determining the days of the civil or gregorian calendar, of course. Noting the phases and completion of moons and counting them will help you determine when to have all of your nuts and berries packed away in your squirrel nest and when you should expect to emerge to plant your crops and assist in livestock giving birth. When you have been cut off from normal social contact and modern media, and your 20xx calendar doesn’t arrive in the mail because there is no USPS or Fedex, and when you have long forgotten whether it’s Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday, or August, or September, the moon will be there for you!

The first sighting of a crescent moon indicates the beginning of the month. There are differences among observers regarding whether the day of the crescent or the day before is to be regarded as day one in the month, however I am content that the idea serves as a model for a people reliant upon providence of nature or deity. Meetings among remote groups of related or united people can easily be arranged in advance without need of device simply by counting the passage of days from the sighted crescent, which will appear the same day for my family in Oklahoma as our relatives and friends in neighboring states and communities. The anticipation of celebration or solemn ceremony heightens awareness of the passing days and lends to a more accurate count. There is always the possibility of cloud coverage for a particular region, in which case some communities may not be able to sight the crescent. For the benefit of those whose sighting is obscured, ancient Israelite communities that had clear view and could sight the crescent would sound a horn at high elevation enabling other expectant peoples or individuals to begin a count regardless of cloud coverage. The use of this horn of course is to protect against the margin of error previously mentioned.

Exodus 12 contains the first mention of my Prepper’s holiday. It is a document that modern scholars can agree has been used for more than two thousand years and contains the story of an ancient people fed up with slavery. When the protagonist Joseph arrived in a foreign land he found wealth and prosperity after great ordeal. This wealth and prosperity was shared for many generations but ultimately his descendants found themselves slaves to the system that had been of such benefit. Many patriots today can relate to this predicament. In preparation for the coming declaration of freedom for these people, a holiday was provided. This holiday is not simply a time to munch down, or hope for a new toy. It is a mental and physical preparation for the conditions required of a free people. Passover approaches and it is fitting that I should share this event first.

The holiday is determined by counting 14 days from the sighting of the first crescent of the spring, at which point the moon will appear nearly full. The light provided by the full moon allows for nighttime activity which may be regarded as clandestine by those not participating. On the first night an animal is slaughtered. It is to be a year old male sheep or goat. The practical reasoning for this is not obvious to those who don’t tend some sort of livestock, but those of us who witness a large number of hatched cockerels or bucklings kidding in spring, quickly adapt to the idea of dispatching the year old rooster that has begun attacking guests, or the young buck, newly invigorated with his masculine hormones, decides he’s going to begin ramming you. Because new bucklings are born, and the yearlings have already done business with the does, these guys are obvious candidates for culling before the big break from captivity.

Instructions for the holiday include placement of a sign upon the dwellings of confederated parties in order to prevent death by friendly fire. Participants are instructed to prepare along with the culled yearlings, bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. You will find that edible bitter herbs are abundant for the wilderness traveler, and that flat dry bread packs nicer and lasts longer than the puffy and moist Wonderbread that we use to encase a picnic lunch. The meat is to be entirely consumed the first night. None is left to rot, attract scavengers, or be confiscated. All of this activity is done with awareness of the events to come and so the instruction to eat with cloak tucked into belt, shoes on the feet, and staff in hand is a protocol for SHTF preparedness. On this night (and every full moon) our family checks survival gear and makes certain that everything is ready to go should the need arise to head out the door forever to secure the blessings liberty.

Instructions for the holiday include seven days during which unleavened bread is to be prepared. In the zeal to produce a bread nearly void of yeast it is necessary to remove all yeast from the house in order to prevent airborne yeast from infecting the dough. This requires thorough cleaning and inspection of the home. In the process of looking for something so tiny and seemingly insignificant as invisible yeast, you will uncover every other imaginable flaw in your dwelling as well. Discipline in making this activity a yearly occurrence will provide the practitioner with a deeper situational awareness of his or her fortress and improvements that need to be made over the following year.

I have read that COSTCO is offering 6 gallon pails of long term storage foods. This may or may not be practical for you. For “do it yourself” types the preparation of unleavened bread serves as a wonderful model for homemade meals that pack lite, last long, and leave no plastic package behind as evidence of travel route. During these seven days the practitioner rests from labor and prepares mind and body for dangerous adventure and develops resolve concerning the decision to be free. As the full moon wanes, light sensitivity of the observer adjusts to the change resulting in excellent nighttime vision in comparison to those not preparing for the event or recently acclimated to operating by moonlight.

Moses told the Israelites to keep this tradition for all generations to come. It is a constant reminder of the path from slavery to freedom coupled with some very logical strategies to continually prepare for recurrent need.

The second holiday I want to share with you is Sukkot, also called festival of the tents or “booths.” It is first mentioned in the book of Exodus chapter 23. After the exciting events surrounding the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, these newly freed people endured forty years of life on the run, living like vagrants in temporary shelters built from whatever they could scrap together in the wilderness. To be sure, this was a hard thing. Though slaves, these people had been living in modern homes according to Egypt’s standards and had no experience with “camping out”. They were apparently accustomed to fresh produce from the market and found no vendors in the barren Sinai Peninsula. Freedom is beautiful, but it is not easy.

