Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
Let us hold fast the profession of [our] faith without wavering; (for he [is] faithful that promised;)
And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some [is]; but exhorting [one another]: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” – Hebrews 10:22-25 (KJV)

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 43 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 $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear, E.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value), and F.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo. and G.) A $200 gift certificate, donated by Shelf Reliance.

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training. Together, these have a retail value of $589. B.) A FloJak FP-50 stainless steel hand well pump (a $600 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, 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.) A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206, C.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, D.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value.), and E.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 43 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Forget Codes: Using Constructed Languages for Secure Communication, by Snow Wolf

Egyptologists tell us that the last hieroglyphic inscription was carved in 394 A.D., and within a few decades all memory of the ancient Egyptian language was lost. For the next fifteen hundred years the world’s greatest scholars tried to translate hieroglyphics, but it was only when Jean-Francois Champollion had access to the Rosetta Stone in the 1820s that the dead language spoke once more. The Rosetta Stone, which had an identical inscription in three languages, was the key which allowed Champollion to begin translating the forgotten language.

You may be wondering what this has to do with preparedness. I believe it has a great deal, as indicated in the 9/11/12 article about using codes in emergency and survival situations. The ability to communicate privately is critical to our security as well as being a basic human right, and its importance is too often forgotten as we pursue beans, bullets, and Band-Aids.

When considering communication in the modern world, there are two unpleasant realities we must face: first, every transmission—text, email, phone call—can be intercepted. The second is that, as JWR pointed out, it’s unlikely any code we make can withstand military and government decryption methods. This means that those of us who wish to communicate privately must adopt another strategy: instead of codes, we must use constructed languages for written and spoken communication.

A constructed language (CL) is simply a language which is not, and never has been, used by a natural population. The idea of constructing or making up a language may seem strange, but in fact several well-known CLs are already in existence. The oldest is Esperanto, which was created with the intention of providing the planet with a universal language. The next significant CL came from Star Trek. In one of the movies the creators decided to add spoken Klingon, which was created by a linguist and deliberately made to sound as alien as possible while still being pronounceable by human actors. A few phrases were repeated in the movie often enough to be learned by devoted Trekkers, and soon the Klingon language had its own alphabet, vocabulary, and grammar. Today there are online courses and Youtube videos about the language, and a few fans can actually use it to communicate. The movie Avatar followed this pattern, using a constructed language called Na’vi. And yes, there are some fans who speak it; information on the language and a Na’vi dictionary can be found online.

If you want privacy, you can’t use Klingon or Na’vi; you must have a new language which has no connections to past or existing CL languages. This new language, if properly devised, will be as incomprehensible to anyone who sees or hears it as ancient Egyptian was to the scholar of 1700.

To create an effective CL, you must make several decisions. First, how many words are needed to communicate effectively? English has an overly abundant supply of synonyms (words with similar meaning), such as large, big, spacious. This duplication is unnecessary in a CL. You can probably function well with 300 words or less; you must decide what words are essential for your group.

Second, you must decide what methods of communication you wish to use with your CL. Will you signal it with Morse code? Use it in emails? Speak it aloud? Spell it with the manual alphabet? Signal with flags? If you intend to use your language only through such methods, all of which have a sign for each English letter, the CL should be based on the traditional Roman letters on your keyboard.

If you want a language which can be spoken aloud, it’s wise to use sounds normally found in English; these will be easiest for your group to pronounce and remember (if you don’t believe me, listen to Klingon). While it’s possible to create a CL which uses such strategies as the tonal structure found in Chinese, this is a new concept for most Americans and would hinder the rapid acquisition of the CL as well as being impossible to indicate in Morse and all other letter-based communication systems.

The next decision is whether to create a grammatical syntax where meaning is determined by word position, as in English, or by inflectional endings such as those found in Latin and Greek.

A word position structure means that words must be arranged in a particular order for correct comprehension. “The horse sees the woman” doesn’t mean the same as “The woman sees the horse”. Both sentences follow the common subject-verb-object pattern; the meaning is determined by which noun comes first and which comes second. In modern English, the position of words determines the meaning of the sentence.

In Latin, however, meaning depends not on position but on inflectional endings which distinguish subject from object. Here’s a simple example using Latin words with familiar English cognates.

Equus means “horse”; (equine)

feminam means “woman”; (feminine)

videt means “sees” (video)

“The horse sees the woman” can be written in Latin without regard to word order:

Equus feminam videt.

Equus videt feminam.

Feminam equus videt.

“Equus” is in the nominative singular, indicating it is the subject of the sentence. “Feminam” is in the accusative singular, which means it’s the object of the verb “videt”. The position of the words is irrelevant because their grammatical function is conveyed by their endings. Although the first sentence pattern was most commonly used by Romans, all three sentences would be equally comprehensible to Caesar and Cicero.

Using inflectional endings in your CL will make it more complicated to learn because, with few exceptions, English no longer uses such endings and most Americans are unfamiliar with them. Therefore, a positional CL is probably most practical.

Here’s a simple example to show how a positional CL can function. Imagine a group which wishes to communicate by Morse code, email, texting, flag signals, or the manual alphabet. Here are some example words:

aok = watch out for (verb) cg=stranger (noun)

igy=shoot (verb) f=vehicle (noun)

wzn=come (verb) bx=gun (noun)

tf= in, into (preposition) urr=house (noun)

fh= with (preposition) puq= man (noun)

You now have the capacity to signal or text information:

puq tf urr (There’s a man in the house.)

cg wzn (A stranger is coming.)

igy cg tf urr (Shoot the stranger in the house.)

aok cg tf f (Watch out for a stranger in a vehicle.)

puq fh bx tf urr (A man with a gun is in the house.)

The enemy can intercept these CL words, multiple them, count them, and turn them inside out, but they will not be able to understand the communication without the key, which ideally should exist only in the heads of those using the CL.

When creating a CL, you also make decisions about structure and grammar. You probably noticed the sample CL has no articles (a, an, the); these words are superfluous and can be eliminated. The present tense is also absent because it’s not necessary for comprehension and, for this particular CL, I chose to omit it entirely. Decisions such as these can be made by the creators of a CL according to their own preferences.

For the first example I deliberately used regular keyboard letters. However, if you wish you can make words such as these:

&Knv )Yy

m% a!*

While this may look more complex, it isn’t; it only gives you symbols for which there is no Morse or oral equivalent. Some may believe that the more symbols which are utilized, the less likely a communication can be decoded. This is incorrect; a CL cannot be decoded or deciphered because it is neither a code nor a cipher. It’s a language, and therein lies its impenetrable strength. Remember ancient Egyptian; there were thousands of papyri and carved inscriptions to study, but without a key none could be translated.

Another secret to making your language incomprehensible to outsiders is to

frequently realign the words and meanings. This is done by randomly changing the meaning of the words, which is simple if you’re communicating via computer. Aok becomes “gun”; cg becomes “under”, etc. Realignment is important because you don’t want those intercepting your communications to associate your CL words with group activities. The ultimate security precaution would be to realign meanings after each communication.

Obviously, the ideal CL is one which can be used on a computer, texted, sent by Morse code, spelled with the manual alphabet, and spoken aloud. If you have this, you can communicate with absolute security under the eyes and ears of the enemy.

Below is a short, very simplified CL I prepared for SurvivalBlog readers who would like to try this method of ensuring their privacy. This CL differs from the example above because these words are in syllables found in English, which makes it easy to pronounce (tf would challenge even Henry Higgins). The CL words have been divided into syllables for easier pronunciation. Vowel sounds (short or long) can be determined by the group preference. No meaning has been assigned to any linguistic unit, which means even I, who created this CL, wouldn’t be able to understand what you say, write, or signal.

Sample CL for SurvivalBlog Readers

Words

  1. sil’rah’me 14. tim’ba

  2. ru’hi 15. se’kot

  3. oh’bash’in 16. row’un

  4. ed’rek 17. ve’dok’ah

  5. pah’sas’din 18. tah’yis’vee

  6. in’tah’ba 19. yo’ee

  7. me’tick’suh 20. nu’me

  8. ir 21. it’ak’see

  9. ad’wit 22. dan’sis

  10. ha’kal’too 23. ma’ut’zo

  11. ak’tem 24. pes’hara

  12. yah’dah’sa 25. haf’den

  13. ka’ah 26. oh’ye’see

 

Grammatical Structure

  1. Plurals are formed by adding ne at the front of nouns; i.e., if you assign ma’ut’zo a noun meaning, the plural will be ne’ma’ut’zo.

  2. The present tense is indicated by the root form of the verb; if you assign ed’rek the verb meaning of “run”, no further initial or final letters/sounds are needed to use the verb in the present.

  3. The past tense is formed by adding a initial al to the verb; i.e., if oh’ye’see becomes the verb “listen”, al’oh’ye’see will mean “listened”.

  4. The future tense is created by adding an initial er; i.e., if row’un is given the meaning “come”, er’row’un means “will come”.

