My Solar-Powered Dankoff Slow Pump System – Part 2, by Tunnel Rabbit

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

The #1303 model of Dankoff Slow pumps has the highest ‘gpm’ (gallon per minute) rating of the less expensive 1300 series. The #1303-24 pumps the most water for the money, and to a height that it will pump that is adequate for most situations. The advantage of a 24 volt system over a 12 volt pump, is that most surface water sources would likely be in a shaded environment, so the panels would need to be located some distance from the water source to obtain the needed amount of sunshine.  We should place the panels where the sun shines most to get the needed solar power output to pump the *maximum* amount of water for your individual requirement.

If we need 225 gallons per day, we only need sunshine for the time needed to pump that 225 gallon goal.  More sun is not necessarily needed. For example, if the system as installed produces 1 mpg with full sun, and 225 gallons are needed, then 4 hours of full sun is required to produce 225 gallons.  On cloudy days it will produce less. However, the garden will require less water on cloudy days. I use 20, or 55 gallon drums, and 40 gallon troughs to store water for times I would like to water the garden using the gravity fed method through a valve, or siphon effect, but slowly saturating, or flooding the garden could also be done.  If enough water is held in reserve for cloudy days, one could just let the pump run and saturate the ground, but we would then be putting excessive time on the pump. It’s best not to expect the maximum output as solar conditions are usually less than optimal, so give your system a real world test, and see what it really does. We should estimate that the actual output will be less, therefore we should have built in, a wide margin of error just to make sure we can easily meet our greatest estimated requirement.Continue reading“My Solar-Powered Dankoff Slow Pump System – Part 2, by Tunnel Rabbit”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

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SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— 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. Today, we look at the bee colony health decline in the United States.

Bangladesh and Geographical Determinism

To start out today’s column, our Editor-At-Large Michael Z. Williamson flagged this article: Over 4 million at risk of food insecurity, disease due to floods in Bangladesh: IFRC. Mike’s Comments: “This will be an ongoing issue. Bangladesh is geographically a river delta, and India has dammed all the rivers. With water levels and silt levels dropping, the land is eroding away into the sea, and every storm and seasonal rain is flooding what is left.”

Bee Colony Health Decline: Highest Winter Losses Ever

Overall, bee colony health in the United States is quite poor. Varroa mites and Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) are still with us. Here is a recent headline from Science Daily: U.S. beekeepers lost over 40 percent of colonies last year, highest winter losses ever recorded.  An excerpt:

“Beekeepers across the United States lost 40.7% of their honey bee colonies from April 2018 to April 2019, according to preliminary results of the latest annual nationwide survey conducted by the University of Maryland-led nonprofit Bee Informed Partnership. Honey bees pollinate $15 billion worth of food crops in the United States each year.

The survey results show, the annual loss of 40.7% this last year represents a slight increase over the annual average of 38.7%. However winter losses of 37.7%, were the highest winter loss reported since the survey began 13 years ago and 8.9 percentage points higher than the survey average.”

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,

That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?

And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.

For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.

Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,

Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.” – 2 Thessalonias 2 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — August 3, 2019

August 3rd, 1846 is the day that the Donner party found a note warning the emigrants that their expected route through the mountains ahead was nearly impassable. Hastings, an unscrupulous trail guide had created his own “short cut” route and wasn’t even at the planned meeting place at Fort Bridger, but had left word for the party to continue on. Hastings had claimed easy passage through the rugged Wasatch Mountains, but had left a note attached to a forked stick for the party explaining that the route was more difficult than he thought. That shortcut cost the Donner party 18 valuable days, but their difficulties were only beginning. They crossed the Sierra Nevada Mountains late in the season and on October 28, a heavy snowfall blocked the high mountain passes, trapping them in a frozen wilderness. Eventually reduced to cannibalism, only 45 of the original 89 emigrants reached California the following year.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 84  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any 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 (an $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 gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. 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.
  3. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  4. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. 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).
  6. 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. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 84 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.

My Solar-Powered Dankoff Slow Pump System – Part 1, by Tunnel Rabbit

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This article is essentially a poor prepper’s guide to the affordable solar-powered Dankoff Slow Pump. In my case, I put together a portable DIY solar water pump for only $1,500, including photovoltaic panels.

