Alan W. sent this item: Why North Dakota May Be the Best State in the Country to Live In
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J.H. mentioned an article with details on the latest malware threat: ‘LizaMoon’ Mass SQL Injection Attack Escalates Out of Control
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One doctor’s view: The Experts Are Dead Wrong on Potassium Iodide for Radiation
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Book review: Apocalypse soon? (A review of “How the End Begins: The Road to a Nuclear World War III“)
“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
For Christ [is] the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” – Romans 10:1-4 (KJV)
Great news! Lulu.com has extended their 20% off sale, for any product, through April 4th. That includes the 2005-2010 SurvivalBlog Archive CD-ROM! So if you’ve been “thinking about it”, here is your chance to save $3.99. Order now! To get the 20% discount, enter coupon code “SPLISH305“, during checkout.
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Today we present another entry for Round 34 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 34 ends on May 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.
I’m a single dad (32 year old) of three amazing children, Aaron 12, Sarah 11, and Savannah 3, and this is our journey. In 2008 we had lost everything, my job, our house, our jeep, the truck and pretty much everything else. We did manage to keep our four door sedan as our source of transportation. We were fortunate to have family who had a 2nd home and welcomed us to use it. I had prepped a little here and there for the past10 or so years but was still learning and very naïve to what being prepared really meant. I know we still make many mistakes in our prepping and we are always learning something new but as life this truly is a journey. 2008 really opened my eyes to our economic and political situation and I began to educate myself on the basics. It wasn’t long before I began to understand the magnitude and severity of our current situation and the fact that it is no longer IF just when.
Here We Go
We made the move to a small house in a village in Georgia where space was an issue so my first step was searching out a storage unit that was affordable and suited our needs. I found a unit that was 30×15, and much cheaper than other units of smaller size. This was not only out of necessity for household things we just didn’t have room for but to also be used for storage and staging for our supplies. I began by designating a section of the unit for our supplies yet took care to make it blend in and make it look like just another storage unit full of household “stuff”. Our family has a small place in the mountains which is not ideal, yet is still better than where we live. The kids and I have began supplying this very small family cabin as it is currently our best bug out option and only an hour and fifteen min drive from here.
Defense, I had always enjoyed guns and shooting so this was an area I had a head start in. I already owned 10 battle rifles so it was just a matter of consolidating to common calibers and equipping appropriately. I also am a firm believer in force multipliers if at all possible! By this I mean what I call normal capacity 30 rd magazines, scopes, night vision (even if it isn’t top of the line), binoculars, tactical vest, two-way radios, smoke grenades, training, anything that will give you an advantage if TSHTF. My children all own Ruger 10/.22s and that’s what they started with. Sarah still prefers it she just had to modify a little bit to get her ergonomics right. She had me add a Tapco six-position adjustable stock and a small scope and she has become very proficient. Aaron saved and saved and eventually had me trade up for him to an Arsenal Inc. Bulgarian AK-47 chambered in 5.56mm NATO.
I work as a fitness trainer and have made friends with much of the law enforcement in town and have managed to get a local police officer to let me use a vacant piece of land he owns to train and practice with the kids. Keeping safety top priority we enjoy doing a lot of Run and Gun because of the competitiveness, yet we try to practice everything from shooting behind cover to peeling. Since I could not afford formal training I video tape our training and get some friends I know who are on the Terrorism Task Force or ex-military to critique our training and point out any mistakes and ways to improve. I must point out I do practice OPSEC and I live in a rural gun friendly town.
We have slowly built up our medical kit over the past few years. Using a big tool box I had we started gathering medicines, band aids, gauze, splints, suture kits, quick clot, Hemcon, antibiotics to tweezers. Also not forgetting literature to aid in this area should we ever have to use it. We have also built up a very small amount of antibiotics which we are still working on. A good bit of our medical kit was procured from Amazon.com and was pretty affordable.
