Letter Re: Do-It-Yourself Campfire Starters

Dear Mr. Rawles,  
I also have a suggestion for DIY fire starters.  I have been making these for several years and they work great for fire pits etc. I would caution about using them to start a cooking fire though, due to fragrances and color dyes.

We use a lot of 4” and 6” pillar candles in our house. We don’t have small children, so an accidental fire is not a very big concern.  I used to throw out the candle butts and decided I’d like to somehow recycle them. So now every couple of months I make fire starters.  I keep an paper shredder right by the kitchen table so I can deal with junk immediately. I also shred anything that has our address on the envelope or the addressed back covers of catalogs.  I save all of the cardboard tubes from our toilet paper rolls and from paper towels. The toilet paper rolls are the perfect size. I cut the paper towels rolls in half. If you want a smaller size just cut toilet paper roll in half and the paper towel rolls in quarters.  

To assemble the fire starters, I melt the candles in a double boiler. You conceivably could also melt it in pot right on the burner, however, you absolutely cannot walk away from the stove if you use this method. The wax can burn and catch fire quickly.  When the wax is melted I pour it into a large mixing bowl that has some shred paper in it. Mix the wax and shred with a spoon or if you let it cool sufficiently you can use your hand. When the wax and shred gets cool and thick, fill the tubes with the mixture. Let cool for several hours and store in aluminum foil and plastic storage bags. They will keep indefinitely. And the only “extra” cost to me is the foil and storage bags.   Thank you for this excellent site that jam packed with information.   – Okie Ranch Wife

Two Letters Re: Investing in Nickels, in Quantity

Mr. Rawles,  
With the low profile purchase of nickels now a desire of many folks, I have had fun in purchasing them in "bricks" [boxes of rolled nickels.]   

I go up to the bank teller window and ask if they have a brick or two available for purchase. Many times I receive a positive response. (I have a Military Intelligence background and know how to keep a secret while avoiding a direct answer.)   After the purchase many times the teller inquisitively asks why I need so many nickels. I look at her with a twinkle in my eye and lean over whispering and ask her a question. “Can you keep a secret?” And she usually gets very serious and leans toward me and whispers, “Yes I can.”  Then I stand upright, look her in the eye, wink, smile, and say “So can I”, and turn around and walk away.  Have fun out there. – CH 

Mr. Rawles:  
Your reader on the east coast is fortunate; I have been banking at the same local bank for 16 years and have a substantial amount deposited in the institution. For the last four years I have been buying $20.00 worth of nickels every other week when I cashed my check. This Saturday when I went to pick up my nickels I was told that I could only have three rolls and there would be a .10 charge per roll. I suspect that word is starting to get around about nickels. SurvivalBlog readers should get their nickels before it is too late! –   Jim from Illinois

Letter Re: Being Prepared: A Tale of Two Hurricanes

Dear Sir,
After reading A Tale of Two Hurricanes by N.D., I thought I would share some lessons that my family and I learned from Hurricane Ike. First off, I became turned onto the prepping mindset about a year and a half ago. I have been trying to get my father thinking in this mindset and he recently read “One Second After” by William R. Forstchen which seems to have truly sparked something inside him. I plan to let him read my copy of your novel “Patriots” as well.

Well we live in the “country” northwest of Houston. Most people remembered all the hoopla about hurricane Rita and how that turned out to be nothing but an inconvenience and a stress headache. All of our neighbors had no thoughts of evacuating and getting stuck in the traffic from Houston, they just stocked up on a few provisions and called it good. My family did the same thing. We got a couple of cases of water but not much else. We have always had a well stocked pantry with what I believe to be a month or two of food at full rations so there wasn’t any worry of starving.

We prepped our property for the high winds by borrowing some sheets of plywood from a neighbor to cover our windows to protect them from flying debris. Dad used the storm as an excuse to cut down some trees that he had wanted to get rid of. We took out a very large one that could have removed half of our house including my bedroom if it were to come down during the storm. Then we cleaned everything out from under the stairs so we could cram in there in case there was a significant threat of a tornado hitting us. (Stairs are usually the most framed part of a house and thus the most structurally sound place to be in case of a tornado, in less you have a basement.) We were “all set” for what was sure to be a disappointing storm.

