Letter Re: Advice on Purchasing Priorities For a Tight Budget

Mr. Rawles,
Hello again! Hope you and your family are doing well. I have had some questions on my mind lately, and was curious if you would mind helping me. (I know you must be tremendously busy with our “strong” economy!). My wife and I are both college students in Santa Cruz, California, and we have a very limited amount of storage space and limited income. Are there any tricks or pieces of advice you have for individuals like ourselves? I recently spent my tax refund on some firearms (which were from a federal firearms dealer :-[ ) and now I was curious about the next step. I contacted “Wiggy’s” from your web site about some sleeping bags, but feel like a water filter would be a better investment at the moment. Thanks for your time!

OBTW, I feel like California is turning into a commune, I literally have less freedoms than I had recently thought. – V. from California

JWR Replies: Given the mild climate on the California coast, a water filter is much more important than cold weather gear for your next purchase. I recommend the American-made Aqua Rain brand. These are similar to the Big Berkey (imported from England), but they only cost half as much. (The US Dollar’s recent slip versus the British Pound has sadly further widened this price gap.) Please compare prices with our advertisers such as Safecastle, JRH Enterprises, and Ready Made Resources, before buying elsewhere. Next, consider buying from our affiliate advertisers like Lehman’s and Nitro-Pak. OBTW, if you contact any of our advertisers, then please mention where you saw their ad. Thanks!

Odds ‘n Sods:

Fellow novelist Matt Bracken mentioned this article: Farms of fear, about murders in rural South Africa. It gives some useful glimpses, when considering security measures for retreats in the not-too-distant Schumeresque future.

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Speaking of Harder Homes and Gardens, ponder this piece: Bulletproof public design in Los Angeles. (A hat tip to James K.)

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Inyokern spotted this sobering piece: Into the Economic Abyss: How Deep Will It Go? Even the mainstream media is catching on…

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Reader “EL” suggested using propane for a source of lighting. EL notes “The Amish in our area use it through out their buildings. Using three 30# and (2) 20# barbeque tanks with a accessory hose and fitting running a single mantle lantern from Wal-Mart, the set up (determined by testing hours of burn time from (1) 20# tank) is all that’s needed to get five hours of light per night for one full year. The compact single mantle lantern puts out a little less than a 40 watt incandescent light bulb.”

Post-Doomsday: Dress Incognito, Play Down Your Preps, by Ranger Man

Rawles, at SurvivalBlog, had a good post earlier this month that included reader-submitted comments on survival lessons from the homeless. Check the link to read the advice, which mostly contains thoughts on street survival as the homeless see it, how to score a free shower, etc. Let’s flip this line of thinking around and brainstorm on how staying dirty could be a SHTF survival technique.
If (when) the world is your enemy, deception is your ally. I think this is particularly pertinent to urban dwellers, but it could be valuable for everyone. WTSHTF – dress like a bum. Post-doomsday:

George: (whispering) – “Hey Bill, look over there.” (readies his rifle) “A bum, should we take him?”

Bill: (whispering back) – “Nah, look at him. Our clothes are in much better shape. He ain’t got nuthin’. Save the ammo.”

Remember in Parable of the Sower [by Octavia Butler] the doctor dude that dressed like a bum and wheeled around his cart that contained a big pile of cash and a full-auto? That dude knew what he was doing. Don’t make yourself a target. Make it so people want nothing to do with you. You can act deranged, appear diseased, wear dumpy clothes, rub yourself in dirt, etc.

Similarly, remember that television series from 1984 called “V”? The one where lizard-like aliens came to Earth pretending to be humans for the purpose of harvesting our bodies for food? There’s one scene in particular that I remember where one dude was smuggling some people in his truck. He comes upon a road block and quickly starts munching a raw onion. When roadblock dude starts questioning him, he is quickly taken aback by the onion breath. He moved the truck along quickly, never finding the people buried in the back.

