Note from JWR:

Please keep The Memsahib in your prayers. Her health is still in peril, but as Christians we have total faith in God, and we look at things on the eternal time scale–that makes this earthly life just a blink of an eye. We never lose sight of the fact that God’s grace is amazing.

Letter Re: Transmission of Odors to Bulk-Packed Storage Foods

Dear Mr. Rawles,
I made a food storage mistake that I would like to share with other SurvivalBlog readers. Last summer I purchased a plastic food grade bucket, filled it with pasta, lentils, beans and candy mints, and sealed it up. I opened the bucket last week and discovered that I now have mint-flavored pasta, lentils, and beans. Even though the mints were individually-wrapped and packaged in a plastic bag their odor was so strong that it permeated just about everything. I’m sure the pasta, lentils, and beans are safe to eat, but they’ll just taste a bit strange. Lesson: Do not store strongly-flavored candy with food that will absorb its smell. Hopefully, others will learn from my mistake. Thanks!
God bless! – H.H.

Letter Re: Rethinking Uncommon Rifle Chamberings

Mr. Rawles-
I read “Patriots: A Novel Survival in the Coming Collapse” a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed it. Thank you.

I wanted to mention: I try to follow conventional wisdom about caliber choices for SHTF weapons. Interestingly, in the current ammo shortage, it’s still somewhat easy to get ammo for oddball calibers. For example, if one needs 7.5×55 Swiss, 7.65x54R Russian or 7.5×54 French, many online dealers have it in stock, while 9mm, 45 ACP, 12 gauge buckshot, 308, 223, 7.62×39 etc., are very hard to come by. For people who don’t have the budget to stockpile a lot of ammo, this may justify keeping at least one [rifle chambered in a] non-standard caliber in the arsenal. The bolt action Russian, Swiss and French rifles are relatively inexpensive, sturdy, and hard hitting. The fact that the ammo is in good supply during a nationwide ammo shortage is a bonus.

Letter Re: A Flat Tire as Learning Experience, by Rock O.

James,
My truck and my wife’s van both have extensive “WTSHTF” kits, for use in case of an emergency. The following was a simple, unexpected yet common occurrence that was the real eye opener for me. At 5:30am the other morning. I decided to drive my fairly new diesel VW to a gun show in the area. We only use it for around town drives and it is garage kept. Halfway to the gun show, on a major highway, I had a blowout. ‘No big deal’. I’m thinking. I’ve changed lots of tires in my 64 years. Wrong!

Pulling off the highway I assess my situation, and I quickly realize several things: It’s darker than a coal miner’s rear end, I don’t have my “oh s**t” kit or even a flashlight and I’ve never changed a tire on this type of car. Thankfully, a deputy sheriff and a “road-ranger” both came to my aid and prevented what could have been a nasty situation.

Lessons learned: Familiarize yourself with your car. I had to go exploring to locate the emergency flashers switch on the dash!. The factory tool kit [supplied by VW] is a joke. The provided tire-iron requires an extension bar to use; unless you are Superman. A small can of Blaster [aerosol penetrating oil] will also go a long way to loosen lug nuts that were installed with an impact wrench. A 2”x12”x12” block of wood is a must to put under the jack–for soft sand or mud. Also it helps to locate the “Jack-point” in the daylight before you try to find it in the dark. At night they aren’t easy to locate. A really good flashlight is a must. Trying to change a tire in the dark is very difficult. The final two items are a must: a pair of gloves and a “hazard vest” will also help keep your inner child be at peace on the side of the highway.

A small handgun that will slip into your pocket isn’t a bad idea either. You might not be lucky enough to have a deputy stop when you have a flat in a “bad area”. Those that come aren’t there necessarily there to help you. You other choices are to stay in your car until daylight or drive on the rim, which will result in major financial damage to your wallet.

Lessons Learned: Fifteen minutes of daylight practice and a few small items would have made all the difference when faced with this common, but unexpected situation.

