Odds ‘n Sods:

“John Adams” mentioned this: For those of you with high speed Internet connections: Basic Urban Skills Training: Concealment Does Not Equal Cover. (A very interesting 20 minute USMC training film showing extensive live fire building penetration tests, produced by Dahlgren Laboratories.)

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Rob at MURS Radios reports: “Response to the $98 SurvivalBlog.com MURS Radio [pair of handheld transceivers] special has been terrific! I sold out 25 pairs in one day but I am happy to report that I was able to negotiate the same discount ($98 a pair and free shipping) on another batch of these radios. These radios will be available on or about January 5, 2007 and I am accepting pre-orders for these radios now (see the update on my SurvivalBlog.com special web page).”

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Yorie in Pennsylvania mentioned this piece from the Hebrew language a7.org web site: “The Shaar HaNegev Regional Council which is responsible for 16,000 residents and students is now formulating evacuation plans if damage from Kassam rockets becomes unbearable. ‘The situation is getting worse and worse. We’re not strong. We don’t have an army behind us. We don’t have a government behind us,’ said Mechi Fendel, resident of Sderot. Over sixty-five rockets have fallen on the besieged communities during a month-long “cease fire” between Israel and terrorist factions in Gaza. While Prime Minister Ehud Olmert clings to a policy of restraint against the terrorists, residents of the battered towns are growing scared.”

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“And the thing about my jokes is, they don’t hurt anybody. You can take ’em or leave ’em – you can say they’re funny or they’re terrible or they’re good, or whatever, but you can just pass ’em by. But with Congress, every time they make a joke, it’s a law! And every time they make a law, it’s a joke!” – Will Rogers

Two Letters Re: Recommended Versatile Dog Breeds for Retreat Security

Jim,
One of the biggest problems with the largest dog breeds is that they don’t live very long. We have three Irish Wolfhounds, all males, they are great dogs, very friendly and outgoing. Not good guard dogs, I think, but their size will scare most people. One of them would make a great hunter if we let him (we live in the city). However, the average life expectancy of an Irish Wolfhound is 6.5 years, and this is the same for Great Danes, Mastiffs etc. The belief is that their hearts just give out, since they have been bred to large for a dogs heart to support. So one of the problems would be that when you finally got them trained, and they are stubborn, you would only have a couple of years before you would have to start over.

They don’t eat as much as you would expect, no more than a large Shepard or Rottweiler would, because they are not that active. I agree with your comments that a medium size dog is likely a more effective compromise. Thanks, I enjoy reading SurvivalBlog.- I.S.

Hi Jim,
I had opportunity over year ago to visit a place in semi rural Los Altos Hills (next to Stanford University) Seems a mountain lion had been taking chickens from a relatively open pen. The homeowner had a big Rhodesian Ridgeback who she said feared very little and was quite protective of the place from even pedestrians walking by on the road. Anyway, the incident that the homeowner saw was mountain lion (no visual contact, only evidence of the intrusion) somewhere on the property caused the Ridgeback to run to the back patio and whimper to be let in. Maybe this Ridgeback had lost some of his cousins’ bravery in lion fighting from the dark continent. Anyway, point is, no matter the [breed of] dog, anything can happen. – Tim

JWR Replies: As with most of the other mammalian predators, in canines, hunting skills are primarily learned rather than instinctual. Don’t count on breeding alone to be assured that your dog will know how to hunt, or in the case of guard dogs, know how to physically defend against an intruder. Dogs need training, just like we do.

Letter Re: Minimum Safe Distance From The Big City for Retreat Locales

Mr. Rawles,
If one takes the Rawles Ranch criteria for minimum safe distance from large metropolitan areas – 400 miles from an area of 1 million or more, then one has eliminated all of the west except Montana north of Helena and North Dakota west of Bismarck (With a small piece of South Dakota northwest of Pierre too). Indeed, all of Idaho (the state mentioned in your novel “Patriots”) is excluded by circles drawn on Seattle and Salt Lake. My area of interest (when I’ve paid off the land and can afford to move) in the Big Horn area of Wyoming is excluded by the circle on Denver. Most points south are excluded by circles centered on Phoenix and Fort Worth. (I haven’t even considered the impact of Juarez.)
Even 300 mile circles on cities of 1 million or more only adds small parts of Idaho and Nevada.