The festival of tents is practiced in remembrance of the condition freed slaves often find themselves in. Upon release from incarceration, a felon may quickly learn that he has difficulty finding housing, employment opportunities may not be sufficient to provide adequate nutrition, and his social interaction and advancement among those not sharing this sad state is stifled by stigma. Newly obtained freedom is like this, and this is the situation faced by that ancient tribe.

Instructions for the practice of this holiday are found in Leviticus 23 and Numbers 29. Again this festival is found by sighting the crescent in the seventh moon and counting 15 days, when the moon should be fullest. The practice involves the building of a temporary shelter of locally obtained materials. Presumably the Israelites used very crude materials to build dwellings. In our family we camp out and cook in our Sukkot booth for seven nights. We build pole structures from cut or fallen limbs and cover with jute cloth made for deer blinds, lining the interior with cheap lightweight tarps as windbreak/insulation. We build our stove from clay and/or stone found at the location. Everything is done under the assumption that we have limited resources for this temporary situation. This entire planned event forms a real impression on the mind of a child. They love to have a go at making their own structure, and starting their own fire to cook their own food. It is a holiday event that celebrates the accomplishment of being able to make it on your own without the luxuries of the place you left behind. Following through every year with this practice at a prescribed date allows the participants to gauge attained growth and develop a sense of which deficiencies need to be addressed. This holiday along with passover and feast of weeks forms a chain of celebrations which coincide with important harvests. We found in our days spent living in the Sukkot booth this past year that aside from the hay harvest we were wrapping up with, the wild grape vines were full of ripe fruit and the hackberry, pear, and persimmon trees which dot the Oklahoma landscape were covered in ripening little blessings as well. We consumed piles of wild grapes during our celebration and made puckery faces eating the persimmon flesh.

All of the preparations I have described herein are very basic, and common knowledge to the readers of this blog. My hope is to share a practical method of incorporating productive behaviors into, or understanding them to be present within, ancient traditions and festivities which I find most wholesome to embrace. When practiced with regularity like a fire drill, and with the attention which accompanies exciting events and holidays, preparedness can become an enjoyable tradition for your family that will endure for generations. If these are not your traditions or you don’t feel comfortable practicing traditions foreign to you, find these practical applications within the tradition of your people. If you have no traditions, it’s time to start some!

Establishing a Community of Like-Minded People, by P.S. in Virginia

Whenever you read fiction stories about surviving TEOTWAWKI, reading articles here on SurvivalBlog or any other similar site. One of the things that keeps coming up is its best to form a group of “Like Minded People”. Here is what I have put into motion and my future plans on how I hope to accomplish it. Any feedback is always welcome.

My situation is my age being in my mid-50s and having a disability. It would be wonderful to find some like minded people in their early 20s or 30s who have the strength and ability to do what I am unable to accomplish or have the physical stamina to fend off any opposing evil at the gate. Unfortunately I’m not really going to find those kind of folks with there being such an age difference. People with disabilities can still do many things to help out, we just have to do them differently.

I found what works the best for me in finding like minded people is to stick around my own age group. People who grew up in the mid 50s to mid 70s are a prime target. People who understand what it was like to work hard for a living and realizing that things are not just given to you but you had to earn them. I think modern technology is great but it is also going to be our undoing in the long run. There is some merit to grow up using your imagination as a child for entertaining yourself than finding it in a video game. As kids growing up and playing Army out in the woods, we were learning how to build forts, set up defenses , working together as a team and forming strategies without even knowing it.

When finding like minded people in my age group it’s going to be very rare to find someone who is not in some form of needing medical assistance. But, this is not such a bad thing either, some of us old hornets still have a lot of sting left in us and we posses knowledge and skills that are not found in just any book. Something that comes to mind is two of the people that I’m working on served in Viet Nam so they are not strangers to a vicious enemy. I believe for the type of BOL I’m looking for in the wilderness I would prefer someone who is familiar with jungle fighting but would love to find anyone with experience in setting up military style defenses.

One of the things I have done is to join the County CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) program. Here I have found men and woman mostly near my age group who are in some way concerned about being prepared. Some of them take the course just for their own knowledge in what to do to better prepare for an emergency around their own home but you will find others who extend it to a further means. Many of the people I have been meeting have in some way been involved in the military or in some form of Emergency Management / Training and are retired.

About two years ago I had the opportunity in my county to take an amateur radio course. We had an individual in our CERT program who was very much into this hobby and was involved with putting on the course. I signed up and spent four Saturday mornings for four hours sitting in lectures that I had no idea what they were talking about. The good thing was for the course we needed to pick up the book: The ARRL General Class License Manual.

