Dr. Bob on Snakebites in TEOTWAWKI

This article was requested by a reader from SurvivalBlog and therefore is published here before it even appears on my own web site next week.  In reviewing the snake-related material in the history, no review of snakebites was found.  There was some reference to people that have been bitten by rattlers, and the July 2006 run in that the fine editor of this blog had with a 3-footer, but no review of risk and advise for treatment.  We will change all that in one swoop here, and the review will be as thorough as my capabilities allow, but hopefully will also generate many responses that will also help fill in some of the gaps or correct some of the information.  Sometimes more can be learned reading the comments that come after some of the articles than the article itself, as savvy readers are already very aware.  So, my advice is hopefully helpful, but keep checking back over the next 10 days while JWR sorts through the comments from other readers and posts some of their knowledge in the coming days.

Snakebites kill 125,000 people worldwide every year.  Here in the US deaths are much less common as our snakes are relatively lame in the deadly venom category, and something does need to be said here about risk.  Roughly 8000 people on average are bitten by venomous snakes each year in the US and about 5-10 per year die, making the risk >0.1% after being bitten!  That number would surely be higher with no treatment, but even being 100 times higher post-collapse would still put your risk of dying at >10%.  For comparison, bee stings kill an average of 120 people a year and lightning kills 150 per year.  That doesn’t really help our mental health when tromping around in the grassland though on a sunny Fall day.  Similar to the idea of shark attacks, the risk is not the same as our fear when floating in the Gulf 30 feet out.  Hopefully these stats will help put things in perspective for the serious prepper, as having Benadryl and Epipens for bee stings is better prepping than snake worries.  But, even more important from a risk category:  get inside if it’s storming out!

Anyone in snake country knows that snake risk is also regionally very different.  And even within that region the snakes are usually fairly predictable about where they hang out at.  Risk along Montana riversides is about one billion times higher than a northern Minnesota open field (mostly because there are no venomous snakes in northern Minnesota).  We saw more Prairie Rattlesnakes in Montana than any other type of snake there.  One of my tough-as-nails Vietnam Veteran friends had many hunting trips ruined blasting birdshot into rattlesnakes, sending him home early with shaky hands as he was deathly afraid of snakes.  He once got struck by a bigger rattler on the ankle of his boot, didn’t get bit, but related that it felt like Pujols took a full swing and landed the bat on his ankle.  After unloading and then reloading, 12 shells of dove-killing birdshot rendered the snake unrecognizable (he really doesn’t like snakes).

With venomous snakes here in America the general rule for worry is this: Person size relative to snake size predicts risk of death.  In other words, big dude vs small snake:  very little risk of death; big snake vs small child:  trouble.  Snake size does not mean relative to the person, it means relative to the type of snake it is.  However, the problem with that general rule is that bigger snakes are usually smarter about not wasting their venom and will often give you a “dry bite” warning first and then inject you with the venom if you don’t get the message they are trying to send.  Younger, smaller snakes often will inject more venom because they are not veteran biters, so they may inject more venom the first time than the older, bigger snake.

But, snakes often do weird things too.  In our area here in Missouri, the most common venomous snake is the Copperhead.  Time and time again, little kids will pick one up and carry it into their house or put it in a bucket, and the snake is cool with it.  How does that work?  Does the snake know that the kids are just stupid and give them a break?  Patients/friends of mine have a posse of hillbilly children that gathered up a couple buckets of about 40 snakes this year by pulling up rocks and grabbing them (a two-child operation).  In the buckets [among the other snakes] were two Copperheads!  They did take a teaching moment and tried the “this is a no-touchy snake” lecture, but no one really believes they won’t do it again next year.  One of the kids was a 3 year old, certainly at high risk for trouble if he had been bitten by even a middle-sized Copperhead.  Life in the Ozarks, gotta love it!

The other major problem in patient risk assessment is misidentifying the perpetrating snake and therefore the venom risk.  Here in Missouri, if someone is bitten by what they think is a small timber rattler and is a normal 200 pound guy, we watch him and away he goes with little in the way of symptoms and very little risk of death.  But, if he was wrong and it was a Eastern Massasauga rattler instead, which has very toxic venom, we watch him get very sick and his risk of death is certainly real.  So, in your retreat area, know your snakes.  Again, in the Ozarks, the Copperhead is by far and away the most common venomous snake that we see.  The good news for us:  there has never been a recorded death from a Copperhead bite in Missouri.  This would very likely change without medical support, but the risk of death is still very low from a Copperhead bite in our area, which is good peace of mind when your 3 year old is flipping rocks for fun.

Great, Dr. Bob, most snake fears are out of proportion to risk so we should all just walk around barefoot in Texas rock piles, eh?  Don’t do that please.  The first plan for snakes, no matter which area you live in is:  

PREVENTION.  Imaging a doctor saying that; shocker.  Know your area, know your snakes, know your risk and then protect yourself.  Personally, the “1/2 Mile Rule” is one that we followed in Montana when we lived there.  [“Kill any rattlesnake within 1/2 mile of your habitation.”] It is generally a good one in my book.  As many previous readers have mentioned, have the correct firearms and ammo for snake-blasting when working fences or other high-risk areas for snake contact.  A .410 shotgun works well, but the weapon choice is personal and there are better articles available on this blog and others.  Boots.  End of story.  Type, style, etc., can be found here and the choice is yours.  Wear them though, and wear gloves when certain high-risk activities are necessary.  Rocks and woodpiles are dangerous snake areas, wear heavy gloves when reaching into these areas to reduce risk of bites.  We rolled hay bales down in a stack and knocked a section of wood over before pulling each bale or piece out to put in the wheelbarrows.  Knocking them over would scare or crush any potential snakes away was our thought, and it seemed to work as we didn’t see any close to us during that time.  Figure out your own plan and practice consistently so you build the good habit now.

Also needing mention is animals.  Horses in Montana often got their noses bitten, which can be life-threatening for a horse as they can’t breath out of their mouths.  When Docswife ran a boarding stable for a year, we had more than a couple horses that stayed for stable observation after a Rattlesnake bite.  We also had some neighboring ranchers that actually lost a horse to multiple rattler bites after collapsing a den while dust rolling.  Freak accident, but still, a loss of a valuable horse that may have been able to be prevented if that den had been identified and could have been fenced off.  A couple patients had been bitten by snakes when in Montana, but the only family member bitten in our Montana years was Aine, my wife’s border collie.  The poor dog still has a spot on that elbow where the hair won’t grow.  She laid around panting for a day before we found the bite, and then laid around sleeping a lot for another day while we worried–but she recovered just fine.  We assume it was a Rattler, not too big from the fang separation, but only she knows.  If we had lost her, my wife would have been devastated and we would have probably gone on a snake roundup for revenge and then one of us would surely have been bitten.  Moral of this story, animals are at much higher risk of contact and therefore illness and death due to snakebites.  Cats, dogs, and horses all were killed by Rattlesnake venom in our Montana neighborhood, while we did not know of any humans bitten during that same time period within the same area.

So let’s talk a bit about what you actually can do if bitten to reduce your risk of death or tissue loss.  You will not be able to count on any medical support necessarily, and without the support of your local ER after TEOTWAWKI, it might be worthwhile to know a little bit about treatment options.  The first and foremost thing about snakebite management is field management done correctly.  The following should be done for a snakebite victim:

• Remove yourself and patient from the snake’s territory, or the snake from the territory (via hot lead injection from of safe distance)
• Try to immobilize the area bitten below the level of the heart
• Clean the wound as well as you are able in the field
• Do not allow the patient to drink alcohol or take medication that may cause sedation
• Transport the patient to any available medical facility (will there be one?)
So, one of your members gets tagged “it” by a local venomous villain, now what.  Let’s say it was an “oops” moment reaching into a storage area and a snake had holed up there unexpectedly.  Remove that snake safely, in 12 gauge fashion to prevent return.   The back of the bitten hand is painful, swollen, and there are 2 little holes present.  Calm the person!  Lay them down and keep that hand below the cot, bed, or litter the “patient” is now on.  Wash it with clean, soapy water and if not available use peroxide.  If neither is available, alcohol is the last resort; either medical or social.  Don’t let the patient have any of the social type, and move them to your main housing area (it is assumed that is the available medical facility).  For the first 12 hours, the person needs to be encouraged to drink fluids and stay still and calm.  That hand needs to stay below the heart if possible the entire time.  Elevate the patient with blankets or cushions and leave the arm lower, but try not to “hang” it below as that can sometimes cut off circulation at the armpit and cause nerve damage, especially if the patient is unconscious.

