Lessons From Grandpa–Firewood Cutting for Seasonal Employment, by JSW

Grandpa was never one of my favorite people. He wasn’t a bad person, just that I thought he could be more like the grandfathers in the books I was reading.
Born in November, 1893, in north-central Minnesota, a World War One veteran and farmer, he moved to his last residence in 1952. So he’d grown up in a rough and tumble era, had a rough life and died owning his home, his truck, and a full baker’s dozen children had been born to him and Grandma- who I did like a lot more. Probably because she made bread daily, filled the house with its wonderful aroma. Of course, she had work for us kids, too.

It was with his background that he taught us boys a few things. When working now, at home or on the job, I often think of those lessons learned, albeit unwillingly learned at the time. Too, quite often I find myself in conversation with Grandpa as I go about the chores.
Splitting wood just a few days ago, I heard his voice clearly scolding me. “That should have been done last winter, not this spring.”
“ Right, Grandpa,” I replied. He was right, of course.

Firewood is best gathered in the deep of winter- for many reasons. First, but not most important, is that there’s no plowing or gardening to do in Minnesota in January. Second, in the deep of winter, there is little sap in the wood- it’s all in the roots waiting next spring, so it dries faster/more easily. It also cuts and splits more easily. Too, getting wood is hard, hot, sweaty work. Doing it in winter cuts back on the sweat factor by ten or more.

“ That’s not very good wood,” he told me.
No, it isn’t: I was splitting Jack pine. Stump dead, it was weathered and beginning to rot around the edges. But it makes a very good wood for autumn days when it isn’t really cold, or in the spring for the same reason. In the dead of winter, preferable woods are oak, ash, birch, and maple, in that order. These all burn with good heat, not so hot as to risk burning out a good/new/quality stove. Birch and maple are sappy woods, create quite a creosote problem if they’re not fully dried. Let them hang a couple years and they burn clean, don’t clog the chimney much at all. Oak and ash burn well, cleanly and hot. (Ash has a urine smell when it burns, however, so don’t get the smoke indoors.) Lesser woods to burn are tamarack/larch: this wood is excellent for heat, burns hotter than oak and ash, even. Which is its problem: burning too much tamarack will burn out your stove, or through it if it isn’t well-built. Poplar is a soft-hardwood, burns well with medium heat output and, as a tree species, grows quickly, dies almost as quickly. Its biggest drawback is that it’s really hard to stack due to the slippery bark. Jack pine, white pine and sometimes Norway are used as firewood- though anything will work in a pinch- soft pines, they contain some heat but not really enough for cold-cold winters. Other pines- spruce and balsam are worthless for home heat.

Grandpa’s voice cut into my thinking as I sliced a two inch thick piece of branch so I had to tell him, “It’s for kindling, Grandpa. Besides, this splitter makes it so easy I just enjoy it.” Grandpa would have a fit if he caught us kids splitting pieces smaller than six inches so we learned quickly to use our hand span. Still, around here, everything gets split once at least, and I cut down to two inch size branches. It dries better and has fewer bugs remaining active under the bark. And just because it’s so easy with the 20 ton hydraulic splitter. Ten inches or more is split into thirds or quartered.
But that isn’t the only reason. My stove is kind of small, takes a twenty inch piece of wood if it’s stuffed in and the door slammed. To compensate, the wood is cut to 16 inches, appropriately, the length of my chainsaw bar.

To keep mess out of the yard, the wood is bucked up in the woods and tossed into the pickup, hauled home and split as it’s taken from the truck. I find this to be the best/easiest method for a one-person operation. If a load is delivered by any local logger, he stacks it about ten feet from the cordwood pile, leaving enough room to get the splitter between the stack and pile. (Life is more simple when you have a plan. Besides, I’m lazy and usually the best way to do something is the easiest.) Any mess made from splitting is cleaned, thrown into the pickup and hauled back to the cutting area and dumped before the next load goes in. Follow the KISS principle.

