My Grandfather’s Wisdom: Ernest E. Rawles

JWR’s Introductory Note: This is an expanded edition of a piece that I posted in SurvivalBlog in November, 2005. I have added more excerpts to bring it from 730 words to 2,300 words, to provide better context on his times, surroundings, and circumstances.

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My paternal grandfather, Ernest Everett Rawles (1897-1985), was a largely self-educated man. Coming from a pioneer family (his father and grandfather came out west by covered wagon in 1857), he had a profoundly practical outlook on life. Ernest grew up on a 6,000-acre sheep ranch near Boonville, in the Anderson Valley of Mendocino County, California. Part of the Rawles Ranch had groves of enormous redwood trees. His family lived life at its basics: The change of the seasons, hunting and trapping, hard work in foul weather, fence-building, wood cutting, lambing, sheep shearing, and the constant state of war with the predators that annually killed dozens and sometimes hundreds of lambs. It was a hard life, but it had its satisfactions. The following are some brief excerpts from his oral history:

I liked growing up on the ranch. We ran livestock on the land, and cut quite a bit of timber. We had horses, cattle, pigs, and Merino sheep. Lots of sheep. Two or three thousand at a time were run by the various members of the family. [To protect the sheep] we had to contend with the coyotes, mountain lions, and bear.”

I shot my first deer when I was 12. I got it down in the hay field, right in front of the house. I was going to try to go hunting with a .22. I knew there was a deer there. My dad said, “You’re not going to start shootin’ deer with a .22!” and he got the old .44-40 [Winchester Model 1873] out. I remember I had to sit down and put it acrost my knees. I was that small. The .44 was pretty heavy, anyway.

My father had a muzzle-loading rifle that he hunted with for quite a while. That’s where he got the nickname ‘Muz.’ He kept using the muzzle-loading rifle while other people had more modern [metallic cartridge] rifles. He had other guns, of course, too.Continue reading“My Grandfather’s Wisdom: Ernest E. Rawles”

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:

We took a trip to town on Wednesday to stock up on grain for our livestock. I also bought some pipe for a plumbing project and a very sturdy steel Tarter brand sheep feeder. (A manger.)  Lily wasn’t thrilled with the color that it was powder-coated, but it looks like it will last for decades. Now I need to get busy and use some scrap lumber spare roofing sheet steel to make a rain cover for it.

I cut, hauled. and split another cord of wood.  Our stay-at-home daughter helped with the stacking.

Now, Lily’s part of the report…

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded:

And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.

Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.

But when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.

And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries.

And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity.

Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.

And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the Lord, that was before the porch of the Lord.

And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.

So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.

And they offered unto the Lord the same time, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.

And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul;

That whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.

And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.

And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the Lord gave them rest round about.” – 2 Chronicles 15:1-15 (KJV) 

Preparedness Notes for Friday — August 15, 2025

80 years ago today, August 15th, 1945 was Victory In Japan (“V-J”) Day.

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On August 15, 1620 the Mayflower set sail from Southampton, England, with 102 Pilgrims aboard.

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August 15, 1914:  The Panama Canal opened to traffic with the SS Ancon making the first official steamship passage through the canal.  The canal was completed under budget, and ahead of schedule. The canal was extended in 1916.

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Today is the birthday of British folk-rock singer Maddy Prior, the lead singer of Steeleye Span. She was born August 14th, 1947.

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The last day to order! As part of the 20th Anniversary celebration for SurvivalBlog, we are running our biggest sale ever on all of our percussion gun inventory at Elk Creek Company.  (Elk Creek Company is a spin-off venture that helps pay the bills for SurvivalBlog.)  Take note that most of our percussion revolver inventory is hand-selected for the availability of cartridge conversion cylinders. This is particularly important for folks who live in any of the 23 states that have de facto registration on the sales of private party modern (post-1898) cartridge guns. The sale pricing on our percussion guns ends tonight (Friday, August 15, 2025) at 9 PM Pacific Time. Oh, and by the way, if you’d like to pay in pre-1965 “junk” U.S. 90% coins, you can divide your order total by a very generous 29.7.

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Today’s feature piece is an update to an article that I wrote for SurvivalBlog back in 2007.

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We are in need of entries for Round 120 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $960,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 120 ends on September 30th, 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. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.

 

The Price of Home Security: You Can Pay a Little Now, or Pay Much More, Later

JWR’s Introductory  Note:  This is an update to a SurvIvalBlog article that I posted in March, 2007.  Many home security technologies have advanced, especially with the advent of inexpensive webcams and trail cameras. So this is a fairly important article update.  I have also added mention of an alternative modular gun safe manufacturer.