Antibiotics are not necessary unless the wound is heavily contaminated.  In a study of 53 snakebites here in the US, none developed infection following the bite.  If the wound is contaminated, then use generic Augmentin (amoxicillin/clavulanate) if available, and generic Omnicef (Cefdinir) as a second choice.  On the other hand, Tetanus contamination of a snakebite can occur, and keeping up to date on your Tdap vaccination is essential prevention while the grid is up.  If the patient is conscious and becomes nauseous, use any anti-nausea medication that you may have to help the person keep fluids down.  Fluids are vitally important to help the body “thin” down the toxicity of the venom over the next 24 hours after being bitten.  So, you have the person calmly resting with the bitten area below the heart, the wound was cleaned, fluids are flowing, now what?  Pray and wait.  We will discuss severe symptoms and signs of trouble later in the article.  The large majority of the time the person may feel a little ill and nauseated, with sweats and a rapid heartbeat, but will stay conscious and recover with a nasty scar.

What should you NOT do?  Well, that is where the heated debate comes in.  Using the latest medical information available, these are the things that are largely believed out there that DO NOT have any proven medical benefit:
• Incision
• Oral suction
• Suction devices
• Freezing
• Electric shocking
• Tourniquets

A large study using mock venom showed that suction of venom reduced the toxin in the system by 2%, meaning 98% of the venom still made it into the tissues.  Not enough to make a difference in life or death, and certainly not worth the risk of increased infection from some of the methods used (like putting your nasty, bacteria-filled mouth on an open wound).  Tourniquets can damage nerves, tendons, blood vessels and cause infections themselves.  Therefore, they are medically not recommended.  This is constantly a topic of debate, as well as all of these recommendations above, because people just want to be able to do something.  Medically speaking, from the research available and the results from that research, these things will not help and will likely cause more harm than good.

Now, snakes are generally good survival eating, so it would be best to kill the snake and get some extra protein for a meal if possible.  An amazing fact: dead snakes can still bite!  Snakes are muscle and reflex, that’s about it.  Even a dead one can reflexively latch on to the unsuspecting doofus’ arm and even inject venom.  Amazing but true, so watch out.  Most snake-savvy folks cut the head right off and then the problem is solved. [JWR Adds: Reader Dan J. notes: “A decapitated snake head can skill inject venom. The head must be buried, put in a bucket with a lid, or otherwise made safe and not available to dogs, cats, curious children or foolish adults for a long time.”

US snakes we really need to worry about are in the subfamily of Crotalinae.  This includes rattlesnakes, water moccasins, copperheads.  99% of all US venomous snakebites are from these snakes.  The only other snake outside that family that causes significant risk is the Elapidae family which includes the coral snake.  Coral snake bites are rare due to the limited distribution and are primarily found in Texas and Florida.  The most venomous snake from a venom potency standpoint aside from the Coral snake is the Mojave Rattler.  This nasty crawler’s venom can cause neuromuscular weakness and respiratory depression and should be taken as a serious risk if it is in your area; which includes the south western United States in southern California, southern Nevada, extreme south western Utah, most of Arizona, southern New Mexico and western Texas.  From the risk standpoint though, even this deadly enemy is no match to the more populous snakes that we encounter more often.  The following is stolen directly from www.snakesandspiders.com:

With this in mind, the two snakes that jump out at me are the Western Diamondback the Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes. The Mojave Rattlesnake would likely be right there with these two if it were a bit more common, and more widespread. They are found in a pretty focused area that is often not inhabited by human beings. This leads to fewer bites, and therefore precludes their being included as one of the deadliest.

The Western Diamondback has no such qualms. They are around plenty of humans and do plenty of biting when compared to the majority of venomous snakes. Their venom is powerful, and they deliver the bite with large fangs that can give a large dose of that deadly venom. Many consider the Western Diamondback to be the deadliest snake in the United States.

For my money, the Eastern Diamondback is about as deadly as they come. This is not only the deadliest snake in America in my opinion, it is also the largest venomous snake as well. They grown big, fat, and can have a nasty disposition when they are bothered. The venom glands are huge on the eastern diamondback rattlesnake, and they are not shy about injecting that venom.

Of all the snakes in America, I call the Eastern Diamondback the deadliest overall. The Western diamondback is a close second, with the Mojave close behind them.

Unfortunately for us, the Western Diamondback is commonly encountered by those in its territory, which ranges from California to Arkansas.  These powerful, dangerous snakes can reach 7 feet long.  As noted above, the Eastern Diamondback is even nastier and can be bigger, reaching 8 feet long.  The recent popular email of a 15 foot Eastern Diamondback in Florida was a camera trick and the snake was actually 7 feet 3 inches, which was still a monster and did weigh over thirty pounds.  Their range is from North Carolina to Louisiana and all points south.  95% of all deaths from snakebites are from Diamondbacks, so they are to be feared if you live where they do.  Children, small females, and pets are at the highest risk for death due to the size ratio mentioned earlier.  Usually, these snakes do lie in wait and are not aggressive hunters, so avoiding them and sealing up your housing and storage areas is the best protection from their wrath.

Now, for some of the more technical medical information for those that would be in charge of the medical aspects of their group, it is recommended that the non-medical folks proceed with caution as there is lots of bad news in the following paragraphs.  Again, keep in mind that most snakebites are not severe and that 25% of all venomous snakebites have no envenomation.  For those 75%, there are two types of venom problems medically:  hemotoxic and neurotoxic.  Hemotoxic symptoms are far more common as the neurotoxic snakes are the Mojave Rattlesnake and the Coral snake, along with any exotics that may escape and survive as short time.  Hemotoxic and neurotoxic symptoms:

Hemotoxic symptoms Neurotoxic symptoms
Intense pain Minimal pain
Edema Ptosis
Weakness Weakness
Swelling Paresthesia (often numb at bite site)
Rapid pulse Numbness or tingling
Ecchymoses Diplopia
Muscle fasciculation Dysphagia
Paresthesia (oral) Sweating
Unusual metallic taste Salivation
Vomiting Diaphoresis
Confusion Hyporeflexia
Bleeding disorders Respiratory depression
  Paralysis

The usual Rattlers can cause death with severe envenomation by profound hemotoxic effects, mostly through clotting problems.  The unusual snakes that cause neurotoxic symptoms cause death much more often by percentage, due to respiratory depression and paralysis of breathing muscles.  If there is any doubt as to the type of envenomation, this chart can help sort it out as the patient deteriorates, not that it will be of much consolation.  The risk of death is also increased by the distance to the heart.  A chest or back bite by a decent sized Rattler is very likely to be fatal.  The meaty part of the thigh, shoulder or buttocks is also risky due to the blood flow present and closeness to the heart.  Any bite to the face is nearly always fatal due to airway swelling and plentiful blood flow.  Use this information to allocate resources and effort, as it may save others that suffer a survivable bite in the future.

Tissue damage is very common with Rattler bites.  Sometimes dramatic and impressive, it is rarely infected and not usually life-threatening.  Some pictures of dramatic cases are found here [Warning: Graphic!]

Many more dramatic and impressive examples can be found with a simple web search if you need more grossing out.  This tissue damage can be extremely painful, and medication available will be used to help bring down swelling and control pain.  Caution will have to be used with NSAIDs as the risk of bleeding from the venom will have to be considered against the benefit of the medication, especially in the first 12 hours.  For someone without tachycardia and systemic symptoms on a distal hand or ankle bite, it will likely be fine to start NSAID therapy and then discontinue if there are any signs of bleeding that develop. 

There are five degrees of envenomation that are predictive of death in a TEOTWAWKI situation:

Degree of Envenomation
Presentation
Treatment
0. None Punctures or abrasions; some pain or tenderness at the bit Local wound care
I. Mild Pain, tenderness, edema at the bite; perioral paresthesias may be present. Aggressive hydration, Benadryl, NSAIDS
II. Moderate Pain, tenderness, erythema, edema beyond the area adjacent to the bite; often, systemic manifestations and mild coagulopathy Aggressive hydration, Benadryl, caution with NSAIDS, consider IV fluids if available, death possible but unlikely if the patient continues to be conscious and able to take po fluids
III. Severe Intense pain and swelling of entire extremity, often with severe systemic signs and symptoms; Coagulopathy IV fluids, Benadryl, consider Epipen use if available, avoid NSAIDS due to bleeding risk, death will be very likely
IV. Life-threatening Marked abnormal signs and symptoms; severe coagulopathy Death even with all efforts, are up to God

This will not be a happy time to be in charge of the medical care for your group if you are tasked with caring for a patient with grades III and IV envenomation.  Again, information may help allocate resources in the future if you live in an area where snakebites will be likely within your group in the future.  Notice that these gradings are done on an extremity, as the trunk, chest and face wounds will almost always be grade IV.  The photos at my web site all show bites that are grades I and II, although the third photo may have been grade III at its peak.  In caring for the more severe snakebite patient, urine output is a helpful sign of stability.  If urine output falls, kidney failure is likely and death will likely result.  Bleeding can occur, and intercranial hemorrhages can even occur with severe cases.  Monitoring the gums, eyelids, and fingernails can indicate hemorrhage.  Unfortunately, if coagulopathy does occur, it can only be corrected by antivenom, which in TEOTWAWKI will surely not be available.

