Odds ‘n Sods:

Weeds increasingly immune to herbicides. (Merci to Pierre M. for the link.)

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Kevin S. flagged this: How Healthy is Rabbit Meat?

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Alex H. sent: Voice of America operator plans “sunset” for shortwave radio broadcasts

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Seed for Security has announced a new bonus gift offer. For a limited time, everyone placing an order over $45 will receive a three page Seed Saving Guide full of practical step-by-step instructions. It has sections with details on gathering seed from Corn, Beans and Peas, Winter Squash, Pumpkins, Spinach, Tomatoes, Dill, Beets, Cabbage, and more. They will also include six free mylar-coated poly seed storage bags (6″ x 8″), so you can try your hand at saving precious seeds.

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 35 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) 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 B.) Two cases of Alpine Aire freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $400 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo , and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) 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, C.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and D.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.) , and B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value.

Round 35 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Home Security, Inflation Hedge, and Liquidity, All in One, by Scott in Wisconsin

I’ve been prepping for about five years now, and I thought I’d share a little “trick” I discovered, to cover three very important prepping problems, all at once.

We all want a more secure home, of course.  If the SHTF, we may well need to hunker down and be self-sufficient for a while.  But no matter how much stuff we’ve put aside, it’s meaningless if we can’t hang on to it.  So home security is very important.

We also want a hedge against inflation, which seems sure to come.  The way the Fed is printing money, and the government is deficit spending, I suspect high inflation is the best we can hope for.  Hyper-inflation seems a genuine risk at this point.

Finally, we all need cash on hand for the trouble head.  That could be vital to buying some scarce item you have forgotten to tuck away.  Or in an economic crash, you may be able to pick up great treasures for bargain prices.  (We’ve all heard how hungry people would trade cars for food during the Depression, because they had no money.)

I have found a great way to kill all three of these birds with a single stone.

You’ve been reading about pre-1981 pennies, and how they are worth about 3 cents each.  That’s a great return on your investment, but it’s a lot of work to sort out the 95% copper pennies, from the trash they make today.  Then you have to run the trash pennies back to the bank, and get some more to sort.  Hard work for you, and unhappy bank staff.

They do make little machines for sorting the pennies – I see them for sale on eBay — which rely on the weight difference to identify pre-1981 pennies.  It seems easy enough to make one, but that’s still a lot of unwrapping and wrapping of pennies!

I also worry about my home being vulnerable to armed attack.  I live about 1 mile from the edge of a medium size town.  I won’t be the first place trouble comes if the SHTF, but it won’t ignore me forever if things really fall apart.

In anticipation of just that kind of trouble, I have purchased heavy fishing netting, 12 feet wide by 150 feet long.  I have cut this netting to size, so that folded over at the top and bottom, the pre-cut pieces more than cover each door and window for my ground floor.

I have special hooks ready to go around the outer edges, and can quickly put the netting in place over all the doors and windows.  It will be held firmly against the doors and windows, but with a little bit of give.

You can knock my door right off it’s hinges if you want to – it’ll just hang right there where it was, held in place by my netting.  You’re still not getting in to my house for a long time working against all that secured netting, and all the while I’ll be shooting at you, and dropping tear gas cans from the second floor. 

My windows also have shatter-proof film on them as well, purchased on eBay, and are ready for the netting should the SHTF.   Even if you eventually pound your way through those security-filmed windows with a sledgehammer, the nets will keep you out for a long time.

The nets will still let all the light in, and a nice breeze when the windows are open, but they won’t be obvious from the outside, like heave bars would be.  Important for OPSEC.

So I believe I can make it very hard for trouble to get into my house quickly, especially while I shoot at it.  But even when I make the doors and windows nearly “impregnable,” I still have to worry about all the bullets flying thru my walls.  If they shoot me thru the walls, it won’t really matter that they couldn’t get in to my house first.

And with the coming troubles, I also want some serious cash liquidity.

I want to have cash for when the banks don’t open, and the ATMs are down.  That could be from an EMP, a solar storm, or overseas cyber attack.  Or just a general economic melt-down.  Regardless of the cause, cash money will dry up fast, and checks and credit cards likely won’t work.

