Surviving A Home Invasion Robbery, by Susan G.

On August 2nd, 1997 I had the hardest choice in my life to make, that was to survive.  Masked men wearing camouflage and carrying guns kicked my front door in at 12:40 am.  I was sitting about five feet from the front door waiting for my son to arrive home for the evening.  I heard my doorknob jiggle.  I thought it was my son trying to get his key in the door.  I made it within two feet of the door and stopped because I had not heard him set his car alarm.  With one kick from a 299 pound man took my door off the hinges.  The deadbolt and regular lock did not help.  I heard someone say: “Lay down ma’am” or “Get down ma’am.”  I had to make a split second decision whether I was going to lie down or fight.  I decided that I had to fight or we might die. 

I took off running to where my husband was sleeping, screaming for him to help me.  One intruder tried to jump over the couch to stop me and he fell, the other one chased me but did not catch me.  I made it to the bedroom and tried to hold the door shut.  The door did not close all the way but I had my body against it trying to keep them out.  My husband Mike had woken up and did not know what was going on.  He made it to [join] me at the bedroom door about the time the door was busted into two pieces, over my body.  Then I felt a burning sensation go through my chest.  A 9mm bullet had hit me near my heart.  We think Mike was shot once at this time but he does not remember the first bullet hitting him in the shoulder and coming out his back near his spine.  Mike grabbed the intruders and would not let them go.  He tried taking them back out of our home and was fighting them through the kitchen and into the living room.  This gave me enough time to call 911, give our address and tell them we were being shot. 

I then thought about everything my husband had taught me about self defense.  It was now or never.  I went for his .22 [rimfire] that he had sitting on the headboard.  All I could think was cock the hammer back and take the safety off.  This is what he showed me every time he would work a night shift.  He would tell me that this is for you to protect you and the children.  I never really thought that I had listened to him but I had.  I now had to decide how to shoot at the intruders that were fighting Mike.  I might shoot Mike by accident.  I ran out of the bedroom and into the living room and shot warning shots over their heads.  I thought they would run away.  They did not.  One intruder got away from Mike.  He was running towards me.  I ran back to the bedroom and turned to fire on him.  He was not there.  I waited about a second or two and he did not come to the door. 

I had to do something.  I went to the bedroom door and peeked out to look for the intruder.  He was squatted down by my refrigerator waiting for me to come out with the pistol pointing in my direction.  I knew I still had to help Mike.  Next to my bedroom door is an 8 inch wall and then an opening that leads to the dining room.  The dining room also has another doorway that leads into the living room.  I knew they would not have known this.  While he waited for me to run out, all I could see was his arm and gun around the refrigerator.  The refrigerator also blocked him from seeing me slide against the wall to go into the dining room.  I made it into the dining room and came out the other doorway with my gun drawn and prepared to fire on the intruder.  He never knew what was coming because this put his back to me.  I opened fired and shot him in the back two times.  He said: “The F….. Bitch shot me, kill her.”  That brought me back to reality that Mike was still fighting one of the intruders.  When I turned to help Mike, I watched the intruder put the gun to Mike’s side and fire.  Mike dropped to the floor from the gun shot and this gave me the opportunity to fire on this intruder.  There was just one problem.  I had no more cartridges.  I turned to run and as I turned he opened fire with eight bullets.  One round hit me in the shoulder and came out my back.  I ran back to the bedroom and prayed that the police would arrive [in time] to catch them before they made it up my long driveway.  They did not. 

I thought Mike was dead and the house had gotten very quiet.  I thought they had left because 911 kept calling back on the phone and hanging up when the answering machine would come on.  I knew they wanted out of this situation because things had gone very wrong for them.  Then all the sudden I heard someone scream at Mike: “Where is the f…… keys to that truck?”  He said, in my hat, on the gun cabinet, in the bedroom.  I was still in the bedroom but I now knew Mike was still alive.  I knew the intruder was coming back in the bedroom where I was.  The door was busted and the light was off where Mike had been sleeping.  I was about 2 feet from the door when he appeared and screamed “where are you”?  I did not answer hoping he would leave or the police would arrive.  He didn’t, he turned the light on and there I was.  He put a sawed off type shotgun to my temple.  He screamed, “Where are the f…… keys to that truck?”  I had heard what Mike had said about the keys but my purse was right there and I had a set of keys.  He screamed: “Did you call 911?” and I lied, and said “No but you have already shot us just leave”.  Just take our truck and go.  About that time my hand came out of my purse with the keys and he grabbed them and ran. 

I thought to myself: “Please wake up from this horrible nightmare.” I looked down at my chest to see that I was bleeding very badly.  I knew then it was not a nightmare.  I thought of the ringing phone.  That is the help that I need for Mike and I.  I got to the phone and talked to the 911 dispatch.  I really don’t remember much about what the dispatch operator was saying because I was thinking of my family.  I put my mom on three-way calling to tell her what had happened and tell her I love her before I died.  I then thought of my son that was due home any minute.  I then put my sister on three-way calling to tell her to get here for my son.  He would need family there in case I died.  From the time I made the original phone call it took the police about 14 minutes to arrive on the scene. 

