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« Letter Re: Prepping as an Active Duty Servicemember Overseas |Main Friday December 18 2009Letter Re: Vehicle Recommendations?
James,
I tried to search for these answers, so forgive me if you have already covered it and I missed it. Thanks, - Larry M. JWR Replies: Vehicle and gear selection have been discussed in SurvivalBlog since 2005, but not much in the past year, so this subject is worth re-visiting. A "Get Out of Dodge" vehicle need not be large, if you've planned ahead and pre-positioned the majority of your gear and grub at your retreat. Our primary vehicle is a well-maintained Flex Fuel (E85 ethanol compatible) Ford SUV, circa 2002. It is in fairly "stock" configuration, but here in my region, one common modification is the addition of an extra heavy duty brush guard. These aren't designed to deflect brush, but rather deer. (Deer collisions are by far the most common road hazards here.) You even see some passenger cars equipped with these "deer catchers" . They look rather comical on the front of a four-door sedan. Since several members of our family are licensed radio amateurs, we carry either 2 Meter or 440 MHz (70 cm) transceivers in our vehicles. (We have both vehicular and hand-held models, mostly older model Kenwoods.) Diamond makes high-quality dual-band and tri-band magnetic mount vehicular antennas. For short range communication, we use MURS band walkie-talkies--which require no license--that are typically tuned to the same frequency of our Dakota Alert alarms. « Letter Re: Advice on Ammunition Storage |Main| Notes from JWR: » Wednesday December 16 2009Prepping as an Active Duty Servicemember Overseas, by M.B.As a member of the Armed Forces stationed overseas, and for those civilian government employees likewise stationed, we face unique situations as we attempt to get ready for TEOTWAWKI scenarios. First, when you are stationed overseas, usually for a 12 to 36 month tour, whatever happens back home seems magnified in your mind because you are so far away and feel helpless to do anything about it. Mental preparation is of utmost importance if you get a sense of panic after reading about all the horrible things going on back home. It is important not to panic when you see special sales for prepper items on the blog as this leads to impulse buying and frustration if the vendor does not ship to FPO/APO addresses. I think we tend to go into panic mode because in the military exchanges and commissaries overseas, it is common to run out of a given item and it may take months if ever to get restocked. I am a mental health professional and just as I would counsel my clients, I suggest to my fellow military bloggers, the first thing I would advise is read as much as possible, take a deep breath, and realize that you are limited in what you can do. « Letter Re: Space-Efficient Shelving Systems for Retreat Storage |Main| Note from JWR: » Monday December 14 2009Survival Tools, by SJHI’ve read many articles regarding “survival “ and “preparedness” topics, my conclusion is that an important area has been missed. Lots of planning seems to focus on food storage, water, supplies, and so on, yet I have not seen or read anything about “survival tools -- how to be prepared for anything mechanically”. So after considering this topic for several years, I’ve decided to introduce my own topic as far as tools for the self-reliant individual. My background includes 30 years of mechanical equipment repair on automobiles and trucks/trailers to heavy construction equipment including dozers and cranes. Having been exposed to working independently while on the road performing field work, you soon develop a survival sense that allows you to think through repairs and situations, even before you actually arrive at the work site. Planning as we all know is the key factor, when considering what tools and equipment are necessary.
Lastly, yet most important of all, will be the tools necessary to keeping your equipment up and running. Transportation is critical as for preparedness situations, as we all know. Once you have determined your needs, your spares, supplies, think through what tools will be required. For example, to replace disk brake pads, you need to remove the tire/wheel assembly, compress the caliper, unbolt the caliper, install the pads, and reverse the process to put it back together. Just for a simple job like this, you will need a lug wrench for the lug nuts, a large C-clamp to compress the caliper and a wrench or socket to remove the caliper. You need to sit down and consider what will be required in whatever contingency or jobs may arise, and how to deal with it. I have a list of tools that, over the years, I have found will suffice for most basic repairs. These tools are carried in what I call my “road box”. This road box has been with me a long time. Even though the original box has long since rusted away, most of the tools have lasted. This set of tools is my choice based on my needs as well as the fact that you may have to improvise to get the job done. Here is the list that we can call our “survival tool set”.
As I mentioned before, this set of tools has been my choice over the years to keep things going. I’ve changed oil and filters with the addition of a universal-type filter wrench, replaced spark plugs, changed fuel filters, replaced brake pads, repaired broken wires, plugged leaks on everything from fuel to water and air as necessary. I’ve improvised wiring for a trailer to keep the lights going and replaced a busted heater hose a few times. The size of my tool box is approximately 9” x 15” x 13” tall and there is room for more inside. Another consideration should be the need for “metric” tools, depending on you individual needs. Many vehicles today are metric and will require you to adjust your tool inventory as such. This tool set will also cover a great deal of home/shelter/retreat repairs if you again plan what you may have to do. An example would be with the addition of a pipe wrench you would be able to tackle plumbing repairs such as cleaning a water well pump strainer from debris. As mentioned in the beginning, plan for all sorts of mechanical problems, consider what tools are required and adjust your inventory accordingly. If you carefully think all situations out thoroughly, your tool supply should be able to handle most anything that happens to arise. Now to really complete your tool supply , you need to consider what special requirements that you may need. How about jacks as a beginning point, you should have a hydraulic bottle jack and/or what I call a “farm jack” included in your tool supply. The bottle jack depending on its lifting capacity can solve many “lifting” situations. It will raise a vehicle including trucks/trailers, jack up a building if necessary. The farm type jack is versatile because it can “push” or “pull” as well as lift/raise. So with the easy addition of these two items you have the ability to raise, jack, push, pull and even if necessary use in some sort of improvised rescue situation. As I mentioned before that a 12VDC test light can assist in 12V repairs but the ideal choice would be a “multi-meter”, they are available everywhere from the basic variety to the extravagant type. Let your budget guide you on this, bottom line is that they are indispensable for troubleshooting various electrical problems. These types of meters can test DC (low voltage) as well as AC (high voltage).The important thing to remember is “know” how to use it and what you are working with. Obviously if you need electrical training check out your community college for a class on basic electrical skills/repairs. My personal favorite add on equipment would be an air compressor. With this addition to your tool “cache” you will be able to air up tires, perhaps inflatable boats, blow out wet items, run pneumatic tools and the possibilities go on and on. Compressors come in all types and sizes, my favorite is the small electric variety, I used this type for the above mentioned as well as to run pneumatic nailers for remodeling work. There are all types of tools available for drilling, grinding and cutting. Again think about your needs then plan out the tools required. Tools are just the beginning, you may need some type of mechanical training but common sense will cover most of the items that will need to be repaired. Shop manuals are really the key to preparedness, if you have the information required all should proceed according to your plan. Again as in all preparedness plans, look at all the “what if” scenarios, to determine what tools you will need to handle what needs to be repaired. « Letter Re: Goats for Thrifty Livestock Feeding |Main| Survival Tools, by SJH » Letter Re: Space-Efficient Shelving Systems for Retreat Storage
Hello Mr. Rawles, « Two Letters Re: Tourniquets in Combat Medical Planning |Main| Note from JWR: » Friday December 11 2009A Prepared Christmas, by Hunkerdown
As most folks are running around fiercely to holiday parties and the malls in search of the perfect gift, even in these troubled times, it dawned on me that this is a unique time of the year that preppers can share our enthusiasm for our lifestyle. I started my preparedness journey (Yes, ‘journey’, as I’m now sure there is not a final destination. Can you ever be too prepared?) a little less than a year ago, and through sites like SurvivalBlog, have spent many hours educating myself about the numerous issues we may face in TEOTWAWKI. I often find prepping hard to discuss with friends and family, for the risk of seeming odd or simply being ignored, but I do care enough that I want them prepared. One simple way I have found to bring others into the loop, is to focus my Christmas presents on items that will bring exposure to the subject and be useful for everyday preparedness or TEOTWAWKI. Rather than giving a fruit cake that no one wants (although I do understand the shelf life to be quite long!), I am putting thought into each person and finding a gift that works for them. For my father, who is an over-the-road trucker in the Midwest, I have assembled a Bug Out Bag (BOB). He has the basic safety gear and tools for his rig, but he does not carry food, fire starters, or extra clothes that may be necessary if he is stuck in a snow storm for several days. I have purchased a sturdy pack from a surplus store and have stocked it with bottles of water, MREs with heaters, candles, lighters, matches, emergency blanket, portable radio, flashlight, batteries, and other essentials. I’ve also included some wool socks, gloves and a toboggan vacuum sealed. I vacuum sealed them so he doesn’t get the urge to use them in a non-emergency with the thought of putting them back that never actually happens (i.e., it must be an emergency if he is going to break the vacuum seal). I used this trick with other items in the bag as well, so they don’t ‘wander off’ and are protected from the elements. I will have him add a flannel shirt and other appropriate clothes at the time that I give it to him. For my mother, who is an avid gardener and cook, I purchased a grain mill, 45 pounds of hard red wheat, and a book about cooking with wheat. She loves to bake bread, but has traditionally used store-bought ingredients. Now she can experiment with the mill before a TEOTWAWKI situation and I have also added a much needed prep item to our inventory. My mother lives 200+ miles away, but that is my