Odds ‘n Sods:

I recently added a few DVDs and another 19 U.S. Army and USMC manuals from my personal collection to my Mail Order Catalog. Some of the manuals were “restricted distribution” titles and hence quite scarce!

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There is now talk of another increase in the U.S. federal government debt ceiling. My precocious #3 Son asked: “Daddy, why do they call it a ceiling if they can keep raising it?” Hmmm…Why, indeed?

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The recent Robert Kiyosaki article is evidence that silver gaining popularity with mainstream investors. The first silver exchange-traded fund went live in late April.(Symbol SLV on the AMEX). SurvivalBlog reader S.H. suggests that these two factors may combine to make silver the darling of the investment community and lead to a hot summer for silver.

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If you aren’t already concealing your trail of web site visits, then you should. Not only will you avoid cookies and the associated marketing gadflies, but you will also avoid leaving attributable lists of search phrases. (Google now keeps them for decades.) This data might come back to haunt you, many years in the future. The service that I recommend using to protect your identity and surf anonymously is Anonymizer. By doing your web surfing through the Anonymizer gateway, you will leave no record of your home domain. Presently, the company is allowing a seven day free trial. Check it out. IMHO, using Anonymizer is cheap insurance.

Note from JWR:

Our apologies about the page display problem that we experienced from Wednesday afternoon to Friday afternoon. During this time, the blog page displayed fine with Firefox, Safari, and Netscape browsers, but it had problems with some versions of the Internet Explorer browsers. If you still see any problems, please hit your browser’s “reload” button. Our profuse apologies!

The American Indian Way of Reading Deer Tracks, by "C++

My secret for hunting deer is to hunt them based on trails and tracks. Learn what a buck track looks like. Get yourself a pick and a shovel. Soften every trail, so that you can really read the tracks. These soft-areas need to be about three feet long by one foot wide. You need about a half of inch of soft dirt. read the tracks, after studying the tracks and movement (direction) you’ll begin to see a pattern. Use a broom to wipe out the tracks so that you can see the next set of fresh tracks a day later… Some bucks travel the same trail every X number of days, it’s like a circuit that they travel. Log this stuff in a note book. Bring along a tape measure and a ruler. Measure the print size, the stride length and width. A big buck print will spread out and he’ll leave his dew claws when he’s walking. The longer and wider the spread and the longer the stride the bigger the buck. I saw a buck that left a track so big that I couldn’t believe it myself. He was old and gray, even the younger buck that was with him was magnificent… I’m sure big-old-and-gray died of old age.
Tracking is a Lost Art. A lot of what I learned was from an old Indian friend. I was very thankful to meet him and all that he’s shared with me over the years. I am hoping to share this Lost Art with my children. Every time I take them out, I try to teach them something. It’s amazing how much we overlook!
In the off-season (and I mean off-season) walk all the trails and build yourself a map. The best time is right at the end of deer season and probably a month before. Study the land. Be as low-impact as you can. Based on track directions you can figure out where they’re going to bed down and where they’re going to feed. For this you’ll have to read your track in the early morning. Reading tracks during the late evening has never worked for me. I think Blacktails are just too dang nocturnal. I like to do most of my reading of tracks in the middle of the day in full sun light (I can read tracks better that way). When I’m in a really good spot I’ll use survey tape and run it every 40 yards or so, it really gives you a perspective of the right place to hang a stand. Then I’ll go there early in the morning and study the wind currents. With three foot strands bright flagging tape you can really see wind currents. I study wind currents from 15 minute before shooting light to eleven and then from 4 PM until dark. Those are my prime times (although my Indian friend swears that the middle of the day is when he’s done best on the biggest of all bucks. He says that he believes that they don’t really suspect any body to be out hunting them at 1 PM. BTW, I saw the big guy and his friend on a secondary trail at 1 PM in the afternoon. Go figure.) After finding “the place”, I take all of the flagging tape off, since I don’t want to attract other hunters. I even park my vehicle in an unnoticeable place and walk in so I don’t attract any attention. I even try to keep my boot prints hidden.
NEVER forget wind direction. (It must always be right, if it’s wrong pack up your bags and hunt some place else!) Work on your setup based on trails, tracks, bedding, feeding, watering areas and wind-direction. Your draw must be undetected. Deer can see 270 degrees, if they see you draw they’re gone. If they’re traveling in threes then its really difficult because you have at least six set of eyes to fool.
Like I said before, putting it all together is half the fun. I’m looking forward to hearing other peoples input. I have a lot more that I would like to learn and pass on to my children. My Grandfather always said to “learn to walk like an Indian”. I have so much respect for both nature (God’s creation) and the old-way’s and I know so very little. – “C++”

 

Odds ‘n Sods:

The price of gold appears to have established a new floor at around $675 per ounce, and silver ditto, at around $13.10

Note from JWR:

Yowza! We just surpassed the 400,000 unique visits mark. That is a fantastic number. I had only expected 100,000 unique in the first year, and now we’ve logged four times that in just the first 10 months! Thanks for making SurvivalBlog such a rapid success. Please keep spreading the word. A brief e-mail to your friends, and/or adding a linked SurvivalBlog banner on your website would be greatly appreciated!