Tips to Survive a home invasion robbery:

  1. You must make you own choices of what to do to survive.  Do not depend on the police or your neighbors to protect you.  You must protect your family and yourself.  They may take what they want and leave you unharmed.  You may give them everything that they want and they may want to rape your wife just so you can watch.  You may not have enough money or valuables so they’ll kill you anyway. Or they’ll kill you because you might be able to [later] identify them.  You have to decide what your life is worth.  I made the choice that I did out of fear of the unknown and the will to survive.
  2. Get a Concealed Carry Permit.  Take courses to teach you how to correctly use your weapon.  Classes on self defense.  Training in self defense strategies practiced in role playing scenarios.  Practice with your weapon on the firing range.  Practice can make perfect and you want to be comfortable with your weapon.  If you have children don’t hide your weapon, teach them the right and wrong use of the weapon.  Most children once they have seen and heard what a weapon can do would never touch one without you. But keep your weapons out of the reach of children and have gun locks and all weapons except your personal weapon and that should be on you at all times.  (That should be backed by our Constitutional Rights but in many cases has been taken from us).  Children are curious of the unknown.  Do role playing scenarios with your children of different scenarios of events that can happen.  This is not limited to home invasions but can be done with stranger danger, fires and many other dangers in our children’s lives that could happen to them.
  3. Be alert of your home and surroundings.  Don’t think it can’t happen to you or your family.  Think again, home invasions happen everyday.  Home invasions don’t make the news unless someone dies, or if there is no other news stories for the news that day.  I never would have thought it could happen to us but it did.  We did not know the intruders, this was a random act.  It doesn’t matter where you live it can happen to you.
  4. Use your instinct to get you through, because your instincts are usually right.  Never second guess yourself.  Make a plan and stick to it.  If plan A does not work, then go to Plan B or Plan C.  You must play the hand you are dealt.  If you confuse the intruders or their plan fails, then they usually don’t have a Plan B or Plan C.
  5. Be prepared to use your weapon to protect your family and home.  “Your home is your castle” laws should apply in most states. [In those states] the law gives you legal right to use deadly force and if it results in death can be defended as justifiable homicide under the castle doctrine.  Each state is responsible for its own castle laws.  It is your responsibly to know that laws of your state.  Some states have a stand your ground rule while other states have a [responsibility to] retreat law.  Make sure you follow the laws of your state so you are fully protected [legally].  Some states have added legislation that also gives you this protection in your vehicle and your place of employment.
  6. For you women, there are purses designed to hold your weapon.  I can have my purse on my shoulder and my hand on the grip of my gun for my outside activities or walking to my car alone.  This is a great self confidence builder when you are all alone and scared.  There are thugs everywhere and the split second it may take for you to get to your weapon can be the difference between life and death.    

Conclusion
Mike and I both survived this home invasion.  We worked together as a team.  I will admit that I was not prepared for what happened to us.  Mike always was worried about protecting his family.  I never thought this would happen to us.  Now I am more prepared and I watch my back everywhere I go.  Mike and I are survivors not victims. 

The intruders did not get what they came for.  But what they did get is what they deserved.  The [third man, their] driver left the intruders at our home after the shooting started.  He received a five year sentence and served about 3-1/2 years.  The intruder that shot us received five life terms in the Florida Prison System.  He was charged with the death of the intruder that I shot, under Florida law.  (Florida law states that if anyone dies in the commission of a crime then that it is [deemed] Felony Murder.  So this intruder was found guilty of the murder of his accomplice. ) He was also found guilty of two attempted murders, armed robbery and armed burglary.  He will never be eligible for parole.  The other intruder got something he probably never bargained for. He was shot by me and died in my yard.  The autopsy stated he lived 5 to 10 minutes after being shot.  He was also run over by the other intruder as he was leaving in our truck.  We don’t know if this was so he would not talk or if his friend ran over him by accident.  I hope he made piece with God before he died.  I live with the fact that I took a human life.  I know that is was self defense but I still have the emotional scars to carry with me.

Letter Re: The Winter Salad

Mr. Rawles:
In his book The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses, Eliot Coleman has written about his lifelong experience and experimentation with year round commercial farming in snowy Maine. His methods entail no extra heating or lighting, and all produce is grown outdoors during the Maine winter. Specifications include planting schedules.

I have not yet tried Coleman’s winter gardening techniques, but I plan to. His research and experience have convinced me to give it a go this coming winter. My small plastic greenhouse, homemade [planting] boxes, and floating cover are ready to go. Regards, – Deb D.

Economics and Investing:

A dark day for personal privacy in America: $600 Sale? Get Ready for Tax Form. Essentially, this makes everyone into unpaid de facto IRS agents. (Thanks to “Boosters” for the link.)