Stacking is how I know how much wood I actually have and can monitor the usage. One cord is a pile four feet wide by four feet high by eight feet long. My stacks are head high- six feet- and twenty feet long. About one cord per row, in other words. In a mild winter, using the stove only during the hours at home, five cords will last a year. In severe winters with lots of wind, eight cords will do a season. (My furnace is in the house with two fire extinguishers near “just in case” and I use the propane furnace to maintain sixty degrees when not at home.)

Grandpa said to stack the wood bark down. His logic: if the wood is tarp-covered, the escaping moisture acts like a sauna or kiln and provides better ‘heat’ to dry the wood faster. One of my neighbors says to stack it bark up to shed the rain. Personally, I don’t think it matters a whole bunch. Getting the wood supply large enough for two years, always burning the oldest first of course, and the wood will have ample time to dry. And birch and maple really need the two drying seasons. So will poplar/aspen if it’s spring or summer cut. As to having two years’ supply on hand, three is a more comfortable margin, though it takes up a lot of yard space.

Of course, most of this thought is considering a total system breakdown where wood is going to be the only really consumer-gathered heat source. For the most part, this is what I expect in my ‘imaginings’, though something less harsh will probably be the case. Either way, wood is the heat source that warms three times for one season and the most practical heat in any situation.

“ You make a good stack, Jim,” I heard Grandpa say. “Now clean up that splitter and go have a cup of coffee.” I did as told- cleaned up the tools and went for coffee, my injured back happy to.

Garnered through years of work in the woods and as a carpenter who helped with log homes, my tools are the simple and effective tools of a logger. The half- ton four wheel drive pickup; two 25 foot lengths of ‘skidding’ chain; two chainsaws- newer Husqvarna and old Poulan with two chains each and toolbox with assorted tools; a Pickeroon [a.k.a. “Peavey” or “Cant Hook”] for moving and/or lifting a trunk to slip the skid chain around, sometimes for pulling pieces forward in the truck box; and the new 20-ton Honda powered splitter that replaced the six pound maul and home-built hydraulic splitter–the latter now owned by my neighbor. A pair of leather work gloves and chaps conclude the tool list. As for the chaps- everyone should wear them, or an equivalent pair of Kevlar jeans, but I find most often I go without. “With familiarity comes…” is fair warning. Steel toed logger boots are my standard footwear and they’ve paid for themselves many times just in bruises alone and a great investment. Except in winter when the steel toe attracts cold. A wonderful invention these days is the [Stihl brand] helmet with [integral] ear muffs and face shield. Definitely worth the investment for hearing alone. Even wearing glasses, the shield will keep large chips away from eyeballs, though I have had a flier or two get behind the shield and into my eye, it doesn’t happen often- usually when the wind is ‘right’.

Coffee cup in hand, I gaze at the wood pile and feel a touch of satisfaction in knowing I’ll be warm this winter, and stronger and healthier for doing my own gathering. All in all, a good day, Grandpa- thanks for the help. Now if I only had Grandma’s green thumb. – JSW

Letter Re: An Economic Observation on the Prices of Silver and Gasoline Versus Fiat Dollars

Jim,
I hope all is well with you and yours! I am pleased to note that I have made faithful followers of your blog of many of my friends. The more the merrier!

The blog has been an incredible source for enlightenment and inspiration.

I now advise everyone that I can prove that since 1964 and based upon the 1964 monetary system, the gallon price of gas at the pumps and the relative price of consumer goods have not increased in cost or value. Only the Federal Reserve note has lost buying power. In my humble and simple observation, cost or value are mere reflections of each other and are not necessarily defined by mediums of exchange, as in fiat vehicles we all call ‘notes’. Allow me to explain.

In 1964, the price of a gallon of gas was +/- .21 (twenty-one cents). An automobile nicely proportioned was $2,000 (two thousand dollars).

In 1964, silver coinage was the norm; however, the Federal Reserve and its cronies in “guv’memt” plotted silver’s demise as a free market trading medium and standard.

Today, fuel is $4.00 (four dollars) per gallon. A really nice car costs $40,000 (forty thousand dollars).

But the cost or value of fuel and consumer goods has not really increased. In 1964, a silver American dollar, the standardized value of exchange for the United States of America, equaled the cost of nearly five gallons of gasoline.

