Prepare to Be Prepped – Sometimes You Have to Survive Daily Life, by Just-Do-It Jane

Most of us in the U.S. have been touched by winter storms. If you live in the South like I do, then you’ve probably tossed your hands in the air and said to yourself, “Wait a minute! What happened to mild winters?!”

Fortunately for me, my friend “Survival Messenger” has had the foresight to help me (and many others) understand why we should prepare for come-what-may scenarios. She has shared everything from her favorite high-tech gadgets to trusted and ingenious homemade solutions for everyday problems. I’ve been the thrilled recipient of handy buckets and bags filled with so many helpful goodies that it’s like Christmas each time she walks in the door. But her generosity doesn’t end with physical products. Almost every conversation we have contains a gold mine of valuable information I store for future use.  In January and February of one recent year, I came to know how important her preparedness values had become in my life.

Weather/Round I

After two years of searching, I finally found the homestead property of my dreams, which consisted of an old 1920s farmhouse and outbuildings on almost seven beautiful acres with trees, a spring-fed pond and plenty of room for gardens. Three months spent on needed renovations and it was time to move in. I relished the idea of domiciling happily inside, keeping warm by my toasty wood stove and cooking in my old farm kitchen. Reality isn’t always quite as fun as your mind would like to be.

Before I had moved a stick of furniture in the house, the weatherman informed us that the temperature was going to drop below 10 degrees for several days. If you’ve ever spent any time in old houses in the South then you know they weren’t built to withstand extremely cold winter. I was very concerned that my pipes wouldn’t survive without my influence, so I made the trek from the city to the farm to spend the night. I took my trusty survival bag with me. Good thing.

When I walked in the door, I knew it was going to be a long night. The old heat pump was hardly keeping up, and it was only late afternoon. My brain had been concentrating so much on inside renovations that I hadn’t stopped to think what might happen to the outside if it got extremely cold, so I didn’t have extra insulation or heat tape in place in the crawl space. The best I could do was keep the water dripping in the faucets, leave the cupboard doors open, and keep the heat up as high as possible. My beautiful wood  stove had yet to be installed; it was just a wishful thought in the mind’s eye of my cold body.

I decided to scope out the warmest place in the house. I thought it was the 5 x 12-foot utility room.  The heat pump sends warmed air through ducts in the ceiling and it felt the warmest in that smallest of rooms.

I know that hot air rises, so I’ll blame my decision to sleep on the floor of a house that sits just a few feet above the cold ground on my own befuddled thought process. I thought that I was smart to bring a camouflage air mattress to sleep on — the kind you stick in the water and float on. (What? Like fish won’t see you?)  I have a small, emergency air compressor that you can plug into your car to inflate things, but I imaged myself in a Lucille Ball moment,  sitting outside in the dark and near zero temperatures in the front seat of my car, fighting a slowly inflating mattress, so I opted to blow it up manually. Yep, you’re reading that right. I almost passed out trying to get that thing inflated (Okay, so I had a Lucy moment anyway.) After what seemed like two hours, it was full of my hot air.  I covered it with a sheet and a blanket and tried to snuggle in for the night with my trusty survival bag next to me.

Within five minutes, I was feeling like I was freezing. I used my solar LED light and pulled on a pair of wool socks Survival Messenger had given me.  I knew I had some emergency blankets somewhere in my bag. I did! I took one out, covered my body with it and tried to settle down. However, every time I breathed I sounded like a piece of popcorn flying around inside a Jiffy Pop bag. And the emergency blanket on top of me didn’t do much good for my underside. The floor felt cold underneath the air mattress that was slowly deflating with my weight. After a faucet check I decided to head up the stairs with all my supplies to the second floor attic. At least the hot air would rise to the occasion. At 2 a.m. I was blowing up the camouflage air mattress again and laughing out loud in my sleep-deprived delirium. I got out a second emergency blanket and put that one underneath me. Ahh. Much better. I fell asleep and actually woke up sweating because I was so hot. I ran downstairs at 6 a.m. to check the faucets. All was well. The only temporary casualty was a frozen drain pipe that was exposed to the outside. The plumber suggested pouring warm water over it, the ice melted, and I thought, “Okay, I can do this!”

Survival products used in Round I:

  • Wool Socks
  • Emergency Blankets
  • Solar LED Light


 Weather/Round II

By the time I was able to get some furniture moved to the farm, a new round of winter weather was about to move in. I packed up a few of my survival food packs and stopped at the store to stock up on bread, eggs, milk and chocolate. Again, I had my trusty survival bag chock full of good stuff when I trekked back out to the country. So what could possibly go wrong?

The first round of snow came overnight. The problem with snow in the South is that there’s hardly any infrastructure to deal with it. Only the busiest of roads get salt, and you’ll never find a fleet of snow trucks ready to plow the white stuff off to the side. Forget it if you live in a very rural area. The other problem is that those who didn’t grow up driving in snow should be
banned from driving in snow at all! There’s an art to it; it takes practice, which is why this transported Northerner usually opts to stay indoors when these storms happen. I’m fortunate enough  be able to do so because I work from home.