I also want money on hand for crazy buying opportunities in the depths of an economic melt down.  You just gotta keep some cash around, if the SHTF!

I’ve already got my “beans, bullets and Band-Aids” of course.  Those come first.  I have 6+ tons of food in drums and buckets, and 30,000 rounds of ammo.  Water filters, batteries, and a hundred other little things I don’t want to do without.  Silver and gold as well.  So I can afford to move on to the rest of my concerns.

Starting about a year ago, I began buying “boxes” of pennies from my bank.  Not loose bags, but standard sealed bank boxes holding rolled pennies.  I get four boxes each week – they expect it and order them for me each week.  These boxes cost me $25 each [their face value], for a total of $100.

I don’t open the boxes.  I stack them along the outside walls of my upstairs bedrooms.  When they reach four feet high, I start a new row.  I have covered all the walls up to four feet high along the back side of my second floor.  It took about 200 boxes, or $5,000.  Now I’m starting on the front bedroom walls, which are brick covered outside, so they are already more ballistically secure.

So what have I achieved with this crazy little practice (other than building my biceps carrying all those 20 pound boxes of coins from the bank to my second floor)?

First, my upstairs bedroom walls are now basically bullet proof.  Sure, a shell from a tank will blow them a way.  But nothing I’m likely to face will go thru my siding, wall boards, and then boxes of pennies.  No AK-47 or AR-15 round will get through all that.  I’ve tested it!  Anyone shooting from the ground, up at an angle, won’t be able to hit anyone who isn’t poking their head up to shoot back at them.

Now my walls provide actual cover, not just concealment, and all my windows provide great protected shooting areas.  I have a cadre of 12 friends coming to my place if TSHTF – that’s why I have three years worth of food and ammo for 14 people — so we’ll have the manpower to shoot back at trouble.  I have barbed wire and razor wire to slow the trouble down.  I just don’t want the bad guys to be able to simply shoot the walls, and hit us.  With my penny barriers, that’s not a problem now.

Second, I’ve turned $5,000 of “worthless” paper, into $7,500+ worth of copper investment.  How?

Well, from what all the coin-sorters out there write in blogs, at least 25 out of every hundred of my stacked pennies are pre-1981 copper pennies, worth about 3 cents each.  That means that, out of every $100 face value, I have $75 in copper, and $75 in current junk pennies.  If the ratio is more like 1/3 pre-1981 copper, then every $25 box of pennies is already worth $40 the day I buy it.  It’s like printing money!

I could sort them now, so I know the exact number of old pennies I have, but why bother?  If I just leave them in the boxes, I have an armor plated house.  And the pre-1981 pennies are just waiting there for when they are worth much more than 3 cents each.  There will be time enough for sorting after the world settles down again.

Third, by doing this I have also stashed away lots of cash money, for a rainy day.  In the bank, the government or creditors could get at it.  If I tuck paper bills under my mattress, thieves could steal it.  Just try stealing my wall of pennies!  (You’ll need a serious truck to handle the 5 tons they weigh.)  No matter how tough things get, I’ll always have $10,000 (eventually) stacked along my walls, for emergencies.

Another advantage of coins over paper money will often appear during hyperinflation.  When a country destroys its money – which America is doing today — and ultimately must create a new, replacement currency, it tends to knock 3-10 zeroes off the end.  They then have people trade in their old paper money for the new paper currency.  Money still in the bank just loses most of it’s value, with all those zeroes just disappearing.

But when it comes to coins, the central banks don’t want to have to reproduce all those darn coins.  It is literally small change for them.  So they just declare that the old coins are good at the new level, and part of the new currency. 

So your old coin money dodges the devaluation, and jumps right up to the new money value.  They figure it can’t amount to much, and for most people it wouldn’t.  But for me, it surely would.

And finally, if there is a severe deflation, and copper goes down to pennies for a pound, I’ll still have my $10,000.  Just like old junk silver coins, they will always be worth their face value at the very least. The same is true of my pennies.  I expect copper to keep going up in value, and my pennies to outpace inflation.  But if deflation comes, cash will be king.  And I’ve got a wall of it!