Gregory S. sent this: Dollar should be replaced as international standard, U.N. report says

Items from The Economatrix:

Silver Posting Best Streak Since Hunt Conspiracy No Matter Which Way Economy Turns

Stamp of Idiocy (The Mogambo Guru)

Home Prices Rose 0.8% in April Over March

Consumer Confidence Tumbles in June

Oil Prices Plummet on Concerns About US Demands

Gold May Reach New Highs on “Double Dip” Fears

Odds ‘n Sods:

Neil G. sent a link to the USDA’s June acreage report: “All wheat planted area is estimated at 54.3 million acres, down 8 percent from 2009. This is the lowest United States total since 1971.”

   o o o

SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large Michael Z. Williamson sent us some further evidence that Chinese-made merchandise should be shunned: Dallas store sells U.S. flag with 61 stars

   o o o

There hasn’t even been a trailer released yet, but the forthcoming remake of Red Dawn looks like it will be quite a film. With a web search, I found an interesting fan page.

   o o o

Tamara’s commentary on the recent hippie beach gathering: And joining hands, they made a metaphor…

Notes from JWR:

Today, June 30th, is the last day of the Mountain House sale, offered by Ready Made Resources. Ordering any multiple of six can cases (even if mixed cases) gets you 25% off and free shipping. Partial cases are also 25% off, but $17 is charged for shipping.

—

Today we present another entry for Round 29 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round will 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 between $500 and $600, 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 500 round case of Fiocchi 9mm Parabellum (Luger ) with 124gr. Hornady XTP/HP projectiles, courtesy of Sunflower Ammo (a $249 value), and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) 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 $400, and B.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing, and B.) a Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.)

Round 29 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Some Hope for the Low Budget Survivalist, by D.L.

You’ve heard it before, “Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.”  That principle can be, and should be, applied to every facet of your survival preparations.  It applies to the possession of material items such as food, weapons and first aid.  It applies to your skills such as how you find your food, use your weapons and administer first aid. It applies to your physical abilities such as endurance, speed and agility.  It applies to your state of mind such as courage, honor and ingenuity.  And, of course, it applies to your actions such as being pro-active, studying and employing measures to safeguard you and your loved ones.

One could argue that being fully prepared requires quite an investment.  You can spend thousands and thousands of dollars on all the equipment and supplies needed to insure that your existence continues, for as long as feasible, relatively just as comfortably in a social collapse, military attack, natural disaster or grid-down situation as it does today (depending, of course, on your geographical location).  The list of necessary items goes on and on.  What is necessary?  Some might argue that aside from having a cave and a club, nothing else is needed.  After all, man did survive that way for quite a long time, right?  Sure, when wild food was plentiful, the earth’s waters were cleaner, their adversaries also had only clubs and they wiped their asses with, well, who knows.  Others might argue you need many year’s worth of everything you use today and a back-up for every device that could break.  And consider all the great gadgets and products out there to help make every single facet of survival that much easier.  You could fill a warehouse with things you “need” but do you already have some of them without knowing it?

Certainly not everyone has the means of acquiring everything they want or even what they would need.  Many people, even if they wanted to, can’t even afford to stock up on food.  If you fall into the category most of us find ourselves in, be determined but not dismayed if your preparedness budget is chronicled into the 22nd Century.  After all, primitive man survived and pioneers did pretty well with just a wagon full of supplies.  They all learned to forage, adapt and invent.  Although this is modern day with many technical differences and new challenges for one wanting to survive and/or live off the land, there are just as many advantages.

I remember when I was working as a carpenter.  When I wanted to heat up part of my lunch, something you’d put in a microwave or oven, and the sun was shining, I’d go get our black wheelbarrow with the high-density polyethylene (HDPE) tub, put my lunch in it, turn it under the sun, and set a single-pane window or large piece of glass over the top.  It would heat up to 200 degrees inside the wheelbarrow in minutes and then usually hovered around 250.  It made a great oven and could also be adapted as a dehydrator.  Today they sell solar ovens constructed with the same materials.  But you don’t necessarily have to buy one to have one.  Again, if you can forage, adapt, and invent, you can increase the longevity of your survival.

When it comes to preparedness, implement intelligent priorities and, God-forbid, if you find yourself ducking from Schumer that hit, embrace your challenges and learn to improvise.  We dispose of a wealth of materials in ordinary garbage.  Glass containers laid flat and stacked into a south-facing mud or adobe mortared wall could make for great passive-solar heat in a cabin.  Metal cans can be flared at one end and then stacked together to build a flue pipe.  Add the flue pipe to a steel barrel and you’ve got a wood stove.  Two large garbage bags, one inside the other, stuffed between with balls of old newspapers can make a sleeping bag for your child.  Plastics can be used to collect rain water.  Here’s a more technical idea I’ve done successfully for heating a tent;  long scrap metals such as metal studs or wire rope, laid horizontally and continuous, can be buried on one end in a shallow bed while left exposed on the other end.  If the exposed end is applied a heat source such as from a Dakota fire, the other end will radiate heat in the same manner as hydronic or electric in-floor heating.  You can pitch a tent over the shallow bed and keep warm in the middle of winter without worry of asphyxiation.  The depth of burial is dependant upon the materials used and their spacing for the transfer of heat.  I laid five 10′ long, 20-gauge 4″ metal studs 10″ on center, buried 3″ under the dirt.  If you like warm toes, keep them on the end closer to the fire.  And it takes a few hours to heat the ground, much like pitching a tent over buried coals and rocks from a campfire.

