Surviving the Disaster Golden Hour – Part 2, by J.M.

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(Continued from Part. 1)

When you’re planning and evaluating your current environment for possible emergency events, don’t just focus on the immediate location and impacts – consider scenarios with a larger scope and secondary and tertiary impacts. You also should make sure you have some balance in how you approach this type of planning – I’m not suggesting that you stop and spend an hour doing disaster planning before you enter any building. If you devote some time to learning about different types of events and can develop the automatic habit of gathering some basic information on things like emergency exits, escape routes, etc. as you go about your normal activities, you’ll be a lot better prepared than the majority of people to handle emergencies.

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

The biggest issues you’ll most likely encounter immediately following a disaster event are fear and the tendency to panic. When the body is under sudden stress, it moves into survival mode, better known as the fight or flight (or freeze) reflex. When that happens the body ramps up production of the stress hormone cortisol which goes to the brain and causes a slow-down in the processing of the pre-frontal cortex, which is where your critical thinking and decision-making occur. That means your rational mind is no longer in control and the amygdala, where the fight or flight (or freeze) reflex and your emotions come from, gets larger and takes over. Finally, the hippocampus, which is where learning and memory are found, temporarily contracts. Hence, humans, when faced with an emergency, are biologically evolved to react rather than thinking critically. Panic makes most people behave in an emotional manner rather than a logical one, as you react emotionally to the danger you face.

Another thing the amygdala does when danger is perceived is to send a signal to your hypothalamus, which transmits a signal through autonomic nerves to the adrenal medulla. When the adrenal glands receive the signal, they respond by releasing adrenaline into the bloodstream. The adrenaline in your bloodstream has a number of impacts:

  • It gives your muscles a boost of energy by causing the liver to break down larger sugar molecules called glycogen into a smaller, more readily usable glucose
  • It binds to receptors on muscle cells in the lungs, causing you to breathe faster and bring in more oxygen
  • It stimulates cells of the heart to beat faster
  • It triggers the blood vessels to contract and direct blood toward major muscle groups
  • It contracts muscle cells below the surface of the skin to stimulate perspiration
  • Your pupils dilate (get larger) to allow you to be more aware and observant of your surroundings

You’ve probably heard stories of people that have lifted cars off of their trapped children to free them – that’s the kind of thing adrenaline can do for your body (although not always without consequences.) There are also people that are addicted to the feeling they get from adrenaline, and undertake dangerous and extreme activities in order to get that feeling over and over again.Continue reading“Surviving the Disaster Golden Hour – Part 2, by J.M.”

JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

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Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. The focus is usually on emergency communications gear, bug out bag gear, tools, books, and movies–often with a tie-in to disaster preparedness, and links to “how-to” self-sufficiency videos. There is also an emphasis on links to sources for storage food and a variety of storage and caching containers. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This week we’re highlighting a SentrySafe fireproof document safe. (See the Gear section.)

Books:

Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach their Kids About Money. I’ve mentioned Kiyosaki’s bestselling book a few times in SurvivalBlog. It has a 4.5-star rating and incredible 37,400 ratings logged, on Amazon!

o  o  o

The Art of Raising a Puppy (Revised Edition)

o  o  o

From famed historian Barbara Tuchman: Stilwell and the American Experience in China: 1911-1945

o  o  o

I haven’t yet read it, but this book had great reviews: The Art of Resistance: My Four Years in the French Underground: A Memoir

Continue reading“JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

2

“Though dark are our sorrows, today we’ll forget them,
And smile through our tears, like a sunbeam in showers:
There never were hearts, if our rulers would let them,
More form’d to be grateful and blest than ours.
But just when the chain,
Has ceased to pain,
And hope has enwreathed it round with flowers,
There comes a new link,
Our spirits to sink
Oh! the joy that we taste, like the light of the poles,
Is a flash amid darkness, too brilliant to stay;
But, though ’twere the last little spark in our souls,
We must light it up now, on our Prince’s Day.2. Contempt on the minion who calls you disloyal!
Though fierce to your foe, to your friends you are true;
And the tribute most high to a head that is royal,
Is love from a heart that loves liberty too.
While cowards, who blight
Your fame, your right,
Would shrink from the blaze of the battle array,
The Standard of Green
In front would be seen
Oh, my life on your faith! were you summon’d this minute,
You’d cast every bitter remembrance away,
And show what the arm of old Erin has in it,
When roused by the foe, on her Prince’s Day.