As a final note, those who are still convinced that nickels are the better investment than pennies are welcome to line their walls with boxes of nickels instead.  They will never need to be sorted, and will block bullets just as well.  They cover a lot less wall, though, per dollar, so instead of spending $10,000, I would have to buy more like $45,000 in nickels.  If you actually want that much money in cash, then nickels would be the better choice, since they would take up less space.

But if you really just want to line your walls with bullet-proof cash, and tuck away lots of copper at less than the spot price, then buy boxes of pennies and start stacking them up. – Scott in Wisconsin

JWR Adds: Despite the drawbacks (namely space and weight), the strategy that Scott outlines has its merits. However, my approach is to stockpile nickels rather than pennies. Unlike pennies, there is presently just one composition of nickels in circulation. They are 75% copper and 25% nickel. Although their base metal fluctuates there is no “sorting” factor. (The composition hast not changed since 1946. (It is the same in 2011 as it was in 1946. ) The dollar density of nickels is also higher, so there is less weight and space for each $1,000 invested. (So yes, getting the same volume for a defensive wall of boxes or ammo cans filled with nickels will cost you several times more than with pennies. But if your primary goal is ballistic protection mass, then sandbags are much less expensive than boxes of pennies. When I last checked over at the Coinflation.com web site, a nickel minted from 1946 to present was worth $0.0620596. That is 124% of face value. So that represents a 24% gain, just walking out the door of the bank.

If and when the time ever comes to liquidate your holdings of nickels, it will be far, far easier to sell nickels, where 99.99% of the rolls are all the same composition. (The only exception are the 1942-1945 “War Nickels, which are 35% silver. Each of those nickels is worth about $2.15 each! So that is just a nice bonus, if you ever developed a machine that could sort them.) Compare that to currently-circulating pennies, where you can encounter a wide range of ratios in rolls of newer (zinc) to older (copper) pennies. When you buy boxes of pennies for the bank, some of them might even be boxes of all new pennies. (All copper-flashed zinc tokens.)

I advise stocking up on nickels now, before their composition is changed!

Letter Re: On Surviving Hot Climates and Relocation

Mr. Rawles,
Thank you for your service to our country.  In the deep south we are presently in the mist of a drought with high heat and humidity. As two-year preppers, my brother and I grow a few acres of vegetables and field corn for livestock that consist of chickens, hogs, milk goats and rabbits. A milk cow is in the planning. My brother is 71 and I am 68 and we were raised on the farm. I left for the air-conditioned work-force many years ago but still spend several hrs a week at manual labor. At my age I am in better physical condition and have greater rural knowledge than a very high percentage of people over the age of fifty. That said, I can only work four hours or so in the mornings before running out of gas. In a world without electricity, this means starvation. The drought has fried our crops and if we were depending on them to survive, we would be in trouble. (Watering crops without electrical pumps is only available to a few with spring fed creeks.) My point in writing is on preparing to survive without air-conditioning.      

First, relocate to a cooler climate. (To the Redoubt States in the Rockies.)    

Second, keep yourself hydrated at all times.   

Third,  get your body in shape by working out inside or outside early in the morning. (Only with a buddy in summer).     

Fourth, be very careful when out in the heat but try sitting in the shade for a few minutes each day to become acclimated to the stress of high temps. Start with a few minutes and work up to an hour. Read a book. If at any time you feel ill or ‘light-headed’ go inside.     

Fifth, if you are overweight, please slim down.    

Sixth, whatever you think you are capable of doing in a world with no air conditioning, reduce it by 80% and then see if you can survive.      

By no means am I an expert, but given the condition, health, and mind set of most people, I believe we will have a human disaster the first summer without air-conditioning in the south. I know some older folks will say, like me, they grew up without air conditioning but that was with a different body and frame of mind. Most homes built in the south in the last fifty years were designed for air conditioning and become death traps without it. They do not have screens on windows or screen doors so if you open them you are eaten alive by insects and invite unwanted two-legged villains.

FWIW, I have purchased rolls of screen wire, not the plastic type, for eventual barter). 

I know this doesn’t do justice to the subject of heat, but if you live in the south and have a family, consider moving. Odds are, if you stay, you aren’t going to make it [in a grid-down collapse]. Best plan: relocate!  – Deep South Charlie

Letter Re: Microclimates in the Redoubt States?

Sir:
Thank you for your continuing work.