Next example, crime is growing.  You are worried that someone might break into your root cellar in the middle of the night and steal all the cans of yams and tuna you just put down there.  You never did purchase that security system or the remote motion sensors you’ve always wanted.   But you’ve got a pile of pop cans and some fishing line.  You could set up a trip wire around the perimeter.  As a minimum you’d want to lay out a triangle with one pop can set upright and weighted with a rock at each corner.  Drop a couple of pebbles or small bells from the Christmas-ornaments box into each can.  Tie the fishing line to the pop-top of each can at each corner of the perimeter and you have an alarm system.  Even better, you could use a small pulley at each corner, tied to a stake, tree or bush.  Still attach the cans somewhere on the trip line, preferably in a concealed location.  Attach one end, the dead end, of the line to something fixed or solid.  Attach the other end to an anchored trigger-switch on a batter-powered flood lamp.  Then if someone trips the line, you’ll get clamor and illumination.  Or you could build a completely concealed and remote alarm by utilizing a pressure plate buried flush with the ground surface.  I’ve done this by using two boards, a hinge, two copper pennies, a spring, a loop system of low-voltage 12 gauge wire, and a 9V battery all tied into a doorbell.  I will spare you the electrical details in order to keep this brief.  If you really wanted to, you can create your own security system.

The point I am trying to make is the importance of your resources and the value of ingenuity.  Mankind is intelligent enough to put human beings on the moon and bring them back again (or at least smart enough at the time to get the rest of the world to believe it).  At the least, if we are smart enough to build a space station, we can certainly figure out how to adapt in a survival situation to obtain water, food, good hygiene, medical care, shelter, heat and security.  Virtually every item around you can be adapted for multiple purposes.  So if you’re on a tight budget, I’d start out with the necessities like dried or canned goods, garden seeds, matches and ferrocerium fire starters, and other items where the benefits greatly outweigh the cost, like first aid supplies.  And don’t forget items like 100% stearine candles and soap.  Sure you can use animal fat to make candles and soap but it is very time consuming and yet cheap to purchase.  In a survival situation, your time would be extremely valuable.  So stock up on the inexpensive stuff and save the big purchases for items like firearms.

My final mention goes to references.  As you know, right now you can search the internet and easily learn about almost anything you want.  Search for information that would be valuable if times get tough and print it out.  Seal and store your references.  I label mine and put them in binders.  For example I recently embarked in a short geology lesson in order to be able to identify flintstone in my area.  I was guessing that flint could make a reasonable barter item.  I found that high carbon steel such as an automobile spring and quartz or jasper are a great substitute for common flint and steel.  And that if using flint and steel (not to be confused with ferrocerium igniters) to start a fire it is extremely beneficial to use charcloth.  I printed out information on how to make charcloth and put it in my files.  Then I printed out references to help me build a hydroelectric generator from items I have around the house.  Even if you don’t have time to read it now or work with it now, get your references printed out while they are readily available.  If the grid went down tomorrow, think of all the information lost that was at your fingertips.  My comfort level and confidence in my own preparedness increases every time I add references to my library, which I try to do several times a week.  Knowledge increases potential ingenuity exponentially.  The more you learn the more you can learn, adapt, invent, and be better able to help yourself and those around you and survive on a poor man’s budget.  Chance favors those who prepare.

Three Letters Re: The Winter Salad

James,
Just sending a note to remind your readers that the time to plan and plant a fall vegetable garden is right around the corner. Check out the USDA Hardiness Zone Maps for your area to find out what generally grows well in your area. Even better, check with your local Land Grant College Extension office for specific varieties as well as gardening tips and techniques for your area. In Oklahoma, mine is the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service. See their home page for the Fact Sheets. For example, see the Fact Sheet for Fall Gardening.

Here is a quote from that Fact Sheet – “Some of the best quality garden vegetables in Oklahoma are produced and harvested during the fall season when warm, sunny days are followed by cool, humid nights. Under these climatic conditions, plant soil metabolism is low; therefore, more of the food manufactured by the plant becomes a high-quality vegetable product.”

BTW, an excellent source for open-pollinated gardening seeds is Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company. I do not have any financial interest in the company but I am a well satisfied customer.

God bless you for all you do, – Tom B. in Oklahoma

 

JWR,
Thanks for keeping up Survival Blog. It’s been an invaluable resource.
Just a note on the referenced article based on long experience in the lighting industry
and in growing stuff here in the Frozen North

Save some money by not falling for the “Full Spectrum” lamp nonsense. 6500K refers to the apparent whiteness of the light output when compared to a THEORETICAL chunk of black iron heated to 6500 Degrees Kelvin. This is called Colour Temperature. It has no bearing on plant growth. It is an attempt to quantify a subjective individual perception.
“Full Spectrum” is a meaningless term that conveys no information other than the light source emits light in the full range of the visible spectrum. Almost all lamps do this especially fluorescent lamps.

A more appropriate measure is “Colour Rendering Index” (CRI). This is a measure of the apparent rendition of colours from a standard chart called the “Munsel Scale” They show colour samples to people within normal colour vision range and record the results. If a majority of subjects report seeing colours within the acceptable range, the CRI rating is applied. Roughly. 81% reporting of “accurate” color judgment gives a CRI of 85. Thus a Lamp whose catalogue number ends in 735 has a Colour Rendering Index of 70 and a Colour temperature of 3,500 Degrees Kelvin. This is useful when lighting my wife’s make up mirror but useless in the growing area.