Most of the bulk of our food supply has been stored in 5 gal buckets. In the event of a total collapse we do hope to begin our big garden. We have slowly been stocking up on Heirloom, non-GMO and non-hybrid seeds. The heirloom seeds made it a little more interesting for the kids because of the history behind some of the seeds. We are currently growing a small garden to educate and improve which I must say is fun and the kids love it. Oh I can’t forget to mention I have gotten all my buckets from the grocery store they are free where I live. Prepping as a family has been great but I must say out of all we do, the kids hate washing out the 5 gallon buckets the most, and they have washed a lot. We have also put back a small collection of traps that I had picked up here and there to help aid in food gathering. Small critters will be more prevalent than big game. I had in past Christmases bought bows for the kids. The kids just think they are cool and fun yet they serve a purpose and could be used to kill game and do so quietly.
Power and heat has been addressed by slowly saving up enough money to put together a small 60 watt solar kit and battery bank. I know this is not a big system but the small battery bank might make up for some of the low wattage. We don’t intend on using this to run an entire home yet just enough to have some light, a couple luxuries and most importantly recharge batteries for flashlights, tactical lights, night vision, and other items like radio or an MP3 player. This could have a huge effect on morale and make life a lot more bearable. I also wanted to mention having power for my hair clippers–I like my hair trimmed and had even found some manual hair trimmers on eBay for under $20. A tip I learned if you are interested is to buy the old antique clippers, they still work well and have a cool factor to them, the clippers currently being produced seem to be a nightmare, at least that was the consensus I found on some blogs. I have also put back about 10 kerosene lamps, wicks, and kerosene. These things like everything else had to be bought slowly and patiently. I made a habit of putting the kerosene jug in the car on the day I knew I was going to get gas and along with a gas can. I would put just a couple dollars of each in each and then add them to my stockpile back at home until the next trip.
Silver
A while back I saw an old 1988 Isuzu trooper on the side of the road, it didn’t have a for sale sign on it but the man who owned it was willing to sell it for $600. The trooper didn’t run but I had some friends who through church liked to help families out. They got the trooper up and running with me paying for the parts and we were blessed to have our 4×4 bug out vehicle. It wasn’t ideal and I wish parts were more plentiful but it’s a tough little rig and very off road capable and most of all it seemed like that’s what God had put in front of us at that time. The kids all loved the Trooper which they had named Mr T., yet still enjoyed the luxury of the last item of our former life, our black on black with leather heated seats sedan. I soon informed the kids that I would be selling the car, and they seemed fine with it until the day we sold it. I think we were all sad in a way, not just because it was luxurious but I think just a final goodbye of our old life. We watched the new owner drive off knowing that our car would serve them well and that for this there was a reason and that all would turn out well. I decided to purchase as much silver as I could with what was gained from the sale of the car which was about $3,000 dollars worth. This is about the only savings we have but it is growing as silver continues to rise and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. This has also been a lesson in being humble for the kids which will most definitely help shape a strong character. We have the small family cabin in North Carolina where I can go if it gets to bad but I also thought as our economy gets worse and the real estate market continues to decline that buying or trading some silver for a small parcel of land might be possible. I realize this would take careful timing and is also a gamble but could still be another advantage of owning some silver or gold.
There is so much that we do that I can’t get it in a short letter but here are some miscellaneous things that I wanted to mention: Where I live I am able to obtain 55 gallon drums which have so many uses, such as water storage, make shift water heater, wood stove (with $45 conversion kit sold on Internet), food storage, laundry wash barrel, and more. We have learned to go to as many yard sales as possible. In the event things breakdown shoes or boots will be very important and in high demand, especially when you have children that grow like weeds. We save everything and hand it down as well as pick up as many cheap boots as possible so every one has a couple spare pairs and sizes to grow into. Don’t forget little things like soap, toothpaste, shampoos, toilet paper, laundry detergent, bleach, and so on. I like to have a change jar or several that can quickly accumulate and pick up quiet a lot of these things at the dollar store. Like I mentioned we live in a rural area and when we see a chicken house falling in or and old dilapidated farm house I try to approach a owner and ask if they minded if we took some tin off the collapsed roof or some pieces of wood. These type of things could be used to build an extra cabin, chicken coup, or make repairs. This is made possible by being able to store some extra materials at storage until I can transport them to the bug out location.
