Preparedness Notes for Thursday — August 27, 2020

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My latest nonfiction book, titled: The Ultimate Prepper’s Survival Guide was scheduled to be on the shelf in Costco stores beginning yesterday:  Wednesday, August 26th. But I didn’t see any when I stopped by my nearest Costco. Did any SurvivalBlog readers find any on the shelf?  If so, in what cities?  Please let me know in the comments to this post. Thanks!

The book will be exclusive to Costco club stores until October 20th, when the general release (worldwide, including all Internet vendors) will be made.

—

August 27, 1917 was the birthday of American gun designer Robert Hillberg, best known as the designer of the C.O.P. four-barrel derringer (pitured), Winchester’s Liberator shotguns, the graceful Whitney Wolverine .22, and the Wildey .44 Magnum gas-operated pistol. He died in 2012.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 90 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First 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 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 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. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  4. 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).
  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. 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.
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. 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 90 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.

 

A Physician’s Perspective on COVID-19 – Part 2, by Doctor Dan, M.D.

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

It could be argued that investing in some form of telehealth communication device is now a valuable part of a family’s medical preps, especially if a member of your family suffers from chronic serious medical conditions. iPad/iPhones seem to be the most used platforms in telehealth, but often any computer or tablet/phone can also work. Reliable internet or data plan access may be required to make the video component of this work. So that you may be prepared to stay on top of your chronic diseases if in-person visits are restricted again, I would advise querying your doctor’s office now as to what platforms they use for telehealth, and downloading the apps ahead of time. Many hospital systems offer patients the option of enrolling in services such as “MyChart” which is a portal by which a patient can communicate with their Primary Care Physician (PCP)’s office and also view test results. I suggest patients enroll in this service so that the patient has access to their own medical records. Printing backup copies of test results to keep at home would be helpful if you were forced to relocate suddenly or if the computer system housing the EMR’s goes down for any reason. 

Did Any Good Come Out of the Pandemic?

I would argue that there were some positive things that have come out of the pandemic and helped offset some of the very negative aspects of it:

  • First, this disease should remind us all that life “is but a vapor” and we need to be prepared for the fact that any day could be our last. As a Christian, it gave me pause to consider the strength of my relationship with God should I be meeting Him sooner rather than later.
  • Because we were given this reminder of the fragility of life, this served as a good aide-mémoire to have one’s personal and business affairs updated and in order (including life insurance, wills, guardianships, etc.).
  • Having been given a glimpse into how quickly an economic collapse can occur, we were given a wakeup call to prepare for a sudden job loss.
  • Many of us spent more of our time working from home than before. It became apparent that many meetings could be accomplished more efficiently over Zoom or GoToMeeting than in a traditional manner. This efficiency has saved many people hours of “windshield time” and fuel expenses that were wasted in their week prior to COVID.
  • While we were stressed about the future, one hidden blessing that many of us received was more family time at home. Extracurricular activities and entertainment events were canceled and families had little to do except for being home alone together. I know I enjoyed the days I needed to work from home and was able to see my family more than in a typical busy workweek.
  • The fear that a pandemic could wipe out a major portion of our friends and family helped us frame a better perspective about what was important and what was not in life.
  • For those who were “preppers” prior to this pandemic, it was a good practice run for a larger event that may occur in the future. I’m sure many readers took this experience and adjusted their plans for the future based on having gone through a real-world dry run of a crisis event.
  • For those who were not preppers before, this crisis has awakened many to the need to be personally prepared. There is nothing like not being able to buy toilet paper at will to make folks start thinking about what they would do if this crisis were to result in longer-term supply chain disruptions of food and other critical items. As seasoned preppers, we should welcome their newfound interest and help mentor them as they join us in preparing for uncertain times.

Continue reading“A Physician’s Perspective on COVID-19 – Part 2, by Doctor Dan, M.D.”

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 take another look at the urban exodus.