Hurricane Ike made landfall on Galveston Island at a little past 2 a.m. on September 13th, 2008 as a strong category 2. In most cases a category 2 hurricane would not be considered too bad for someone who has gone thru some of the weaker storms like Rita. However Ike was different. Looking at the radar, it seemed to take up most of the Gulf and had a strong eye. The storm didn’t really hit us until the early morning hours but the eye came within 9 miles of our house. I woke many times to lightning and the roof creaking. That morning the sky had a greenish color and the wind was still blowing the rain almost sideways. A quick look outside revealed about a dozen trees had blown over or lost large limbs. Our entire neighborhood was without power.

 After the storm calmed down, we went out for a drive to survey the damage in our community. Every one of our neighbors had trees down and almost half of them had some sort of roof damage. There were trees that had taken out the power lines and fallen unto the roads making them impassable. Luckily there were some good samaritans out with their chainsaws clearing the roads enough so cars could pass one at a time. The entire town was without power and the gas station up the road had the covers blown off of the pumps and had sustained damage.
Living without power was not too bad for us. We just pulled out the Coleman stove and lantern from my Boy Scout days and got to work clearing the damage. My Mom however was not very happy. Even though it was much cooler than it usually was at that time of year, the 80 degrees, humidity, and the lack of power and communication with the outside world was more than she wanted to stand. After the first night she took off to my older sister’s house about an hour inland to stay with her. She came back the following day to bring us a little 1,500 watt Honda generator and about 5 gallons of gas. The generator had just enough power and fuel to keep the contents of our refrigerator cool.

My dad sent me out with four 5-gallon gas cans and told me to find someplace to fill them up. I drove my truck to the next town and found that the grocery store’s gas station had gas but even more importantly they had power. Most gas stations had thousands of gallons but no way to get it out of the underground tanks. There was a line on every pump about 50 cars long when I arrived. It took three hours for me to make it up to the pump where there was police officers posted to obviously keep everything in order.  Lucky there was not a ration in place so I was able to fill up all the cans and my truck. As I left the lines were around 200 cars long and things were beginning to get tense as pumps shut down [due to depleted tanks] from such rapid use. I passed several other gas stations on my way home and they were rationing gas to 5 or 10 gallons with just as many cars lined up. When I finally made it back home Dad wanted me to take his truck and get it filled up too, but I told him it was too dangerous and we would have to just make do with what we had, which was about 60 gallons combining what was in the cars and cans. The following day, Mom came back from my sisters with more fuel, a new generator, and a window A/C unit which she bought. The generator is a 5000 watt 7,500 peak brand name with a pull start. It has a 220 volt plug and two 110 volt plugs. Dad and I cut the main breaker so we wouldn’t back feed into the power grid and then took some wires from a 220 volt extension cord and crudely shoved them into the electric dryer socket. We couldn’t run the central air conditioning but we could run the window unit mom had bought (which of course went in her room), the refrigerator, and the lights as normal. We just had to be mindful of how many things we could turn on at once. The generator was locked to the house with a heavy chain and padlock and we always turned it off before night. When there is no power for miles around, a running generator at night is like a “come steal me!” sign.

Another problem that was arising about this time in the neighborhood was human waste. Our neighborhood is remote and everybody has about 5 acres. Because of this we do not have city sewer but instead an aerated sprinkler system. Without power the pump can’t spray the treated liquid waste and the tanks become full in 2-3 days. Toilets begin to back up and smell occurs. For us, everything was fine once the generator was going. We did have to go to some neighbors houses to do some emergency electrical re-wiring so they could get their septic systems working.

Our street was without power for more than 12 days. Part of the problem was a power line went down in the woods behind us and since that line only serviced five houses it was not at the top of the priority list. Luckily we never lost water although we were extra cautious and made sure to boil it before consuming.