Letter Re: Survivalist Matchmaking?

JR:
Can you recommend a place, business, web site, that offers the equivalent of Match.com, eHarmony.com, etc for preparedness minded folks? There used to be a place called patriotmatchmaker, but no more. Any suggestions? If you cannot find such a place, you might want to consider starting one as a income producing web site. Why not? You have the perfect target audience to do so. Thanks, – Boosters

JWR Replies: Because our society is so litigious, I’m not inclined toward setting up such as service. I formerly directed folks to the Survivalist Contacts page at www.SurvivalistBooks.com, but that page doesn’t seem to be working at the present time. Hopefully it is just a short term glitch. Perhaps someone out there knows of other similar sites.

Letter Re: Potential Peak for Gold?

Mr. Rawles:

The other day you mentioned some pretty outlandish predictions for gold and silver from the “gold bugs.” Just what are they saying, and how credible are their claims? I’d also like to hear your own estimation of gold’s potential. Thank You, – Mrs. F.

JWR Replies: Some of the claims are indeed outlandish — like Roland Watson, who predicted $10,000 per ounce gold. (See below.) But it isn’t just die-hard gold bugs that are predicting significantly higher precious metals prices by the end of this decade. There are quite a few Wall Street wonks that are talking about $1,000 per ounce gold within a year or two. My personal prediction is a peak of around $1,400, but that would only be in the event of WWIII or a full scale dollar crisis.

Ponder the broad range of these predictions for gold’s potential peak:

$1,000 per oz. (Jim Cramer – TheStreet.com)

$1,000 per oz. (Jim Rogers, former George Soros partner)

$1,200 per oz. (Mark Thornton)

$1,500 per oz. (Nick Barisheff)

$1,700 per oz. (Dana Sameulson)

$2,000 per oz. (Credit Agricole)

$2.000 per oz. (David Morgan)

$2,000 per oz. (Larry Edelson)

$2,500 per oz. (Stephen Leeb)

$3,000 per oz. (Craig Smith, Swiss America)

$3,500 per oz. (Edgar J. Steele)

$4,000 per oz. (Peter Schiff, Euro Pacific Capital)

$5,000 per oz.(Michael Miller)

$6,000 per oz. (Marc Faber)

$8,000 per oz. (James Turk)

$10,000 per oz. (Roland Watson)

But in the final analysis… nobody has a crystal ball. My current advice is to hedge substantially into precious metals. We live in perilous times, so it is prudent to make your investment portfolio diverse.

Odds ‘n Sods:

I just noticed that Gun Parts Guy is advertising a new batch of U.S.-made metric FAL barrel assemblies. With the BATFE‘s recent suspension on the importation of complete semi-auto rifle parts kits with (barrels being the parts that they want stopped), this could be a genuine “don’t miss” opportunity. If you own a FAL (or clone thereof), buy a spare, and perhaps even a “spare spare.”

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The Titan Missile base in eastern Washington that I mentioned a few weeks back has been re-listed on eBay. This time the starting bid is $750,000! Too bad that eBay doesn’t consider their real estate auctions binding contracts. Otherwise someone could have had themselves a real bargain at the end of the previous auction.

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A SurvivalBlog reader J.G. in New Zealand found this web site with directions on how to turn a rechargeable electric drill into a hand crank battery charger.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Long term prices of houses simply cannot rise above people’s means to pay for them. That is a simple economic fact. Here is another simple economic fact: Family incomes are falling. The negative savings rate and rising foreclosures are more proof of stress in the system.” – Mike “Mish” Shedlock, Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis, April 2006, as quoted at SafeHaven.com