First let me explain, there are three classes of Ham Radio licenses: Technician, General and Amateur Extra. Each class offers more benefits to having the license, basically more frequencies you can use. Well in the back of the manual, there were test questions that you could study and these test questions were word for word as they were on the exam. There are also online sites you can get into and take practice tests, over and over again. Hind sight being 20/20, I would have just studied all the questions, memorized the answers and gone in and challenged the tests when the exams became available. I hate to say it, but I passed my General exam without even knowing how to turn on a radio. For the first two years I had done nothing with my license because anytime I would meet a ham radio enthusiast and ask a question, they would just open up with all the techno knowledge they had to impress me that I walked away more confused than before I asked.

This all changed one night about two weeks ago while at a CERT meeting, I met a man in his mid-60s who was into ham radios. After talking with him for a few minutes and explaining my situation, he laughed and told me it was people like that was his reason he was not involved in any clubs anymore. We exchanged phone numbers and he told me to give him a call and he would hook me up with a radio I could borrow and get me on the air. This past weekend I went over to his house and in the two hours I spent with him, I learned more than the 16 hours in the class. He also put me in touch with Associated Radio, a small family owned business in Kansas that he has found to be very good in dealing with for ham equipment. The owner’s name is is Dan. I now have being shipped a Yaesu FT 2900 R and a TRAM 48″ magnetic mount antenna. Once I get the system my friend will help me get it mounted in my SUV and programmed.

While my new found friend was helping me with the radio, I also learned he was a prepper but not so open about it. We talked about different things and found we had more in common than we realized. This is someone I plan on working with to see if he has an interest in combining forces for later down the road. It’s wonderful to find someone who is very knowledgeable but doesn’t come across as the type who has to prove it or make you feel stupid for their own ego.

One day last week I volunteered to do some admin work for the CERT program. I was working with a gentleman who also does a lot of volunteer work with CERT and in talking with him, I found out he was involved as an instructor in Emergency Management in New York City and was at the Twin Towers on 9/11. Like my ham radio friend, this gentleman also served in Viet Nam. We shared like interests and had a lot in common, some things we disagreed on but nothing that would hold me back from bringing this person into the club. Actually you want someone who does not always agree, brings out other options to look at as long as you can team up and work together. He was slowly building up his preps in buying much needed items such as fire arms and was working on obtaining other supplies. In talking with this gentleman I wanted to hurry him along some in his prepping efforts so I mentioned a couple of books to read, Patriots by James Rawles and One Second After by W. R. Forstchen.  Also in our conversation he mentioned he has a son with one of the SEAL Teams. On hearing this, my mind went into mental overload and started racing with all sorts of thoughts. This is a person I definitely want to get to know much better and would love to meet his son. If for nothing more than to thank him for his service.

A third person who has been a long time friend of mine and use to be my boss in the Coast Guard many years ago is now a Pastor at a church in Florida. where he is planning on retiring in a couple of years. After he retired from the Coast Guard, he went into nursing school and he now works one day a week in the Emergency Room at a busy Florida hospital. He and I have been sharing a dream of one day buying a couple of Class A type motor homes and touring the country with our wives in tow (not literally in tow, they can ride inside). In one of our conversations I had mentioned that this type of unit would be good for getting out of Dodge if the SHTF. He mentioned that this was part of his plan in getting one but had to get his wife onboard that things are not looking good and they needed to start making more preparations.

A fourth person I know is a good friend of mine and I hire him any time I need work done on my home he’s a very talented carpenter and also loves to hunt. He and his wife have a 5th wheel camper and they go camping and hunting regularly with it. With the construction field being slow, he is doing mostly work by word of mouth and would not be able to put a lot of funds into prepping but he brings other talents to the table.

My wife and I have been working hard scrimping and saving to get this house paid off which will soon come to light. I highly recommend this as part of your prepping efforts. I have been actively looking for land where we can pick up some acreage that has a year round fresh water spring and boarders a National Forest. When I find the right piece I hope to be in a position where I can afford it. Once I find the right place I will take time and set it up with gardens, off grid power systems and security measures. I’m now thinking on ways how I can set up several motor homes and camouflage them into the landscape. My ham radio friend has just purchased a Class A motor home and he has found a good dealership that will work with you and has a good reputation. My friend in Florida also has a member of his church who owns a motor home dealership so finding a good deal should not be a problem.

In my making plans for where to find land to establish my BOL Community one of the sites I use is: LandAndFarm.com. You can go in, find any State and any County within the State and see what’s available. In my mind, I can see the property I’m looking for, now I just have to find out where on earth its located.

I have purchased a map of the United States and have mounted it to a piece of cardboard. I have been in the process of locating where nuclear power plants are and using a colored push pin to mark their location. You can use the distance scale on the side of the map to make yourself a small round disc to place under the push pin to represent the distance you want to be away from the plant such as 25 miles. I found this information here.

If you have settled in on one State in particular you can just get a larger more detailed map of that State and work with that. Being a member of AAA has many benefits but one being free maps and information books on areas. When finding a location I use a more detailed map to locate major roads and highways. I want to identify what I feel will be heavy traveled routes and stay away from them. Google Earth on the PC is also a wonderful program.