He loves the Green Isle, and his love is recorded
In hearts which have suffer’d too much to forget;
And hope shall be crown’d, and attachment rewarded,
And Erin’s gay jubileee shine out yet.
The gem may be broke
By many a stroke,
But nothing can cloud its native ray;
Each fragment will cast
A light to the last
And thus, Erin, my country, though broken thou art,
There’s lustre wiithin thee, that ne’er will decay;
A spirit which beams through each suffering part,
And now smiles at all pain on the Prince’s Day.”

– Thomas Moore, from Irish Melodies, Vol. 4
(Written for a féte in honor of the Prince of Wales’s Birthday, given by Moore’s friend, Major Bryan, at his seat in the county of Kilkenny.)

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — January 5, 2021

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This is the birthday of General Courtney Hodges (born 1887 – January 16, 1966). Kicked out of West Point for low math scores, he enlisted as a private but soon became a maverick officer and went on to a distinguished career.

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Today is also the birthday of actor Robert Duvall (born 1931.) His roles in Open Range and Apocalypse Now are unforgettable.

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And January 5th is the birthday of the late John Pugsley (born 1934, died April 8, 2011), libertarian and economics author. Pugsley was well known in preparedness circles as the author of The Alpha Strategy. (The book is out of print, but a PDF is available for free download.)

—

Our big rifle sale at Elk Creek Company ends at 5 PM Pacific Time tomorrow (Wednesday, January 6th, 2021.) Get your order in soon!

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 92 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. 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,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (a $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, that have a combined retail value of $589,
  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. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum-sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  5. An assortment of products along with a one-hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

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. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  4. A transferable $150 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!

Round 92 ends on January 31, 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.

Surviving the Disaster Golden Hour – Part 1, by J.M.

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Editor’s Introductory Note:  This lengthy article will be posted in five parts. Please reserve most of your comments until after Part 5 is posted, on Saturday.

—

If you’ve ever had any involvement with trauma medical care (especially in the military) you’ve probably heard the term ‘The Golden Hour’. This is generally considered to be the hour immediately following a traumatic injury in which medical treatment to prevent irreversible internal damage and optimize the chance of survival is most effective. For this article, I’m going to re-purpose the term ‘Golden Hour’ and use it to frame a discussion about surviving the period immediately following a local disaster. What I consider a ‘local’ disaster is an event with dangerous consequences that impacts you and yours at a minimum but stops short of impacting a large part of the country. This can be anything from a vehicle accident up to an earthquake. As a result I’m also assuming that some form of rescue or other assistance will be available eventually.

Many people in the prepper community tend to focus primarily on long-term survival for wide-ranging end-of-the-world-type events like a financial meltdown, societal collapse, EMP/CME, nuclear war, meteorite impact, zombie apocalypse, etc. However, if you stop and think about what really happens on a daily basis you’d realize you’re a lot more likely to be involved in a short-term localized disaster like a car crash, building fire, wildfire, earthquake, flood, explosion, etc. Unfortunately, when such emergencies do occur, most people tend to be woefully unprepared. Think of the videos and image you’ve seen of the immediate aftermath of events such as 9/11, the Paradise fire, the Beirut explosion, Hurricane Katrina and many other events – people are trying to escape the fires, smoke, debris, dust clouds, floods, collapsed buildings and other aftermath in order to survive. In many cases the people that do succeed in getting out alive frequently suffer from long-term health impacts due to injuries and the conditions they were subject to. Even many of the long-term events that preppers like to focus on can have dramatic impacts to your health and safety early in their evolution – a lot of those scenarios will start with short-term localized conditions such as explosions, fires, riots, etc.

The most common approach that many people espouse when this issue is discussed is to suggest simply avoiding locations and situations where you might be subject to localized emergencies. While that sounds good, it’s almost impossible to accomplish in real life. Even if you live in the middle of nowhere you could still be subject to wildfires, earthquakes, dust storms, building fires, bridge collapses and other events that can quickly kill you if you’re not prepared. This doesn’t mean that planning and situational awareness aren’t critical – you should still make sure you understand what types of events can occur wherever you go, what steps you can take to minimize their impact and what your options are to get out alive if they do happen. For example:

  • You’re visiting a sports complex in the winter after a big snow storm, so you should consider what you would do if the roof collapses due to the weight of snow and ice. Are you paying attention by listening for the types of structural noises that would precede a collapse? Are you looking up occasionally? Do you always know where the nearest exit or strong support structures are?
  • You’re in a city on business and terrorists pull off another 9/11-type attack. Do you have an emergency exit route mapped out? Will you be able to breathe and see where you’re going while you’re exfiltrating? Can you get clear of any rubble that may get in your way?
  • You’re out backpacking in the mountains in the summer in an area that’s experiencing a drought. Did you check if there are any wildfires in the areas? Do you have alternate escape routes mapped out in case a fire springs up? Do you have an easy access to a bail-out bag with a first-aid kit, water, etc. in case you have to dump your full backpack and run? Can you survive running through smoke for a period of time if the wind shifts and the fire starts moving towards you? Do you have a handheld GPS capability in case visibility suddenly drops due to smoke?
  • You’re driving to visit relatives during the holidays and your vehicle skids down a steep embankment in an isolated area during a blizzard. Do you have enough gear in your car to keep everyone warm and survive until you can get help? Do you have multiple ways to signal for help?

Continue reading“Surviving the Disaster Golden Hour – Part 1, by J.M.”

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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This weekly column features news stories and event announcements 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. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today, we focus on small companies located in the American Redoubt, including some that have recent relocated to the Redoubt, from other states.

Idaho

Ecommerce, clothing, RVs and more: Dozens of Idaho businesses hit ‘fastest-growing’ list

o  o  o

Small manufacturing firms continue to drive Idaho economy

o  o  o

Divide Gun Company now offers ultra-lightweight precision hunting rifles.

o  o  o

“Families have just had enough’: Idaho business helps conservatives move away from Democratic states

o  o  o

Moving right: The rise of the political migrant in Idaho

o  o  o

Idaho: Attracting Gun and Knife Manufacturers

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt”

Preparedness Notes for Monday — January 4, 2021

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January 4th is the birthday of George Hyde, who was born “Heide” in 1888, in Arpfingen, Germany. He was the chief gun designer for the Inland Division of General Motors (GM) in Dayton, Ohio during World War II. Hyde was best-known as the co-designer of the M3 “Grease gun” SMG and the Liberator pistol, but he also designed the Bendix-Hyde Carbine and the M2 Hyde submachinegun. He immigrated to the United States in 1927. A gent at the Nitro Express Forums mentioned some details on his life before World War II: Before 1935 Hyde was the shop foreman and metal man at Griffin & Howe. He quit there and went into business for himself. Samuel A. “Harry” Leonard teamed up with Hyde, and their rifles are marked “Leonard & Hyde New York” on the barrel. In May of 1935 [school teacher and New York National Guard Major N.H.] Ned Roberts and his father-in-law [well-known carte-de-visite photographer] W.G.C. Kimball went into business together as “Roberts and Kimball” in Woburn, Massachusetts. Their idea was to make high-quality sporting and varmint rifles on Mauser actions in the then-popular cartridge that bears Roberts’ name, the .257 Roberts. Metal work on these Roberts & Kimball guns was done by George Hyde, and the stocking was done by Harry Leonard. Some information suggests that Leonard and Hyde did not relocate to Massachusetts but that the work was sent to them in New York City. Roberts & Kimball company lasted less than a year, and their rifles are not found very often.

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Our big rifle sale at Elk Creek Company ends at 5 PM Pacific Time on Wednesday, January 6th, 2021. Get your order in soon!

Annual Reminder: The Ten Cent Challenge

3

Each year, I only post one reminder, encouraging voluntary Ten Cent Challenge subscriptions, and this is it.

Back In August, we celebrated our 15th blogiversary. Thanks for making SurvivalBlog such a success! There are now more that 33,700 archived articles and columns. And after just a couple of years of adopting a comments section, there have been more than 72,000 comments posted.

Hopefully, some readers appreciate the fact I only post an appeal once a year. And I’m confident that most  readers appreciate that SurvivalBlog is one of the last of the daily “Old School” blogs. We are one of the few blogs without any of the annoyances and intrusions that you’ve probably seen elsewhere:

  • Off-topic “filler” articles
  • Annoying pop-up ads
  • A “Pay Wall” that presents just the first paragraph of an article
  • Opt-in pop-ups to generate e-mail lists
  • E-mail list spamming
  • Auto-playing media
  • Paid placement pseudo-articles written by foreign hacks
  • Instant surveys
  • “Are you sure you want to leave?” messages
  • Animated graphics or animated/blinking ads
  • “Top 10” slideshows
  • Inane infographics
  • Cheesy stock photography
  • “Members-only” exclusives
  • Keyword stuffing
  • Sporadic posting

SurvivalBlog is not a typical sporadic blog. I’ve only missed three days of posting in more than 15 years, most notably just after my first wife passed away. And I have never stooped to the assorted marketing and data-mining trickery that has become so commonplace on the web. Nope. We are still truly Old School. And we will never sell your e-mail address. We don’t even maintain any e-mail lists for our own use.