While a safe distance criteria is an important consideration, living closer to cities (but off of major lines of drift) may be more important to most of your readers in the western USA. Long term, the agricultural climate and radiological hazards may be very important as well. However, the more I read from your blog, as well as “classical” sources like Mel Tappan, Robert Heinlein, and David Brin, leads me to conclude that living in or near a small community of like minded, prepared people may be the most important criteria of all. – Sun Dog

JWR Replies: The location of the Rawles Ranch–400+ miles from the nearest major metro area–was an admittedly ultraconservative selection. We like our elbow room and we prefer to have more deer and elk than people for neighbors. In conversations with my consulting clients, I often cite 200 miles as a typical “safe distance” figure, and 300+ miles as the ideal. I suppose that I would only feel nervous within a 150 mile radius. It is interesting that you mention Ciudad Juarez. That is one of the population centers that is shown as a “cross border” threat in one of the maps in my recently released non-fiction book Rawles on Retreats and Relocation.

Letter Re: Manpower Requirements for Defending a Retreat in a Worst Case, and the Jealous Neighbor Factor

James:

The “Mr. and Mrs. Oscar” profile was most interesting. For a lot of us, probably the epitome of “If I had the money, my retreat would be…” On the downside, I would be concerned with:

1. The problem of defending/patrolling the property. A quarter section translates to a full mile of frontier. In a full SHTF situation, I’d want a trustworthy, commo equipped, well-armed loyal soul every 100 yards or so. If those folks put in 12 hour shifts, you’d need about 35 hands for perimeter security. That doesn’t take into account the roving patrols on the interior of the compound, nor the rapid response fire team(s).

2. The “jealous neighbor” factor. Human nature being what it is, you can bet that there’s a few locals who figure that when the balloon goes up, “Those rich people with that big house should have grub to spare.”

3. Every fella who delivers gas, propane and diesel knows all the details of his route. People talk.

4. With all those Class 2 weapons, I’d be concerned about being a bit too high on the radar screen.

5. The problem with “Meeting others of our ilk.” is widespread. I wish I had an answer.

All in all, a most interesting read. – Hawgtax

JWR Replies: The level of security that you describe (35 people!) would only be required if you had a retreat that was close to a city or right on a line of drift and it was an absolute worst case scenario. I think that even in the midst of TEOTWAWKI, having just one or two LP/OPs manned 24/7 and supplemented with intrusion detection sensors (such as a Dakota Alert passive IR system) and some trip flares would be provide sufficient warning to quickly man a defense. Once it is clear to the bad guys that you are on your guard and well armed.(just one burst of semi-auto high power rifle fire would probably be good clue) then looters will go find an softer and more inattentive target elsewhere.

Odds ‘n Sods:

The Werewolf, our correspondent in Brazil, noticed an Amazon Shorts downloadable e-book “Peak Oil and Personal Preparation for It” by Steven Woeste available for just 49 cents.

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The Rude Awakening notes that pre-1983 U.S. pennies “contain about 3 grams of copper and about .1 grams of zinc. Current metallic value: 2.4 cents per penny.” Post-1982 pennies, which contain almost no copper whatsoever (they are just copper flashed zinc tokens), are “rapidly approaching metallic parity, thanks to the soaring price of zinc. These later pennies contain 97.6% zinc and 2.4% copper. Current metallic value: .89 cents per penny.” OBTW, don’t miss the interesting thread over at The Claire Files on this same topic.