Letter Re: Of Computers, Generators, Power Anomalies and Lightning

Greetings Jim,
I read Redclay’s letter on his questioning using electronics with generators. Ham (Amateur Radio) operators have been using various electronic devices for years powered by generators. The use of power sensitive devices such as a computer on a generator is fine if you take some precautions. First off the generator is what I called a “spiky” power source. So to smooth out the power supplied to the electronics one wants to use a good spike/surge protector between the generator and electronic devices. Do not skimp on cost and quality here. In my opinion it is preferable to use a battery backup with built in surge protector between the generator and the electronics. Usually the battery backup systems have a more responsive circuit for smoothing out power when it spikes as well as providing protection for a wider range of spikes and electrical anomalies. An additional benefit of using a battery backup is that when you have to turn off the generator for refueling, etc. you can continue using the electronics (radios, computers, etc.) while refueling. The length of time you have on electronics use depends on the rating for the battery backup system and what you have hanging off of it. The average time we had when refueling during Field Day was up to 20 to 30 minutes. We added an additional layer of protection by adding a power strip with surge protection between the battery backup and the electronics. This allowed us to cut power at the strip when shutting down or starting up the generator. I am just paranoid that way because having worked in emergency communications and various computer fields I have seen electricity and lightning do things to equipment that one would not normally expect. An extra layer of protection doesn’t hurt anything. Surge and spike protectors are rated in terms of ‘joules’ of protection. A protector, with or without battery backup, that is rated for 1,000 joules is more protection than one rated at 400 joules. So look at the ratings on the surge protector to give you a benchmark for comparison. Battery backup systems are also rated in terms of wattage also for the maximum amount of load you can place on the battery backup and the subsequent amount of ‘up’ time you will have for your electronics. Keep in mind that the more load you place on the battery backup the less time you have. And if you use a conventional CRT monitor, you will be pulling more than using say a LCD monitor. The same difference applies between a desktop computer vs. a laptop, generally speaking. I have seen some high-end laptops pull more than a moderate desktop system. So size your battery backup accordingly. If you want to learn alternate ways to power emergency communications equipment off grid, attend a ham radio Field Day. You can find a varied array of methods. And who know you may get the chance to see a real time emergency and how the ham radio community provides an emergency service. One Field Day I was working turned real when there was an earthquake in California. We were contacting a station there when we heard the emergency call. The other operators and myself found ourselves relaying information to emergency services in [Washington] D.C. and at, oddly enough, the UN. We didn’t think that the UN participated in the ham activities, but on that day they did. Whatever shortcomings the UN has, on that day they did provide a real service to the U.S.
Naturally a surge protector of any rating will not protect against a direct lightning strike. Lightning will go where ever it wants to. There are lightning arrestors made for antenna line but the operative word here is ‘arrestor’. It attenuates the strength of the lightning. And if you are lucky enough, and have unplugged all electronics and associated antennas you may have workable equipment after the strike, but that is no guarantee. I watched a bolt of lightning strike a friend’s house. The bolt of lightning hit his 30 foot tall tower, traveled down the tower and into his house. At every grounding point along the way there was a scorched patch of grass where the bolt was bled off. When he got home the smoke detector was going off and the smell of burned electronics hung heavy in the air. He had unplugged all antennas, and power cords leading to his radios and computer prior to leaving. But (knew that was coming) his independent radio power supply was still plugged into the electrical outlet. The lightning charge jumped the power supply and arced from one piece of equipment to the next and finished at his computer. His computer monitor had caught fire and the plastic case had melted down inside the circuit board and put out the fire! Definitely it was Providence that kept his house from going up in flames. Moral of story: Surges and spikes can be defended against (two different power anomalies) by using a good surge/spike protector. The only defense for electronics from lightning is to unplug everything from any conductor. Then you may have protected your equipment.
lightning protection for homes is something I haven’t seen on any modern built homes. I remember my grandmother’s farmhouse festooned with three or four lightning rods. Her house sat near the top of a hill. And in those days when it was built (early 1900s) every house on open ground or on a hill had at least two lightning rods. Old Ben Franklin knew his lightning and provided a method for protecting buildings. The lightning rod is simple a device with a metal rod several feet long with a glass ball at the base and a copper or copper clad grounding line going about eight feet into the ground. These were on almost every old farmhouse I have seen. So the lightning rods would either discharge the air surrounding the house, preventing a ‘lightning strike’ (most lightning is from ground to air, not air to ground). Or if the charge built up too fast and there was a discharge of electrical energy the rod would take the hit thus mitigating or eliminating damage to the structure and the subsequent fire that usually follows. Remember lightning temperature can be hotter than the Sun’s surface! If I had a home, modern built or otherwise, in the open or near the top of a hill you can bet there would be lightning rods to help. That is not to say the rods will stop all strikes, but it is the attenuation of the energy is what you are going for. I remember several discharges on the rods at my grandmother’s house during violent thunderstorms. It reminded me of Shakespeare’s quote, “..the sound and fury that signifies nothing…” It was loud, it was bright, and it scared the ‘yee-ha’ out of us grandkids. But when we went to look at the damage after the storm, there was none; save the newly fire polished segment of the lightning rod. I am usually befuddled when a home gets ‘hit’ with lightning and the homeowner wonders ‘how this could happen’. Lets see, home on a hill or open area where it is the tallest object plus thunderstorm, the home is not properly grounded…well duh!
Perhaps ‘modern day’ construction has disregarded the use of a good lightning grounding system because contractors and the like figure it is ‘too unsightly’. But a house that is a burned out shell as a result of a lightning strike is more so. And maybe modern science has proved that lightning rods are no longer a viable form of protection. I may have to research this. But for their day they sure seemed to work quite well. Other areas of the country may still favor this protection. But here on the East Coast they have all but disappeared from any building save the occasional ‘old time’ farm house scattered here and there.
Lightning can be detected before it becomes a direct hazard. Many years ago I took part in a NASA project called Inspire. It was geared toward gathering VLF (Very Low Frequency) radio waves produced by lightning and man made VLF signals from a [Space] Shuttle experiment. The experiment recorded the ‘sound’ generated by generated VLF ‘footprint’ as the Shuttle passed over in orbit.
The occurrence of VLF with lightning allows for a method of detecting the electrical charge of an approaching thunderstorm. I wonder if it is not possible to detect an EMP before it hits and area. Logically it would seem so. If an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) generates a VLF signal which precedes it as does lightning then there may be a way to give a heads up warning of a few minutes. Whether that would allow time to disconnect any devices would have to be tested. But as lightning travels at or near the speed of light and does give and ‘advanced footprint’ far ahead of the approaching thunderstorm, and is detectable. So would a ‘lightning detector’ have the sensitivity range to detect an approaching EMP? The only way to know is to generate an EMP and see if it produces a VLF at all, and if so is it within the range of a ‘lightning detector’? And if it is in range or the detector’s sensitivity could be adjusted within it’s circuit could the detector distinguish between an EMP and approaching thunderstorm’s electrical energy? As usual, more questions are created than are resolved.
For info on how surge protectors work, see: Howstuffworks.com
For info on a commercial lightning detector. I have no interest in the company but its one I picked at random: See:http://www.boltek.com/
Here is some info and circuit design for ‘do-it-yourself’ project from a ham operator.
For more information on lightning detectors available do a web search and you will find all kinds of plans, and complete units. – The Rabid One