U.S. Housing Market Is ‘Booming’, Exceeding Pre-Pandemic Levels

Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: U.S. Housing Market Is ‘Booming’, Exceeding Pre-Pandemic Levels.  JWR’s Comment: Hardly mentioned in the article is that a lot of this churn in existing home sales is created by families wanting to move out of liberal coastal cities. Don’t be surprised if a year from now, you read that most of the new construction has been in rural areas.

Meanwhile, we read: “White Flight Is Real” – Hollywood’s Apocalypse Triggers Mass Exodus

A Pre-Election Takedown of Conservative Groups

Redoubt News reports:  Big Tech Takedown of Conservative Groups. The article’s opening paragraphs:

“Two more Big Tech companies have coordinated another attack on groups of Patriots and Conservatives across the United States. Facebook and Twitter have reportedly removed thousands of pages from conservative groups, including campaign pages, militia groups and personal pages of people connected to them.

The takedown of the campaign pages for these conservatives could be seen as election interference, and discussions are underway as to the remedy for this action..

Main Stream Propaganda is reporting this purge as an “effort to limit violent rhetoric tied to QAnon, political militias and protest groups.“ However, I have looked through many of the pages that were deleted and never saw any of them advocating violence, unlike many Leftist, progressive posts.

This is actually an attack on speech with which the Leftists do not agree. It is that simple.”

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“Yea, Buddy! We know how successful them public-private partnerships are! Think on the public-private mortgage creation motors, Fannie Mae & Freddie Mack. Both belly-upped in 2008, but not before they had glutted the mortgage market with zillions in soggy, sorry, worthless mortgages. Been under federal government receivership ever since.

Or what about another public-private partnership success, the Federal Reserve System? Now in fact it ain’t federal, and it hath no reserve, and there ain’t even much system about it. But like putting lipstick on a sow, they gussied it up in 1913 with a Board of Governors that the president appoints. The bank itself and the regional banks are privately owned by — the banks. Now there’s a set-up immune to conflict of interest, by golly! Anyhow, since 1913 the Fed and its banking cartel have been lapping, sucking, and slurping the blood out of the American economy wholesale. Another public-private partnership success!

So far Trump has done nothing but wave the same old failed nostrums at the economy. Nothing new proposed, and certainly no measure that would go to the heart of economic & political problems, like restoring gold & silver money, abolishing the Federal Reserve, prosecuting criminal Big Banks & their officers, or restoring the rule of law generally. Mercy, he isn’t even talking about stopping the ‘perpetual war for perpetual peace’ keystone of the US economy, but is proposing MORE ‘defense’ spending.” – Franklin Sanders (from a March 2017 interview.)

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — August 26, 2020

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August 26, 1946 was the official release date of George Orwell’s “Animal Farm.”

—

On August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote was formally adopted into the U.S. Constitution.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 90 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First 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 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 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. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  4. 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).
  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. 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.
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. 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 90 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.

A Physician’s Perspective on COVID-19 – Part 1, by Doctor Dan, M.D.

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Was the Threat Real?

I’ve been asked by skeptical friends whether COVID-19 was a hoax/conspiracy, or if this was a real threat. Based on what I saw firsthand practicing in the frontline medical specialty of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, the threat of this disease is very real. People indeed died, and the deaths were often particularly unpleasant.

The health, psychological, and economic impacts of this virus will be felt for years to come, and may impact the 2020 elections (with all of the subsequent consequences this will carry).

However serious the disease may be, it feels that we have now entered the “political” phase of the pandemic where the threats to our vulnerable populations remain at-risk, but it appears that healthy patients have a higher likelihood of surviving an infection. It has the appearance that it is now being used as a justification in many states to keep the economy shut down until after the November election, while many of the same politicians who issue shutdown orders simultaneously condone mass gatherings of protestors/rioters because of the “social good” that comes from them.

Why was COVID-19 Problematic?