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Christopher Laird of PrudentSquirrel.com has a great piece titled: “USD – 2007 A Final Year?” posted over at the Gold-Eagle site.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Western values are superior to all others. Why? The indispensable achievement of the West was the concept of individual rights. It’s the idea that individuals have certain inalienable rights and individuals do not exist to serve government but governments exist to protect these inalienable rights. It took until the 17th century for that idea to arrive on the scene and mostly through the works of English philosophers such as John Locke and David Hume. While Western values are superior to all others, one need not be a Westerner to hold Western values. A person can be Chinese, Japanese, Jewish, African or Arab and hold Western values. It’s no accident that Western values of reason and individual rights have produced unprecedented health, life expectancy, wealth and comfort for the ordinary person. There’s an indisputable positive relationship between liberty and standards of living. Western values are by no means secure. They’re under ruthless attack by the academic elite on college campuses across America. These people want to replace personal liberty with government control; they want to replace equality with entitlement; they want to halt progress in the name of protecting the environment. As such, they pose a much greater threat to our way of life than any terrorist or rogue nation. Multiculturalism and diversity are a cancer on our society, and, ironically, with our tax dollars and charitable donations, we’re feeding it.” – Dr. Walter Williams

Letter Re: Can I Burn Off Road Diesel Fuel in a Modern Diesel Engine?

James
In the letter from “John in Central New York State’, he says that most late model diesels with electronic ignitions won’t work with off road diesel fuel. Do you know why? Thanks, J.P. in Montana

JWR Replies: I believe that John’s statement was not entirely correct. Most Diesel engines can run just fine on the off road fuel or even home heating oil (called “red diesel”, in England), but they cannot legally do so on public roads in the U.S. and the UK. The formulations of Home Heating Oil, “off road diesel”, and road taxed No. 2 Diesel fuel are virtually identical. The only statutory differences are A.) The dye added to the off road fuel (to prevent cheating on the road tax) and, B.) The Federal standard for ash content, which is slightly higher for off road fuel. (At worst, this might mean that you injectors might become fouled more often.) The very recently mandated reformulation of “ultra low sulfur” diesel (ULSD) fuel in the U.S. actually makes the formulations of home heating fuel and diesel even more similar. (The older diesel formulation had sulfur added to aid in the lubrication of engine components.) In fact, a considerable quantity of home heating oil comes directly from the same production runs as diesel fuel. For all intents and purposes, the only difference is the dye and lack of tax. A reader of SurvivalBlog informed me that both Stanidyne and Delphi produce an electromechanical pump for some on road applications that use an electric eye to read timing. These types of fuel systems cannot be run on dyed fuel. So before you buy a diesel that was made in or after 1989, be sure that the vehicle’s engine does not have a Stanidyne and Delphi electromechanical pump. If you must make a diesel vehicle purchase without knowing for certain what type of fuel pump that they have, to be safe buy only pre 1989-on road engines and pre-2004 off road/marine engines.

If need be, Diesel No. 1 fuel (kerosene) can also be substituted for Diesel No. 2, albeit with less power and at greater expense. According to an Exxon web page, blending a No. 2 diesel fuel with No. 1 diesel (kerosene) is probably the most common approach to dealing with winter operability for diesels. The Exxon site warns: “But, the use of Diesel Fuel No. 1 reduces power and fuel economy, and often is more expensive, so minimizing the amount of No. 1 Fuel in the blend is an important consideration. Another approach to reduce the filter plugging incidence is to use wax-modifying additives. These additives can give operability benefits equivalent to No. 1 Fuel blending without the power and fuel economy losses.”

OBTW, I discuss alternative vehicle fuels (such as as home heating fuel, biodiesel, “greasel”, aviation gasoline, and natural gas “drip” oil condensates) in my recently released non-fiction book Rawles on Retreats and Relocation.