A few years ago I worked with a physician who was treating Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) with Light Therapy. After I got him Fixtures for about one tenth of the cost of the usual advertised scam units I asked him if he wanted the fancy “Full Spectrum ” lamps to go with them He laughed at me. Then he told me that the cheap .99 cent ones did the same job as the $12 ones.

The advertised “Full Spectrum” Lamps almost never reference the CRI and are touted on the basis of the higher Colour Temperatures being somehow better. This is all part of the scam.

The real determination of the effectiveness of artificial light in home winter growing is the amount and positioning of light & the photo period. (How much light for how long)
Just get around 100 Foot Candles on the growing plants for the same length of light that they would get in a normal summer growing period
Note that a foot Candle is one “Lumen” per foot or the light of one candle. You can buy a meter to read this level at most photography supplies
They are usually available in an inexpensive model that does very well. The growing of an indoor garden is not Rocket Science.

Use the cheap lamps (light bulbs) & spend the extra money on ammo. With Regards, – George, Casa Frejole

 

JWR:
Thanks for your blog and what you do. I’m not just a 10 Cent Challenger, but also a fan your books, “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It”, “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, “Rawles on Retreats and Relocation”, “Patriots”, and your earlier writings before this. I’m a retired [U.S. Army] 11B [infantryman] mostly active duty, but did tours in Somalia and Kuwait among other. I appreciate the content and comments of your blog.

In “The Winter Salad” the author gave some great information and alternatives, and your OPSEC comments are valid, one small thing was perhaps omitted and that is sprouts, this may be a good alternative as well as sprouts do not require as much energy input to get good nutrition. Granted there are some precautions to take, some plants are okay to eat of the seed or fruit, but not leaves or roots and the like, Consulting your local county agricultural agent may be a good place to start.

I mention this more for a “grid down” situation where one has a static location and is not in movement or the like.

Also the addition of multivitamins with minerals may be a good addition to a nutrition issue.

Thanks again for an excellent blog. – T. in the Pacific Northwest

Letter Re: Hurricane Readiness

James:
T. in South Florida wrote an excellent article on hurricane preps. As a life-long Floridian, hurricane preparation was my introduction to the preparedness mindset. Working on hurricane preps, and dealing with the aftermath of three hurricanes in 2004, facilitated my progression to preparing for other worst-case scenarios. There are two things that I would add to T.’s hurricane readiness plan:

Every home should have a hard-wired telephone as opposed to the wireless portable kind. Even though electricity goes out, a hard-wired phone will often continue to work. During the 2004 hurricanes, many people had phone service, but didn’t realize it because their wireless phone didn’t have power. This applies to other power outage situations; and, remember to turn the ringer on.

Also for a roof repair kit, rolls of heavy gauge plastic are relatively cheap and easy to store, along with a few dozen wood furring strips and some roofing nails. A large roof can be quickly covered with these materials, but these materials may be hard to come by after the storm. In August 2004, Hurricane Charlie removed about 40% of the shingles from our roof. I was able to obtain materials and get them on our roof shortly after the storm; my expedient repairs withstood two subsequent storms (Hurricane Frances and Hurricane Jeanne) that struck in the following six weeks. (I spent a lot of time on the roof that year.) Due to labor and materials shortages after the storms, it was April 2005 (eight months later) when we were finally able to schedule a contractor to fully repair the roof. All the best, – John in Central Florida

Economics and Investing:

KAF sent this: Five minutes of waiting to exhale A 17 percent plunge in Citigroup Inc. today triggered a five-minute trading pause, making the bank the second company halted by the two-week-old circuit- breaker program created to prevent market panics

From reader S.M.: The Third Depression

Also from S.M: US State Budget Crises Threatens Social Fabric

Items from The Economatrix:

Derivative Market: Alive and Kicking Despite Reforms

Banks Told to Hoard Cash in Case of Crisis

New UK ATMs to Restrict Money Supply

46 US States Facing Greek-Style Crisis

Oil Price Rises Over Tropical Storm Concerns

Unemployed Face Abuse from Other Americans

Severe Economic Downturn Indicated

US Auto Sales Seen Slowing with Recovery in Doubt

Stocks Skid on Renewed Fears of Global Slowdown

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." – John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, first Baron Acton (1834–1902)

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 29 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round will 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 between $500 and $600, 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 500 round case of Fiocchi 9mm Parabellum (Luger ) with 124gr. Hornady XTP/HP projectiles, courtesy of Sunflower Ammo (a $249 value), and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) 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 $400, and B.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing, and B.) a Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.)

Round 29 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

The Winter Salad, by Tom in Colorado

Most of us reading SurvivalBlog have some amount of food stored. We are aware of the problems with the most commonly stored foods as well: sufficient nutrition, a large enough assortment to provide variety, and a good enough taste to keep people eating. I’m going to offer another alternative here to help provide these three things in the dead of winter while sparing our stockpiled food.

If you have a window that receives a decent amount of sunlight (south facing is best in the northern hemisphere) then you may well be able to provide entire fresh salads or ingredients for other dishes throughout the winter. Sufficient light in winter can be difficult to achieve if there is a grid down situation, but several options can be used to increase the amount of light your indoor plants receive.