Also located on this map I make note of prevailing winds, earthqauke-prone regions, and so forth. Two of the sites I use for this are: NOAA Seasonal Drought Map and Natural Disasters Map.

As I mentioned in the beginning, I have a disability and so do some of the people I’m meeting. So something that is important is where hospitals and medical centers are located. For this information I use this site. These places may not be up and running in a full blown out disaster but they will be up until then and maybe for a short time after.

At times I have found some decent properties that seem to have some potential then once I find something that I may like I go into: www.bestplaces.net and I can enter the town or county and pull up records of the area. One of the things I look for is the crime rate. Some places that seem like good potential actually have a crime rate higher than the National average. I can understand one day when the toast is burnt  people are going to get ugly and crime will go up but I don’t see the need to start off with it at an already high level.

My plan is slowly coming together and I’m finding the right people that are like minded in my way of thinking. Other than my two long time friends, the other two just came into focus within the past two weeks or so. I have to believe that the Good Lord is making things happen by bringing these people into my life for a reason. Real life past experiences have shown me this. I have in my mind the skill sets I’m looking for in a person and eventually the Good Lord brings them around. Like I mentioned, I waited two years just to find someone who can help me with the Ham Radio. When I find that piece of land I’m looking for, part of my plan is to get my friends to join me out there camping at times and see what we can come up with or bounce some ideas off them.

You can go into various web sites and look to meet online “Like Minded People” but I find that can be very dangerous so use extreme caution, you really do not have any idea who you may be opening up your life too. Having before used online dating sites and finding out the profiles are not always accurate in describing the person I would shy away from that. What has worked for me was joining the local CERT program and getting involved with that. Here you can actually meet the people, work with them under emergency situations and disasters and see how they hold up. You can also figure out who you can work with and who you can’t, the ones who pitch in and help and the ones who like to jump in and take charge. I would shy away from the people who jump in and take charge thinking their way is the only way. This may work out good at a disaster but not so good in a group of folks who are trying to survive. Working with your Emergency Management also puts you in the know of what is available in your local area for resources and the ability to do some networking. If you do enough volunteering, you may actually find yourself in a position where you can set up programs and policies that will be of a benefit to you. You can find out a lot about a person such as religious and political beliefs without giving out to much information about yourself just by working with them.

Approach friends or people you know and work with that you feel comfortable with and strike up general conversations. You can be conducting an interview without them even knowing it and getting a feel of their beliefs. I feel it’s best to keep a very low profile of my prepping activities and not spill the beans until I feel the time is right. I have many friends and neighbors whom I have known for years and would love to have them involved in prepping and setting up a community. I’ve tried talking with them and trying to get them working on it but they just say they need to or would like to but just don’t have the finances, don’t have the time, blah blah blah. In the end they say that if anything happens they will just come out and stay with me and my wife. Wrong! Right now they have jobs, the stores are well stocked and they have the same opportunity as I do. My wife and I are not scrimping and saving to have the funds to prepare for their benefit. When I do find the land, it will be a closely guarded secret.

            2 Corinthians 6:14, Be ye not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers:
            Deuteronomy 22:10, You shall not plow with an ox and an ass together.

As always, good luck in your preps and God Bless…

Letter Re: A Newbie’s Perspective on Raising Chickens

To follow up on chicken coop design article “A Newbie’s Perspective on Raising Chickens“, please consider: 

My first coop had chicken wire all the way down to the ground.  The possums would get one on each side at night, bounce the chickens from side to side (chickens are stupid at night) and then they would grab one through the wire and extrude them through the wire eating as they went.  Within a month they were all gone.  The whole thing was very disturbing.

My new coop has plywood sides with hardware cloth (1/2″ squares) on the upper part.  As in the article, mine is closed in with plywood siding on three sides (1/2 way on the ends) and open at the top on the remaining sides with siding on the bottom part (all the way around)  The closed in area has the nesting boxes.  I did a closed in room behind the nesting boxes so I can access the boxes by lifting a small door in each box on the rear wall.

In the chicken run area, I used chicken wire at the top and roof but I used hardware cloth for the first two feet off the ground.  Raccoons and possum are proficient climbers and will easily access the coop mentioned yesterday.  There is also nothing to stop an owl or chicken hawk.  We have panthers and I am sure an open top will not stop them.  if you put a pressure treated wood piece at the bottom perimeter in the dirt as a nailer, it will be very difficult for an animal to dig in.  I have not had any problem.  I did use cypress fence lumber in the beginning and that has rotted out.
 
Additionally, I put a thin stainless floor over pressure treated plywood in my coop, sloped it slightly towards one wall, left an small 3/4″ gap under the wall bottom plate which is what the studs are fastened to  (supported on short 3/4″ wood blocks every two feet) and I put a 3/4″ piece of wood in the gap (loose)  to keep the snakes out.  Removing the wood plug allows me to wash down the floor.  If you taper the wood block and point the taper to the inside, it will funnel the waste out.