So there I sat on the only piece of furniture in the living room — a love seat. The rest of the world was enjoying their day off while I sat on stumpy couch and worked my brains out with my hot spot connection and a computer. The snow came and went. Then the wind roared in with freezing rain. But by this time, my beautiful little wood stove had been installed, EPA-certified and all. While the ice pellets banged against the chimney and echoed down, I hauled in some wood, wearing my Toggs rain gear and using my survival safety gloves, got the stove going and decided a can of soup might be in order. I had purchased a couple of cans of organic/non-GMO chicken soup. My mouth was watering at the thought of it until I realized I hadn’t packed up all my cooking utensils. I had no can opener. Or maybe I did! I got out the survival bag, because inside lived a multi-tool that Survival Messenger had given me years before. Hooray! Hot soup was simmering within three minutes. Sadly, I broke a nail getting the can open, but not to worry. The multi-tool had a nail file. And I didn’t have a soup ladle, or so I thought. But Survival Messenger had placed one of those in a food bucket she had given me. It also contained a bag of rubber gloves, boxes of matches, mouse traps and more wool socks — all of which were put to good use during the storm.

I was getting through one of the worst winters the South had ever seen. Cars were spinning out of control on the snow and ice within every news broadcast, but I was safe and sound, letting the wood stove serve the heat where the heat pump would not, cooking hot meals and doing dishes.

After five days of snow, rain and cold, on Friday night I decided to have a real survival meal. I broke out a pack of chicken alfredo pasta and was quite surprised by the tastiness. On the last bite, Survival Messenger checked in–as she had done all week. We laughed at the weather and planned things we’d do when everything got back to normal. Then I decided to do the dishes. Good thing I like clean dishes. At the very moment I was standing at the kitchen sink and patting myself on the back for getting through an entire week on my own, disaster struck. Suddenly, water was raining down on my head — inside my kitchen! In shock, I looked up to find it pouring through a hole in the cupboard.  The rain that had frozen all week long had turned into three inches of ice that started to melt, and the flashing that connected the main house roof to the back porch had never been installed correctly.

I swooped into action, grabbed some pots and placed them in strategic locations. I knew I only had minutes before really bad things were going to happen, and the freezing rain had started up again! There was only one thing to do: Call Neighbor Bob. Neighbor Bob decided to stop in a few months prior to offer his services on a plethora of possible projects. I have fantastic farm neighbors who make me feel like I’m living in my childhood again, because they really care. Neighbor Bob said, “I’ll be there in 15 minutes.”  He climbed up a ladder in slippery, freezing rain with a bum knee and chopped off blocks of ice and created a temporary quick fix to the flashing. He was up there for an hour and a half.  Disaster averted. (And a friend gained for life!)

Survival products/procedures used in Round II:

  • Gravity Water Filter (for daily drinking/cooking)
  • Canned Goods
  • Survival Food
  • Multi-tool
  • Soup Ladle
  • Matches
  • Mouse Traps
  • Safety Gloves
  • Heavy Rubber Boots
  • A Good Neighbor – Great to have around in a crisis!

Round III
This week? [While I’m writing this] Flood level rains are expected in the weather forecast. Hmm. It is a good thing that I chose a piece of property far from the river and up on a high plateau. But I may need to add a small boat to my emergency preparedness list! 

Economics and Investing:

Audio: Eric Sprott and RCM Precious Metals Forum October 5, 2016

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I was web wandering and stumbled into an informative blog that would be of particular interest to those considering expatriation: International Tax Blog. – JWR

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Speaking of expatriation:  HSBC’s top expatriate destinations for 2016 – in pictures

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Gold Republic: 10 Terrifying Charts

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SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader Paula in Nebraska suggested this useful article over at the Homestead Moma blog: Ways To Take Care Of Your Animals If SHTF. – JWR

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Over at Prepper Journal‘s archives: How to Camouflage Paint Your AR-15

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This sounds like something out of a novel: Christian Homeland The Answer To Islamic State Violence? Christians In The Middle East Demand Sovereign Nation

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Video: How Many Magazines Do You Need? (Pre-Gun Ban Prepping)

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I’ve heard that the supply of Rawles XL Voyager knives is just about depleted at the manufacturer, Cold Steel. At last estimate, they had less than 100 of them still on hand. All of the profits from the sale of these knives are going to two Christian charities. (I don’t make a dime on them.) Because this was a limited edition knife, there will be no more produced, and prices on the secondary market are bound to increase. Oh, by the way, I also heard that Midway still has a few in stock, at a very competitive price. Don’t dawdle, folks!- JWR

Notes for Friday – October 28, 2016

This is the birthday of Eliphalet Remington (born October 28, 1793 – August 12, 1861), who designed the Remington rifle and founded what is now known as the Remington Arms Company.