Most severe cases of envenomation will show signs within 6 hours, but with neurotoxic venoms there can be a delay.  Be sure to monitor any patient suspected to have the possibility of neurotoxic venom for a minimum of 24 hours, even if they show no symptoms.  For hemotoxic envenomation, the 24 hour mark is critical for those cases of grades II and above.  All grade II patients showing improvement at 24 hours will very likely recover completely, and even those that are touchy but conscious will also likely recover.  Grade III patients showing improvement or at least stability at 24 hours have a good hope of survival, and efforts towards recovery will usually not be in vain for grade III patients that are improving.  Grade IV patients will very rarely survive to a 24 hour assessment.  Without antivenom available, these patients will not survive outside Divine intervention at TEOTWAWKI.

For those of you that are still with me after almost 4,000 words and a lot of information, hopefully this was a helpful review and will perhaps save lives someday.  It needs to be repeated that the best possible treatment for poisonous snakebites is prevention.  Please feel free to comment to me directly at survivinghealthy@hotmail.com and updates will be made to this article on my site as information that is helpful or useful becomes available.  Stay strong and wear your boots! 

—

JWR Adds: Dr. Bob is is one of the few consulting physicians in the U.S. who prescribes antibiotics for disaster preparedness as part of his normal scope of practice. His web site is: SurvivingHealthy.com.

Letter Re: Natural Gas “Drip” Condensate

Hello James,
To follow up on the recent letter about running gasoline engines on “drip”: I have never used drip gas, but an old friend of mine who lived and worked in Texas told me it was often necessary to remove the sulfur from drip gas. I would suspect your nose would tell you if sulfur was present [in high concentration] by the rotten egg smell of hydrogen sulfide. The trick used back then was to let the drip gas sit in a container full of copper wool.  Obviously copper wire will work, but over a longer time period, as the copper wool has more surface area. The sulfur in the drip gas reacts with the copper to form a very black flake that then falls off the wire, leaving a black sediment in the container.  

The reason this is important is that the sulfur can also react with the copper in bearings of your engine, leading to a major failure. Burned sulfur in fuel, now sulfur dioxide gas, after passing through a catalytic converter is converted to sulfuric acid, leading to a rust out of your exhaust system. All of this can be eliminated and tested for by soaking with shiny copper wire, wool, or even pennies.  

Watching a sulfide containing liquid, such as Ortho Dormant Disease Lime Sulfur spray, to remove all the copper off of a post-1982 penny is an interesting experiment. It leaves the pure zinc penny naked of it’s copper shell. Now imagine it is pulling the copper off your engine’s bearings. Best to you, – Dave B.

Five Letters Re: Living Through the Real Estate Crash and Bankruptcy

Mr. Rawles,
After reading the article entitled “Living Through the Real Estate Crash and Bankruptcy” by Brad C., I was absolutely livid. I am not an economics major but I firmly believe that our country is in the shape that it is due in large part to people like Brad C. who leveraged everything that they could to live “the American dream” and then screwed all of his creditors by simply deciding that he was not going to pay. Even going so far as to max out his credit cards knowing he was not going to be paying the bill because after all who wouldn’t want “free money”. It must be nice to take vacations with the family while not paying your bills. Then he has the nerve to reference thanking Jesus when he still has a job. He then justifies his actions by saying “…it’s just business.” Just because something is legal does not make it morally right. Like many people, I owe more on my modest home than it is worth. Yes, I could walk away and say “screw the greedy bank that was nice enough to loan me money so that my family has a roof over their heads”. After all, it’s just business. I signed on the line and made an agreement. I am not going to back out of it because it is no longer convenient for me. There was once a time when a man’s word meant something. I pray that Brad C. has truly learned his lesson. – Jason J.

Mr. Rawles,
I read your blog every day and appreciate all the knowledge you provide my family and I with. I am 28 years old and own a small company with 10 employees, in San Diego, California. I work hard and try to live a just and Christian life honoring my family’s name and values. 

I can honestly say that I have never disagreed with a single thing written on your blog until today. The article “Living Through the Real Estate Crash and Bankruptcy, by Brad C.” was very informative, but ultimately disheartening. I was sad and annoyed that a person as pathetic and weak as Brad C, would have the honor of being posted on your wonderful blog. I appreciate your note at the bottom regarding theft, but I must say that it can be misinterpreted to mean that Brad C did nothing wrong. Brad C is a common thief. Nothing more. As you, Mr. Rawles, have stated and shown us on many occasions, just because the government says something is okay, it doesn’t mean that it is. Bankruptcy is a perfect example of this. I actually liked the posting until Brad C got to his self justification of theft with, ” Do I feel bad?  Yes, but keep in mind this is just business.” Brad obviously doesn’t feel bad. I mean heck…he got a Lincoln Navigator, right?

As a business owner I have dealt with people like Brad C., who feel that debt failure is “just business” as he pathetically stated. I would love for Brad C. to let me know how I am supposed to explain this “just business” attitude to my employees? When people of Brad C’s character don’t pay me or go BK then buy a ’98 Lincoln Navigator the next week am I supposed to just pretend that’s OK and not feel ripped off? Brad seems to feel like this whole “real estate” thing popped out of nowhere and he was an innocent bystander? Like he took a business risk and he failed and it isn’t his fault? He has no remorse for the bank or the companies that lent him credit to which he defaulted. This is wrong. He continually notes that he rented to “low income” housing regions. Why did he think these areas yield higher rental profits? Higher profits are justified by higher risk! Brad took a higher risk to make more money and failed. 

I am so tired of people justifying that walking away from obligations is acceptable because it is not convenient for them to stand by decisions. I was raised to stand by my decisions and live with them. It is people like Brad who have wrecked the country that I fought for and made it what it is today, not because Brad went bankrupt, but because Brad justified in his head that going BK wasn’t his fault, is acceptable behavior, and is “just business”. I compare Brad to people who are shocked their 401K went down 30%? Do they not understand what an investment is?

Brad is the type of person who lives by the motto “if you can’t beat ’em, might as well join em”. Good Christians and honest Americans like myself live by the motto “If I can’t beat ’em then they are going to kill me trying to beat ’em”.

Also please don’t make us get out the scratchy violin for your poor “older RV” and ’98 Lincoln Navigator, Brad C. That would be a heck of an upgrade from some of the rest of our situations and we all pay our bills. 

Regards and God bless, – Jimbo

JWR:
I read the article entitled “Living Through the Real Estate Crash and Bankruptcy”, by Brad C. As I read the article I became increasingly disgusted and angry. I have long believed that the “get rich quick at the expense of all else” mentality is what is wrong with this country. Brad’s article reinforces this belief. People like Brad, who bought up huge amounts of real estate back in the early 2000s are the ones who caused the real estate bubble. They queued up in front of development offices, months before construction even began, and they bought homes and immediately flipped them to make a quick buck with no intention of ever living in the homes. Meanwhile, folks like myself who just wanted to buy a home to live in had to pay inflated prices or move into smaller, more affordable places. I did the latter, and I am currently one of the unlucky homeowners who is underwater, thanks to the actions of folks like Brad C. But unlike Brad, I continue to make payments on my house – I am a man of my word and I live up to my obligations. So many these days do not.

I have heard a lot on the news lately about predatory lenders, but folks like Brad are just as guilty, if not more so, for the housing crisis. I call them predatory borrowers, and the article that Brad wrote makes me think (just for a split second) that it might be a good idea to bring back debtors prisons. I was shocked when he said that as he’s going through bankruptcy he advocated continuing to spend on credit cards and rack up debt. When he said he had recently bought an RV, I literally shouted at my computer screen. I was heartened to hear that no credit card company had issued a new card to Brad, despite his attempts to get one. I hope he never gets one again.

I see Brad as a selfish person, and he is exactly the kind of person I expect will behave quite poorly in a TEOTWAWKI situation – the kind that will attempt to take from others what he has not earned for himself. He of course will justify it much as he did his bankruptcy situation in the article – “trying to make the best of a bad situation” or “doing what you can to provide for your family”. He seems to have no problem rationalizing away these actions, which I (and probably many others) see as abhorrent. I fear that there are many others out there like Brad, and the size and the scope of the housing crisis reinforces this fear since there were so many others doing the exact same thing.

Thanks for your blog, I continue to read and learn. – Ian

Mr. Rawles,
Brad C. seems to be a real piece of work. I have a real estate sales license and used to be an appraiser. We have a name for guys like this and it’s “Slumlord”. Reading this letter made my blood boil and to be honest I couldn’t even finish it. If the housing authorities told his section 8 tenants they could leave without notice it’s because he failed ( I’m assuming after numerous notices ) to maintain his properties at a minimal standard. Then he talks about his “clean and sober” houses ( we call them “halfway houses” ) and how he can put ten beds in a house. First of all whoever thought it was a good idea to put up to ten parolees together in a house should have his head examined. I’m sure he didn’t live in the neighborhoods where these houses were and I’m sure the neighbors were none too happy about it. Secondly, these parolees are not clean and sober. I live in a nice middle-class suburb ( I’m planning my escape but it takes time ). That is except for the “clean and sober” house down the street ( by the way, these properties are usually run down and poorly maintained ). These guys are always in the yard smoking grass and drinking. Calling the police is fruitless because the response times in our area are so slow. Drug testing these guys is a joke. There are numerous products to beat drug tests and I’m sure these guys are experts on the subject.