For those with their own ongoing alternative energy source, full spectrum compact fluorescent light bulbs might be something to add to your stocking list. A single 15 watt that has a rating of 6500K (full sunlight) can keep several plants going for a minimal amount of electricity. I prefer the 23 Watt Full Spectrum 6500K bulbs, since I keep an entire desktop (about 12 sq ft) of plants going through the winter and I can illuminate the entire thing well enough to give the additional lighting requirements with just two of the 23 6500K bulbs.

For those with no electrical options in a SHTF situation where the grid is down, reflectors can make up a good portion of the additional light needed and keep some plants yielding food. The easiest reflector to use for this purpose is an “L” shaped piece of cardboard. Stiffen it so it will keep its shape. Cover the side facing the plants with aluminum foil, or paint it white, or use whatever process you prefer that will cause it to reflect light and heat back to the plants. Position your reflectors several inches behind (and some beside) the plants so that they catch any additional sunlight that would normally filter into the room behind the window. This process will keep the plants yielding through most of the winter, and provide enough light to keep them alive, if not yielding, through the couple of weeks to either side of the winter solstice.

The plants should normally be kept as close to the window as possible. In cold snaps (or hot snaps, we get those in my location in the middle of winter) you will want to check the temperature at the front edge of the plants to ensure that they are neither too cold, nor too hot. The range of temperatures you are looking for depends on the plant itself. Most greens such as lettuce, chard, and kale will be perfectly happy in temperatures down to the mid-to-high 30s (Fahrenheit) but start to wilt at 85F and above, whereas tomatoes and radishes would prefer the temperature to be above 45F and as high as 90F. With the light coming through the window, the plants should be moved away from the glass if the temperature right inside the window reaches 90F. The glass can sometimes focus hot-spots on portions of plants that are too close to it.

In all cases the pots used for growing your winter salad should have good drainage holes in the bottom. I do my indoor planting using “Mel’s Mix” from Mel Bartholomew’s All New Square Foot Gardening book. It is essentially a blend of 1/3 peat moss to 1/3 vermiculite (or perlite if you can’t find vermiculite) to 1/3 blended compost. Your plants will need feeding over the winter also; for this I typically use either worm castings or Complete Organic Fertilizer (COF) as described in Steve Solomon’s Gardening When It Counts (a book I highly recommend for anyone doing a decent-sized garden). I’ll typically feed the plants one or the other of these when their yield starts dropping. If you have a garden in good shape, soil from it can be used as the potting medium since some of the ingredients for Mel’s mix will be difficult to obtain in a SHTF situation.

On to specifics for individual plant types:

Lettuce (and other greens):
Recommended types of lettuce for indoor winter salad growing include most of the leaf lettuces; head lettuces are not as useful in this application as the “cut and come again” leaf lettuces. I prefer to go with the more cold hardy lettuces as I worry about them less. Leaf lettuce should be grown in an 8″ (1 gallon) or larger pot. This size pot can take 4-6 lettuce plants. I use oak leaf lettuce as my standard indoor growing lettuce.

Kale is another good “green” for the winter salad. Depending on your location you may even be able to overwinter your Kale outside and not need to have it inside. It will grow well in a 6″ (2-½ quart) or larger container, single plant per pot.

Swiss Chard is another option for a “green” easily grown indoors. It should be grown in an 8″ (1 gallon) or larger container, single plant per pot.

Tomatoes:
Tomatoes are a little rough to grow indoors in the winter and take more care than most other plants. It can be done with a good yield though if you ensure they have sufficient light, food, moisture, and space. Growing tomatoes indoors gives the highest yield if you use an indeterminate tomato, preferably a cherry tomato. The tomato should be planted in a 5 to 10 gallon pot. It should have its own trellis (in my case I use bamboo, 14 gauge fencing wire, and duct tape along with a nylon mesh to build the trellis attached to the 5 gallon bucket I use to grow it in, leaning the top end of the angled trellis with one pole on a wall and the second on the window) and as much of the trellis as possible should be in direct sunlight.

If you have an indeterminate tomato in your garden that you are fond of, you can use it as a starter for your indoor tomato. Well before the first frost, clip some of the larger branches from the bottom of your plant (a 4″- 6″ length works well). Then remove all but the top leaf or two from the branches. Place the branches in a cup of water along with rooting medium, or a small measure of ground willow bark, or just in plain water if the other two are not available. Either place your container of water on a sunny windowsill or outside in full sun. After several days (up to a week) you should see roots growing out of the portion of the branches in the water. When the roots are visible, take the branch and plant it into your pot. This will save you quite some time over starting seeds from scratch. Also if you want that type of tomato in your garden the next year, you can use the same procedure again in the spring with your indoor plant as your donor to give your tomatoes a head start on their spring growth.

I’ve gotten about a pint of cherry tomatoes a week from this method although I’ve had others tell me they get a pint every other day. Perhaps using the 10 gallon bucket (instead of the 5 gallon I use) makes the difference. Tomatoes will require more additional food (worm castings, COF, or your choice of fertilizers) than anything else I detail here but I consider them worth the extra effort.

If you are willing to continue to care for your indoor tomato through the summer, it can be used for a second winter. Tomatoes will yield well for at least two years although in most places the weather is such that outdoors it can only be grown as an annual.

