RedHead Ultimate Work Pants, by Tom Christianson

RedHead Ultimate Work Pants have an appropriate name: they are a good pair of pants to wear while working. They are comfortable, durable, stain resistant, and well-cut. The pants, which are manufactured in Bangladesh, are made of a lightweight cotton canvas. They retailed for $39.99 at Bass Pro Shops at the time of this writing.

The Backstory

I recently decided that two of my pairs of work jeans had reached the end of their useful life. The holes had gotten large enough that I had a hard time getting my feet through the legs of the pants rather than through the holes.

That left me with space for a couple of more pairs of work pants on my closet shelf. I started looking for some good used jeans at the thrift stores that my wife and I frequent, and asked her to do the same.

About a week or so into our search, I got a call from my wife. She indicated that she had found me a pair of work pants at one of our local thrift stores. The pants were in like new condition, and my wife paid a grand total of $4.99 plus tax for the garment.

Description

The pants had a “RedHead” tag in the back of the waistband. An Internet search revealed that the RedHead brand is owned by Bass Pro Shops of Springfield, Missouri.

The date of manufacture was listed as June of 2019.

A search of the style number listed on a tag sewn into the waistband brought me to the RedHead Ultimate Work Pants on the Bass Pro Shops website.

The pants are 100% cotton. They are olive on the outside. The inside of the waistband is brown.

Other colors available on the Bass Pro website are listed as “Bungee Cord”, “Vintage Khaki” and “Gray”. I find it difficult to believe that the same marketing department came up with the color “Bungee Cord” was content to settle on the color “Gray”. Stranger things have happened, I guess.

There are rivets on the corners of the pockets, a couple of extra tool pockets on the sides of the legs, and a hammer loop on one of the legs. The current version pictured on the Bass Pro Shops website no longer appears to have the hammer loop.Continue reading“RedHead Ultimate Work Pants, by Tom Christianson”

Recipe of the Week: Navy Bean Crockpot Soup

The following recipe for west coast navy bean crockpot soup is from SurvivalBlog reader J.J.. This is a slowed-cooked crock pot recipe. J.J. writes:

“I was able to acquire this recipe from a navy cook decades ago and it’s a keeper. I have never had a navy bean soup that could top this recipe. The aroma will drive you crazy but it’s worth the wait. The dill relish is truly the secret ingredient. If needed, you can add extra water to replace any that has evaporated. Be advised not to use any ham that has water added in, ham bone ham only.”

Ingredients
  • 6 cans of navy beans (drain off liquid before adding)
  • 1 can diced tomatoes
  • 1 small white onion grated or very finely diced
  • 2 to 5 pounds of bone in pre-cooked smoked ham
  • 1 quart chicken broth
  • 1 quart water
  • 1/3 to 1/2 cup of dill relish (very important, this makes the soup)
  • 1/3 cup of flour
  • 3 tablespoons of dry mustard
  • 1/2 can of dark beer
  • 3 tablespoons of garlic, onion, and salt
  • 2 tablespoons of pepper (or less, to suit your taste)
  • 2 diced carrots
Directions
  1. in a large crock pot, add the first 6 ingredients.
  2. Set the crock pot cook on low (very important not to boil) and leave the lid part way on and cook for minimum of 12 hours.
  3. Take a cup of broth and mix in the flour to make a rue.
  4. Add the rue back to the soup along with the rest of the ingredients.
  5. Cook tehesoup for at least another 10 to 12 hours, covered.

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

Economics & Investing For Preppers

Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at the rising price of gold. (See the Precious Metals section.)

Precious Metals:

Gold price rallies to six-month high on safe-haven buying.

o  o  o

Will Gold Return to All-time Highs in 2023?

o  o  o

Silver Price 2023 Outlook: Will Silver Underperform Gold in 2023?

Economy & Finance:

Forget recession — the U.S. is heading for a ‘slowcession’ that could last all year, Moody’s warns.

o  o  o

Friday evening’s headline: Dow closes 300 points lower after strong jobs data signals more rate hikes.

o  o  o

Amazon executives warn of 18,000 layoffs.

o  o  o

A stock market crash and a Great-Depression-style economy are among the boldest forecasts for 2023.

o  o  o

The national debt is a “rapidly growing death spiral”. Here is an excerpt:

“Like a consumer grappling with a massive credit card balance, the federal government is paying more just for the interest on the national debt. Government projections show those interest costs tripling from $399 billion this year to $1.19 trillion in 2032. Borrowing most likely will have to increase just to pay for the higher interest expenses.”

o  o  o

Biden Economy: Biden Wiped Out $10 Trillion of Americans’ Wealth – 2022 Saw Worst Bond and Equity Losses Since 1871.