Today, a 1964 ‘junk silver’ Morgan (1921 or earlier) dollar will fetch $20.00 (twenty dollars) in Columbia, Tennessee. That ‘exchange rate’ for fiat currency reflects that still nearly five gallons of fuel can be purchased for the same value. Now, divide that cost of a $40,000 (forty thousand dollar) automobile by $20 (twenty dollars) and one readily observes that the cost or value of this consumer good/want/need has really not changed as it still costs 2000 (two thousand) 1964 silver ounces or ‘dollars’.

I do note, however, that one should not confuse the notion of intrinsic value with perceived value.

What has changed, though, is the great deception upon which the American citizen has been saddled, the wholesale fleecing of the wealth of this country! If everyone who reads your blog would recognize the stability of precious metals and adjust their way of defining cost or value they might find direction in their economic travels. More so, recognizing the grim realities of the Federal Reserve’s economic policies, one should be able to read the writing on the wall. Sadly, we exist today economically on the ‘oil standard’ which oddly enough is a reflection of the old ‘gold/silver standard’. Now all can stand on the street and point out that the King of the Federal Reserve is wearing no clothes!

When I point out to my friends the observations noted, they take great pause and likely start buying up ‘junk silver’. Precious metals really don’t ‘increase in value’, they just don’t lose purchasing power by government inspired inflation.

OBTW: Thanks for the heads up on ‘The Alpha Strategy‘. – Matt in Tennessee

Odds ‘n Sods:

Yishai alerted us to this video clip from tele-pundit Jim Cramer: Banking Doom Is Upon Us

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Eric suggested this column from The Delta Farm Press: Batten down the hatches, road ahead’s looking rocky

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Investors Hide as Banks Come Knocking Here are some quotes from the Wall Street Journal piece: “Investors are tired of trying to catch a falling knife,” says one investment banker who specializes in the financial-services industry. “Investors have good reason to be skittish.” “Even the smart money isn’t looking so smart.” (Thanks to Kevin A. for finding us that article.)

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Florida Guy spotted this New York Times article: Rethinking the Country Life as Energy Costs Rise. Florida Guy’s comment: “This is an obvious ‘move back to the city – the country is just too expensive’ hit piece. Smart, preparedness-minded and aware Americans will never fall for it, but it’s still worth a read.

Note from JWR:

The high bid in the current SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction is at $350. This auction is for two cases (12 cans) of Mountain House freeze dried foods in #10 cans donated by Ready Made Resources, valued at $260, a course certificate for a four-day Bushcraft & Survival Course valued at $550, 25 pounds of green (un-roasted) Colombian Supremo coffee courtesy of www.cmebrew.com valued at $88.75, and a set of 1,600 U.S. Military Manuals, Government Manuals, and Civil Defense Manuals, Firearm Manuals on two CD-ROM disks, valued at $20. Please e-mail us your bids, in $10 increments.

Letter Re: My Real, Live-Fire Self-Sufficiency Test

Well, I am back on the Internet for a time at least. Mind you, from the look of the soap opera world, I didn’t miss much. Grin

A bit of background first for context. I am forecasting grim things for the fairly near future, particularly in financial terms. In one sense I am a type of survivalist, in that I want to prepare. Most survivalists tend to plan and prepare for a type of bunker at a fixed location to survive whatever doomsday they foresee coming. Such a plan has very distinct, real, and important advantages. However, the armed forces have a saying, “No battle plan ever survives first contact with the enemy.” In my case I did not feel I had sufficient forecasting ability to make a viable plan, nor do I think that most others have either. So I decided to be as flexible as possible based on a couple of premises. One; That there were negative changes coming for humanity which would cause great social disturbance, and when the stuff is about to hit the fan, it is best not to be standing about with your face hanging out. (Want to be at least a tank of gas away from a major population center.) Secondly economic conditions will likely deteriorate dramatically, and with them a good deal of the scientific infrastructure that makes life so good today. If humanity is going back to the 1800s, I want to prepare using the advantages our infrastructure of today provides.