One note on tomato selection. You do not want the most vigorous growing types for this method,they tend to overwhelm the space they are in and need a lot more tending than some of the less vigorous types. My personal preference for this method is the “Tiny Tim” tomato.

Curly Cress (aka peppergrass):
Curly cress is the wonder green, I am giving it its own entry because it is not a full-sized green and is not picky at all about potting requirements. It has a very tangy taste to it though, almost peppery, and grows incredibly fast. Curly Cress can be planted in as little as an inch of soil and still yield usable cress. It germinates in 2-4 days and is ready for use immediately although if you wait for 10 days there is significantly more to each piece. I currently grow a variety called Cressida (Lepidium sativum) which takes only 10 days to maturity. Fair warning, if you allow the cress to continue past the 10 days it gets more and more peppery/tangy and can develop a decent bite to it.

Radishes:
Radishes are fairly quick to grow and do not need a great deal of space. I’d recommend a 10″ pot for them (approx 2 gallons), or larger, but you can grow a lot of them in it. Sow them thickly and then thin them to 1-2 inches apart. Remember that the radish tops are also edible with a little preparation. I use Chery Belle radishes that come to maturity in about 22 days. There are several other varieties recommended for indoor growing but I’ve not tried them.

Spinach:
In the winter, spinach can be grown either indoors or, if you are in hardiness zone 4 or higher, outdoors under a cold frame. The most cold hardy spinach types, under a cold frame, will continue slow growth throughout the winter, taking advantage of whatever sun is available. To grow spinach indoors you will want an 8″ pot (1 gallon), or larger. You can grow multiple spinach plants in this pot, spaced at about 3″ apart. You’ll be able to tell if your spinach plants are not getting enough light as they will grow long and thin (leggy) as opposed to developing their normal leaf set if they have inadequate light. Most varieties of spinach are fairly cold hardy so temperatures down to freezing are okay although going below freezing will slow its growth noticeably. I normally use either Bloomsdale long standing or Noble Spinach for my indoor growing.

One note on Spinach. You’ll want to keep the temperature below 90 degrees or your spinach is liable to bolt, especially if you have artificial light on it to extend its light hours.

Carrots:
Carrots need a 10″ pot (approx 2 gallon), or larger, and it needs to be fairly deep as the root hairs of the carrot go far deeper than the part of the root we harvest and eat. Use only smaller size carrots for growing indoors. I use Little Finger carrots.

Side note: Carrots can also, if you have a garden and grow them there, be stored in the ground you grew them in. Before the first frost, scatter hay or some other mulch thickly over the carrots still in the ground. If you use this method, you can go and pull carrots any time the ground isn’t frozen over in the winter and have them just as fresh as picking them in the normal growing season.

Scallions:
Scallions can be grown in an 8″ pot (approx 1 gallon), or larger, spaced at approximately 2″ apart. My preferred indoor scallion is “Evergreen Hardy White” although most types will work fine for indoor growing.

Peppers:
Indoor peppers are grown similar to tomatoes. They require a 5-10 gallon pot or bucket. Some will require trellising (depending on pepper type). The bonus to growing peppers indoors is that peppers are a perennial plant with a lifespan of up to 15 productive years, significantly more for some varieties. Similar to tomatoes, most peppers are only used as annuals in cooler areas but if you choose to continue to care for it indoors, productivity and flavor quality of the pepper will increase dramatically after about 4-5 years. I would recommend jalapenos for an indoor hot pepper (they do quite well indoors) or whatever your favorite type is for a bell/sweet pepper. Peppers do not like the cold at all so this is one to watch in the cold snaps.

Herbs:
A variety of herbs are easily grown indoors for the winter. Many herbs prefer partial sun and these are the ones you’ll want to choose from. The best herb choice for a winter salad, in my opinion, is garlic chives. Which, fortunately, is one that prefers partial sun. I’d recommend a 6″ (approx ½ gallon) pot for most types of herbs.

There are a number of other plants which will do quite well for a winter salad. You can look up your favorites online with a search for “container growing [plant name]”.

Now that we’ve got our salad ingredients, here is a relatively easy method of creating a dressing for it in an extended crash situation.

Italian Dressing:
Italian dressing is a combination of oil, vinegar, and spices.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup oil (olive oil is most common but any vegetable or sunflower oil will work as well)
1/4 cup vinegar
Spices to taste

Oil is one of the things that many preppers store. If not, it can be pressed from a variety of plants that can be grown at home. This process is too extensive to add in to this article though so we’ll assume you have oil.

Vinegar you may or may not have stored but it can be made at home with only a little difficulty. Once again detailing the process is a bit much for this article but it can be looked up online.

Common spices used in Italian dressing are: Black pepper, onions (or scallions in this case), bell peppers, oregano, parsley, and salt. You can add other spices to your taste, or remove some of those listed.

To make your dressing, simply dice the solid spices, mix all ingredients together to taste, stir or shake well, and serve. If you allow the freshly mixed dressing to steep for at least an hour, the flavors of the spices will seep into the oil/vinegar mix.

With a variety of the items listed here you can easily make a nutritious, and tasty, salad frequently during the winter. It will save your stored goods, be very nutritious for you, and certainly liven up your meals if you’ve been eating only stored foods. Many of the plants you grow can also be used to spice up meals by mixing them in to the dishes created from your stored foods as well.