I am having a problem with something getting my larger birds during the day while they are free range, mainly the turkeys but the loss is manageable.  A fake owl has stopped most of my chicken hawk losses during free range.
 
In my garden area next to the coop, the chicken wire buried in the ground has rusted away and this weekend project is to put another wood nailer on top of the first one to refasten the shorter wire.

And regarding the recent article on underground caches I must mention you need to put a hard secondary cap over a rubber cap or a plastic bucket that is buried at a shallow depth.  This protective secondary cap can be made of thicker hard plastic, aluminum, steel, or pressure treated plywood.  I have cows (and they would collapse a rubber cap or a bucket.  A metal cap prevents that.  Of course metal will show up with a metal detector which would be good for you if you are caching so that would be bad if you have unwanted people searching.  With a cap, you can also use a probe to help relocate your items if the soil is not rocky. If you bury deep enough, you could use a dummy scrap metal piece above the cap to fool a coin shooting metal detector.

Auction Update: PVS-14 Gen 3+ Night Vision Scope to Benefit C.R.O.S.S. Ministries

CURRENT BID is $3,100 (Bid by Reader M.V.)

Simply e-mail us your bids. I will post regular updates on the bidding. The final deadline will be Midnight EST on Monday, March 11, 2013. Thanks for your generous bids in support of C.R.O.S.S. Ministries.

We are continuing a benefit auction of a brand new AN/PVS-14 Gen 3+ Night Vision Scope. All proceeds (100% of your bid) will be donated to C.R.O.S.S. Ministries. (A very worthy Christian ministry that is sharing the Gospel of Christ in South Sudan. Their outreach method is unique: They are teaching rural villagers tactical marksmanship, water purification, and firefighting skills, free of charge.)

The monocular is one of these. (The same model that we use here at the Rawles Ranch.) These night vision scopes normally retail for around $3,600. (Although Ready Made Resources sells them at the discounted price of $2,695.) This monocular was kindly donated by Ready Made Resources, in cooperation with Night Ops Tactical.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader J.McC. sent us two links for an enlightening study in contrasts:

These they release here in the States

But these they seek to formally deport to their home country.

This confirms something about the BHO Administration’s Agenda.

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Pierre M. sent: Chinese Cyberspies Attacked Natural Gas Pipeline Operators For Six Months Straight

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JRH Enterprises will be hosting another Survival Medicine class in Orlando, Florida on April 7, 2013. This is Part 1 in an ongoing series of medical training events. The class will be taught by a vascular surgeon and an Army Physician’s Assistant with two tours in Iraq. Several paramedics will also be assisting.

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Here is a sweet and fitting reply to Hollywood’s blowhards: Gun Control Works. Oh and speaking of “gun control”: Florida bill would require anger management courses for bullet buyers. [JWR’s Comment: I have a better idea: How about requiring a Temptation to Tyrannize Management class for anyone before they take public office?]

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G.G. flagged this: These Vehicles Are Tons of Fun, and Good for Thwarting Road Rage–Private Tank Owners Roll Out Heavy Weaponry; A Spin in Parking Lot. JWR’s Comment: How could the reporter miss mentioning the MVPA?

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Every job is good if you do your best and work hard. A man who works hard stinks only to the ones that have nothing to do but smell." – Laura Ingalls Wilder

Notes from JWR:

The 6th of March is the 35th anniversary of the death of American volunteer Trooper Frank P. Battaglia, in Zambia. Already a veteran of both the U.S. Army in Vietnam and the Spanish Foreign Legion, Battaglia joined the Rhodesian Army and served with distinction until his death on an external op.

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Today we present another two entries for Round 45 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course. (A $1,195 value.) B.) 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, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) a $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear, E.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value), and F.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo. and G.) A $200 gift certificate, donated by Shelf Reliance.

Second Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training. Together, these have a retail value of $589. C.) A FloJak FP-50 stainless steel hand well pump (a $600 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. D.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300, E.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials and F.) Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.), B.) 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, C.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, D.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value. E.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value), and F.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 45 ends on March 31st, 2013, 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.

Games Preppers Play, by T.W.

Preparedness is well within the top ten subject matters of interest today.  Most everyone is thinking about it and many of us are well under way toward some level of advanced planning.  Groups of like minded families are common but it would be a mistake to fail at making preparedness attractive to our children.

Our pioneer ancestors invented creative games to teach their children skills of survival in an unfriendly world.  Games were simple and fit for most occasions.  If they were weathered in at a cabin, there was a game where one child was the subject and the others would take turns trying to make the subject crack a smile or laugh.  While the children thought it was just a game, it taught them to control their emotions.  Should a raiding party attack their home, it could save their life to remain emotionless and silent.  That skill could prove valuable today if you needed to escape detection by blending into a crowd or lay motionless in brush.  When it comes to extracting information, skilled interrogation derives as much from emotional response as it does verbal.
There are many other skills that we could teach our children by having them play interesting games.  Games need to fit the age and ability of our children but you would be surprised at how quickly they learn advanced skills.