1. How would you suggest we research micro-climates in areas of interest in the American Redoubt?

2. For those of us in the 50-60 age group, single, and raising grandchildren is there a place for us? I don’t believe I have the physical strength/endurance and certainly not knowledge to forge out a place in the “wilderness” at this age. How about the possibility of teaming up with a family who needs a “grandma” and extra pair of hands to help with domestic/garden duties?

Yes, I do have skills I could make a living most likely as long as there is high speed internet access. But would prefer not to rely on its existence if I could.

May I suggest that you add a FAQ on the American Redoubt Page?

The Lord’s Blessings on you and your family. – Maggie B.

JWR Replies: The old saying is: “Climate is what you expect, and weather is what you get.”

To start your research, see:

The widely-cited Climate zones map (from the publishers of Sunset magazine.)

Microclimates (“In the real world, we garden in micro-climates, not hardiness zones.”)

Western Regional Climate Center (and drill down to the wealth of information here: Historical Climate Information)

Climate Maps

Current temperatures

Climate Central

Precipitation Maps

Wind velocity map

Gardening in the Inland Northwest

Be sure to also look at soil maps

Then, moving down to the state and local level, see:

Washington climate data

Introduction to short-season gardening in Idaho

Western Montana

Cold Climate Gardening – how we do it here in Wyoming

Gardening in Eastern Washington

Oregon Gardening

After you do your basic research at the state level, it is best to check with the NRCS extension office in each of the counties that you are considering, for their insights on microclimates.

Two Letters Re: Extreme Coupon Prepping

Mister Rawles;
Someone recently mentioned that some people buy too much stuff with coupons that they can’t possibly use up.  Also there was someone who usually buys “cheap” products like V05 shampoo, etc.  I have been couponing for four years.  My husband is a pastor and we took a lesser-paying church about the time the economy went South.  Then we added a family member.  I prayed and asked the Lord what to do.  We were spending $500-to-$600 each month on groceries with me trying to buy less expensive stuff, cheaper cuts of meat, etc.  I have always lived a frugal life.

The Lord helped me.  I met a lady having a “grocery garage sale”.  She gave me two pieces of advice.  Check out couponmom.com and combine coupons with sales and rebates. I was using coupons at Wal-mart with little results.  But when I started reading the info on couponmom.com, it changed our financial life.

That site and many more will show you how to match the coupons in the Sun. paper with the sales and rebates that week.  You must do your homework about each stores coupon rules.  The pharmacies are the best places to shop.  CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid are the ones in my town.  They all have a “rebate” system.  My local CVS pharmacy will double coupons that are 50 cents or less.  If you can combine sales, with your coupon on an item that has a store “rebate” or even a manufacturer rebate, many times it is free or very inexpensive. Sometimes if the coupon goes over the amount of the sale price minus the rebate, you actually profit.

Again, you must do your homework on the store policies.  Ingles is a great grocery store.  They double coupons.  Also, if you have to bring an item back because it was overpriced, they will give you your money back.  It’ free.

All of this can be very confusing, but God can help you learn like He did me.  I always pray before I leave the house that He will guide me in the decisions I make, to not let me make mistakes, and to show me what to do. 

Be very careful filling out manufacturer rebates to ensure each thing they ask for is done and on time.  The store rebates are easier.  But you must be sure to use of these “vouchers”, etc. or they will expire.  The way I do it is to paper clip them and keep them in my purse so that I never forget them at home. Most cashiers are gracious to you if you are nice to them on a weekly basis.  Build a relationship with them.  Do your homework.  Don’t give them expired coupons.  Ask for help when you aren’t sure of something.  Get rain checks if they are sold out of stock. Most stores will allow you to come right back in and correct a mistake.  One time in the beginning, I forgot to use my coupons and it was a lot of difference in price.  So, I humbly asked the cashier if we could do anything.  She graciously let me “fix” it. Always check your receipt before you leave the store. It can be confusing at first, it does take some time.  Now I go to three pharmacies each week in about 2 to 2-1/2 hours.  Combine that with my weekly trip to Ingles and I save about half on my grocery bill.