Lessons learned from all this:

  1. If it is going to be a big hurricane, then evacuate early. It isn’t worth all the trouble if you can leave in time and trust your neighbors to watch your property, but take your papers and valuables with you.
  2. Have a working generator. We now have ours and had a proper hookup installed by an electrician after it was all over. Make sure to run your generator bi-annually and store it for long-term storage following your user’s guide. For us, that is running it dry with stabilized gas in it.
  3. Have plenty of fuel beforehand. We keep our cans filled with Sta-bil gas and rotate them regularly.
  4. Of course be prepared with all of your usual preps. Food, water, first-aid, etc.
  5. With a hurricane, it is very important to protect your house from damage as much as possible. Cover windows, brace large doors like the garage doors, remove trees close to the house, and remove anything in your yard that could become a flying object.
  6. Have a pump system designed to get gas out of underground tanks. There was just a recent post about how to make your own in the blog. You might be able to let your local gas station owner use it in exchange for some fuel. It’s a win-win. He can still sell fuel and you can get what you need.

I think the most important thing to remember during a disaster like this one is to be courteous and helpful to your neighbors. Get to know your neighbors beforehand and pull together after to clean-up and make repairs. Ike brought all of us on our street closer together. This country is threatened by many different types of natural and manmade disasters, but with a hurricane you know it is coming. Get prepared.

Economics and Investing:

Five Reasons Investors are Going Crazy for Farmland. (Thanks to Don W. for the link.)

Frequent content contributors Sue C. and C.D.V. both sent this: Housing Crash is Hitting Cities Once Thought to Be Stable. “Few believed the housing market here would ever collapse. Now they wonder if it will ever stop slumping.”

J.M.A. mentioned this essay over at American Thinker: A Tipping Point Is Nearing

Pierre M. pointed us to this: Roubini’s Next Crisis Is Scary Food for Thought: William Pesek

Geithner Quietly Tells Obama Debt-to-GDP Cost Poised to Increase to Record. Here is a quote: “It’s a slow train wreck coming and we all know it’s going to happen. It’s just a question of whether we want to deal with it. There are huge structural changes that have to go on with this economy.” (A hat tip to C.D.V. for the link.)

21 Signs That The Once Great U.S. Economy Is Being Gutted, Neutered, Defanged, Declawed And Deindustrialized

Robert Gottlieb (my agent) flagged this news article: Borders Books eyes store closings and liquidations

Items from The Economatrix:

“Get Ready For Margin Collapse” Goes Mainstream   

Oil Falls as US Supplies Outweigh Mideast Tensions  

Gas Pump Prices Highest Ever for This Time of Year

Major Food Distributor Sysco: “Immediate Volatile Prices, Expected Limited Availability, and Mediocre Quality at Best” “Now might be a good time to hit the frozen foods (or fresh produce if you’ve got a vacuum sealer) aisle at your local grocery store and stock up on your favorite fruits and veggies, as there may be a severe supply crunch coming in the next couple weeks lasting perhaps several months. Why pay premium prices later when you can prepare yourself today, before the rest of the country gets wind of it.”  

Odds ‘n Sods:

La fine del mondo come lo conosciamomeowner? Italy overwhelmed by Tunisian boat people. And a related news story: Tunisians vote with their feet, flee the country

   o o o

J.B.G. suggested this: Home Invasions: Side Effects of the Drug War Mexico’s war against the cartels is spilling over the border in the form of home invasions, kidnapping, and murder.

   o o o

I’ve previously mentioned the Gerber Omnivore flashlight. It is a white LED flashlight that is designed to be able to use size AA, AAA or CR123 batteries. The new 50 lumen version of the Omnivore looks promising. I’ll buy one or two for some tests here at the ranch and post a review.

   o o o

From Sue C.: Egypt echoes across region: Iran, Bahrain, Yemen

   o o o

Preparing for the Worst in Wisconsin: Walker Says National Guard could Respond to Unrest, as State Employees Learn of his Budget Proposal

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 33 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 Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $392 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 (a $240 value), 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 33 ends on March 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.

How to Inexpensively Build Your Library of Information, by Sky Watcher

We all understand from reading SurvivalBlog that having information and learning how to survive and thrive are going to be the keys to survival post-TEOTWAWKI.  You need to start gathering that library now. There is an extensive list of suggested books and materials to obtain posted on the blog.  Purchasing those at even discount prices from Amazon.com or other discount book sellers can still run into quite a bit of money. 