I picked a number of locales at which I felt I could, in extreme circumstances, be largely self sufficient. All have plusses and minuses. A large degree of isolation became a central point because of expected social disruption. (Desperate, starving people.) Part of isolation is to be in a place where no one would likely go, or at least not roving gangs. And that means having no roads or trails leading to you. Individuals who are lucky enough, or experienced enough to find you, may make good additions to the team.

Events of Aug 15, 2007 convinced me that it was time to stop planning and begin acting. I decided to move to the nearest locale that I felt could be a possible final location, and which would allow me to be far enough away from a major population center so as to avoid the worst of the initial social disruption, yet close enough to rescue the non believers I care about, and also be able to salvage a good deal of valuable stuff before people recognize its value. From there I could watch events unfold in relative safety, while still likely to be able to move on if that became desirable. As practice and to test my plans, during the last five weeks I began setting up the beginnings of a permanent residence and clearing enough land for a garden. I don’t expect to use this location, but in a worst case scenario, or proper circumstances, I can. This is a report of the surprises I encountered.

Probably the biggest mistake I made was one that I had experience with, and logically, knew what to expect because I grew up with no electricity or refrigeration. I had not expected how emotionally dependant I had become on refrigeration and the offshoots from that. Logically, I had supplied myself with lots of dried foods, etc. In a “grid down” situation it becomes much worse than even those who grew up without electricity, and refrigeration will expect.

The most stupid mistake was to think I could use a cell phone as emergency backup in case of accident in an isolated, unpopulated place. You’re on your own. No signal.

Some small tools, such as a leaf rake which I never saw the likes of in the 1930s, would be invaluable. I tried to remember exactly what we had on the farm then and replicate that. A fly swatter or it’s equivalent is easy to pass over in planning. Pioneers valued their cutting edges above almost all else. Axes and saws were gold. I had plenty, depending on how society fell apart, but I have added more for a worst case scenario. I also found one of those charities selling used clothes and stuff. They had various sharp “butcher” type knives on sale for .19 each. I snagged about 40, along with some stainless steel kitchenware, and other goodies. [I think some things like specialty steels (razor blades) and aluminum (Energy intensive) will become very scarce.] I did one really good thing, and that was to obtain a loggers tool I have not seen in years. I call it a Peavey but it is sometimes known as a cant hook. Used for wrestling with logs, particularly in water such as a river.

Only once before in my life (over 50 years ago) had I met insects that raised significant welts on me. (And I have spent years in the bush, mostly in isolation.) The insects at this location did, enough so that I broke my isolation rule and visited a doctor. Four pills of Benadryl brought me back from sheer agony and fear of major change in plans. (I thought part of the problem was allergies due to advancing age. Maybe, maybe not.) A Calamine lotion with an antihistamine content helped marginally. Anti-allergenics are a must have in your medical kit. (Along with an insect mesh jacket and hood I discovered. The brand name was CAMPAC and within the last couple of days, I am informed that this type of jacket/hood can be purchased in the order of $11, versus the $36 I paid when in a rush.) Stocking enough DEET to be effective would fill a warehouse, although it works well.

I had forgotten what percentage of the time one spends in rubber boots, and how easy it is to poke holes in them. Of course I had a pair, but now I have four good pairs, and would consider more if rubber boots did not deteriorate relatively rapidly, unused.

Glass for windows and light will be sorely missed. Thankfully, I am also skilled in glass making.

After some scouting, the location I picked was on the edge of a swampy area of about 100 acres. Swampy area produces good soil when drained. (And lots of bugs until then! It was probably crown land. The problem in converting the area to farmable land is twofold. One; the trench(s) to drain it, and two the huge stumps and roots it produces, which must be removed or they simply sprout again. (One can do controlled burns it three consecutive years in the spring and it will be largely cleared, except for roots. [Watch for ground fires, particularly the third year] I had neither three years nor the inclination to attract fire rangers to my spot.) I had decided that fuel for mechanical devices would likely be difficult to get in isolation or TEOTWAWKI, so had opted for chain blocks and other hand methods for heavy lifting such as stump removal. I can say these methods do work, but they are very slow and hard work. I had expected to supplant my own muscles with horsepower, but moving animals before having a fixed location is a no go. (Plus animals don’t like biting bugs, which are plentiful around swamps, any more than we do and they move away.) Regarding stumps and roots- you can expect as much wood below ground as above ground. Lots of digging.

