Freeze Dried Friday

30

Filtering Oil

This was a slow week for the freeze driers again. We just fired one of them up on Wednesday to run a batch of basil. Today we are finishing up a batch of tomato sauce. However, I’d like to ask SurvivalBlog readers a question.

We currently filter our oil after every run through a simple oil filtering setup made out of plastic jars and an automotive oil filter. The issue with the current design is water in the oil. If you allow water to enter the oil filter, it will not exit until the filter is full of water. At that point, you have to either change the filter or tear the setup apart and drain the water out of the filter. I’ve seen two ways to get the water out.

  1. Use a capture jar with a shoulder on it when you drain the oil from the pump. Then let it sit for about an hour and the water will settle to the bottom. You can then carefully pour the oil into the filter, leaving the water in the shoulder of the jar as you pour. Because of the design of Mason jars, you can’t get a perfect pour and avoiding all water means you will lose about 1/4″ of oil. We currently get around that by not dumping that water/oil until the jar has been used for many oil changes and the water accumulates to a larger amount.
  2. Freeze the jar of captured oil. The water will solidify and the oil will get slugish. You can then up-end the jar when you pour into the filter without having to worry about the water. This method certainly avoids all water, but the sluggish oil doesn’t pour very well from the jar and you end up wasting about the same amount of oil in the long run. It also takes much longer as you have to add in the freezing step.

So, how do you avoid water in your filtered oil?

Letter: Thoughts on Prepping, Harvey & Irma

32

HJL,

Thanks in part to my experience learned from living through Hurricane Dolly years ago and also thanks to this Blog my family and I were mainly prepared by the time Harvey hit. ( We live in the Houston Metro Area). We shared our knowledge with neighbors and like everything else, some listened, some asked for help and info and some…well…they already knew everything. We came through everything very well. However a few things stand out:

Continue reading“Letter: Thoughts on Prepping, Harvey & Irma”

Economics & Investing For Preppers

8

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 numismatics. (See the Tangibles Investing section, near the end of this column.)

Precious Metals

First up, at Sharps-Pixley: Silver, the Bargain of the Century, sure to Explode after Gold Breakout

o  o  o

The futures contracts for gold are still reflecting a lot of uncertainty, globally. (The recent hydrogen bomb test in North Korea seems to be the source of considerable angst.)

 

Stocks:

Moving on to stocks: No great surprise, but the share price of Home Depot is up 2.37%, even before Hurricane Irma reaches the U.S. mainland.

o  o  o

Harvey, Irma And Trump: Strong Tailwinds For Infrastructure Stocks

 

Commodities:

From sugar mills to hog farms, U.S. agriculture braces for Irma

o  o  o

Hurricane Irma Could Affect Crops in Southeast

o  o  o

And over at Oil Price:  Hurricane Irma Could Destroy Oil Demand

 

Forex:

Whether the BoC Hikes or Not, USD/CAD And Crosses Will Move

o  o  o

Sound as a Pound? GBP/USD Daily Fundamental Forecast

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Thursday – September 07, 2017

Today is the birthday of Dr. Ludwig Vorgrimler (born 1912 in Freiburg, Germany; died 1983). Vorgrimler was the designer of the Spanish CETME rifle, from which sprang a plethora of roller-lock descendants from HK, including the G3, HK21, and MP5. His bolt design was also copied by the Swiss for their excellent PE57 and SIG 510 rifles. (Although the Swiss felt obliged to mount a “beer keg” charging handle on the right side of the receiver, for the sake of familiarity to Schmidt-Rubin shooters.)

o o o

Solar Flare

Sunspot AR2673 unleashed a major X9.3-class solar flare (the strongest solar flare in more than a decade.) The X-rays and UV radiation created a strong radio blackout over Europe, Africa and the Atlantic Ocean. But yesterdays CME didn’t have a significant impact on Earth’s magnetic field. However, another CME is on the way and is more potent. Strong G3-class geomagnetic storms are possible. If you have Faraday protection for your sensitive electronics, you may want to store them starting September 8th before the CME hits Earth.

Preventing Failure to Communicate- Part 3, by JMD

2

We’re continuing to evaluate how to prevent a failure to communicate in the event that our normal, electronic communications equipment are not available to us. We are exploring our options. Yesterday, I wrote about common content items and encoding. Let’s continue.