While there were many similarities to influenza, there are several reasons that this virus had some concerning traits:

  • For starters, there was fear of the unknown (it was a “novel virus”) that led to heightened concern….even to the point of inducing mass panic…leading our country to near-complete shutdown for two months. Healthcare workers such as myself had no idea what to expect and found ourselves bracing for the unimaginable. The Chinese government stifled the flow of early information about the disease from their country (hence, why President Trump is engaged in a standoff with China at the moment). When other nations who are more forthcoming, such as Italy, began to disclose the massive die-offs that were occurring in some of their cities, people in the medical community woke up and began to take notice.
  • Its ease of transmission from person-to person, including without direct physical contact of people (ie- through the air and on surfaces) made the virus difficult to repress. This is especially pronounced in groups herded indoors (ie- nursing home residents, NYC urban dwellers, etc).
  • The long latency period of approximately 14 days between infection and manifestation of symptoms led to a lot of asymptomatic carriers who were infectious to others during a time they could have no idea that they were carrying the virus. (This is similar to an HIV+ patient unknowingly carrying the disease for a long period of time, at risk of infecting partners long before they notice symptoms of AIDS.)
  • Finally, the pulmonary, cardiac, and coagulation (blood clotting) effects in certain patients were particularly difficult to treat from a medical perspective and contributed to many of the deaths seen, especially until we learned more about how to appropriately treat infected patients. These patients often presented with “unique pathology” meaning it didn’t follow the textbook patterns of other viral diseases
  • This “unique pathology” and viral behavior led many to question whether this virus could have been modified in a laboratory. Whether this was manmade is outside the realm of this discussion, but I will observe that this virus acted in strangely novel ways and presented with multiple pathologic methods to cause harm (cardiac, pulmonary, coagulation disorders, etc.). I certainly would not be shocked if we learn someday that it was generated in a bioweapons lab, and that a more deadly modification of the virus exists, or will be created in the future.

Continue reading“A Physician’s Perspective on COVID-19 – Part 1, by Doctor Dan, M.D.”

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, books, and movies–often with a tie-in to disaster preparedness, and links to “how-to” self-sufficiency videos. There are also links to sources for both storage food and storage containers. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This week the focus is on some unusual MRE components and MRE replacements. (See the Gear & Grub section.)

Books:

Edible Wild Plants: A North American Field Guide to Over 200 Natural Foods

o  o  o

Grant

o  o  o

Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!

o  o  o

The War on Guns: Arming Yourself Against Gun Control Lies

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

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — August 25, 2020

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August 25th is a birthday shared by novelist Frederick Forsyth (born 1938), humorist Bret Harte (born 1836), and the late American humorist Patrick F. McManus (born 1933). Forsyth (pictured) was the author of The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Fourth Protocol, The Dogs of War, The Devil’s Alternative, and many others. McManus was born and raised in Sandpoint, Idaho, so his books could be classified as American Redoubt humor.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 90 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First 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 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 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. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  4. 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).
  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. 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.
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. 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 90 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.

Maximizing the Homestead Apple Orchard, by Eric K.

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“Surely the apple is the noblest of fruits” – Henry David Thoreau

American homesteaders and gardeners have a high degree of familiarity with eating and growing apples.  Who hasn’t enjoyed biting into a fresh, crunchy apple on a cool fall morning?  Most homesteaders plant an apple tree or two early on in the process of establishing their property.  This makes sense – the apple is deeply connected to American pioneering history and culture.  Johnny Appleseed traveled the Ohio River Valley and parts of Appalachia planting apple seeds.  Oregon Trail settlers carried seeds and seedlings with them when they came west as they established their new homes.  Yet, beyond a general familiarity, or owning a few trees, few of us have taken the time to learn how to maximize the apple’s mighty potential for survival and homesteading environments.