  5. Negatives are formed by adding pa before the verb. This prefix can also be used as a general negation, thus including the concepts of “no”, “none”, “nothing”, “not”, “don’t”, etc. If dan’sis means “come”, “pa’dan’sis” means “don’t come”.

  6. Questions are formed by adding kas to the beginning of the sentence.

 

To put these last two grammatical structures together, if you wish to communicate “Are you coming?” it would be kas’row’un. If the other person wishes to say “No”, the answer would be pa or pa’row’un.

IMPORTANT: Be very aware that speakers of a CL will almost certainly tend to use normal English vocal intonations when speaking. Our voices rise and fall in distinctive patterns as we ask questions, make statements, express surprise, fear, anger, urgency, etc. These vocal patterns are a clue to anyone listening. The solution to this security weakness is to learn to speak all words in a monotone voice, rather as if you were reading a list of unrelated words. You should also be careful that your voice doesn’t indicate the end of a sentence.

I hope many of you will try using the CL I’ve provided. But before you begin communicating important information, you must pass a test. Here it is:

You can’t use this sample CL as written. Why not?

Answer: Because of the grammar section.

No one can know the meaning you assign to the CL words in the sample; however, if you follow the grammar, anyone aware of this CL will be able to say, “Ah-ha there’s the prefix ne. That means the word following is a noun.” For this reason, ALL THE GRAMMATICAL RULES MUST BE ALTERED BEFORE YOU CAN SECURELY UTILIZE THIS CL.

To do this, just use your imagination: form plurals by adding om to the end of nouns—or to the middle, if the word has more than one syllable. Or don’t form plurals at all; if you want to say, “I need eight bullets,” the word “eight” indicates plural; the noun “bullet” doesn’t need to be changed at all. Form the future tense by adding the word wom at the end of the verb. Make questions by adding ra’hi at the end of the sentence. Remember: no one, including me, will know what meaning you assign to each linguistic unit; ak’tem can mean “wife”, “nuclear weapon”, or “move slowly”.

Learning a new language, especially one you’ve never heard, may seem daunting, but it’s essential to group security and survival. We all know the government is listening to phone conversations, reading emails, and recording communications. If a national emergency ever arises, this spying will intensify and your group will be unable to communicate privately. The powers that be are determined to take every shred of privacy in America; let’s use constructed languages to reclaim an inalienable human right.

JWR Adds: I can vouch that even an informally constructed language can baffle outsiders. Some members of my family still speak Boontling–the folk lingo of Boonville, California. (My ancestors settled there in the 1850s, after crossing the Plains by covered wagon.) We still pike to Boont or Uke by kimoshe for boshin’, bahl tedricks, shattaquaws, gormin’ matches, hobneelches and visits to the Rawles Dusties, but try to avoid nonch-harpin, Haines-Crispins, spilldukes and sharkin’ matches.

Four Letters Re: Hurricane Sandy After Action Reports

Good day, Mr Rawles…

Here in West Virginia, we have experienced a wide variety of weather from Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy.  Last Friday, it began raining well ahead of storm making landfall. Rains continued off and on thru the weekend, gradually increasing in steady rains all day Sunday and well into Monday. Around 7 pm our local time, that rain turned to snow and that’s when things began to get interesting. 

I tend to be a light sleeper so it was the ‘sound’ of power going off at 2:34 am on Saturday morning that awakened me for the day.  I got coffee started with the percolator then sat by a window watching and listening as trees and branches snapped due to winds and the weight of a foot of heavy, wet snow that fell since dark the night before.  Once your eyes have a few minutes to adjust to the sudden darkness, it is quite uncanny how aware of things you become.  Sounds are amplified, movements are detected more quickly, response time to your surroundings are automatic, perhaps mechanical in a way. I think I like this!

As of this writing (Friday), we do not have power nor do we expect it to be restored anytime soon.  On top of the more than 2 feet of heavy, wet snow that Sandy delivered, there are literally hundreds of trees and power lines down throughout the state.  Our county suffered structural damage to some main power stations (including transformers). Yesterday, I was told by the Dept. of Highways that the county road about a mile from our house would not be plowed due to downed power lines. At the same time, the power company stated they could not begin to work on electric lines when the roads had not been cleared. Go figure!

For us, our preps and food on hand prior to the storm will keep us sustained for a very long time. Heat is not an issue. We have free natural gas on our property, plus more than one heat system that does not require electricity to function.  Water is also not an issue. We have a gravity fed spring, not a well, that does not require electricity to get our water. Cisterns collect thousands of gallons of this pure water and gravity flow delivers it to our home. Water pressure isn’t optimal (like having city water) but it’s a reliable clean water source (one of many). I can live without being pressure washed in the shower. We have not yet finished our secondary power source installation for maintain electricity but it is still in the works. Currently, we run our generator 2-3 times a day for a couple of hours at a time to keep the freezers and inside refrigerator cold. We keep fuel topped off at all times as well as have plenty of other fuel sources on hand for lights, cooking or whatever else might arise. After the first 2 days following the storm, we were able to clear paths to the main roads and can still get to town for things if needed. 

About five months ago, our area endured an unexpected, black-swan weather event (a derecho) over the summer. Five counties in this area were completely black and without electricity.  It left thousands without power for days, some even weeks. Our electric was out for more than 10 days in a 100 degree heat wave.  I would much rather endure loss of power during winter than summer. That event left many without food and water simply because they failed to heed even the basic guideline of having a minimum of 72 hours worth of food and water on hand in the event of a crisis. Folks did not connect (in their brains) that a lack of power to the city water systems would result in their water supply to suddenly stop flowing. They questioned why didn’t the city just have generators in place to take up the slack (they did). These same people also didn’t realize lack of power meant no way to pump fuel to power the generators. Panic ensued from many who finally realized their ATM, debit/card cards weren’t going to work. The shock of businesses not accepting checks, only cash for payment of goods or services was enough to bring out the ‘zombiesque’ in many people. I was prepared to begin canning hundreds of pounds of meat, etc. even with the summer heat, rather than throw it away. Many people I talked to hadn’t even thought about canning and these are people who grow gardens and routinely do some food preservation each season. Duh-mazing! Fortunately, we were able to keep enough fuel on hand for the generators in order to prevent such loss.

Superstorm Sandy was not a sudden surprise. There were many advanced warnings. Local, state and federal officials spent hours on television, radio and Internet pleading with those in harms way to evacuate or be fully prepared to hunker down with sufficient supplies for possibly a long while. In our area, we are used to snow storms…bad ones are not uncommon here. Yet, people still fail to plan or prepare, fully expecting someone to come rescue them when the going gets tough. The term ‘normalcy bias’ immediately comes to mind.

Now, we are in the middle of another natural disaster and there are still plenty of people who are clamoring about officials not having some kind of plan in place for everyone. These are the same folks who were demanding they get their food replaced from the summer storm losses.  There are people in our area (and others) who do not even have enough common sense to make a natural, outdoor cooler from all this snow to their cold/frozen goods in for preservation. I have been continually shocked at the complete absence of critical thinking, especially from folks who I really thought ‘knew better’.

I read recently that a first responder in the New York/New Jersey area said, “We simply cannot save people from themselves.” I don’t believe I fully realized just how critical mindset is in a SHTF situation until now.  Sure, I talked about it, saw things first hand with how mindless and crippled society has become but I never really grasped the brevity of that until this storm.  Granted, this is not a TEOTWAWKI situation or even a long term SHTF event (thus far). We are fine in our supplies and, thank the Lord, have not endured loss other than some structural issues with our farm fencing due to falling trees. Our current setup is better than most but yet it is very painful to see other human beings suffer, often times simply due to their failure to do anything to protect themselves or their family.

For those of you out there who are still reading and planning but not yet doing anything, please, please, please get off that carousel of inaction and begin putting that gray matter to use! Don’t be one of those people who freeze up during a catastrophe or one of those who crawl back into bed, hoping they will wake up and everything will be okay. You have been awakened for a time and a purpose. Don’t waste the opportunity to do better for yourself and your loves ones. Just remember, “indecision is still a decision”. Are you ready? – C.A.T., the Transparent Shepherdess

 

Good Morning,
We faired very well, thanks to our preparations, which were enhanced by the knowledge gained from your fantastic web site these last several years.  Being “old Yankees” farm raised, we always knew that we needed to be as self-sufficient as possible.  We have thirteen older house cats, one feral outside, and one of our cats is insulin dependent.  Hence keeping his insulin at proper temperature is very important.  We have standard size refrigerator/freezer, a smaller one, and a small upright freezer.  We always have frozen freezer packs and containers of ice and many thick foam coolers, so we are set for many days.  Sterno stove is great for warming and even cooking, as well as backup with twig camp stove, small pellet camp stove and charcoal grill.  We ate very well:  grass fed beef, organic vegetables from local farm, and have months worth of No. 10 cans or all kinds of food and MREs.  Hundreds of gallons of drinking and flushing water as we are on a well.  Filled up both cars before the storm hit, and being retired no need to go anywhere, nor plans to do so.   