There is so much we have done, and yet haven’t done. As the past few years have gone by I have seen a transformation in all our lives, especially mine. I can see how God has guided me and worked so strategically with the people, adversity, and forks in the road. My faith has grown so so much, and it is amazing how God has worked in our lives. As we got back to a simpler life and prepared for dangerous times here, we were becoming closer to what was truly important and especially for me laying the real preparation and foundation for eternity. It is all so clear now, as we make mistakes in preparing and learn and grow, so do we in life. As we prepare to avoid death of us and our families in scary times, so we do in our faith, so that we may have life after this. As we witness to others about economics, politics, or prepping we must also try to help prepare others with our lord. I had been saved many years ago but I had truly lost my way. God used prepping among many other things to bring me back to life. God had placed two women in my life which happened to be mother and daughter. Two ladies hired me as their personal trainer almost two years ago. The mother who just turned 80 this past Sunday has had an enormous impact on me with her wisdom, sound advice, and rock solid faith. I am so thankful that they never gave up on me. I will always love and appreciate them .They have done more for me and my family than anyone will ever know. You must understand, these ladies are the best preppers I know. This has been my family’s journey yet ironically it feels like it has just begun.
Dear Mr. Rawles:
I have read your excellent blog for years and truly enjoy the unique mix of practical advice and news you provide that is not often found elsewhere.
I wanted to comment on your recent article titled, "Precious Metals–When to Begin Reducing Your Holdings." Your article was quite thoughtful and I would encourage anyone who failed to read it when originally posted on March 29th to go back and read it now.
There was a minor point that I did disagree with. Near the end of the article you wrote, "Here in the United States, pre-1965 silver quarters (25 cent pieces) are the ideal coins for barter." As of March 31st, the spot price for silver was $37.62 per ounce, giving pre-1965 US silver coinage a value of 27.2 times over face. At this rate, a 90% silver US quarter is worth $6.80. At "your interim target of $41.90 per ounce," a 90% silver quarter would be worth $7.58. At $50.00 per ounce (which I believe we will see by the end of January, 2012), a 90% silver quarter would be worth $9.04. When buying a dozen eggs or other small purchases, I think the quarter is too valuable. Of course in a post-SHTF barter economy, the market will determine price.
I do think that the dime would be a better choice for the ideal 90% silver coin for barter. It is currently worth $2.72 and would be worth $3.03 and $3.62 respectively, at the spot prices mentioned above I do own 90% silver quarters, but I have at least ten times that amount in dimes.
Sincerely, – Dean R. in Alaska
JWR Replies: Your logic is sound. However, silver dimes are typically worn much more heavily than quarters and half dollars. Have you ever stacked 100 typical circulated "junk" silver dimes, and stood them next a stack of uncirculated dimes? The circulated stack will often be 10 or 12 millimeters shorter! That is how heavily-worn dimes get. That may not sound like much, but when you buy a $1,000 face value bag and receive only 660 to 680 ounces of silver instead of the nominal 715 ounces, you will feel cheated.
If and when it comes time to do some serious barter, I believe that heavily-worn dimes will trade at a discount. Therefore, I buy quarters rather than dimes, unless I can find dimes that exhibit minimal wear. (This usually means getting all Roosevelt dimes rather than the older Mercury dimes.)
Captain Rawles,
I have just received the following update on the Berkey water filtration systems. The Stainless Steel Berkey systems are on a serious backorder as they have been grossly oversold. The Berkey Light Systems are the only ones that are in stock no matter what the “Estimated Shipping Date” or “Quantity in Stock” notices say online. Also the previously reported 20%-30% price increase has been changed to 10% due to Berkey not wanting make an already bad economic situation worse, but they will not be able to give away the freebies any longer. They may consider another “Price Adjustment” in the future though, but for now it will only be the 10%.