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Everything I’ve done in my career is a result of growing up in rural Oklahoma, because if I hadn’t had the training from Mama and Daddy to work hard, to do what I’m told, to take directions, to mind and to do a good job at anything I set out to do, then I wouldn’t be where I am today.” – Reba McEntire

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — January 8, 2023

January 8th, 1931 was the birthday of the late Algis Budrys (he died on June 9th, 2008). He was the Lithuanian-American science fiction author who wrote the classic survivalist novel Some Will Not Die.

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Today’s feature article is a guest post by a Rawles family member.

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We are still seeking entries for Round 104 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $775,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 104 ends on January 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Navigating the Real Estate Price Dilemma, by Jonathan Rawles

One of the largest obstacles to relocation is the high prices of land and homes in desirable retreat areas. With mortgage rates rising, but prices still high, affordability is taking another hit. As a brief example, a recent search on Zillow for homes in Boundary County, Idaho with the criteria of 2,000 square feet and 20 acres returned only four results, starting with a rustic off-grid cabin at $850,000.

There are many factors playing into this, including a limited supply, high demand, and a skewed market. Rural areas hold only 20% of current housing supply and 10% of new builds. Even a relatively small percentage increase of suburban-to-rural migration translates to a huge increase in demand.

Further, new builds in rural areas incur the full site preparation and utility development costs for each home, rather than having these costs spread over an entire subdivision. The market is further skewed by rural zoning ordinances that limit density, preventing small “semi-rural” developments that could help balance the market demand. To top it off, 20 years of artificially low mortgage rates have produced astronomical inflation in real estate prices.Continue reading“Navigating the Real Estate Price Dilemma, by Jonathan Rawles”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.

And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them.

And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.

And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus.

And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.

For he wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid.

And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.

And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves.

And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead.”  – Mark 9:1-9 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — January 7, 2023

On January 7, 1785 a manned balloon crossed the English Channel for the first time. French inventor Jean-Pierre Blanchard took about 2.5 hours to fly from Dover to Guînes, France. Blanchard was a pioneer in hydrogen balloon design.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 104 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  4. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  5. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  6. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three-day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  2. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  3. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

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More than $775,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 104 ends on January 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

A Get Home Bag Alternative, by Rick S.

Anyone who leaves home should bring a Get Home bag with them. We regularly hear of incidents in which people leave home expecting a 30-minute jaunt in their climate-controlled vehicle only to find themselves in a grim, hours-long ordeal without even a bottle of water to tide them over. In some instances the individuals could simply pull over to the side of the road and walk home, but they are wearing high-heeled shoes and have no coat: after all, they had no intention of doing any walking nor did they expect to be out of their warm vehicle any longer than it takes to walk into a warm building.

Precisely what “getting home” entails depends on each person. I am blessed to work approximately 3 miles from where I live when I am not working at home. In the event that I had to walk home suitable outerwear, comfortable shoes, and a bottle of water would usually be adequate for the task. However, like most people, I am sometimes much farther from home. It may take several days to get home if I am required to walk and I will need some basic supplies to make that feasible.

The typical solution is some sort of rucksack. This may take the form of a military-style bag or it may simply be a book bag. In most cases it involves a bag that is suspended from the shoulders (or, worse still, a sling pack that is suspended from one shoulder). Anyone who has done any significant amount of backpacking knows how painful that can be if the bag is more than a few pounds. The only people who plan to carry a 40-pound “get home” bag on their shoulders for 10 miles (and then do it again the next day and the day after) are soldiers and people who have never actually done it.

In this article, I’m suggesting an alternative: the lumbar pack. The photo below shows my Get Home Bag: it is a Mountainsmith Day model lumbar pack, featuring a wide, heavily padded hip belt together with the optional shoulder straps. The shoulder straps only stabilize the load; the weight of the pack rests on the hips.Continue reading“A Get Home Bag Alternative, by Rick S.”

Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make 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 this column, in the Odds ‘n Sods Column, and in the Snippets column. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

I had to handle some bothersome tax paperwork this week, and I did my annual desk clearing. There was at least a small sense of accomplishment there. By the way, I have found an accountant to handle my taxes.  Hopefully, that will be a smooth transition.

Out in the shop, I’ve been making progress on the second-story flooring and partitions. It is gratifying to see that project coming along.

There has been very little snow in the past 10 days, so I haven’t had to plow. The piles of snow that I’ve pushed back has formed very stout walls. They obviously are now there for the rest of the winter. I’m glad that I allowed lots of room for that snow, since we are experiencing a more snowy winter, than usual. Even with temperatures in the mid-30s on most days, the snow in our parking area and on the lane out to the county road has been frustratingly slow, in melting. This has left a thin layer of ice that makes it treacherous to walk. As is our habit, this time of year we all wear YakTrax on our boots (pictured), and we move around with deliberate caution.

The 2005-2022 USB archive stick project is progressing well. This year, the archive will be on a 32 GB stick. With all of the new bonus books, there was no way to fit everything on a 16 GB stick. The waterproof archive sticks should be orderable by January 22nd. Thanks for your patience.

The only change to the livestock feeding and stock tank routine this week was hauling out a couple of new salt blocks. The sight of a fresh, crisp-cornered salt block always causes a brief burst of attention and the usual dominance assertion games among the cows and horses.

Now, over to Lily’s part of the report.Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.

For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.

Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.

In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.

For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.

Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.

For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.

The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

Return, O Lord, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.

O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.

Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.

And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.” – Psalm 90 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday — January 6, 2023

On January 6th 2021, protesting supporters of then-President Donald Trump entered the United States Capitol in Washington, DC. They were protesting the certification of the results of the 2020 presidential election. At last report, several of the protestors were still being held without bail in the D.C. jail, two years after the event. This is an apparent violation of the U.S. Constitution’s “speedy trial” provision.

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To celebrate 15 years in business, Seed for Security is running an exceptional sale. They are offering their Colossal Security Pack, at 25% off. This combination pack is a total of over 5 pounds of seeds — all are open-pollinated (non-hybrid) and non-GMO. Included in this combination pack are their three most popular collections: the Super Survival Pack, 4 Grain Collection, and Heirloom Herb Collection. This offer is for a limited time, so order soon.

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 104 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  4. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  5. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  6. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three-day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  2. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  3. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

—

More than $775,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 104 ends on January 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

A Special Appeal: The Ten Cent Challenge

I hope that you get at least 10 cents worth of knowledge, entertainment, and motivation each day from SurvivalBlog. It has been posted with fresh content daily, since 2005. In all these years I’ve only missed posting on a few days — most notably in the week after my first wife passed away.

I do my best to mention the Ten Cent Challenge editorially only once each year. Unlike PBS, we don’t run agonizingly endless pledge drives. But we do depend on voluntary subscriptions to pay the blog’s bills. These expenses include: paying our staff writers, the local ISP monthly bill, our web hosting server, domain registrations, news service subscriptions, payments for stock photos, phone bills, liability insurance, maintaining our remote backup server, post office box rental, and providing a small portion of the writing contest prizes. With inflation, nearly all of our costs are escalating. But we still ask for only 10 cents per day.  ($36.50, per year.)

The PayPal Exodus

Back in October, there was an understandable mass exodus from PayPal. That cost us, because of subscription cancellations. About 30% of our subscriptions vanished, soon after PayPal’s censorious intentions were revealed publicly. I do not blame anyone for quitting PayPal. Severing ties with PayPal was fully justifiable. But losing those subscriptions hurt our cash flow quite badly. And, as I’m sure you recall, two years ago, we quit the Amazon.com Associates program. Previously, the Amazon commissions had covered most of our expenses.

I greatly appreciate the 2% of readers who do choose to subscribe. Subscriptions are entirely voluntary. If you’ve never subscribed before, then please become a subscriber. And if you are one of the many folks that quit PayPal and thus had your SurvivalBlog subscription lapse, then please “re-up”, through the following methods:

  • Sending us a check, money order, cash, postage stamps, or silver, by mail.
  • Via GabPay. That is now our preferred payment method.  My GabPay “@” address is: JamesWesleyRawles

If paying for your subscription via mail, then please use this address:

SurvivalBlog
P.O. Box 303
Moyie Springs, Idaho 83845

And if you still have a PayPal account, our PayPal address is unchanged. It is: james@rawles.to

You can also support the blog indirectly, by patronizing our loyal banner advertisers and our affiliate advertisers. By the way, if you operate a business that sells goods or services that would appeal to SurvivalBlog readers, then please consider becoming a SurvivalBlog advertiser, or donating prizes for our ongoing writing contest.