I began thinking about an easier way. Eventually, despite my resources being finite, I began to consider some form of small engine driven unit such as a 4 wheel ATV, (Arctic Cat) construction loader (Bobcat) and finally one of the mini-Kubota diggers. (Available in tracked or wheeled models) A regular backhoe would be ideal, and efficient, but it uses about 2-1/2 litres of fuel per hour. (Approximately 4+ litres per US gallon, or 5+ per Imperial gallon) Cost new; $35,000-40,000) At a maximum I felt I could not store a two year supply, if for no other reason than degradation of fuel. (A Kubota is a miniature backhoe, but one can buy attachments such as a blade or bucket.) The Kubota would be rather like emptying a swimming pool with a teaspoon, Can be done, but oh so slowly and ineffectively. (Note: A major problem with any form of backhoe is the hydraulics and their repair. If the hydraulics break anywhere, they may be useless.) For trenching, or digging roots the Kubota would be worth its weight in gold. I do have a chainsaw and spares, with an expected useful life for any engine of less than two years. (Fuel supply)

Overall, horses would be far more efficient than the mini Kubota, and the other small engine machines were non starters. (the BobCat less so than the ATV.) On the other hand, horses require feed. Unless one has a relatively small fenced area, and can bring the food to them, horses travel great distances to forage. I have seen them go 10 miles hobbled, and 20+ miles if un-hobbled, in one night. You can spend all your time chasing horses. (The pioneers often used cattle to draw their wagons as they traveled. Cattle will not wander so much when foraging, and stay in a herd, whereas horses go off in all directions, but are better and faster for hauling.) Since I had no feed to bring to horses, I could not consider other than forage. Until I had enough land cleared for my food and horses food, (Or fences up, and shelter is a higher priority) I would have difficulty getting thru the winter. (Plus, particularly now, I didn’t want visible trails from the road by packing in repeated loads.) Ah, the problems one faces for having a variable plan.

I can hear the questions/arguments now. I do expect land prices (not value) to drop dramatically as the world financial system collapses. (And government and law as we know it to fall apart completely.) Besides, there are few locations with developed land that do not have roads. Where I tried my experiment, there were no roads within five miles, and then only one poor secondary road/fire trail. So far as I know, there were also no habitations within 20 miles or more or even ATV trails either. So, while I am rather closer to a major population center than I would like, I feel that it is unlikely that I will be found easily by an inexperienced group capable of taking me (and those who accompany me) down. In the time available I could not make a significant impact on the ecology, since to build a largish fire to burn downed trees would have the fire rangers investigating instantly. I do believe I have tested out my general plan, and found some problem areas that need addressing. And that was the purpose of the exercise.

Warning: Do not try this at home. It requires lots of experience, particularly in the bush, but in farming as well, and even then success is not guaranteed. And it is so easy to fatally injure yourself, particularly if you are living alone.

Letter Re: Huge Price Hikes by Dow Chemical are an Ominous Inflation Indicator

Jim,
In the news today, Dow Chemical is announcing a 25% price increase, following a 20% increase three weeks ago. Since they produce the feedstock chemicals for almost every industry on earth, this should be a great indicator of what’s coming. – ZBM

JWR Replies: Ay carumba! Dow produces a huge variety of chemicals and compounds that go into everything from fertilizers to plastics. This is an alarming indicator of consumer price increases in the near future. When paired with fuel price jumps, this becomes downright frightening for near-future food prices at the consumer level.

At this point, precious metals investing and a systematic Alpha Strategy (investing in practical tangibles, in anticipation of future price inflation) make even more sense. This based on wise 30-year old advice from author John Pugsley. Echoing Pugsley’s writings, I have been recommending “tangibles, tangibles, tangibles”, for many years now. This strategy is really starting to pay off. Ammo stored in your basement in now much better than money in the bank. (In fact, it is much better than almost anything denominated in US Dollars, which will soon positively melt in the heat of sustained double-digit inflation.) If you have been hesitating, stock up, soon. Every week that you delay will only cost you more!