As has been mentioned many times before, it is better to do what you can than do nothing waiting for the “perfect situation”. Having clean water can save your life. I would love to own the Crown Berkey, but it is not in my prepping ability at this time, nor they are they presently available, anyway. The filter elements are what do the job, so for me and my family it is a 4-filter bucket system as you and others have described building. As one of my Company Commanders at boot camp used to say, “If you can do something about it, then do it. If you can’t then deal with it and don’t cry about it. That is just a waste of energy anyway.” Thank you for your continued efforts to help turn sheeple into shepherds. God Bless, – Brad M.
JWR,
Thanks to Brad M. for the Berkey price increase heads-up!
I found what needed and placed an order through Directive 21. (At a bargain price.)
However, in my online price checking I came across the Bucket Berkey for $135 you get two pre-drilled buckets that screw together, two Black Berkey filters, a spigot, and necessary washers. From what I found the Berkey filters run $99 a pair, a Berkey spare parts kit runs $25~30, and good luck finding food grade buckets that are threaded to screw together. To me, it looks like the perfect purchase for the folks planning on building a DIY Bucket Berkey because from what I can tell it costs about the same but takes less time and energy to assemble and the lower bucket is less susceptible to re-contamination thanks to the threaded design.
Also, I’d like to remind my fellow readers that Snow Peak Titanium outdoor cookware
Dear Mr. Rawles:
Gibson Research Corporation offers a free [PC] utility called ID Serve that will quickly tell the user the IP address of any web site, as well as some other info. It can also look up the domain name using the IP address. This is useful to help SurvivalBlog readers find the numerical IP for their favorite web sites in case of domain name mischief at the hands of government or private hackers. IP Serve can be downloaded here free of charge. (As a bonus, it is tiny–just 26 kbytes–and fast. It is not “bloatware”). – Sincerely, D.V.B.
B.B. suggested this: Chart of the Day: Silver Coin Mania. Clearly, more folks are now distrusting the U.S. Dollar and hedging into tangible silver.
D.I.W. suggested this over at the Secular Trends blog: Current Real Unemployment is 16%
Foreign Banks Tapped Fed’s Secret Lifeline Most at Crisis Peak. Is this supposed to give me a warm, fuzzy feeling?
Items from The Economatrix:
Massive Capital Wave Approaches Gold
MyBudget360: Federal Reserve Silently Grows Balance Sheet to Approximately $2.75 Trillion
Buying Silver and Avoiding the Sharks
Pastor Chuck Baldwin posted his reaction to my “American Redoubt” proposal.
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Some humor posted over at Survival Mom: You Might Be a Survivalist If…
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Tamara over at the View From The Porch blog had a link to this important Glock safety tip: The importance of a good holster. That is one of the reasons that I’m a big believer in stiff Kydex holsters!
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U.S. admits that Mexican cartels get military weaponry from Central America
“In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion.
Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me.
Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou [art] my rock and my fortress.
Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.
For thou [art] my hope, O Lord GOD: [thou art] my trust from my youth.” – Psalm 71:1-5 (KJV)
We’ve completed the judging for Round 33 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest!
First prize goes to K.M. for What is a Well-Stocked First Aid Kit?, which was posted on March 15, 2011. K.M. will receive: 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 round case of 12 Gauge Hornady TAP FPD 2-3/4″ OO buckshot ammo, courtesy of Sunflower Ammo , and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).
Second prize goes to Stefan M., for The Process of Preserving Meat by Curing: From Curing Salt to Finished Bacon, which was posted on February 12, 2011. He will receive: 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). Also, for this round only, we are adding a special Bonus Prize: One G5RV 80-10 Dipole antenna kit, kindly donated by Martronics. (A $50 value.)
