Heating Your Home With Wood, by Hollyberry

Nothing beats stepping into our toasty cabin on a subzero day to a nice, warm wood stove. Having had experience with all types of heat and fuels, wood beats all! As soon as friends come in, they stand right in front of the stove to warm up. The dogs fight over who gets to lay directly in front of the stove on the hearth rug. Our Jack Russell Terrier usually wins that argument.

We do not have access to piped natural gas in this part of the state but there are many ways to heat your home. After trial and error, we like wood the best. I am not covering brands of stoves or how to install them. Do your homework and research the type and size of stove you want. Our stove is stainless steel. Installation should be done by a professional. Do not take chances with installation. Hire a professional and use top-quality materials. This is your home and you want the job done correctly to avoid fires.Continue reading“Heating Your Home With Wood, by Hollyberry”

SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters.

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“You Need An F-16, Not An AR-15” – Biden Once Again Suggests US Government Could Murder Gun-Owners. JWR’s Comments:  So… Coupling that statement with the Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen decision, I must ask Mr. Biden: To keep us on an equal footing with the active military, when are you going to release some F-16s as surplus through the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP)?  Yes, and also surplus some M240B and M2 Browning .50 machineguns, and some 105mm Howitzers. Oh, and also some Stryker APCs complete with TOW missiles or 30 mm Mk44 Bushmaster II full-auto cannons. Those would all prove to be quite useful to us, as Unorganized Militia members. Thanks for clarifying what we require and deserve for militia use, Joe!

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Fightin’ Words: Governor Gregg Abbott’s January 24, 2024 Declaration. The governor’s declaration ends with this resoundingly firm statement:

“The failure of the Biden Administration to fulfill the duties imposed by Article IV, § 4 has triggered Article I, § 10, Clause 3, which reserves to this State the right of self-defense. For these reasons, I have already declared an invasion under Article I, § 10, Clause 3 to invoke Texas’s constitutional authority to defend and protect itself. That authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary. The Texas National Guard, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and other Texas personnel are acting on that authority, as well as state law, to secure the Texas border.”

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Reader K.S.E. wrote:

“We ordered some silver in late December from Walmart. It was a good price and swiftly delivered four  days later (and one of those days was a Sunday and a second day was Jan 1st).  Our order was via  Walmart but with Apmex. There are other sellers available @ Walmart, choose yours wisely.

Please let your readers know that as of this writing, Walmart automatically charges taxes for PM purchases, even in states that do not have PM taxes. The only way to have it removed it to contact their tax-exempt department via e-mail after you receive your order (you can customer service, but it will suck 30 minutes out of your day and they’ll still tell you to e-mail them). taxexempt@customercare.walmart.com

Give them your order number, the amount of taxes you paid, and the reason for your tax reversal request. They will issue you an immediate credit back to your card, we received ours the day I requested it. There are no shenanigans to be concerned about once you understand the process.”

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The term propaganda rings melodramatic and exaggerated, but a press that — whether from fear, careerism, or conviction — uncritically recites false government claims and reports them as fact, or treats elected officials with a reverence reserved for royalty, cannot be accurately described as engaged in any other function.” – Glenn Greenwald

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — January 30, 2024

On January 30, 1835, Andrew Jackson became the first American president to experience an assassination attempt. Richard Lawrence, an unemployed house painter, approached Jackson as he left a congressional funeral held in the House chamber of the Capitol building and shot at him, but his gun misfired. A furious 67-year-old Jackson confronted his attacker, clubbing Lawrence several times with his walking cane. During the scuffle, Lawrence managed to pull out a second loaded pistol and pulled the trigger, but it also misfired. Jackson’s aides — including Davy Crockett — then wrestled Lawrence away from the president, leaving Jackson unharmed but angry and, as it turned out, paranoid.

On January 30, 1982 Richard Skrenta wrote the first PC virus code, which is 400 lines long and disguised as an Apple boot program called “Elk Cloner”.

January 30, 1992 Inventor Ray Kurzweil published his first book “The Age of Intelligent Machines” on artificial intelligence, predicting the popularity of the Internet.

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Today’s feature article is a guest piece by SurvivalBlog reader Scarecrow.  It was too short to be included in the judging in the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest.

More than $870,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. We recently polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 110 ends tomorrow, January 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

The Greenhorn’s Guide to PSYOPS, by Scarecrow

When in doubt, do the OODA loop: Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. In other words, see what’s going on, understand how it relates to your situation, figure out what to do, then do it.

But what happens when you can’t do your OODA loop because you can’t properly see what’s going on, i.e., you can’t Observe and then Orient? What happens when the tools you use, for example, mass media, are (at best) trying to obscure the truth or (at worst) are intentionally lying to deceive?

Here are some clues that “they” (the government, the media, etc.) might be using propaganda or conducting a Psychological Operation (PSYOP). Take note if:

–       They are trying hard to instill:

o   Fear*

o   Confusion

o   Passivity

o   Anger*

o   Pressure to act quickly

o   Heavy emphasis on consensus; i.e., you don’t want to be out of step with what everyone else thinks, do you?

o   Repetition of claims without evidence

o   Claims that the opposition should not be allowed to speak, or should be censored.