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Today, we present another entry for Round 67 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Tactical Self-Contained 2-Series Solar Power Generator system from Always Empowered. This compact starter power system is packaged in a wheeled O.D. green EMP-shielded Pelican hard case (a $1,700 value),
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate that is good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 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 with a hammer forged, chrome-lined barrel 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, which can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Gun Mag Warehouse is providing 20 Magpul PMAG 30-rd Magazines (a value of $300) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt; (an equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions),
  6. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  7. The Ark Institute is donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package (enough for two families of four) plus seed storage materials, a CD-ROM of Geri Guidetti’s book “Build Your Ark! How to Prepare for Self Reliance in Uncertain Times”, and two bottles of Potassium Iodate (a $325 retail value),
  8. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  9. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating an AquaBrick water filtration kit with a retail value of $250, and
  10. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Second Prize:

  1. 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,
  2. A gift certificate for any two or three-day class from Max Velocity Tactical (a $600 value),
  3. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  4. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 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. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  8. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  9. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A $245 gift certificate from custom knife-maker Jon Kelly Designs, of Eureka, Montana,
  3. 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,
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  7. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value),
  8. 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), and
  9. Fifteen LifeStraws from SafeCastle (a $300 value).

Round 67 ends on November 30th, 2016, 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.

When and How Do We Fight? That is the Question, by X. Liberal

This message is more on a serious note. Before we get started I want to make an attribution to Lavoy Finicum. My wife and I had the privilege of being present in Utah to pay respects to him and his loved ones as we were driving back from our final Redoubt Property inspection in Montana while traveling home to Nevada. His sacrifice sparks this message:

“THEY” say Lavoy Finicum and his cohorts were illegally occupying the Wildlife Refuge in Burns Oregon. THEY say nothing about the Occupy Wall Street Movement illegally occupying City Squares. THEY say that it was unsanitary to be at the Burns Wildlife Refugee without running water and working toilets. THEY say nothing about Occupy Wall Street protesters using drugs, fornicating, defecating, and urinating on city property. THEY say the Bundys and their cohorts overstayed their welcome when they slept overnight at the Refuge. THEY say nothing when the Occupy Wall Street protesters occupy an entire city block while camping out for days or weeks in unsanitary conditions. THEY say that the Wildlife Refuge protesters were armed [lawfully I might add]. THEY say nothing when the Black Lives Matters protesters in Dallas are armed with assault rifles. THEY shoot bullets with a premise of lethal force to be utilized against protesting in a Conservative light. THEY send news bites out with the premise of agitating black rioters, even to the extent of causing a dozen causalities at the Dallas Police Department, have the premise to hire them onto the police force . THEY call out the Bundys as “anti-government” people and lock them up in jail. THEY call murderers of police officers Civil Rights protesters and give police escort to their Black Lives Matters rioters down city streets the very day after police officers are gunned down, and that murderous act is not labeled “anti-government.”

Who are “THEY”? THEY are the Progressives who are progressing societal conduct past the boundaries God has written in His word. If you are outside God’s limits in human conduct and call that new truth a human right—you are into moral relativism. These misguided souls have even infiltrated the ranks of our government organs and now crafting legislation to go after the right wing, conservative voter pool, military veterans, and American moral values. Did anyone see what happened to Hitlery after a meeting with the FBI Director Comey? More to come folks, as the FBI is pivoting to expunge conservative values (note Lavoy Finicum’s death) and overlook Progressive crimes (Hitlery’s private e-mail server top secret codeword information in a home basement.)

My question is where is the line drawn before WE THE PEOPLE fight?  The quest is not “fight or flight.” Rather, it is when and how to do we fight?

Let me set the table and walk you into this gently for sake of this being on the Internet…

What I am driving at, is this nation once looked upon anti-American principled people such as Communists as the enemy of the United States. The Communist Party USA started out in the middle of the last century and was infiltrated by the FBI at inception. THEY got smart and have changed their group identifier a few times over the years and here are some of the morphed changes:  their name changes away from having the word Communist in the title to now calling themselves Socialists, Liberals, Democrats, Left-wingers, and now Progressives. In a few years they will call themselves something else to outfox their critics, the FBI and other government agencies.

FIGHT – RUN FOR PUBLIC OFFICE
We as conservatives need to run for public office. If that means as Town Council, Mayor, Judges, School Boards, City Manager, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Congress (Senate or House of Representative), and anywhere a policy could be derived or written—do it. Don’t believe that you need to run on a Republican ticket because at one point in the nation’s history the Democratic Party (though a bit left at times) were Conservatives. You can run for Congress as a Democrat and as a Conservative –believe me that these Progressives have already got the Democratic Party in their back pocket but they are slowly turning up in the Republican Party too. We need to fight—or else don’t complain about all the new laws to remove your family’s human freedoms such as speech, guns, low taxes, religion, being patriotic, waving the American flag, and a host of other freedoms currently etching away. Personally I am running as a Democrat when our Redoubt relocation is completed. (I am a conservative). My family are called to FIGHT!
 

FIGHT – SERVE IN OUR COMMUNITIES
Gosh as a CPA and having worked for city, state, and federal government entities, I can assure you that the benefits and retirement are second to none for the role of government. I am speaking of serving in our military (Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy, or Coast Guard), police and fire departments at all levels, and even in not so visible roles in such organizations as in the FBI, CIA, or IRS. We need conservatives in these positions. I know their will be an outnumbering by about 10 Progressives to 1 Christian in government but at least God could use you as a whistle blower when an glaring bias is orchestrated on their behalf.