The living room has propane gas stove and three 100 gallon propane tanks.  We just completed installation of 15,000 watt Wenco generator and 500 gallon propane tank.  The “maiden voyage” of Wally Wenco and Polly Propane was 100% effective, plus we were able to provide basic services to the tenants in the 1200 sq. ft. guest house.  Neighbors notified they could come for hot shower, etc. if need be after the storm.  We ran the Wenco only a few hours AM & PM, to conserve propane.  Had plenty of flashlights, batteries, two crank radios, hundreds of books, hundreds pounds of dry and canned cat food, and the “means” to defend ourselves.  So, these two old ladies were just fine, and the year before had 22 trees removed from near the house on this almost four acre lot in a small town, so the house was safe!  Power went out Monday afternoon and came back Wednesday night.

Because we have always been financially frugal, maintain our older vehicles, and do not spend our money on fancy electronics, clothes, etc., we were able to upgrade our survival comfort with the propane generator.  We know that a long term survival in a true TEOTWAWKI for us is not possible, but we have that covered also, especially as just a few miles from us is a nuclear plant.  Were we a few decades younger, we would be living in the American Redoubt, because we have “knowledge” that would be useful, and physically be able to survive.  We are still trying to convince our younger relatives to be more prepared, because someday we will not be around, though they know that our long term food and other supplies are a legacy we can leave them for America’s uncertain future! – L.H. in Lyme, CT

Jim:
Good morning. If still of use to your readers, here’s Storm Update #3 for Princeton and Margate City, NJ, that I just sent to our friends.
 
Friday morning. No power still.
 
Yesterday, after my early run for gasoline, we did the first laundry since Sunday. I cranked open the window and rigged up the extension cords to the genny. Our daughters hardly issued a complaint with helping to fold – a chore they dislike – but under the circumstances, I’m guessing there’s something extra nice about fresh, warm, clean clothes. I continued cleaning-up the property and then helped my wife (Steph) make lunch. We heard back from our eldest daughter’s piano and singing teachers… they were willing to accommodate lessons cancelled by the storm if we could get there. Both are within a few miles of the house and a minute away from each other. The piano teacher gives lessons from her home and the singing teacher uses a local Church. Both had power restored. Needing a break of normalcy, my wife and I agreed. I would stay at the house with our youngest, while she ventured with the other. My wife was also going to see if the local farmer’s market was open.
 
Steph went to the farmer’s market and did her first ever shopping by flashlight. There was a line, and the store was allowing five people in at a time with an employee escort for each with flashlight to assist with shopping. Cash payment only. They only had non-perishables and the shelves were sparse. Several items she wanted – mostly soups – were gone. She did find a wonderful organic butternut squash soup among other groceries, and a bag of carrots. These were part of our dinner mix last night. On the way there, she sadly observed the destruction around Princeton. Trees down everywhere, debris, cars and houses hit, but lots of lucky falls as well – a few feet in either direction and the tree damage would have been far worse for many people.
 
In the afternoon, mail was delivered. I spoke at length with our delivery person. The workers that had reported for duty were sorting mail by lantern/flashlight, first class was backed-up for this week, and if they didn’t find more gasoline, mail would not be delivered for a few days even if the power was restored.
 
About an hour later, our next door neighbor knocked… they were leaving to find a hotel. This is a neurologist who works at a major medical center. Not wealthy, but he could have afforded a house generator system if like minded. I offered our home (these are also good folks), but they didn’t want to be a burden to anyone. They simply asked that I text them when power returns. Coincidentally, I checked in via mobile text with my best friend from Maplewood, NJ, telling him my concern that all of our neighbors were vanishing to hotels or extended family, and the reply text stated that he was in a hotel in Philadelphia with his family.
 
So, at this point, we have three categories of people. Those without generators who left days ago, those who have generators but not hooked up to the critical systems (leaving for lack of water, food, sanitation, heat, etc.) and those with hard-wired generators staying put as long as the natural gas flows or gasoline is available. Remember, these aren’t hardy country folk or preppers. They aren’t used to grid down or even making do with less. My friend in Maplewood – I’ve known him since 5th grade – he can afford anything he wants and still no house power system or supplies. I wonder how many people have now received the wake-up call? Perhaps Sandy is a blessing in that regard. Still, as much as I’m grateful not to be overwhelmed by cold and hungry neighbors, the evening walk with Aslan our dog was eerie. Empty houses greatly outnumbered the occupied. What would these people do if there was no external refuge in which to retreat? Would my family be a target even among friendly neighbors? Last night, I began thinking more seriously about the Mossberg secured under our bed… I train/shoot at Range 14 at Fort Dix in NJ.  I’d also like to put in a half-way plug here for solar lighting. My experience is that even the top of the line flood/spot lights will have a failure rate approaching 50% after a year. However, beyond a sizable alert dog, there are few better crime deterrents here than good exterior lighting. Our house is bathed in a blue glow of solar lighting for most of the night. I understand this cuts both ways in terms of standing out… but there are other homes with accent solar lighting on walkways/driveways, so perhaps it does not make us that much of an oddball, especially with the interior of the house dark.
 
We received a message that there would be no school on Friday – today. The roads and lack of operating stoplights are still a safety hazard, and it turns out the school’s fire safety system shorted out during the storm. They estimate that it will be fixed by Monday, November 5th, and that classes will resume then. Things in Princeton are improving each day, and we hope to have power back soon. Other parts of NJ are still chaotic as you get more urban (Jersey City, Hoboken) and closer to the Shore.
 
Turning to Margate City, under immense pressure, the barrier island access restriction was partially lifted by the Governor late yesterday. Several of my Shore friends – the locals – were finally getting into town to survey the damage. The ones that stayed had been giving us a reasonable heads-up on conditions. No food or water available on island (but the local bar was serving drinks) and the word is that wherever the water surge line stopped at your house is the measure of damage. Margate has modestly varying heights of property, bulkheads and dunes for protection. But when ocean meets bay, pretty much everyone is in a jam. Mom is stubbornly making her way back to our family home on the beach block. Bull dozers are clearing walking paths through the sand on a street by street basis. We should have a full report later today on the interior water damage. Ventnor City remains voluntarily closed due to the infrastructure issues, and the access restriction for Atlantic City still holds – at least that’s what I last heard.
 
I’m going to start the day’s work. Best to all. – Bill H.
 

Hi Jim,
Where I live in southern Pennsylvania, it rained solid, although very lightly most of the time, for 6 days straight. Today it’s finally letting off. We did have some high winds on Monday and Tuesday, but we haven’t had any flooding (despite living in a valley beside a stream) and no wind damage. The power did go out for a few hours Tuesday morning while we were sleeping, but otherwise it was a non event here.

Having lived through a high wind storm a number of years ago that took out our power for a week, we’re a little more prepared than we were then. We now have a 500 gallon propane tank and a gas range (cooking stove), a wood burner with plenty of seasoned wood, and a hand pump for water if needed.

A few notes about that might interest readers:
Regarding the gas range, we can light [the cooktop burners] with matches, which means we need to have a large supply of matches on hand for extended power outages. Also, we didn’t realize the oven [portion of the range] won’t light without electricity because it has a fancy-dancy electronic control mechanism. Fortunately we don’t use the oven much, but we now know better and next
time we’ll make sure the oven is usable without electricity.

Also, our
house and well are situated in such a manner that we have a Bison hand pump in our basement. In the event of a power outage, all I have to turn is turn a few valves and we can pump as much water as we need. We also can hook up a hose from the pump directly into our water system. It won’t be enough to shower, but it’ll be enough to flush toilets, which certainly beats using buckets to flush!

Lastly, where I work, we have a lot of customers that were hit hard by Sandy. I’ve been astounded by how unprepared they were. It’s very clear many did not make any effort to have disaster recovery tests. They need RSA security tokens to access our system, and we’ve had numerous calls from customers stating “when we evacuated, we left our tokens at the office”. I’ve also heard “our server is under water”. I hope they had an offsite backup! If nothing else, this [relatively] “minor” Category 1 storm should help them be prepared for the next one.

Regards, – C.G.

Economics and Investing:

Without Electricity, New Yorkers on Food Stamps Can’t Pay for Food. (JWR Adds: “Food Stamps” are no longer stamps–they are EBT cards. Part of the House Of Cards that we are building for future societal collapse.)

Real Economy Still Sliding As ‘Eating Out’ Continues to Go Down

G.G. sent: Japanese city with huge debts puts its name up for sale.