Make yourself undesirable, and don’t show your preps off. The Golden Horde will want what you have. I know you’re all just itchin’ for s**t to hit the fan so you can look at everyone else scrambling for gear, food, and fuel and yell, “Ha! Told you so!” as you sit behind your dining room window fortified with sandbags, dressed in fatigues, and sipping a juice box, but resist the urge. Depending on the circumstances you may want to play down your preparations. When the entire town is starving you’ll want to look gaunt. I don’t care how much food is in your basement. When everyone is walking, don’t drive. I don’t care how much fuel is in your F-350.

You get the idea. Think outside the box, creativity is your greatest asset. – Ranger Man

Letter Re: Advice on Constructing a Secure Underground Shelter

Sir:
I have read your web site and thanks for posting it. I am presently purchasing seven acres in Wyoming with an existing log home. We are going to build a new home on the same property and would like to
invest in a good attached underground bunker. Can you please tell me where I can find decent plans and specs for a bunker to sustain five adults and three children? I would like to branch it off of our new basement. I would really appreciate it. God Bless, Mel

JWR Replies: I would recommend Safecastle. They have lots of experience with both aboveground and underground shelters. They work with local contractors from coast to coast. They use their blueprints (tailored to your specifications, on request), and supply key components such as inward-opening vault doors and HEPA air filters (assuming that you want your vault to double as a fallout shelter). The rest of the supplies (rebar, forms, concrete, etc.) are sourced locally. They have a nice four color brochure that they mail to SurvivalBlog readers, upon request. But first, see the Safecastle web site.

Weekly Survival Real Estate Market Update

We have some great news for you folks that have been wondering where all the approved retreats disappeared to, on the Idaho page of SurvivalRealty.com. (This is SurvivalBlog’s sister site that JWR put together specifically to help SurvivalBlog readers to find their own survival retreats.) More than 15 Idaho listings have now been posted! You can view them here.

In order to comply with guidelines set forth by the Idaho Real Estate Commission, although the listings are available on any public MLS approved site, the subsequent retreat evaluations, analysis and photos are only allowed to be disseminated to actual customers and contractual clients of licensed real estate offices, upon request from those interested persons. In order to stay within those guidelines you’ll be required to agree to the ‘Terms of Use’ in order to view any of the non-For Sale By Owner (FSBO) Idaho listings. The clickable agreement covers two important items. First, that a request is being submitted to the chosen real estate company to display approved survival retreats and their evaluations. Secondly, that it is understood that by agreeing to the service that no financial obligation is owed to the real estate company and that one may contact any licensed agent for further information about any property. This process is essentially the same as e-mailing an agent for information about property. However, this process will allow you to review approved retreat properties anonymously, without e-mailing a bunch of real estate agents, giving out your contact information and being subsequently bothered with e-mails about properties that do not meet your criteria.

One more important change is that the Tactical Analysis and other non-PC type information will not be posted, even though the information is on a private web page for customers and clients. Only the standard MLS page will be displayed. For that technical and other additional info you’ll need to contact the Retreat Evaluator Todd Savage. This is done out of respect to the sellers, their agents, and brokers alike.

Moving on to northern Idaho, There is a beautiful 40 acre parcel on the North Bench just above Bonners Ferry, that is going to be coming up for sale or trade soon. It features about 20 acres of rolling timbered hills and draws, and about 20 acres which was at one time plowed and tilled by horses. There are multiple building sites, plentiful game, and majestic views of the Selkirk Mountain range. Sun exposure and the micro climate of the North Bench area lend the property to be turned into a small community based farm, bed and breakfast, or a combination of both! The seller wishes to be discreet about marketing so information will only be emailed out to pre-screened folks and will not be posted on SurvivalRealty.com, other than a brief mention here and there. The price has been set starting at $275,000. The seller is willing to trade for a retreat in Colorado as well. Please e-mail me if you wish to be included for further information on this incredible property.

Over the next week I will be posting many more approved retreats on the private ‘customer only’ pages on SurvivalRealty.com. Look for them when mentioned each day in SurvivalBlog’s Odds ‘n Sod’s section! OBTW, prices are becoming more realistic with each passing day, and the market will be flooded with listings this spring with some incredible deals.