Everything at SurvivalBlog–including the full archive–is available free of charge. And we certainly do not harass you with droning week-long PBS-style pledge drives.

Please keep in mind that to operate SurvivalBlog we have considerable expenses for bandwidth, web hosting, paying for our primary server, maintaining our backup server, software, and legal fees. I also have contract expenses for our Managing Editor and our Field Gear Editor.

So, here is my appeal in a nutshell: If you find that you get more than 10 cents worth of value per day in reading SurvivalBlog, then please donate 10 cents a day ($36.50 per year) to help cover the blog’s costs. And by the way, even with inflation, that suggested donation amount hasn’t changed since the blog’s inception, back in 2005.

There are several payment options including PayPal, cash, checks, booklets of “Forever” U.S. postage stamps, and even mailing us a few silver dimes or quarters. Many folks thoughtfully send pre-1965 silver dimes or quarters taped to a piece of cardboard.

Please consider investing in an antique gun or two. Those scarce guns only go up in value, and profits from that side-business help keep us afloat.

Only about 1% of readers are Ten Cent Challenge subscribers. Please join in, and do your bit. Your contributions are needed and greatly appreciated.

If sending your subscription by mail, then please use this address for a check payable to James Rawles:

James Rawles
P.O. Box 303
Moyie Springs, Idaho 83845

Note that unless I have my Amazon Associates account suspended (like Claire Wolfe did), or my PayPal account gets suspended (like Zero Hedge, Gab, Joe Biggs, Alex Jones, and Laura Loomer did) then this post will be my only mention of the Ten Cent Challenge, in 2021. I won’t pester you.

Lastly, please consider other ways that you can help support SurvivalBlog. Even just placing links helps a lot. And if you sell food storage, communications, night vision, body armor, alternative energy, shooting, or other preparedness-related products or services, then please consider either advertising your products or services in SurvivalBlog or becoming a writing contest prize donor. You’ll find the publicity very beneficial to your business.

Many Thanks!, – JWR

Bushnell Powerview 2 Binoculars, by Pat Cascio

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I don’t pretend to be an “expert” in anything – just a serious student, or many things. Having spent 35 years in the martial arts, and I have Black Belt rank in five different styles of martial arts disciplines, I don’t consider myself an expert – just a serious student. I’m just like most folks, just a hard-working stiff, who demands the most for my hard-earned dollars, so that means I shop around – most of the time – for things I need or want. At times, it is difficult to walk away from a particular firearm, but if the price won’t allow me to get it, then I walk away from the deal. I’m always looking for deals on the Internet, and many can be found there – if you have the patience to keep on researching the product you want to obtain.

I’m certainly no expert when it comes to “glass” and by that, I mean, optics, like binoculars and rifle scopes. If you’re a hunter, you probably use the term “glass” more than you realize. Over the years, I’ve been able to look through some very expensive rifle scopes and binoculars. And, they are a thing of beauty, but I can’t afford to spend thousands of dollars on a scope or binoculars – not even in my wildest dreams.

Over the years, I’ve probably owned more scopes and binoculars made by Bushnell than any other brand, and for good reason. I’ve found their glass to be extremely affordable, and give me what I’m looking for – magnification of what I need to see from a distance. I still remember when I was a kid, getting a pair of those folding “binoculars” that actually folded-up with the lens going into the hard case – I was thrilled. But those things didn’t work very well at all. Every now and then, I’ll still see someone using those folding magnifying things at a sporting event – well, I see it on television, I don’t attend any sporting events – not since I was a kid.

This brings us back to Bushnell optics, and I’ve found them to be a fantastic value for your money. I’ve lost count, of the number of hunting rifles I’ve owned over the years, that had a Bushnell rifle scope mounted on them. And it is not unusual to find a brand-new high-powered hunting rifle, in a “package” with scope, rings and bases already mounted, for a very reasonable price. More often, I’m seeing Bushnell brand scopes mounted on these rifle packages. Again, they are a great value, for someone who wants to open the box, take the rifle out and zero the scope and hit the hunting trail, without having to shop around for a scope, mount, and rings.

I’ve never had any problems with any glass from Bushnell, be it a scope on a rifle, or binoculars. In another life, I worked as a Private Investigator, as well as a police officer, and found having a good pair of binoculars on-hand, made my job easier. While doing surveillance, I could do so, from a distance, and still be able to read a license plate number, or recognize a suspect. ithout binoculars, it made the job much harder to do.