current BOL (bug-out location), until I can buy my own land. Instead of more clothes or a trip to the day spa for my girlfriend, I have purchased her the same 9mm pistol that I carry. Some may think this is like giving her a vacuum cleaner or exercise videos, but it is not. Over the past year, she has learned to shoot, obtained her gun carry permit, and started shooting with me in our local practical pistol matches with my gun, which she likes. She enjoys the activity, is quite proficient, and will enjoy having her own and I will feel more at ease as well. Stocking stuffers can be great opportunities to help others with preparations too. Little things, like pocket knives, flashlights, NOAA radios, multi-tools, etc, are handy items that everyone needs. Other great gifts are books and magazine subscriptions on the subject of preparedness or really any skill (carpentry, gardening, alternative energy, canning and preserving). My college friend is getting "Patriots", as he loves a good story and I think the first chapter will challenge his thinking on the world around us. And for women looking for a gift for their man, most would probably love a gift certificate for a gun training course. Hint, hint, if you are reading this, honey. All the above are items that are purchased, and cash may be tight at home. But you don’t have to spend big money to get your point across or to be thoughtful. You could give friends or family homemade soup or vegetables that you have canned, and a handmade gift certificate for teaching them canning and preserving methods. You can give them packets of seeds so they can do container gardening and give them an opportunity to learn a skill. The possibilities are endless if you package the gift the right way. I do not have children, but do have a niece and young cousins. For the little ones, how about camping equipment made for kids, and a trip to go camping with you, even if just in the backyard. Or maybe a compass and some maps, and teaching them how to properly use them to find a hidden treasure (your choice on what the treasure will be). A rod and reel and a fishing trip are things that will not only teach them useful skills, but will give what kids need most; more time with parents or mentoring adults. Think about what you wish you knew growing up, and give the gift that will last a lifetime. I’m fairly sure their skills with the X-Box will not help them much if the SHTF. So, if you are going to celebrate the season by exchanging gifts, why not help those you care about and who may not have a preparedness mentality yet. This can also pertain to birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, or other special occasions. I’m sure you believe, as I, that this shows more thought and caring than the latest fad clothing or cool new techno gadget that will be rendered useless by an EMP. « Letter Re: Sources for Prescription Medications? |Main| Note from JWR: » Thursday December 10 2009Preparedness Considerations for Surviving in Florida, by The Rucker
Most of the books and preparedness literature available seem to assume that our post-TEOTWAWKI lives will be in a place where we can expect cold winters and the four traditional seasons. I understand the attraction of relocating to a mountain retreat in a lightly populated northern or western state, but like many others my current preparedness plan is for in-place survival. I just so happen to live in tropical Florida. I believe that many of these same considerations apply for those living in southern Louisiana, Alabama, and Texas. There are both challenges and advantages to choosing a tropical location like Florida when considering long-term survival. Generally accepted approaches to water storage, food storage, food sources, shelter, power, health issues, tools, clothing, and security issues must all be re-examined in light of the environmental differences between Florida and the mountainous northern states. The plans presented in most preparedness books must be adjusted to account for these differences. The humid subtropical zone that contains Florida and much of the southeastern United States requires different tactics and equipment than those used for the semi-arid west and continental northern regions. In Florida, the debate rages on where to draw the ‘freeze’ line. This is the imaginary line south of which, usually, it will not freeze. Some put this at about 80 miles north of Orlando; others as far south as Lake Okeechobee. In any case, the winters are very mild in Florida. Temperatures in much of Florida are rarely below 60 for more than a few weeks. The humidity, however, is often extreme. This means that we need to be less concerned about storing cold weather gear like sleeping bags, warm clothes, and fuel for heating and more concerned about protection from sun, insects, mold, fungus, and heat. On the plus side, the climate here also means an extended growing season. Everyone knows that the weather in Florida can be volatile. Those that live in Florida must be prepared for hurricanes. If you don’t already own hurricane shutters or screens, this should be one of your first priorities to protect your residence over the long term. Depending on the materials selected for these shutters, they could also provide additional protection for your family from other threats – such as gunfire. A home generator is also almost a requirement for residents of tropical climates. In many tropical areas like Florida, most of the power lines are still above ground and the utility power is frequently out when these lines are blown down. These utility lines are gradually being moved below ground, but it is a massive undertaking that will take years. If you choose to live near the ocean, make sure that your home is elevated above sea level as far as possible so that you are less susceptible to flooding associated with a storm surge. Or, at the very least, store a good supply of sand bags. Florida is known as the ‘Sunshine State’ and it does get a lot of sun. Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas get more sun, but Florida is still eminently suitable for using the sun for power. If you are near the beach, you can also count on being able to consistently generate power from the wind. The location of your home or retreat in Florida or any other tropical area may be critical. As of 2008, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the population of Florida at over 18 million. As many as 11 million of these people live in the largest population centers like Miami, Tampa/St. Petersburg, Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale, Jacksonville, and West Palm Beach. I probably don’t have to tell you – but, I will anyway. Avoid these large cities. Check the web site FloridaDisaster.org for the published evacuation routes. These will likely be the same routes used for population migration out of Florida in the event of a major disaster or societal collapse. Much of the traffic will have to go up the major north-south interstate highways like 4, 75, and 95. Those living in close proximity to these routes will be at higher risk of looting, theft, and assault. When looking for a retreat or place to live, look for the less populated areas that might be somewhat insulated from these migration routes. You might consider living in one of the rural locations in central Florida or north Florida that are lightly populated. I have chosen to live on a lightly populated stretch of the barrier island that runs the entire length of the state. There are a limited number of causeways that control access to the barrier island from the mainland. The island is narrow enough in many places to be defensible. And, if necessary, evacuation by boat is possible using either the inter-coastal waterway or the ocean. A sailboat can provide some additional benefits besides the option of escape or evacuation. It can be used to store additional supplies. It can be used for transportation and fishing long after a fuel shortage renders power boats useless or uneconomical. It can be a self-contained mobile survival retreat when equipped with a desalination unit to provide fresh water from salt water and with solar PV and wind generator to charge onboard batteries that operate lights, radios, satellite GPS, fish finders, and other useful gear. When anchored in a calm river or bay, it can offer a degree of security. Access to drinking water must be a primary concern of any preparedness plan. However, in most tropical locations like Florida there is a lot of water available – fresh, brackish, and salt. Many homes in Florida and other tropical locations have a large reservoir of fresh water at hand – the swimming pool. But, care must be taken to ensure that this water source is protected from evaporation and contamination in the event that utility water is not available. Make sure that you have a pool cover or a sufficient quantity of large plastic sheeting to cover the pool. Head to the swimming pool supply store and stock up on the granular calcium hypochlorite that is used to treat your pool water. This form of chlorine can be corrosive and reactive, so be careful to store it in a dry, secure place and rotate it as you would your food supply. The same chemicals that are used to keep your pool clear and algae-free will allow you to disinfect your pool water for drinking purposes. Filtering the water through an activated charcoal filter will remove the chlorine taste of the water. A high-volume gravity-fed water filtration unit like those sold by Berkey, Katadyn, or AquaRain should be a key component in your long-term water plan. Desalination units, such as those installed in some sail and power boats can provide a critical advantage in securing access to clean water. As mentioned above, food storage can be a challenge. Use plastic and glass to store and preserve your food supplies rather than metal cans. Even stainless steel rusts eventually in the salt air. Silica gel desiccant is your friend in a humid environment. Use it to control moisture in stored ammunition, food, electronic equipment, and anything else that you don’t want to rust or corrode. Batteries left in electronics or flashlights corrode quickly, so check and change them regularly or else store them without the batteries installed. If you seal your electronics in Mylar bags with desiccant packs, you’ll protect them from moisture as well as protecting them from the effects of electromagnetic pulse (EMP). Plan to establish a sustainable food supply. Even if you don’t already keep a garden, learn what grows and doesn’t grow in your soil and climate. There is a wide range of soil types in Florida. In sandy soil and humid environments near the beach, dietary staples might include the cassava, yams, sweet potatoes, bananas, plantains, coconut, date, heart of palm, citrus, peppers, and rice. Other inland areas of Florida with richer, drier soil might better sustain traditional vegetables like potatoes, carrots, peas, beans, squash, and others. Fishing opportunities abound in Florida and may provide one of the most easily acquired sources of protein. Salt water fish can be taken from a boat, by snorkeling with a spear gun, or by surf fishing from the beach. Traps can be set for crab and spiny lobster. Rock shrimp can be netted from the river. Bass, catfish, and many other species of fish are abundant in the rivers, lakes, and ponds. Anyone that intends to remain in place in Florida should acquire the