Fair warning: eating salads fresh from the ground, or your container-grown plants, can be addictive and I state that as primarily a carnivore. I started growing indoors over the winter to try to keep having fresh salad materials available throughout the year. There is no comparison to the equivalent produce you might purchase at a grocery store. – Tom from Colorado

JWR Replies: Use discretion when setting up indoor “grow lights”. Since these lights are also commonly used by illicit loco weed growers, your actions could be misconstrued and trigger a police investigation, or even worse, a violent home invasion robbery by criminals intent on robbing you of your “crop”.

Is Modern Society Doomed to Collapse? Understanding the Complexity Trap

I’ve often written in SurvivalBlog about the over-dependence of modern societies on technology. Our level of dependence on high technology is large, and steadily growing.

Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle summed up over-dependence on technology in their novel Lucifer’s Hammer:

“Whole nations depends on technology. Stop the wheels for two days and you’d have riots. No place is more than two meals from a revolution. Think of Los Angeles or New York with no electricity. Or a longer view, fertilizer plants stop. Or a longer view yet, no new technology for ten years. What happens to our standard of living? Yet the damned fools won’t pay ten minutes’ attention a day to science and technology. How many people know what they’re doing? Where do these carpets come from? The clothes you’re wearing? What do carburetors do? Where do sesame seeds come from? Do you know? Does one voter out of thirty? They won’t spend ten minutes a day thinking about the technology that keeps them alive.”

So what happens when the grid goes down? Thirty or forty years ago, if the power grids collapsed, there could still be considerable commerce transacted. But today? I think not. It would be la fin du monde tel que nous le connaissons. So much of our daily commerce is tied to electronic cash registers, ATMs, computerized inventory control systems, point-of-purchase credit card transactions, debit cards, and the Internet that I have doubts that there would be an easy transition in reverting to “the old way of doing business.” Furthermore, many retail stores in the US and Canada are now housed in almost windowless buildings constructed with tilt-up slab architecture. So even if businesses wanted to stay open in the midst of a power failure, they couldn’t, because there wouldn’t be enough daylight to see the merchandise.

Technological Complexity

Part of our dependence on technology is tied to the increasing complexity of the technologies themselves. With each passing year, the complexity of high tech systems increases. Some of this complexity contributes to redundancy and robustness, but most of it does not. Do you really need an electric clothes dryer with microprocessors? Or a toaster with a microprocessor? Don’t laugh, many of them are now made that way. As an illustration, when I recently bought a slightly used pickup truck , I felt obliged to buy an extended warranty, but only because it was a 2009 model with an absurd number of “bells and whistles.” It seems that there are no longer “stripped down” models available. Almost all the new rigs come with power windows and so many electronic gadgets that the owner’s manual is nearly an inch thick! There is so much complexity built into this vehicle, that the likelihood of a failure of some sort (electronic, or mechanical) seems very likely. This a is a far cry from my fondly-remembered 1968 Ford Bronco. There wasn’t much that could go wrong with it, and the few items that did fail were all owner serviceable.

The miniaturization of microcircuits has changed considerably in the past 30 years. The typical gate sizes of microcircuits has been reduced from two or three microns, to far less than one micron. The smaller the gate, the easier it is for a stray voltage to “weld” it shut. This has made microchips increasingly vulnerable to static electricity, electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and solar flares.

Many systems in a variety of industries have been developed that are completely dependent on computer controls. There is no reversion available for “manual backup.” Without the CPUs, you have a dead system.

Logistical Complexity

As I’ve discussed before in SurvivalBlog, we now live in a world with very long chains of supply and just in time (kanban) supply chain management. Meanwhile, container ship docks are now being transitioned to computerized management.

Financial Complexity

Derivatives. That sums it up in just one word.

Medical Care Complexity

One of the blessings of the modern age of science is life extension through medical technology. But it has also become one of our vulnerabilities. If the grids go down, so will millions of Americans with chronic illnesses. Here are some examples: Millions of people now depend upon medical oxygen–both in clinical environments and at home. At least 11,000,000 people in the US and Canada have been diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) — the catch-all term now used for chronic emphysema and bronchitis. Most of them are on medical oxygen, and some of them 24/7. More than 100,000 patients get heart pacemakers implanted each year in the United States. Nearly 24,000,000 people in the United States have diabetes, many of whom require regular insulin injections. More than 500,000 people in the U.S. are classified as having End-stage Renal Disease (ESRD). The number of newly diagnosed cases has roughly doubled in the past 10 years and the same has happened in Canada. Without regular kidney dialysis (or a kidney transplant), many of them would die within a few months. There are also millions of Americans that have severe sleep apnea, who use CPAP machines. For a small percentage of them, without a CPAP machine running every night, they would have complications and die. There are about 500,000 Americans that have had various “ostomy” procedures like urostomy, colostomy and iliostomy. Many of these patients are on very restricted diets, and many need specialized appliances. And of course there are also many millions of Americans that are dependent on daily doses of various medications.

In summary, any large societal disruption that interrupts the power grid and/or the supply infrastructure would result in a large die-off of patients with chronic illnesses.

Conclusion

We’ve built ourselves an enormous complexity trap. And for most of us, the severity of this won’t become apparent until after the grids go down.