To read this guy’s letter crying about his misfortunes and quoting scripture like he’s some kind of pillar of the community was really more than I could take.
Thanks, – D.W.

Dear Mr. Rawles:
I was so stunned and upset by the recent posting by Brad C. I am writing to you for the very first time. This man doesn’t understand the first thing about being a Christian and the fact that he included a verse at the end of his disgusting display of greed and sloth is just the icing on the cake. 

With all due respect, your total lack of moral regard for those that were living in your rental units is startling. You regarded them as being unworthy to know what was going on even though your poor planning placed them within 20 days of homelessness.  Did you ever stop to consider how many of these individuals would find shelter if suddenly one day the Sheriff’s Department showed up to force their eviction because of your personal recklessness?  Your own words convince me that you didn’t give a flying fig about anyone but yourself and your material possessions.  The fact that after though such financial difficulties your priorities are focused around your own extravagant creature comforts (You need that RV for what, exactly???) convinces me that you have learned absolutely nothing and will end up getting yourself back into the exact same situation as soon as you possibly can. Your own statement that you are already applying for credit cards again is proof of your continued ignorance. PAY YOUR DEBTS – LIVE WITHIN YOUR MEANS!
When I combined this with your apparent lack of sense of responsibility to pay your credit cards I sir am amazed.  Your determination that the credit card companies whose money you spent wasn’t really lost is ridiculous. You took their money and refused to return it. That is theft.  I cannot think of many posters on this site that have displayed less ethics.  The fact that you ended your post with a Biblical verse, Luke 12:15: “Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of things which he possesseth.” is laughable at best.  You obviously have no true understanding of Christian charity.  I hope your current landlord doesn’t regard you with as much disdain as you showed your tenants. Although I’m sure most that read your post would agree that you would deserve it. Perhaps then you’ll get it!

I will pray for your family that you will wise up and realize how foolish you really are before you end up homeless and hungry. Sincerely, – M.M.

JWR Replies: As I was first reading Brad C.’s lengthy article, I kept expecting to see a transition to genuine repentance and restitution. But there was none! I realized that there would be lots of righteous anger in rebuttal letters. (I chose the best five from among the nine that came in.) Despite my initial reservations, I’m glad that I decided to go ahead and run the article as a pointed example of how not to live. Hopefully his poor example will encourage SurvivalBlog readers live within their means and not fall into into the same debt trap. I also hope that you can see the peril of equivocating and convincing yourself that “it is just business” to cheat your creditors. Theft is theft. Calling it something else doesn’t change it, or it’s consequences. There is a Supreme Judge of the universe, and ultimately we will all answer for our unrepentant sins. Perhaps not in this life, but surely, beyond.

As my mother is fond of saying: “Time wounds all heels.”

Recipe of the Week:

Recipe of the Week

D.T.C. in Maryland’s Favorites

Hot Milk Cake:

2-eggs
1/2 c. milk
1 Tbsp. butter
3/4 c. Sugar
1c Flour
1 tsp – Baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp. vanilla

Pre-heat oven to 325 deg.
1) Put milk and butter in saucepan on low heat. Melt butter into milk. Do not let milk boil, but it should “steam”.
2) Mix eggs and vanilla together until “airy” then add, slowly, the sugar to the egg/vanilla mix until dissolved.
3) In a separate bowl, add the remaining dry ingredients and blend well.
4) Slowly add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture until it is the consistency of cookie dough.
5) Add the hot milk to the mix and blend gently until thoroughly blended and “thin”.
6) Coat a 8″x8″ square or 10″ round baking pan with Pam, margarine or butter and flour.
7) Place in oven quickly… The purpose of adding the milk/butter already heated to the mix is that it starts the action of the baking powder so the cake begins “cooking” before it gets to the oven.
8) Bake for 25 minutes or until a knife pushed into the center of the cake comes out clean…

Whole Wheat Bread:

This recipe gives loaves with a thin, crisp crust and a soft, but not grainy, center.. I made 1 loaf in a loaf pan and 1 braided loaf. Enjoy!

Step 1- grind enough wheat for 3 cups of whole wheat flour…

Ingredients
1/2 cup of water
1 cup of milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup warm water
1 package dry yeast 
3 cups whole wheat flour
3 cups white flour (approximately)

Directions
Bring 1/2 cup water to boil. Add to it the milk , sugar and salt in a large bowl. Let cool to luke-warm. In a separate container add the yeast to a 1/2 cup of warm water. Let sit for 5 minutes… Add the dissolved yeast, whole wheat flour and 2 cups of the white flour to the first mixture. beat thoroughly then turn onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough and add more white flour as needed so it becomes easy to handle. Let dough rest for 10 minutes. resume kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic. Place dough in a greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size. Punch dough down and cut into two loaves, place in greased loaf pan (or form into loaves) and let rise again. Once the dough has risen, put into a preheated 375 degree oven for 35 minutes. Check bread and remove from oven when it makes a hollow sound when you thump your finger on it. Allow to cool on racks. Enjoy.

 

Four Baby Food Recipes

Here are a few baby food recipes…

Rice Cereal using “powder” 
Ingredients:
1/4 c. rice powder (brown rice ground in blender or food processor)
1 cup water
Directions:
1. Bring liquid to boil in saucepan. Add the rice powder while stirring constantly.
2. Simmer for 10 minutes, whisking constantly, mix in formula or breast milk and fruits if desired
3. Serve warm.

Rice Cereal with whole rice 
Ingredients:
1/2 c. rice (brown rice, basmati or jasmine)
1 cup water
Directions:
1. Bring liquid to boil in saucepan. Add the rice and stir.
2. Simmer for 20 minutes or according to package directions; stir 1/2 way through cooking time.
3. When rice is finished and a bit cool, add it in 1/2 cup measurements with liquid of your choice (breast milk, formula, water etc.) and puree as needed. Keep a watch as you puree so that the rice does not turn into paste!
4. Serve warm mixed with fruits, veggies and liquid of your choice. 

Oatmeal Cereal 
Ingredients:
1/4 cup of ground oats (do not use the Instant or Quick Cook varieties), ground in blender or food processor
3/4 cup – 1 cup water
Directions:
1. Bring liquid to boil in saucepan. Add the oatmeal powder while stirring constantly.
3. Simmer for 10 minutes, whisking constantly, mix in formula or breast milk and fruits if desired
3. Serve warm.

Barley Cereal 
Ingredients:
1/4 cup ground barley (barley ground in blender or food processor)
1 cup water
Directions:
1. Bring liquid to a boil. Add the barley and simmer for 10 minutes, whisking constantly
2. Mix in fruit juice or add fruits if desired
3. Serve warm

Chef’s Notes:

These recipes came with permisssion from the site, Maryland Preparedness Forums.

Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

K.A.F. recommended a site with a lot of recipes for storage food: EverydayFoodStorage.net.

Susan C. in Texas sent a link to a web site that has all sorts of mixes you can make yourself to save money. Susan notes: “Many of these mixes are healthier than store bought ones. OBTW, I find that these recipes call for too much salt.”

Do you have a favorite recipe that you have tested extensively? Then please e-mail it to us for posting. Thanks!

Odds ‘n Sods:

F.J. pointed me to the latest over at Instructables: Build Your Own Electric Motorcycle.

   o o o

Two months without food: Swedish man survives for months in snowed-in car. (Thanks to Wally for the link.)

   o o o

Oh, but here in the States we have our own self-selecting candidates for snowy suicide: Couple survives three days stuck in snow on Girl Scout cookies, peanuts. Here is a key quote, that sounds all too familiar: “Searchers say it was difficult to find the couple because they were searching in the wrong area. The couple did not tell friends or family where they were going.”

   o o o

Guide to Veterinary Drugs for Human Consumption, Post-SHTF

   o o o

A new free iBook for the iPad: Food Inflation: Gardening Just Makes Cents

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Had the Japanese [army’s territorial conquest in Asia] got as far as India, Gandhi’s theories of “passive resistance” would have floated down the Ganges River with his bayoneted, beheaded carcass.” – Mike Vanderboegh.

Note From JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 39 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, 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 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), and E.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo.

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A FloJak F-50 hand well pump (a $349 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. C.) 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, D.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and E.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value) and F.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value).

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

Round 39 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Living Through the Real Estate Crash and Bankruptcy, by Brad C.

My experience with a tax audit, real estate crash, rental house woes, foreclosures, layoff and bankruptcy:  

In a nutshell, we went from a 4,000 square foot home, worth more than $1 million, a vacation home, new RV, Mercedes convertible, Jeep, $50,000 SUV, 20 rental properties, a property management company and a great full time job…   To living in a modest rental house in the middle of nowhere.