I grew up on a commercial apple orchard on the irrigated eastern steppe of the Cascade Mountains.  While my childhood was spent working after school, weekends and summers in our Red and Golden Delicious orchards, it wasn’t until later in life after careers in the military and business worlds that I bought our homestead and began the process of applying the technical skills of successful orcharding on my own.  In the intervening years, the smaller family orchards of 10-100 acres that were so prevalent in my childhood have almost entirely disappeared.  Massively scaled operations have become a necessity for commercial orchards that typically exceed 1,000 acres.  These are farmed by employees who specialize in their individual unique functions such as irrigation, pest control, etc. SurvivalBlog readers will not be surprised that one of the results is that individuals with an understanding of how to maximize one’s own orchard are a dying breed.

This article will provide a foundation to start learning more about maximizing your apple orchard’s benefit, develop the important skill of grafting to improve your varieties, and to think a bit differently about the overall utility of apples.Continue reading“Maximizing the Homestead Apple Orchard, by Eric K.”

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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 efforts to stop wolf depredation of cattle. (See the Eastern Washington section.)

Region-Wide

The current wildfires in California are so huge that they’ve generated a smoky haze that extended to Idaho, Montana, and even Wyoming. This televised map tells the story.

o  o  o

Time To Move? Data Suggests Americans May Flee To Rural Areas Post-COVID

o  o  o

Remote wildfire on Wyoming-Montana border explodes in size

Idaho

This little company in Horseshoe Bend, Idaho deserves special mention: American Reserve Munitions (ARM).  They make premium ammunition with all-copper expanding bullets and also a 12 gauge super-expanding slug. These segmented “Gatekeeper” slugs expand to an amazing 40 millimeters. (That is 1.58″, just over the diameter of a silver dollar!)  This video created by TaoFledermaus (a third party) shows them in action.  I must say that I am really impressed!

o  o  o

The Simple Country Living vlogging family has uploaded two new videos, showing the construction of their new pump house and storage shed.  And here is the link to their video of the second part of that build. I recommend subscribing to their YouTube channel. I noticed that they are up to 119,000 subscribers. Help them get to 150,000!

o  o  o

Valley real estate market booms in pandemic

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

4

“Even though I have a dozen or so stripped AR lowers sitting around, I still check pricing and availability. Gotta say…now is the second-worst time to be buying guns, first worst is gonna be November. Even if early-onset dementia victim Biden doesn’t get elected you can still expect gun prices and availability to be wildly unpredictable. What I can predict is that there will be no Trump Slump this time around. Even if Trump wins, the natives are still restless over COVID, race ‘discussions’, and other uncertainties. Now is not the time for complacency.” – Commander Zero, in his Notes From The Bunker blog.

Preparedness Notes for Monday — August 24, 2020

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My latest nonfiction book, titled: The Ultimate Prepper’s Survival Guide should be available in Costco stores beginning on Wednesday, August 26th. That book will be exclusive to Costco club stores until October 20th, when the general release (worldwide, including all Internet vendors) will be made.

Note that the editions will vary slightly. They will all be 240 pages and hardcover, but for example, the U.S/Canada edition ($24.99) will measure 10-1/2″ x 11-1/4″, with an interior wire-o binding–so that the pages will lay flat. But £19.12) will measure 7-1/2″ x 9-5/8″ with a more traditional binding.

The second half of the book’s text is intended more for advanced preppers, rather than just newbies. I hope that you enjoy reading it.

A special note: If you plan to buy any extra copies for Christmas or Hanukkah gifts, then please wait until October 20th to order, for the best price, online. By waiting until that “Book Bomb” day to order, then you can help drive book up the New York Times list, and to the top 10 of Amazon’s sales rankings. Thanks! – JWR

—

On August 24th, 410, Rome was overrun by the Visigoths in an event that symbolized the fall of the Western Roman Empire. This is a moment in history that we would do well to remember. An empire that ruled the known world was corrupted from the inside to the point that they could not defend themselves from a much weaker enemy. This is generally seen as the beginning of the Dark Ages.