FIGHT – WRITE LETTERS
One of our favorite family times as now my wife and I set aside about four to six hours on Sunday evening which is coupled with our day of worship with the Lord, is to write letters to all types of entities. I am speaking about writing the utmost professional letters to organizations such as HBO, CNN, ABC, NBC, NPR, PBS, MSNBC, Disney, PETA, FDA, FBI, US military commands, Senators, Congressmen, the Oval office, foreign dignitaries, the United Nations, and a host of others that you are led by the Lord to write. Just turn on the 6 o’clock news and I’m sure the Lord might have you write to your local school board or university leadership. Let me caution you, in today’s age of a certain sect of people hijacking high leadership offices, they may paint you as “anti-government.” (just for holding an opposing view). So your salutation to a Senator in California would be “Dear Honorable Senator Diane Feinstein,” or “Dear Reputable FBI Organization—thank you for serving our country,” etc. You get the point. We always sign letters with “Anonymous” or “Concerned Citizen” [never our name or identifying marks such a certain letterhead of cinnamon smelling paper]. Never lick the envelope as your DNA is in your saliva, and never touch the letter, envelope, or even the stamp with un-gloved hands as I do not want Department of Homeland Security agents knocking on our door with our fingerprints in hand (even though the letters are written in the utmost professionalism Liberals are always boasting to be open to the opposite view, but then are offended and appalled that there is an opposing view). Lastly, keep the letters going and do not stop. I don’t like posting comments at blog sites, emailing, Tweeting, Facebook, Linked-In, or anything online / Internet as your IP address is always the same even in VPN logins which are traceable by authorities. Since I am like some of you, I travel out of town for my career and could be in New York City this week and San Francisco next week—so you can bet our letters are not mailed from our home town so the postage mark is foiled from pinpointing our home location. I know that this is tough to believe and maybe some of you are more risk takers than we are and wont go to all these measures to write a letter to a Liberal, but we actually had Department of Home Security show up at our doorstep—thank goodness we were on vacation and they never returned our voicemail from the business card they placed on our outside security door referring to call them back.  
 

FIGHT – CAREER AND JOBS
We live in a world were we no longer see the times of our fathers and grandfathers. That is, when they graduated high school, netting a good job, and whoa forty years later they are working and retiring from the exact same company they started. In those days the neighborhoods were stable because you knew all your neighbors for forty years and nothing changed. Families were stable with income, neighbors, benefits, community events, church fellowship, and it was a simpler time. It was also a time when feminists weren’t allowed into the workforce with leadership roles over men, but we won’t get into that here (I’m sure a liberal feminist is offended now—but true). Many of you readers have been fired, as I have been. Why? Because you don’t possess the correct signature in human conduct a Liberal is requiring at your place of employment. Just look at any of the mainstream media moguls and you would understand that they hire only employees that pull voting booth levers for Progressive candidates. Even the actor Tim Allen stated in and interviews with Sean Hannity of Fox news not to dispel that he is a conservative… his reasoning? He wont get any more work in Hollywood. It is a shame, but we need to start pushing through the ranks in Corporate America, Government, Military, and education and hire more Conservatives when we are in leadership. One glaring issue is Democratic donations out flank Republican donations for elections; this could be due to Progressives monopolizing the good paying careers. We need Conservatives to spread the wealth to other conservatives because we too need income to stabilize our families and also be in the fight! Support conservatives as you can rest assure Liberals are not! With Liberals allowed to have stable careers, due to their discrimination in Corporate America more and more now, they have disposable income to FIGHT. We Conservatives need that too, including full benefit packages for our families and retirement as Liberals do.
 

FIGHT – THROUGH INVOLVEMENT
When my family is settled in the Redoubt it will cost us about $400 a year in property taxes and another $1,000 per year in propane. Other than that it would be fuel for our vehicles and maintenance on our retreat. We will have a fruit orchard, garden, small and large farm animals for milk and meat and eggs, hunting and fishing galore, solar for electricity, septic for sewer, well for water, and a ham radio license for communications. It will be self-sufficiency as much as we possibly can. We will have disposable cash to join the fight! Hey Liberals have much disposable cash for their fights—why not us!  I am going to challenge myself that when I hear a Superintendent in a Mississippi Public School district expel a student for wearing an American Flag T-shirt, I will fly there and confront him fact to face, or I will file a lawsuit with a local attorney, or simply start a protest or rally outside the school district. One thing about Liberals is that when they see resistance coming, they back down right away. Remember these were the Tories during the Revolution that wouldn’t bear arms, fight for any just cause, and pleaded with the British that if they told them who the “rebels” were that the British would return a favor not to hurt them. They back down! Look at the NRA with the Obama Administration—it is one of the few wins in my opinion against this Liberal force to take America down a road of no return. We need to pray about what God would have us to do, but I believe He would like my family to FIGHT. That is fight with letters, hiring attorneys to sue, organizing pickets and protest, supporting financially conservative business and Made in America products, become politically activated, and physically getting into one’s face to drive home a point verbally and could even be in a private, such as a professional office setting.