Note: If you are on a tight budget, then please support our publication only with prayer.

And I have one request that might seem a bit odd: Please remember SurvivalBlog in your will. The next time that you update your will, please consider designating a modest dollar figure or a small percentage of your estate for your will’s executor to send to SurvivalBlog. I’m confident that those small bequests will keep the blog going, multi-generationally. You won’t live forever, and I won’t live forever. But I’m confident that one of my sons or a trusted friend will step up and continue to post SurvivalBlog uninterruptedly, with the same style, substance, and unswerving editorial focus.

May God grant that SurvivalBlog continues to be a beacon of truth!

With Many Thanks, and Wishing You God’s Blessings,

– Jim Rawles

P.S.:  I’m in the process of setting up a merchant account so that folks will be able to pay for blog subscriptions and USB archive sticks via credit card, through the Elk Creek Company website. I‘ll post an announcement in the blog, once we get all of the kinks worked out.  (Presently, credit card billings are not being completed — we just getting error messages.)

 

Hiding and Tracking – Part 4, by J.M.D.

(Continued from Part 3. This concludes the article.)

Tracking

As I alluded to earlier, becoming an expert tracker requires a lifetime of practice and experience, but there are a number of things that you can do to begin developing and improving your ability to track people:

  • Improved Endurance – The further away your target gets, the harder it will become to track them, and if they’re in better shape than you they’ll be able to quickly increase the gap between you. You need to be able to move long distances at a reasonable pace if you want to be able to successfully track people.
  • Observation Skills – Since tracking is all about observing the environment around you to identify signs left by your target, enhancing your ability to spot signs can significantly improve your tracking ability. There are many good exercises that you can perform that will help you improve your powers of observation, but you need to get in the habit of practicing observation on a daily basis. The ability to quickly detect, identify and understand what’s going on around you is not only critical to tracking, it’s also the foundation of good situational awareness. One note on observations in tracking – it’s important that you not only pay attention to individual signs, but be able to recognize patterns made of up signs. You may not be able to determine if that slight depression in the bed of pine needles was made by a person, but if you stand back and see a series of those depressions 2’-3’ apart in an offset pattern you can more likely conclude that someone walked that way.
  • Training – There are a lot of folks that have spent a lifetime learning how to track, and many of them offer some excellent training courses to pass that knowledge on. OnPoint Tactical (a SurvivalBlog sponsor) provides some excellent Scout training courses, and smaller local organizations may also provide useful training.
  • Study – There are a number of good books and videos on tracking to help you develop your skills. I particularly like the book ‘Tracking Humans’ by David Diaz, but there are a lot of other good ones available. I also recommend the 2-part video series ‘Pro’s Guide to Tactical Tracking’ by UF PRO, and there are dozens of others available on the various video web sites.
  • Practice – No matter how much you study, read or train, the only way to become a good tracker is to practice. Have a companion walk normally in front of you, stopping every 50’ or so to wait for you to follow along behind and identify signs of their passage. Try this in all different types of terrain, weather and lighting conditions to expand your knowledge of different types of sign. You can eventually turn it into a game where one person gets a head start and the others need to track that person before they reach an agreed upon destination. You can also practice by yourself by marking a starting point, walking for some distance, then looping back around to your starting point and identifying the types of sign you left behind.
  • Recording – Unless you have an eidetic memory, keeping track of dozens or hundreds of different signs when tracking someone can be difficult, especially if you’re just learning. Is that the same shoe tread pattern that you saw an hour ago, or is it something else? Being able to answer that can make the difference between successfully tracking and losing someone. When tracking or even just practicing you should record information about each sign or pattern you identify, along with metadata such as date, time, conditions, etc. This can be done with a simple paper notebook or a note taking app on your cell phone like Microsoft OneNote or Joplin, but my favorite way of recording tracking info is using the ability to add location-specific notes, voice recordings and photos in the OSMAnd+ Android mapping application.

Continue reading“Hiding and Tracking – Part 4, by J.M.D.”