—

My #1 Son (Jonathan Rawles) wrote to mention a couple of new off-grid SurvivalRealty.com listings, both in Vermont:

Off Grid Home / Family Compound/ Vacation Rental Property

and,

Off Grid Homestead Property

—

Today, another review by our Field Gear Editor, Pat Cascio

Springfield Armory Hellcat, by Pat Cascio

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I don’t really hate anyone in this world – I mean, really hate them, but I do have some serious dislikes when it comes to some people. Many readers will know that I have been carrying a Glock Model 26 as my daily carry gun for several years now. About the only time that I didn’t carry it was when I was testing other handguns – and I really do carry every handgun that I test. Sometimes I carry a test gun for a week, other times, it might be carried for two weeks. However, I always go back to my Glock 26 – it just feels like it belongs in my hand. To be sure, Glock doesn’t make the best feeling handguns – most people complain that they don’t fit their hand, I can appreciate that. You just need to get used to the feel of a Glock – that’s about it.

A few months ago, I finally laid my hands on a Glock 43X – tried to snap one up several times from my local gun shop, only to have someone else beat me to it. On the day I wasn’t looking for a 43X, I spied one and made the deal. After testing it, and finding a good holster or two for it, it became my new EDC handgun. I like that it is very thin, compared to the double stack Glocks, and it is compact, and holds 10+1 rounds of the hottest 9mm you can find. So, there I was, retiring my Glock 26, and moving forward with a new Glock 43X. I had owned a Glock 43, but it just was a bit too small for my tastes and I soon got rid of it.

Then came the Springfield Armory Hellcat. It is one dandy little CCW handgun, with plenty of ammo on-board. So, just when I made the decision to retire my Glock 26, and carry the Glock 43X daily, I retired that, and now carry the Hellcat daily – it is smaller than the Glock 43X and holds more ammo, too. I hate those people at Springfield Armory for coming out with the Hellcat. It took me years and years, to find something to replace my Glock 26 from daily carry, and I honestly thought I had it made, with the perfect packing pistol. This is a term, my long-time friend, and fellow gun writer, John Taffin, came up with some years ago, in his own quest to find the “Perfect Packin’ Pistol” and it set me to thinking about this myself.  Continue reading“Springfield Armory Hellcat, by Pat Cascio”

Recipe of the Week: Chicken Salad

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The following chicken salad recipe is from The New Butterick Cook Book, by Flora Rose, co-head of the School of Home Economics at Cornell University. It was published in 1924. A professional scan of that 724-page out-of-copyright book will be one of the many bonus items included in the next edition of the waterproof SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick. This special 15th Anniversary Edition USB stick should be available for sale in the third week of January, 2021. The 14th Edition sold out quickly, so place a reminder in your calendar, if you want one.

Ingredients
  • 2 cups diced cooked chicken (cold)
  • 1 cup diced celery
  • French Dressing
  • Mayonnaise
  • Letluce
  • Garnish of celery tops, beets cut into dice, capers, egg- yolks, etc.
Directions
  1. To prepare a chicken especially for salad, rub well with salt and pepper, piace one small onion and one bay leaf inside, wrap with a napkin, tie securely and steam for three hours, or until a fork can be easily turned around in the meat.
  2. When the chicken is cold, cut the breast with a knife into pieces not too small and sprinkle with French dressing. The dark meat should not be used if a pretty salad is desired. If dark meat is used, cut in smailer cubes than white meat and the white meat will predominate in appearance.
  3. Marinate the chicken mixture and let it stand.
  4. Make a mayonnaise dressing, stir part of it into the celery, place the latter on a thin-layer of lettuce or else arrange it directly upon the salad-dish and. dispose the tips of the celery prettily about the edge.
  5. Heap the chicken mlxture in the center, pour over it the remainder of the mayonnaise, and garnish with white celery tops, beets cut in dice, capers, cold hard-boiled yolks of eggs that have been pressed through a colander, or any other arrangement that pleases thew fancy.

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