I plan to host several ‘Approved Retreat’ tours of the Palouse Hills, Boundary County, and northwestern Montana locales this spring and summer. Please e-mail me to be included as well for detailed information and dates. The tours will be limited to 20 reservations each, on a first-come, first-served basis. If you have always wanted to see the ‘real deal’ this would be the time!

Congratulations to “Mr. Echo” who recently closed on a spectacular off the grid retreat “somewhere in north central Idaho”.

– Todd Savage Certified Retreat Evaluation Consultant – Realtor, Real Team Real Estate Center
Phone: (208) 946-1151
Idaho is, what America was…Free!

Odds ‘n Sods:

Courtesy of Steve H., comes this article: Is your grocery bill going up? You’re not alone

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More and more bad economic news: Investment Firms Tap Fed for Billions. Meanwhile, we read: Corporate liquidity begins to dry up. Also, The Insider told me that KB Home (already in hot water for inflating home appraisals) just defaulted on a $850 million loan from Wells Fargo, and they’ve been given just 30 days to settle up, or face a foreclosure that could trigger collapse of the company. The global credit crisis is far from over, folks. The chances of a full scale economic depression are growing, daily. Get your logistics squared away, pronto!

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California freefall: Home prices down 26% since last year. This is not anywhere near the bottom folks. I stand by my prediction of at least 60% price declines in the most overbought markets.

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Do you own a Remington Model 700? If so, then reader CDR recommends the Remington 700 BDL Kwik Klip Magazine Conversion, available from Cabela’s, Gun Parts Corp., and several other Internet vendors.

Note from JWR:

The high bid in the current SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction lot is now at $230. This auction is for four items: a MURS Alert Base station, a MURS Alert Hand-held transceiver, an earbud, and a Kaito KA-1102 AM/FM/Shortwave. These radios were kindly donated by the owner of Affordable Shortwaves and MURS Radios. If you aren’t familiar with the Dakota Alert infrared perimeter security system, take a few minute to look at the Dakota Alert web site. These alarms are very reliable and versatile. I often recommend them to my consulting clients–especially those that plan to have lightly-manned retreats. You can easily set up multiple detector/transmitter sensors to provide 360 degree perimeter security for a large area. Instead of just a generic alarm, they will let you know which sensor was tripped, via a computer-generated voice message to a radio that you can carry on your belt. (Such as “Alert, Zone Two.”) The same radio can be used for point-to-point voice communications, on the little-used MURS band. The three radios have a retail value of $210. The auction ends on April 15th. Please e-mail us your bids, in $10 increments.

Letter Re: Biodiesel, Retreat Vehicle Fuel Flexibility, and Power Generation

Hello Jim,
I am a prepper who is trying to do so on a very tight budget (wife, four kids, and two jobs just to make ends meet-you get the idea). Here are some random ideas that others might find useful.
1) Try drying your own fruits and vegetables for food storage. Whether homegrown or bought. This can be done inexpensively and dried food takes up very little storage space.
2) Consider making your own biodiesel. I am in the early stages of doing this myself. It’s not that hard. Just pay attention to detail and do it right. Besides saving a lot of money now this will also allow you to build up a large amount of fuel storage for vehicle and generator use inexpensively. This will become much more critical as fuel prices skyrocket in the future.
3) You need a diesel vehicle to use the biodiesel in. In addition to a diesel truck, think about getting an older Mercedes Benz diesel car for an everyday driver and second BOV. Don’t laugh. The W123 chassis cars, specifically the 240D and 300D models made from 1977 to 1985 are built like tanks, lots of space and they are fairly simple to work on. I am not mechanical at all and plan on doing all the work on mine. DieselGiant.com has great pictorials and do-it-yourself DVDs to help you. These cars have no computers so they should be EMP-proof.
4) If you have a high quality roto-tiller such as a Troy-Bilt or BCS brand (and you should if your serious about food production) it could be used to earn money/barter. If things get really hard gardening will make a dramatic comeback. Most people don’t have tillers and there should be a good market tilling ground for people. Assuming you have enough fuel/spare parts this could make you indispensable in a small town.
5) A recent [SurvivalBlog] post talked about a vehicle as an improvised generator. While probably somewhat inefficient in terms of fuel consumption versus electricity produced it sounds perfect for someone on a budget.

