Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make both long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug-out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year.  We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in your e-mailed letters. We post many of those — or excerpts thereof — in the Odds ‘n Sods Column or in the Snippets column. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

This week I slaughtered and butchered an excess yearling bull from our herd. He had one undescended testicle (cryptorchidism), so he wasn’t a candidate for selling–only butcher. I estimate that he weighed nearly 650 pounds, on the hoof. He was big boy, so the discards from this project required two full-size gut buckets, plus a trash barrel. I estimate that the guts weighed 160 pounds, the hide was nearly 30 pounds, and the removed head, lungs, tail, and forelegs weighed another 50 to 60 pounds. This left us with two sides of beef weighing about 200 pounds each. The main gut bucket was so heavy that I had to divide the guts in two, to be able to heft that weight up to the bed of our pickup truck, for disposal. Because of some recent parasite problems on our ranch, the heart and liver were discarded.  That was sad, but as they say:  “Better safe than sorry.”

One side of the beef went our #1 Son, as a birthday gift. He helped me with the second day of butchering. In three hours, he did most of the cutting on that side of beef. He also brought his meat grinder, which made quicker work of the hamburger-making.  I mostly ran the grinder and packaged and labeled, while he cut. As per our usual, We saved nearly all of the bones — either for soup bones, or to broil for our dog. Lily plans to tan the hide.

Now, Lily’s part of the report…

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR:

Edward Snowden Smartphone Definition Meme

Meme Text:

Edward Snowden Tried to Warn People:

Smartphone (ˈsmärt-ˌfōn) (noun): A sophisticated government-controlled surveillance and tracking device that can also be used to make phone calls.

News Links:

JWR’s Comments: Lily and I have never owned smartphones. There are cellphones available with removable batteries. That is what we carry, but only when we travel. (Our ranch is outside of cellular coverage.)

Note From JWR: Do you have a meme idea? Just e-mail me the concept, and I’ll try to assemble it. And if it is posted then I’ll give you credit. Thanks!

Permission to repost memes that I’ve created is granted, provided that credit to SurvivalBlog.com is included.

Editors’ Quote:

“Government can lie to you.
Government has lied to you.
Government is lying to you.
Government will lie to you.
Live your life accordingly.” – Rep. Thomas Massie

Preparedness Notes — September 22, 2026

This Week in History:
  • On September 21, 1893, Frank Duryea drove the first American-made gasoline-propelled vehicle.
  • September 22, 1499: Switzerland became an independent state.
  • September 22, 1656: An all-female jury heard the case of Judith Catchpole, accused of killing her child, and acquitted her in Patuxent County, Maryland.
  • September 23, 1779: John Paul Jones aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard defeated the British frigate HMS Serepis and soon became the United States’ first well-known naval hero.
  • September 24, 1869: The “Black Friday” panic on Wall Street after investors Jay Gould and James Fisk attempted to corner the gold market.

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I just heard of the passing of the Brazilian jazz and samba legend Hermeto Pascoal, at age 89. Feliz retorno para casa. I’ll see you there, someday, irmão.

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Sale Ends Tonight!   The special sale on all of my pre-1899 antique Swiss rifles at Elk Creek Company ends  at Midnight tonight, Eastern Time. Take a look, for some great prices. BTW, I have a small supply of scarce factory boxes of  .41 Swiss Rimfire cartridges exclusively available for the buyers of any of our Swiss Vetterli rifles. E-mail me for details. – JWR

40 Trillion Reasons for Economic Collapse – Part 2, by Single Farmer

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.)

How did we get here?

We are more than 40 trillion dollars in debt. Our streets are not lined with gold and other precious metals, but our nation is decaying around us. We are being invaded. Our military instead of repelling invaders and rounding them up is engaged in foreign adventures around the world contrary to what George Washington said about foreign adventurism and alliances. You can read my 14,000 word essay “Fall of the American Republic” for a detailed look into our likely fall in Parts One and Part Two. I have been adding up how much has been spent and how our nation got here.