Letter Re: Choosing Antibiotics to Store for Emergencies

Mr Rawles,
I have been reading Survivalblog for a couple of years now and want to thank you for providing such a wonderful resource. I also participated in the April 8th Amazon book bomb and just finished reading “Patriots: A Novel Survival in the Coming Collapse” for the first time. I couldn’t put it down and read it in one sitting. That being said, I must point out one potentially harmful error in your mention of tetracycline. I am starting my final year of pharmacy school and have been working in my family’s drugstore for 25 years. Tetracycline is the only [antibiotic] drug I know of that actually “goes bad” and becomes toxic when it goes out of date. For this reason, I would not suggest tetracycline for a TEOTWAWKI medical kit.

I would suggest that readers consult with their physicians and inquire about susceptibility patterns in their particular geographic location. The major strains of staphlococcus aureus, MRSA, and the various pathogens that cause pulmonary and upper respiratory infections will vary from region to region. Thus, the choice of antibiotics for your G.O.O.D. kit may vary as well. This is a prime example of why all readers should follow your advice and try to diversify the talents in your retreat group. A doctor, pharmacist, RN, EMT, PA, etc. would be a valuable addition. I am fortunate in that regard, as my children’s pediatrician is like minded and goes to church with us.

Keep up the great work. Thanks, – TR in the State of Franklin

Letter Re: Thanks for SurvivalBlog

James,

I’d like to thank you personally for maintaining SurvivalBlog. Until last year, I’d always thought of my survival skills as important to have, but didn’t think I’d ever truly need them. Now that the bottom has fallen out of the economy (in exactly the way you predicted!), I believe everything I value is truly at risk. To see the danger that America is in, just turn on the news for ten seconds. To see the danger that the culture of true service to God is in, do a Google search for “De-baptism” or “Santa Muerte.” The world’s situation has gone rapidly downhill, but the amount of content on SurvivalBlog – and the attention it’s receiving – has been accelerating at an equal pace. Though my logistics are far from ideal, I’m much better prepared than I was a year ago, and I’m grateful to you for giving me the information to become this prepared.

Also, I got my copy of “Patriots” the other day. Its advice makes the average survival guide look like scribblings on the back of a Post-it note, and the plot is head and shoulders above the average thriller. Thanks for writing it, and God bless you.- James in the East

Economics and Investing:

News about the results of the Federal Reserve’s “Stress Test” got out, and it sent a shock wave through the financial world. The news was quite disturbing. Although with the caveat that it is not yet confirmed, I recommend reading the summary at Hal Turner’s web site.

Reader “NDSS” mentioned this bit of much-needed common sense from Charles Hugh Smith: Why a 50% Drop in Housing is Not the Bottom. JWR’s comment: Anyone that thinks that the US real estate market will soon “recover” is dreaming. The peak in Alt-A and Option ARM mortgage rate resets won’t be until 2011. And since home mortgages are a major asset of the American banking industry, it won’t be until after real estate bottoms that the banking industry will have any chance of pulling out of its downward spiral.

Norm in Maryland suggested a piece on the potential highs for gold and silver that was posted at Gold-Eagle.com

Items from The Economatrix:

Dow Plunges 290 on Worries about Banks’ Soured Loans

Weiss: Big Bank Profits are Bogus! Massive Public Deception

Gold Price Could Hit $1,500

Hedge Fund Managers Buy Gold Futures

US Economy Facing “Substantial Risks”

Mortgage Industry Changes Throw New Hurdles in Borrowers’ Way

Why A 50% Drop in Housing is Not the Bottom

Banks Must Brace For New Losses

Thin Ice From Here to the Horizon

GE Profits Plunge By 1/3

US Clutches at Straws of Recovery

California Jobless Rate Tops 11%

Skousen: The Economy–Hyping Hope While Peddling Fear

Will Public Pensions be the Next Bailout?

