Preparedness Notes for Monday — May 18, 2020

Today is the 40th anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens.

May 18th, 1825 was the birthday of Daniel B. Wesson (of Smith and Wesson fame).

I just heard that improvisational comedian Fred Willard has passed away, at 86. He will be missed.

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 88 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  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 Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  4. 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).
  5. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $100 purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Round 88 ends on May 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.




26 Comments

  1. Good morning

    Does anyone else find it curious that there has been some rather strong Earthquakes lately, Idaho, Nevada Ect
    As well as volcanic activity?

    Have a Rockin great day.

      1. Lily,

        Thank you, I will check this out. I find all of this very interesting.

        Also, thank you yesterday for sharing some of your life story. I love hearing people’s stories and like sharing mine in a way that we all feel more connected to each other while still protecting our OPSEC.
        I’m genuinely grateful for the friendships and encouragement I receive from the folks here!!

        Have a Rockin great day!

  2. Yes, very interesting.
    Living where we live, having a copy of the book Yellowstone Treasures by Janet Chapple helps me. It is a guide to visiting Yellowstone but it includes a lot of science and history.

    The hot springs in the Redoubt are very interesting and fun to visit. Most of us know why the water is hot. Underground plumbing.

    On page 306 of the book there is a graphic that shows the [Cascade] subducting oceanic plate extending through the Yellowstone caldera 45 million years ago. Think about that. The subducting plate off the west coast pushed through to the Rockies which, in my mind, could help to explain the fold that created the continental divide. There is a lot going on under our feet.
    Nobody of this earth knows for sure. The graphic shows the subducting plate may have fragmented in the past. Page 317 provides an explanation of the science of this rupture and other theories.
    The science is still new and unknown. God’s wonderful world is full of surprises by His design.
    Thank you for asking the question!

    1. Back in the 70s I lived briefly in Fairfield Idaho. I took a ride with a friend out in the middle of nowhere to some cow pasture. We went out up a gentle hill and coming out of the side of the hill was a hot spring. As I recall nothing else around for miles. Somebody decades prior had built a small concrete pool or really hot tub that looked like it had not been used for a long while. No indication this thing was there until you were right on top of it.

      Southern Idaho was like that. Never knew what you were going to run across out in seeming empty field or hills. All the volcanic activity and underground rivers and other features created surprises all over.

      1. With a population of about 350 and being born and raised there in the 60’s and 70’s, Fairfield, Id doesn’t show up much on national forums like SB. But you are correct, it is in the middle of no where. Great place to grow up!

        1. Went to High School there in 77/78 for a brief time. Would have been class of 79 but had left and dropped out by then.

          Always wanted to retire there even back then. Still kind of do and maybe will some day.

          1. Worked in Twin Falls at two different places. Then Jerome on a dairy farm for two years. Went to Seattle and worked as a mechanic in a big fabrication shop. An aborted attempt to get into structural iron working with my brother in law in California and then some time at a dairy farm in Wheatland California. Back to my old job in Seattle. Back to California where I did get into iron work briefly until the recession in the early 80s shut that down. Then got recruited into the Navy during the buildup to the 600 ship Navy under Reagan. Had a firm plan to stay for 3 or 4 years and of course stayed for 23. Now I continue to work in the marine world as I have for about 14 years.

            I am at a loss as to who you are. There were what about 20 or 25 in that class. Can you give me a clue? Love to get in contact but at a loss as to how without violating the anonymous nature of the blog.

          2. Figured it out I think if my memory is sound. Do I remember you one time doing something like 2000 situps at once just for fun? Or am I mixing you up with someone else?

            And am I crazy or did you guys have a wolf or wolf mix for a pet on your front porch?

            I have your name and face in my mind. Now trying to see if my stories are straight in my mind.

      2. In 1965 I drove through there on hwy 20. Some of the hay fields beside the road had hundreds of thunder eggs 3-4′ in diameter just laying there in the field. A sure sign of historical volcanic activity in the past.

  3. In an apparent and concerted effort, effective low cost alternative medicines are being purposely push out as options. We should ask why as 100’s of millions are being thrown into the development of a hypothetical, half baked and risky vaccine, that necessarily needs to be similar to the failed vaccine for SarsCov1. In addition to the combination of hydroxychloroquin, azithromycin, and zinc, another clinically effective treatment for Covid-19 is proving out, namely, ivermectin and doxycycline.