equipment and practice the techniques using cast nets, surf fishing and fresh water fishing with rod and reel. Wild pigs are a real pest in Florida and can provide fat and protein in a diet. Deer, turkey, duck, and goose are also available as are a variety of other water birds. Alligator might be another source of protein for those near rivers or lakes where they live. When choosing clothing for a tropical environment like Florida, give preference to lightweight, breathable, manmade fibers that will keep you cool and still wick sweat from your skin. Avoid cotton and wool fabrics that will deteriorate and mold in a hot and humid environment. When working or hunting outside, long sleeves and long pants should be worn to protect from sun and insects. Be sure to have wide brim hats for protection from the sun and rain. Good rain gear is a must for each member of the family along with good, high-top, waterproof boots. Consider a set of rubber waders for those that might be fishing or hunting in the wetlands and swamps. Mosquito face nets will become more and more necessary when the commercial spraying currently used to keep down the mosquito population is no longer available. There are some unique health issues to consider in Florida and other subtropical or tropical regions when man-made pesticides and fungicides are no longer available. Malaria and other mosquito borne diseases are not currently a concern in Florida. But, they could become a factor again when the means currently used to control them no longer is employed. In other parts of the world, mosquitoes spread encephalitis, dengue fever, yellow fever, West Nile virus, and other diseases. Anti-malarial medications should be stocked. Screens for doors and windows should be installed or repaired. Standing sources of water where mosquitoes breed should be eliminated as far as possible. Mosquito nets should be purchased and used to protect sleepers in bed during the night. Be certain to stock mosquito and insect repellant with a high percentage of DEET. Ticks, fire ants, cockroaches, termites, and other insects are currently controlled only by extreme efforts using chemicals in many subtropical areas of the U.S. Ticks carry Lyme disease, tularemia, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever among other diseases. Fire ant bites can produce fatal anaphylaxis in those allergic. They destroy small ground nesting animals and birds and have had a very negative effect on the wild populations of dove and quail in Florida. These pests and others could all become significant hazards to our health, food sources and possessions when the current suppression methods are no longer available. Molds and fungus are also causes for health concerns for those in tropical areas. Mold or fungus infections can be serious in humans and difficult to eradicate. They can poison or destroy food and make our home unlivable. To combat mold, keep fabrics clean and dry. Avoid cotton and natural fibers in favor or man-made fibers that are more resistant. Use a dilute solution of bleach (sodium hypochlorite) or quaternary ammonium compounds to kill or clean up mold or fungus. Be sure to wear a filter or gas mask when cleaning up mold. Breathing mold spores can have long term health consequences. You may want to stock mold and mildew inhibiting products like paradicholorobenzene or paraformaldehyde powder from the drugstore. Be careful to store these chemicals and all pesticides away from food and access by children. Be sure to have a supply of sunscreen available for additional protection from the sun. This is an area that you should research carefully as many of the chemicals and additives in sunscreen are harmful. In a tropical environment, there are tools and equipment that can be very useful that may not be needed in other environments. Each adult should have a good quality machete or woodsman’s blade. Cold Steel produces a variety of heavy machetes that are suitable for the brush and growth in the Florida wetlands and swamps. Cutting is done with the end of the blade, so get one that is long enough provide the leverage to cut relatively thick branches and vines without multiple cuts. Besides clearing brush, they are also good general purpose tools for defense against snakes (or men), cutting wood, butchering, and many other tasks. Monofilament cast nets are great for catching small fish that can be used for bait or just dried for food. Crab or lobster traps and long-handled shrimp nets can provide an additional source of protein if you have a boat that can be used to drop them. If you are near the ocean, snorkeling gear and a spear gun can allow you to harvest fish and turtles even if compressed air isn’t available for diving. Fishing equipment – hook, lines, leaders, etc. - will probably take the place of some of the hunting equipment that those in other climates might acquire. Consider stocking naval jelly for rust removal and plenty of paint for protecting exposed metal. Firearms may be the most important tools to Florida residents in the event of TEOTWAWKI. Florida has a large population and, at some point, a lot of them may be looking for food. Prepare to be charitable. Prepare to defend your family, life, and property, as well. These are just some of the considerations for surviving in a humid, subtropical zone like Florida in the event of a collapse, but I hope that it will provide food for thought and a starting point for modifying the plans and recommendations published elsewhere to be more effective for this environment. « Economics and Investing: |Main| Notes from JWR: » Wednesday December 9 2009Feeding Your Family Well During Hard -- and Harder -- Times, by Lin H.We can all agree that at the very least hard times are here, for way too many of ourselves, our friends, our family members, our acquaintances. And most of us here agree that harder times are a’coming. And I’ll add another basic human agreement: we all need to nourish our bodies with food, preferably good-tasting and health-sustaining food. I’d like to address and share my thoughts on this basic human requirement. I am not an expert in food nutrition or preparation. I have no college degrees in these areas: my credentials are only a little common sense and 30 years of feeding my family, as well as possible, on the smallest dime possible. So first I’ll address hard times: feeding your family on as little as possible during normal hard times. I have a few “rules” for thrifty cooking: (1) basics are better; (2) beans, rice and pasta; (3) meat is a flavoring agent, not a main dish; (4) if it’s on sale, buy a bunch; and (5) use your imagination.
And now we address harder times, or serious hard times, which is much more difficult because it’s theoretical. But we are all here on this most excellent Survivalblog.com because we at least see the possibility of food shortages, hyperinflation, loss of basic utility services, theta. So we’re stockpiling. Later, we may have to make do with the foodstuffs we’ve stockpiled or can otherwise forage. We may need to dramatically stretch small amounts of food. And we’ll want to be able to feed our families as healthily and tastefully as possible with what we’ve been able to put by. If we’ve already practiced the tips I’ve stated above regarding thrifty frugal cooking, then those ideas will also stand us in good stead in the event of serious hard times. (For the purposes of staying on-topic, I have to assume that those reading this will have already addressed the basics of water procurement/storage/purification, and having at least three sources of a cooking method, in the event of serious hard times.) So back to:
Entire books have been written on just small areas of what I’ve touched on here. Because the subject matter is so vast, I’ve only hit the high points, hoping to give a learner somewhere to start, some things to think about. Every cooking skill we learn today, when grocery stores are full of affordable and available foodstuffs, could come in very handy later if shortages occur. Knowing how to create an edible and good-tasting meal from available little-bits-o’-nothing could become an important skill-set to have and share with others. Indeed, having this knowledge could someday be essential toward keeping ourselves and our loved ones alive and healthy. « Letter Re: Converting Precious Metals ETFs to Physical Metals |Main| Lessons Leaned from a Wildfire Evacuation, by Daniel in Montana » Tuesday November 17 2009Two Letters Re: Long Term Food Storage Package Now Sold at COSTCOHi Jim, You've probably already seen this storage food now sold by COSTCO but it was news to me. Is that a sign of the times or what? In Him, - Karen H.
« From David in Israel: Off Grid Alternatives to Utility-Supplied Electricity |Main| Notes from JWR: » Monday November 16 2009Over-Planning: Get Thine Act Together!
I occasionally hear from consulting clients that get stuck in the rut of "over -planning". They do so much planning for training, and planning for stocking up, that they never seem to get around to doing either! Lengthy "to do" lists are worthless if they never get implemented. This sometimes reaches absurd lengths, as illustrated by one of my clients that showed me a spreadsheet on his laptop PC, in which he not only compared prices from various vendors for ammunition, but also tracked the changes in their prices, over the course of two years. I asked him: "Well, when did you buy, and how much did you buy?" His reply: "Well, none yet, actually, but I've found the best sources, and I've logged their price increases, shown in dollar prices here, and in percentage terms, here. Look here: This company has increased it prices by 12% less than these others. Now look at this column: their prices are up an average of only 21% since this time last year." So, while he was busy fiddling with his spreadsheets, the purchasing power of his money went down by more than 20%. He would have been ahead by at least 20+ percent, if he had just bought ammo a year earlier. But instead, he sat idly by and watched the value of his dollars melt. And these were dollars kept in a typical bank account, perhaps earning only 2% interest. (If he had invested precious metals, then he would have at least stayed ahead of the price increases on ammo.) The foregoing instructs an important point: Avoid infinite planning cycles, and get started with some concrete steps at preparedness. Clip some coupons and go to you local discount grocery store or "Big Box " store, and actually lay in some supplies, when prices are favorable, of course. If you are not sure exactly what you should buy, or about the shelf lives of various foods, or how to repackage them in oxygen-free sturdy containers, then get a copy of the "Rawles Gets You Ready" family preparedness course. The bottom line is that a good plan today beats a perfect plan, tomorrow. Or, as we often used to quote in the US Army: "Better is the enemy of good enough." « Letter Re: Converting Precious Metals ETFs to Physical Metals |Main| From David in Israel: Off Grid Alternatives to Utility-Supplied Electricity » Letter Re: A Bulk-Buying Solution--Form a Buyer's Club
