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’ve been spending some quality time with my chainsaws. The main woodshed is about half full. I should have that topped off in about 12 days, if the weather cooperates, and my back stays in good shape. But I will probably carry on for at least another week and cut even more, as is my habit. As long as I rotate and consistently burn from the various piles each winter, none of my stored firewood will ever go to waste.
Our #2 Son has returned home for a visit, from out-of-state. He plans to help me with some of the felling, hauling, and splitting. My daughters will probably handle nearly all of the wood stacking, as usual.
I had to do another fence repair, where some of our Bovine Delinquents had decided The Grass is Greener on The Other Side. Grumble, grumble.
I also went into the nearest good-sized town (more than a one-hour drive). At the farm and ranch store, I bought some supplies for a cross-fencing project, and a corral upgrade. I bought just one tube gate, two heavy-duty cattle panels, a roll of 9-gauge smooth wire for the H-braces, and a 330-foot roll of woven Field Fencing. I nearly had a heart attack when they told me that my bill was around $1,800! The bill would have been even higher because my original plan was to also buy 20 heavy-duty T-posts. But the store was sold out, and they told me that the other store in town was also sold out of T-posts. Oh, and I noticed that their supply of cattle panels was very badly depleted–less than 20% of what they normally keep on hand. The supply chain is fraying and perhaps broken, folks!
Our Jeff Cooper’s Birthday Sale at Elk Creek Company will begin on Monday, May 10th, and end on May 21st. Prices will be reduced on more than half of our pre-1899 gun and percussion replica gun inventory. This could be your last chance to grab some federally exempt guns before prices get out of reach. I fully expect pre-1899s to double or more in price once the Feds enact their “Universal Background Checks” scheme. That is actually a ban on private party sales of post-1899 guns. Once that becomes the law of the land, folks will wake up to the unique private transfer status of pre-1899 guns.