One more thing, all that overage you end up buying – sell it on occasion at a yard sale. Charge less than Wal-Mart.  Make sure nothing is expired.  Medicines run out fast.  It helps you and the people who don’t know what you know. Blessings, – Georgia Girl

Dear Mr. Rawles,
I read your blog regularly and especially enjoy the links to news stories that truly matter.  I don’t generally contribute, but I felt the need to share my couponing success after the mixed reviews of couponing as a stockpiling strategy.  I have been couponing since way before it was trendy.  I have seen the TLC coupon show (once). I cook from scratch for my family and many others, and as a homeschooling single-income family we do everything on a budget.

In my experience, the TLC show is unrealistic and silly.  Those are truly extraordinary circumstances when they walk away from a store with so much for mere pennies.  Questions have been raised whether the participants are even couponing ethically. Coupon fraud is a crime and I wonder if TLC’s sequel will be “Coupon Junkies” and filmed at a rehab clinic or correctional facility. 

I save around 50% off my total grocery bill with coupons, and not on TV dinners and snack cakes either! It is as much work as a part-time job, you must enjoy bargain hunting, and shopping trips with coupons take hours. I regularly score items including barbeque sauce, razors, shampoo, real meat (not bologna and hot dogs), baby wipes, dog food, cosmetics, detergent, socks and underwear, canning supplies, feminine hygiene products, over the counter meds, pasta, toilet paper, and even organic produce for free or pennies on the dollar and sometimes stores even pay me to walk out with the items.

I contact the manufacturers of the items I like using. Earthbound Farms will send you coupons on their organic produce if you email or call them, including coupons for free products.  Two weeks ago I cashed mine in for two giant clamshell containers of baby mixed greens, saving myself $12 while I awaited my own salad ingredients that had just germinated. Kashi is another company to contact for great coupons on healthier food, or call the 1-800 number on your favorite grocery items’ packaging and ask if they will send you coupons.  You may be surprised by what turns up in your mailbox.

Target is indispensable to my coupon shopping strategy because they offer free printable store coupons on their web site that you can combine with manufacturer’s coupons for the same item.  If the author of the previous letter does not want his $1.50 off a scented candle coupon I will gladly take it.  Twice every year Target pays me fifty cents each to leave with Glade scented candles after store coupon, manufacturer’s coupon, and free gift card offer. I have quite the stash of them despite sharing them with others and giving them as gifts or tucking them in gift baskets. They are just as useful as any other candle in a lights-out situation.

Coupons are hard work, and don’t apply to everything I need to purchase.  They certainly don’t cause me to purchase items I won’t or shouldn’t use unless the item is free and I can donate it.  I also save by buying my wheat and grains at the local grain elevator and grinding them myself, watching dealigg.com for grocery deals on Amazon (they include free shipping and I have added greatly to my coffee, peanut butter, and cereal stashes with some great deals I didn’t have to leave my driveway for), and growing a large garden and preserving things myself.  We have also purchased whole hogs and cattle and paid for processing. If you have the freezer space or desire to jerk and can a ton of meat this can feed your family T-Bones for hamburger prices.  You can also see how your dinner was grown.  I grow my own chickens and eggs for the same reasons.

In closing, there is a difference between stockpiling and hoarding.  If you can honestly and ethically acquire 272 toothbrushes or 98 bottles of mustard, then find a worthy cause and donate some! Sales and coupons run in cycles and you will most likely be able to come by some more. True hoarding is wasteful and selfish. Stockpiling is responsible and prudent and I believe God smiles on us for it and thank Him regularly for making it possible.  I hope my experience can be helpful to others.

Sincerely, – Minnesota Rose

Economics and Investing:

Fed: Default would be dangerous; Fitch may cut rating. (A hat tip to Sue C. for the link.)

The dreaded “D” word is spoken: China warns U.S. debt-default idea is “playing with fire”

K.A.F. sent this interview of Peter Schiff: Lack of buyers may force Treasury to boost interest rates

Reader J.B.G. spotted this: True Cost of Fannie, Freddie Bailouts: $317 Billion, CBO Says

Reason # 4,386,662 to leave the Mickey Mouse State: California taps highest income taxpayers for more revenue. (A hat tip to Tom B. for the link.)

B.B. spotted this: Federal Reserve Set to Implode Economy.