Letter Re: Advice on Small-Scale Grain Growing, Harvesting, and Processing

Hi,
I love your survival site. I was wondering about finding low cost or fairly low cost equipment to harvest, thresh, winnow and hull grains such as wheat, barley, millet, oats, etc. Also low cost equipment to extract oil from seeds such as sunflower seeds. I’ve done an extensive search on the Internet and can find very little that is meant for a family or small group of people. Manual (hand power) or electric/gas/diesel are all of interest. Being able to process and use grains is extremely important but I don’t know of any sites that sell survival equipment that sell such things. Many sell grain mills and some sell corn/pea shellers but not much more. – Nancy

JWR Replies: To begin, I should mention that the book Small-Scale Grain Raising by Gene Logsdon is an invaluable reference that every prepared family should have on their bookshelf. (ISBN 0-87857-134-5 for hardback or ISBN 0-87857-147-7 for paperback.) Used copies can often be found at bargain prices on eBay .(I even once bought a copy of it there for just the opening bid of one penny, plus postage!) or at Amazon.com.

Your seed stocks should be all non-hybrid (“heirloom”) varieties, so that the seed that you save from each harvest will breed true and continue to produce, year after year. (Hybrid varieties won’t!) Heirloom seed is available from The Ark Institute, the Seed Savers Exchange, and Ready Made Resources. Bulk quantities of grain seed should be stored in the proverbial “cool, dark, dry place.” They must be kept very, very dry to prevent mold or unintended sprouting. They must also be kept in sturdy, vermin proof containers. (Think steel, not plastic.)

One our preferred grains for growing on a small acreage is barley. As a general rule, you should plant winter barley in regions where winter wheat is grown and spring barley where spring wheat is grown.

If you live in deer country, you will probably find their depredations on your grain fields unacceptable unless you erect some substantial fences. If you can’t afford to install tall fences around your grain fields, one alternative is to plant “bearded” varieties of barley. (Deer generally won’t eat the awns of bearded barley.)

If you have any ground that is swampy from spring to fall on your property (“wetlands” in the modern politically correct parlance), consider planting domesticated wild rice in those areas. Technically “wild rice” isn’t really rice at all, since it is in the grass genus (Zirzania) rather than the rice genus (Oryza.) Like other grain growing, planting wild rice will also attract waterfowl and other birds, which can be a mixed blessing. So consider a shotgun and beau coup shotgun shells to be part of your assortment grain growing essential tools.

Tools and Equipment: Raising grain takes not only seed stock but also the proper tools and equipment. Buy the best quality equipment that you can find. Concentrate on 19th Century technology. This is low tech and easy to maintain. It is amazing what you can find on eBay if you check there consistently. Unfortunately, however, some practical items such as scythes and hand mills are now sold as “decorator” antiques. Yuppies and retirees that merely want to decorate their homes have driven up prices. (Grumble, grumble.) In recent years, I’ve seen antique dealers that charge more for worn-out (filed down to nothing) scythes with rusty “patina” than you would pay for a brand new one bought from Lehman’s.

Planting. A seed broadcaster is a must. Get an adjustable hand crank seed broadcaster that you strap around your waist. For really big fields, you might need a wheeled (push) row seeder. Even on a small scale, a one-wheel “dial a seed” planter is a huge labor saver. These are all available through Lehmans.com. One a large scale, horse drawn or tractor pulled equipment is called for. (That goes beyond the scope of what I’m writing here, but it is described fairly well in Logsdon’s book.) When to plant varies depending on the last frost-free day in your region. Look at standard references for planting depths, frequency, and crop rotation.

Harvesting and Processing: For corn, you will need a couple of corn knives and some husking pegs (to strap to your palm.) For wheat and other small grains, at the very minimum you will need for reaping is a hand scythe, but for any decent scale of production, you will need a large cradle type scythe. There are plans for building a small grain threshing machine in Gene Logsdon’s book. In a pinch, you can thresh grain by hand on a large clean concrete barn floor.