Odds ‘n Sods:

The Daily Reckoning’s Justice Litle comments on the world after the dollar collapses

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It just occurred to me that the recent jump in fuel prices will hurt the mining sector, cutting into their profitability. Just as gold and silver are going into a bull cycle, the cost of production for the miners is going up. Thus, gold and and silver mining stocks will not show quite the magnitude of gains that they otherwise would have. This is just another reason to invest in physical metals rather than in precious metals stocks or mutual funds.

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I’ve heard that The Pre-1899 Specialist still has a few original Model 1893 Mausers for sale. Two different SurvivalBlog readers have told me that they are having their local gunsmiths turn them into .308 Winchester scoped sporters. That concept appeals to my inherent contrariness: an “antique” rifle, available by mail order with no Federal paperwork required, that ends up in a modern caliber. Tres cool.

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A U.S. Border Patrol agent speak out against illegal immigration.

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Wow! Did you see that gold closed at $720 per ounce, and silver at $14.90 yesterday? It is clear that the precious metals bull is gaining speed. My friend the Chartist Gnome tells me that if the closing number for silver stays above $15 for three consecutive market days in New York, then Phase II of the silver short squeeze will come into play. I am told that this likely means the next stop for silver won’t be until it is $18.25 per ounce! (I will reserve his comments on Phase III of the short squeeze until a later date. They are pretty wild.) Buckle your seatbelt. We are in for a roller coaster ride. Look for more stair stepping, punctuated by some sharp sell-offs as this bull market continues. The brief bouts of profit taking might again bring spot silver down under $12 per ounce. Don’t let the sell-offs frighten you. Instead, think of them as buying opportunities.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“So, we can say that, yes, the Dow has been in a bull market since October 2002 in dollar terms, but it has been in a bear market in gold terms. This is an important point to understand. In case we should experience continuous monetary inflation, which could lift, over time, all asset prices such as stocks, real estate, and commodities, some asset classes will increase more in value than others. This means that some asset classes while rising in value could deflate against other asset classes, such as happened with the Dow against gold since year 2000. – Marc Faber, writing at GloomBoomDoom.com, April, 2006, as quoted at SafeHaven.com