Our local public library support group, Friends of the Library, have a twice a year discount book sale that my husband and I attend.  It fills the entire basement of our main public library, which covers an entire city block. Not only are books sold at this sale but also magazines, books on tape, DVDs, puzzles, music, etc.  Prices for hardback books are $1 and 50 cents for paperbacks.  Prices for DVDs and other items vary depending on condition.  One half of the basement contains “better” quality books that may be marked a bit higher, anywhere from $2 to $5.  But even these were listed for half off yesterday when we attended.  As an added bonus, if you become a Friend of the Library for just $10 a year, you get first pick on the evening before the public sale begins. 

The books are organized into subject categories and within the category organized by author’s last name.  For instance there are sections on religion, politics, mystery, science fiction, poetry, gardening, cooking, etc.  Within a span of less than three hours we walked out of there with four large canvas grocery bags stuffed to the brim for about $40.  My husband and I each went armed with the list off the blog and split up upon arrival to accomplish our task.  I was happy to say that we were able to claim at least a dozen books off the list and many more. 

In preparing for TEOTWAWKI don’t limit yourself to the so named books on the suggested list.  Look for other books that fit whatever your plan for survival post-TEOTWAWKI may be.  A few years ago we purchased an 85 acre farm with the idea of wanting to lead a more self sufficient lifestyle.  This was prior to formally “prepping” for WTSHTF.  We had already been attending these sales and acquiring books for that purpose.  We were pleased to find that in doing that we already had quite a few of the suggested books and DVDs.  We felt we were on the right track.

While much of prepping is learning how to be self sufficient in growing and preserving your own food, etc. it certainly is not all.  We realized there were other areas we also needed to focus on.  For instance, we recently bought a military grade diesel generator and already own a diesel tractor so a few books my husband picked up yesterday were on diesel equipment service and repair.  I found a medical dictionary, anatomy coloring book and Red Cross First Aid book as well as books on Lamaze childbirth, communicable diseases and nursing care of the surgical patient. I found several books on the end of peak oil and economics to educate myself about the issues and understand what signs to look for WTSHTF.  Because we have pets as well as livestock I looked for books on how to care for them myself as well as grow forage for the livestock.  We even found a couple of the Foxfire series books that were recommended by Jim Rawles.  There is no telling what all you may find.

But it is important to think long term for the future and what may come up.  My choices included pine needle basketry and the practice of dairying (although at this time we do not have any dairy animals) as well as more books on basic homesteading skills.  My husband selected books on making your own knives, arc welding, automobile engine rebuilding and maintenance and lead work for plumbing.  You may think that some of the information in these 50 year old books is outdated.  But remember that WTSHTF it will be those skills that we will have to relearn and use again. 

If you are not currently home schooling your children then look for textbooks, history books, math books, science books that you can use for that purpose for all age ranges.   Do not neglect entertainment for the family.  Puzzles, games, DVDs, music CDs , etc will help pass down time.  Buy inspirational and spiritual books for whatever your belief system is to help get you through rough times.  All this can be gained for just a few well spent dollars, dollars that can go to your other preparations. 

But there is another consideration in building your library.  In today’s world of iPads, Nooks, Kindles, etc. the day of old school “paper” books may be coming.  When the grid goes down people are not going to be able to access those devices.  My 15 year old daughter has her SAS Survival Handbook downloaded as a PDF on her iPhone, but when the grid goes down and she can’t charge it how will she access it?  Therefore we will be obtaining a paper copy of it in the future.  Two is one and one is none!  Even obtaining multiple copies of very useful books can be used as barter or charity in the future.  Put duplicate copies of books in your underground shelter or BOBs. 

I’ve always been an avid reader and thirsted for knowledge and envisioned having a vast library in my home.  Prepping has certainly cemented that want and need even more.  Who knows what a post-TEOTWAWKI society will do with its great literature?  We’ve seen recently the Egyptian people going so far as to ransack the Cairo Museum and attempt to destroy meaningful historic pieces of their culture.  The volumes of classical literature you store may be only a few that survive for future generations.

