The Editors’ Preps for the Week

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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’ve had another quiet week, here at the Rawles Ranch.  Most of our energy has been directed at homeschooling and Bible study. Our #1 Daughter also got some more experience with baking. The incremental firewood and hay hauling is continuing, per our winter routine. Ditto for stock tank filling and stock tank heater rotation. It is a mundane routine,  but a welcome opportunity to get outdoors and check on our livestock. Avalanche Lily took advantage of one break in the weather to clean out our poultry shed. She also made a Costco run, to top off our supplies of pet food and fresh vegetables.

Our winter greenhouse crop has survived, but sprouting and growth has been slow.  We are hoping the produce from these beds will give a “jump start” on our garden, this year.

Continue reading“The Editors’ Preps for the Week”

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”. The Puerto Rico update gives us an idea of what most urban areas will be like during the beginning phases of a societal collapse.

Institutional Evil

A project Veritas video shows former Twitter employees discussing “Shadow Banning” users. This is the policy where the platform allows those who are in control to arbitrarily apply censorship to the platform. Those users who have ideals contrary to the censors get their accounts locked and/or banned or have tweets removed. Conservative concepts regularly get flagged yet left-leaning content sails through unchecked. Thanks to D.B. for the link.

New Spy Portal

While we are on the subject of social media, it’s worth noting that Facebook is getting in on the act. The Portal is a 15 inch screen with a wide angle camera that has facial recognition and microphones to allow voice control. It’s being pitched as a way for family and friends to stay in contact with each other through video chatting and other social features. The units are planned to ship later this year and I’m wondering how many who purchase one will have read George Orwell’s 1984 (where telescreens were used to closely monitor and repress citizens.) Thanks to DSV for the link.

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“If those who wrote and ratified the 14th Amendment had imagined laws restricting immigration – and had anticipated huge waves of illegal immigration – is it reasonable to presume they would have wanted to provide the reward of citizenship to the children of the violators of those laws? Surely not.” – George Will

Preparedness Notes for Friday – January 12, 2018

On January 12, 1888, the “Schoolchildren’s Blizzard” killed 235 people, many of whom were children on their way home from school, across the Northwest Plains region of the United States. The storm came with no warning and some accounts say that the temperature fell nearly 100 degrees in just 24 hours. There were many instances of teachers keeping or rescuing children who would have been caught in the storm while walking home.

o o o

Any reader in Eastern Washington, northern Idaho, or northwest Montana who is looking for a loyal watchdog, take note: John Adrain (of BedBunker fame) has a three year old male German Shepherd that is in need of a new home. This dog is very loyal and protective. He really needs a home on acreage in the country, to match his disposition. If you can provide such a home, you can contact John at: (214) 551-9483. This dog is available free of charge, but only to the right home. – JWR

o o o

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

This has been another entry for Round 74 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. Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value), and
  8. 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 Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 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 74 ends on January 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.

Planning, Training, and Exercising for “Bug Out”- Part 2, by Mr. E

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In part one of this article series, we looked at the reason for the three skills– planning, training, and exercising– for bugging out. This process is based on tried and true emergency management principles that are currently being used by both public and private institutions all across the nation. The benefit of this plan, train, exercise process is that it allows you and your group to take an all-hazards approach to preparing for a plethora of disasters and emergencies.

Training Everyone On The Plan (continued)

Yesterday, we completed the planning portion and just barely began the training portion of the process with “training everyone to use your bug out supplies/equipment”. Let’s continue with the various parts of training.

Communications Training

Radios can be the make or break component in your bug out process, and so like other pieces of equipment your group must be well versed in how to use them. Simple two-way radios are easy to use because they only rely on several channels; however, they are severely limited in their operating distances. Ham radio on the other hand can be setup to talk with individuals from all over the world, but this requires a much more in-depth understanding of their proper use as well as a license in order to legally operate.

Continue reading“Planning, Training, and Exercising for “Bug Out”- Part 2, by Mr. E”

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 robotic gold mining, in the near future.

Precious Metals (Robotic Gold Mining):

First up, some real food for thought: Assessing the long-term Gold and Silver market (2030-2060). JWR’s Comments: I take his prediction of robotic gold mining as further validation of my view that silver will substantially out-perform gold in the next couple of decades. (A robot could isolate gold nuggets, flakes, and dust. But silver, in contrast, is hardly ever found in those forms.) By the way, I believe that robotic beach or shallow offshore sands mining will be far less risky and less expensive than deep sea floor mining. It is worth mentioning that beach mining in Alaska has recently had quite a renaissance.

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“One of the arguments that had been made against gun control was that an armed citizenry was the final bulwark against tyranny. My response had been that untrained, lightly-armed non-soldiers couldn’t prevail against a modern army. I had concluded that the qualitative difference in firepower was such that all of the previous rules of guerilla war no longer applied. Both Vietnam and Afghanistan demonstrated that wasn’t true. Repelling an armed invasion is not something that American citizens are likely to face, but the possibility of a despotic government coming to power is not wholly unthinkable. One of the sequellae of Vietnam was the rise of the Khmer Rouge and slaughter of perhaps a million Cambodian citizens. Those citizens, like the Jews in Germany or the Armenians in Turkey, were unarmed and thus utterly and completely defenseless against police and paramilitary. An armed minority was able to kill and terrorize unarmed victims with total impunity.” – Paul Hagar, “Why I Carry”

Planning, Training, and Exercising for “Bug Out”- Part 1, by Mr. E

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Many of us, myself included, have been guilty of fantasizing about what we would do during a scenario where we would want to “bug out”. It is easy to say things like, “My plan is to grab my go bag, my family, and run for the the hills.” For others, it is easy to imagine ourselves traversing chaotic streets with a group of our most trusted friends, loaded to the teeth with weaponry, battling our way to our off the grid location. While no doubt these daydreams can be interesting to entertain, it is important we take a holistic and realistic approach to “bugging out”.