* Remember that both fear and anger tend to disable the thinking parts of the brain.

–       The opposition to their narrative is framed as something more than just wrong:

o   Morally reprehensible

o   Unpatriotic

o   Endangering others

o   May be engaging in “hate” speech and should be criminalized

o   Is a threat to democracy

–       The media appear to be in lock-step, all (or most) repeating the same messaging with nearly the same words.

–       The threat is invisible and/or cannot be confirmed by ordinary means.

–       There is an effort to censor all contradictory messaging.

Continue reading“The Greenhorn’s Guide to PSYOPS, by Scarecrow”

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today, a special look at winter sports in the American Redoubt. (Photo courtesy of VirtualMontana.com.)

Region-Wide

Inland Northwest skiers enjoy the slopes despite El Niño predicted for 2024.

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Inland Northwest Winter Guide 2023/2024.

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The Spokesman-Review Inland Northwest Trapshoot.

Idaho

Idaho’s Sun Valley To Host 2024 US Alpine Championships.

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Idaho Sled Dog Challenge cancels 100 and 300-mile races.

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Forest Service approves winter recreation plan for Idaho Panhandle.

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Video: Idaho Backcountry Ski Tour.

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Video: Idaho Falls: Our Favorite Backcountry Snowmobiling.

o  o  o

Video: BSY4 | CHASING MULE DEER IN THE DEEP SNOW | S4E16

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Some nations and some people melt in the heat of crisis and come apart like fat in the pan. Others meet the challenge and harden. I think you’re going to harden.” –  Pat Frank, Alas, Babylon

Preparedness Notes for Monday — January 29, 2024

On January 29, 1964, the British film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, a landmark Cold War farce directed by Stanley Kubrick, was released in theatres.

On this day in 1845 Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” was published.

Today is the birthday of actor Tom Selleck (born 1945), best known for playing the title role of Magnum, P.I. He is an avid shooter and quite pro-gun.

Today is also the birthday of journalist and inventor Thomas Paine (1737–1809.)

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Update: We’ve received an unexpectedly large number of orders for the waterproof 2005-2023 Archive USB sticks.  Many readers are placing orders for 2, 3, or 4 sticks. Apparently, folks are feeling anxious about Joe Biden engaging the Internet Kill Switch. Or, perhaps it is the Texas border Constitutional crisis. The first batch of sticks sold out in less than two weeks.  We have another batch scheduled to arrive this week. That will then probably be all that we’ll be selling in 2024.  Orders are being shipped “first come, first served.”  Thanks for your patience. Again, please order only through our automated system, with a vaild e-mail address.  If you are paying by check, please be sure to write your order number on your check’s memo line. – JWR

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The feature article for today’s blog was written by Field Gear Editor Tom Christianson.

 

Savage Model 110 Storm in 6.5 Creedmoor, by Thomas Christianson

After a search lasting more than three years, I recently settled on a deer rifle to replace the Remington 742 in .30-06 that I inherited from my Father. The old 742 is still a dandy gun, and I have passed it along to my brother-in-law for continued use. But as the years have passed, I have become somewhat recoil-adverse, and I wanted a rifle that is a little kinder and gentler to my shoulder.

My new rifle is a Savage Model 110 Storm in 6.5 Creedmoor. It is accurate, sturdy, weather resistant, well balanced, and chambered in a cartridge for which a wide variety of ammunition is readily available. With a manufacturer-suggested retail price of $959 it represents an excellent value for the money.

I initially borrowed the rifle from Savage for testing and evaluation in preparation for this review. I liked it so much that I decided to buy it. It is only the second firearm that I have ever ended up purchasing after testing and writing a review. (The other was my MAPP from Rock Island Armory. Here is my MAPP review, Part 1 and Part 2). It was fun to recently take the information stickers off the stock of the Storm, and place the rifle in its permanent place in my gun cabinet.Continue reading“Savage Model 110 Storm in 6.5 Creedmoor, by Thomas Christianson”

Update: Letter from a Kansas Consulting Client

Introductory note from JWR: I just received this update letter:

“I wanted to write to the readers of SurvivalBlog about the search for a family to live on our family farm. The opportunity is still open.

Many areas in the United States are deteriorating, but our conservative area remains safe and prosperous. We are willing to consider letters from readers anywhere in the country as we are not concerned about the distance, but we are about finding a quality family to eventually join our family in living on our farm.

There is still time in the preparedness window in which to purchase supplies for your family if you are invited to our farm. We are not concerned with the amount of supplies you currently own and we are even willing to purchase supplies for your family, with our family’s resources if we are able to add a family to our farm through marriage.

We are concentrating our efforts on finding a quality family. We are praying and trusting in God’s providence that He has a family who is reading this and will respond to our letter.”