Bushnell has been providing excellent glass at very affordable prices for as long as I can remember. Just a year ago, I was in my favorite small box store, and spied a pair of Bushnell binoculars for $39.99 – and I snapped them up. My wife uses them more than I do, for watching the many deer in our area as they graze. If you are in the military, I honestly don’t see how you can do your job, without a decent pair of binoculars. And, I don’t mean that you commanding officer or platoon sergeant are the only ones who need some glass. You need them as well. It can save a lot of grief down the road, if you can spot the enemy before they see you.Continue reading“Bushnell Powerview 2 Binoculars, by Pat Cascio”

Recipe of the Week: Globalist Political Casserole (2021)

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To celebrate the new year, we are presenting the following parody recipe sent to us by SurvivalBlog reader M.S.U. for his Globalist Political Casserole (2021). Note that this is not a typical recipe for SurvivalBlog. Again, it is a parody.

Ingredients
  • 1 President-Elect, Brain-Fried, Thoroughly Senile
  • 1 Vice President-Elect, Marxist, Over-Ambitious, Fully Co-opted, and Clarified
  • 2 Houses of Congress, Braised until their two party ingredients are indistinguishable.
  • 3 Low-Interest Rate Economic Recoveries, julienned into very long strips. (Can be substituted with fake economic recoveries.)
  • 7 Major Religious Denominations, De-Backboned, Homogenized, and Whipped
  • A Half-Dozen Social Media Outlets, with Socialist Agendas Thoroughly Stirred-In
  • 3 Soured Legacy Mass Media Networks
  • 1 Communist News Network (CNN), Half-Baked
  • 1 Fox News Network, Turned Over Easy, with Plenty of Green
  • 1 Drudge Report, Freshly Dredged in Globalist Whitewash
  • 50 States, (with 49 Governors Browned to serve up Compliant Statist Lockdowns.)
  • 9 Supreme Court Justices, Riot-Shakened (Or alternatively: 15 Justices, packed liberally.)
  • 12 Federal Reserve Bankster Governors, Non-accountable and stewed since 1913.
  • 1 Generally Dumb Public, Well-stirred by Mass Media to a Flat, Dull Consistency
  • 1 Pandemic, pre-heated and over-hyped for 9 months, left simmering
  • 2 Re-hashed Media Dilettante Doctors (Choose from Fauci, Brix, et cetera),
  • 2 Shots of Over-Rushed Vaccine
  • A large dollop of election fraud.
  • A dash of Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts, or Face Time.
Directions
  1. Pre-heat Political Oven to 450F. (But not all the way to 451, so that books will not be burned.)
  2. Let the three Legacy Mass Media Networks stand for 60 years until soured.
  3. In a separate well-greased pan, fry the brains of the President-Elect, for 45 years.
  4. In a media mixing bowl, marinade the Communist News Network (CNN) in Leninist dogma for 40 years, and left half-baked.
  5. In a censorship-coated Media Casserole Dish, combine the first 11 ingredients, stirring in equal amounts of Climate Change hype, White Privilege guilt, and Transgender Acceptance seasonings.
  6. Add some faux Black Lives Matter, to regional taste. (Use larger amounts, on the East and West Coasts and in the Deep South.)
  7. Add one Asian Pandemic (Wuhan variety is best.)
  8. Before cutting in the Fox News Network, be sure to first remove all the brains, but DO NOT remove the 10 Blondes’ Legs.
  9. Punch down any alternative media that rises.
  10. Bake for a full election season.
  11. Season well with salty and spicy irrelevant pop culture gossip.
  12. Drizzle with carmelized Drive-By Media drivel.
  13. Garnish with a sprig of Green New Deal.
  14. Optionally, this casserole can be done as a Molotov Flambé, with Renewed Portland Riots.
SERVING

Serve on a festive “2020 is Over!” table setting decorated with a hoarded toilet paper centerpiece. Best with side dishes such as Never Trumper Sour Grapes, Georgia Runoff Election Grits, Re-heated, and Well-Aged Pelosi Polenta, and Curdled Senile Senator Feinstein Souffle. Also goes well with a tossed ballots salad. Accompany with a 1940s-vintage Antifa Red Whine. Follow dinner with an appropriate dessert — such as Aztlan Flan, Soros Sweets, Eco-Friendly Tesla Tart, or Facebook Frappé. Round out the evening with either an Ocasio-Cortez Barista Espresso or a 1960s-vintage pinko protest aperitif.