FIGHT—BY KNOWING THY ENEMY
Progressives are winning through the advancement of their causes, due to hate. No, I’m not talking about them being a hate group or progressing society past the boundaries set in God’s word, but their HATE RHETORIC they pin on each one of us Conservatives. How many times did we hear Hitlery in her campaign speeches bring up Racists, Sexists, Xenophobic, Homophobic, Deplorable, etc.? We as Conservatives know that God is the one who is allowed to judge. DO NOT ever let a Progressive label you or your family as a hater. Because who’s definition of hate are they using? God’s or their own special concocted version? These individuals have no right to cast judgment on anyone in society. Be sure they don’t do it to you or your loved ones. Stop them in their tracks. Because they can push through any legislation if they demonstrate that Conservatives are full of hate!
 

FIGHT – EXPUNGE THY ENEMY
In her debates with Trump, Hitlery would utilize a Liberal tactic of offense referring to her as a woman and when Trump said something outlandish regarding a woman she played it as an offense against all women on Planet Earth. No! I’m sorry each individual is responsible for their own conduct and if a woman has no integrity or character you are allowed to call that out, and if we as conservatives are just supposed to respect her because she is a woman it is dangerous ground to stand on. We wouldn’t surely respect Jezebel in the Bible, as we would revere Mother Teresa just because they both are women. Be careful when they play this “group thing” on Conservatives. Liberals do it with the Black Group, the Woman Group, the Gay Group, and now the Islamic Group.  

FIGHT –THROUGH VOLUNTEERING
Understandable that the Republican Party is one that is more conservative but more and more members have been promoting the radical Leftist policies, which fall along the lines of the “isms”: Marxism, Communism, Feminism, Gay and Lesbianism, Socialism, Statism, Fascism, Environmentalism, etc. etc. etc. But we need to volunteer in our communities and in the political arena. Even placing a sign outside your home for a candidate (as long as you’re not fined by your HOA as we were—then this is a good time to fight your HOA especially if they don’t allow you to fly the American flag), handing out flyers, organizing community events, or simply discussing with a Marxist why they have that Democrat on their bumper sticker in the form of a destructive message (for instance: WAR IS NOT THE ANSWER. Tell that to the peace activists entering Nazi Germany- WAR WAS THE ANSWER! To stop the gas chambers). After witnessing the Tea Party identified as members assaulted by the IRS in the form of audits, shakedowns, and denial of non-profit status on corporations they filed, it is apparent we need to be in this FIGHT. If we continue to do nothing and watch Fox News we will all be fighting in another arena real soon.
 

FIGHT – WITH PHYSICAL FORCE
Folks I needed to cover this one as it about fighting in the same stance as our Forefathers. First of all, don’t think for one moment that these Liberals who have never held a gun in their hands, but are demanding your guns to be removed by their elected officials [Democrats but some Republicans now], is all about community safety. It is not! No, that maneuver of Obama who just ratified the Small Arms Treaty with the United Nations is all about removing any sort of FIGHT from an opposing view. Remember that our Founders placed freedom of speech and religion as the First Amendment and the right to bear firearms as the Second Amendment. I’ll even take it one step further and illustrate that our human freedoms were doled out by our Creator in Heaven and government embodiments are supposed to uphold those God given freedoms. Our Founders’ gun barrels obtained that premise and our freedoms have always been upheld through a threat from those barrels of guns we as citizens bear. The answer to 1984 has always been 1776. Some of you might say, “They won’t take my guns!” But so-called Assault Riffles will be all gone in four years if Hitlery is elected President. Also, Liberals would never go door to door to remove firearms since that would most likely start another Civil War. However, they will do what Liberals do and that is turn the heat up on the frog in the pot until it comes to a boil and the frog is dead. Meaning, gradually the guns will be removed. Once assault riffles, suppressors, and 30-round magazines are removed by Hitlery’s Executive Orders there will be a registration of your remaining firearms. This might not sound so bad, just letting the government have a database of gun owners, correct? Wrong! After this act, those registered guns would require a fee, much like your automobile annual registration, and lets say $50 per gun annually. The next year it would go up to $500 per gun annually and then the third year $5,000 per gun annually. You see they will take the guns without ever knocking on a door. Getting back to topic here, in my family we strictly believe, and this is just my family belief, that the Second Amendment is not written for home defense clause in human freedom but is written to subdue a tyrannical government. I will leave it at that. Also remember that with God all things are possible. Who would’ve believe that the outnumbered, outflanked, out-trained, out-supplied, Patriotic Continental Army would win by utilizing harassing tactics against the then modern day authorities.  Also, in moving up to the Redoubt and speaking with neighbors, they too are like-minded with my family, but some are not and don’t not want any part with firearms [or maybe they are just keeping a low profile]. Be sure you band together and know THY neighbor well.