Letter Re: Investing in Nickels, in Quantity

Mr. Rawles,  
I took your advice and, this week, bought a large quantity of [U.S. Five cent piece] nickels for investment. I thought your readers might want to know how surprisingly easy it was. I only had to contact two branches (in a major East coast city) of a large US bank. I have had an account with that bank for a long time, but I had no personal relationships there. The nice lady at the first branch said that she was happy to help but, because the branch had a small vault, she could only get me three boxes ($300) at a time. So I called a second branch, where another nice lady placed a special order for me for 70 boxes ($7,000 and about 1,500 pounds). They arrived in a couple days and bank employees helped me load my vehicle. There were no charges [above face value] and they would not even accept a tip.   

By the way, several [bank] employees were curious about my large order. (One of them asked if I was a poker player.) Although I have read advice about keeping explanations vague (or even providing misleading explanations), I saw no reason not to tell the truth. I thought the information might even motivate some of them to do the same thing. So I simply explained that there is more than 7 cents worth of nickel and copper in each coin, that I thought that the government would change the content for new coins, and that the old ones would increase in value.   

I enjoy your blog. God bless and please keep up the good work. – M. on the East Coast

JWR Replies: Congratulations on being a proactive investor! U.S. Nickels already have about 7.3 cents in base metal (“melt”) value. That represents a substantial gain over the face value, without even waiting for an upswing in the base metals prices. In a few years you will probably be very glad that you hedged against inflation by buying Nickels. It has long been said that “silver is the working man’s gold.” By extension, Nickels are the poor man’s silver.

But your nickels now, folks, before you have to sort them. (Once a new, debased Nickel is introduced and begins circulating side-by-side with the Nickels of the current composition, then the drudgery of coin sorting will begin.)

Letter Re: Advice on Shotgun Shells to Store

Hello Mr. Rawles,  
Thanks so much for your efforts, they are appreciated.  SurvivalBlog has been a great help to me preparing for inevitable events.  

Your suggestion to consider what you will be hunting is dead on.  I have hunted small game, as well as large for 35 years.  I have hunted in West Virginia, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Arkansas.  I have hunted squirrels, rabbits, turkey, grouse, ring necks, geese, ducks, Bob White, doves, quail.  #6 works well on squirrels, rabbits and small birds like grouse and quail.  I have taken several shots at turkey with #6 inside 30 yards and did not carry any of them home.  I have found with the large birds like turkey, geese, ducks, and ring necks #4 is about as small as you can go and be successful.  Here in Florida we do a lot of hog hunting on big ranches.  In the orange groves we carry rifles and big caliber pistols, .44 Magnum and .357 Magnum.  When hunting hogs in the [closed canopy] “hammocks”, I carry shotgun loaded with 00 buck. My son prefers slugs.  Some of these hammocks are like hunting in jungle so you keep that shotgun mounted [to your shoulder] all the time.  In the dense foliage, the slugs and 00 works much better where as lighter shot loses a lot of steam.   

If you have never hunted small game in the area that you live, I highly suggest that you find some farmer that will let you.  You will need to learn the habitat that suits each species in your area and the tactics need to successfully fill your game bag.  

I own a several shotguns but I have three favorites, Remington 870 and 11-87, Browning BPS pump.  All three use choke tubes and I have a full set for each.  All three are high gloss “sportsman grade” with blued barrels.  I think they are beautiful guns, which causes them to be left in the safe when hunting in foul weather.  For home defense I have the Remington 870 and Mossberg 500, both are improved cylinder bore with 20″ barrels and we have used these successfully to hunt hogs in the hammocks.  They are both “marine grade” stainless and work well in foul weather.  

I have had some exotic shotguns but most of the time they got left in the safe so I ended up parting with them.  Remington has built and sold a pile of 870s and about as many 11-87 shotguns, parts are plentiful and easy to come by.  I have had one 870 for about 30 years, I have put thousand of rounds through this thing and have yet to have used any of my spare parts.  I highly recommend the Remingtons, since they are relatively inexpensive, are easy to work on, and extremely durable.  The Brownings run a close second.  I know guys who say the same thing about the [even less expensive] Mossberg 500s.  

I store a lot of 00 buck, #3, and #7.5, roughly 500 shells of each type per gun.  My son stores a lot of slugs for defense.  I make him keep these segregated to avoid accidentally picking them up and shooting them in one of the guns with choke tubes.  I have seen choke tube-equipped barrels destroyed with slugs.  