Beginnings
I am a computer guy, have been since 1991. I bounced around a few companies gaining positions and knowledge.  Eventually I rode the dot com wave as a security and infrastructure consultant.

In 2000-2001 I had been working for a dot-com company, and at one point had enough stock options to retire at 35 years old, just needed to have the stock vest.  But, just before my stock vested, the bubble burst and I went from looking at retiring to looking for a job.  I had put all my extra cash into the stock of the company I worked for.  So, in addition to losing my job, my stock options, my retirement and my savings,  I also lost my drive for working hard at the “company” and going whole hog as an employee/leader.  I was very discouraged.

After finding another job, I decided that I had to try my own way to build a future for my family.

I started buying rental houses in 2002
The first one was very easy.  I found a house for $70,000 in a Tacoma, Washington hill top area.  I put $2,000 into the house, carpet, paint, flooring, bath fixtures, and a cheap fridge and oven.  I was able to refinance it for $100,000 and rent it our for $300 more than the payment.  This netted me $27,000 in a little over eight weeks with a $300 per month positive cash flow. I did this same thing about 10 times over the next two years, while still working full time as a computer guy.

As a result this developed into the following activity.
1. Started to sell real estate part time as an agent.
2. Started my own property management company.
3. I “biggered” everything (house, cars, trucks, boats, vacation home, you name it..)
4. Started to slack on my job, did not take opportunities that were offered to me.
5. Started counting the days until I could retire…. again.

By 2006 I was in deep debt, but had a $1 million plus in equity in the homes we owned.  It was around this time that real estate sales started to drop off in Washington which was late to the crash.  I figured what a great deal everyone else is missing out on.  I can surely refinance and pull out more cash like I have been doing for several years.  So I purchased three more homes in the beginning of this year.  They were not cheap, I was paying $150,000 for a home that was $100,000 just three or four years before.
Another huge thing that happened to us was an IRS tax audit.  They found a $500 dollar expense that was supposed to be a loss.  This was not a big deal but they opened both 2004 and 2005 taxes to audit.  As a result, a $500 dollar mistake turned into a $120,000 fine and back taxes owed.

We battled it out for several months but eventually I had to hire an attorney and we settled for about $57,000 cash.  

And yet another thing that happened in 2006 is the re-opening of a  low income housing to Section Eight (“Sec8”) recipients.  this category, mostly for single moms, Sec8 was the bread and butter of rent in Tacoma.  They paid high rent and 70% of the rent was paid by the local Housing Authority.

The HA did not get enough interest in clients renting out the new HA homes so, in order to push Sec8 renters into the new homes, the HA started failing my houses on the safety inspection.  Which costs me thousands of dollars per house to fix.  Then after paying for the repairs, they told the tenant they can move into the new HA homes without any up front expense and would provide new furniture for them, and that they had no requirement to give notice to the current land lord.  I had 4 families move out without notice.  They left the homes trashed. I decided to get out of real-estate.

We sold about three of the homes and was surprised at the outcome.  My tax hit was a bit more, my fees were a bit more and as a result I felt as though I gave the house away.  It was not a good feeling after putting in so many hours to fix them up.  I certainly did not get any money in my pocket by selling them.  
At some point, I learned about renting houses out in the “Clean and Sober” model. I started a clean and sober housing company and rented beds rather than the house.  My main client was the Department of Corrections.  They provided tenants recently released and on probation for drug convictions.  This required me to cover all utilities and furnish the houses.  I also had to put coin op laundry machines in all the houses.  In return I received $315 dollars per month per tenant.  A five bedroom house could house ten tenants if at full capacity.  However, this never happened, they were always about 60% full.

I was still cash poor.  In 2007 I refinanced most of the rental home in order to pay off the IRS, repair damages to many of the houses, buy coin op laundry for all the houses, pay for the expenses of the new company until the homes were furnished and occupied by new “clean and sober” tenants.

2008
At this point, house values have fallen so much that selling these homes was impossible.  I had refinanced them and did not have the equity to sell and pay the fees and taxes.
The clean and sober renting scheme never quite paid for the payments of the homes.  If I had not refinanced them in the “third” place, the payment would not have been as high.
I was running out of cash very fast.  The only income I truly had at this point was my job, but just my monthly take home pay would not even cover the house payment and utilities of my primary residence.  I still had two car payments, RV payment, vacation home expenses and food.  But above these, the expenses for 18 investment properties that were not performing.

I decided to take out a second mortgage on one of my rental houses.
With the new cash, I was good for another year and tried my hand at flipping houses.  Which turned out to be a horrible mess.  I had done a few in 2003 and 2004, and they had made me some quick cash. But this next one destroyed me.  The details are another story in just itself, but to sum it up.  I paid way too much for a home.  It had huge issues that I was not aware of, and I signed away my rights to find out this information.  The worst part is, that I used a business partner who had become a friend of mine.  I ended up taking out a second mortgage on each of my four best houses.

The flip house got red tagged while working on a foundation repair.  While going through the violations and getting a permit, they decided that since I was adding over 50% more value to the current zero value of the structure I must bring everything up to code. For a 1920s home, this means wiring, windows, plumbing and worst of all septic.  The septic was over $30,000 alone.

Midway through 2008 I was out of cash again and mo more capacity for more loans on the rentals.
Then the mother of all problems happened.  A contractor who had been developing a small tract of homes in the Tacoma area was not able to sell them or rent them.  So, he went to my clean and sober homes and invited them to move into his new clean house.  No rules, no drug screening and half the rent payment.  So most of them took him up on it.  I had four houses empty of all but one tenant in the same day.   This is a direct violation of their probation, so all of them ended up back in jail within 48 hours, however this ruined my cash flow and buried me again.
I was really in deep now.

My last ditch effort was to refinance my primary home. I used a different money guy because I was so embarrassed of the mess I was in and I was afraid that my flip partner would want all the cash out of the re-fi to get back some of what he had put in. My intention was to complete the flip, sell it and fix the mess.

At the last minute signing the re-fi, again had a poison pill.  The truth in lending (TIL) report, showed that my payment went up a little from what the loan man had told me, but the interest rate was up much higher.  They tried to hide it by not including the taxes and insurance.  (My property taxes were over $1,000 per month.)  Also, the fees were bigger. And it went from a five year ARM to a three year term. I thought I would get $30,000 back but only got $26,000.  I didn’t want this deal, it was pure bait and switch predatory lending. But, I had no choice, I needed the money now, So I signed the deal.

At this point, my fate was sealed.
There was not enough money to complete the flip house and it was later condemned.  The county not only condemned it, but forced my partner to pay for the removal of the home.  He ended up with a worthless un-buildable vacant lot that he paid more than $200,000 for.  I do and always will feel horrible about this.
We were at the point where we had to stop paying on something.  We decided to consider which homes we would keep and which homes we would let go.
The rental houses and apartments would not work, they were all in Tacoma in areas.  The only one that would work is our vacation home.  Which was 100 miles to the east and only accessible by snowmobile 4-5 months out of the year, but the payment was manageable and the home still had some equity left.  Also, we would not have to face the people we knew who would watch my life go from riches to rags.  So, we decided to move to the cabin.

We didn’t know anything about foreclosures or time frame of what happens so we planed to move ASAP.  We made one house payment on the new re-fi.  That was all.  

We moved
My commute went from 45 minutes to 90 minutes, but I was okay with that.  We loved the cabin.  With working 2-3 jobs since 2002, we rarely went on vacation or took time to do anything as a family.  When we purchased the cabin as a vacation home in 2005 we started to become a close family. So we looked at this as another adventure.  We started to prepare for the events that were about to happen.

As we moved we had the primary house up for sale.  After a few weeks I called the bank and found they would not talk with me unless I was 90 days late.
Once that 90 days hit, they started calling me.  The person on the other end of the phone was not a knowledgeable person, yet they said they were the decision maker on my loan restructure.  I realized they were just pumping me for information.  I thought it was strange that I must fill out all this stuff, when I had already gave them when I got the loan in the first place.

Through all this, I had no one to talk with.  Apparently I was the first person in my circle to go through this.  I felt about 3f tall and went rather recluse and sad all the time.  
Moving was a chore.  Saying good by to neighbors was hard and embarrassing.  Lots of unspoken questions.  How could a young guy go from being on top of the world, to nothing in just a few months.  At first we did not tell anyone what was going on, but after a few awkward conversions, I started to tell the whole story, or at least what the story has been up to that time.

Lessons Learned: We went from a 4 car garage, 4,000 sq. ft. home to 2,000 sq. ft., no garage.  We had so much stuff it was crazy.  We did not have a garage sale because we were embarrassed about our situation.  I ended up giving away stainless steel appliances, riding lawn mowers, patio furniture and lots of house hold furnishings.  We just wanted the house empty. We certainly should have had a garage sale, we gave away thousands of dollars worth of stuff.