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I’m often amazed to hear some of my relatively wealthy consulting clients tell me that they don’t own a home gun vault or safe room. I ask why not, and they make excuses like: “I’ve been too busy at my job to shop for one” or, “A gun vault is too heavy to move, and I seem to move every three years”, or “vaults are too expensive.” Yes, they are expensive but not nearly as expensive as having some of your key survival tools stolen. In essence, you can pay a little now, or pay much more, later.

A burglary can be psychologically devastating. I have a good friend in California who was burglarized in 2004.  By God’s grace, only a couple of his guns were stolen, since most of his battery was either cached elsewhere or locked up in his gun vault. (He had a few too many guns for them all to fit in his vault.) The burglars also walked off with several thousand rounds of ammunition. Even though his loss was relatively small, my friend still talked with anger and bitterness about the event in nearly every phone conversation with me for the next four or five years.Continue reading“The Price of Home Security: You Can Pay a Little Now, or Pay Much More, Later”

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. In this column, JWR also covers hedges, derivatives, and various obscura. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, we look at some threatened tariffs on gold, and a quick reversal. (See the Precious Metals section.)

Precious Metals:

Trump says gold will not be tariffed.

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I noticed that spot silver bounced back to $38.82 USD per Troy ounce in after-hours trading on Wednesday. (Thursday morning trading, in Asia.) Let’s see if the COMEX Short Sellers attempt their usual Friday shenanigans today.

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Jesse Columbo, in an August 12th piece at Gold-Eagle.com: Tariff Confusion Sends Gold on Round Trip.

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Gold Revaluation & the “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve”.

Economy & Finance:

Average U.S. household debt reaches $152K; Here’s a breakdown of what Americans owe.

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Martin Armstrong: The Recession is Far More Complex Than Most Expect.

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Goldman Sachs: How to Know When a World Event Could Shock the Market.

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H.L. sent us this: General Motors’ Profits Drop 35 Percent as CEO Clings to EV Strategy.

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California’s $20 Fast-Food Minimum Wage Increase Linked to Whopping 18,000 Job Losses. (A hat tip to D.S.V. for the link.)

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Another from H.L.:  Dave Ramsey Says, ‘You’re Not Broke Because You Don’t Make Enough. You’re Broke Because You Give Your Income To Everyone Else’.

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — Aug 14, 2025

90 years ago today, on August 14, 1935, in the depths of the Great Depression, the poorly-conceived and undeniably socialistic Social Security Act was signed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR). The first Social Security numbers were issued in 1936, and the first Social Security taxes were collected in January, 1937. The first benefits were doled out in 1940. The following is from the SSA website:

“On January 31, 1940, the first monthly retirement check was issued to Ida May Fuller of Ludlow, Vermont, in the amount of $22.54. Miss Fuller, a Legal Secretary, had retired in November 1939. She started collecting benefits in January 1940 at age 65 and lived to be 100 years old, dying in 1975.

Ida May Fuller worked for three years under the Social Security program. The accumulated taxes on her salary during those three years was a total of $24.75. Her initial monthly check was $22.54. During her lifetime she collected a total of $22,888.92 in Social Security benefits.”

That first beneficiary’s experience illustrates the folly of the whole scheme. The deeply entrenched (and mandatory enrollment for nearly all working people) Social Security program is essentially a Ponzi Scheme. It depends on the assured demographics of a continuously growing working-age population. That ended with the Baby Boom, and the Baby Boomers are now retiring. If the current SSA empire is not superseded by a genuine investment program that the congresscritters cannot touch with their greedy fingers, then my children and grandchildren will probably never recoup more than a tiny fraction of their “contributions.” – JWR

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And on August 14, 1864, gold was discovered in Helena, Montana.

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Today’s feature article is a brief review that is too short to be an entry for our writing contest.

We need more entries for Round 120 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $960,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 120 ends on September 40th, 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. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.

FNIRSI GC-03 Radiation Detector: An Evaluation, by Mike in Alaska

Introduction

This article is not a full review. It is just a cursory evaluation.

Several weeks ago, I ordered a Multifunction Nuclear Radiation Detector from a eBay seller who imports these units from China. FNIRSI also sells several other electronic test equipment units, one of which I bought was the multi-function oscilloscope hoping that I could use it on the bench as well as for portable operations. Alas, I didn’t like the unit because the probe connections for the oscilloscope don’t fit well into the connector (BNC type) on the top of the case and because of that issue I broke off the connector for one of the two channels and when I disassembled the unit it effectively destroyed the outer lining for the case. I contacted the company but never got any reply from them or the seller I bought it from. I was able to repair the unit and make it operational, and it is not as good as advertised as far as sensitivity is concerned. It is just a glorified DMM. In that regard, it is good. So up front, just beware that if you buy any items from the FINRSI brand you’re on your own for user support. I am under no illusion that this unit will be any different in that respect. Caveat emptor.Continue reading“FNIRSI GC-03 Radiation Detector: An Evaluation, by Mike in Alaska”

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, we look at the end of traditional dial-up internet service.