Third prize goes to The Former South Aussteyralian for Strategic Relocation in Australia, which was posted on Tuesday, March 29, 2011. He will receive: 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. (SurvivalBlog will cover the extra postage costs to get his prizes to him in Tasmania.)
Runner-up prizes go to an unprecedented 20 writers:
Each of these writers will receive a $30 Amazon.com gift certificate.
Note to all prize winners: Please let me know your e-mail addresses for the Amazon gift certificates. (Those will be sent via e-mail.) I’ll also need both postal service and UPS addresses for the top three prize winners.
Today we begin Round 34 of the contest. Round 34 ends on May 31st. Here is the first entry:
I’m a college student living in the western U.S. I have been interested in prepping ever since I got my Emergency Preparedness Merit Badge in Boy Scouts when I was about 12. My parents thought it’d be a phase, but it has always been a way of life for me ever since. I have had a lot of fun even with it, and it’s not as hard as it can seem, especially for those who are still in school. I’d like to share a few things that I have picked up over the years that can help any who are on a limited budget, lack space or just want to get started.
1. Time to Learn. You might be asking, ‘learn what?’ Well, learn about what interests you. Learn about your state and local areas and what scenarios that you should prepare for. Getting a buddy who is local can can get you all sorts of info, like where to find a good local thrift store, bargain grocery, or outdoor gear store.
I know that on our campuses we are force fed all sorts of information in what most people think of as learning. But you can use that to your advantage, the campus, not the other stuff. Many have classes about things like first aid, rock climbing, backpacking and mountain biking. Have you ever wanted to try rafting? See if there is a class for that. Do your future plans involve eventually owning a farm or ranch as a getaway? Take classes that could be useful to your farm like welding, Diesel mechanics, or basic veterinary skills. Take physical education classes like basketball, swimming, or karate in order to help you stay fit if you lack personal motivation to work out.
Learn about local threats. Find out the emergency plans for your university and if there is one for the city where you live. By joining a CERT or Search and Rescue team you can add more knowledge to your mental tool box. Get skills, because they are a lot easier to move than your big screen television.
Gather as much information as you can. As you are reading this site, you have a good start. Look for things to get you started like ‘Prepping on a Low Income Budget’ and ‘Beginning Prepping’ or other similar themes.
2. Plan. Make a plan about what you are going to do. Now is the time when you put your prior acquired learning to use. Remember to consider the law, as most disasters are not the end of the world as we know it. As much fun as it is to talk with buddies about your plan for the rising of the zombie, an earthquake plan in California or a hurricane plan in Florida are more likely to be needed. Do you live in an apartment in the Midwest with tornados? Where do you go for shelter when the alerts go off? These are just a couple of things you may want to consider.
I suggest having at least two plans. One is your “hunker down” plan, or your short term plan. This is the plan I will use for things like power outages, most bad weather, and when my apartment complex shuts off water for the hundredth time. Most problems will be a short term scenario. Your other plan is an evacuation plan. I have only used my evac plan once, when I lived in a hurricane area in Florida. Often we think of an evacuation as an adventure, but it is really boring. Long hours in traffic, long lines for gas, long waits for the ok to go home is what you have to look forward to in most evacuations. Granted, we still all hope for the adventure.
3. Gear Up. As a student with limited space and money, I strongly suggest not blowing all your cash money on cool gear. I know this hurts many young dreams, but hang on for a minute. First, see what you can get for free. Do you have a buddy who loves buying the latest gear? Then see if he has any old gear that he is replacing. Did you grow up in an outdoors family? See what you can take back with you after your next trip home. Again, this is when your learning can pay off. Knowing where local army surplus shops, or bargain outdoor stores, even regular gear locations that are having a sale or gear swap can pay off. Thrift stores are a good bet, too.
Gearing up is also more than packing a bag full of PAW goodies. Remember, space is limited in an apartment, so let’s plan wisely. What is under your bed? If not much, then we have a location. You can also buy or build bed risers to increase the available room. I’ve seen some people put their beds on cinder blocks to really get some room.