My daughter was one of the youngest females to qualify for the Washington State Explorer Search & Rescue (ESAR) program.  At fourteen years old, she completed her equipment, classroom, and first-aid training and accomplished a final exercise that included a three day map & compass orienteering course.  She carried a fifty pound pack of standardized equipment, food, and water.  Objectives were to use map & compass and orienteering skills to locate designated cans on a stake that was painted bright orange.  The locations were marked on their maps but getting to those points was dependent on their skill.  As the teams found each target they were to remove the lid and mark the notepad inside with their name and time of day.  The course was designed to place the two person teams at expected locations for each night.  Senior ESAR members watched from a distance and checked up on them with a nightly camp visit.  On the first night, leaders had lost track of my daughter and her teammate.  A full scale search started and they began checking the targets for signature.  These two girls had located and signed in at more targets than had previously been expected for one day and the leaders found them on top of a hill that was reserved for the middle of day two.  They were in great spirits and enjoyed a truly “hill top” experience under the stars.  My daughter and her teammate were not only the youngest two qualifying females in Washington ESAR history but they completed the three day course a half day ahead of the second team in.  One of the challenges of the event is not told the recruits.  Day two put them on what is called “Magnet Mountain.”  Because of local iron deposits, magnetic north cannot be located with a typical compass.  They would be required to adapt and read their maps according to terrain.  ESAR has learned to teach through exercise which makes the entire learning experience a fantastic game.  It works.

A variation of the orienteering game can make it progressive.  Each team has a different set of targets to locate with each target providing a necessary part or clue to completing a task.  An example might be to start with a recorded tape or CD at the first target; followed by a tape or CD player at the second target; followed by earphones at the third; and finally the batteries.  The recorded message would guide them to the final prize that all teams are looking to win.  The prize for our youth is both something fitting to their effort and a fun filled event.  The prize for us as parents will be watching our youth learn valuable skills while having a ball doing it.

We can create many great games for our children.  Among groups of like minded families where many youth are represented, the potential is awesome.  We can make afternoon, day, or weekend events that will teach and sharpen skills.  As parents, we will learn as much and have as much fun planning these events as our kids have doing them.  “Hide & Seek” could be modified to emulate our military Escape & Evasion training.  They don’t have to “play Army” and the game can be called “Rabbit & Fox.”   They learn escape & evasion if they are the rabbit and they learn tracking if they are the fox.

My children have done things like this on a grand scale with their friends.  Weeks of preparation went into an elaborate all night game of “Capture the Flag.”  This involved a kickoff barbeque, camouflage clothing, and full face paint.  It ended with a pancake breakfast.  I have family pictures of my son and daughters as proud of how they looked that night as if they were going to the prom.  They were serious tacticians and they still share stories of those nights with dozens of their friends on their cousin’s farm. The excitement kept them up all night and after breakfast the next morning; they were already planning the next event.

At a well disciplined shooting range, we could teach our children how to safely handle firearms.  If there isn’t an Appleseed group near you, I’m sure they would help you with both ideas and perhaps a pathway to forming your own group.

Other practical events on a smaller scale could be a timed event at digging a Dakota Hole, starting a fire without matches, and bringing one cup of water to a boil in a standard soup can.  My youngest daughter invited several of her friends over for Smores around a fire pit.  It was sad that so many of her friends didn’t know how to start a campfire even with the use of matches and newspaper.  After several poor attempts they were all interested to learn how to do it right.  Imagine that?  Teens interested in learning a skill from one of their dads. 
Our children want to be a productive part of the group and what better way for them to demonstrate their worth than to be in charge of starting the campfire or a host of other suitable skills?
I am part of a group of families that meet each month and share training on various skills.  We describe it as 4H for adults.  At one event we explored how to make a bow & arrow from PVC pipe and a fiberglass rod used for temporary horse fencing.  It was amazingly good and the bow’s delivered forty-five pounds of thrust.  That would be perfect for teaching our teens an important skill and what would be more appropriate than hosting a “Robin Hood” shooting event with those home-made bows and arrows?

The movie “Hunger Games” cast the heroine as a young provider for her family and could be used to encourage our youth to participate.  She was an accomplished archery hunter but more importantly, she provided her family with food because of her skills.  In a grid down world, our children will need to become proficient at many things.  A problem is that many daily tasks necessary in a ‘grid down world’ are manually intense and tend to eliminate younger bodies.   When looking for a “Well Bucket” to manually draw water from a four inch well casing, I was amazed to find most were sized at several gallons and would be very heavy to draw.  Seeing a need to include our children in as many tasks as possible, I designed a light weight “Bullet Bucket” that holds only about one gallon per draw.  This is light enough that a young teen could draw water for a family and not be excluded from serving an important role.