I have two questions: Will running the inverter straight from the battery prematurely wear out the starter battery in the car or should the inverter be wired directly to the battery cables? Will using this set up overwork the alternator and cause early failure?

Some Useful Web Sites:
UtahBiodieselSupply.com
B100Supply.com
MercedesShop.com
DieselGiant.com
Look at the eBay Motors listings if you want to see what these Mercedes vehicles look like.

This is just my little contribution to the blog and I hope others find it useful., – Jeff S.

JWR Replies: I recommend having at least one diesel tractor, one utility pickup or quad, and one diesel car at every retreat. Although they are fairly scarce, in my experience, a pre-1986 Mercedes diesel 300D series station wagon (on the W123 chassis) is worth looking for. These share a common drive train with the much more common 300D series four-door sedans, so parts are readily available.

Ready Made Resources (one of our most loyal advertisers) offers an affordable small-scale biodiesel making system. The recent spike in diesel prices will give you a big advantage in bargaining for a price when buying any diesel vehicle.

In answer to your questions: As long as the engine is left running at low to moderate RPMs, then using a vehicle’s alternator as a power source–for either DC loads, and/or to run a small 120 VAC inverter–will not cause excessive wear and tear on your battery or alternator. You may have to rig a manually-controlled set-throttle. Just keep in mind the usual safety precautions, such as carbon monoxide venting, and making sure that the transmission lever does not get bumped into “drive”. To conserve your precious fuel, it is probably best to buy a bank of deep cycle (“golf cart”) type batteries that you can charge whenever you run the engine.

Rather than using jumper cable clamps, for safety it is best to attached heavy gauge battery cable and terminal lugs, Use a detachable high-amperage-rated 12 VDC polarity-protected “Pigtail” block connector, in parallel with your vehicle battery cables. That way you can quickly disconnect and still be able drive your vehicle without a time-consuming cable un-bolting procedure. Ideally, your battery bank will be the heart of an alternative power system that will also–as your budget eventually allows–include some photovoltaic panels. (This online primer is a good starting point.) As previously mentioned, in SurvivalBlog, for 12 VDC devices “downstream” from your battery bank that draw 30 amps or less, I recommend standardizing with Anderson Power Pole connectors rather than flimsy cigarette lighter plugs and jacks.

Letter Re: Choosing a State for Relocation

James,
To follow up on Mike Williamson’s recent letter on choosing a state for relocation, the April 2008 issue of Outdoor Life magazine has a good article on the best 200 towns in the U.S. for hunters and fishermen. The towns were rated for:

Abundant Fishable Species
Abundant Huntable Species
Public Land Proximity (This may or may not be a good thing, IMHO.)
Trophy Potential
Gun Laws

From 1 to 10, the top 10 towns rated were:
Mountain Home, Arkansas
Lewsiton, Idaho
Sheridan, Wyoming
Cody, Wyoming
Pocatello, Idaho
Lewistown, Montana
Marquette, Michigan
Dillon, Montana
Page, Arizona
Bismark, North Dakota
They also list an additional 200 more towns. You may or may not agree with their ratings, but if an abundance of wild game and fish are important to you now, or during a SHTF event, this is a good list to hang on to.
Both Field and Stream, and Outdoor Life have upgraded their quality of late, and are well worth the subscription prices. Wait for the sales, you may get them for a dollar per issue. I am seeing more and more prep and survival articles in both magazines. Perhaps the editors actually “get it”? I can’t say, but they’re both worth a look. If you don’t want to subscribe, check them out at your local library. Best Regards, – Florida Guy

Letter Re: Advice on Long Term Ammunition Storage Techniques

Sir,
Could you address storing ammo? Regarding ammo cans, vacuum sealing, and what that actually accomplishes? Also would 02 absorbers or silica gel be in any way useful? I’m currently using vacuum pack on my surplus after I inspect them and remove any surface dirt/corrosion,then into ammo cans for storage. I also like the idea of vacuum packing small amounts, any thoughts on that? Thanks, – SP

JWR Replies: Be sure to buy military ammo cans with rust-free interiors and seals that are still soft and free of any cracks. This will provide an essentially air tight seal. Adding a 1 to 4 ounce bag of silica gel desiccant is definitely worthwhile, to remove any moisture from inside the can.