OBTW, for any of you that feel smug holding Euros, watch out! This inflation will most likely hit globally, so your investments won’t be safe denominated in Euros, either.

Speaking of price inflation, reader ADS passed along the following along:

Score Board — percentage change for the year, so far, in various items:
Crude oil up 42.5%
Ethanol up 20.7%
Heating oil up 43.9%
Natural gas up 76.5%
Unleaded gas up 39.5%
Cattle up 1.0%
Corn up 58.8%
Soy beans up; 26.4%
Wheat down 2.2%
Coffee up 5.9%
Aluminum up 32.7%
Copper up 25.7
Platinum up 33.4%
Gold up 6.0%
Silver up 13.4%.
S&P 500 down 10.24%
Frankfurt DAX down 18.32%
London FTSE down 12.23%
Paris CAC down 19.64%
Hong Kong Hang Sang down 18.33%.
Tokyo Nikkei down 9.47%
Singapore Straits down 14.04%.
Seoul Composite down 9.57%
Sydney All Ordinary down 15.76%
Taipei Telex down 7.40%
Shanghai Shanghai B down 44.42%

You gotta love this one: Outside the Shanghai exchange people were picketing and protesting. It seems they wanted their money back.

One addenda to the data from ADS, from JWR: The reason that beef prices are remaining low is that ranchers are currently dumping cattle onto the market, because of high feed prices. Once that beef has worked its way to market, the remaining cattle (on the hoof) will jump up in price. So we can expect a huge spike in beef prices in 12 to 18 months. Buy your canned and freeze dried meats before those price increases!

Letter Re: An Amazing Closeout Sale

Jim, Memsahib, et al:
I just finished an order into LAPoliceGear.com they’ve had this clearance sale going on for about three weeks. And I didn’t take a close look at the boots section, until today.

Some of the Bates boots (women’s) are $9.99, regular price as much as $169.99. And the sizes available tend toward those with smaller feet. They also have a closeout on 5.11 pants, if you buy this stuff new it’s $50 a pair, on sale for $17. Lensatic compasses for five bucks (non-tritium). And some other nifty stuff.

Thought you might like to pass along the link to their boot web page. A little scrolling about and you can find the other closeout items listed on the left hand side of the page. – Jim H. in Colorado

JWR Replies: Thanks for the heads-up. We just just ordered two pair of boots for The Memsahib. At just $9.99 per pair for new American-made boots, that is a Hotel Sierra deal! Who cares if they are “cosmetic rejects”. If looks could kill, there would be dead bodies littering the streets.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Thirty years on, inflation makes global comeback. I’ve said it before: In many ways, the current economy is starting to resemble the 1970s.

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From a San Diego, California newspaper: Diesel shortage hits other cities. The article mentions Americans crossing the border to buy government subsidized gas and diesel.

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Hawaiian K. notes: “Awareness seems to be bubbling up across the political spectrum. See this article [from a left-of-center web site].”

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Bill in Wyoming was the first of several readers to send us this article link: Food brawls among Wisconsin flood victims

Note from JWR:

I occasionally hear from readers that some of the links to third party web sites in my older posts no longer work. Unfortunately, we live in an era where people change URLs and e-mail addresses almost as frequently as they change their socks. If you find any broken links in any of my static pages (the pages available with the buttons at the top of the main SurvivalBlog page) or if you find any broken links in any of the daily posts that are less two weeks old, then please let me know via e-mail, and I will do my best to update them. (I greatly appreciate hearing from you!) But unfortunately, I don’t have the time to continuously update the links in the SurvivalBlog Archives.

Letter Re: Low RPM Diesel Generator Availability

Dear James –
Thanks for the great article link on “growing fuel” and thanks again for all the information at SurvivalBlog!