In addition to the 40 trillion around another 180 trillion has been collected in tax revenue and spent. This is over Five Hundred Thousand dollars spent for every man, woman, and child in the United States with about half of it spent in the last 25 years. Some people have monumentally wet their beak in government coffers while others received nothing but the inflation that all of this money printing has caused. When the government handed out the checks to some people during the crisis over a cold back in 2020 and 2021, it was only a small amount that people received compared to how much was borrowed. The average American received up to 3200 dollars with children receiving up to 2500 dollars. In reality, about five times the total sum of all these checks was actually spent. To restate this: The average American only received a check for about 20 percent with 80 percent going elsewhere and 100 percent of the money was borrowed, with the national debt increasing like an out-of-control taxi meter, and the bill has not yet come due.Continue reading“40 Trillion Reasons for Economic Collapse – Part 2, by Single Farmer”

Recipe of the Week:

The following recipe for Leftovers Automatic Chicken & Rice is from SurvivalBlog reader Angie T. She writes:

“My husband travels a lot for his work, and I don’t like to make elaborate meals for myself when he’s on tehe road. This is a recipe I use in my automatic rice cooker, using chicken leftovers. It is a variation on a recipe that found online. You can also use a traditional stovetop pan for cooking this.”

Ingredients
  • 2 cups of your preferred rice (I like Jasmine)
  • 3 cups chicken broth (canned or leftover from your freezer, microwaved back to liquid.)
  • 1/4 cup minced onion (or less, to taste)
  • Salt – to taste, or omit  (Note: Use very little or no salt if your chicken or broth is salty!)
  • Pepper – to taste, or omit 
  • Optional: Up to 1.5 cups of leftover (or canned) fully-cooked chicken meat, chopped into 1/4-inch or smaller bits.
Directions

Put the first three ingredients in your automatic rice maker (or your Instapot set for rice), and press “Start”.  When the rice is done, pour it into a medium-ish mixing/serving bowl and stir in your refrigerated leftover chicken bits. Season with salt and pepper to suit your taste.  Wait 3-5 minutes for the added chicken to warm, before you serve it.

SERVING

Serve it while still hot.

STORAGE

Any leftovers should be immediately refrigerated and used within 24 hours.

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Do you have a well-tested recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? In this recipe column, we place emphasis on recipes that use long-term storage foods, recipes for wild game, dutch oven recipes, slow cooker recipes, and any recipes that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!

SurvivalBlog Graphic of the Week

Today’s graphic is a map showing average annual snowfall across the United States, county by county. (Graphic courtesy of Reddit.) The thumbnail image below is click-expandable.

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If any SurvivalBlog readers have personally taken or otherwise hold the copyright to a particularly nice landscape photo or other photo of particular interest to preppers that is in a wide horizontal format (to match our blog template) then please send it in as an e-mail attachment, and I will consider posting it as a Graphic of the Week, or as a Top Note photo. I can of course credit you by name — or pen name —  if you’d like. Many Thanks! –  JWR. (Either via e-mail or via our Contact form.) Any graphics that you send must either be your own creation, under your copyright or uncopyrighted in the public domain. Thanks! – JWR

Economics & Investing Media of the Week

In Economics & Investing Media of the Week we feature photos, charts, graphs, maps, video links, and news items of interest to preppers. Today, a map showing average land value (in USD) across the Lower 48, by ZIP Code. The thumbnail below is click-expandable.

US Land Value Map

 

 

 

(Graphic courtesy of Reddit.)

Economics & Investing Links of Interest

Economics & Investing Media Tips:

Please send your economics and investing links to JWR. (Either via e-mail or via our Contact form.) Thanks!

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from JWR. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. In today’s column, a new tick-borne disease with a rapidly-spreading vector.

A New Virus in a Tick Invasive to the US.

At the “progressive” publication The Hill: New virus detected in a tick invasive to the US. Should we be concerned? A quote:

“The Asian longhorned tick was first discovered in the U.S. in 2017. It has since spread to more than two dozen states, from New York and Massachusetts south to South Carolina and west to Oklahoma and Missouri.

Female Asian longhorned ticks are able to lay eggs without mating, which allows them to spread quickly, Emily Struckhoff, an education program specialist with Penn State Extension’s Vector-Borne Disease Team, told Nexstar. Nearly all of the Asian longhorned ticks found in the U.S. have been females, she added.”

Asking Claude AI Point-Blank If AI Is Going to Kill Us All

I Asked Anthropic’s Claude AI Point-Blank If AI Is Going to Kill Us All. Here’s What He Said.

Some Contrarian Views on the AI Takeover Threat

Tyler Durden, at Zero Hedge: Here Lies The Motive: AI Leaders’ Cunning Plan Exposed.

And, in a similar vein, there is this from Karl Bode: AI Doomsday Panic Is Completely Out Of Control.Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”

SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

Our weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters.