From the latest issue of Time magazine, The New Frugality: The Organic Gardener

Russia’s Nuclear Attack on US May Start with Major Banks

Odds ‘n Sods:

W. in Washington recommended this blog site: Little House in the Suburbs

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“Goff” sent an item from a Bangor, Maine newspaper: Firepower Fever; Worried about how gun laws might change, some enthusiasts stock up and local suppliers feel the heat

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Fred the Valmetmeister notes: “The market for [reloading] primers is so scary. Take a look at the auctions at GunBroker.com and go to the reloading section. Look at the auctions for primers! For example: [cases of] 5,000 CCI Large Pistol primers for $340! I now see single boxes [of 1,000 primers selling] for $71 each, not including shipping. Even the prices for small pistol primers are out of sight. This market is insane.”

   o o o

JS ran across this and thought it would be interesting to SurvivalBlog readers. Peak Phosphorous

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"The world is filled with violence. Because criminals carry guns, we decent law-abiding citizens should also have guns. Otherwise they will win and the decent people will lose." – James Earl Jones

Letter Re: Bicycles as Bug-Out and Utility Vehicles

I read SurvivalBlog almost every day. I see lots of folks talking about bug out vehicles, going to great lengths to describe storing fuel long term, stripping down vehicles and even planning on parking them out of the way when fuel runs out. But I rarely see much mentioned about one of the best long term, low tech tools out there for transportation: The bicycle, the cargo bike and the
adult tricycle.

Bicycles are inexpensive, ubiquitous and take only a pair of legs and half a brain to use. People in Third World countries haul huge amounts of stuff with them, and even here in the US I know a lot of folks who keep a bike trailer around for short hauling nearly everything. Our local coffee roaster does all of their delivery using cargo bikes. There are few places you can’t go with a good mountain bike.

When you’re planning your bug out vehicle, a bike or two with a small trailer should be considered, as well as a few patch kits for the tires. This will allow you to keep moving and haul more than a backpack if your vehicle dies and there’s no way to get it fixed due to a really serious disaster, or if you’re stuck in a permanent [“linear parking lot”] traffic jam due to a SHTF situation.
Even if you don’t need it when bugging out, you’ll find it incredibly handy once you’ve arrived at your retreat. You could even rig one to run a water pump or a small device battery charger.
They’re not a speedy escape vehicle, or to some they may seem too low tech or “tree hugger” to some folks but bicycle transport make a lot of sense, even more so if fuel supplies become scarce. – Ellie E.

JWR Replies: We’ve had a number of articles and letters about bicycles posted in Survivalblog in the past three years (most notably, this one), but I agree that the topic doesn’t get the emphasis that it deserves. Dollar for dollar, and pound for pound, bikes are the most cost-effective form of mechanical transportation by road, and some varieties re also one of the most versatile vehicles off of paved roads. And, as you noted, they are great at working your way through traffic snarls, at least in anything less than a total panic or lawless situation. (In a true worst case” , no form of transportation is safe, but where motorcyclists and bicyclists would be particularly at risk.)

Watch for used mountain bikes available inexpensively on Craig’s List. For the sake of logistics, try to standardize with one brand, if possible. Buy plenty of spare parts and lubricants. And if you can find them, get a spare set of compatible wheels and mount them with foam-filled tires, for each bike. That way you can have the best of both worlds: standard tires to use on a day-to-day basis, and set of foam-filled ones to use in the event of a long-term collapse where spare tires and inner tubes will be in short supply. The higher rolling resistance of foam-filled tires can be aggravating, but the day might come that they are the only thing that will keep you on the road.

Letter Re: Pedal Power for Electricity Generation and Water Pumping

Hi Mr. Rawles:
Thank you so much for your efforts on this blog as well as Rawles Gets You Ready. I have a question that I haven’t seen addressed. Are there products out there based on pedal power? Meaning, I can’t afford a real alternative energy system or a large storage area for gasoline. What I’d like is a way to keep a few deep cycle batteries charged to power my rechargeable AA-size batteries (do they make rechargeable batteries in any other size?), my cordless power tools and other objects. There must be alternator/bicycle systems to do that but I can’t find any. Also, I’d like to power a water pump by bicycle so that I can draw water from my well or the creek a couple of hundred yards away. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks, – Joe F.