This may be helpful, but it is not the right solution for everybody.  If you have never hunted small game learn now, while you still have time.  You will fail if try to learn this quickly when you are hungry.  Hunting small game is not as easy as it may seem.  If you are hunting an area that is under a lot of hunting pressure, small can be just as illusive as big game.  If you have never used a shotgun but think you may need one in TEOTWAWKI (I know I will need my shotguns) then get one know and start learning to use it.  Though shooting rifles, shotguns, and pistols are all similar, I taught my children that all three are different disciplines of the same thing. 

Shotguns work differently than rifles, they move heavier loads slower over a shorter area.  Lead times on moving game are much greater than for a rifle.  You will also need to know the effective killing range for each load of shot.  Flying geese can shrug off #7.5 shot at 45+ yards where as they drop like rocks with #2 or #3.  Shoot a turkey at 25 yards with 00 buck and you get turkey nuggets, shot the same turkey with #4 and you have a fine meal ahead.  Shoot quail or dove with #4 you may have some meat left on the bird, #7.5 leaves these smaller birds pretty well intact.  Shoot a hog with #7.5 he will probably run over and remove your leg for you, but shoot him with 00 or slug and you will put him down for good.  

My 2 cents worth, hopefully it will help someone.   Thanks again,  – C.D.P.

Letter Re: Packing your Bug Out First Aid Kit

Mr. Rawles,
After reading J.V.’s article on “Packing your Bug Out First Aid Kit” I feel the need to comment on his approach to anesthesia. Anesthesia as practiced today is safe and effective due to the training and equipment modern medicine provides. The technique of “open drop” anesthesia, which is what J.V. describes, was utilized until the mid 1960s. Aspiration, anesthetic overdose leading to respiratory or cardiac collapse occurred in major hospitals at an alarming rate. Current anesthetic death rates run at 1:30,000 cases, while in the late 1950s (a comprehensive study out of Boston) showed anesthetic mortality of 1:1,500. This poor outcome was in centers with the finest equipment and training of the time. What J.V. proposed is completely untrained individuals using diesel primer to attempt this technique on injured friends and family. I am a board certified anesthesiologist in practice for 20 years and I would not even try this if I had a bottle of medical grade diethyl ether and diesel primer is not pure diethyl ether. It contains petroleum oils that if inhaled could cause an acute lung injury. This would be just as fatal as an anesthetic overdose, just not as quick. 

Anesthesia is not a binary state of awake or asleep but rather a continuum. To perform a safe anesthetic of this type you must be able to vary the depth of anesthesia in relation to the surgical stimuli. There are time lags between administration of the anesthetic agent and its physiologic effects. Not understanding this aspect alone could cause someone inadvertently kill another by overdose. Being a prepper and an anesthesiologist, I have spent some time attempting to build a reasonable medical kit. Given the facts above, I have focused on local infiltration and regional anesthesia as the techniques of choice in the event of the end of modern medicine. Regional anesthesia focuses on blocking specific nerves using the injection of local anesthesia. There are some significant advantages to this technique:
First, the patient stays awake. Being able to talk to your patient is the best way to assess how they are doing. Second, you provide post operative pain control. Third, the equipment is portable, small and light. Regional anesthetics require a needle, syringe and local anesthesia. Local anesthetics such as lidocaine, bupivicaine and tetracaine are inexpensive, non addicting and not controlled substances. While regional can be an effective anesthetic for many surgical procedures, it is not well-suited for cases involving the chest, neck or head. However, in these cases, serious injury would most likely be fatal in a grid down situation.  Performing a regional anesthetic takes years of practice and training. 

I would caution readers that regional anesthesia is technically difficult and in untrained hands dangerous. While prepping is about being prepared, there are limits. If you are thinking about how to live in a grid down situation you are also accepting that medical care will rapidly slide back to the 1860s where most gunshot wounds resulted in amputation for the lucky and death for the rest, infant mortality was 10% – 15% and everyone knew someone that had a wife die in childbirth. Life will be brutal and short.