Water is life and the more ways we can get it, the better. For surface water, the Dankoff Slow Pump is what I would use in many situations.  There are so many pumps to choose from, but to make a simple and easy choice; if I could only afford the least expensive, and most reliable solar pump for all surface water sources, it would be this pump. I have the Dankoff Model #1308-12, but I now recommend the #1303-24 as the best for the money for most folks, for several reasons. I learned by doing, and found that I should have got the #1303-24 instead. Learn from the mistakes of others, we’ll likely not live long enough to make all of the mistakes ourselves. [JWR Adds: Dankoff also makes a 48 VDC model.]

That said, the Dankoff Model #1308 is actually not all that bad a choice. It works reliably too, but it only pumps about half of the water volume of the #1303.  The #1308 is a better application when used for pumping longer distances, or up mountains as high as 450 feet. And because photovoltaic panel prices have dropped significantly since I purchased the #1308, the #1303 now makes more sense. I have also built many ram pumps that perform well in certain sites with enough ‘head’, but the Dankoff Slow Pump will pump from all surface water sources.

Ram Pumps?

A good quality ram pump will cost about the same, plus the galvanized drive pipe, stand pipe, long feed pipe, and fittings, but it requires flowing water, and a minimum amount of head, or drop in elevation, given a specific lift, or distance to be pumped. However, ram pumps are not a plug and play device, but requires some real engineering to get it right. It is technically more difficult.  If you have the right kind of water source, then the ram pump could be a much better choice. The Dankoff Slow Pump is, fortunately, much easier to use. It can be used for all surface water situations.  The YouTube vlogger Engineer775 has many excellent videos on the development of many types of water resources, including the Dankoff Slow Pumps that can be used for creeks, ponds, springs, and cisterns.  He prefers these over other types of pumps for these situations. The slow pump is the best ‘tool’ for the job when it comes to surface water that is no lower than 15 feet from where a slow pump can be mounted.Continue reading“My Solar-Powered Dankoff Slow Pump System – Part 1, by Tunnel Rabbit”

Editors’ Prepping Progress

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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 the Comments. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

This past week was typical for our summers: busy! 

In addition to my regular writing tasks and ranch chore and projects, I helped a neighbor repair a piece of his haying machinery. As is typical in this country where it is a long drive to the nearest hardware store, this turned into a multi-day project.  Life in the country does have its own set of frustrations. But overall, it is a joy, and I wouldn’t trade it for any other sort of life.

Lily will describe how our new heifer is getting settled in. Other than doing the driving (with our horse trailer in tow), I was only peripherally involved in that little rodeo.

This weekend I’m attending a gun show, so my input to this column is brief. Prepping for the gun show took just a few hours.

Now, over to Lily…

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.

In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.

I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.

Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.

I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search.

Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?

Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore?

Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.

And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.

I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.

I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.

Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?

Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people.

Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.

The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled.

The clouds poured out water: the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad.

The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.

Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.

Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.” – Psalm 77 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday — August 2, 2019

August 2nd was the birthday of Peter O’Toole (1932–2013). When his name is mentioned, Lawrence of Arabia immediately comes to mind.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present the first entry for Round 84  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any 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 (an $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 gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. 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.
  3. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  4. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. 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).
  6. 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. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 84 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.

Predictors of Urban Riot Behavior, by E.M.

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Many behavioral psychologists and sociologists have a saying: The best predictor of future behavior is relevant past behavior. When politicians, particularly those on the Left, refer to “civil unrest,” they are referring to what the man on the street calls a riot. Civil unrest is simply a “politically correct” or a “Liberal-friendly” euphemism for a riot.

Survival web sites also frequently mention the need for preparing for “civil unrest,” particularly in urban areas. While not civil unrest, as such, the identical behavior involved in civil unrest was seen in the streets of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and every American who was of age in 2005 saw it and understood it for what it was, riotous looting that was a clear attempt to steal from others when the chances of being punished for it were minimal. (I am not particularly critical of those who were desperate for milk, bread, etc., and who took food to feed their starving families–if they were, in fact, starving. The televisions, sofas, $150 Nike running shoes, and bottles of Maker’s Mark being carried away were in an entirely different category.)

The reality is that, on any given day, the denizens of many urban neighborhoods, in particular, are kept in check only because of the fear of punishment. As in the case of mobs, in general, anonymity provides a protective cloak to looters. As the likelihood of punishment diminishes, the likelihood of anti-social behavior increases significantly until law enforcement is able to obtain a certain “critical mass” in gaining control of the situation. After that, their offense does not involve a violent major felony, looters understand that as long as there are enough looters, and as long as they keep their looting below a certain threshold, the urban criminal justice system will issue “misdemeanor permits” or what is almost a “get out of jail free” card when court proceedings take place later.
Continue reading“Predictors of Urban Riot Behavior, by E.M.”

