September 23, 1800 is the birthday of William McGuffey, a college president who is best known for writing the McGuffey Readers, the first widely used series of textbooks. It is estimated that at least 122 million copies of McGuffey Readers were sold between 1836 and 1960, placing its sales in a category with the Bible and Webster’s Dictionary.
Continue reading“Preparedness Notes for Saturday – September 23, 2017”
I always travel prepared for whatever may happen. I am older, and while still in good shape, my fight rounds are probably down to less than a minute before I get worn out (comes with age), so I travel prepared to personally defend myself and those with me in any situation. As always, situational awareness is first and foremost. On short trips, I prepare by carrying both non-lethal protection and sidearms. On long trips (my long trips average 2500 miles round trip), I carry additional long guns that are purpose minded and a reasonable amount of ammo.
I can not stress enough, should the world decide to go south and you find yourself on the interstate a thousand miles from where you would prefer to be, you simply must err on the side of that one in a million chance that you need to be better defended than the next guy or guys at least for the short term to get home. It can and will happen that fast, especially in the more populated areas like where I was traveling.
Continue reading“My Recent Experience Bugging Into A Disaster- Part 2, by J.W.”
To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make long-term and short-term plans. Steadily, we work on meeting our prepping goals. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities. They also share their planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, property improvements, 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!
Dear SurvivalBlog Readers,
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 “HJL”. Puerto Rico has been hammered again by yet another Hurricane. Now they have a dam on the brink of collapse.
Mitchell Flint, the American naval pilot who helped form the Israeli Air Force in 1948 and served in Israel’s first fighter squadron has died this week. Flint was one of the founding members of “Machal”, a group of non-Israelis who faught in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Flint an other members had flown in German planes that were captured during World War II and covered the Nazi insignia with the Star of David. We will miss him. Thanks to G.L. for the link.
What if some like-minded people on ZeroHedge decided to create a new community?
“And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it. And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.” – Deuteronomy 31:7-8 (KJV)
September 22nd in the 70th birthday of survivalist writer Joel Skousen. (Born, 1946.) Skousen authored the excellent books Strategic Relocation and The High Security Shelter – How to Implement a Multi-Purpose Safe Room in the Home
September 22nd in the birthday of the late Lieutenant Colonel Ronald Reid-Daly, who founded and commanded the Rhodesian Selous Scouts. He was born 1928, and he died August 9, 2010. His history of the Selous Scouts, titled Pamwe Chete, is fascinating to read, but it is a very hard-to-find book.
I should also mention that September 22nd, 1290 is the birthday of one of my favorite fictional characters, Bilbo Baggins (in Shire reckoning).
Continue reading“Preparedness Notes for Friday – September 22, 2017”
I had a recent experience of traveling into a situation where everyone else was leaving due to Hurricane Irma. I learned some valuable lessons during the process.
My home is in Florida, and my bug out location is in the Midwest. I spend most of my time during the summer at the BOL due to the climate, the gardening opportunities, and most of all the simple peace and quiet living. Two weeks ago, Hurricane Irma was seven days out in the Atlantic and on a track that may bring it closer to Florida. When this happens, it’s time to load up needed items and travel home to secure everything and also to be there for the aftermath if there is anything to clean up and repair.
My Florida home is a log home. It’s well built to withstand the winds of a hurricane, but it’s not so great if the power is out for weeks in that humidity. Mold can be an issue for any home in Florida, and wood homes seem to draw moisture first. Part of my everyday living and being prepared is the notion that having two places means twice the work, twice the cost, and lots of travel in between. All of this is possible on a small budget if you think things through.
My travel vehicle is a 10 year old one ton GMC dually. It has an enclosed topper with a locking (as in padlock) back top glass. The side and rear window are blacked out to keep anyone from viewing all the contents. The truck has been well maintained, though it has over 200K miles, and looks very common on the highway or in a parking lot. The fuel mileage is reasonable no matter the load, and it will pull any trailer. It also can remain loaded down with tools, supplies, and spares at all times so you are reasonably prepared for situations when traveling across country, like I do often, or just out for the day.