Low speed diesels [that were recently mentioned in the blog] such as the Lister and Listeroid clones are fantastic, but sadly that ship has sailed. The anemic dollar, high metal prices, rising shipping costs and the hassle of US Customs have pretty much halted importation. Also, word is that [the US] EPA will soon (if they haven’t already) re-block importation of these marvels because they don’t meet emissions requirements for stationary engines. As to that, Listeroids are extremely efficient so they might just meet standards – it’s more likely that the cost of certification is prohibitive.

Sadly, the annual total emissions of these stationary power plants are meaningless in the grand scheme, and that’s obviously not the real purpose of such inane regulation. Anyway, there are emissions-legal alternatives (the Yanmar, Weichai, et cetera.) but they’re more expensive and not widely distributed. Also, they’re less suited to running vegetable oil fuels and may require a bit of modification for this purpose. To make matters worse, I’m told by the folks who sold me my Listeroid that the Chinese expeller presses that press the oil from seeds have likewise soared in price and are practically impossible to come by.
Yet another indicator of how late it really is [to prepare]. Regards, – Fred H.

JWR Replies: Lister clone engines do pop up on the secondary market here in the US. Watch for them vigilantly at Craigslist.com and in newspaper and “nickel” paper classified ads. Note that not all sellers will use the correct terms Lister or Listeroid in their ad titles, so also do searches on “low RPM Diesel” or “one cylinder diesel”. OBTW, SurvivalBlog reader Glenn recommends Central Maine Diesel as a source.

Letter Re: Economic Impact of Increasing Gas Prices and Declining Real Estate Prices

Mr Rawles:
I sent you a link awhile back about the old timer from Wall Street who is still working in the industry and lived through the first Depression – he was greatly worried about what was coming. I agreed with your assessment that he was wrong about staying in stocks. My own former husband is a Wall Streeter who has moved much of his money out of the country now. He manages part of my own retirement portfolio and has been saying that what’s coming is going to be horrific to bear. His grandparents arrived in the US at the start of the Depression and proceeded to buckle down and weather it out. He agrees that we just don’t have that kind of overall wherewithal left in our collective psyche to ride this out nicely.
I work in dual careers, one for a consulting firm. My other career is as a critical care RN – I went to business school on my employer’s dime, so no loans. No debt. I know now that I can never give up nursing altogether – it will be needed in any coming disaster on a large scale.

My husband and I now faithfully read your blog and are implementing more than our standard for hurricane weather, as we still spend so much time in Florida. Being debt free is God’s blessing because it allows more to be freed up for preps and emergency spending. (We are buying from your advertisers.) As I casually send links to friends and warn them of life changing on a massive scale, there are more in agreement, even if they don’t understand the economic lies being fed into the machine. One is on the edge of liquidating solid performing accounts to buy waterfront property that is about $300,000+ than they could be comfortable in. They own almost free and clear now, near the water. I told her to stay put.

People are already flipped out about $4.00 gas and it’s hitting the lowest tier of workers – they are fast being unable to get to work to keep the jobs they do have, never mind other errands. What happens as it creeps out further – violence will erupt.

Many of the patients I see (I work two weekends a month in a major city university hospital) are at the bottom of the barrel – fewer and fewer people are coming in with full insurance – almost all have great stress as to how to pay for the care they’re receiving. All of this: food/oil prices, corn diversion for ethanol, mortgage mess by crooks, stagnant wages/layoffs, now floods in the Midwest, have combined to give us the perfect economic storm. (As an aside, watch the CNN special this weekend titled “Out Of Gas” – it’s from a few years back, but still timely. James Woolsey, former CIA director, is probably a SurvivalBlog reader: The man has had his home and life prepared for years, and is interviewed in the piece. A CIA Director thinking ahead like that says that there was something in the mix years back that portended this…)

You also had a piece from Mike Morgan up this week – part of his real estate blog. I’m from Florida, still own a home there in Sarasota that is safely rented and cared for by family. Everyone in Florida listens to Mike Morgan – he’s the “E.F. Hutton” equivalent for real estate and trend casting. Now he can legally dispense investment advice having passed his Series 65 [license]. Here are a couple excerpts from the blog this past week that show he’s not mincing words about looming human disaster ahead: – Lisa, RN

Two Letters Re: Tomorrow’s Headlines? — A Nationwide Banking Panic

Hi James,
First, thanks for sharing Mike [“Mish”} Shedlock’s recent article with the SurvivalBlog.com community. Like you, I’ve grown to trust his observations and analysis and I read his work as often as I read yours – daily.