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. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at investing in autographed books. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

Precious Metals:

Gold and Silver Shine During the Race to Debase

o  o  o

The view from India: ‘Gold will be the best asset class to invest in 2019’

Economy & Finance:

At Zero Hedge: The $6 Trillion Pension Bailout Is Coming

o  o  o

Ultra-Low Mortgage Rates No Relief for Home Sales

o  o  o

US consumer sentiment hits 98.4 in July, vs. 98.5 estimate

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — August 1, 2019

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August 1st is celebrated as Swiss Independence Day, in recognition of the signing of the Federal Charter of 1291, which united Switzerland’s first three cantons. As of 2014, Switzerland has been free and independent for 723 years. Having a well-armed populace has assured that.

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August 1st is also remembered as the election day in 1946 that sparked the Battle of Athens, Tennessee, when returning World War II veterans took up arms to oust a corrupt local government that was rigging an election.

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Today is also the birthday of Lt. Colonel William B. Travis (born 1809, died March 8, 1836, at The Alamo.)

Rounding-Out Your Baofeng UV-5Rs

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Final implementation of the dual-band UV-5R importation and sales ban (previously detailed in SurvivalBlog) is now just one month away. I’m confident that the majority of SurvivalBlog readers in the U.S. were cognizant of this and have stocked up on these radios, in quantity. But now I must ask: Are you ready to operate them, practically, long-term? This will surely require a few spares and accessories. The good news is that the accessories fully interchange, and most of them are quite inexpensive. By the way, this runs contrary to a SurvivalBlog aphorism: “Life is cheap, but the accessories will kill you.”  Thankfully in this case the accessories won’t  break the bank.

Here are what I’d recommend, for UV-5R Handie-Talkie (H/T) spares and accessories:

    • One spare H/T, for every three that you plan to operate. (Inevitably, some will end up getting dunked, stepped on, lost, stolen, or otherwise meet their fated doom.)
    • One spare earpiece/mike, per H/T,
    • One “speakermike” handset, per H/T, but only if you plan to operate with a H/T strapped to your belt, harness, or plate carrier, and you prefer a handset over a earphone/mike.
    • One or two spare battery packs, per H/T. (Particularly important in cold weather, where you’ll want to keep a spare in a warm inner coat pocket, enclosed in a small zip-lock bag.)
    • A possible upgrade to an extended battery pack, for each H/T.
    • One spare back belt clip, for every 2 or 3 H/Ts. (These are fairly fragile!)
A Note on 12-Volt Chargers

You should also consider getting a few voltage-regulated 12 VDC vehicular chargers. Set them for 9 volts, since Baofeng UV-5Rs can be damaged or destroyed by excess charging voltage. (Their maximum is 10 volts.) One of the several plugs that come with these will be compatible with your existing charging cradles. Once you’ve selected the correct plug, confirm the correct polarity and then securely tape it on, so that it doesn’t get lost or reversed. And I recommend taking this a step further and replacing the charger’s cigarette lighter plugs with Anderson Power Pole connectors.Continue reading“Rounding-Out Your Baofeng UV-5Rs”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

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SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— 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. Today, we look at the death of newspapers.

The Truth About Gun Buy Back Programs

A brief video with some sage observations from Colion Noir: The Truth About Gun Buy Back Programs

New EMPShield Variant for RVs

I just noticed that EMPShield.com (one of our affiliate advertisers) has added a new RV protection module to their product line. (You can see it by clicking “Shop” at their site.) If you foresee having to bug out in your RV, then I highly recommend adding one of these!

The Death of Newspapers

By way of Whatfinger.com, there is this: RIP: Newspaper circulation lowest ever recorded. A snippet:

“After a long total high of over 60 million subscriptions from the 1960s to the 1990s, circulation has dropped to 28 million daily and 30 million for Sundays.

“Those numbers were down 8% and 9%, respectively, from the previous year…”

LBRY App Updates

I often recommend getting the LBRY app. It is a viable un-censored blockchain-based alternative to YouTube. They recently  switched to a “bottomless” stack (similar to YouTube) and added several other new features including comments and “Customize Your Homepage” buttons. (You can add categories to your list such as “survival” “homestead”, “privacy”, “self-sufficiency”, “guns”, and so forth. Once you have the LBRY app installed, I recommend you start with this video: Why I Quit YouTube.  (Warning: Some vulgar language.) The same video has been deleted several times at YouTube, but a new copy just went up there.)Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:”