There are a variety of hand-cranked machines made specifically for hulling (‘pearling”) rice and barley, for pressing oil, for shelling corn, peas, and so forth. If you grow sorghum or cane sugar, you will need yet another type of hand crank press. Finding these machines may take some searching, because small hand cranked machines are now essentially obsolete outside of the Third World. (But they are eminently practical for folks like us, who are preparing for TEOTWAWKI.). Used machines that are still in good working order can sometimes be found on the Internet, but if you don’t mind paying a premium price for brand new machines, I again recommend Lehmans.com.

The grain mill that I recommend is the Country Living mill (available from Ready Made Resources.) Yes, they are expensive, but they are built to last a lifetime. We’ve had one here at the Rawles Ranch for more than a decade. Unlike the inexpensive Mexican and Eastern European mills (such as the Corona brand), the Country Living mill has proper sealed bearings and replaceable burrs, for long service life.You also need to consider the service life of your teeth. If you eat a lot of bread made with flour from an inexpensive stone burr grinder, it will be at the expense of your tooth enamel. The Country Living mill is also designed to be used either with its included hand crank, or by fan belt drive. (Adaptable to either electric motor power, or powered by a bicycle frame for someone with basic welding skills.) Nearly all hand mills have adjustable burrs. They can be adjusted all the way from rough cracking, down to corn meal grinding, and finally down to bread flour milling. To mill fine flour you will have to run the flour through the mill at least twice.

Storage: Whether for human consumption or for livestock feed, you will need to properly store what you harvest to protect it from spoilage and vermin. If the moisture content is low enough to prevent mold, then plain galvanized trash barrels (bought brand new) will suffice for small scale grain storage. On a larger scale, a prefabricated storage shed, such as those made by Butler are ideal. Corn still on the ear should be stored in a traditional slatted wooden corn crib or in a well-ventilated Butler building.

Handling: Buy a large aluminum scoop grain shovel. (The lighter the better, so that it will be less tiring to use.) For moving corn that is still on ears, you will want to have a corn drag. (A drag is a rake with just three or four very long tines.)

“Berry” Soaking: Whole grain wheat can be soaked for 24 hours to make wheat berries. This makes a quite palatable and nutritious breakfast food, when warmed and served with milk or cream and a dash of honey or molasses.

Sprouting: To get the maximum nutrition from the grain that you raise, you should plan to sprout the majority of it. For some details on sprouting, see the article “Wheat Sprouts and Wheatgrass as Survival Foods”, by SF in Hawaii. It is one the writing contest winners posted at the SurvivalBlog Writing Contest page. Lay in supplies for sprouting and practice the art of sprouting before the balloon goes up!

Practice, practice, practice!: As with any other newly acquired skill, grain raising, harvesting, storage, milling, and sprouting will take practice. Develop your expertise now, when any mistakes will be merely humorous blunders rather than potentially life-threatening disasters.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Mike M. gave a thumbs up for the Nader Khalili’s sandbag building technique recently mentioned in SurvivalBlog. Mike says: “This is great stuff. Our church has been trying this building technique for use in Mexico. It would make a great shelter for short or long term use.” See: http://www.calearth.org/

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The remnants of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party have threatened to retaliate if their leader is executed.

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Courtesy of Gold-Eagle, Joshua Fritsch offers some interesting charts showing the bull market in gold. The best is yet to come.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Big government by its very nature is government that intrudes in people’s lives, usurps their rights and responsibilities and confiscates their money. There is nothing conservative about any of this. Regardless of how benevolent and well-meaning its intentions are, government expands almost entirely for the purpose of controlling and regulating the lives of its citizens. Each act of government, each law passed, each regulation written is a step toward limiting the freedom of some one or some group or some organization or some business or industry. Granted, some of these steps may be necessary but most of them are not. So let’s not kid ourselves. If conservatives are people who put freedom ahead of security and individual rights ahead of government control, then it must follow that they are opposed to big government. This being the case, a policy of ‘big government conservatism’ is merely an excuse for wayward conservatives to justify moving leftward and anyone who denies this is an ignoramus, a fool or a hypocrite.” – Lyn Nofziger