    COVID 19 Cured in 100% of 60 Patients, 3057

    https://youtu.be/bU_is2lHfVk

      1. I wish more of my family and coworkers would understand this. It amazes me how they keep believing what comes out of the mouths of politicians, even when it can be plainly seen that they are deceiving us.

        1. Trump is primarily a businessman, and now a politician. He does lie, exaggerate, and use terms, or techniques that would be, if detected, are unadulterated B.S… He shoots from the hip, improvises profusely, and ad hoc. Yet he is the enemy of my enemy. If only a vestige of what was, he stands in the gap, even if a only a futile resistance, that one must acknowledge and respect, the effort and stamina, that of a heroic and flawed underdog, who cannot ultimately win as the enemy is within his camp. Having no one else to turn to, his is regularly deceived by advisers, traitors within. If the America were to be restored, it must repent and have a transformative experience with Jesus, and then only this people can restore the country. Alas, Americans having the opportunity learn and ponder during this quarantine, are finally getting sick and tired of being sick and tired of the whole mess, yet they are not united by His spirit and purpose.

      2. I see Trump as just a speed bump for the NWO, the last gasp of most recent generation of watered down conservative America, that is not libertarian, or Christian. The rot is so pervasive that the country that once represented us, even if only to a limited extent, is no longer, and never will be again. Once Trump is gone, or is rendered completely ineffectual, the Satanists will be totally unchecked. As it is, Trump is barely of much significance. For myself who always saw Trump in this way, I was not deceived in any way, as I understood the Deep State, and Trump’s severe and fatal limitations before he took office. I can certainly understand the hope crushed, or the promise Trump represented to many, and their great disappointment, as they finally realize that Trump cannot fix this country. This realization will become wider spread. As Quayle once oft spoke, “there is no political solution to a spiritual problem”. I wholeheartedly agree.

  4. I was a young teenager living near Wenatchee, WA when Mount St. Helens blew and that Sunday morning is etched into my memory.

    I was sitting on the deck with my parents enjoying the morning when all of a sudden the countryside got eerily quiet – the birds, the horses, the dogs. It seemed like minutes passed but I can’t be sure. Then boom, the loudest sound I’ve ever heard and all the animals went crazy.

    It took a few hours for the ash to reach us. Nobody knew what was in the ash or what it would do to us, so everybody stayed inside for days.

    I remember the cop cars eventually having these really big weird looking machines with hoses mounted on them to filter out the ash – they looked like something out of Max Max.

  5. BTW, the germination rate of 2 year old heirloom tomato seed is much greater than expected, approximately 75%, and I am overwhelmed. Screening well composted horse manure using a 1/4 inch spaced wire (hardware cloth), produces what appears to this novice, as a luxurious potting soil. Just to be sure that something will grow in that, it is amended with an even part of existing soil that is hopping with worms. Can’t believe I got a truck load of this stuff and plan on using it for mostly tomatoes. I’m hoping for 100 to 200 pounds, on the outside. I better get hopping myself.

  6. i remember the mountain blowing its top, was at home on the patio 80 miles away from St. Helens and had to look UP to see the top of the plume…it was HUGE….

  7. A month or so after the eruption of Mt St. Helens I got to fly over it in a C-141. I wasn’t part of the crew just hopping a ride when the pilot decided he wanted to get a close look.

  8. For those that live in the Southeast, be prepared. One of the more prominent grocery stores is raising the prices of meats by around 30 to 35 percent. If you haven’t filled the freezer deep, do so as soon as possible. I went to the store last Monday, prices were up and the volume of meat down.

  9. I was in Bozeman, finishing the college year and preparing for my June wedding. Landlines totally out of service, trying to call my family in W WA. Weeks later, cars driving through ash in E WA putting up roostertsils of ash.

    Ash clogging all vehicle engine air intakes. Covers placed over them to filter out ash before engine seizure.

    Ash caused vehicle brakes to quit friction so couldn’t stop.

    I wore a bandana over my face in Bozeman during ash fall. Most did not. Snickered at me.

    In our Soil Science class we viewed ash under microscope. Its crystalline structure was like long, narrow tetrahedron. Knife or sword-like. Scary to think of lungfulls of knives.

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