Practicing skills can be a group event.  Our group was formed after reading an article in SurvivalBlog forum regarding Colloquium (CQ) Groups.  We have grown into our third year and have affiliated groups in three other cities.  Once each year we hold a CQ Field Day.  We camp out at a city park or privately owned field that is visible and accessible to the town.  This year we will be in a three acre field owned by our church and right in the middle of town.  Along with practicing our skills and having a great time of fellowship among ourselves, we will be hosting the local 4H group, Boy Scouts, and the city Youth in Action group.  We will be demonstrating outdoor cookery, amateur radio field operations, fire making, making your own laundry detergent and other skills of interest.  There are several merit badges available to the Boy Scouts and we have men qualified to approve those badge requirements.  This will be our second such Field Day and it is capturing some very good attention from our city.  Our group is not promoted as a “Prepper Group” and that is with purpose.  Since we are promoting skills that can help a family save money and that make us better prepared for storms and associated outages, we are cast in a very different light than with the mockery that is painted on “Preppers” as a result of sensational media attention.   Since the skills we teach and practice can and do serve both hurricane preparedness and TEOTWAWKI, we prefer to remain hidden in plain sight.  Even at our meetings, nothing is ever shared about how much any of us has stored.  We are all about skills and the subject of personal inventories never comes up.

The importance of training our young people will make a profound difference to the future of our nation.  As they learn skills of survival, they learn principles of living.  Including them in such an important part of family preparedness teaches them responsibility and recognizes their significance as a contributing member of the group.  Children are often marginalized by our system of education and teens especially may lack the confidence to stand shoulder to shoulder with adults in preparedness training.  It is easy for them to feel overwhelmed and left behind as their parents become serious about making preparations.  We can unintentionally push our children aside because we want to demonstrate and practice abilities newly learned.  Reaching them and encouraging them to join in is a worthy effort at the very least.  An important note is that all of us like to play games and that is the key to teaching skills and including our youth in sharing the future.   When we teach skills by the media of games, we discover a love of learning.

Caring For Kids, by Mrs. H.

Are you responsible for the most valuable commodity in the world? Do you have small children? Are you a grandparent? Even though your grown children currently think you are crazy, will they be showing up at your door in a SHTF scenario? What about the neighbor down the road, the single mother that is just barely getting by financially? Even though they are not actually your responsibility, will you be able to turn away a stranger with an infant or small child pleading for help? What does God expect out of us? What if you were suddenly responsible for an infant or toddler? Do you have some basic supplies or plans  for this scenario? In many ways, infants and toddlers require careful planning when preparing for a TEOTWAWKI situation.
Infants and toddlers can throw a curve ball into your prepping plans.  Here are some basic needs that toddlers and babies require, that many people may not think to have in their long term storage. Some of these suggestions are simple and inexpensive but extremely valuable. Anyone that has taken care of children knows that keeping them happy and comfortable reduces a lot of stress on the caretaker. Sadly, some parents will not have a clue about what to do when they run out or cannot afford/find disposable diapers. Some of these items are cost (and space) prohibitive for someone that may not be definitely responsible children.  Additionally, there are a few transportation type items my family has acquired. We will use these in a SHTF scenario, but we also use them in our day to day life.

Babies need diapers, plain and simple. Instead of stockpiling expensive and bulky boxes of disposable diapers, I bought a pattern (link) and made one size diapers that fit a baby from 8 pounds to 35 pounds. Both of our children can literally fit in the same diaper, even though they are almost 20 pounds different in weight. These are not your thin pre-folds found on the Wal-Mart shelf (don’t buy them unless you’re using them as burp cloths, they’re terribly thin and not very useful). I can also use the leftover material from the diapers as cloth wipes or the diapers themselves as bandages in extremely unfortunate situations. A couple of drawers of diapers that last for years saves much more space (and money) than years’ worth of disposable diapers. How good would you feel to hand a struggling parent a few re-usable diapers (you may need to show them how they are used) before sending them down the road? Don’t forget a good supply of safety pins for many reasons. Plus, when using my homemade laundry detergent, I don’t have any additional soap to buy or store.  You can find good, used diapers through a diaper cleaning service, online, and at garage sales. Get creative; they are out there if you look for them.

Babies also require milk. Most people can agree that nursing is the most beneficial form of nourishment for an infant. It also is simpler. For example, there is no need to find a bottle (let alone sanitize it), it is always at the right temperature, no one has to measure out precise ingredients, and I can’t think of a single time it has ever been recalled. However, it can be painful to nurse and sometimes it just is not an option. If you suddenly find yourself caring for an infant what are you going to feed that baby?

Through my research, I have found several goats’ milk recipes. Goats’ milk has very nutritious properties and is supposed to be easier for infants to digest than a cow’s milk. So, if you have access to goats, search for some recipes and see if this is something that may benefit your situation. Unfortunately, goats simply are not an option for my family. We live on a military installation and the housing authorities are adamant on their pet policies. Goats will not do here, which leads me to a formula recipe I found in a cookbook. The recipe’s ingredients are common staples in most pantries.