We also had to figure out how to manage living in a snow country a home in winter.  We would be snowed in 4 to 5 months every year.  We needed to stock up on food and supplies or end up making multiple trips up and down the steep one mile road on a snowmobile loaded with groceries.  After having the home as a vacation cabin for a few years prior, we knew what was coming and decided to stock up and be ready,  We also had to add a wood stove, a propane stove and cut several chords of wood.  We also wired in a generator and a way to store extra gas for it.  We basically took care of our family needs first and would figure the bank stuff later.
As it turned out it was an adventure.

After moving and living there for five months, the winter set in and we were snowed in. Then, I received a layoff notice.  The last few years of playing real-estate mogul had caught up to me.  When they looked at the entire group, I had gone from a leader, to a loser.  I was now the weakest person. I did not tell anyone what was going on us now. Sure, I was a big mouth when times were good, bragging about retiring early, telling them I live in a house next door to the vice president of the company (which I really did).  “Pride cometh before a fall” and it was a big fall.  I had just eight weeks before I would be canned.

Lessons Learned: Now up till this point we were still running our rental homes. With hind sight, we should have stopped paying the rental house payments when we stopped paying the primary house payments.

Enter the lawyers
I already knew that we were going to lose our McMansion to foreclosure, and now I was going to lose the 18 rentals to foreclosure as well.  I also knew I would have a few months of “free” money while I was waiting for the foreclosures to take place. I figured I would still collect the rent and not make the rental house payments. Since I was going to get canned at work I had to be sure that I made this one time free cash go to good use.  I also made an appointment with a bankruptcy attorney.

Lessons Learned: Be careful how much you tell your attorney up front.  They write everything down and never forget what you tell them, so you really need to ask them questions and not have them ask you.  As a result, I would have liked to use the first attorney I talked with, but felt that I had to have time to “prepare” for bankruptcy.  I needed answers, not the kick off to starting the process.

Disclaimer:  All of this is my experience, from my view point, check the laws and rules in your area for the facts.  Also, keep in mind that I have not lied or tried to “get away” with anything, I simply needed to know the rules so I can stay within the rules.  Some say I take advantage of the situation, and I must say I have.  Only a fool would not try to make the best out of a bad thing.

Lessons Learned: I have found that the attorney will just tell you what you need to know and not much more, after all they get paid by the hour and they can’t read your mind.  They are the professional in the room and you are not, and up until a year or two ago, most of their clients were plain idiots.  The best thing that worked for me was to study the heck out of my situation then ask the attorney if what I understand was correct.

Initial questions
1. Can I collect rent even though I am not paying the mortgage?  YES.  The house was still mine, I was just not up to date with the payments.
2. Do I need to tell the tenants what is going on? NO. They are renting from you on a month to month basis, either party has only a 20 day notice to terminate the agreement.  If it’s a lease, the lease is null and void when the house changes ownership.

Lessons Learned: The attorney didn’t understand these questions.  They think that you would not receive any money from rent and if you did get any money you would pay what bills you can.  Understand the goal of the bankruptcy laws.  The goal is to have you pay off as much as you can.  Only if it’s near impossible do they let you off the hook.

3. When can I declare bankruptcy?  After your rental houses are foreclosed on, you cant keep any investment real estate.
4. Can I keep my house?  YES, maybe…

Lessons Learned:   Again, most people are down to the nub with no income.  So, some of these questions are new for the attorney.
YES, but do you want to? if its underwater, it will not come back for 10+ years.  If you have more than 30,000 in equity, no you can’t keep it.  If the payment is significantly higher than the going average housing expense for your area, then no you can’t keep it.

5. can I keep my cars? YES/NO  you may keep two, the value must be under $3,000 each.  However if you are going chapter 11, you can keep a more expensive car if you have no equity in it and the payments are low.  
Lessons Learned:   The task is to have you pay off as much as you can, if its better in the long run (5 years) to have you keep the car you have, and make the payments rather than save up for another $3,000 car, then OK.

6. Wedding rings, furniture, TV, stereos ,and stuff?  There is a dollar amount you are allowed to keep. if you have valuables, extra cars, boats, rvs, motorcycles..  you need to get rid of them ASAP.  

7. What is the time frame of looking at my finances?  The court will want six months worth, but your attorney wants six months worth from when you start talking with them. So in our case, it was over a years worth of history. This is why you need time to clean up your history.  This is why we needed to understand the rules.

Lessons Learned:   The attorney is putting their job on the line when they represent you.  So they will not lie or even allow anything that may be slightly under the table.  They will need all the information and they will not hide anything from the judge.  I know we hear attorney/client privilege on TV, and yes, that does exist, but they will rather just quit and not represent you.  You are just another client, you are no O.J. Simpson.  Also keep in mind, you are going to the courts on your initiative, nobody has asked you to show up and go bankrupt, you are asking the court for bankruptcy protection from your creditors.

8. Can I give stuff to my family to hold until I am through BR? NO, this is fraud.  You need to sell the items and use the money for the good of your situation. (Costco, shoes,
gasoline, car repairs, tires, cash to spend because all of the above no longer takes your checks.)

9. Should I pay a little on each bill? NO, if you are planning on having that debt dismissed, pay nothing at all.

10. Can I pay my grandpa back the $10,000 he gave me to learn how to weave baskets? NO, that is called favoritism, if you do this, it’s big trouble.  They can go after grandpa and that may be worse. Pay grandpa back by showing him you have learned your lesson.

11. My stuff (wedding ring, gun, silverware, etc) has been handed down to me from my Mom.  I simply cant let it go?  NO, give it back to Mom and get yourself a little ring with a diamond chip in it from the pawn shop.  Or, keep it, list it as your property, and keep it within the limits set. You are allowed to keep a certain dollar amount of your stuff, use it wisely.

12. When should I stop paying credit cards.?  When you are done using them.  Most people have them maxed out for a year before they go bankrupt.  So use them, evenly and at some point they will all be full, then stop using them.  Some people live off the credit cards when there is no alternative, this is common. [JWR Adds: Continuing to borrow when you have no intention of paying the money back is theft, plain and simple. Resist the urge to do so, just because you can get away with it.]

13. What happens to a second Mortgage on my houses?  They will not foreclose on you.  They will continue to go after you like a credit card, and when your house sells, they will get any little bit that is left over after the first and taxes are paid off.

14. I am supposed to give my attorney a list of everything I have bought and sold for the last two years? YES, you need to make a list of everything you bought and sold that is over $100 for the last two years.  Everyone’s name and contact information, the amount of the transactions and detail description of what it is.

Lessons Learned:  This is why you need time to sort all this out.  Don’t worry about the bill collectors, they will keep, just string them along.  I recall I sold a couple of things on Craigslist, didn’t get the detail info on who they were.  I recall I went to the casino and blew a few hundred bucks.  It’s not illegal to be stupid, just stupid.

15. When my house is foreclosed on, can they come after me for the difference?  Not usually.   In a foreclosure the contract spells out that if you default, they take the house.  This is on the first loan typically.  If you have a second, that gets detached and follows you around just like a credit card.  The only way for the banks to come after you for the balance of a first mortgage is to execute a judicial foreclosure.  This is rarely done because it requires significantly more time in the court systems and more complex than the robo signers can handle.  So to get around this, the banks offers to split up your debt, this helping them and screwing you. Many people got screwed with a “fix” to their loan problem by taking what they owed and splitting it into two parts.  Little did they know that it just increases the liability on the owner and lessens the liability on the banks.  All done under the disguise of “helping the owner”.

16. What about taxes? If you owe taxes already, that’s it, you owe it.  But if you file for BR before you owe the taxes you may be able to declare insolvency.  With so many houses going back to the bank, they each sent me a 1098 form.  This form tells the IRS that the bank has forgiven you the difference of what you owe and what they consider the home worth.  So that can mean huge reported income.  However, if you can prove insolvency, the debt goes away.

Lessons Learned: You also need a tax attorney, the bankruptcy attorney will not touch taxes.

Questions about owning a rental house. (and this also includes any house)

1. Should I short sell?  or Foreclose? Foreclose!  A short sale you have the sign up, everyone knows your business, everyone knows your on hard times, you will not get anything for your efforts. You will need to leave the place perfect and clean up after the fact.  You will still be liable for anything you did not disclose.  Most of the short sales fail now because the banks are getting a full bailout for the total debt plus expenses.  Then they get to keep the house in the shadow inventory off market so the surrounding homes do not go down in price.

2. How long till they take the house?  1 year or more, they will say an auction will take place at …this or that date…   but usually it gets canceled, and if you want to make it longer you can.  but even after the foreclosure you will have several days/weeks to move out.

3. What do I do when the bank posts a notice on the door of the rental house and the tenants freak out? Tell them you are restructuring your finances and they will be fine.  Tell them to just throw away any notices, you already receive them in the mail.

4. What about insurance and taxes? The bank will pay it to protect the house, and after the house is taken, you should call the insurance company and get a refund.  yes, they paid the insurance, but they charged you for it and took your house, it’s your left over money.  