Hi Jim, My aim was to make the buying club available to other nearby preppers strictly for bulk orders of long-term storage items but so far I have been the only one to use it. The great advantage I see in a buying club is that it permits large purchases that would seriously raise eyebrows in a grocery store if they even permitted you to clean them out of the items you sought. (Some stores at least have threshold policies.) It meets the needs of procrastinators who finally decide that now is the time to stock the bunker. Also, the supplier's wholesale warehouse would not be mobbed as early as grocery stores would after TSHTF because few consumers would even know about it. A downside of the co-op approach would be curious close-by neighbors witnessing you receiving scores of bags, buckets, and boxes, possibly coming over for a nosy visit while you are unloading. This has not been a problem in my location due to my long driveway but would present OPSEC concerns to many. Members of a buying club club who pick up their orders at the drop-off point might benefit from unloading their vehicle while the neighbors are gone or asleep. Another potential downside is that authorities or criminals could seize the bulk supplier's membership list in a search for "hoarders" of food supplies, an excellent reason for creating off-site caches. - Jim McC. JWR Replies: Thanks for that suggestion. Two more caveats: Depending on your locale, you might need both a business license and liability insurance. We now live in a very litigious society. It is sad but true, someone that merely strains their back while on your property might file a lawsuit. So if you decide to operate with liability insurance, I recommend that you do not open up the organization to anyone except your relatives and trusted friends. « Seven Letters Re: How Can I Make and Store Dog Food? |Main| Fire Suppression for the Present, and for Post-TEOTWAWKI, by Keith H. » Saturday November 14 2009Letter Re: An Alternative to COSTCO for Storage Foods
Dear Mr. Rawles, My point to this e-mail is that I have a suggestion for an alternative to big box stores like COSTCO, etc. My husband is a commercial beekeeper and buys large quantities of granulated sugar to feed his bees in early spring and late fall when there is no honey flow. Stores like The Restaurant Depot are an amazing deal. If you have one in your area, membership is free. The only requirement is that you have proof that you are a business. It doesn't matter what kind of business you are. This place is food storage heaven! 100 pound sacks of rice, beans, flour, corn meal, etc! It's much cheaper than COSTCO! Plus other shoppers don't look at you like your insane when you are buying enough rice and beans to feed an army. But we still have a good time messing with people in the store. Many thanks and prayers for you and your family, - Tricia H. JWR Replies: Thanks for that suggestion. As I described in "Rawles Gets You Ready" family preparedness course, I have found that COSTCO, Sam's Club, and similar "Big Box" stores are a great place to stock up on bulk food that you can re-package yourself. (Typically done with 5- or 6-gallon food grade HDPE buckets. Commercial vendors like the one that you mentioned are a great option, but their selection seems to be much smaller, and the condiments that they sell are in either ridiculously large or small containers. (Such as one gallon bottles of mayonnaise, relish, ketchup, and mustard, or itty-bitty single-serving packets) Another option that I mentioned in the preparedness course is ethnic food stores. You'll often find the very best prices on rice there, and they do such a large volume of rice sale, that their inventory is usually very fresh. « Letter Re: The List of Lists |Main| Jim's Quote of the Day: » Thursday November 12 2009Letter Re: It Takes a Village for Perimeter Security
Jim: After reading your ‘Precepts’, I thought I would drop you a note. because I have always appreciated anyone that agrees with me. First, I am a retired cop and a retired soldier so I have studied people in one career and weapons and equipment in another. I have been to a number of Third World countries and learned that what we have now is unbelievably good and where we might be going is will be unbelievably, well, sad. I decided a very long time ago that the best place to live for my family would be a rural town. I did not want kids to grow up in an urban setting and having grown up myself in a suburban setting, I didn’t want to inflict that on them either. So we moved. It was a shock at first. The nearest fast food was almost twenty miles away in any direction and the nearest traffic light is seventeen miles away, even today, twenty-five years later. The town I chose was twenty miles from the nearest Interstate and even a couple of miles from nearest state highway. It is in the center of one the largest agricultural areas in the country and has its own grain elevator and storage business. That means at any time of the year, there are upwards of 5,000 tons of corn and soybean stored within the town limits. You know, "the perimeter". I had often thought that if given the means, I would like to own a house on a hilltop with cleared fields of fire and a view of the surrounding area. But that wasn’t practical and as time has proven, it wasn’t even smart. If you’re going to have a survival retreat, it would be best if you already lived there. If the necessity ever arose, I don’t think I would want to have to fight my way out of the city or suburbs. In "Patriots", you describe a survival group that spent a great deal of time preparing for the “what if?” I did the same thing but I chose was to have all those skills that you searched for and recruited all ready present. Farm communities already have a host of survival skills that are needed ready made. In our town, of less than a thousand, are welders (and equipment) fabricators (and their tools) food, fuel, military veterans, plenty of weapons and folks that have already spent a lot of times together dealing with blizzards, electrical storms, and power outages and all those things that bind a small community together. We have some good people here and should the occasion arise, I think we could make a pretty good stand. Organization is key, of course. To that end, I have been active in the town in the past , my last police job before going back in the Army was Chief of Police here. I made a pretty good name for myself and I continue to help out in the town whenever I can. Someone that I have absolutely no respect for once said, “it takes a village” and in this case, she was right. We are far away from the nearest urban areas, have food and water available and our folks every day work skills translate very quickly into survival skills. I wanted to share the thought because I think most people who are planning to attempt to escape from the urban areas when the SHTF may be much better served if they would make that escape before it happens. My very best to you, - JCH « Letter Re: Why I Began to Prepare |Main| Letter Re: It Takes a Village for Perimeter Security » Letter Re: The List of Lists
Jim: I'm now working my way back through your blog's archives. I'm amazed at how much is there, and all with the level of detail to do really concrete things to get ready. The thing I love about your blog and your prep course is that it is all hard facts, and tested ways of doing things by people that have "been there, done that"--not just vague generality and "this might work" sorts of guesses. Thank you, Jim, ever so much! - Stan in Colorado « Letter Re: Once a Prepper, Always a Prepper |Main| Notes from JWR: » Saturday November 7 2009Survival Preparation on Low or Fixed Incomes, by Shawna M.
So you’re convinced that the free ride is over, that things are getting worse, and when the worst happens, you want to be prepared. But you have a problem—you don’t have a lot of money for prepping and day to day living. Maybe you only make minimum wage. Maybe you make a little more than that, but you’ve got a lot of bills. Maybe you live on a fixed income, or have irregular self-employment. Regardless, don’t assume because you can’t afford expensive classes or pricey gear that WTSHTF, you’ll be unable to fend for yourself and your family. My husband and I make less than $10,000 (I’m disabled, he’s self-employed) a year, but we’ve already got a good start on skills, tools, and storage, have plans to expand, and it wasn’t difficult at all. Being on a low or fixed income can help you with a survival mindset, because you’re already used to making do with little, or having to get creative with what you have. You just have to expand what you have, a little at a time, and, before you know it, you’ve got a pretty good cache of supplies and abilities that can help you and yours no matter what comes down the pike. « Two Letters Re: Experience with a Shallow Well Hand Pump |Main| Note from JWR: » Wednesday November 4 2009How to Capitalize on Urine, Car Batteries, Wood Ashes, Bones and Bird Schumer, by Jeff M.Throughout the last few centuries, mankind has been building and building up, combining raw materials and energy to create... stuff. This stuff is scattered all over urban population centers, and many of it can be used for basic life-sustaining purposes. I thought I'd write in and share some information I've gathered over the years in my work and in my hobbies, as it relates to sustaining life if you're trapped in an urban area. I'm enumerating the primitive uses of some very basic components for those interested, this wasn't meant as a guide for building any of this stuff, further research is definitely necessary and DO NOT try any lab chemistry without becoming an expert first and observing all the appropriate safety precautions. [JWR Adds: Handling strong acids and bases also necessitates wearing goggles, extra long gloves, long sleeves, a safety apron, having proper ventilation, and having an eye flushing bottle (or fixture) and neutralizers close at hand!] I hope this inspires others to share similar uses for modern waste. Many urbanites will not have enough room to grow self-sustaining gardens in the soil in your backyard, with the limited growing season, and even if you did it would become a target for looters. Construction of a greenhouse in your backyard with adequate security may be a worthwhile compromise. Using hydroponics in your greenhouse will maximize your yield. Hydroponics requires that you're moving fluids around in a growing medium, and this movement requires electricity in the simplest setup. It also allows you to maximize your space by eliminating huge buckets of soil. One downside to hydroponics is that it requires more advanced technology, and most often an energy supply. Another downside is a requirement for more specific fertilizers. Car batteries can be used to power your food supply and your home, a typical setup is a very sturdy shelf to hold rows of the deep cycle variant. You can calculate how much energy you'd need to power your appliances but a better setup for survival would be to only power a single DC circuit, with some very energy efficient appliances; LED lights, laptop computers, radios, flashlight battery chargers. I have a circuit wired in my basement which can be switched to backup power, so for me it would just be a matter of wiring an extension cable out to my greenhouse. The equipment to build a battery backup system is widely available, it's very mature technology and has been very easy to afford with the increased usage of solar energy. Solar panel prices have also dropped almost 40% in the last couple of years. I recommend that someone with the cash to spend, who has already bought a long-term supply of food and other essentials, build