Letter Re: Backup Generators, Well Pump Power, Cisterns and Sandpoint Wells

Hi James,
In reviewing the post by “Redclay” I think he brings a point that many people struggle with. Especially those of us who are just starting to prepare, but can easily get overwhelmed financially and mentally with all there is to do to be prepared. I have read SurvivalBlog since the beginning and don’t recall any truly affordable options for powering a 220 volt AC well pump. Below are some ideas that I have. See what you think.
A brief journey back through time would shed some valuable lessons for all of us. The western settlers on up through most of our grandparents generation. Water has always been there, it was simply a matter of what you had to do to gather it. A large collection system is right there right above your head, it is your roof. Most of the piping is already there, (called your gutters). In the past, every farm I have visited had one of those “notorious” cisterns to collect water in (from the gutters). It is probably a health department violation to have one in town, as underground storage tanks are regulated, but nothing has been said about an above ground containment. Isn’t it a pain that gutters are so low to the ground, (like when you mow around them)? How about a few hundred well spent dollars on a poly-tank that could hold many hundreds if not thousands of gallons of water. It is a above ground cistern that won’t throw your back out digging it. Slide that baby close to the house, cut off your downspout high enough that you can divert water into the top of this tank, (maybe even add a splice that makes you ready to go when the time comes, but keeps your gutter down low until then. Throw in the proper amount of bleach or purification tablets, run the drinkable through a filter such as a Katadyn or Berkey, boil the cooking water and you have just utilized what God has provided to you.
Collection is preparation. Large tanks make use of the infrequency of rain. Come time for winter, you better be thinking ahead, but insulation in adequate amounts may get you well into winter without having to melt snow for moisture.
Rain water may never be enough based on your climate to amount to much, so you may think you don’t need a large collection basin. But think about how often you would have to run your generator to keep up with your daily needs. Talk about in-efficiency. You not only waste fuel, but you may very well give away your preparedness to some passer-by(by the constant running of your generator). My opinion is that you would be better served pumping 1,000 gallons at a time rather than 5 or 10. In a TEOTWAWKI situation, you would need lookouts to monitor any un welcomed two legged varmint while making the extra noise, but several hours of the generator running once a month is less predictable than 1/2hr every day in my opinion.
Back to the topic of backup well power. Since it is more common to have a 220V pump and the amps needed for startup are fairly large, one may be better off to scrap the pump idea and improvise. My well is about 200 feet deep. The [static] water level in my well is around 60 feet. how about three 20 foot lengths of 1-1/4″ PVC glued together and secured (as to not fall down the well) with an adaptor that would fasten to a standard sump pump, or pit pump, (not to be confused with an ejector pump or trash pump). Un-bolt the cap to your well, snap your sump pump on top of your PVC, plug it in to your 1,000 watt portable generator and let it hum away all day while filling your storage tank. If your casing was large enough or your water level shallow enough, you may be able to sub-merge the pump and leave it in place.
The idea may not be of merit as one would likely have to shop around for a unique pump that can either pull or push a greater distance than normal, but,… I am sure they are available. If a 1-1/4″ PVC has simply too much volume to pull water that far, consider adapting down to 1/2″ as that is all the larger the copper lines in your home are (as a standard anyway) that run to your shower or sink. My unfounded thoughts are that you could greatly increase the depth of your draw if the volume, (i.e.- weight) was considerably less. Someone with a hydraulics background could help shed some light on this for us.
In the latter scenario, I would venture a guess of $200 for a pump, (long lasting cast iron, much cheaper are available): $30 for PVC, $10 fittings, and $10 for an extension cord.
Some pumps actually attach to a garden hose which would make a quick and easy improvised water transfer pump. It may be worth while to soak the pump in bleach until use, or for several hours before use to cut down on contamination. Either way, this is a consideration for times of need, not for times of convenience.
For others in high water table regions, a sand point well, (a mesh formed into a cone attached to pipe driven into the ground by a hand held post driver or sledgehammer and block), you may not need much of anything to get to water.
As I mentioned, these are ideas that I have not tried, but may be an inexpensive way to draw water on a limited budget. Sparking a new thought process in someone before an emergency may save their life. The blog has sure helped me! – The Wanderer

JWR Replies: I think that you find that the practicable lifting limit for most sump type pumps is less than 30 feet. A small jet type pump (such as those used in spas and hot tubs) will lift water much higher, but of course they draw more current than a typical sump pump. OBTW, don’t skimp on pipe. Use at least schedule 40 PVC pipe. Both the lighter gauge white PVC pipe and the thin wall black pipe that you see for sale at your local Home Depot is intended for less demanding applications like garden sprinkler systems. A cracked sprinkler pipe is a mere inconvenience, but a cracked pipe inside your house, or for any part of your drinking water supply could have serious consequences.