Maryland Woman Has Kept Track of Every Tax on Her In 2012–$26,000 So Far

Items from The Economatrix:

Celente – It’s Not Just Germany’s Gold That’s Missing

Netherlands Citizens Group Demands Central Bank Reveal Location Of Country’s Gold Reserve

Consumers Drive Growth As Businesses Hold Back

Why The Real Earnings Cliff Is Bad And Getting Worse

Vietnamese Banks Who Paid Dividends On Stored Gold Were Quietly Selling It To Appear Solvent

Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader “Crazy Mike” recommended an instructive creative carpentry video that shows a great method for hiding valuables in place sight. The magnetic locks are clever.

   o o o

For any who doubts that there is a liberal bias in academia: Law Professors back President Obama over Mitt Romney 72% to 19%, according to Brian Leiter’s poll.

   o o o

Readers Mike S. and Matt H. both sent an interesting article with a very poorly-written (or quite biased) headline: Seattle residents refuse to arm themselves. (I would have instead titled it: “Washingtonians arm themselves in record numbers.”) But of course this came from liberal western Washington–not from a journalist in the conservative Redoubt half of the state.

   o o o

Devastated New Jersey Town Rejects Non-Union Alabama Electrical Workers. And meanwhile (not yet confirmed): Bloomberg: The National Guard in Coney is a bad idea. His Honor, The Gun Grabber says: “The NYPD is the only people we want on the street with guns.”

   o o o

Just as I predicted: New Yorkers will soon be in Deep Schumer.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, [if] thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger,
Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.
Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend.
Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.
Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand [of the hunter], and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.

Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:
Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,
Provideth her meat in the summer, [and] gathereth her food in the harvest.” – Proverbs 6:1-8 (KJV)

Notes from JWR:

One final reminder that I will be the keynote speakers at the Get Prepared Expo (via teleseminar.) That will me tomorrow, Saturday, November 3rd, 2012. This has become a very popular event. There will be 100 Exhibits and 70 Seminars. You can save 20% by buying your admission passes in advance at GetPreparedEXPO.com ($8 for a one-day pass, or $15 for a weekend pass.) The expo will be held November 3 and 4, 2012 at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds in Springfield, Missouri.

—

November 2nd is the anniversary of The Balfour Declaration in 1917. (British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour declared the intent to establish a national home for Jews in Palestine.)

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Today we present another entry for Round 43 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 $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear, E.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value), and F.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo. and G.) A $200 gift certificate, donated by Shelf Reliance.

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training. Together, these have a retail value of $589. B.) A FloJak FP-50 stainless steel hand well pump (a $600 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, 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.) A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206, C.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, D.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value.), and E.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 43 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

A Corn Chronicle, by ShepherdFarmerGeek

This spring I purchased Painted Mountain Corn seed from two suppliers following the stirring encouragement of New Ordinance (“Rocky Mountain Corn: The Secret Weapon”). In spring of 2012 seed was selling for around $20/lb. This fall I see it’s commonly selling for around $30/lb and up!

I’m planning on saving a lot of seed, selling a little, and experimenting with cooking this amazing field corn in a variety of ways. (Remember, it’s field corn, not sweet corn. You dry it and grind it into flour to make tortillas, tamales, chips, and much more!)

GROWING

Using a marked measuring line, I planted 200 seeds one inch deep, 1’ apart in rows 2’ apart, in an established garden area about 20’x20’ .I took a glance at each seed I planted to plant the biggest and best-looking seed, and saved the odd or broken seeds for cooking. I fertilized it with plenty of chicken manure, and supplemented with a general commercial fertilizer as my insurance against not having enough nitrogen in the soil (corn are heavy feeders and this was my very first attempt).

The fertilizer was added when the plants were knee-high (6-8 leaves), one tablespoon per plant 5” from the stem, and again when the plants were silking and ears beginning to form. (If you don’t have livestock for manure you probably should consider stashing a couple of big bags of all-purpose fertilizer!)

Basically, the drier your weather, the further apart the seeds need to be so each plant can scavenge enough moisture from the surrounding soil. Ditto for soil fertility: the less fertile the soil, the further apart the plants need to be. Corn is not normally planted only 1’ apart, but I figured that since I was supplying the water and fertilizer, the plants could be closer together. For the scoop on corn root spread, root depth, watering requirements and scheduling, and more take a look at this web page.

My first planting was done a few days after the last average frost day for Spokane, May 15. But the weather got cold and wet again and I lost all of that planting. Once the weather warmed up again I replanted in mid-June. I toyed with planting them in little pots for better germination, but I wanted a technique that I could scale up, and transplanting 2,000+ little pots in my next attempt was just absurd…

My corn patch was watered from above by an oscillating rectangular-pattern lawn sprinkler, on a 6’ post in the middle of the patch. My goal was to give the corn about 1” of water per week. I watered them in the morning so that the plants would dry off with the rising sun and we would not have mold issues. I was concerned with sprinkler-watering when the corn was in silk (releasing pollen that needs to stick to each silk to produce a kernel of corn), but I had only a few ears of corn that weren’t 100% pollinated, so that didn’t seem to be an issue.

By the way, with pollinating insects at a low in our neck of the woods you’ll be interested to know that corn is wind pollinated. So even if the bees are having a tough time you’ll still have corn! This is why you always have to plant corn in blocks, and not in single rows – the pollen needs to be blown around them.

Weeding was done with a hula-hoe and the 2’ rows were just wide enough for me to walk down the row. After the first weeding the weeds that came back just weren’t an issue so I didn’t have to do it again. Most of my weeds are pigweed and not a huge problem – in fact, the chickens and sheep like them!

The corn plants showed amazing genetic variation, which is one of the reasons it is such a robust variety. Some of the plants were more than 6’ tall, others were barely 3’. Each plant had one ear of corn, on average. The ears on shorter plants were no smaller than those on larger plants. Just a few plants “lodged” – fell over in a windstorm we had – but continued to grow and produced ears!

The kernel colors were amazing! Several ears had every color in the rainbow, as well as beautiful patterns and rays. I could have sold the entire crop just for holiday decorations!
HARVESTING

I was expecting the corn to dry on the stalk and be collected after being completely dry. Instead, the corn started to dry and we had a wave of cold weather that threatened to damage the crop. Theoretically, this corn can take a light frosting, but I didn’t want to take the chance, so I picked all the ears before the frost (mid-October). Freeze-damaged kernels can still be dried and eaten for food, but won’t germinate as seed.

It turns out that the corn was drier than I thought. While the plants were still about half-green, I had missed the clue that they were ready to pick when the corn patch sounded “rattle-y” when watered. I  should have stopped watering at that point, but I didn’t for another week and so had three or four ears with a little bit of mold on them.

I husked the ears right in the patch and then discovered that the best way to dry them is to knot two or three corn husks together (after pulling the husks back to expose the kernels) and hang them from a hook or nail in the ceiling of my house, where they wouldn’t freeze (that would be the grid-down solution, not one your wife would ordinarily endorse…).

What I ended up doing was laying them on a table in my garage with a fan blowing on them to dry them quicker and prevent molding. That would not have been an option if the power was off – hanging the drying ears is definitely the way to go.

SHELLING

Flex a few ears of corn when you first harvest them to get a baseline of how flexible they are when not yet dry. When the ear of corn stiffens up (it won’t be completely hard) and when you can’t dent the kernels with pressure from your fingernail, they are ready to shell. There’s no rush, so be sure they’re good and dry! I found about a dozen solitary moldy kernels out of all my ears of corn, and one cob that had slightly molded – just because the kernels are dry doesn’t mean the cobs are completely dry yet.

I bought one of those familiar solid aluminum hand-shellers (“Decker Corn Sheller”) but the ears of Painted Mountain corn are a lot narrower in diameter than regular corn and just pass right through the sheller. (Once shelled, the Painted Mountain cob diameter is between 5/8” and 1”.)

So, I took a 6 ounce can of tomato paste and removed both lids (the Oxo Smooth Edge can opener from Sears – and others like it – lifts the lids off and leaves NO sharp edges), and pounded the can body down into the sheller with a mallet. A little extra shaping with a screwdriver and I had a smaller-diameter sheller that worked fairly well (a lot faster than shelling with my bare hands, let me tell you!). It wouldn’t last very long, but it did the job a lot better than my bare hands!

I finally did more shopped around on the Internet and found a cast aluminum hand sheller rated for popcorn (labeled “Burrows P Pcorn”) and it was The Very One for Painted Mountain corn! It’ll last for decades, and has no sharp edges that might scratch the surface of a kernel intended for seed, though I did take a fine file to mine just to be sure!

With my new Burrows sheller I can shell an ear of corn in about 10 seconds, but there are sometimes a few kernels that I have to dislodge with my fingers. The kernels are as hard as a rock and aren’t damaged by the contact with metal – as long as there are no sharp points or edges. Some persistent kernels did get damaged by the sheller – scraped across the tops, but those were pretty rare. (Another reason to look at the seed corn when you’re planting it to make sure it’s not damaged, broken, or moldy.)

DOING THE MATH

The 200 corn plants which I raised on 400+ square feet of ground produced about 30 pounds of corn. Each ear produced, on average, about 1/6th of a pound. At this yield an acre would produce around 3,000 lbs (if I did the math right). Our season was short and I planted the seeds closer than recommended – your results may vary!