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Do you have a favorite real 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

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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 Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at some new taxes and California’s proposed extra-territorial tax. (See the Taxation section.)

Economy & Finance:

Dire Straits For European Banks? Banks Paying Near Zero On Deposits, Now Charging Fees

o  o  o

Top 10 Economic Predictions for 2021

o  o  o

Allan Stone of the leftist Washington Post: The craziest, creepiest year for financial markets I’ve seen in half a century

o  o  o

At Wolf Street: Another Piece of the Puzzle of Plunging Credit Card Balances

o  o  o

Bloomberg: Get Ready for the Great U.S. Inflation Mirage of 2021

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

2

“A settled plan to deprive the people of all the benefits, blessings, and ends of the contract, to subvert the fundamentals of the constitution, to deprive them of all share in making and executing laws, will justify a revolution.” – John Adams

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — January 3, 2021

20

On this day, in 1521, Martin Luther– the father of the reformation and founder of Protestantism– was officially excommunicated by Pope Leo X from the Roman Catholic Church.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 92 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. 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,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (a $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, that have a combined retail value of $589,
  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. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum-sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  5. An assortment of products along with a one-hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

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. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  4. A transferable $150 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!

Round 92 ends on January 31, 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.

Foraging Before TEOTWAWKI, by Just A Dad

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This article describes how foraging can provide many of the things we need.

In today’s world, the idea of foraging for one’s existence is deemed beneath most of us. In fact, I personally have encountered many individuals who believed themselves to be so far above me that they had already decided what laws I was breaking, what wrongs I was committing and gone so far in some cases as to call law enforcement to stop me from foraging from discarded trash. And before anyone gets any ideas, the individuals who got upset, were a mixture of backgrounds. One notable individual recently was driving a truck with a Trump 2020 flag attached, and another called the police and tried to get them to take my child while flaunting their “United – Never Defeated” shirt. It always amazes me to see how ridiculous people can be.

Edible Plants

Foraging and gleaning are age-old traditions that kept humanity alive and allowed us to thrive as a species. For myself, the tradition was adopted from my parents before me. They taught me how to seek out ripe berries, wild onions, tubers, and how to clean small game so as to use all the available meat. More importantly, my Ozark-bred parents helped me understand that while we rarely asked for help, we could in fact subsist quite easily on the fruits of our own labor. And labor it is, foraging.

Learn about the edibles in your specific area. A hint: these tend to vary quite a bit, sometimes drastically, over just short distance or a difference in ekevation. Understanding what is edible, what is tasty, and what is simply filling is important. There are plants that offer medicinal benefits to varying degrees. Meanwhile, other plants can poison you slowly, or almost instantly. And there are plants that can be both poisonous and healthy depending on how they are prepared. Where I reside at this time we have a rather high alkaline content in the soil, this translates into high alkalinity in the plant life as well. Limits and balance are your friends when eating, regardless of what you eat.

Some foraged plants require a good amount of soaking and others require boiling. Still more require drying, and others must be either young or old. In all, our plant life, while less abundant in many ways; compared to other locations is still a solid source of fiber and vitamin intake for the family. Our local animal life consists of rabbits, ground squirrels, javelina, deer, sheep, antelope, bobcat, mountain lion, black bear, elk, turkey, and a few dozen species of snakes and small birds. To be fair I rarely hunt small birds, generally using a shotgun for dove or quail can be tedious when cleaning. I prefer instead to use live traps we build for this very purpose.

Unlike the intelligent crows, ravens, jays, magpies, and the rest of the Corvidae family, dove and quail are quite easy to lure and trap with regularity. Just 3 or 4 are enough to supplement a meal with solid protein servings. The traps are simple tubes of chicken wire, with a small funnel inside them to prevent the escape of the trapped creatures. Spreading a bit of grain or other tasty leftover treats around the trap with a large amount inside ensures they pour in with ease and regularity. To build up a good trapping area I scatter grain with a closed trap, leave it like this for a few days to build up the message that it is a solid spot to get fat. Birds are notorious for telling their entire world about your bounty they now believe they own. Make sure you tour around during their feeding so they become accustomed to seeing you. When I open the trap, I allow a few to get in, and shut it up. I bring another closed trap with me and swap them out. For a few minutes or sometimes a few hours the birds will leave the area, but they always come back. Needless to say, consult our state’s fish and game laws before hunting or trapping. Continue reading“Foraging Before TEOTWAWKI, by Just A Dad”