Guest Article: A Listening Pause, ShepherdFarmerGeek

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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.

Time To Evaluate and Adjust

Now is not the time to be congratulating ourselves on our level of preparedness, but the time to make sure that we have:

  • More mobility, and are able to stay on the move (“orbiting” a small town or key area), able to move on short notice at any time, able to move at night or in inclement weather,
  • ­Lighter weight – we might start out heavy but also able to shed/cache gear and supplies as needed,
  • ­More durable gear that’s rugged. Equipment that can take years of hard use, not just several months,
  • Shed dependence on electronic equipment (which might be awesome and needed, at first, but not sustainable long term). Think good binoculars instead of night vision. (Have both, if you can afford it!),
  • More focus on stored calories (maybe in distributed caches) and less focus on gardening. (Got caching barrels/containers?),

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Letter Re: Irma – After Action Report

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HJL,

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.

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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”. 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!

Texas “Looter” 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.

Electric Vehicles

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.

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Preparedness Notes for Wednesday – September 20, 2017

On September 20th, 1519, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan set sail from Spain in an effort to find a western sear route to the rich Spice Islands of Indonesia. He initially spent time searching the South American coast for a strait, but was unable to find one. He crushed a mutiny executing one of his captains and leaving another ashore. Eventually, over a year after he set sail, he discovered what he had been seeking. The Strait of Magellan, as it became known, is located at the southern tip of South America.

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Without This, All Your Preps and Training Are For Naught, by M.P. in Ohio

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The Answer Is Good Health

Instead of teasing you by giving you the answer in the third paragraph, here is what you need for your preps and training to be meaningful; it is good health. So before you think you’ve already read similar articles, please read on. I think you’ll find this different. Your health during SHTF scenarios is more important than:

1) All your training,

2) All your stored goods, and

3) Your bug out location

I understand we can’t all be in perfect health, but you owe it to yourself to be as healthy as possible. I’m not only talking about getting in better shape, but included with your preps, you should include certain foods, herbs, and spices that I will list here to help keep you healthy and to cure many ailments when you get sick. If you think staying healthy is difficult now, imagine how hard it will be to do so after TSHTF. There will be no doctors, no hospitals, and no pharmacies to run to when you need them. Without good health, all your preps may likely go to someone else who comes along and takes it.

I can’t tell you the number of acquaintances I know who have spent years and lots of money stockpiling but don’t do squat (no pun intended) to stay healthy. How they think they’ll survive is beyond me.

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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 investing in Raufoss ammunition.  (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

Precious Metals

The annual Summit Colorado Precious Metals conference ends today. This three-day conference usually generates some great interview  videos.  I’ll try to post some links, soon.

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Gold retreats ahead of US Fed meeting

Stocks:

Moving on to this at Zero Hedge: Deutsche Bank: “Global Asset Prices Are The Most Elevated In History”

 

Commodities:

Sub-$50 Oil Could Kill Shale

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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 Firewood Stacking. (See the Instructional Videos section.)

Books:

It is that time of year again: A Guide Book of United States Coins 2018: The Official Red Book

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Zak George’s Dog Training Revolution: The Complete Guide to Raising the Perfect Pet with Love

 

Movies and Television:

The Hope: The Rebirth of Israel. This a is quite well done documentary, now available on DVD, or free download for Amazon Prime members.

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The Celts: Blood, Iron and Sacrifice with Alice Roberts and Neil Oliver

Music:

The Rough Guide to Scottish Folk—Living Traditions from Glasgow to the Shetlands

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And for those who enjoy jazz violin ensembles: Jean-Luc Ponty: Live At Chene Park

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Preparedness Notes for Tuesday – September 19, 2017

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On September 19th, 1778, the Continental Congress passed the first budget of the United States. While the budget may have passed, the states responded poorly to the call for taxes to fund the government, and the government resorted to printing paper money to cover debts. In effect, the first budget was a failure, due in large part to the states not responding to the demands of Congress and the depreciation of fiat paper money. Are we talking about 1778 or 2017 here?

Also on this date in 1796, George Washington addressed the nation in his farewell address as president.

On a less serious note, Mickey Mouse made his first screen debut in 1928 (Steamboat Willy at Colony Theater NYC).

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A Strange New Language With Old Words Used in Strange New Ways, by Old Bobbert

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I’m writing about a strange new language and its effect on others. We are told that a SurvivalBlog contest entry essay that is a “how to do it type” topic will get extra recognition in the judging. This is my best effort at writing an essay that is truly a “how to do it”. It’s on the topic of how we preppers can easily regain our lost positions within our families and communities, positions that were lost, or perhaps that we threw away thoughtlessly, back when we first began to think and speak in this new language that we have created for ourselves. It’s the language of intolerant words and changing concepts that strain the relationships so very necessary in our over-stressed lives– our preparedness language.

The Town “Nons”

We are the preppers. Strange people with strange new uses for old words with our new meanings. We don’t seem to even care that they don’t really understand what we are talking about. We are strange to them, and the “nons” appear to wonder about the preppers living among them and being around the “nons” children. The number of preppers here in our town seems to be growing very quickly. They seem to be wondering what we are trying to do to them.

Preparedness Community Questions

I have observed that among the members of our “preparedness” community there are always the same nagging types of fretful questions in our conversations. They ask, “How much is enough?” “Should we talk to the neighbors about our preparations for the ‘big, bad problems’ we are expecting soon?”

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SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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Here is SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt. This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. We also mention companies of interest to preppers that are located in the region. The emphasis this week is on the court order following the Gary Hunt trial  (See the Eastern Oregon section.)

Idaho

First up: Stargazers eye the nation’s first dark sky reserve in Idaho. Yep, that is a big dark patch. (You can click to zoom in.) You’ve gotta love such low population density!  (A hat tip to Peter S. for the link.)

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Man pulled over on I-84 found driving van belonging to missing person, sheriff says

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Porsche plows into spectators at Idaho car show; 11 hurt

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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”. Of note today  is the survival shotgun. this looks like a handy tool.

Survival Shotgun

Reader W.W. sent in this video reviewing the Chiappa X-Caliber Survival Shotgun. This is basically the old M6 survival shotgun, but instead of a .410 and .22 barrel, you get a 12 ga and .22 barrel. Then they add a series of pistol adapters which are drop in barrel bushings that will allow the shotgun to fire a variety of pistol ammunition as well. It’s a neat concept. Though it is a break-open single-shot type of weapon, so you don’t get a high rate of fire. However, the pistol adapters make it so you can fire just about any caliber of round that you might find laying around.

Flood Recovery Advice

In this Video, The American Gunsmithing Institute’s (AGI) president Gene Kelly, provides immediate Flood Recovery Triage Advice for Firearms owners to prevent further damage to their guns.. Please share this information with others to help the victims of the storms recover their firearms. Our thoughts and concerns are with the People of Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Caribbean Islands and all others that affected. May God Protect and Bless them.

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The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself anti-Fascism. My own belief, more than once set afloat from this spot, is that it will take us, soon or late, into the stormy waters of Fascism. To be sure, that Fascism is not likely to be identical with the kinds on tap in Germany, Italy and Russia; indeed, it is very apt to come in under the name of anti-Fascism.” – H.L. Mencken (1938)