themselves a photovoltaic backup system to keep your electronics running for years, using deep-cycle marine batteries for storage. It happens to be the cheapest form of storage, the deep cycle batteries are available from Wal-Mart and Costco at the best prices. I recommend some form of sustainable electricity. Most fuels will go bad with time, the easiest fuel to reliably store is propane and many homes are equipped with propane and natural gas powered backup generators. Propane is extraordinarily cheap right now as well. A 300-to-500 gallon propane tank can be bought used for around $500 in most places, and propane is selling in my area for $1.79/gallon. Propane is produced from natural gas and, along with coal, are the two fossil fuels we're least likely to see a shortage of. Regarding solar, you don't need a 5,000 watt solar panel farm to power your essentials. Just one large solar panel on a pole will be enough [to provide charging] for your odds and ends DC-powered electronics. If you intend to use scavenged car batteries for home power, you will need to come up with a scheme to charge them. If you charge a random collection of batteries off of one charger some of them may overheat and explode. You need to have an individual charging circuit for each of them, a temperature probe is good but not necessary. The best way to do this with a generator setup is with a multiple-bank charger or charging station, or with multiple charge controllers in a solar setup. It would be a good idea to have backups, so you might as well have one charge controller for every battery. If you're running a generator, it is especially important that you use a battery backup system, as it allows you to use the energy more efficiently to charge up a battery bank which you can use for days to power efficient appliances. Another interesting thing about car batteries is what you can do with them if you're not using them for power. Car batteries contain two main ingredients, sulfuric acid and lead. Sulfuric acid is used in many industrial processes. It's a source of elemental sulfur, and these strong acids are used to convert many other substances to something usable. Hundreds of years ago people made saltpeter for formulating black powder by urinating in a jar and adding straw to it (almost too easy, huh?). A more industrious method would be to mix straw and manure into a pile and urinate on it regularly to keep it moist. This was called a "niter-bed". After a year, run water through it and then run the resulting mixture through a wood ash filter, and then air dry the resulting mixture in the sun. Any failed batches could always be used as [the basis for a larger quantity of] fertilizer. Your urine contains nitrogen in the form of a chemical called urea, which means it also makes a good fertilizer (1 part urine and 10 parts water immediately applied makes a decent fertilizer). The urine/straw mixture would change over the course of a few months to contain nitrates, mostly a chemical called potassium nitrate, or saltpeter. Wood ash contains mostly potassium compounds and can be used to convert remaining nitrates to potassium nitrate. Potassium nitrate is a powerful oxidizer. Mixed with a fuel it forms the ingredients of many fireworks such as bottle rockets. Black powder is made with a mixture of 75% potassium nitrate, 15% charcoal, and 10% sulfur. Sulfur can be found on the electrodes of the car batteries, or it can be produced through electrolysis of the sulfuric acid. A good rocket fuel is 60% potassium nitrate and 40% powdered sugar, should you have a need for rockets, perhaps as a signal flare. You can buy potassium nitrate over the counter from the hardware store (Lowe's and Home Depot). It's known as stump remover and is available in 1lb bottles. If you're doing that last minute shopping, it might be a good idea to swing by the pesticides shelf and buy all the stump remover while you're getting your fertilizers and everything. Potassium nitrate has an NPK rating of 13-0-38. In the 1890s, widespread use of "smokeless powder" was adopted, which is about three times as powerful as simple black powder. This was a result of a substance called nitro-cellulose or guncotton, which is which can be made from cellulose and nitric acid and some
other chemicals by means of nitration. Nitric acid is a very useful substance. Nitro-groups or nitronium ions can be added to certain chemicals to create explosives. Compounded with hexamine fuel tablets (Esbit fuel), it forms [the equivalent of ] RDX explosive. Compounded with glycerine, it forms nitroglycerine, that with added stabilizers forms dynamite or blasting gelatin. (Not to be confused with trinitrotoluene (TNT), which is generated by the nitration of toluene.) The most useful application of nitric acid though is in making smokeless powder, commonly just called "gunpowder" today, which is a compound of nitrocellulose and a number of other proprietary ingredients. It can be made from cellulose and nitric acid and some other chemicals by means of nitration. [Reader M.H. Adds: Doing any of this will take considerable study and storing some other chemicals, since nitric acid just by itself will not (to any significant degree) nitrate organic compound such as glycerine, hexamine or toluene. For details, see the book titled "Chemistry and Technology of Explosives" by Urbanski (available online).] Another interesting thing I'll mention is that handgun calibers and muzzleloaders are better suited for lead bullets with no copper jacket, since they travel through the barrel slower they can be made softer. Forming a copper jacket around a bullet is difficult and expensive. [JWR Adds: One notable exception to this is making jackets for .22 caliber bullets, which can be made with discarded .22 LR brass and lead wire, using commercially available forming dies.] I think it's also worthwhile to own at least one muzzle-loading black-powder rifle, and bullet forming equipment. Manufacturing guncotton is not nearly as easy as black powder. You can no longer readily buy black powder [in gun shops] today, it is less stable and more expensive to ship. Even the modern muzzle-loader propellants (like Pyrodex) are smokeless powders. So, you may find black powder is all people are using one of these days, as they can make it in their backyard. Either stockpile thousands of primers or use a flintlock style rifle. I mentioned that urine can be used as a fertilizer, nowhere is this more true than in a hydroponic system. Plants need three main chemicals to grow, all three of which must be in a soluble form. urine is easily the best source of nitrogen in soluble form. Potassium can be gathered from wood ash easily by running fluids through it. Phosphorous is the hard part, and many fruiting plants need phosphorus, so it is the area where you focus the most energy. Bone has phosphorus in it, and a commonly used fertilizer for plants is bone meal in the form of calcium phosphate. Bone meal has an NPK rating of 4-12-0. Bat guano is one of the best sources of phosphorous, and bird droppings ("Bird Schumer") can similarly provide a good supply. Be careful with bird droppings though, many contain diseases especially pigeons. You may want to boil it first. Match heads can also be used for their phosphorus content, if for some reason you have thousands of matches with no barter value. Back to urine fertilizers: When you urinate into the water your urine and many other nitrate fertilizers begin to break down into ammonia, which needs to be filtered out. If you've ever maintained a koi pond you know this can be accomplished with the use of a bio-filter. Another way to do it is with an aquaculture setup, which means connecting a fish hatchery to a hydroponics setup. The fish and the plants thrive off of each other. This has evolved into it's own industry called aquaponics, and has proven to be a commercial success, mainly to serve as leafy plant production on top of a primarily fish producing setup. If you get sick of eating that dried corn, try feeding it to a 55-gallon barrels full of Tilapia. Tilapia has been the preferred fish stock as it will eat a wider range of things, but the temperature must be kept warm. It's possible that even in colder climates a greenhouse would provide sufficient trapped heat to keep the fish alive. Many of these techniques can form the foundations of exciting hobbies such as model rocketry, aquaculture, hydroponics and gunsmithing. I strongly encourage you to absorb some of these hobbies in your life, if they appeal to you. [Do plenty of research, and get lots of practice,] especially when it comes to something sensitive like fish or hydroponics. Beginner's mistakes could spell the end of you if you're depending on this for your urban survival. I've opted to fortify my suburban home on a quarter acre and optimize it for survival, with over two years of food storage for me and my family to get started and enough energy to cook it. If this is all you can afford then make the most of it! Letter Re: Making Do at a Rural Vermont RetreatJames, We will never be as ready as want to be, but we will be as ready as we are able. Our greatest assets are Jesus and each other. - B.C. « Letter Re: Retreat Commo and Monitoring Suggestions from a Ham Operator |Main| Reader Poll Results: Your Favorite Movies with Survival Themes » Tuesday November 3 2009Letter Re: Some Ground Truth--The "Us" and the "Them" in a Societal CollapseMr. Rawles, Having worked for the Army for 27 years in a number of different failed countries I may have a unique perspective on survival that I would like to share with your readers. I believe most of the "survivalist community" is vastly underestimating the impact that other humans are going to have on their plans. Hunkering down and waiting for everyone to die off is a simplistic plan and I believe has almost no chance of working. You may be able to hide your retreat, but you can't hide the land it sits on. That land itself may become a scarce commodity if the US transitions to an agrarian economy. Food is the key resource. Most communities are at risk because they simply don't have enough calories stored to get them through any kind of crisis. But, storage is no more than limited capital to allow people time to grow more food. Food production requires land....if your retreat is sitting on farmable land, it will be a scarce resource. Carrying capacity of the US using non-petroleum farming techniques is far lower than most of your readers probably think. Also, most areas of the US, especially cities, don't have anywhere near enough farm-able land to go back to some kind of agrarian pattern. Without public infrastructure and modern transportation, we are going to experience a huge die-off caused mostly by starvation. In a total collapse scenario without immediate restoration of the economy, basically everyone who lives in a city is doomed unless they can take over some kind of farm land. If you live in an area without enough farm land, you will be a "have not". Period. I don't care how much food you have stored in your basement. Here is my key point. These teeming millions will not just starve and go away. I believe that anyone who thinks they can defend a working farm against raiders is deluding themselves. 