I wanted to add a couple of comments, which will strengthen both Mish’s and your viewpoints concerning your observations on the potential for a nationwide banking panic.

First – is that [as mentioned,] the FDIC is preparing for this crisis right now, by hiring back some retirees, with specific experience in dealing with bank failures, as they are expecting a large number of banks to fail. This is, of course, very big news and we all know the obvious reasons why this announcement was so poorly lit by the mainstream shills.

Second, FDIC is no longer capable of insuring all of the coming bank failures, so it is astonishing to me that they can actually raise their limits on how much they can insure. This seems like a desperate attempt to head off a panic state. At this point in time, I see very little chance that this crisis can end without at least several major failures. Once everyone learns that FDIC cannot insure all which they claim they can, then it may be game over and a gargantuan panic far beyond anyone’s wildest expectations could, indeed, unfold.

They will reap what they sow. Regards, – HHH

Sir:
I earn my income from two primary sources, one from a “dot.mil” source and the other from a “dot.edu” source. I have made moderate progress on preps and other issues, but have one external factor that I cannot control very much, short of an unrealistic change in jobs (I will have earned my retirement in another five years, for example, from one of the jobs).

Both of my income sources require the use of [payroll] Direct Deposit. I cannot change that without changing my employer. I have some savings, cash and precious metals, but my regular income flow is purely electronic. Are there reasonable steps in that area I can take to protect myself from a banking crisis? Are there special vulnerabilities I should be aware of for this type of pay method? Thanks! – Todd in Virginia

JWR Replies: Anyone trapped in a “direct deposit only” payroll system has limited options in the event of a banking panic. If the banking panic is widespread or if there is a nationwide “bank holiday” declared, I suspect that many employers will revert to paper paychecks within a few weeks after the crisis begins.

The best thing that you can do is to have your direct deposit sent to a checking account that is in a relatively safe bank that has minimal exposure to subprime mortgage debt. For many years, I have recommended Weiss Ratings (now part of TheStreet.com) as an information source for judging the safety of banks and insurers, for my consulting clients. Marty Weiss and his staff do excellent research and, unlike Standard & Poors, they are truly independent and objective.

The only other thing that comes to mind is keeping the equivalent of three months worth of rent and important expenditures on hand in greenback cash or in very liquid assets (such as precious metals), at home, as a reserve. I realize that A.) Few readers have that sort of cash available, B.) You will be foregoing any interest income on the cash, and leaving it fully vulnerable to inflation, and C.) It will be vulnerable to theft. To minimize that latter risk, construct a Rawles “Through the Looking Glass” wall or door cache, or something similar.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Matt Bracken suggested this economic commentary with a preparedness message by James Macfarlane: The Thin Red White & Blue Line. Matt’s comment: “Make sure to read to the “What to Do” section at the end of the essay.” Macfarlane’s essay ends with this: “The wisest words I heard lately are these: In the next few years it’s not going to be about where you live, but about whom you live with. Make friends with your neighbors.”

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Krys in Idaho found this ABC News piece for us: Everything Seemingly Is Spinning out of Control. A comment from Krys: “This article shows that even the mainstream press is no longer able to deny the truth. KYPD.”

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The floods in the midwestern US still aren’t over, but their end is in sight. Forecaster: End is near to Mississippi River rise. BTW the floods will make already tight grain supplies even more scarce in the next year. I hope that SurvivalBlog readers stocked up, many months ago.

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The Memsahib notes: This morning I was looking back through my farm journals. In the Fall of 1995 we bought grass hay for $75 a ton (delivered and stacked!) We bought 50 pound sacks of cracked corn for $8. My total feed cost per ewe (excluding what that ate at pasture) was $41.12 per year. Given today’s feed costs, I think that we are going to have to raise the asking price for our lambs and kid goats next spring.