5.  Its been four months, the tenants are getting notices every week and they are starting to get upset. Okay, I talked with mine, said “look, sorry, stay in the house and I’ll give you $100 off rent.  This takes time and the bank is being a jerk.”

Thank you Jesus! 
My work situation changed,  two days before my date with the executioner, they reinstated me.  I have worked from home ever since.  I have been very appreciative of a good job.  This still did not fix our situation, but at least we would be able to cover basic expenses.

Repo cars, trucks and RVs
We stopped making the payments on the RV. Before we let it go, we took a few road trips that we had been meaning to do.  Vehicles get Repo’d in just a few weeks.  If you miss two payments, its gone.

Then my wife’s car had to go, it was a new Chrysler Aspen.  Very nice plush car, but about $10,000 underwater.  So with the cash we have been saving by not paying the rental house payments, I bough a 1998 Lincoln navigator.

Lessons learned: You need to do this changing of cars early, there needs to be some maturing of this transaction.  “Yes I paid $5,000 for this car, but I got shafted, it’s only worth $2,500 book value and even less auction value. “

Waiting for the banks.
Still waiting for the foreclosures to take place.  With the cash we were able to save by not making any payments (except the cabin) we put new tires on all the vehicles as well as a set of studded snow tires.  All the little things that may have gone wrong were address and replaced.
We used this “quiet time” to buy and do things that were needed and may not have the money in the future.  Snow gear for the family, shoes, clothes, new mattresses.  Extra oil and filters for the cars, extra gas cans, extra gas, extra food, shelves to put the food on. Crowns on my teeth that had been put off.  Chiropractor visits that I would have never done.  A couple of family trips to Front Sight in Las Vegas to teach the family about guns.

Keep in mind that at this point all I have done is “learned” about bankruptcy and stopped paying on 20 homes.  I figured we were about three months before the foreclosure of the first house.  The phones were ringing with collection agencies. Then they would make offers.  “We can remove your 10,000 debt if you pay us 7,000 right now.”  It got to a point where they were offering 20 cents to the dollar.  

Lessons Learned: Beware, if you take part in this, you are showing that you have a stock pile of cash and are playing debt games.  This is OK if you do not plan to file for bankruptcy.  But if you are planning to go bankrupt, stay away from making these deals.

Foreclosures finally
It took 11 months for the bank to foreclose on our McMansion.  However, the rental houses have at least another four or five months.
We had several tenants move out and trash the houses again.  Rather than fix them I just locked them up.  Eventually the bank will drop by and see the house is abandoned and they will board up the house.  If there are still renters in there, they will just keep posting notices.

Lessons Learned:  Tenants think you are a millionaire, they wont understand the situation.  The further you are removed from them the better.  Don’t tell them anything. If you feel compassion for them, help them anonymously.   Also, collect the rent until the last day. FYI: All leases are terminated when the home changes owners, at least in Washington state.

12/12/2009
The last foreclosure, finally our plate was clean.  No more tenant calls, ad running, credit screening, evictions, clean up, police reports, health department violations, housing authority inspections.  My rental house empire was gone.  

Lawyer up again.
Now with all the homes gone, the cars in place, and all the consumables stocked and placed, we were ready to talk to another attorney.  We went over everything from start to finish.  I recall one thing that we went over just about every two weeks was a check list of stuff in my house.  He always started with fur coats, which made me laugh every time.  I told him if I had any I would wear it to our next meeting.  Even though we went over the list a couple of times a month, he wanted to go over it again to be sure I was not changing my story.  Again, he is placing himself on the line as well as you. So give him what he needs.  Confidence and the truth about your situation.  He is building a story of you in the document.

Lessons Learned: 401k’s are exempt from this. You get to keep what you have in there, so don’t dip into it until after you are complete.  If you touch it, it can be taken. Wait till everything is over before you dip into this and then maybe wait another six months.  Be sure to disclose all the detail about it to your attorney.

Our Day in Court
We had listed all the debt with all the contacts. All had been notified and we waited for them to come back with any questions or contested debts.  Our court date was set and we drove that morning to the court in Yakima.

Our attorney took us aside.  Said, “I didn’t tell you this because I didn’t want you to worry.” (Recall, they think all of us chapter 7s are idiots) “the judge will ask you questions, I have no idea what the questions will be, and you can refer to the document he is looking at.  He wants a clear picture of your financial life.  So be ready with your story.  In two minutes, be able to tell him what happed to you, how you ended up here today.”
We went into the court room.  There were about 25 people in the room, and only 3 men in suits.  The way courts run, the judge will usually take the attorney with fewest clients first.  Judges and Lawyers are the same type of guys.  So they  respect one another, they were very cordial and polite to one another.  So, since my attorney had just us, we went first.

We were sworn in after recording our ID, asked us a few questions.  He had me give my two minute speech.  Asked if anyone owed me money. Asked if I was planning to get any big money ($1,000 or more) in the future.  After saying no, he looked over the document again and then we were dismissed.
In the lobby, my attorney thanked us for the business, said hopefully we never have to talk again.

What now?
He said in a week or so we should get notification that we passed or failed.  If we failed we start over.  If we passed it was almost over.  He warned us, not to do anything for six months.  Don’t sell your cabin, don’t win the lottery don’t receive an inheritance, because the file will be on the auditors desk for up to six months, and they will review it. If they open it back up and find you are better off financially, they will rescind the discharge and have us start all over again.

Six Months later:
We put the cabin up for sale.
Three months after that we sold the cabin.  Moved a mile closer to town off of the hill and are now renting a house.  We were able to get a little cash out of the cabin, but not enough to change our lives.

We have since purchased a boat and an RV, all with cash we save up after the discharge.  They are old and have problems, but they are paid off.  (Yes, we are storing food and survival stuff as well.)

We live without credit cards.  We save for things we need and use a calendar to mark what gets paid and when.  We have checked out buying better cars, but just cant justify a payment.

Here are some details I have found that may be helpful.

  •  After two years from bankruptcy you can buy a house via FHA.
  • After three years from foreclosure you can buy a house via FHA
  • In King County, Washington, the max loan amount via FHA is $525,000 (40 miles away)
  • In Kittitas County Washington, the max loan amount via FHA is 271,000 (where I am)
  • There are tests to verify if you can go Chapter 7. These are: 1.) More than 50% of the debt you have is due to a failed business (not consumer debt)    -or 2.) The total amount you owe after liquidation is divided by 60 payments.  If you cannot pay even just 20% of that monthly payment you will fail the means test an can go Chapter 7.
  •  If your wife is out of work, have her hold off getting a job until this mess is done, its a good time to read up and gain some education.

You are not dishonest, you are in business, the business of doing what is best for your family.
I had to get my brain around this.  I made an agreement to pay for this debt, and these houses.  But must now do something else.  Do I feel bad?  Yes, but keep in mind this is just business.

Let’s say you didn’t own the house, lets say you owned a business that employs 20 people.  Your business builds picnic tables for the parks department.  You have been doing this for five years.  But one day, the budget for the parks department gets cut, and as a result they can’t buy anymore tables from you. As a result not only do you have to layoff your employees, you have close down the business.  Feel bad?  Yes.  But it happens all the time.  Could you have stopped this from happening?  Sure, should not have built a business on the expectation of selling tables.  But you did, and you ended up making some money and employing 20 people.  Are you going to keep the shop and tools and machines and people there to do nothing?  No.  So everyone is canned, they go to the unemployment line.  You hock the tools and equipment for what you can, you break the lease and give back the shop.  Do you pay everyone the little cash you gleaned out of the business?  No, because you are a business person.

Why is this any different?
When you buy the house, sign for the credit card, buy the car, you sign a contract. The contract says exactly what each party must do.  The bank agrees to loan you the money and hold the house as collateral, you agree to pay the payments and use the house.  If you do not pay, the agreement spells out that they take the house.  That’s it.  Simple.  No blame, no bad words, just action and reaction.  

Lets talk about the credit cards.
Here, they loan you money to buy stuff.  You agree to pay monthly and they give you more and more credit.  If you stop paying, they will try to get you to pay and in the end they will try to garnish your wages.  Keep in mind, they are not losing money.  They may not get all that they want but you have already paid them many times over and over in the years you have had this credit.  This is their risk, not yours.  They charge high rates for money they loan you specifically because it is unsecured.  They made the plan, not you.
One thing you should know.  These credit card companies will try to get money from you for a little while.  But eventually they give up on you.  They take this debt you owe and sell in to another company very cheap.  So if you owe $3,000 dollars, they will sell it to “ABC Recovery” for $200.  That’s how much they don’t care about you or your debt.  They have already made their money and are just trying to glean as much as they can as fast and as easy as possible.

ABC Recovery then goes after you for the full $3,000 plus the $200 they paid for the contract.  Eventually they may sell it to another collection company for $200 dollars. Eventually one of these companies will try to garnish your wages if they can find where you work. Which brings us back to the beginning of this deal.  When you start getting calls from the creditors, they are not going to give you a “deal” they are not going to change your loan, or help you out.  They are trying to get you to give them all the information they can get on you.  This way, when they sell your loan to a recover/collection company, the more information, they have on you, the more they sell your debt for.
Also keep in mind, the collection companies are now using Facebook and Twitter to locate you and your income.