1. People are dangerous. They are the most dangerous animal on earth. You can never lose sight of that! In almost any society breakdown scenario you can think of, you will be surrounded by starving predators that are much more dangerous than tigers. In the USA, every one of them (or at least the vast majority) will be armed with firearms. The ones currently without firearms will obtain them by any means necessary including looting government armories. These are thinking-breathing and highly motivated enemies. 2. Raiders, defined as "outlaw looting groups" may be a threat for a very short period, but I really don't see groups of more than 4-6 ever forming...they will be quickly replaced by much larger groups of "citizens" doing essentially the same things, but much better armed and organized. An Example: A few hours after Albania's political crisis in 1998, (which was caused by a national lottery scam), almost every adult male in the country procured an AKM from government stocks. Armories were the first targets looted. I flew into Tirana packing a pistol and a sack of money, naively thinking I would be able to move around the country and defend myself. What a laugh. Everyone had me outgunned, and the vast majority of them had military training of some sort. I never got out of the capital city. Every road seemed to have roadblocks every few miles, blocked by armed local citizens. 3. Without central authority, people don't just starve and go away. They form their own polities (governments). These polities are often organized around town or city government or local churches. They may call it a city counsel or a committee or a senate. The bottom line is, "We The People" will do whatever "We" have to do to survive. And that specifically includes taking your storage goods. 4. When (not if) a polity forms near you, you had better be part of that process. If not, you will be looked upon as a "resource" instead of a member of the community. The local polity will pass a resolution (or whatever) and "legally" confiscate your goods. If you resist, they will crush you. They will have the resources of a whole community to draw upon including weapons, vehicles, manpower, electronics, tear gas, etc. Every scrap of government owned equipment and weaponry will be used, by someone. Anyone who plans to hold out against that kind of threat is delusional. 5. The local polity that forms is almost certainly going to make mistakes. Some of them are lethal blunders. Odds are, the locals will probably not have given a lot of serious thought to facing long term survival. They will squander resources and delay implementing necessary actions (like planting more food or working together to defend a harvest). They may even decide to take in thousands of refugees from nearby cities, thereby almost insuring their own longer term starvation. A much better approach is to be an integral part of the community and use the combined resources of the community to defend all of your resources together. This would be much easier if a high percentage of the community were like minded folks who were committed to sharing and cooperating. Because any community with food is likely going to have to somehow survive while facing even larger polities, like nearby cities, counties or even state governments. Don't expect to face a walking hoard of lightly armed, starving individuals. Expect to face a professional, determined army formed by a government of some kind. A small farming community can probably support a few outsiders, but not very many. The community will need to politically deal with outside polities or they will face a war they can't win. Hiding the fact that you are self sufficient is going to be hard. You can't hide farm land. Defending your resources against the nearby city will be even harder. You may be able to save the community by buying protection with surplus food...if you have prepared for that. You may indeed have to fight, but stalling that event for even a year could mean the difference between living and being overwhelmed. In any case, your community needs to go into the crisis with a plan. You may be able to shape that plan if you become a community leader instead of a "resource". With Very Kind Regards, - R.J. JWR Replies: You've summed up some essential truths quite succinctly. Your points square nicely with the scenario in my first novel ("Patriots"). It also matches my premise of gemeinschaft kampfgeist, in the context of cohesion in the "we/they paradigm." « Letter Re: Experience with a Shallow Well Hand Pump |Main| Note from JWR: » Monday November 2 2009The Flash to Bang Count: Observations on the October Indonesian Asteroid AirburstA few days ago, The Telegraph reported:
Later reports mentioned and estimated 5 to 10 meter diameter for the asteroid. Let's consider the implications of this event. If this had happened in the skies over a First World nation, or if the explosion had taken places at ground level (or near ground level, a la the 1908 Tunguska event), then there would be a huge clamor and calls for early asteroid impact prediction, and greater preparedness. But since this took place above what most consider a backwater nation, and there was no visible damage on the ground to photograph, this news story was resigned to "minor headline" status. And what if the object had been 100 meters in diameter, instead of 20? We've previously discussed asteroids with Earth-crossing orbits--also known as Near Earth Objects (NEOs)-- and the consequences of potential impacts in SurvivalBlog. Asteroid impacts are one of those "low likelihood but high disruption" events. The chances of one occurring in our lifetimes is relatively low, but if one were to happen, the implications would be huge. In anticipation of future asteroid impacts, here are some factors to consider:
I have been studying the threat of asteroid impacts for many years. NEOs represent a "wild card"scenario. Since a fairly complete orbital path tracking database probably won't exist for 20+ years, this threat will remain an imponderable for the foreseeable future. Until a fully-populated database is developed, this will remain a quasi-voodoo science. The Indonesian event illustrates just how easy it is to get blind-sided. And even after we have complete tracking data, it will be decades longer before we start to proactively develop a program to "nudge" the larger NEO asteroids into safer orbits. But again, keep in mind that this is one of those "low actuarial risk/high consequence" events. Plan accordingly. « Economics and Investing: |Main| Letter Re: Retreat Security: I Am Your Worst Nightmare » Sunday November 1 2009Letter Re: Comments of Storing Coffee and Grinding Whole Wheat Flour
Jim: I also recommend stockpiling ammo, especially 22 Long Rifle (LR) ammo, because I think it will become the currency post SHTF. It is light, easily portable, and you can carry a bunch of it. If each cartridge has about the same purchasing power after the SHTF as a dollar has now. And with the scarcity of such ammo and supplies post-SHTF, I think 22 LR ammo will be worth its equivalent weight in silver. People that now can't afford to stockpile gold can still stockpile ammo, especially 22 LR ammo at 3 or 4 cents per round. - R.L. « Letter Re: Comments of Storing Coffee and Grinding Whole Wheat Flour |Main| Note from JWR: » Saturday October 31 2009The Dumpster List, by InfoRodeo
Because of our financial constraints, aggravated by the economy and rural area we now live, my family cannot afford to own a second “retreat” home, nor do we have much land on which to build a shed or store much of anything. As a boy, my parents didn’t have much money, and through a mix of my dad’s “fix it or make do” attitude, the scout motto “be prepared” and my newfound need for better frugality, I’ve made a kind of checklist that every non-food purchase my wife and I make must go through, and it’s jokingly called the Dumpster list. Each point of the dumpster list should be met as well as possible, if that point is applicable. The list helps us stretch our dollars, limit our output of refuse, and choose items that are easier to transport and maintain should we be forced to evacuate or relocate during an emergency event. DURABILITY. I try to purchase things that are built strong and proven strong. I buy denim or rip-stop pants. A lot of items I purchase are “military surplus” or Mil-spec items, because they are meant to take rough treatment and last a long time. Sometimes an item can be made stronger/more resistant/durable for a small charge. Having some sort of puncture-stop material added to our bike tires or spending the extra money for some sort of hard-shell case for a piece of essential gear would be examples of adding durability. I don’t include “Price” in the checklist because I’ve learned (contrary to what my parents tried to teach me) that most of the time, paying more for a high quality item saves more money in the long run than buying a cheap item, which have to be repaired or replaced it frequently. As long as we aren’t charging it to a credit card (or creating other debt) and are living within our means, I try not to think much about price. We also do most of our non-immediate shopping on the internet, because it is easier to find exactly what we need than making do with what we find at the local hardware or department store, and the prices (including shipping) are much better. By running our potential purchases through the Dumpster list, we’ve actually modified some other areas of our life, and it has helped us to generate less trash, have less blinking-light/electronic noise toys for our children, and I haven’t had to buy any new clothes in over a year now. Though I thought there would be more potential for “hard work” as a result, we’ve found that by being more picky about our purchases, as well as giving them proper maintenance, we’ve actually had a lot less break-downs to deal with and our “free” time has actually increased. « Economics and Investing: |Main| Two Letters Re: Protein Powders as Emergency Survival Foods » Thursday October 29 2009Letter Re: Open Enrollment for Many Medical Savings Plans
Dear Mr. Rawles, Greetings! I saw a blog letter mentioning FSA (Flexible Spending Accounts)-one medical plan that helps the average person. Basically, one’s employer (private, public, etc.) has some amount taken out before taxes and this money is put into a plan with a pre-set amount that must be used by the end of the plan year. Okay, what many people do not know is that IRS laws allow the following: Once the plan is started, the full year's funds are present, even if you have not had that total amount saved up yet. Example: I set the plan to $1,000, and at the start of my plan $20 is taken each paycheck (50 weeks). But, I can start applying the plan immediately for the full $1,000. These funds are used to reimburse co-pays, over the counter drugs, reading glasses, or other prescription and generic [medication] costs. Here are two important points I found out last summer: First, the medical supplies reimbursed for by this plan include medical supplies, including Quik-Clot, Celox, (Yep! Even the Quik-clot for nose bleeds). Other first aid supplies (usually not found in the local drug store-but commonly found in survival catalogs) are covered (check with the FSA firm handling the reimbursements first!). I got lots of Band-Aids, Celox, and Quik-clot this summer. Oh yes, my former employer admitted (yes, I called both the FSA company and my employer at city hall to confirm), that due to IRS laws, a person can access the entire amount for that year, get reimbursed for all of it, and leave employment before the completion of employee payments are made-and no refund is required from the employee by either the former employer or the FSA company! This may prove useful for many people who have these plans and think that TEOTWAWKI is coming soon. [JWR Adds: But purchasing supplies without the intent to fully fund a FSA would be unconscionable.] Also, real survival medical supplies can be obtained (again, check with the FSA first!) with the plan covering the expenses. (From your pre-tax dollars, of course!). Food for thought. - L.F. R. « Letter Re: Lamar Alexander's Solar Homesteading E-Book |Main| Note from JWR: » Thursday October 22 2009Lessons Learned from Hurricanes Ike, Rita, and Katrina, by TiredTubes