AOL Discontinuing Its Dial-Up Internet Service

Several SurvivalBlog readers wrote to mention this news: End of an era: AOL to discontinue its dial-up internet service after 30 years. JWR’s Comment:   Like a lot of other folks, by the late 1990s we received so many unsolicited AOL CDs in the mail that we hung them up in our garden, to scare off birds.

The Latest Ransomware and Cyber Attacks

Reader “Neo” sent us this: July 2025: Biggest Cyber Attacks, Ransomware Attacks and Data Breaches.

Farmers’ Almanac Predicts a Cold, Snowy Winter Across US

And, speaking of AOL reports: Farmers’ Almanac winter forecast for 2025-2026: A long season of cold, snow across US. (Our thanks to H.L. for the link.)

Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — August 13, 2025

On August 13, 1642, Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens discovered that Mars had a southern polar cap.

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This is the birthday of screenwriter, director, and producer, Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980). His many films spanned five decades.

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Today is also the birthday of sharpshooter, entertainer, and folk heroine Annie Oakley (1860–1926.)

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Please pray for everyone at risk of the floods in Wisconsin.

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As part of the 20th Anniversary celebration for SurvivalBlog, we are running our biggest sale ever on all of our percussion gun inventory at Elk Creek Company.  (Elk Creek Company is a spin-off venture that helps pay the bills for SurvivalBlog.)  Take note that most of our percussion revolver inventory is hand-selected for the availability of cartridge conversion cylinders. This is particularly important for folks who live in any of the 23 states that have de facto registration on the sales of private party modern (post-1898) cartridge guns.  The sale pricing on our percussion guns will end on Friday, August 15, 2025. Oh, and by the way, if you’d like to pay in pre-1965 “junk” U.S. 90% coins, you can divide your order total by 29.7. That is a very generous rate.

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Today’s feature article is a short but important piece, written by a SurvivalBlog advertiser. We need more entries for Round 120 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $960,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 120 ends on September 30th, 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. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.

Sanitation for Preppers, by A.C.

Okay, folks. This is it: The unavoidable conversation that every prepper just pretends isn’t important; we’re going to talk about your poo. In the world of survivalism and prepping, the conversation almost always revolves around a predictable list of essentials: food, water, shelter, warmth, and weapons. These are the “sexy” parts of the apocalypse, the elements we see glamorized in movies and books. But in a real, long term grid-down situation, a far more mundane and devastating threat looms large, one that is almost never discussed and rarely planned for; sanitation. The truth is, without a proper plan for managing human waste, the modern world would swiftly descend into a public health crisis that could wipe out communities long before any other disaster does.Continue reading“Sanitation for Preppers, by A.C.”

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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SurvivalBlog reader Tim J. suggested this video: The Insane Number of Humvees in US Inventory. JWR’s Comments:  Once all those thousands of HMMWVs (“Humvees”) are inexpensively released as surplus over the next decade, for preppers, it will seem like manna falling from heaven. The key question is: Will any of the up-armored variants also be released? Oh, by the way, a full set of HMMWV operator and repair manuals is included as a bonus to our annual blog archive waterproof USB sticks.  Mark your calendar for Febraury 16, 2026, to order your 20th Anniversary Edition sticks.

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In response to the recent three-part feature article by St. Funogas, Mrs. Alaska wrote:

“I always look forward to articles by St. Funogas.  They are practical and insightful.

I concur with the advice to mark your prep supply usage to develop realistic plans for storage.
My husband and I live in a fly-in-only location in Alaska.  Seven years ago, we decided not to put our plane on skis to keep here in winter (the days are so short, and the snowstorms so frequent), but to leave it hangared with our airplane mechanic in a nearby town.  As a result, we go seven months each winter without seeing anyone and without resupply.
To do so, we maintain a spreadsheet of items and how many we have on hand and how many we need to buy.  This required exactly what St. Funogas suggested:  we wrote the dates we opened a tube of toothpaste or a bag of chicken feed or flour or rice or chocolate chips on the item. Importantly, we discovered that our seasonal use varies. Split peas we consume in winter but not in summer. Our free-ranging hens consume twice as much feed in winter as in summer. Therefore, we check our inventory list twice a year. For lightweight, shelf-stable products we maintain a multi-year supply.  For products that age out, like gasoline, even with Sta-Bil, we maintain about 18 months of supply.
Great advice, St. Funogas!”

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Continue reading“SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Reason, in a strict sense, as meaning the judgment of truth and falsehood, can never, of itself, be any motive to the will, and can have no influence but so far as it touches some passion or affection. Abstract relations of ideas are the object of curiosity, not of volition. And matters of fact, where they are neither good nor evil, where they neither excite desire nor aversion, are totally indifferent, and whether known or unknown, whether mistaken or rightly apprehended, cannot be regarded as any motive to action.” – David Hume