My best advise on how to prep fro m a medical standpoint is get all your vaccines up to date, have some antibiotics on hand, have some basic medical supplies, live healthy, pray hard and let the folks you care about know you love them.  If the grid goes down, most of the medicine provided for the seriously injured will be love, prayers and compassion as you watch them die.  You just can’t prep for the skills and missing infrastructure that medicine requires. – Dr. John F.

Avalanche Lily’s Bedside Book Pile

Here are the current top-most items on my perpetual bedside pile:

  • I got sidetracked from my planned queue of review books to read the autobiography Fingerprints of God by O.A. Fish. One of our readers sent it to me, thinking that I might enjoy it. O.A. reminds me that yes, God can ask us to do projects that would be impossible to do with just our own knowledge, wisdom and expertise. But through our daily petitioning and dependence upon Him, He will perform miracles. He will bring the people into our lives through divine appointment who are willing and able to perform the tasks to complete projects. God called O.A. and his wife to build a Christian camp on their property in North Carolina. Each chapter tells of how God brought one person after another to help in all the various aspects of building and running a camp, from building the house, digging the lake and pond, clearing brush, and even lawyers to help with finances, permits and taxes. Each of these people heard the story of what God was doing and how God led O.A. to them. They also caught the vision of the camp, offered their services and gave God all the glory. Some of you may ask, “Well, what does this have to do with SurvivalBlog topics?” My answer is: If we have a close daily walk with the Lord Jesus Christ from Nazareth (His correct title), then the Holy Spirit will guide us in every difficult situation we may encounter in our lives, now and in the event of TEOTWAWKI. Now is the time to develop the ability to hear His quiet voice guiding us! I do recommend this book. The Holy Spirit definitely guided Jim and I to meet each other much the same way as He guided O.A. Fish to build his camp.
  • Jim and I are slowly working our way through the Northern Exposure television series episodes on DVD. We are now starting into the second season. This is definitely not a show for kids. We enjoy watching it mostly because there are several characters that remind us of the real-life characters that live nearby us, here in The Un-named Western State (TUWS). The dialogue is witty, but there are a disturbing number of moral lapses portrayed, often without corresponding consequences. That is disappointing.

Economics and Investing:

Produce prices skyrocket with freeze in Mexico, Southwest. Stock up on dehydrated veggies, now!

Sid C. sent a link to some more about those fake Morgan Silver Dollars made in China. This television news piece mentions a couple of key indicators that you can use to detect fakes.

G.G. sent this: White House Expects Deficit to Spike to $1.65 Trillion

Goldrunner: The Golden Parabola

F.G. flagged this one: Will Chocolate once again become a rarefied luxury?

SAA Joe mentioned: U.S. Corn Reserves at Lowest Level in More than 15 Years

J.D.D. spotted this: Alan Simpson: U.S. Deficit Is ‘a Disaster’

Odds ‘n Sods:

Great news for Swiss gun owners: Swiss voters throw out gun law reform. I’m sure that Pro Tell members were instrumental in rallying this vote for liberty. (A hat tip to M.O.B. for the link.)

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Some SCA types muse about WWIII and societal collapse in a rousing filk ballad: Serious Steel. Despite the reference to “The Crunch”, I can’t claim to have had any influence on them. If anything, I think that they’ve been reading S.M. Stirling’s excellent “Dies the Fire” series rather than my novel “Patriots”. (Thanks to Alan B. for sending the link.)

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I just heard that Ready Made Resources now has in stock a small supply of “Just In Case” seven day food supply units from Mountain House. These are great to include in your bug out tote bins. They are  $129.95, shipping paid. I don’t need to tell you how scarce Mountain House foods have become in recent months. The supply on these particular units is so small (just 15 cases), that they are not listed on the RMR web page. Call them for details: 1(800) 627-3809.

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Pierre M. suggested this news story: South Korea chaos after ‘heaviest’ snowfall

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Readers in Canada will be happy to find an Ontario-based dealer with products available without the Customs Canada hassles normally associated with mail orders: Providence Supplies.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“At any given moment there is an orthodoxy, a body of ideas which it is assumed all right-thinking people will accept without question. It is not exactly forbidden to state this or that or the other, but it is ‘not done’… Anyone who challenges the prevailing orthodoxy finds himself silenced with surprising effectiveness.” – George Orwell