Also from B.B.: Bottom in the USD – Soros Attempts to Top-Tick Gold

Items from The Economatrix:

Can You Pass The 2011 Silver Quiz?

Comex Physical Silver Drops To Fresh All Time Low Of 28.8 Million Ounces, 3% Drop Overnight, 30% Drop In 6 Weeks

Price of Gold Jumps After “Gold-Friendly Data” Shows US Economy “Can’t Stand On Its Own Feet”

Silver’s Glitter To Last On Gold’s Strength, Tech Support

Odds ‘n Sods:

The EU Preppers Blog (mostly in German) has some interesting coverage of the current e. coli outbreak.

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Solar flare threatens to disrupt Earth’s communications and power. (J.B.G. kindly sent the link.)

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Peeved patient proud of penny protest. (Thanks to J.J.H. for the link.)

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Frequent content contributor Pierre M. flagged an article from Nanny State California: LAPD seeks tighter regulations on toy guns

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SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large sent this humorous video clip: Most Tactical AR-15… EVER! (The scary thing is that some well-intentioned Mall Ninjas have their ARs nearly this junked-up.)

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U.N. Agreement Should Have All Gun Owners Up In Arms. (A hat tip to Matt D. for the link.)

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Disaster is rarely as pervasive as it seems from recorded accounts. The fact of being on the record makes it appear continuous and ubiquitous whereas it is more likely to have been sporadic both in time and place. Besides, persistence of the normal is usually greater than the effect of the disturbance, as we know from our own times. After absorbing the news of today, one expects to face a world consisting entirely of strikes, crimes, power failures, broken water mains, stalled trains, school shutdowns, muggers, drug addicts, neo-Nazis, and rapists. The fact is that one can come home in the evening, on a lucky day, without having encountered more than one or two of these phenomena…”  – Barbara Tuchman, A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 35 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) 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 B.) Two cases of Alpine Aire freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $400 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo , and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) 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, C.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and D.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.) , and B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value.

Round 35 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

An Urban Camouflage Get Home Bag, by K.S.

As I live and work in a small city, and do not have a survival retreat to bail out to, over the years I have been giving much thought into how I would get home should an EMP or CME strand me away from home. I have looked at others suggestions such as small backpacks or laptop cases. I have read the debates as to what to wear to blend in while making your way home. I have had a few get home bags (GHBs) that held the things I needed, but I felt that they would look out of place with some of the areas I would have to go through while making my way home, and the clothes that would be invisible in one neighborhood would get noticed in another. What to do?

Then last weekend, while browsing yard sales, I saw something that gave me the best idea yet. The woman was selling off some of her son’s old stuff. A set of motorcycle street leathers, some ice hockey gear, a few karate gis, all in one size larger than I wear. But the things that got my attention, and gave me my idea, were the baseball things. You see, I live in Florida where most outdoor sports are played all year round. I asked the woman why she was selling her sons stuff and she told me that he had moved out of state. After a little haggling, I purchased two button up team jerseys (a company logo that he worked for while in college), a matching warm-up jacket, two hats, a bat, a batting helmet, a glove and an equipment bag, all of which were well broken in. In actuality, the only items I was interested in were the jerseys, the hats and the equipment bag. What could I do with these you ask? Read on.

Picture this, you are a bad guy. The electricity has gone out, your vehicle won’t run, it’s the middle of the afternoon and it’s starting to get hot. You see three separate, middle-aged, slightly overweight guys walking through your territory. The first guy is wearing a polo shirt (untucked) and khakis carrying a laptop case, obviously a business type trying to get home. The second guy is wearing an earthy green shirt (also untucked), dark tan pants and boots carrying a backpack, maybe an older student type? The third guy is wearing a baseball shirt (untucked and unbuttoned) and hat, red clay stained jeans, sneakers and carrying a well used baseball equipment bag slung across his shoulder, obviously he’s been playing/practicing with his company team and is just trying to get home. Now, as the bad guy, what are your thoughts about the three trespassers in your territory? Remember, the power has only been out a short period of time and your do not yet realize that the SHTF. Maybe you think something along these lines.

