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. Steadily, we work on meeting our prepping goals. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities. They also often 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!

JWR

Dear SurvivalBlog Readers:

We are now bringing in the last of our outdoor fall harvest, here at the Rawles Ranch. The outdoor gardens are nearly done, but the greenhouse ifs producing in abundance. It is still producing lots of greens and tomatoes.

The sporadic late summer rains have prompted me to one of my annual chores: Draining, rolling up, and storing nearly all of our garden hoses and pasture irrigating hoses. The only one that will be left in operation part time is the one inside our main greenhouse. Meanwhile, the short hoses for our stock tanks and our poultry house can be left in place. But after mid-October year we have to start draining them after each use, to keep them from freezing.

Our cows are now nosing longingly through the fence at the hay in the barn. But we won’t start breaking out bales for them as long as there still grass still standing in two of their pastures. That would just be throwing money away.

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

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 “HJL”. Wait till you see the drone footage of Max Velocity Tactical today.

NFA

The latest video from Craig at FPC: Dissecting Dianne Feinstein’s Word Games for “Common Use”.

JWR’s Comment: The “In Common Use” reasoning is spurious when you consider that all Federal firearms regulations starting with NFA ’34 have been unconstitutional. The fact that machineguns are no longer “in common use” is directly attributable to an unconstitutional restriction and tax passed in 1934. So their reasoning is essentially circular! (They WOULD BE “in common use” if they hadn’t banned them!)

Waterproof Bibles

Capt Nemo wanted to remind SurvivalBlog readers of the waterproof bibles that Bardin & Marsee publish. They are a bit pricey, but you can take them camping with you and they will survive inclement weather. If you are planning on missionary work in a jungle, a normal bible will only last about two weeks before they disintegrate. They will make the grade. The only drawback is that they ink will run if it comes in contact with oil and bug spray. When your done with your camping trip, you can leave it on the picnic table, benches or even on the trail for others to find and read.

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“They that dwell under his shadow shall return;
they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine:
the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.
Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols?
I have heard him, and observed him:
I am like a green fir tree.
From me is thy fruit found.
– Hosea 14:7-8 (KJV)

Survival Notes from Canada- September 14, 2018, by Clint Ekert

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As my children lie asleep above me, I am writing this for you, my fellow, respectable believer of the Christian faith. I need to draw the line somewhere. I have little to no inclination to assist non-believers in either disaster preparation or in what is righteous.

I speak to the respectable, Christian believers of good faith. What is respectable, you might ask? I would define it as a person who defines themselves as a Christian and who actually is concerned with the health and safety of other Christians.

The Threat To Western, Christian Values

In church last week a fellow parishioner delivered a sermon about the threat to Western, Christian values in Canada. He began:

Western Societies Abandoning Christian Foundations

“Psalm 11

What shall the righteous do? We live in challenging times. Ever since the 1960s, Western societies have been abandoning their Christian foundations.

In this psalm, David expresses similar feelings about his kingdom. Possibly, it was written during the early days of Absalom‘s conspiracy (2 Samuel 15 verses 1 to 6). The foundations of a God-fearing culture were being destroyed. What should good people do? Retreat? Verse 4 is a resounding ‘No’.”

Continue reading“Survival Notes from Canada- September 14, 2018, by Clint Ekert”

Economics & Investing For Preppers

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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 Nickels–the humble U.S. five cent pieces. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

Precious Metals:

Egon von Greyerz of Zurich: A Submerging Global Economy

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Gold Slips After Negative Trump Tweet On China-U.S. Trade

 

Stocks:

The Dark Decade Ahead

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Stock overvaluation is only half of the story. The other huge hovering Sword of Damocles is the threat of normalizing interest rates. Rates have artificially been held so low for so long that when they return to historic norms, it will be devastating for all of the equities markets.  Be ready. Minimize your exposure to stocks and stock mutual funds!  I’m not the only one giving warnings about the overbought stock markets. So is veteran analyst David Tice.
Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“It is often said that one has but one life to live, but that is nonsense. For one who reads, there is no limit to the number of lives that may be lived, for fiction, biography and history offer an inexhaustible number of lives in many parts of the world, in all periods of time.”  – Louis L’Amour, Education of a Wandering Man

Preparedness Notes for Thursday – September 13, 2018

September 13th, 1951 is the birthday of President Salva Kiir Mayardit of South Sudan.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

This has been another entry for Round 78 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $11,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3000 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 Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  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 gift certificate for any two or three-day class from Max Velocity Tactical (a $600 value),
  4. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  5. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  6. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  7. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  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, and
  6. 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).

Round 78 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.

Practice Makes Perfect- Part 2, by BON

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As I stated in part 1, real world practice beats newly acquired knowledge every time. To be truly prepared for a survival situation, one needs to have practiced practical knowledge of the various skills that are required. In part 1, we covered setting up a test, various sources for power, and sanitation. Let’s move forward to one of the most critical resources we have– water.

Water, One of the Most Critical Needs

One of the most critical needs is going to be water. Are you storing water? Do you have enough? Use the grid down weekend to determine how much you will need for everyone over the course of a weekend. Then extrapolate that for how long you plan to stay in place, to determine how much your plan should require to be stored.

Filtration or Purification System and Spare Filters

Do you have plans for a replenishable water source? If you plan to use a local creek, stream, or even river, are you really prepared for a true extended grid down crisis when everybody dumps their wastes into the water, contaminating it for everyone downstream? Hopefully, you have some method of filtration or purification on hand. Have you put it to use yet? When your family’s water source is dependent upon your gravity feed filter system, finding it out it doesn’t go together properly or leaks is not ideal.

