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. Note that as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in the Comments. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

This week can be summed up with one word: chainsawing!  I was busy for three days, cutting wood to stove length, and stacking it in our main wood shed.  (The kids did most of the final stacking.) I also had to split a few of the larger rounds. But a quite satisfying number of the rounds were in the “just right” diameter range of 5″ to 7″, to fit through the door of our woodstove.  Most of the wood in this latest batch of deadfall and deadstanding was Tamarack (aka Western Larch.) That is one of my favorite varieties for the wood stove.

And, as I noted last week, I had to do a few fence repairs, after the ravages of our bull. The problem with fencing here at the Rawles Ranch is that we keep both horses and cattle in the same pastures. With horses this means using no barbed wire whatsoever, to prevent injuries. So, with only smooth wire (mainly woven wire mesh and some welded heavy gauge wire cattle panels), the critters feel that they have carte blanche to constantly test our fences. For the horses, that means leaning over them, and with the cattle, that means nosing under them. If I had an unlimited budget, then I’d use all heavy gauge welded cattle panels and heavy duty T-posts at very close intervals –say four feet apart.  That would be truly  “Bull Strong.” But, alas, my budget for fencing supplies won’t cover doing that for our perimeter fence or cross fences.

I’ve also been busy shipping out orders for my sideline mail order biz, Elk Creek Company. Miss Eloise has done an admirable job of padding and packing the boxes for me. Orders have been quite brisk, since our Pandemic Hiatus ended. I’ve been scrambling to re-stock, but the guns are selling and shipping out faster than they are coming in. So it is a good thing that I will be shutting down sales again for the month of June, so that I can travel to gather more inventory.  If you want to place an order, then please do so before Friday, May 29th. Thanks!

The big sellers for the past two weeks have been Trapdoor Springfields, pre-1899 Winchesters, pre-1899 Colts, pre-1899 Krags, and pre-1899 Mosin Nagant rifles. Something tells me that the next rush of orders will be for pre-1899 revolvers. I still have about 25 nice ones in inventory — mostly chambered in .44 S&W Russian and in .44-40 Winchester.  I also have a few Webley double action revolvers that have been converted to .45 ACP.

Now, on to my wife Lily’s adventures…

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

1

“Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.

Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.

Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them.

Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.

To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me.

Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will lay stumblingblocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbour and his friend shall perish.

Thus saith the Lord, Behold, a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth.

They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion.

We have heard the fame thereof: our hands wax feeble: anguish hath taken hold of us, and pain, as of a woman in travail.

Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way; for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side.

O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.

I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people, that thou mayest know and try their way.

They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters.

The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away.

Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them.” – Jeremiah 6: 16-30 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday — May 15, 2020

On May 15th, 1942, gasoline rationing began in 17 Eastern states as an attempt to help the American war effort during World War II. The main concern behind the rationing scheme was conserving scarce imported rubber, rather than fuel. By the end of the year, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had ensured that mandatory gasoline rationing was in effect in all 48 states.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 88 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 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 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, which 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 $100 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 88 ends on May 31st, 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.

 

100 Days of Final Preparations – Part 2, by Elli O.

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

ONLINE SHOPPING

To maintain our health we chose to order some items online to avoid the public stores when possible. Fabric for blankets, washable family sanitary cloths, and face masks, and Betadine wound cleanser/disinfectant were purchased. I also ordered and received a non-electric carpet sweeper.

ACTIVITIES AT HOME

Although the rest of the family is considered “essential”, all of my disaster preparation teaching has been postponed until future dates. This has given me time to complete more than a few projects around the homestead.

I have been cooking and canning the rest of the turkeys I purchased last fall. To explain: I generally buy 10-12 20# turkeys at a great price and then freeze them until I find the time to cook and can them.

This led to another project – that of cleaning, sorting, and organizing all of my empty canning jars. I found that I had many more than I realized and that we are now beyond the need to buy any more of them at auctions. Sadly, so is the opportunity to do so, with the order of social distancing in place statewide.

I have been interested in dairy goats since dairy is one area that is lacking in our food plan. (Our cattle are raised for beef.) I have been studying and researching all things dairy goats. I even built a milking stand, in hopes of someday soon having one. I also purchased goat fencing (something I have read is critical to keeping goats where you want them!) and goat minerals since they will be able to eat the grain we feed the other livestock but will need the addition of special minerals.

I painted my new-to-me hives and I am waiting for my bees to arrive. Hopefully this year will be the year for successfully raising bees for honey. If I do not have a good honey harvest this year, then there will be a yard sale of beekeeping supplies!Continue reading“100 Days of Final Preparations – Part 2, by Elli O.”