Medium

The medium defines what carries the communication through the channel. For written communication, the medium will usually be paper. For most signal-based communications, the medium will be inseparable from the channel. In the case where communications is sent by a flashing light, light is the medium.

Channel

The channel is critical to all communications. It determines how the message is actually transferred to the receiver. Thus, how much bandwidth is available and how noise may impact the communication. It also tells us likely it is the communication will be noticed/intercepted by someone other than the intended recipient. Channels can also be mixed to improve the overall communications process. For example, say you’re out on a roving patrol and need to use semaphore flags to send a message to someone. How do you know they’ll be watching and see your message?

One option would be to send up from your location a certain color flare. This would alert the receiver that a communication will be coming. They should grab their binoculars and look for flags in the area the flare came from. The receiver can then send up a different color flare when they’re ready to receive communications. (This would be a “handshake” using an alternate channel.) The following sections highlight some potential communications channels along with their pros and cons.

Visual Communications Channels

Visual communications channels are one of the most common forms of communications channels. Human beings tend to be heavily driven by visual influences. Their biggest advantages are that they can typically be seen over long distances by anyone with reasonable vision or binoculars. They tend to be easy to transport and use. Their biggest disadvantages can be that their effectiveness is subject to environmental conditions. Particularly the amount of available light. They can be difficult to restrict to just the desired recipient. A good example of the latter is when you shine a flashlight in the fog. Another example is when there are a lot of suspended particles in the air (pollen, dust, et cetera). The beam of light becomes very visible to everyone around.

Continue reading“Preventing Failure to Communicate- Part 3, by JMD”

Letter: Second Redoubt Area?

35

HJL,

I have been reading your page for years. The wife and I have decided that it is way past time to get out of Kalifornia (we live way out in the desert). We originally looked at the Redoubt areas. I quickly learned that my body simply could not handle the cold weather. I wish I could but it is too painful. We are now looking at East Texas. (Not Austin) I was hoping you may know somebody that could write an article or provide more information regarding warmer climates for places to retreat / homestead/ ranch. Your Redoubt would be my first choice, but my body just cant handle the cold. Thanks for the great Blog and God bless. – R.

HJL’s Comment: I’m not aware of any in the east Texas area. I do know that there is a redoubt like movement in the Ozark mountains. Look up Pastor Joe Fox on YouTube to see some of his stuff talking about that. He is not the only one in that area, but I am familiar with his work.

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

21

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”. Leading the news today is the U.S Virgin Islands governor’s violation of the U.S. Constitution.

Violation of the U.S. Constitution

Governor Kenneth E. Mapp, of the U.S. Virgin Islands, has issued an unconstitutional order to activate the National Guard and given them the authority to confiscate the personal firearms and ammunition of U.S. citizens living within this territory. U.S. Territories do not get to have all of the Constitution applied to them because they are not a “state” and the provisions of the Constitution that apply to states is typically not applicable. However, all the other provisions are applicable, including the first and second amendments. It is unconscionable that an active governor would take such steps in such a crises leaving the population without any protection of themselves. Thanks to R.V. for the link.

o o o

For those interested, Reader T.D. informed us that there is a petition on Whitehouse.gov to remove Governor Mapp from office for authorizing such a violation of the Constitution. You can view and sign this petition and if it garners 100,000 votes by October 6, 2017, the White House will review and respond to it.

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

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday – September 06, 2017

September 6th, 1757 is the birthday of Marquis de Lafayette (often known simply as Lafayette), a French aristocrat and military officer who fought in the American Revolutionary War. He was a close friend of George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson. George Washington met him through his connections in the Free Masons and was impressed with him. After he offered to serve without pay, Congress commissioned him as a Major General and he was an integral part of the battle at Brandywine. He also endured the hardships with George Washington when encamped at Valley Forge.

Preventing Failure to Communicate- Part 2, by JMD

We’re continuing to evaluate how to prevent a failure to communicate in the event that our normal, electronic communications equipment are not available to us. Yesterday, we looked as some definitions and began defining our own communications requirements. With that in mind, let’s move forward.

Options

Now that you’ve (hopefully) thought a little bit about what your communications requirements might be, let’s take a look at some possible options for the various elements.