Continue reading“Practice Makes Perfect- Part 2, by BON”

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 “HJL”.

Smoke and Knives

Our favorite knife maker is back at it again. This time he created a knife out of smoke. Technically, I guess you could call this a carbon fiber knife, but he makes the carbon and fiber himself, then forms it into a knife using a mold with the carbon fiber paste. After it hardens, he uses his normal methods to create an incredibly sharp knife from the blank. This one is a bit more messy to create than his others, mostly because the dust from sharpening is so visible. As usual, the video is fascinating to watch. He also adds a section at the end where he compares the hardness of various knives that he has made in the past. This one ranks very well.

Fever Deaths

Something is brewing in northern India that doesn’t bode will for people. A sickness has broken out among the people with the primary symptom presenting itself as a high fever. Reader G.P. sent in this article in which at least 50 people have died over the past two weeks from this illness. The patients are testing positive for malaria and viral infection, a usually non-fatal sickness that causes coughing and colds. Local hospitals are being overwhelmed with makeshift clinics being set up to accommodate the patients. This is India’s most populous state with over 200 million people living in impoverished conditions. It is suspected that heavier rains than usual have contributed to the conditions of this years outbreak.

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“I am wired by nature to love the same toys that the world loves. I start to fit in. I start to love what others love. I start to call earth ‘home.’ Before you know it, I am calling luxuries ‘needs’ and using my money just the way unbelievers do. I begin to forget the war. I don’t think much about people perishing. Missions and unreached people drop out of my mind. I stop dreaming about the triumphs of grace. I sink into a secular mind-set that looks first to what man can do, not what God can do. It is a terrible sickness. And I thank God for those who have forced me again and again toward a wartime mind-set.” – John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday – September 12, 2018

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After nearly 40 years of riding across millions of American TV and movie screens, the cowboy actor William Boyd, best known for his role as Hopalong Cassidy, died on this day in 1972 at the age of 77.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

This has been another entry for Round 78 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $11,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3000 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 Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  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 gift certificate for any two or three-day class from Max Velocity Tactical (a $600 value),
  4. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  5. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  6. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  7. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  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, and
  6. 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).

Round 78 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.

Practice Makes Perfect- Part 1, by BON

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We live in a time when information on virtually any subject can be found with little effort. Prior to the Internet, in order to pick up a new skill or gain new knowledge on a subject, one had to learn by trial and error or find an expert to pass along information. With the plethora of blogs, websites, forums, and videos found online, “expert” level knowledge can be found without ever leaving the comforts of home.

Knowledge Put Into Practice

While knowledge is always a good thing, the only way to truly understand any subject is to get hands on and put that knowledge into practice. Then, that practice makes perfect when practiced perfectly.

The advertising meme of “but I stayed in a particular hotel last night” may sell rooms, but it could be dangerous if applied in the real world. Would you want to have your ruptured appendix removed by someone who just went to a seminar on the procedure or by a seasoned doctor who has done the procedure a few dozen times before you were laid out before him on the operating table?

“Just Do It”

Survival, preparedness, and personal defense skills are serious business. One certainly does not want to be learning new skills in the middle of a crisis, when these skills can mean the difference between life and death. While athletic shoes may not be synonymous with these skills, perhaps the advertising meme of “Just do it” should be applied to these skills.

Continue reading“Practice Makes Perfect- Part 1, by BON”

Economics & Investing For Preppers

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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 Higher Interest Rates.

Interest Rates:

Let’s start off with this important piece at Wolf Street: Markets Increasingly Sure: 4 Rate Hikes in 2018.  Plan accordingly!  I believe that the Federal Reserve’s continuing interest rate increases will slow if not collapse the stock market, automobile sales, and the real estate market. Debt–especially credit card debt–will not be your friend, with higher interest rates. If you are paying attention to the Big Picture, then you’ll see that it is time to pay off your consumer debt, folks!

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You might have missed this piece when it was posted back in mid-August:  Trump might get his slowdown in rate hikes, but for the wrong reason

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Here’s what J.P. Morgan says could cause the next financial crisis

 

 

Cryptos:

Paxos Unveils Dollar-Backed Stablecoin Approved by New York Regulator

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Bets Against Ether’s Price Hit All-Time High JWR’s Comments:  A lot of crypto investors are still hoping to see the usual seasonal swing in cryptos. If that doesn’t materialize in November and early December, then It is easy to foresee a massive selloff, across the board.

 

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

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. This week the focus is on versatile tools. (See the Gear section.)

Books:Holy Bible: KJV Giant Print Thumb Index Edition: Brown (King James Bible)

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2019 Official Red Book of United States Coins – Spiral Bound

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Hank Reinhardt’s Book of Knives: A Practical and Illustrated Guide to Knife Fighting. JWR’s Proviso:  Be forewarned that this book is not for the squeamish!

 

Movies & Television:

The Survivors (1983). “Robin Williams and Walter Matthau star as two unemployed men who find themselves the target of a hitman who’s out-of-work himself.”  The survivalist parody is good for a few chuckles.  Available on DVD, or for free streaming via Amazon Prime. Note: There should have been a special academy award for “Best Supporting Valmet”, for this film!

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Alaska Spirit of the Wild – Narrated by Charlton Heston. Available on DVD or for free streaming to those with Amazon Prime.

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Bowhunting Basics for Deer / Archery-Beginners Guide

 

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