12 ounces evaporated milk
2 Tablespoons Dark Corn Syrup, Sugar, or Brown Sugar
2 ¼ Cup Water (my Dr. recommends boiling all water, even bottled water, to kill bacteria before giving to infants)

Mix these ingredients together (be sure that the water has cooled to an appropriate temperature) then feed to the baby. This can be refrigerated after use and stored for several days.
Since this recipe does not have additional vitamins or iron that infants require, liquid vitamin drops would be important to add in order to meet the child’s nutrient requirements.
As a disclaimer, I am not a health care provider. Perhaps this information will be helpful to a child in a SHTF scenario. In the meantime, please consult with a medical professional with questions or recommendations for the health of your child.

When TEOTWAWKI occurs, how are you going to transport that kiddo if we have to? This is a subject that, unless you are currently or know you will be responsible for children, may be a minor concern. Transporting a child “legally” in a vehicle will not be a priority however; a car seat does keep the child safe and stationary so the other occupants can remain alert to the environment around them. I do not believe that traveling via motorized vehicle will be an option in most SHTF scenarios so, let’s concentrate on non-motorized transportation options.
First off, bicycles are great to have at hand. They provide a quick, efficient, and cheap mode of transportation. But, how will you transport the children on a bike? Well, you could install one of those plastic seats over the handle bars or behind your own seat. Used ones are plentiful and inexpensive at garage sales.  Or, here’s another option. We chose a bike trailer. We purchased an Aosom Elite 3 in 1 from an eBay store. This is a cheaper model, but one is better than none, right? What is nice about this trailer is that two children (up to a combined weight of 88 pounds) can ride in it simultaneously. The trailer has a mesh cover to allow air flow, but it also keeps rocks, sticks and larger bugs from infiltrating the cockpit area. It came standard with a clear plastic cover to go over the mesh to keep rain off the children or to keep the cold weather out. One of the requirements I had when looking for a bike trailer was that it had to convert easily from a trailer to a stroller. This trailer simply attaches to pull behind a bike, and it has a front swivel wheel that allows it to become a stroller. The swivel wheel can be “locked” in a forward position to be used for jogging. The handle bar at the back of the trailer doubles as a roll over bar and can be adjusted to be more comfortable for those of different heights pushing the stroller.  There is also an enclosed area at the back of the trailer that is fairly large (for a size idea, it can fit 4 gallons of milk). Another neat feature is that many trailers can be converted to be on skis for those in snowy regions. A simple ski kit is available on eBay for those that snowshoe or Cross Country Ski. Now, if funds are not an issue for you, I would probably recommend a trailer with a larger front wheel. This would make the trailer more compatible for rugged terrain. Furthermore, when the kids outgrow this, it may be retrofitted to haul game, goods, firewood or used as a great barter item.

What if hiking is more your style or a bike trailer is not feasible for you? Here are some other options. While hiking (or even doing house work) with a “fresh” baby, my Moby Wrap was a life saver. The Moby is a long piece of fabric with a stretch. You can even make your own, just do a search for how to on online. For us, the Moby worked well while the kids were just a few months old. The bigger they grew, the more difficult it was for me to carry them.

Then, I was introduced to a Deuter Kid Comfort Carrier. These distribute the child’s weight more evenly on my body, making long walks more enjoyable for both mommy and the child. Each of our Deuters have a kickstand (which allows us to double the back pack as a high chair because of the balance the kickstand provides), strap in harness, shade cover, and rain shield. They also have mesh pockets on the side, and a deep pocket under the child’s seat. We can store diapers, food, water, and other necessities in the deep pocket. This pack does not allow you to carry “tons” of items for a BOB, but it is perfect for me as a Bug Home Bag, if I am just running errands throughout town. It is perfect for everyday use, too. It frees my hands but also allows a fussy child to be comforted close to mommy or daddy.

Trying to be prepared can be expensive. We were blessed to pick up a Deuter at a garage sale, and the other was a gift from my parents. Here is a money saving recommendation. When trying to get equipment, head to an REI store (or similar facility) if you have the luxury. Be prepared to stay for several hours. Get properly fitted for a backpack. I strongly suggest this, as this will increase your comfort while carrying the child. There are also great videos on YouTube explaining how to properly fit yourself to your pack. Put your child in the backpack and see how you both like it.  Walk around the store for half an hour or longer. Try several different brands and see what works best for you and your children. Take notes on the features you like, how it fits, what you do not like, etc. Do the same with the bike trailer or any other necessities you find yourself needing.  Push the kid(s) around the store. Try to see how the kids fit in the trailer with helmets on.  Is there enough storage area, do the kids have enough room? Again, take notes. If money is not a problem or if there is a remarkable sale going on and you want to support that store, then go ahead, make your purchase.  On the other hand, if you have a smart phone or want to save a bit of money, check out eBay, Craigslist, Bookoo, etc. Take your notes and go home. Find a used product at a more affordable price. Many times children outgrow these tools before the family uses them a handful of times, so you can find good products in like new condition.

The products I mentioned are just items my family finds useful. We are not associated with any of these companies or web sites, nor do we get any monetary gain from sharing our opinions on these products. They are just that, opinions, take them for what they are worth. Children are surely a blessing. Consider them and their needs when preparing your supplies.