One last thing to think about:
When renting a car you get insurance for it.  If the car gets damaged, you have insurance, that is why you paid for the insurance, it’s no longer your risk of damage it is now the insurance companies. What if you did not damage the car? are they going to give you back the cost of the insurance, no, that is the risk you agree to.
Same with credit cards and all loans.  The risk on both sides are spelled out, don’t let anyone guilt you into not doing what you legally can do to provide for your family.  I don’t see the banks apologizing for the massive bailouts they got, in fact they act as though it never happened.

Life moves on
I am doing very well at my job and am no longer fearful that I will get canned The kids are doing great and my wife loves not having to snowmobile every day up and down the big hills in the winter.
We still can’t get a credit card, we have tried a few times.  And we have to educate the landlord when he was trying to screen our credit.  Again, people don’t get it, that you can have a great job and still go bankrupt and foreclosure.
This was a long process, but at this point we can just play the hand of cards that we have. I hope this story helps encourage others that find themselves in the same sort of boat we were in.

God Bless and remember Luke 12:15: “Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of things which he possesseth.”

JWR Adds: Again, a pending bankruptcy should not be used as a excuse for excess. Never, ever borrow money with the knowledge that you have no intention of paying it back. That is simply theft. Thou shalt not steal.

Letter Re: Planning for Shingles in TEOTWAWKI

Dear Mr. Rawles:
Although the personal account of shingles yesterday served to communicate the degree of discomfort and event disability the disease can inflict, the writer was in error when he communicated that the vaccine for chicken pox (varicella) will provide immunity against shingles also. To the contrary, it appears that vaccination against chickenpox actually increases the rate of shingles in a population by about 40%. When one contracts chickenpox, the virus remains in a dormant form in spinal nerve roots; when an immunological weakness permits, it may reemerge as a shingles outbreak. (This is very similar to what happens with cold sores and genital herpes, both being from related viruses that also respond to acyclovir, etc.) Occasional
exposure to chickenpox acts as an immune booster that helps keep the dormant virus immunologically locked up in the nerve roots, thereby decreasing the probability of a shingles outbreak. The so-called shingles vaccine is attempting to replace this natural exposure with another series of occasional injections, the utility of which is unknown. It also is quite probable that the immunization of children will not confer a life-long immunity to chickenpox itself. This could lead to an increased rate of chickenpox in adults, for whom it is much more debilitating and dangerous. About 3/4 of chickenpox deaths are in adults, despite the vast number of cases being in children.

Essentially, we’ve taken a common childhood illness, chickenpox, and created a larger problem by immunizing against it. In healthy children, chickenpox is self-limiting, generally mild, and poses a very low risk of hospitalization or death. We’re not talking about measles, rubella, diphtheria, mumps, or other real scourges here.

Another reason to consider not having one’s children vaccinated against chickenpox is that the vaccine is prepared from a cell line (MRC-5) obtained through abortion of a 14-week old healthy boy. Although the abortion occurred years ago, there’s no reason to make such reprehensible production methods financially rewarding to Merck and other pharmaceutical manufacturers, especially when the vaccine is not necessary. Vaccines can be produced through ethical means (non-human cell lines, human cell lines not obtained through abortion, chicken eggs, and so on) and it is our responsibility to require manufacturers to do so without exception.

Vaccines, like other medications, can be a blessing to mankind for which we should be thankful. Due to medical and moral concerns, they should not be prescribed or recommended indiscriminately. Best Wishes, – William T., M.D.

Letter Re: .22 Handguns and Other Options For Self Defense

James:
R.F.D. is spot on with the write-up, on .22 LR and to take this a step further,  everyone should do their own “field tests”. Most people (My estimation) can not or will not spend enough range time to be proactive in having the hands on experience to get not only the right weapon but equally important the right caliber for them and/also the first hand knowledge of what they can do to both living tissue or objects.  I have over my learning period of 50 plus years and hundreds of thousands of rounds shot, understood that I wanted several calibers and types of guns for my use. For distances under 50 yards, maybe a hyper-velocity .22,  under a 100 a .223, up to 200 yards a .30-06, over 200 yards  my caliber of choice is a .375 H&H magnum.  Again my choices. 
 
I differ in my opinion about the .22 rimfire round, be it a Short, Long, Long Rifle, or the hyper-velocity Long Rifle hollow point.   In first hand experience at a shooting range in Kansas City, Kansas years ago I saw first hand an accidental shooting where one shot to the chest with a standard 22 LR bullet that entered and exited a man’s chest killing him on the spot.  My years of outdoor shooting and hunting with most calibers and types of firearms allowed me to to make my own choices on what I determined worked for me.   As everybody has an opinion, the old adage “Do not believe anything you hear and half of what you see”  has worked for me.  As an example take a unopened Number 10 can of any type of food that has gone bad and use it for a target, lets say 20 to 30 yards,  using a .22 pistol or rifle (several barrel lengths in the same caliber would give you a hands on demo of velocity loss in short barrels)  and using a .22 LR CCI Stingers (which is considered to be a hyper-velocity hollow point)  watch what happens to the can when hit.  Its going to enter the front of the can with a pencil size hole but on the backside it will either split the can by exploding the contents or at the very least exit with a slightly larger hole (due to expansion of the hollow point bullet) with a bulging of the can due to energy transfer and a not so nice effect on the contents of the can.  Also try one-gallon plastic jugs filled with water, etc and you will get a  impressive result also.
 
In tests I have used .25 caliber, thru 9mm and .38, on junk yard autos in comparison to hyper-velocity 22LR ammo. Most automobiles are like tanks on the first round hits sometimes it will penetrate sometimes it will not.  I have been amazed that a standard 9mm and .38 Special round may not even penetrate the glass on the first round, though subsequent rounds may.  On metal and even plastic they can be even more limited.  But taking the same vehicle, and given it a hose down with CCI Stingers will be impressive.  I used to ask people if you had a situation where two combatants where only armed with pistols or were at a 100 yard distance shooting at each other one shooting a .22LR with Stingers versus the other armed with a 9mm or .38 Special, then who do you think is going to come out the winner?  My vote is for the person with the .22 LR every time. 
 
I have in my past poached deer at night for food, using a .22 LR hyper-velocity hollow point ammo. A double tap to the head at no more than 20 yards and I never had a deer that survived.  A body shot to the torso, might take one down, but as a hunter the only method is to humanely harvest the animal [with head shots].  In a worst case situation, I am not worried about being humane, just putting the threat down or out of action.   So my advice is make your determination through actual field testing in order to get it right for you. Bottom line, any gun that shoots is better than no gun. Furthermore, shot placement is also a big factor, with several rounds to ensure the outcome is on your side. 
 
Happy Trails, – John in Arizona

Economics and Investing:

John Stossel: We are on the road to bankruptcy

As The World Revolving Door Turns: Former Obama official’s revolving door leads to hedge-fund defense project

Reader Tracy A. suggested this commentary from Mish Shedlock: Obama Wants Cheaper Pennies and Nickels; Why Not Do Away With Both [JWR’s Comment: My solution would be to 1.) Balance the Federal budget and 2.) Revalue the U.S. Dollar, knocking off two zeros, and 3.) Begin minting real silver coinage again. But sadly, that probably won’t happen in my lifetime.]

How Could Silver Short Sellers Cover Their Positions? (Thanks to Diana for the link.)

Tyler Durden asks: Why Were The Trillions In Fake Bonds Held In Chicago Fed Crates?

Items from The Economatrix:

Utah Panel Endorses Gold, Silver Commerce

Mortgage Settlement Not Only Thing Plunging Prices

Recovery Ending Event:  Big Oil Insider Warns of $5 Gas This Year

China Reduces Holdings Of US Treasuries To Lowest Levels Since June 2010

Odds ‘n Sods:

M.E.W. sent us this: Police ‘Tank’ Purchase Riles New Hampshire Town

   o o o

Reader Steven S. wrote to mention that there is a new link to the free PDF of John Pugsley’s now classic book, The Alpha Strategy. And while you are at, put a copy of Nuclear War Survival Skills on the same thumb drive. (Thanks to Rocco for the latter link.)

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Sheriff Paul Babeu: Fast and Furious scandal is far from over

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The streets of Syria are starting to look… Libyan.

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KAF sent a link to some great analysis of economics and Montana’s gubernatorial and legislative politics: Gently Crushing Glass Toes.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
Therefore let us not sleep, as [do] others; but let us watch and be sober.
For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.” – 1Thessalonians 5:1-10 (KJV)

Note From JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 39 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, 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 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), and E.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo.

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A FloJak F-50 hand well pump (a $349 value), courtesy of FloJak.com. C.) 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, D.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and E.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value) and F.) A Tactical Trauma Bag #3 from JRH Enterprises (a $200 value).

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

Round 39 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.