When it comes to survival food, store what you enjoy eating. A case of MREs can last you a long time, but if you hate MREs, they won’t do you much good. Get things like soup, stew, rice, and pasta. The trick is to get what you like to eat. If you are still a kid at heart and can’t get enough of Spaghetti-O’s or Chef Boyardee, stock up on it. Find out if local stores have case lot sales to get it on the cheap. This is when you stock up on the classic beans, bullets, and band aids. Start with food and water for a week, and then build it up to two. Keep adding as you have room.
Just know, bigger is not always better. Don’t buy in bulk if it will spoil faster than you can finish it. Don’t forget water. Bottled water can be pricey, and you probably don’t have the room for one of the big blue barrels that many preppers have in the garage. If you are a soda fiend, buy your sugar fuel in bottles, and wash and refill them. Two liter bottles, if washed out thoroughly, can hold water really well, because they were made to hold the very acidic soda for years. One liter bottles will work, too. Plan on two liters for drinking, and another two for cleaning, per person per day.
The easiest way I have found to do this is what I call the “one on – one off” idea. For everything you are using or plan to use soon, have another extra waiting in the wings. I do this with soap, toilet paper, cans and other containers of food. I have one box of rice open on the shelf, one off in my storage. Then when I use up the one on the shelf, I open the one in storage and buy another. This is handy because you never run out of things you need at an inopportune moment.
Again, follow any rules that you have to in your contract, at your university and the local laws. If it will get you busted, don’t run out and buy an awesome gun that looks like it belongs in an action movie. Guns are great, but get things like food and water first. They are also expensive and gun laws differ state by state. It would really blow chunks if your new toy (or its magazines) had to stay at Other State University when you return to your parents house, or vice versa. Many Universities have very strict rules about fire arms on campus, especially in campus housing.
For self defense, a baseball bat is low key, and if you want to be even lower key, find an old baseball glove on Craig’s List or at a thrift store and carry the bat and glove together. People will just think you like baseball.
4. Get Active. If your plan involves hoofing it 20 miles and you look like a blob, good luck. A fellow student who works in the recreation field shared with me a story of a man who wanted to climb a mountain near where my classmate worked. He did his research on outdoors sites, gathered his information, and posted on a forum that was dedicated to climbing that mountain. He also weighed nearly 400 pounds. When he asked veterans of that mountain what he should focus on, they were united in the statement, “Lose 100 pounds.” He insisted that he was in shape, and a former football player. He said the weight was mostly muscle. (It wasn’t.) He had to be pulled off the mountain barely a quarter of the way up. Don’t let this happen to you. Your university can be used to help on this. Most schools have gyms, tracks and other facilities available for student use for free. Put your tuition money to work!
Find simple ways to be more fit during the day, such as taking the stairs in place of elevators. Drink more water instead of soda or cruddy energy drinks. Get enough sleep every night and add fruits and veggies to your meals.
5. Roommates can be a pain. If you have to live with roommates, I highly recommend having a private room. I can’t say how many times I and other friends have had roomies steal food, not pull their weight, or make a huge mess. I even had one roommate who thought a strainer was a bowl and lost most of his food all over the counter. Then he refused to clean it up.
Roommates can also “spill the beans” about your preps, and that could mean too many people at your place when SHTF, or they could demand that you share.
This depends on your roommates. Despite of all the bad roomies, I have had others who were great and have had a lot in common with. If you can pick your roommates, and you have friends who are like-minded, then try to get together.
I hope that these tips can help you get started down the road of preparedness. You never know what can happen or when it will hit, so having a basic start can help set you ahead of the pack when the world doesn’t follow the plan in your Smartphone or on your Facebook event page.
Sir:
It would appear that very low levels of radioiodine (I-131) have been detected in Western US milk, as could be expected.