If you have been praying about finding a safe place to live, then please read the original post. If you meet those qualifications, send a message to jamesATrawles.to (Change the “AT” to an @ sign)

Recipe of the Week:  Chicken & Rice with Golden Sauce

The following simple recipe for Chicken & Rice with Golden Sauce is from Good HouseKeeping’s Book of Menus, Recipes, and Household Discoveries (253 pages, copyright 1925, now in public domain). That is one of the 11 new bonus books included in the new 2005-2023 edition of the SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick.

Ingredients
  • 1 fowl
  • 1 cupful milk
  • 1 cupful chicken broth
  • 2 tablespoonfuls butter
  • 2 tablespoonfuls flour
  • Salt
  • 1/4 teaspoonful pepper
  • 1 egg-yolk
  • 1 teaspoooful lemon-juice
  • 1 cupful rice
  • Minced parsley
Directions

Cook the fowl until very tender aud. cut into neat attractive servings, rather small, using only the white meat for this dish if you wish it particularly delicate in appearance.

Meanwhile, prepare the Golden Sauee as follows: Melt the butter, add the flour and when bubbling, stir in milk and chicken broth gradually. Cook until smooth and thickened, stirring constantly. Add the pepper and salt as needed, this depending upon the seasoning in the stock. Just before removing from the fire, add the egg-yolk beaten and the lemon juice, stirring rapidly.

Reheat the chicken in a little of the sauce placed in a double-boiler. Arrange it on a hot deep platter
or chop plate, and surround it with a ring of the rice cooked until tender and flaky in plenty of boiling salted water.

SERVING

Pour more of the sauce over the chicken and serve with minced parsley sprinkled over the rice.

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Do you have a well-tested recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? In this weekly recipe column, we place emphasis on recipes that use long-term storage foods, recipes for wild game, dutch oven recipes, slow cooker recipes, and any recipes that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!

SurvivalBlog Graphic of the Week:

Our graphic of the week is an interesting annotated satellite photo montage of city lights. This NASA graphic has circulated on Reddit. It shows that 80% of the US population lives east of the annotated yellow line. This adds credence to my long-standing advice to live west of the Mississippi River. Generally, fewer people will mean fewer problems in the event of a societal collapse.

Take a close look and note that the cluster of orange dots over western North Dakota and eastern Montana are not city lights.  Rather, those are natural gas flares in the  Bakken oilfields — a still lightly-populated and energy-exporting region. More and more gas is being captured, with each passing year, but the flares still dominate the night sky in the region. Other natural gas flares can be seen in orange in Texas and off the coast of Louisiana. – JWR

US Population Density—

Please send your graphic ideas to JWR. (Either via e-mail or via our Contact form.) Any graphics that you send must either be your own creation or uncopyrighted.

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — January 28, 2024

On January 28, 1887, In a snowstorm at Fort Keogh, Montana, the world’s largest snowflakes are reported, being 15 inches (38 cm) wide and 8 inches (20 cm) thick

January 28th, 1855 was the birthday of William Seward Burroughs, who invented the adding machine.

January 28th is the anniversary of the rescue of General James L. Dozier from his Italian Red Brigades kidnappers. Tangentially, Colonel Jeff Cooper created a shooting drill in honor of those who freed him – The Dozier Drill.

And on this day in 1986, the U.S. space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from Florida, killing all seven aboard, including a schoolteacher who had been chosen as the first American civilian to travel in space.

On January 28, 814, Charlemagne, ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, died at Aachen (Germany).

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 110 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  4. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  5. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  2. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  3. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC.
  4. Montana Survival Seed is providing a $225 gift code for any items on its website, including organic non-GMO seeds, fossils, 1812-1964 US silver, jewelry, botany books, and Montana beeswax.
  5. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Third Prize:

  1. A Berkey Light water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $305 value),
  2. A $300 gift certificate from Good2Goco.com, good for any of their products: Home freeze dryers, pressure canners, Country Living grain mills, Emergency Essentials foods, and much more.
  3. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  4. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

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More than $870,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. We recently polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 110 ends on January 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

 

Storing Valuable “How to” Digital Data, by Slate Creek

I am constantly collecting data from the web and I save it to several USB memory sticks that I carry with me daily. If I’m in the office and happen to run across something of value I often pull the USB stick out of my pocket and save a copy. I have sub-directories organized on my stick such as “Food Storage”, “Water Supply”, “Topo Maps” or “Ham radio related” and then sub-category that into say “Antenna Builds”, “Local Repeaters” or “Radio Manuals”. I’m not advocating saving everything on a USB stick because nothing beats having the piece of paper in your hand explaining what to do. I still will hard copy print important papers like  radio manuals, the AmRRON SOP manual, recipes, engine manuals, and medical manuals.

I typically create USB archives of good books I have run across online such as one that I recently read about “The Great Taking”, or The Modern Survival Retreat by Ragnar Benson (which both can be found for no cost on the web) or just any good prepper books. If you web search the phrase: “Good Prepper Manuals PDF” the search results will give you a plethora of free manuals such as Nuclear survival, first aid, and military survival guides. Once you begin finding and saving PDF references and files you will be surprised by all of the resources available on the web for your library.Continue reading“Storing Valuable “How to” Digital Data, by Slate Creek”