As I have mentioned twice before in the blog, DO NOT vacuum seal loaded ammo. Doing so can unseat bullets! A very light vacuum might be acceptable, but even a home vacuum packing machine such as a Tilia FoodSaver, can achieve enough of a vacuum to unseat bullets that are not crimped into cartridge necks.

Oxygen absorbing packets are not the best choice for ammunition storage. (These are designed to kill insect larvae in storage foods.) If you are worried about corrosion, it is much more practical and cost effective to use silica gel desiccant packets.

Letter Re: Lack of Large Animal Vets Even in Rural Areas–Be Prepared to Do It Yourself

James and Memsahib,
In reference to LL’s letter posted yesterday, you and the Memsahib are right on target again.

My wife, a licensed Vet, says that a recurring theme at Veterinarian Continuing Education Conferences is the call for more Vets to consider specializing in large animal care. At a recent meeting she spoke up giving several reasons why it doesn’t pay to treat large animals, and others agreed with her.

For many Vets treating large animals there’s little money to be earned. The travel time between billable calls in a rural area, the difficulty some owners have locating their sick animals on a sprawling property once the Vet gets there, and the expectation the Vet will “just look at” some other animals and answer questions for free while at the property, are all experiences of the rural vet.

Common occurrence: an animal’s owner might not discover a sick animal until the owner gets home from work in the evening. The owner then wants a Vet to make a farm call. Also, many birthing problems occur late at night, with accompanying increased demands placed on the Vet who treats large animals.

Another problem for the rural, large animal practice Vet is the “territorial” nature of animals. When the Vet is on their turf, animals can become more defensive and aggressive. Vets are injured more in this type of practice, and are sometimes disabled.

Now contrast those demands with the opportunity for the Vet who remains at a clinic in town treating only pets. The Vet can treat several dogs and cats during the day, one after another. The diagnostic equipment is there, the meds are available, the Vet’s assistants are on hand to help, and the animals tend to be less territorial when on the Vet’s turf. And the small practice Vet is typically earning the greater income.

So we agree with you, folks better get the information they need to treat their stock ahead of time. As you said, “When the grid goes down, we will be on our own”. – KA

Odds ‘n Sods:

It is important to keep track of solar flares, especially for those of us interested in amateur radio. (Sun spot activity dramatically affects radio propagation.) It is also a lot of fun to get a glimpse of auroral displays. One site that we have found useful is AuroraChasers.com. They offer a free e-mail alert service.

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Michael Z. Williamson found a site with lots of useful information on 12 Volt DC power systems.

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A reader in Pebble Beach, California is a part-time FFL that recently got “stuck” with 2,000 rounds of Black Hills 75 and 77 grain target grade .223 Remington ammo. (A customer had placed a special order with a small deposit, but then moved without leaving any contact information before the ammo arrived!) If you live on the central California coast or in the San Francisco Bay Area and you own a .223 bolt action, then you should jump on this. Contact Michael via e-mail, or phone: (831) 622-9033

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The Federal Reserve’s unprecedented move of bailing out Bear Stearns makes me wonder about further bailouts in the near future. As the liquidity crisis spreads, and the US residential real estate market continues to tank, I can only foresee the Mother of All Bailouts (MOAB), wherein the US Treasury (read: the US taxpayers) will effectively become the lender of last resort for countless billions in toxic debt–mainly mortgage-backed securities. The full implications of the MOAB are frightening. We are, in essence, about to nationalize millions of “liar loan” mortgages. Stand by for mass inflation, folks!