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US House of Representatives votes to require AM radio in all new cars. From an X post:

“Joint statement from Chairman @SenTedCruz and @SenMarkey on the House passage of the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act: “This vote sends a clear message to car manufacturers that AM Radio is a lifeline that must be protected in new vehicles. From emergency response to sports, entertainment, and news, AM radio is an essential communication tool for tens of millions of Americans. It is now time for the Senate to pass the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act and for this legislation to become law so AM radio remains a trusted and essential resource for commuters and communities across the country.” commerce.senate.gov/press/rep/rele…“

o  o  o

Google Earth Pro Desktop Is Being Discontinued: What Now?

o  o  o

Take note that I’ve just added more than 250 rifle and pistol magazines to the Elk Creek Company inventory. I dug most of these out of storage in Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant  Redundancy (JASBORR).

o  o  o

Mexican cartel’s crypto farm seized in mountain raid — 300 GPUs, satellite links, and industrial transformers tapped hydroelectric power.

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets”

SurvivalBlog’s American Redoubt Media of the Week

This weekly column features media from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest.  Pictured above is Lake Pend-Oreille.

REDOUBT NEWS LINKS

Send Your Media Links

Please send your links to media from the American Redoubt region to JWR. Any photos that are posted or re-posted must be uncopyrighted. You can do so either via e-mail or via our Contact form.

Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make both long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug-out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year.  We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in your e-mailed letters. We post many of those — or excerpts thereof — in the Odds ‘n Sods Column or in the Snippets column. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

I got back to my annual firewood cutting, splitting, and stacking project. All of the firewood that we will need for this winter is now in our woodshed close to our ranch house. There is, of course, also a big reserve of wood for subsequent winters under tarps, but that is farther away from the house.  We’ll only get into that reserve wood if we have an exceptionally hard winter.

I helped Lily prep our east sheep shed for winter.  She had already hauled out nearly all of the manure mixed soiled bedding/waste hat. My part of the job involved scraping the floor down to bare soil, scorching the soil with our big propane torch wand, shoveling three wheelbarrow loads of gravel around the base of the shed’s exterior walls where there were some light gaps, and spreading two wheelbarrow loads of clay around the base of the interior walls and on the floor of the shed.  All that it needs now is some fresh straw bedding, and then it will be nice and snug again, for winter.

I topped off all of our fuel cans and had one 20-pound prone cylinder refilled. It looks like we haven’t yet seen the top in the fuel price spike!

Now, Lily’s part of the report…

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR, as a variation on an existing meme:

Lightning Address Meme

Meme Text:

Most Lightning Strikes Are Sent Out: “To Whom It May Concern”

But Some Seem To Have A Particular Address In Mind

An interesting technical piece explains how cloud-to-ground lightning actually has one components that goes UP from the ground to touch a leader coming down that “connects the circuit.”: Does lightning travel upward or downward?

Notes From JWR: Do you have a meme idea? Just e-mail me the concept, and I’ll try to assemble it. And if it is posted then I’ll give you credit. Thanks!

Permission to repost memes that I’ve created is granted, provided that credit to SurvivalBlog.com is included.

Editors’ Quote:

“Freedom is not defined by safety. Freedom is defined by the ability of citizens to live without government interference. Government cannot create a world without risks, nor would we really wish to live in such a fictional place. Only a totalitarian society would even claim absolute safety as a worthy ideal, because it would require total state control over its citizens’ lives. Liberty has meaning only if we still believe in it when terrible things happen and a false government security blanket beckons.” – Dr. Ron Paul

Preparedness Notes — September 15, 2026

This Week in History:

On September 15, 1600, the Battle of Sekigahara, (Sekigahara Kassen Byōbu『関ヶ原合戦屏風』) marked the rise of the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan.

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September 15, 1774: Cossack pretender to the Russian throne Yemelyan Ivanovich Pugachev was captured.

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On September 16, 1620 the Mayflower departed Plymouth, England, with 102 Pilgrims and about 30 crew for the New World.

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September 17,1776: The fortress Presidio of San Francisco was founded in New Spain to gain a foothold in Alta California and secure the San Francisco Bay for Spain.

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And on September 18, 1851, the first edition of The New York Times was published for two cents a copy.

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Our special sale on all of our pre-1899 antique Swiss rifles at Elk Creek Company will end on September 22nd. get your order in soon. BTW, I have a small supply of scarce factory boxes of .41 Swiss Rimfire cartridges exclusively available for the buyers of any of our Swiss Vetterli rifles. E-mail me for details. – JWR