There are plenty of fantastic articles on why you should or shouldn’t bug out and even more on how to set up and prepare your area of refuge that you and your group will bug out to. For the purposes of this article, we will be simply focusing on the skills involved with planning, training, and exercising your bug out plan after the decision to leave has been made.

The Planning, Training, and Exercising Process

These three skills– planning, training, and exercising– are based on tried and true emergency management principles and are currently being used by both public and private institutions all across the nation. The benefit of this plan, train, exercise process is that it allows you and your group to take an all-hazards approach to preparing for a plethora of disasters and emergencies. It is important to understand that your bug out plan standardizes the way you and your group handle this process. This plan helps ensure that everyone has a common understanding of what they are expected to do during your bug out.

Continue reading“Planning, Training, and Exercising for “Bug Out”- Part 1, by Mr. E”

Letter: Relocating to the Redoubt — With Firearms

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HJL / JWR

As my family plans for relocation to the Redoubt the biggest question I have is how to move our arms and ammo. I am sure that some Survival Blog readers have made this journey from other states with their collections and any suggestions, guidance, information or experiences from them or yourselves would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for the great resource that you provide at Survival Blog! – T in NC

JWR’s Comment:

Relocating from North Carolina to the Redoubt with guns should be a breeze. Just don’t drive through Illinois!

If you have a moving company handle the move, then carry all of your guns, ammunition, precious metals, and optics in your OWN private vehicle(s), while the movers handle the rest. Movers are notorious for stealing guns. And if one or more disappears, they typically only pay you “by the pound” for what is massing, and that is a pittance.

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”. Flu season is upon us and the saline shortage gets worse!

Saline Shortage

Reader DMC sent in this article on the current saline shortage. This is actually nothing new, but shows the continuation of an existing problem. For the last several years, Saline has been in short supply and rationing has been the norm in the EMS services. With the loss of the Philippine factory that supplied a significant amount of saline, things have only gotten worse. Companies are trying to source from other places around the world, but supply just can’t keep up. With flu season upon us, this may get serious.

Hepatitis A Update

The Hepatitis A outbreak that started in San Diego has now spread to Utah. The outbreak started with the homeless in San Diego, but has reached a state where it is being spread to other people as well. The outbreak followed some infected homeless to Salt Lake City and now Two workers who have tested positive have potentially exposed thousands of people to the disease. So far 152 cases have been reported with no deaths. Thanks to P.S. for the link.

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“In my studies as an attorney and as a United States Senator, I have constantly been amazed by the indifference or even hostility shown the Second Amendment by courts, legislatures, and commentators. James Madison would be startled to hear that his recognition of a right to keep and bear arms, which passed the House by a voice vote without objection and hardly a debate, has since been construed in but a single, and most ambiguous Supreme Court decision, whereas his proposals for freedom of religion, which he made reluctantly out of fear that they would be rejected or narrowed beyond use, and those for freedom of assembly, which passed only after a lengthy and bitter debate, are the subject of scores of detailed and favorable decisions. Thomas Jefferson, who kept a veritable armory of pistols, rifles and shotguns at Monticello, and advised his nephew to forsake other sports in favor of hunting, would be astounded to hear supposed civil libertarians claim firearm ownership should be restricted. Samuel Adams, a handgun owner who pressed for an amendment stating that the “Constitution shall never be construed . . . to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms,” would be shocked to hear that his native state today imposes a year’s sentence, without probation or parole, for carrying a firearm without a police permit.” – Senator Orrin G. Hatch

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday – January 10, 2018

January 10th, 1776 is the day that North Carolina Governor, Josiah Martin issued a proclamation calling on the king’s loyal subjects to raise an armed force to combat the “rebels”. This ultimately led to Colonel Donald McLeod leading the men on an assault on the Patriot forces that ended with fifty of his men dead and 880 captured. The defenders lost only two of their number.

Also on this day in 1976 the song “Convoy” by C.W. McCall was the #1 song on the U.S. pop charts.

Continue reading“Preparedness Notes for Wednesday – January 10, 2018”

A Realistic Assessment of Epidemic Disease After TEOTWAWKI- Part 2, by Dr. DMC

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As we learned yesterday, malaria, like so many other important epidemic illnesses, is a disease of poverty. The poverty we refer to here implies poor housing, poor nutrition, unsanitary and crowded living conditions, and most important, bad water. Remember that the mosquitoes that spread malaria are still around. If America’s high standard of living is destroyed, people will be exposed to the mosquito again, and with time, the parasite will find its way back into the U.S. Malaria is not the only disease to consider either. We have already looked at upper respiratory infections, including influenza (flu), and measles. Today, we will continue examining other threats and how we can minimize them after TEOTWAWKI.

Diarrhea

Bad water, reduced immunity and inadequate sanitation are conditions that inevitably lead to diarrhea epidemics. In a disaster situation, those epidemics are dangerously deadly. Think about the diarrhea outbreaks on the spotless cruise ships that one sees so often in the news. And those occur where sanitation is excellent, where toilets flush and people wash their hands! After disasters, the situation is much worse.

Continue reading“A Realistic Assessment of Epidemic Disease After TEOTWAWKI- Part 2, by Dr. DMC”