From The Memsahib: Survivalism and Personality Types–Pessimists and Optimists

I’ll be curious to see if the recently released TEOTWAWKI futurist movie Children of Men inspires any greater interest in preparedness. From what I’ve read about the gritty realism of the film, it might. But then, Jim thought the same thing back in August when he heard about the television series Jericho. Apparently it attracted considerable fan following and inspired some debate, but little action. From what I’ve heard from the food storage and other preparedness vendors, their market went into a slump last fall. With the current global threats–most notably Iranian and North Korean nuclear saber rattling, both Sunni and Shiite terrorist threats, and sharp decline of the dollar in international currency markets–you would think that the average American or resident of western Europe would be scared out of their socks, and stocking up, big time. But for some reason people are in denial. Instead of preparing, Mr. and Mrs. John Doe are cocooning at home, watching their newly-acquired plasma big screen HDTVs. As a realist, I’d much rather have $1,000 worth of storage food and practical tools than a $1,000 television. Which brings me to a strange irony. Survivalists are optimists! Who else but an optimist believes that we can survive a nuke attack or biological warfare! More precisely, we survivalists are optimistic pessimists, we do think the world is going to heck in a hand basket. But we also think that we can take steps to ensure the survival and even comfort of ourselves, our loved ones, and even our neighbors.

Some people have an essentially optimistic nature. They feel that they can survive TEOTWAWKI with enough preparation. Therefore,in the face of overwhelming threats preparing makes them feel better. But other people have a pessimistic nature and believe that there is no way that anyone could survive TEOTWAWKI, so they consciously avoid reading the newspaper, watching the international news, and so forth. The truth is much too difficult for them to face in their daily lives. This is why they choose to escape via their HDTVs.

In a simplified form, I see four personality types:

There is the optimistic pessimist, which I believe typifies survivalists. We see the collapsing state of the world. But we believe we can make a difference in our fate through concerted training, logistical preparation, self-sufficiency measures, favorable geography, and teamwork.

The optimistic optimist believes that the world is just getting better and a better every day. The world’s governments and the world’s scientists can solve all our problems. These people don’t prepare for anything. They aren’t saving for retirement. They may even be eating fatty sugary foods, getting no exercise, maybe even smoking and drinking to excess because they believe science will cure all diseases too! They are borrowing against the equity in the homes because they believe the housing market always go up.

Then there is the pessimistic optimist who believe we are living in the best possible time in history. Nothing can go wrong they tell themselves. But they secretly believe that if there was a TEOTWAWKI event, no one could survive it. So therefore they retreat further into their optimistic delusion for mental self-preservation. This makes up the vast majority of Americans. Having been brought up in public schools teaching evolution, they are taught that human beings are evolving to become more and more intelligent and more and more civilized. American children are are taught that world governments have, like mankind, evolved to be more civilized and intelligent. (And if we all cooperate with them, all the world’s problems can be solved.) But I rather suspect Mr. and Mrs. John Doe are scared out of their socks because despite all that they have been taught about mankind’s advancement, it is obvious that human nature hasn’t changed since Cain slew Abel.

Then there is the pessimistic pessimist. They know the world is going to heck in a hand basket. They believe nothing can be done about it, and no one can survive TEOTWAWKI. A few may live like hedonists. Eat drink and charge the credit card to the max, for tomorrow we will die. Some may embrace “the culture of death.” But most feel helpless. They don’t prepare because they have no hope.

Of course this is an oversimplification. People really can’t be pigeon holed into just four personality types. But I hope this might be food for thought. If we can understand our neighbors’ point of view we can motivate them with arguments that address their particular concerns.