In September, 2008, Hurricane Ike--a Category 4 hurricane--pounded the Gulf Coast of the southern US. Some coastal communities like Crystal Beach no longer really exist. Inland, life was severely disrupted. For those of us on the South Coast hurricanes are a frequent reality. We were quite well prepared, but used the disruptions and dislocations as a test and opportunity to tune up our preparations. 1. Be ready to help others and to accept help We didn't need much during Ike, but the power went out before a neighbor finished boarding up his house. My 1 KW inverter, hooked up to his idling truck provide the juice for a Skilsaw and a few lights; allowing him to finish. Usually it is skills and not "stuff" that helps others and yourself. Besides strengthening a neighborly friendship, the number of damaged houses was probably reduced by one. Our own [permanently-installed] genset uses natural gas (a tri-fuel generator) which in the majority of cases is superior and much cheaper to operate. Over the 11 days that we didn't have power it consumed $100 worth of natural gas. I estimate that an equivalent amount of gasoline would have cost more than $300. I stopped it every 75 hours for oil and filter. If your genset doesn't have an hour meter, then add one. There are some inexpensive self contained hour meters made for lawn equipment that work very well and require no hard wiring. It's really the only practical way to keep track of operating time, without which, intelligent maintenance is impossible. I noticed that many generators, some still in the box, on Craigslist following Hurricane Ike at bargain basement prices. I recommended to a friend he latch onto one of these and purchase a dual-fuel gasoline/natural gas carburetor] kit. Ants can profit from short-sighted grasshoppers. Develop a pre-event SOP: When we hear of a hurricane in the Gulf, we pick up loose items like branches that can be thrown by high winds and cause damage (aviators call this rubbish FOD), trim trees, check prescriptions, recharge everything rechargeable, treat the swimming pool with "shock" chlorine, get all the laundry and dishes done, get all the trash out for pickup, take “before” pictures, etc., etc., etc. 3. Have backups for your backups. The portable generator above was our backup to the natural gas-fueled genset. Then an inverter and ups. After that is a 100 Watt solar array I've been tinkering with to provide power for security lighting,etc. One important word on generators: Treat yours like it is the last one you'll ever get. Try and get a good one, I prefer either a Honda or Briggs Vangard engine. My Vangard portable is approx 10 years old and absolutely dependable. The difference is methodical maintenance. Keep the manuals, and read 'em ! Keep the oil changed, keep a fresh spark plug, keep spare [oil, air, and fuel] filters. Most importantly run it under load once a month. Unless it's new, pull off the cowling and clean all the dirt and dust from fins on the cylinder jug. Closely examine the starter rope, the fuel lines, et cetera. Replace 'em if they ain't perfect. Don't store gasoline in the machine other than enough for one periodic test run. Develop a ritual on test runs: such as every other payday, or the last Saturday in the month, to reduce it to a ritual. I run mine monthly whilst cutting the back yard lawn. (The mower makes more noise.) If you use gas cans; stick with metal, preferably safety cans. Plastics are slightly permeable and it will go bad much faster in a plastic can. On that note, [in humid climates] don’t keep spare spark plugs with the machine. This is because in outdoor storage the insulators can absorb moisture [and the metal parts can corrode]. Keep them inside or in a sealed can with some silica gel. An old one-quart paint can is ideal. 4. Double your plans for helping other people. Several relatives from coastal areas evacuated to our house (approximately 50 miles inland). I keep a 55 gallon drum of stabilized gasoline to fill up their cars to get them home. This was a lesson learned after the Rita evacuation cluster. How much food you will go through will surprise you. It finally dawned upon us that we almost always eat dinner (lunch to you Northerners) and sometimes breakfast away from home. So what we consumed whilst hunkered down seemed out of proportion. 5. Keep a dial up phone line around, after 24 hours the cell phone tower generators started running out of propane, the cable modem (and the cable) went down with the power. Remember how to make that dial-up modem work. If you have cable television, then keep a traditional antenna handy. If you live near a major market the local AM news station, then it is probably a good bet. Have a good UPS, plug the computer and the desk lamp into it. If you have a cordless phone, plug it into the UPS too. The UPS will take the "bumps" out of the generator's power; your computer will thank you. Make sure you test the UPS periodically by plugging in a 100 Watt lamp and pulling the plug on the UPS. I find I need to replace that UPS battery about every 2-to-3 years. 6. Plan for the guests. Have plenty of soap, have a small flashlight (preferably with rechargeable batteries) for each guest. Have things other than television to keep youngsters occupied. Try and get plenty of rest. You'll probably be plenty busy after you can poke your head out again. In this vein don't forget dishwashing supplies, laundry supplies, baby supplies, etc. If it's a predictable event such as a hurricane, have all the dishes and laundry done. before it hits. Keep fire extinguishers near the gas generator, in the kitchen, and near the camp stove. 9. Be ready to make temporary repairs.. The missing shingles, damaged windows, etc. Have some plywood, a few 2x4s, some Visqueen polyethylene sheeting, batting boards, duct tape, a tarp, some nails, and so forth around. If you happen to have a good cordless drill, then you'll find sheet rock and deck screws are very superior to nails. If you're squared away then you already have this stuff , but a neighbor might be in need, so buy extra. 10. If I had my choice of just one utility it would be running water. Fortunately where we reside is served by a well run rural utility district which has prepared well for hurricanes. Failing this, in addition to stored water I have a portable gas utility pump (Robin brand) that can pressurize our water system from our pool and has sufficient capacity for a fire line. The pool got a good jolt of shock a day before the storm hit. 11.Keep some cash money handy. For a few days [with no utility power] there were no functional ATMs, and no way to use credit or debit cards. 12. Keep a low profile. About a week after Ike a passerby indignantly asked "How'd you get your lights turned on?" This showed his ignorance on several levels. He seemed to think someone just had to flip a switch downtown and "shazam!" his lights are on. I couldn't make him understand there has to be an unbroken physical link between a power plant and consumer, this seemed to aggravate his obvious helplessness. Telling him that we had been making our own juice seemed to irritate him. I wonder who he voted for? People with this mindset (that the world owes them something) could be a genuine liability in a real catastrophe. (BTW on a news show during a piece about energy, I actually heard a lady refer to natural gas as “just another dirty fossil fuel”) and not be challenged on the facts. Little minds scare me. I think that the hyper-liberals would love to use the heavy hand of government to force the ants take care of the grasshoppers. Keep a low profile. The best advice I ever heard on the subject (I believe it was Howard J. Ruff 13. Keep a notebook, keep a record of what happened, but especially keep a record of preps you overlooked or screwed up, or stuff you ran out of, or skills that need to be added or honed. That's where most of the preceding information came from! Also keep tabs on what's scarce after an event. Gas was scarce, but diesel plentiful after Rita. In contrast, after Ike there was plenty of fuel, but few operating stations due to lack of power. (There was a "mandatory evacuation" during Rita which turned out to be a fatal traffic jam for a few poor souls which quickly emptied the filling station tanks.) Out our way the local Wal-Mart made a heroic effort and opened up on locally-generated power, two days after Ike. The sheriff’s department was there to “maintain order”. (Let’s just say that they actually wear brown shirts here.). This event was a lifetime opportunity to study the varied behaviors of people under stress. « Letter Re: Should I Rent, or Should I Buy Property? |Main| Jim's Quote of the Day: » Wednesday October 21 2009Three Letters Re: Storing Food in Commercial Storage Spaces?
Mr. Rawles, I do not consider this a long term solution, but at $20 a month it is an insurance policy that almost guarantees I will not have to be walking to my retreat. I'm sure you can find many testimonials online from people who had to evacuate Houston and Brownsville last year due to increased Hurricane activity in the Gulf. Many places were completely sold out of gasoline, food and water with in the first six hours of evacuation activities. Do you consider this a good stop gap solution when it comes to utilizing self-store units? I understand that this is no excuse for procrastination or apathy. I am not diluting myself into thinking it has long term security for more than 24-to-48 hours of storage pending a catastrophic event or break down of civil service. Thank you for your time and advice. - Matt in Texas
Among my tenants I can count about a dozen or so who are also preppers. They consider this a safe place to store their preps while they are finding land to move to. I am always happy when one comes in to give notice that they are moving to the country (as they say). We (my staff of two, and I) have a written plan in case of a situation and after practicing it and working out the bugs; we can lock this place down in less than five minutes. If I am here by myself it takes about 7 minutes to secure the premises and have my weapon and clipboard in hand. I realize that my tenants will want to come get their possessions as quickly as possible and that is part of our security set up, thus the clipboard with tenant info. If any of your readers are thinking about storing their goods at a self storage facility here are some suggestions to make sure their items are secure. 1. Check out the location: in person and check with the local police force to see if the facility has had break-ins. Mr. Rawles, thank you for being a guiding light for so many of us. You and your family are in my prayers. Blessing to you and yours. - N.J.