JWR Replies: Yes, there are several proven products. See the SurvivalBlog archives. For battery charging, it is probably best to use a fairly large generator to charge a pair of 6 volt DC deep cycle batteries. Then, you can use that battery bank as a 12 volt power source for an automobile-type charger for AA Batteries . As I’ve mentioned in the blog before, I recommend standardizing with 30 amp Anderson Power Pole Connectors for all of the small (low current) 12 volt DC devices at your retreat and in your vehicles. These genderless connectors are vastly superior to cigarette lighter-type plugs and jacks.

Letter Re: The Mexican Drug Wars Come to the United States

Jim,
As the economy gets worse, crime of this sort will only increase. Small towns that have secondary and tertiary highways are not immune. Often these secondary routes parallel the primary highways that have the heaviest enforcement which leads the traffickers to use the secondary routes to evade Law Enforcement. We have had first hand experience with interstate drug traffickers in our Midwestern town of 1,300 people that has a parallel secondary highway running through it. I shudder to think what will happen to our borders, cities, and towns when bankrupt states and cities are forced to confront the stark reality of forced service reductions due to insufficient revenues. – LEO in the Midwest

Letter Re: Why Survivalists Should Buy Local Organic Food

Jim ~
We subscribe to an organic grocery delivery service and have the food dehydrator running non-stop around the clock now that local produce is coming in. Our preference is dried over frozen because of smells and off flavors that frozen can pick up. Even through I pay a premium for organic foods, my feeling is that if inflation or hyperinflation is around the corner, the price I’m paying now will at the least even out in the face of inflation, and I’ll still have a superior product.

I know that the food we are preserving is top quality, not sprayed nor full of other questionable chemicals.

In the summer, the pressure canner will be going full speed with our garden and with what produce we supplement to put food by.

Some Observations:

1. Grow and buy the very best produce and food possible for your food storage. Your future health may depend on it.

2. Fresh organic foods have a fraction of the shelf life of grocery store produce. I just didn’t realize that everything from the grocery store must be sprayed with preservatives until I began ordering all organic. It goes south very quickly. On survivalblog.com you have published links to expected shelf life and storage. However, until a person is actually faced with the reality of spoilage, the numbers are meaningless. Potatoes sprout much more quickly, oranges shrivel, you get the idea.

3. My food dehydrator is now 25 years old. We bought it back in the 1980s when our hero, Howard J. Ruff, told us to prepare for the coming bad years. We hadn’t used it in years, but just dusted it off, plugged in, and it works like a charm. The brand is Harvest Maid. These are simple machines built to last. I would love to find another one used on Craig’s List, eBay, or from an estate sale.

4. I’ve gardened my entire life, started when I was 9, but never as if our lives depended on it. We who prepare need to continue to urge people who are prepping — and those who are not! — to learn to garden. As all gardeners know, it is a learning curve that gets better with time, but the key is practice, experiment, and learn. My mission is get people to try to grow at least one of something immediately. I tell people, get a tomato plant or get a pepper, you can even just put it in a pot. If hyperinflation or worse comes to pass, there are going to be a lot of angry, hungry people around lacking in basic skills.

Keep up the good work. – Elizabeth B

Economics and Investing:

Charley keyed in on a piece in The Atlantic, where Jeffrey Goldberg contemplates survivalism: Why I Fired My Broker. The accompanying video clip, titled “The Con Game” is quite entertaining and has some snippets about his acquaintance Cody Lundin–a survivalist and author.(Cody is the author of When All H*ll Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need To Survive When Disaster Strikes — currently around #300 in the Amazon ranks.) Here is a quote from the print article: “For the record, I don’t think the grid is buckling under the weight of consumer debt or the mistakes of AIG. But we’re in a strange moment in American history when a mouse-eating barefoot survivalist in the mountains of Arizona makes more sense than the chief investment strategist of Merrill Lynch.” The article also quotes conservative economist and investor Bill Gross.

JHB spotted this by Jim Willie: Banks Must Brace For New Losses

Items from The Economatrix:

IMF Warns Over Worrisome Parallels to Great Depression

Inflation Laid Bare (The Mogambo Guru)

AIG Says No to Insureds, But Yes to Executive Bonuses

Google’s Recession-Proof Armor Dinged