The first guy appears to be a businessman. Businessmen usually carry plenty of money/credit cards. He’s carrying a laptop case. A laptop case holds a laptop. Laptops are worth money. Businessmen also have expensive cell phones. Beat up the out of shape business man, steal and sell the laptop and cell phone. Buy drugs and/or booze with the money and/or credit cards.
The second guy is possibly an older student. Students usually laptops, textbooks and cell phones. Laptops, textbooks and cell phones are worth money. Beat up the overweight student, steal his stuff, sell the laptop, books and cell phone. Buy drugs and/or booze.

The third guy has obviously been playing baseball. Even though he is overweight, he plays baseball and may be able to put up a fight. Baseball equipment bags usually hold baseball bats, so he probably has a weapon to fight back with. Baseball equipment bags usually contain a glove, some socks, maybe a helmet and maybe a water bottle. No laptop. Maybe he has a cell phone. Maybe he has a few bucks I his pocket. Is the chance that he may have a cell phone or a few dollars worth the risk that he could injure me seriously? No, let’s go get the other two and leave this one alone, it’s just not worth the risk.

Now as someone that is a regular reader here now from the descriptions given, things are not as easy for the bad guy as they first appear. In each case, I have given a description of the three most popular versions of urban camo. Now, let’s take a look at the mistake the bad guy made by trying to tackle each of the “victims.”

“The Businessman.” Of course the biggest clue to the bad guy’s mistake is the untucked polo. This version of urban camo has the “victim” carrying a Glock 23 under the shirt. His get home bag (GHB) contains a folded Kel-Tec Sub-2000 set up for Glock 22 magazines, along with several spare mags, in addition to other survival supplies. He is an Army vet, has attended some firearms training classes. As an easy victim, the bad guy will be in for a rude awakening when he chooses to attack this “soft” target. As for the camo doing its job of making the person blend in, I feel that it would actually make him a more inviting target in certain neighborhoods.

“The Student.” Once again, the untucked shirt is the give-away. In this case, he is carrying the same sidearm. In the backpack, the same Kel-Tec Sub-2000 along with a few more extra mags. There are also a few more survival items.  He is the same guy as the businessman, just a different approach to urban camouflage. I feel that this “student” approach is also not the best approach to urban camo but that it is at least a little bit better.

The biggest difference between the “student” and the “businessman,” is that the “student” appearance is more likely to elicit a “he possibly has” train of thought amongst bad guys, where the “businessman” approach gives the bad guys a “he has” thought process. In either case, the bad guys will more than likely attack the “victims” to obtain what they think will bring them money.
Herein lies the beauty of the “baseball player” camouflage that I have set up.

“The Baseball Player.” Again the clue is the untucked shirt. But in this case, the shirt is also unbuttoned, with the strap from the equipment bag holding the shirt closed against his chest. By having the shirt unbuttoned, it makes it a little bit easier to clear it to draw a weapon, also in this case a Glock 23. The biggest difference is what the GHB contains. In addition to the standard items one would find in a GHB, I have placed a surplus Infantry Fighting Vest, complete with six 30-round PMags, two empty one quart canteens, four Glock 22 mags, and 20 rounds of 12 gauge shells. I also have my AR-15 laid on top of the vest in the main compartment with a full magazine in the mag well. In the compartment where people normally keep their bats, I have a Remington 870 riot gun with a top folding stock and extended mag tube. To keep the pistol grip right up against the zipper, I have placed a small bag with extra socks and t-shirts in it tucked down at the bottom. I have placed padding on the bag carry strap to make it easier to carry long distances, and cut the strap at the middle of my chest and installed a quick release buckle in case I need to drop it quickly. You may be thinking that I do not really need to carry the shotgun with me, but it doesn’t really add that much weight compared to the psychological intimidation it would bring if I were to ever pull it out. My thinking is that during the first few hours of a major of a major catastrophe, most bad guys would not bother the “baseball player” just trying to get home as he would not have much worthwhile on him.

As I write this, this bag is sitting in the trunk of my car, along with a case of water to fill the canteens before abandoning it.  Sitting on top of the bag is a pair of “dirty” sneakers, “dirty” jeans, “dirty” button up jersey, three quarter sleeve Under Armor t-shirt, the warm-up jacket and well worn baseball cap. In order to make everything “dirty,” I took the clean items to a baseball field after a rainstorm and dragged them on the ground a little bit, then hung them up to dry. Once they were dry, I gave them a good whack to knock off the clumps of dirt, the result looks like they were recently played in.