CONCLUSION – TEAMWORK
In any rate, you need to befriend your like-minded brothers and sisters across this Union and understand that going about all this FIGHT by yourself is foolish. There was a talk in recent years, espousing the Lone Wolf who could do more FIGHTING than a banded pack. Is that what happens in the wild with Wolves? No! We need to band together as like-minded Christians and come to the aid of each other even if that means hiring someone or buying from their farmer’s market instead of Wal-Mart. Maybe some of us can just write letters, some can fly across the country to join in pickets, some can hire attorneys, some can run for public office, some can attend tactical training and defensive driving courses, but we can all pray and open our hearts towards our fellow Conservative—it is not going to get any easier for us Conservatives unless we FIGHT—and then it would be easier for our offspring. Let’s not forget what our Founding Fathers established for us and our American Freedoms which are currently on the chopping block by Progressives. Let’s not forget Lavoy Finicum who gave his life for this FIGHT and did it for all of us. Our Founding Fathers are proud of us! God Bless…

Economics and Investing:

Making this up, as they go along: Deutsche Bank’s Dominic Konstam on Making Negative Rates Work (Video)

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Jim Willie: Broken Central Banks: 4 Quick Pix

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Amazon is failing to steal Costco’s customers

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Sterling hits a two-day high after positive ‘Brexit’ comments, but is this just a short term opportunity? (Joseph Wright)”  (Some analysts like Karl Hammer in Sweden predict a strong British Pound in the long term.)

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SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Several readers sent this: Miami treehouse grandma Shawnee Chasser keeps up fight for home. JWR’s Comments:  This illustrates the essential problem in the very nature of government: 

This is an age when someone must apply for a “license” or a “permit”,  or make themselves subject to a “building code” and “inspections” to live our everyday lives. This is an age of legislated tyranny. In 21st Century America, we have too-willingly abandoned our essential freedom to live our lives unhindered. Most people don’t stop to think that a government-issued license or permit is: “permission to do something that would otherwise be illegal.”  By instituting government and by electing representative with the power to legislate against malum prohibitum  (i.e. declaring some activities or objects legal and other things illegal), we’ve enslaved ourselves. In discerning our government, it is crucial to distinguish between malum in se (which are sinful behaviors that are inherently criminal–like murder, rape, theft, and arson), as opposed to malum prohibitum which are purely legislated and often arbitrary “crimes”. (Such as going 45 m.p.h. in a 40 m.p.h. zone, or owning a shotgun with a 17″ barrel instead of an 18″ barrel.)  It is only when enforcement of the myriad of made-up malum prohibitum laws reaches absurd lengths that the fundamental flaw in the system becomes apparent, even to the sheeple. There are now so many arcane laws on the books that virtually every American is unknowingly a repeated “criminal”, daily. Even worse, Federal agencies such as the EPA, BATFE, and OSHA now create their own administrative “rules” (with criminal penalties), without acts of congress. This must end. It is clear that we now need far less government! We need to return to a government by, for, and of The People.

Pray for Mrs. Chasser, and pray for far less government.

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Zika virus birth deformities:  Why have nearly all of them been in just one part of Brazil?

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Claire Wolfe  alerted us to this troubling article: Private Eyes: The Little-Known Company That Enables Worldwide Mass Surveillance. (Claire’s comment: “There should be a special hell — a very special hell — for so-called private companies that thrive by enabling mass, unlawful government surveillance.”)

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Perhaps a bit gadgety, but here is something for dedicated Glocakaholics to consider: Personal Defense Weapon Kit for Glocks. (This page has a good included explanatory video.)  If Gabe uses them, they must be more than just a gadget.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“We’ve got to go after this, and here again, the Supreme Court is wrong on the Second Amendment. And I am going to make that case every chance I get.” – Hillary Rodham Clinton, September 2015

Notes for Thursday – October 27, 2016

I was saddened to hear of the death of Bob Hoover, one of the world’s most skilled pilots. He was a fighter pilot, test pilot, exhibition flyer, and airshow promoter. He was 94 years old. When Bob put on his flying exhibitions at air shows, it was often in a Shrike twin engine passenger plane–a plane that was not designed with aerobatics in mind.  Most of those flights were done with one of the engines turned off and the prop feathered, and then he shut down the other engine, and continued to do aerobatics, often landing dead stick!  He absolutely knew the limits of that aircraft. The Smithsonian hosted a fine tribute to him, just five months before his death.  Here is quote that sums up Bob’s spirit: “Having been shot down over Nice, France during his 59th mission in World War II, Hoover spent 16 months as a POW, spending much of the time in solitary confinement as punishment for two dozen escape attempts. Finally, he succeeded just before the end of the war by stealing a German fighter.” Hoover later flew the chase plane and was the backup pilot for Chuck Yeager when he first broke the sound barrier.  What an amazing guy. He will be greatly missed. 

October 27th 1858 was the birthday of President Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt. (He died January 6, 1919.)