Economics & Investing For Preppers

46

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 possible museum collection downsizing. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

Precious Metals:

Gold Price Forecast – The Invaluable Palladium, Platinum And Gold-To-Silver Ratio Lessons

o  o  o

The latest piece by Hub Moolman: The US Dollar or Silver: Place Your Bet

Economy & Finance:

At Seeking Alpha: The Stock Market Is Looking For A Rapid Economic Recovery. Why It May Not Happen

o  o  o

And at Zero Hedge: Infinite money printing: Fed now buying ETFs

o  o  o

Reader H.L. suggested this brief piece by Jim Quinn: Unemployment Is Really 35.7%

o  o  o

An C.B. spotted this, over at PHYS ORG: How is COVID-19 affecting the global economic order?

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Man, fearfully and wonderfully made, is the workmanship of his all perfect Creator: A State; useful and valuable as the contrivance is, is the inferior contrivance of man; and from his native dignity derives all its acquired importance.” – Founding Father and Supreme Court Justice James Wilson, in Chisholm v. Georgia, (1793)

 

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — May 14, 2020

1

On May 14, 1804: The Lewis and Clark expedition set out from St. Louis for the Pacific Coast.

—

We are pleased to welcome aboard our newest advertiser, Perpetual Assets. They offer both precious metals and cryptocurrencies, and ways to jump out of one asset and into another, very quickly and easily. And for the long haul, they also can help you set up an customized IRA that holds precious metals and/or cryptos.  I’ve often said that it is wise to diversify, folks. Perpetual Assets can help you do so, with a very low markup. If you do business with them, please mention that you saw their ad on SurvivaBlog.

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 88 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 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 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, which 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 $100 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 88 ends on May 31st, 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.

100 Days of Final Preparations – Part 1, by Elli O.

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I’m writing this as a stand-alone article. However, if you would like to read more about our journey through the world of preparedness and our homestead, please see my previous article in the SurvivalBlog archives for November 26-27, 2019. As a follow-up I am writing this to explain what we have done just in the past 100 days and how the global pandemic and possible near-future economical collapse has impacted us and our preparations.

100 DAYS OF FINAL PREPARATIONS

For as long as I can remember, I have always had a mindset of preparedness, partly because of my background as a first responder and a disaster preparedness educator. But I became a true prepper (if one can define such people) about eight years ago. The shelf of extra canned goods turned into an entire room and a half full of supplies for our family of four during normal times (and 7+ during a bug in time), piles and boxes and containers of food, medical supplies, ammo, non-electric kitchen tools, and whatever I think we might need to survive The end of the world as we know it (TEOTWAWKI).

And then COVID 19 hit. I remember reading about it early in 2020 here on SB.com and thinking, “Is this what might push our society down the slippery slope of chaos?” In January when national media picked up this news I had already begun filling in any holes in my preparations. I didn’t give into panic buying, as had so many people, but I began to have this sense of uneasiness concerning the future.

This “sense” was nothing new. In the past, I have felt the urgency to prepare for the future in different areas of need. I contribute this nudging to God’s Holy Spirit and have tried to be obedient to His leading.

As the situation within our country began to worsen, I started reaching out to others (followers of Jesus Christ who are also preppers) to get their take on the situation. I did this for two reasons: to see if it was just me with this sense of uneasiness and to listen to the opinions of others who are more knowledgeable regarding the situation- those in places of authority in our county who would possibly have access to more information regarding the COVID 19 situation. The responses were the same–this could be the perfect storm that brings our world to a crashing halt.Continue reading“100 Days of Final Preparations – Part 1, by Elli O.”

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 report the death of Cecile Rol-Tanguy.

RIP to French Resistance Heroine Cecile Rol-Tanguy

Simon sent us this: French Resistance hero Cecile Rol-Tanguy dies at age 101.

How Did Ancient People Preserve Foods?

Reader G.G. suggested this, over at the Discover magazine web site: How Did Ancient People Keep Their Food From Rotting? Here is a pericope:

“To get a sense of what preservation techniques ancient folks might have used, archaeologists surveyed the practices of living and recent people in non-industrialized societies (here, here, here and here) They found many low-tech methods, which certainly could have been accomplished by people thousands of years ago. The most common and familiar include drying, salting, smoking, pickling, fermenting and chilling in natural refrigerators, like streams and underground pits. For example, the Sami, indigenous people of Scandinavia, have traditionally killed reindeer in the fall and winter; the meat is dried or smoked, and the milk fermented into cheese — “a hard, compact cake which may last for years,” according to a mid-20th-century ethnographic source.

The various methods all work because they slow microbial growth. And drying does this best: Microorganisms need a certain amount of moisture to transport nutrients and wastes into and out of their cells. Without water, microbes shrivel and die (or at least go dormant). Drying also inhibits oxidation and enzyme activity — natural reactions of air and food molecules, which cause flavor and color changes.”