You may wonder how well this would work in real life. Well, let me tell you, it works great. I tested the setup this weekend by having a friend drop me off at work then walking home dressed as described. I used the shortest route possible, which I would not use in a real situation, as it took me through a rough section of town. With two exceptions, I made it home without even speaking to anyone. Both exceptions occurred in the rough section of town. The first was when a police officer stopped and asked if I needed any help. I thanked him and told him I was just getting my exercise on the way home. He said okay and went about his work. The second occasion was when I was passing a house with the owner working out front in her yard. She stopped me and asked if I would like a cold glass of tea, I thanked her and said that I was trying to catch the bus at the stop just down the street, and moved on. It took me a little longer to get home than I thought it would, but nothing happened to speak of. Even the officer did not seem to notice that I was carrying, and I do have a permit. I am glad that I put the padding on the strap before I made this trial run, as I think it would have started bothering me before I made it home.

Is my setup the best possible way to go? It is for me but maybe not for your situation. Are there better ways of setting up this rig? Probably, and I will continue to play with this to see if I can work it better. Mostly I just wanted to get this out there to give others an idea as to how to take something not readily thought of, and turn it into something useful.

Letter Re: Web-Based Soil Survey Maps as a Resource for Retreat Selection

Dear Mr. Rawles,
I came across this web site: SoilWeb: An Online Soil Survey. Its purpose is to allow users to access NRCS and NCSS 1:24,000 scale detailed soil survey data (SSURGO) in many parts of the lower 48 states. Where this data is not yet available, 1:250,000 scale generalized soils data (STATSGO) can be accessed instead. (In Arizona, California, and Nevada only.) An interactive map interface allows for panning and zooming, with highways, streets, and aerial photos to assist navigation.

This could be useful for those considering relocation, as soil make-up and condition should be a consideration for any homestead.

I enjoy the blog, keep up the good work.

Sincerely, – Ezmerelda

JWR Replies: Thank you, thank you! That is an incredibly useful web site. I strongly recommend that SurvivalBlog readers delve into that data, especially via the Google Earth Interface overlay. I was stunned to see that even the very remote Rawles Ranch was included in the 1:24,000 scale soil survey map. The demarcations between soil types was surprisingly accurate. Being able to see it integrated with a Google Earth kmz was sweet icing on the cake! This soil taxonomy data is invaluable in selecting retreat properties! OBTW, you’ve just earned yourself a $30 Amazon gift certificate as a special SurvivalBlog editor’s award.

Letter Re: Stocking Up on Nickels

Mr. Rawles,  
After packing many rolls of nickels in .30 caliber ammo cans, I now use a much quicker storage method. Specifically, I discovered that I can place five cardboard boxes of nickels that I buy from the bank ($500) directly into one 20 mm ammo can. The five cardboard boxes fit perfectly in the can, with no extra room. I can load each can in only 1-2 minutes. The packed cans are heavy (maybe 115-120 pounds), and therefore difficult to move. So I usually position each can where I plan to store it before placing the boxes in it. I bought a bunch of 20 mm cans at a local gun show for $8 each.

Incidentally, I’ve also found 20 mm ammo cans to be a convenient size for storing bulk ammo that I do not plan to move.  Keep up the good work.  – M. on the East Coast

Economics and Investing:

J.D.D. recommended this excellent video clip: Must See Tom Woods Speech. Woods is a very entertaining and thought-provoking speaker.

Matt R. sent this: Will Germany and France stave off a Greek default?

My Big Fat Greek Debt Default: Greece, the Global Perspective. (Thanks to Kostas for the link.)

Courtesy of Pierre M.: Taxpayers Dollars Still Bailing Out Banks

G.G. flagged this: Falling from housing peak: John McMonigle’s ride

Items from The Economatrix:

Consumers Borrowed More For 7th Straight Month

Companies Pulled Back On Job Postings In April

Stock Indexes Fall For 5th Straight Day

OPEC Split Over Increasing Oil Production

Oil Holds Steady Ahead of OPEC Meeting; Gas Lower