 

Two Letters Re: Recommended Versatile Dog Breeds for Retreat Security

In your 11, August 2005 post (yes, I’m reading the archives) you asked for a review from people who have owned Airedale(s) for an extended period of time. My family has lived with airedale terriers for about 20 years so I might have a little insight. Overall, these animals tend to be highly intelligent, very friendly to family and friends and incredibly headstrong. Their hunting instincts and abilities are amazing. For example, one of our Airedales managed to catch a good sized rodent while on a short lead (approximately two feet of slack). The downside to these wonderful animals is a tendency to be headstrong and intelligent. However, they love to work for you. An alternative I would like to suggest is a Giant Schnauzer. Until recently they were considered to be terriers and are slightly larger than the Airedales. I don’t have a lot of experience with the Giant Schnauzers yet, but so far they appear to be Airedales on steroids. They have a more solid body and a more massive frame. If anything they seem to be more intelligent than the Airedales and at least as headstrong. One thing I have noticed is that the Giant Schnauzers appear more menacing than Airedales. Overall, either of these breeds would be of great help in case of TEOTWAWKI. I hope this helps, I will do my best to answer any further questions you may have.- Gregg

Sir,
I am looking for a dog and we need some help on a breed. I have a wife and a two-year-old daughter. We need a dog that will be protective of the family from both two-legged and four-legged predators. (We have a large number of black bears where we live)Some of the breeds that have been suggested are the Akita, American Bulldog, Chesapeake Bay retriever and the Rhodesian Ridgeback. As I highly value your opinion. Would you please let me know your thoughts on the subject? Thank you for your time and help. – Ron

JWR Replies: I generally prefer medium size, very loyal, territorial, and versatile breeds such as the Airedale Terrier, Standard Poodle, and the Rhodesian Ridgeback. Of those three, the best choice for a novice owner or someone with small children is the standard Poodle, since the other two breeds are just too stubborn for most novice dog owner to handle. Gregg’s suggestion of the Giant Schnauzer (also called the Riesenschnauzer) is something to consider, but as Gregg pointed out, this is another very willful breed. The breed has been used as a police dog in Europe. “According to one Giant Schnauzer rescue, ‘without the correct training, they may bite kids. They are not suitable for homes with children under the age of 14 years old.'”

I don’t recommend getting any of the largest breeds or keeping more than two dogs unless you have a giant source of protein to feed your dogs. (For example, if you raise hogs, cattle, or large numbers of chickens or rabbits.) If you do have that sort of larder, then Rottweilers and German Shepherds might also be viable options for retreat security. Regardless of your choice of breed, buy only from a reputable breeder that offers a guarantee against genetic defects such as hip dysplasia and epilepsy. (In Ridgebacks, for example, both hip dysplasia and dermoid sinus.) Avoid line-bred puppy mill dogs. Look for bloodlines that emphasize field practicality rather than just show quality conformation. Ask the breeder if he has any “pet quality” dogs. (Remember, you are looking for disposition–not perfect markings.) Select a pup with a mild temperament that displays intelligence. Be willing and ready to invest plenty of time to training and acclimating your dog so that it bonds with your family and consider the family his “pack” to be defended.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Mike the Blacksmith recommended this article: How Our Civilization Can Fall.

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The first episode of the Front Sight Challenge reality television series will air for the first time on on January 5, 2007. Naish Piazza tells me that the series will be available to cable and satellite television viewers in 70 million homes around the globe. I predict that this exposure will cause a spike in Front Sight course enrollments, so make your reservations soon. Because of the hot climate in southern Nevada, in my experience the most pleasant months to attend are October through April. Those of you that are northerners will find that a trip to Front Sight in January or February makes a great respite from the snow.

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Rob at MURS Radios is extending an exclusive offer to SurvivalBlog readers. He has a limited number of $49 MURS radios to offer to SurvivalBlog readers that include free shipping. Rob was able to procure this batch at a discount and is passing along the savings to SurvivalBlog readers. He has created a special page for these radios with ordering details. Follow the directions on this page to reserve your radios. First come, first served!