Continue reading“My Recent Experience Bugging Into A Disaster- Part 1, by J.W.”
Welcome to Freeze Dried Friday on SurvivalBlog! We’ve been making so many things in the Harvest Right Freeze Dryer that we want to share some of them with you. If you have something wonderful you’ve prepared in your freeze dryer that you would like to share with SurvivalBlog readers, take a photo of it and send it in along with a description. We might just feature you here!
This week was a continuation of the tomato harvest. The freeze driers are working 24/7 now and we are still canning two to three times as much as what we can freeze dry. In addition to the tomatoes, the garden has a plethora of Jalapeño peppers, onions, cilantro and garlic. Anyone that has spent time in the southwest knows what that means! Salsa! As soon as this current batch of tomato sauce finishes, we will be canning Mrs Latimer’s fresh salsa. Salsa works really well because you can reconstitute it in as small a quantity as you desire. If you’re into binging on chips ans salsa, you can reconstitute a full quart of it, or if you just want a quick snack, all you need is a couple of tablespoons in a ramekin.
Here are the latest 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 JWR. (SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor.) Today’s focus is on Monetization. (See the Economy & Finance section.)
First, over at Seeking Alpha: Revisiting The Silver/Gold Ratio
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The Q2 Platinum Quarterly is now available.
Moving on to stocks, there is this at Bloomberg: Stress at the UN Is Not Shared on Wall Street
Over at FX Empire, here is their most recent predictive piece: Natural Gas Price Analysis
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EIA Report Kills Bullish Sentiment
“Those in possession of absolute power can not only prophesy and make their prophesies come true, but they can also lie and make their lies come true.” – Eric Hoffer
On this day in 1780, during the American Revolution, American General Benedict Arnold met with British Major John Andre to discuss handing over West Point to the British in return for the promise of a large sum of money and a high position in the British army. The plot was foiled and Arnold, a former American hero, became synonymous with the word “traitor”. It’s too bad the current crop of politicians are not held accountable for their treasonous acts.
It’s time for a listening pause and then some evaluation and possible adjustments. As the roller coaster of our national life clanks its way to the apex for the sudden wild ride to the bottom, we can see events unfolding now that will prove to be the beginnings of multiple crises. Which wheel falls off first will not be as important as the fact that there will soon be several overlapping issues.
Now is not the time to be congratulating ourselves on our level of preparedness, but the time to make sure that we have:
Continue reading“Guest Article: A Listening Pause, ShepherdFarmerGeek”
As Alfred E. Neuman say’s, “What? Me worry?” I live in North Central Florida, so usually by the time a hurricane reaches us, it’s dwindled in strength. Having read Mr. Rawl’s blog for many years, I do prepare. Oddly, this time around, employers let most of the employees leave work Friday, even though the event wasn’t expected until sometime on Saturday. It ended up being later. Guess hurricanes work on their own schedule.
Friday, I went to Walmart to do some last minute stock ups. Tarps were gone. Water was gone. Camp stoves were gone. Batteries were still in stock, but the bread and milk aisles were gone, and tape (for windows) was mostly gone.
People were moving north. Gas stations were doing a brisk business. By Saturday there was an element of fear among travelers you could almost taste. Businesses were mostly closed.
Sunday night/Monday morning Irma rocked into town. It was no stealth operation. Somewhere around 11AM Saturday, it got so bad that emergency personnel were pulled off the road and told to hunker down and wait.
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 “HJL”. We’ll start today off with a story sure to send the current crop of snowflakes and progressives straight into an apoplectic fit – The Texas Tattoo!
In the French Caribbean, fear and looting grip the island in the wake of recent hurricanes. Chaos reigns in the streets and the strong take what they want. Politicians cry for armed European soldiers to come to their aid. Meanwhile, Texans have their own brand of law and order. This picture of the time honored tattoo placed upon looters is priceless. We love our Second Amendment! Thanks to reader T.P. for the link.
From the desk of Mike Williamson, SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large: German Analysis: Florida Evacuation With E-Vehicles Would Mean “Mass Death On The Highways” – Yeah, electric vehicles – a bad idea in a disaster.
“If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” – George Washington