Now, my dozen or so chickens might eat about 20 pounds of scratch a month (as cracked corn combined with 20 lbs of cracked wheat) year-round, and grid-down my family might eat 4 pounds of corn a week (about 200 lbs/year), in addition to other crops. On a subsistence basis then, I would need to plant a 77’x77’ corn patch with 2 lbs of seed to raise 440 lbs.

You’d probably get better sheer food production by raising, say, potatoes. But you’d have to preserve/store your crop for an entire year and that’s a real trick without electrically controlled temperature and humidity. And potatoes cannot be frozen, whereas completely dried corn can. So raise both!

For those of you who are just starting out with corn I would like to recommend you purchase at least a year’s worth of dried GMO-free corn right now to store. Who knows if we’ll be able to grow anything the first year after a crisis?! I bought bulk organic corn from a local organic grocery in town (Huckleberry’s, if you’re in the Spokane area), but you can also buy it online. You might be interested to know that the mad scientists have not yet genetically engineered blue corn, which you can buy online in bulk from places like Honeyville (www.honeyvillegrain.com). Blue cornbread for Thanksgiving – or beautiful purple-tinted home-made Painted Mountain cornbread – with lots of butter!!

COOKING

If your corn is not going to be a large part of your diet you can just run the dry corn through your electric or crank grain mill and make flour that way.  If you plan to use corn as a substantial part of your survival diet, or it just happened that way because your other crops failed, then you should consider nixtamalizing it!

I’ve successfully made hominy (nixtamalized corn) by pre-soaking 2 lbs of dried corn in water for two hours, then bringing it to a boil with ¼ cup pickling lime in 3 quarts of water, then simmering for 60 minutes, and letting it sit overnight, covered. The hominy can then be rinsed, boiled to desired softness and eaten as hominy (warmed with butter!), or ground wet in a food processor or hand grinder (not a grain mill!) into dough and add water after grinding to make masa. I’ve stored enough pickling lime to treat all the (organic!) corn I have stored. Read up on this process for more details!

You can also nixtamalize corn with wood ash, but it takes longer. You use as much sifted wood ash as you do corn (1:1), and boil it longer depending on the type of wood burned to produce the ash. The ash gives it a bubbling mud / Yellowstone effect, but you rinse the ash off in the end (NOT down your drain!) and the result is the same – your corn will be more nutritious! Have a look at these two videos: The Derelict Epistle: Making and Cooking Traditional Hominy Part 1 and, The Derelict Epistle: Making and Cooking Traditional Hominy Part 2.

STORING

Store your corn in paper sacks or feed bags, not in sealed plastic bags. Once thoroughly, thoroughly dry, I store mine in galvanized steel trash cans with plastic drum liners, and sprinkle diatomaceous earth both in the can before I fill it and on top of the corn once it’s full. And I keep a generous supply of mouse poison in my storage area as well!

Save enough seed to replant if you get bad weather like I did, and save enough so you’ll have seed for the next year (with an emergency replant!), should your entire crop get completely skunked that year. In my case, with the larger 77’x77’ plot, I’d want to save around 8 pounds of seed. And let me recommend setting aside some corn seed for any neighbors within a 1,000 foot minimum distance who might want to raise corn after the crash. That way their corn pollen won’t contaminate yours!

Don’t forget to rotate corn between gardens or garden areas to keep corn pests in the soil to a minimum!

For a lot more information about growing corn and all the reasons why it is a superb survival crop, see the chapter on corn in Carol Deppe’s excellent book, The Resilient Gardener: Food Production and Self-Reliance in Uncertain Times or read Chapter 12 online via Google Books. 

I do hope you’ll consider raising corn as one of your survival crops. It is a versatile and nutritious food and one you’ll enjoy growing!

Trust God. Be Prepared. We can do both!

ShepherdFarmerGeek, Trusting Jesus in Spokane

Letter Re: Will Analog AM and FM Radio Soon Be Phased Out?

James,
A friend of mine who is in the know with the FCC told me that in a few years all AM/FM commercial radio stations will be changing from analog to digital broadcast. Most or all AM/FM radios will not work after this is implemented is what he said. Have you heard anything about this and he also told me even the OTA car radios would not work and have to be replaced. I asked him if someone was going to come up with a converter like they did for televisions and he said probably not.  This person is not one to tell something that is not true and he is a retired electrical engineer that used to work for one of the local television stations. Have you heard anything about this? Thanks, – Randy H.

JWR Replies: The digital transition is not mandatory and most stations are presently not planning to change. And if they do, they will likely broadcast in parallel (analog and digital) for many years. Furthermore, the FCC hasn’t even set a uniform standard (since there are several competing digital systems.)

The “installed base” of analog AM and FM radios is huge. (If you count car radios, there are roughly 11 working radios for each television in America.) Thus, for at least the next couple of decades a full transition is impractical. And, unlike the converter boxes for analog televisions connected to Cable TV, a digital “converter” for a radio would be a completely new receiver. This would mean that the only functionality you would salvage from the old analog radio would be the antenna, amplifier and loudspeaker.

As a long term hedge against the digital trend, I recommend that the only analog radios that SurvivalBlog readers henceforth buy are very sensitive analog radios that are multiband–including shortwave bands–and that have a BFO. That way, even if analog AM and FM commercial broadcasts are phased out, then those radios will still have considerable usefulness for international shortwave listening. My favorite EMP-resistant multiband tube radio is the Hallicrafters S-38E or S-38EM. (The latter has identical guts, but in a faux mahogany cabinet.) They can be operated on both 120 Volt AC and DC. These can often be found on eBay for less than $80, or at garage sales for less than $40. (I bought one of mine for $10!) Either replace the electrolytic capacitors yourself, or if that is beyond your level of hobby electronics expertise, then buy one that has already been “re-capped.”

Since the analog to digital transition will be protracted, I suspect that the makers of sophisticated multiband (“general coverage”) receivers (such as Drake, Kenwood, and ICOM) will produce several new generations of receivers that are multi-mode. (Analog and digital.) Essentially these will be configured like the venerable Kenwood R-2000, but with capability of demodulating the latest digital modes. But you might want to wait a few years to see how the new AM and FM digital radio standards shake out, because they have yet to go through their equivalent of the Betamax Versus VHS War.

For some details on the digital transition, see the Wikipedia page on HD Radio.

Four Letters Re: Hurricane Sandy After Action Reports

Hello,
I’m a long time reader of your blog and books. I live in Philadelphia. We have a house in Stone Harbor, New Jersey, which was devastated by Hurricane Sandy.

Please look at Seven Mile Island Times and Stone Harbor on Facebook for an idea of our situation there. The whole island was underwater. Our docks washed away and our boat is on the sidewalk, still chained to the trailer. 

We lucked out, the house is fine and built high. We still have electricity and water in Philly. What I took away from this experience can be seen in this HuffPo article.

 We were prepared: I filled the tub with water, and topped off all our [vehicle] gas [tanks] prior. A buddy of mine lost power and has no water (pump to well died). His new generator is useless because there is no gas available anywhere. He couldn’t even drive to work. Thousands are in line to buy gas all across the region, cans in hand. Stations are either empty and can’t rely on distribution, or their pumps are down because of power outages. A family member left NYC this morning to drive to the house in Jersey to see the damage. Despite his full tank, he didn’t have enough gas and after reaching a line of cars a mile and a half long had to turn back to NY. We have our vehicles filled up and a few cans topped off. I’m the only one that can get there to see the damage first hand, going Friday myself. Things are bad, but this gas situation shocked me and I heard about it all day from friends and co workers who were in a bad way because of it. Many here were caught with nothing. No power, no water, no gas. Thanks to our preps and luck, we’re fairing well. Point being, take this type of disaster seriously and encourage people you know to prepare ahead of time. Fill those fuel tanks and stabilize them! Best, – T.H.

 

Good Morning,
We live just north of Philadelphia in a suburban area. Because of a house fire we are living in a recreational vehicle (RV) on our property during the [insurance] settlement and restoration of our house. Prior to the storm, the RV was parked close to our apple trees (we have several acres and are blessed with a large garden and fruit trees) and so decided that for the hurricane we should move it to the driveway where it could sit on a hard surface.  About the time that it looked like we should head west to our retreat area instead of waiting out the storm…the roads were closed for all high profile vehicles, trailers, etc. so we couldn’t leave. As a side note, our retreat area was dealing with high winds and snow. So having said all that, here are some of the results and my thoughts:
 
1) Had this been a true emergency (G.O.O.D.) we would have been in real trouble as we couldn’t get the RV out of the yard (she is older, 37 ft. long and 20,000 lbs. loaded). We had to call a towing service to winch her out and fortunately did so several days before the storm hit. The point? Make sure if you are using an RV as a bug out vehicle that it can actually move. Parking it off to the side somewhere might be convenient but not do so well if you need to get it out fast. The ground was solid when we originally situated her but soft when we went to move her due to recent rain and cloudy days not drying things out. Also, make sure you start all of your systems regularly as they are no different than any other piece of equipment. Heat, air, truck engine, generator, batteries, all need to be maintained and started monthly to ensure that they will work for you when you need them. Tires crack and get dry rot when not taken care of or used.
 