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Today, we present another entry for Round 67 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Tactical Self-Contained 2-Series Solar Power Generator system from Always Empowered. This compact starter power system is packaged in a wheeled O.D. green EMP-shielded Pelican hard case (a $1,700 value),
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate that is good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 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 with a hammer forged, chrome-lined barrel 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, which can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Gun Mag Warehouse is providing 20 Magpul PMAG 30-rd Magazines (a value of $300) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt; (an equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions),
  6. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  7. The Ark Institute is donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package (enough for two families of four) plus seed storage materials, a CD-ROM of Geri Guidetti’s book “Build Your Ark! How to Prepare for Self Reliance in Uncertain Times”, and two bottles of Potassium Iodate (a $325 retail value),
  8. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  9. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating an AquaBrick water filtration kit with a retail value of $250, and
  10. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Second Prize:

  1. 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,
  2. A gift certificate for any two or three-day class from Max Velocity Tactical (a $600 value),
  3. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  4. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 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. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  8. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  9. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A $245 gift certificate from custom knife-maker Jon Kelly Designs, of Eureka, Montana,
  3. 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,
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  7. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value),
  8. 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), and
  9. Fifteen LifeStraws from SafeCastle (a $300 value).

Round 67 ends on November 30th, 2016, 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.

Lessons Learned in Livestock – Part 2, by C.K.

(Continued from Part 1)

The following are the varieties of livestock that  I would not consider for a prepared homestead:

Guinea Fowl. I raised over 300 per year. Feed requirements can be met with them running loose, but that also meets the cat’s requirements on little keets. Also a guinea looks for the best hiding spot for eggs. And if allowed to roost outside they will help your owl population by supplying a midnight snack. And they wander to far from home and make way too much noise. The amount of bug reduction is nice but, chickens and ducks also love to eat insects. The butcher weight is no better than a Leghorn rooster.

Horses. Have you feed a horse with what you cut by hand and store? If you do not have the horse drawn equipment to cut and haul hay, then how are you going to feed them? What is the value to riding compared to the cost and time of upkeep? Now you horse lovers don’t be mad. Just think: what I can you accomplish by hand? My family used mules up till the early 1950s for the gardens, and we had horses up till the mid-1980s. Feed requirements are very high, hence the phrase: “eats like a horse/”

Beef Cattle. I sold my last cows three years ago. We had over 120 head of cows back in the 1980s. I’ve been around them all my life. The reason I do not recommend then for homesteading is that I plan on having no outside help. They are far too big to butcher in non-freezing weather, and the hay requirements for areas that have snow are just too high.

Milk Cows. I liked the Jersey milk cows that I had growing up but you need a place for all that milk. It is just just too much in a non-survival situation. Also milking requires a lot of time. You can leave the calf on and have the cow as a backup. That is the best choice. My grandparents milked through the 1960s. Everyone favorite was the Jerseys they have great attitudes, and are smaller than many other breeds of milk cows. If I went back to a milk cow then they would be it.

So if you consider cows or horses a must then think about the hay requirements. If you get a team of mules or horses (I prefer mules) and the horse drawn equipment you can meet the hay requirement. But is the time and expense worth it?  You have to work to keep animals trained and meet their daily feed requirements. The only way I see to keep big animals is owning lots of land. And you’d need an old diesel tractor (EMP-proof) and large sheds to store hay. Make sure you have lots of water that is easy to get to in winter. For the average Joe who has a job and family, it is too much time and expense to keep a horse. It’s a much better plan for a living-detached version of the modern world.

Turkeys. I’ve raised over 15 varieties. The only differences between them can be broken down into three types: the wilds, the butcher breeds and the heritage breeds. My goal is quiet and none of those breeds meet that requirement. The heritage varieties are all pretty good mothers. There is not much difference between the various heritage breeds other than colors and small amount of weight difference. They are fun to have around and get about 2/3 of their food in the summer from free range. But in the winter plan on a full diet of grain. Its that worth it to you? As for the other breeds forget about them, in a grid down situation.

In conclusion these are my life experiences with animals. My warning to you who envision the “perfect” homestead with chickens, cows, milk goats and all the other animals is: Don’t do it. Real life is not not Facebook. Animals take a lot of time and money. I suggest that you keep only a few to breed into production within a year’s time and store enough feed for the first year. Time is money. Spend your time on building cages, sheds, making raised garden beds, and finding time to live and enjoy life.

I’d like to add a lesson learned in life about buying at auctions: Living in a rural community and not too far from the cities is the perfect place for auctions. Why buy used? Most of us want the most bang for the buck. A new scythe is around $200 but at a auction the other day I paid just $10 for one. And Mason type canning jars were $1 to $ 2 a dozen. I go to an auction on most weekends. We have a consignment auction about 20 miles from my house. Why go every week? You will never know what is there, and old hand tools are inexpensive since nearly everyone seems to now want the latest power tools. We make trips to the thrift stores and antique malls when in town. There is no reason not to have enough clothes and shoes and boots stored for a number of years. The only problem is storage space. Have you tried to make a work coat for a $1, or make a pair of boots?  You probably cannot do it. Take advantage of what is out there now and how inexpensive things presently are. Used items at auctions are at all-time lows in price. Think ahead:  Can I use it or repurpose it?  Will it save me money and time?