Presently, the contamination from Fukushima is taking over a week to cross the Pacific, and that time, combined with dilution effects, reduces the contamination from the Fukushima disaster to point far below the level of concern. At the present time. It also appears that the fukushima fallout plume is not rising high enough at present to become entrained in the jet stream
However, reports from Fukushima, and analysis of the data available, indicates that a containment breach may have already occurred, and that it is possible that re-criticality events have already occurred in the melted reactor cores. Assuming that the emissions of radioactive material from the former Dai-ichi nuclear plant do not significantly exceed their present rate, it is likely that this will remain a largely regional horror. The Japanese continue to place their power plant workers, and military and construction teams assigned to the Fukushima site, in harm’s way to attempt to prevent this from further deterioration. And these people continue to be willing to risk their lives and suffer significant exposures to do so. Take a moment to keep these people in your thoughts and prayers; they are truly heroes.
However, should the re-criticality inside any of the damaged reactors accelerate, and make the immediate area around the plant unsurvivable, the spent rod pools (#4 is at greatest risk) will dry out, and could also melt and suffer re-criticality (keep in mind that there are over 800 tons of recently used spent fuel rods stored on site, with another 6,000 tons of older used rods stored in a common fuel storage pool.) The spent rods have no robust containment at all.
The radioactive release from such an event would dwarf Chernobyl, and while the fallout from such an event would probably not be serious here in the USA, (absent a large enough plume to be carried across the Pacific in the jet stream,) the deposition of Sr-90 and Cs-137, which substitute for calcium, would pose a potential health risk, especially for children and women of child-bearing age. If you have not already purchased a supply of powdered milk, I suggest you consider it, especially if you have small children in your household. – L.M.W.
Dear Mr. Rawles,
First, I want to thank you for the work you do and the time and effort I know it takes to provide all of us the wealth of resources and information you do. I have been steadily preparing for bad times only for the past two years. Prior to that, my family and I were all about the “Good Times” – Working for the weekend, staying tuned into the television shows, enjoying the “American” way of life.
I became involved in stock market trading a few years ago and took several classes with a gentleman who woke me up to the coming collapse and recommended your Patriots book. I freaked for a while, began planning and purchasing for an economic collapse. My family members began giving me “the look” when I tried to talk to them about these things. Even dear husband and kids would roll their eyes when helping me unpack groceries or bringing in packages from UPS.
Reading “One Second After” helped put things on a personal level for me and my family while at the same time, freaked me out even more. My family did help me build the chicken coop, put the family garden in, plant fruit trees and vines, cart the old pot-belly stove home from my dad’s old shed and even recently helped with a redesign of the closets and unused, unfinished spaces of our home to aid in storage, but gave each other the rolling eyes while doing it. Last October, when I went off to the medical training mentioned in your site, they chuckled at my “girls weekend” and wanted to know why I needed to learn to put a cast on someone. They complained about attending an Appleseed shoot last year–although they have enjoyed learning to shoot. It wasn’t really until dear husband recently subscribed to NetFlix and I put the Jericho television series into our queue that I finally got through to them though.
The first DVD came, I asked who wanted to sit down on a Friday night to watch with me and got no takers. Within the first 10 minutes, though, the entire family was lined up on the couch. We watched all of the first four episodes on that disc that night and the kids were begging us to get it in the mail so we would get the next one. While the acting and some of the scenarios were a bit over the top, the point was repeatedly driven home of how essential it is to be prepared for these times. My teenage daughter remarked to me the other night how she now understands what I have been doing and that I’m not completely crazy! Bringing home shopping bags and unpacking, the kids now ask “Cupboards or Armageddon Closet?”