2) Because of the weight of the vehicle we had very little movement of the RV during the high winds. A couple of scary moments when gusts reached 70 mph but over all, pretty good. My complaint of how much gas she uses over the road because of her weight is no longer a complaint as the weight kept the RV grounded. We put the stabilizers down just enough to support and level but not enough to take the RV off of her tires. I keep the gas tank topped off and stabilized just in case, so always have 75 gal. of gas for driving and generator use but in a bug out situation she will only go about 400 miles on that tank. Our retreat area is 650 miles away…so we would have to carry extra gas. Another consideration is, what if gas is used for generator power before bugging out.
 
3) We had heat, electricity(generator), water, food and septic when everyone around us was in darkness so things stayed normal for us. We ended up putting the RV right next to the neighbors house so we could use the RV generator to keep his septic pump, sump pumps and our freezer working (he has been so kind as to allow us to put our fully loaded freezer in his garage since the fire). Although we had over 125 gal of gas, 2- 100 lb propane tanks and kerosene, had this been of long duration we would be hoofing it out on foot after a few weeks or in a real rough camping environment. Also, our food stores are in a storage unit for the time being and would have to be left behind if we had to leave. Reality is a sobering thought.
 
4) If you are bugging out, get out before the roads are closed. That one is a hard decision to make as before a storm or an emergency everything seems normal and you have no idea how bad things will get or good they will be. So when do you leave? Good question and one that we are discussing for the future. We waited too long in this case and had it been catastrophic for this area we would have been part of the catastrophe. Even though we have 2 years of food and our beans, bullets and band aids in order.
 
5) I went to our storage unit a few hours before the storm was to start to get a couple of buckets of grain and my grain grinder, along with other supplies. While there, decided to pay the unit rent early. Inside the office the young man behind the desk was fielding calls from other storage facilities as to what to do to prepare their properties for the storm. He responded that he had no clue and told me that there wasn’t anything in their manual on how to handle this sort of situation. I asked him if he had any personal supplies, he responded that he some canned food. I then asked him if he had a non electric can opener to open his cans with and he didn’t think so. WOW… For those who have supplies in storage units, check to see what provisions they have in place for security in grid down scenario and for goodness sake don’t let anyone know that you have food stored there. Our storage unit is a mile away and I realized that in a serious situation we would have to move those supplies quickly and quietly.
 
6) We were able to stay in communications with the children who live in our retreat area through texting when the phones and cell service were spotty. I was able to use my hotspot intermittently for e-mails, news and weather. We also have a hand cranked weather radio that works very well had we needed it.
 
7) This is off topic but I have a years supply of my blood pressure medicine. I was able to get it through an online pharmacy in Canada. They require a hand written script and communication with your physician but I get six months of name brand prescriptions for what it costs for one month here in the States. I can reorder as often as I feel the need. Just thought that might help some folks out there that are having trouble getting more than a couple of months of their medicines.
 
I will close this by saying that we were very blessed! This area is pretty much back online with electricity being restored, roads open, shops opening and things getting back to normal. Yes, there were/are trees down and power outages but compared to our neighboring states we fared very well. As for as our personal conversations are concerned…we thought we were reasonably prepared but realized that in spite of our preparations we are still very vulnerable and our way of life, very fragile. I don’t know what conclusions will come out of our discussions but I do know that adjustments will be made.
 
I have really appreciated this blog and the information it contains, which I check daily. It has inspired us and educated us so that we can be a part of the solution instead of part of the problem.
 
God’s Blessings to all, – Lynda H.

 

Dear Sir,
 
I am an resident of New York City and a long-time reader of your web site.  I endured Hurricane Sandy without incident, but frankly, the storm poked a few holes in my urban preparedness model.  Rather than provide a play-by-play account of my experiences, I want to share some of the valuable lessons I gained from this exercise in survival.
 
*  For starters, I will acknowledge that a densely packed urban environment situated on an island (aka Manhattan) is the worst place to endure any crisis.  I am surrounded by millions, many of whom would have no issue with taking from me by force, largely because they remain entirely dependent on government handouts and have little concept of independence and self-reliance.  Political commentary aside, that is a real threat to my safety.  That threat, coupled with the uphill battle to legally possess a firearm in the city, puts me at a strategic disadvantage should the situation degrade beyond a certain point.  New York City, by its very nature, requires a vast and steady influx of resources via bridge, tunnel, and air.  Cripple this transport infrastructure and the city is left helpless without provisions.  Take home lesson:  some locations are better are inherently superior for a survival situation – this city is not one of them.
 
*  Fight or flight.  When the reality of the storm hitting New York was largely certain, I had to make my first major decision:  I either stay put and ride it out, or flee the city in advance of the storm.  After careful consideration, weighing factors such as the size of the storm, my transportation options, where I could go, family and work obligations, and others, I decided to ride it out.  Immediately, and without hesitation, once I committed to staying put, I was “all in” – there was no downtime at that point until I was satisfied with my planning and execution.  That said, one of my next projects in my preparedness practice will be to flesh out just what my options are in leaving this city in a pinch.
 
* Checklists are essential.  In the past, I have scoffed at maintaining a preparedness checklist on the basis that I could pretty much rattle off the items on such a checklist without much thought.  But in crisis mode where my stress levels were elevated, doubt crept in.  I found myself Googling various web sites for preparedness checklists since I was now second-guessing myself.  Granted, I had most of what was on these lists, but I wasted valuable time and introduced doubt into my planning.  Not a good start.  So lesson learned, have a list, periodically review it, and refine as needed.
 
*  If you use up any of your supplies or preps, replace them ASAP.  I had no water reserves going into this storm.  I had used up my water supply cache some months ago when our water filter was malfunctioning, and never replaced it.  Never again.  I took a three prong approach:  first, I filled used water bottles, canteens, sealed containers and such and put them in the fridge.  Made sense to me to use what I had first, rather than attempt to seek it out at stores.  Second, I ordered some Chinese food for lunch and had them bring me several liters of water with my meal.  I am not trying to sound flippant here; I was hungry, busy with final pre-storm prep work, and needed water – so I leveraged a delivery service to help me on all counts.  Expanding on this point, most people flock to stores to buy water, only to scavenge the shelves bare very quickly.  Restaurants, especially takeout places have generous bottled water supplies for sale, and most people wouldn’t think of is this avenue for a last ditch prepping effort, but I did.  Lastly, I did venture out to a store once done with all my at-home work to literally walk among the sheep and serve as a reminder to myself to never be in this situation again.
 
*  Beans, Band-Aids, bullets – and batteries.  I was somewhat surprised when a friend of mine told me that the stores had run out of batteries.  Who doesn’t stock up on batteries, I wondered.  I was well stocked, and furthermore have a whole kit dedicated to small-device charging.  I cannot tell you the number of people whose mobile phones were without charge and this was shortly after losing power!  There are battery packs, solar chargers, adapters for charging through a laptop or car.  Not to mention the basic premise of keeping your phone or other devices charged in the first place.  I guess this mirrors the principle of always keeping your gas tank at least half full.  Lastly, I counseled several friends of mine who were without batteries to purchase cheap consumer electronics that came with batteries – there were plenty of these sitting on shelves.
 
*  Be prepared to leave.  Everyone and their cousin has a Bug Out Bag today.  Filled with survival gear, emergency rations, weapons, and the like.  What about valuable and irreplaceable documents (passport, birth certificate, titles, deeds, business papers, etc.), irreplaceable computer files, cherished possessions (including cash, jewelry, precious metals).  All of these are resources that may not help you survive during the actual crisis, but will certainly help you thrive after the crisis has ended.  While holed up in my apartment, I went over several scenarios where I would be forced to leave.  Regardless of why I would have to leave, I posed the question:  assuming I had to flee with 5 minutes notice and the apartment was later destroyed, looted, or whatever – what items would allow me to rebuild my life?  What was essential, and what wasn’t? I find these questions to be of great value, not only in a weather emergency, but also when applied to other, greater threat scenarios.  It really forces the individual to distill their thinking to what’s vital, and what’s not.  In my case, much, but certainly not all of what I would need to rebuild my life is largely portable and small.  The deficiency in my case was computer backups – not portable by any practical measure, nor weather proof.  This is now being rectified.
 
*  Communication is crucial.  Ahead of the storm, I contacted the important people in my life, told them I was going to stay put, and that there was a real chance the grid could go down and I could lose communications.  This contact put my mind at ease, which of course makes any survival situation more endurable.  Furthermore, during the storm and its aftermath, cell phone and internet service was largely disrupted.  It’s an important question to answer:  how do you communicate with the important people in your life when the telecom networks are degraded or down?  Small things, like utilizing text messaging (or SMS) more than voice calls.  An SMS will use less bandwidth than a voice call, and will never arrive garbled.  Mind you, it may never arrive at all, but I found the use of SMS to be more useful than having to deal with spotty, hard-to-decipher voice calls.  Technical issues aside, brevity and clarity are key.  During and right after a storm are not the time to talk at length.
 