Sender/Recipient

As I mentioned earlier, the best starting point for figuring out a communications strategy is by making a list of everyone it will need to support. For a smaller group, like a family, this may simply involve a list of all of the people in the family. However, what if an emergency arises that requires you to call for help from your neighbors? Make the list as complete as possible, and allow for potential future additions. When the group starts getting larger, like a compound or a small town, you’re better off defining communications in terms of roles. For example, anyone involved with security should probably learn how to use tactical hand signals.Someone who never leaves the vicinity of the compound probably doesn’t need to know how to use a long-distance signal lamp.

Continue reading“Preventing Failure to Communicate- Part 2, by JMD”

Economics & Investing For Preppers

4

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 the Dollar Downturn. (See the Forex section.)

Precious Metals:

Gold Advances 2.5% on Week, Silver Surges 4.5%

o  o  o

Gold Breakout & Upside Price Targets

 

Stocks:

Next, at Seeking Alpha, there is this: September 2017 Stock Considerations

o  o  o

At CNBC: Dow closes more than 200 points lower, posts its worst day since August 17. (Warning: Has auto-start video.)

 

Commodities:

On to this piece at Platts: Key trends impacting commodity markets in 2017

o  o  o

And at Market Oracle: When and how to invest in the commodity market – Taking a balanced step forward

 

Forex (Dollar Downturn):

The US Dollar Index (USDI) remains in a bear trend, just as I predicted.  Once again: President DJT wants a weaker Dollar, primarily to boost US exports. Plan accordingly. Diversify with a hedge out of US Dollars. That means both precious metals and selected foreign currencies. My current favorite is the Swiss Franc (CHF).

o  o  o

The US dollar is in its worst losing streak in 14 years and the data aren’t helping

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

JWR’s Recommendations of the Week

Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. This week the focus is on the fiction anthology book Forged in Blood. It was edited and co-authored by  SurvivalBlog’s Editor At Large, Michael Z. Williamson.

Books (Forged In Blood):

Forged in Blood. This is an anthology of military short stories. Some of the  stories are directly or indirectly related to Michael Z. Williamson’s Freehold series. It was just released on September 5th. It features all-new stories by Michael Z. Williamson, Larry Correia, Tom Kratman, Tony Daniel, Micahel Massa, Peter Grant, John F. Holmes, and many others.) Note: There is some crude language and descriptions of violent combat, so this book is not for kids. The editors of Kliatt describe the book: “A fast-paced, compulsive read . . . will appeal to fans of John Ringo, David Drake, Lois McMaster Bujold, and David Weber.”

o o o

The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness, by Dave Ramsey.

 

Movies and Television:

The Bomber: A Tale of Survival Behind Nazi Lines. This is a 2012 Russian mini-series now available on Amazon Prime. A bit sappy at times, but overall quite well made. The weapons and costumes used were surprisingly correct. The planes and vehicles were not quite so correct, but close enough to not be distracting. Note: It is mostly in Russian, with fairly good subtitles in English.   The portions spoken in German are poorly dubbed into Russian.  (Folks who speak German might find that annoying.)

o o o

Wonder Woman (Presently available for digital download, but soon available on DVD and Blu-Ray.)

Music:

Hans Zimmer: The Power of One (soundtrack)

o o o

Fairport Convention: Come All Ye – The First Ten Years (1968 To 1978) – a seven CD setContinue reading“JWR’s Recommendations of the Week”

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday – September 05, 2017

On September 5, 1774, fed up with the meddling of the crown and being mostly independent-minded, our nation’s founding fathers met together in the First Continental Congress, in Philadelphia, laying the foundation of what would become the world’s greatest nation.

o o o

From Pat Cascio, SurvivalBlog’s Senior Product Review Editor:

It is with the heaviest of sad hearts, that I have to report the passing of a true Warrior over the weekend. Eugene Sockut in Israel fought the good fight, until the end. As you may know, Gene and I had been friends for 25 years, and he was a most trusted friend.

Gene Sockut, served as the chief firearms and sniper instructor in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF), for 26 years. He is also the author of numerous books and videos, and was a much in-demand speaker in Israel on self-defense techniques. Several years ago, Gene was still serving Israel as a sniper instructor with the Israel Border Police. And he was even going out with them on patrols, when he was well into his mid-70s. A major stroke cut him down, and he never recovered from it.

Sympathy cards and letters can be addressed to:

Cynthia Sockut
c/o Pat Cascio
P.O. Box 342
Sweet Home, OR 97386