The rest of our family still responds how “God will take care of them” and refuse to prepare, spending time and money as if it will continue to always be there. This saddens me and I continue to prepare for them as well, hoping I am wrong and they are right, but knowing in my heart and mind, it is coming. I don’t think I will ever be prepared enough, but know that with each passing week, my preparations are steadily getting better and better. My husband and children are prepared for crisis both away and at home. Watching the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the kids gave me their scenarios for what they would do if that happened here. How many 10 and 12 year olds think like that? I don’t want my children growing up afraid of the future – if they are properly prepared, the fear is replaced with confidence. Again, thank you for your service to the preparedness community and to your many followers who supply the awesome advice and information. God Bless, – Carolyn C.
Hi James,
Just following up on my last letter about stacking nickels in the “Standing Shotgun Shell” configuration. I’ve continued experimenting and have a few tips I’d like to add that might come in handy. Luckily, I’ve been able to order quantities of nickel boxes from my local bank [at face value] and have been making a studied process of stacking them, trying to improve with each box. BTW, a cardboard box of nickels such as delivered by Brinks weighs 22 pounds. I have figured out that by sliding the thumb in and pushing in towards the empty cardboard box, the Bricks boxes easily come apart. These, I stack on top of one another and save, just in case someday they might come in handy. I think that possibly in 20 – 30 years, perhaps those boxes might add novelty to the rolls and they are there, so why not save them…
I stack four full 22 Lb. [$100 face value, 50 rolls] cardboard boxes on a stainless steel rolling cart from Sam’s Club and stack several of the .30 caliber ammo cans on the bottom shelf. Standing, with one ammo can on the top shelf, I open the empty ammo can with the hinge to the left and the opening catch to the right. I put one roll of nickels under the outside left bottom of the can while the lid is fully extended open to the left. It’s surprising, but the one roll of nickels under the can gives enough tilt or angle to cause the rolls to lean back ever so slightly to the right inside the cans, which means that they will not fall over. This came as quite a revelation, thankfully. I hold my left hand on the two rolls just placed inside while reaching into the cardboard box to the right and complete a roll of four inside the can. I load two rolls at a time with my right hand and get into a rhythm with it so that the rolls quickly add up and soon I’m at the end where the three rolls will need to be added. Here’s a good trick: I have a steel rod that measures 3/4″ diameter by 9″ Long. Sometimes the final row just isn’t right, and with the rod, always, I can even it up so that the three rolls easily fit in. A little prying and the rows line up like magic. If not, a little persuasion tapping downwards on the recalcitrant roll with the rod causes that last unruly roll to go down correctly. After the two layers of 47 rolls each are in the can, I tap the rolls lightly, then roll the tops with the rod just like using a rolling pin and amazingly, it all lines up beautifully and professionally. The steel rod is definitely the trick. If the ammo can is not full, I stuff a paper bag in to hold the rolls in place until the next stacking session.
Beyond that, a few facts. A .30 caliber ammo can holding $188 worth of nickels weighs about 45 pounds. I found that using a small, heavy duty dolly, stacking 10 (450 lbs., $1,880) is about all that the traffic will bear. Being 61 years old, I can push the dolly along and gather speed and be able to steer about wherever I want it to go, barring unforeseen obstacles such as thresholds, etc. I stack the ammo cans often in groups of threes (side by side with one flat on top). This serves as a great cardio workout with lots of huffing and puffing. Of course, I have pallet jacks and hand trucks, etc., but what fun would that be, LOL!
I found a local guy who sells ammo cans on our gun forum and at local gun shows. Since I buy a lot, (20 or more cans at a time), he has been very accommodating, and is happy to meet me in the town where we each drive about 30 miles. Fortunately, his cans are really clean and he sells them for $6 apiece. I think about how those cans will someday become a great investment. As each can becomes full I feel a great sense of satisfaction of having done a good job packing them and moving them. Now I’m working on where they will live for the next few decades, and I have let my one son who humours me about it know where they will be should anything happen. I’m pleased to be able to “park” some money this way, and my wife and I muse at the prospect of going through all of them in our old age, or during cold nights by the fire. I hope some of these ideas from an aging craftsman/machinist will help anyone starting out stacking nickels to enjoy it more. – Mr. M.