*  Emotional health is vitally important.  I had food, water, shelter, not to mention power, TV, and Internet.  I was not lacking materially in any way.  But while holed up at home during the storm, I was anxious, feeling unsettled, and had difficulty sleeping at night.  Uncertainty, doubt, fear of the unknown – these were all forces I was battling with.  Granted, this is normal as the city I live in was being battered.  In truth, I thought with all my provisions and creature comforts, I would not be upset or agitated in the slightest.  Reminding myself that I had taken good precautions and was well-supplied helped to assuage my concerns.  Prayer or meditation may have been helpful as well, but I engaged in neither.
 
*  Start small.  My preparedness model was premised on a 3-day survival situation in a grid-down situation.  It was uncomfortable mentally to fathom a prolonged disaster situation, and my role in it.   I now see that burying my head in the sand is hardly the answer, and the only way to feel safe will be to expand and refine my survival model.  I am now looking into preparing for incidents of greater severity and duration, one variable at time.
 
Sincerely, – M.D.A.

 

Jim:
I live in Princeton, NJ with my wife and daughters, and my mother resides in our family home on the beach block in Margate, NJ (i.e., the Shore – Atlantic City area). I put together two updates for our friends. Thought they might be of interest to your readers – though I apologize for the clipped writing style.
 
Update # 1 – Wednesday morning. I finally slept a fair bit last night (Tuesday) and as the electronics have charged from the generator, here’s the scoop. Make no mistake Mother Nature still rules. You are going to lose the head on collision, so best to lightly sidestep her dominion whenever possible.
 
I prepared my family and house in Princeton, and was still surprised. I think a lot of people were, especially at the Shore. There aren’t a lot of locals left who can remember the 1944 Hurricane, and there was a much different population for the 1962 storm. From the little I have heard from my Shore friends, those who stayed regretted the decision. The Shore got crushed, power will be out for a week or more and the drinking water is compromised – there is a boil alert as well as filtration. That’s assuming they get the news. Generators are great, but few folks had them, and those that did, well let’s just say that six feet of storm surge pretty much kills your genny… as you are unlikely to have it placed much higher on the property.
 
Let’s come back to Princeton for the moment. I had the house pretty well fixed. Outside stuff stowed and roped, and I put two little giant pumps on the floor of the basement and rigged their hoses 75 feet out one of the basement windows. If the power went early, I had the portable gasoline driven genny on the front porch… sheltered enough to run and ventilate. Many people don’t know that your typical portable genny is not designed to operate in significant rain – though many will last for a while – there is a good chance of shorting the electrical systems and in getting shocked. I also had two 100 foot extensions cords through the front window to the basement for each. Short story – we thankfully didn’t get as much rain as was forecast. No real issue in basement.
 
On Monday afternoon, before any of the heavy storm impact hit, we were surprised by a knock on the door. Our neighbor lost part of his roof and is looking for tarps, caulk, tape, rope, etc. I was able to help with these items and also the contact info for our home contractor who had put out an e-mail earlier advising they were available for emergency repairs. This neighbor has a wife and three children – good family – bad sign to lose the roof before the real storm winds arrived. Told him our house is open and to let me know if he needs anything else.
 
While we had the utilities working, my kids were fine. Though by about 6:30 pm, the winds began to escalate dramatically. Even with the games and TV, they were nervous. It was dark and loud outside – things were flying by and the power had been flickering. At 7:00 pm power failed. By 7:30 pm, we made the decision to go down to the basement. The wind was roaring at 60-70 mph plus sustained and higher gusts in the 80’s – learned this later. So we set up an area with sleeping bags, pillows, lanterns and snacks. Our basement is unfinished – cold concrete floor – but does have shelves, storage bins, etc. I was not prepared for the fear in my kids’ eyes, nor was I expecting the knot in my chest as we could hear the house shutter and pipes rattle with the faster wind bursts.
 
So with all my readiness… I was still humbled and doing my best to reassure the kids that we were fine. Best decision was to give each of them a chocolate bar and burn through the charge on my wife’s laptop watching episodes of Psych – a funny detective show on TV. We had the occasional trip upstairs to go to the bathroom – no flushing without the power. We are on well water. I had water in the bathtub ready for this, but not during the height of the winds. The flashlight showed trees down, fencing gone, stuff flying and I was worried about one of our old growth trees hitting the house. No detours – bathroom and then back to the basement.
 
After midnight, when the winds had settled at more like 30 to 40 mph, we moved to the first floor guest bedroom. The kids nodded off with my wife and I went outside to start the genny. The temperature was dropping – though we had ample blankets for that – it was more to avoid food spoilage in the refrigerator. Most refrigerators will give you 4-6 hours unopened of decent cold. You can extend it a bit by turning the temp down pre-storm (which I did on both refrigerator and freezer), but after that… food will spoil. Freezers are better – probably 2 to 3 days if not opened – possibly more, and especially if full of food or home-made ice bags to take up the empty space.
 
So, in the wind and rain, and with a hat to protect against flying branches and lantern, I repositioned the genny near our exterior hard-line hookup. This is where we plug the genny into the house systems and I use the man-high garage door as the rain shield. Exhaust vents outside. Again, never run a genny in a closed garage or home – the fumes will penetrate and kill. I had just serviced and tested our genny before the storm – you need to know how these things work. Choke on, first pull and she kicked in with a reassuring hum. By 1:00 am we had power to the systems. I had to unplug items that were power drains which I forgot, but essentially as I flipped the breakers in the basement on the genny auxiliary panel and we had heat, water and power to the refrigerators/freezers. I spent the night on the living room sofa waking up every hour to walk the house looking for leaks, broken windows, and checking the genny (overheating, gas leaks, oil, venting, etc.).
 
Yesterday (Tuesday) is a bit of a blur.  Mid-morning, I discovered that our neighbors had sheltered in their basements as well. Trees were down everywhere, roads were closed, flooding by the river, no power. Anyone without a working genny was leaving for friends and family that had one. Temps are getting colder this entire week, and then there’s food and water. I made fresh coffee for folks, offered food and then began assessing damage and clean-up. I always keep the chain saw oiled and ready from the last use, and so I put on my Kevlar chaps and began cutting trees.
 
Around mid-day I refueled the genny. This means shutting everything down, then pouring in the gasoline, then restart, then circuits. If you don’t, you can blow the systems starting the genny with a full electric load. I heard from one neighbor that there was access to Highway 206 via one road, and I thought about gasoline. Between chain saw and genny… it was a priority. The kids played games, saw another show on the laptop which was charged as were phones, and we had another knock on the door from another neighbor friend – April. After she got hot apple cider, food and good company she walked back to her home.
 
At about 3:00 pm, and before daylight sank further, I headed out for gasoline. Got about four miles, passed two police roadblocks, all traffic lights out and roads closed, and after passing my 3rd gas station that was closed with a no fuel sign, I called it a day. What was I thinking? This was a surprise to me, but should not have been. Everyone else was burning gas like crazy too. The stations were out until roads opened for refueling, and even then, the rest of NJ is in deep, so who knows how long that will take.
 
Returning home, I hit my emergency gasoline supply under the tarps outside – the five gallon steel safety cans had been there since last summer, but I had put Sta-Bil in the gas to keep it good beyond the usual 3 months. There are commercial grade versions that will give you years, but I don’t have access to that stuff… at least, not yet. Short story, the gasoline went into the genny and is just fine. This means I am good to go for several days with 24-hour genny use. I’ll venture out tomorrow to see if any of the gas stations are open with fuel.
 
Back to the Shore… I hopped onto Facebook for a few minutes. It is not easy using your mobile phone for Internet access on some web sites. On a serious note, the Shore is a mess. I was able to find out that our home still stands, but that in all likelihood has been flooded out. Our basement would be a swimming pool with all systems killed. There is 3 to 4 feet of beach sand filling the entire length of the street and from every home. High tides are still bringing in flooding, but not nearly as much as the full-moon tide on Monday. People were evacuated by chopper, the island was cut-off with all roads impassable, and clean-up will take weeks. People had live wires in their yards, short circuits in homes as water flooded, natural gas lines that need to be secured, trees down, windows broken, etc. Numerous homes, though elevated, have been hit with 2 to 4 feet of ocean water (this means mold), overnight temperatures are headed to the 30’s and 40’s this week, and they do not have any systems to boil water, etc. My mom is still evacuated, not sure when she can return. Have not heard anyone mention looting in Margate, but I did see one report in Atlantic City (though I cannot tell credibility of source). Let’s see what happens the next few days.
 
Going to start the day now… there’s work to be done, kids need breakfast, no school until maybe Friday, Halloween cancelled, and my wife (who is now standing beside me) says her throat is swollen and sore.
 