Tesla Defiantly Reopens Fremont Plant

Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: Elon Musk takes a stand against local government by reopening Tesla

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Most local banknotes in Somaliland are only worth pennies, so a brick of money is usually needed to buy a meal of camel hump or goat meat. The whole process of exchanging notes is gloriously exotic. In the dusty local market in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, rows of currency traders set up stalls on the side of the road with money they value by weight. Some traders have hundreds of kilos of notes ready to swap for pound sterling, US dollars or euros, with barrow-boy helpers moving the money around on two wheels or in the back of a car. I gave them $100, and was handed a sack of Somaliland shillings that made me feel like a millionaire.” – Simon Reeve

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — May 13, 2020

1

May 13th is the birthday of firearms engineer Theodor Koch (born 1905, died 1976.) Koch, along with Edmund Heckler and Alex Seidel salvaged tooling from the bombed-out Mauser factory at Oberndorf, and with it founded Heckler und Koch.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 88 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 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 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, which 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 $100 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 88 ends on May 31st, 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.

Knives Under $50 That I Love – Part 2, by The Novice

20

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

The Mini Survival Kit

Since I mentioned the mini survival kit, I will tell you more about it. It is easy throw into any pack or game pocket when I head outdoors. In addition to the aforementioned Opinel No. 8 knife , it contains a waterproof match case filled with waterproof matches, a ferrocerium rod with a built in compass and whistle, an extra whistle, and a half dozen or so cotton balls dabbed with Vaseline enclosed in a plastic bag. All of these things are kept in a pint sized SubZero stainless steel water bottle. In addition, a Sawyer mini water filtration system can be carried outside of the water bottle.

I keep the mini survival kit stowed in a water bottle, because I believe that if a water bottle can keep water in without leaking out, it ought to be able to keep water out without leaking in.

Having waterproof matches in a waterproof case in a waterproof bottle might seem redundant, but we are all haunted by the ghosts of our past. I once capsized a canoe on a river trip. Actually, I have done this a number of times, but the incident I am thinking of occurred on one particular trip. Even though my matches were in a waterproof case, they became damp, and would not light. Fortunately, I also had a cheap paper matchbook wrapped in a plastic bag that remained dry. Since then, I have become a bit obsessive about keeping my matches dry.Continue reading“Knives Under $50 That I Love – Part 2, by The Novice”

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 canned beef. (See the Gear & Grub section.)

Books:

I heard that Michael Z. Williamson (our Editor at Large) has updated his Target Terror novel series and it is being re-released. For now, these new editions have just been released as a collection of Kindle e-books.  But soon, a hard copy boxed set will be available!

o  o  o

The Lincoln Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill America’s 16th President–and Why It Failed

o  o  o

High-Yield Vegetable Gardening: Grow More of What You Want in the Space You Have

o  o  o

I’m Your Huckleberry: A Memoir

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

1

“No doubt you’ve heard the phrase ‘ignorance of the law is no excuse’, and are probably familiar with the statist meaning of that phrase: Being ignorant of a law is no excuse for breaking it. However ‘ignorance of the law is no excuse’ also has a less-well-known libertarian meaning: This is an ignorant law and there’s no excuse for it!” – Starchild

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — May 12, 2020

4

I’m starting out with some sad news, reported by Mas Ayoob:  R.I.P. Chuck Taylor. I must say that Taylor truly earned the moniker “Legendary”, in practical shooting circles.

—

On May 12th, 1949, one of the first crises of the Cold War came to end when the Soviet Union lifted its 11-month blockade against West Berlin. A massive U.S.-British airlift had broken it.

At the end of World War II, Germany was divided into four sectors administered by the four major Allied powers: the USSR, the United States, Britain, and France. Berlin, the capital, was also divided into four parts, though it was located well within the USSR sector. The future of Germany was hotly contested among the allies. The United States, Britain, and France eventually united their sectors into one economic zone, which became the independent nation of West Germany. The Soviets withdrew from the council and formed East Germany. Likewise, Berlin was formed into two parts under separate rule.

When the Western powers introduced a new Deutsche Mark currency, in West Germany and West Berlin, the Soviets saw that as an attack on the East Germany currency and began a blockade of all rail, road, and water communications between Berlin and the West. Britain and the United States responded with the largest airlift in history. 278,288 relief missions in 14 months flew in 2,326,406 tons of supplies, 2/3 of which was coal to run the power plants. Flights were made around the clock. At the height of the airlift, in April 1949, planes were landing in the city every minute.

The Soviets made no effort to block the airlift and on May 12th, 1949 allowed the first American and British convoys to drive the 110 miles to Berlin to continue to supply West Berlin.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 88 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 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 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, which 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 $100 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 88 ends on May 31st, 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.