My last recommendations for your garden are: If you have the space and a roadway to your garden site to buy an old dump truck. Mine cost me $600. I use the farm tractor to load it. Haul everything you can into the garden, old hay (free) manure (free) deciduous wood chips (not from coniferous trees!) available from the power line people (free). Make your soil the best, and it will pay dividends. Also go with as many raised beds as you can, they are proven effective here on the farm. I use logs for borders on them and can sit when pulling weeds. Also if you can make a pond uphill from the garden go for it, as a pipe is a lot easier to move water than a bucket. The best garden tractor for small farm work is the old walk-behind Gravely. I have many of these tractors with magneto ignition, (no battery, and EMP-proof) and every implement you can think of. I recommend finding the gear reduction wheels, tiller and sickle bar and 40” deck and sulkie. If you are mowing heavy brush 1” or bigger use the 30” deck because if you drive over it you can cut it up. This set up will run anywhere from $600 to $800 for everything. These tractors have already probably outlasted two owners and with care they will also outlast you.

As for the vegetables try the ones you like now. I love squash but try and raise them without spray and you feed the bugs. Do you have enough chemicals on hand for a decade of no stores? You will not have a safety net or store to go buy anything if your crop fails, and bugs will kill vine type vegetables in only a few days. I’ve transitioned to planting more root crops. Lots of Rutabagas, Turnips, Sweet Potatoes and regular Potatoes. The storage life of most root crops make it well into spring in the root cellar. I’m drafting this on August 13th and we are going to can the last of the sweet potatoes to make room. My root cellars are made from twelve thousand gallon fuel tanks. The round shape is a pain but they work and are inexpensive.

My last pieces of advice are: buy an old points ignition chain saw. Also buy books on herbs, healing, cooking and anything that relates to living without the modern world. And if someone older gives you advice, think about this: have they done it. The reason I wrote this article is I want you to succeed, since there are not enough Christians preparing. Yours in Christ, – C.K.

Letter: Advice for Disabled Suburban Retiree Preppers

HJL and JWR,
I’m seeking links or tips on how a 77-year-old disabled person can defend his property in case there’s TEOTWAWKI. My wife is 72.

We live in a middle class subdivision 45 miles from Cleveland, Ohio. Because of physical disabilities (neuropathy, bad knees and legs) I am not very mobile.
I use walker/cane most of the time.

We are moderately prepared (food, guns, ammo, junk silver, etc. A retired Marine lives at the other end of the block but says he will bug out if SHTF.
Nobody else on the block seems even to be aware of the dangers of a potential disaster (natural or man-made).We are one block from main artery, one mile from an interstate.

Finally, where is the best place to shop for potassium iodide?

Thank you for what you do on the blog.  We have been following you for a number of years.

Blessings to all,  – Daryl in Ohio

JWR Replies: It is probably best for you team up with someone who owns a rural property, somewhere nearby, but farther away from expected lines of drift for urban refugees.  To make this a viable retreat, you would pre-position the vast majority of your gear and food there, and you then would have to make just one trip by car to “bug out”, when disaster strikes or appears imminent.

At your stage of life, your “group” contribution would be primarily financial and logistical, rather than “sweat equity.”

To answer your other question: Several SurvivalBlog advertisers sell potassium iodide or iodate at competitive prices.  These (among others) include: Camping Survival, KI4U, Readymade Resources, and Safecastle.

Economics and Investing:

Obama administration confirms double-digit [Obamacare] premium hikes.

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Signs of the times: America’s biggest banks are closing hundreds of branches.  JWR’s Comment: Whenever The Powers That Be get around to instituting their long-dreamed-of Cashless Society, there will be no need for brick and mortar banks. Nor will there be any privacy about what you buy and sell. Every transaction made with electronic currency will be permanently cataloged and cross-correlated with your social media interactions.  Thus, the entire lives of most citizens will be transparent to police and intelligence organizations. To mitigate this, I recommend both: A.) Creating a bland and thoroughly apolitical “vanilla” Facebook account, where you only “like” a few pop culture stars, and develop no friendships with your real world friends.  And, B.) Hedging into compact, durable, and fungible barter items. As I’ve mentioned many times before, silver coins and common caliber ammunition are at the top of my list, for barter. – JWR

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Charles Hugh Smith:  Two Sets of Solutions as the Status Quo Crumbles

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SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.

Odds ‘n Sods:

On a recent road trip through Ontario, Canada, I noticed a surprising number of houses equipped with photovoltaic (PV) power panels–both roof-mounted and ground rack-mounted. I suspect that these these PV systems were nearly all both:  A.) Grid-tied, and B.) Partly paid for by generous incentives. One of these incentives is called the Feed-in-tariff (FIT), wherein a grid-tied renewable energy producer is paid a premium for excess power fed back to the grid, for a limited number of years. For small producers (under 10 kW) the available term is 20 years for PV, and 40 years for hydro power. – JWR

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Internet Crashes Will Be Hard To Stop After Obama’s Internet Giveaway

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A neighbor reminded me about the continuing publication of Farm Show magazine. Think of it as Makezine, for country folks.  The creativity of some of these farm and ranch projects is astounding.  Many of these devices are constructed with little more than scrap metal,  welding rod, and a bit of duct tape. Their three published “Encyclopedia of Made It Myself Ideas” compendiums are highly recommended.

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Video: 23 Incredible DIY Projects From Pallet Wood

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Choosing a Liveaboard Boat

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.” – Thomas Jefferson, in his first Inaugural Address