Thanks for checking in with us… I’ll send another update when I have a free moment. Internet access is spotty, but I have to say I am grateful for our Verizon portable secured 4 G Wi-fi device. It is no bigger than a cell phone and has about a six to eight hour charge capacity. But it lets us access the Net with multiple devices from anywhere. The data package is expensive for this, but in emergencies that’s not my first concern.
 
Storm Update #2:
 
Thursday morning. Yesterday, Halloween was cancelled by executive order, but I spent the day doing more clean-up anyway. Chain saw cutting, and stacking some wood for the fireplace even though green. Helped neighbors across the street who had a rental genny. Offered showers and heat as their genny is only extension cords for refrigerator and small appliances. My girls had a bit of cabin fever and it doesn’t help that my wife is not feeling good. Made tea, soup and fresh wholesome food left in the refrigerator. Also, we still have lots of kale, onions, scallions, leeks and herbs in the garden. These are my winter hardy plants that last well into the cold weather. They survived the storm winds being low to the ground and well rooted. The girls are also helping with the hand washing of the dishes… not fun.
 
Also took some time to walk the dog… Aslan needed a romp for his mental exercise. Spent an hour fixing the back fence so Aslan could be let outside without a leash and deer could be kept out. The fence will probably need total replacement, but at the moment, there are no gaping holes. The power drill and deck screws worked like a charm. Lots of periodic sirens – I’m guessing medical and fires related to generators/space heaters failures and accidents.
 
The girls don’t have school this week. We got word that power was restored late yesterday to the school, but that the roads were still impassable. There is an order from the Governor to stay off the roads unless essential travel only. It gets dark early, so by 3:30 pm things are winding down and the lanterns are on for reading and general action around the living room. I have rechargeable lanterns and battery throw away… no issue for now.
 
The temperature all day yesterday was cool and very chilly by evening. People without power were warming themselves in their cars. On Aslan’s evening walk, I could see the car headlights in various driveways. I think it also let people charge cell phones. This brings up the glaring problem for the moment – gasoline. Our genny is doing very well on gas consumption… but between it and the chain saw, we are burning a fair amount. Same with the neighbors, and especially the ones using the cars for heaters. The town has opened the Rec/Senior centers for temporary warmth and water – but not after 8:00pm. Don’t know how many people are driving to use these facilities. Anyway, back to gas. While I used on/off shutdowns for the genny for a few hours of the time to save gas – I had the living room fireplace raging yesterday – this is not optimal especially for the refrigerators. Yesterday, I heard from two neighbors that they had found open gas stations with ridiculous lines and rationing. As it was getting late, I opted to stay home and deal with it today.
 
Woke up today (Thursday) at 6:30 am, and headed out with 4 five gallon safety cans looking for open gas stations. The Traffic lights were still out and only the main artery roads are dependable to be open. I was lucky to find two gas stations within 5 miles of the house. Gas stations that were open yesterday were now empty of gas. As to these two that were open, they already had lines of cars 50 deep. They also had police officers enforcing the lines, gas rationing (10 gallon maximum per person) and general traffic flow order. It took me and hour plus, and it was cash only as I expected, but I started home with 20 gallons of gas. I thought about coffee on the way, and pulled into our main shopping center with a Thomas Sweet, or in the alternative, a Dunkin Donuts in the ShopRite Supermarket. The entire center was closed. ShopRite was open with minimal lighting and I had hope, but when I got to the door, there was a sign saying they only had non-perishable items for sale. The mini-Dunkin Donut stand was closed. By the way, we are hearing from other supermarkets… same story. They cooked what they could, donated to soup kitchens and have thrown out the rest of the spoiled food. At this point, I think Whole Foods on Route 1 may be our best bet for fresh food. As you guys know, I have plenty of non-perishables. And yes, I do have organic coffee at the house, so I am enjoying a cup as I type. I just have to unplug other stuff to brew it.
 
I am breaking to refill our genny with gas. Next agenda once things warm up is to get the fireplace going, and then I will rig up extension cords so that we can do laundry for the first time since Sunday morning. Bear in mind, my genny is only hard-wired into the home for critical systems, and that didn’t include the washer and dryer. So I will need to power them and the house water system – should be fine – but they are energy hogs.
 
We also got word that five nuclear power plants had issues during the storm, and that Salem actually had a “controlled” emergency steam release and pump failures. Nice. I’m sure it was only safe levels of radiation, no harm to the public. Right. Oyster Creek was offline anyway, but had cooling issues with the spent fuel pool. I’m assuming that the state and Federal folks are on top of this. Hopefully.
 
The update on the Shore is pretty dim. We still don’t have good onsite intel. Island access is closed and the residents are upset/trapped. On the positive side, there are parts of Margate with power. There is limited non-perishable food and no fresh items, and water remains contaminated. Some areas are still flooded – though its draining. Ventnor City which is right next to Margate, is sealed off due to city septic failure and more than 1,000 homes with moderate to severe damage. We have received limited pictures of our home from locals and a Sheriff friend. The sand is piled against the house three feet deep which means the six feet of water on top of that probably got into the entire first floor and basement. All critical systems will be trashed. We are beginning the process of talking to contractors and getting mom situated at a nearby hotel to make daily trips to the home to coordinate. She’s upset, but holding up – tough nut.
 
Cheers. I mean that: single malt whiskey does not need refrigeration, is good for brushing teeth and warms the soul. – Bill H.

Economics and Investing:

Over at Zero Hedge: It Begins: Ecuador Demands Repatriation Of One Third Of Its Gold Holdings

Sweden pays jobless youth to move to Norway

Hit By Crisis, Greek Society in Free-Fall

On Twitter, there are widespread reports about fistfights and people bringing guns to gas stations, thanks to gas shortages in New York and New Jersey.

Items from The Economatrix:

Sandy Total Loss Estimate Up To $100 Billion

Recession Very Possible In Q1 2013:  Investors And CEOs Getting Very Nervous With Cloud Of Uncertainty, The Announcements Of Layoffs Are Coming Fast And Furious, And We All Start Feeling The Economy Is Decelerating

German Finance Minister Warns Worst Is Yet To Come In Euro Crisis

CNBC:  David Einhorn Blasts Bernanke’s “Never-Ending QE”

Hints Of Consumer Confidence Emerge, But Finances Still Shaky For Many

Odds ‘n Sods:

Some post-Sandy updates: New Yorkers Hold on to Their Canned Goods in the Wake of Hurricane Sandy. Meanwhile, as some residents dumpster dive to survive, Mayor Bloomberg in effect declares: “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche!” by approving the running the New York marathon, on schedule. (Since he is so health conscious, I suppose that his next edict will be that if anyone resorts to cannibalism, that they must refrain from using table salt on their fellow New Yorkers.)

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Don’t miss out on the Ready Made Resources sale on Mountain House long term storage foods. They are offering 25% discounts and free shipping for Mountain House foods in #10 cans. The sale ends on November 5th.

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I heard that the because of the Hurricane Sandy sales rush, the American distributor for Berkey water filters has run out of the Big Berkey and the Crown Berkey Models.  But one of their dealers, Pantry Paratus, is offering a $15 off coupon code for the Royal Berkey model. Note that this offer applies to only the Royal Berkey model, and expires December 12th.  The coupon code is: “ROYAL“. 

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Regular content contributor J.B.G. sent this gem: Five Unusual Ways Sandy Victims are Charging Cellphones

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Freeze Dry Guy has announced a special for the month of November: a six-can dehydrated Dairy Unit, containing six #10 cans with milk, butter and cheese, all packed for long term storage. This case is priced at $191.95 shipping paid, and 15% back in “Survival Bucks.”

Notes from JWR:

Today is the shared birthday of three notable men: Medal of Honor recipient Sammy L. Davis, science fiction writer Gordon R. Dickson (died January 31, 2001), and economist Martin A. Armstrong. (Born, 1949.) Many of Dickson’s novels and short stories have survivalist themes, such as Wolf And Iron. Regarding Davis, SurvivalBlog reader George S. wrote to mention: “While the circumstances of Sammy’s Medal of Honor award are of course spectacular in itself [as crewman of a 105mm howitzer who resorted to handloading during an NVA attack, among other things] his White House reception of the Medal was probably the most seen such presentation ever, without his face even appearing. The archival footage of his presentation made by President Lyndon Johnson was used in the motion picture Forrest Gump, with Sammy’s face digitally replaced with that of actor Tom Hanks. Also in the group of five soldiers receiving the Medal of Honor that day was 1/69 Armor tank crewman Dwight H. “Skip” Johnson.” (1947-1971.)

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Today we present another entry for Round 43 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 $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear, E.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value), and F.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo. and G.) A $200 gift certificate, donated by Shelf Reliance.

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training. Together, these have a retail value of $589. B.) A FloJak FP-50 stainless steel hand well pump (a $600 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, 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.) A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206, C.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value, D.) A Commence Fire! emergency stove with three tinder refill kits. (A $160 value.), and E.) Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security.

Round 43 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.