The drawback is that still just an emerging market, and hence climate-controlled units are not available in may rural areas. However, they are much more common the past few years. I just added climate control to a facility right here and though the facility in an area that is mostly farmer’s fields. I also know that the little town of Haley, Idaho has a storage company with climate controlled space. I also know of climate controlled storage scattered [in small numbers] across across Utah, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. Readers might not be able to find one right where they are going, but for the general public’s knowledge – climate control is out there and becoming more available all the time JWR Replies: I wholeheartedly agree about spare keys! In addition to the key that you keep on your daily-carry key ring, put one in each of your main bug-out bags, and one in the glove box of each of your vehicles! Someday, you might have to hurriedly depart for your retreat in unusual circumstances. « Two Letters Re: Preparations for Eyesight & Hearing |Main| Jim's Quote of the Day: » Monday October 19 2009Twenty-Two Reasons Why this Recession is Different and Why it Will EndureI
find it surprising that I'm now getting inquiries from readers, asking if "we've reached bottom" in the current economic recession, and asking if the time has come to start buying stocks or residential real estate. It seems that the talking heads of mainstream media are using some sort of voodoo. How can anyone think that we've hit bottom, and an economic recovery is in progress? To dispel the myths from the CNBC Cheering Section, please consider the following. (And note that I've provided references for each assertion, just so you know that I'm not talking out of my
Back in the Fall of 2008, I started hearing from consulting clients with notes of fear in their voices. They realized that something is horribly wrong with the economy, but they could not properly isolate and articulate the problem. In my estimation, the "something wrong" that they sensed is nothing short of a monumental shift in the economic climate. America will continue in recession. Most economic recessions are simply a product of the business cycle. These recessions are relatively mild and they often last just 12 to 24 months. The economic engine just readjusts and everything soon gets back to normal. But the recession that began in 2008 is something radically different, and it won't be short-lived. The current slow down was triggered by a collapse in the global credit market. For decades, the global credit market grew and grew, in an enormous debt spiral. Our neighbors to the south saw trouble coming decades ago, because their economies were at the time more debt-dependent than our own. As far back as the mid-1980s, their newspapers featured political cartoons that portrayed an enormous, insatiable monster that was invariably captioned "La Dueda"--"The Debt". Our cousins in Latin America saw it coming first, but the dark side of the debt nemesis will soon be clear to everyone. The Federal governments's debt, just by itself is cause for concern. As an old gunsmithing friend mine, the late Chuck Brumley, was fond of saying: “If your outgo exceeds your income your upkeep will be your downfall." Several decades of profligate spending by the US Congress are finally starting to take their toll. Just because their friend Helicopter Ben has a high-speed printing press does mean that they can continue to spend money like drunken sailors in definitely. (On second thought, I should apologize for impugning the reputation of drunken sailors. They are actually much more conservative with their funds than congressmen.) Because modern banking in the western world is based on interest charges that create continuously compounding debt, credit cannot continue to grow indefinitely. At some point the excesses of malinvestment become so great that the entire system collapses. This is what we are now witnessing: a banking panic that is spreading uncontrollably as wave after wave of ugly debt gets destroyed by margin calls and subsequent business failures. Some economists are fixated on reading charted histories--and unrealistically expect that by doing so that the can reliably predict future market moves. Although they are working from a flawed premise at the micro level, the chartists do have some things right on the macro level: There are major economic "seasons" and even climate changes. The most vocal chartists like Robert Prechter hold to what is called the Elliot Wave Theory. And the big bad nasty in this school of thought is a Kondratieff Winter. This "K-Winter" is an economic depression phase that the world has not fully experienced since the 1930s. An economic winter does not end until after the foundations of industry and consumer demand are rebuilt. This can be a painful process, often culminating with war on a grand scale. (It was no coincidence that the Second World of the early 1940s was an outgrowth of the Great Depression of the 1930s.) The US Federal Reserve and the other central banks are furiously pumping liquidity to the best of their ability, but in the long run they will not be successful. At best, dumping billions in cash on the economy will delay a depression by perhaps a year or two. But inevitably, a K-Winter depression will come. And the longer that it is delayed, then the worse the depression will be. Further inflating the debt bubble will only make matters worse. "Big Picture" Implications As I've mentioned before, hedge funds are presently most at risk in the unfolding liquidity crisis, because they use lots of leverage in lending funds that they themselves have borrowed. They borrow short and lend long, and effectively use debt compounded upon debt. Even more alarming is the scale of global derivatives trading, particularly for credit default swaps (CDSes). Derivatives are a relatively new phenomenon, so most derivatives contract holders are only just now experiencing their first major recession. Thus, it is difficult to predict what will happen in a genuine K-Winter phase. In a perfect world, derivatives are a nicely balanced mechanism, where there are parties and counterparties, and every derivatives contract equation balances out to have a neat "zero" at its conclusion. But we don't live in a perfect world: Companies go bankrupt. Contracts get breached. Counterparties disappear and disappoint. We have not yet experienced a full scale "blow up" of derivatives, but I predict that if and when it happens, it will be spectacular. The pinch in CDSes (a form of derivative contract) in 2008 was just a faint foreshadowing of what we'd experience in a a full-blown derivatives collapse. The scale of derivatives trading is monumental, and the vast majority of the population is blissfully ignorant of both its scale and the implications of a derivatives crisis. There are presently about $500 trillion of derivatives contracts in play. That is many times the size of the gross product of the global economy, but the average man on the street has no idea what is going on. It won't be until after the giant derivatives casino implodes that the Generally Dumb Public (GDP) awakens and asks, "What the heck happened?" Since the credit market began to collapse in the summer of 2008, the number of new derivatives contracts has dropped precipitously. But whether the aggregate derivative market is $400 trillion versus $500 trillion, when a crisis occurs there will undoubtedly be some very deep drama. The next decade will likely be characterized by successive waves of inflation and deflation, and perhaps some of both simultaneously, at different levels. Countless corporations, and perhaps a few currencies or even governments will go under as this tumult plays out. (Take note of the recent vote of no confidence in Latvia.) The current low interest rates will soon be replaced by double-digit rates, much like we saw in the late 1970s. The dollar will lose value in foreign exchange, and may collapse completely. The Mother of All Bailouts (MOAB) will inevitably result in mass inflation. The bull markets in silver and gold will surge ahead, propelled by economic and currency instability. (Investors will be desperate to find a safe haven, when currencies and equities are falling apart.) Mitigating the Risks Be ready to "winter over" the coming K Winter depression. That will require: 1.) Prayer. 2.) Friends and /or relatives that you can count on (a "retreat group"). 3.) A deep larder, and 4.) An effective means of self defense with proper training. (For each of those four factors, see the hundreds of archived articles and letters at SurvivalBlog.com for details.) Since additional large-scale layoffs seem likely, it would also be wise to have a second income from a recession-proof home-based business. In the event of a "worst case" (grid down) economic collapse, it would be prudent to have a self-sufficient retreat in a rural area that is well-removed from major population centers. Get the majority of your funds out of anything that is dollar-denominated, and into tangibles, as soon as possible. The very best tangible that you can buy is a stout house on a piece of productive farm land. It will not only preserve your wealth, but living there may very well save your life. « Letter Re: Preparations for Eyesight and Hearing |Main| Note from JWR: » Sunday October 18 2009Prepping for the Worst Case: Becoming a Refugee, by Dr. L.D.
I am unable to make my home self-sustaining. So, unfortunately, my family will probably become refugees in a true SHTF scenario. My focus presently is in becoming desirable refugees rather than shunned refugees. The key is minimizing any negative impact (extra logistics of all sorts) and maximizing any positive impact (filling in weak spots) to someone that is geographically fortuitous. I was challenged to figure out how a small family could best become a wanted commodity when food is tight and security isn’t. I determined the key for us was that everything carried needed to be dense in value. Density equals mass divided by volume. In our case, mass would be the battered value of the item; volume was limited by the size of our packs. We can’t carry enough bulk food, but we can carry items that will have an excellent post-SHTF (bartered) value, an example would be trading batteries for an illuminated-reticle or starlight scope in exchange for food. Keeping our packs small (but danged heavy) will give us an additional advantage if we need to make a small camp. Skill sets are valuable. I am fortunate to have become a physician. Talk about (trading) food for thought! I am trained in Internal Medicine, so much of my skill set depends on a working infrastructure, that is, availability of medications, imaging (X-rays, CT, MRIs and the like) which will be useless once the grid goes down. To make up for that, I have been certified in ATLS (Advanced Trauma Life Support) and ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support), the former being far more useful in extended emergencies. Further, I have also trained in mass casualty scenarios. I have been stashing typically needed and well tolerated medications in a FIFO set-up in my home, from antibiotics to blood pressure pills. In a legally gray area, I have some potent narcotics (barter/ransom/medical use). I also have a good stock of scalpels, retractors, Celox and the like to maximize my worth. The first lives my first aid kit may save might be my family’s. My skill set will be in demand, and I hope with the other positives below, worth enough to take in extra mouths to feed. But I recognize, perhaps better than non-medical people, that the quality of medical care will quickly revert to the level practiced before the advent of antibiotics and other modern pharmaceuticals. Think Civil War or WWI where a gut-shot was a death-sentence. Garlic may have some ant- microbial properties, but it pales compared to a few doses of modern antibiotics. Being a doctor in a SHTF scenario may be like being a sailor in the middle of a desert: lots of knowledge but only able to apply a small fraction of it. My wife is an educator and now teaches special needs kids. If the Collapse is a bad one, kids will still need to learn, and there is more to teaching than just putting material in front of kids, as anyone that homeschools will agree. Those are our special skill sets. You can never have enough skill sets, and we plan to further develop our skills. Our two children are too young to be useful for anything except giving us joy, . And dirty laundry. We have been buying weapons in standard calibers – 45 ACP, 5.56, and 22LR. I have given myself the luxury of owning a PS90. I rationalized the purchase by the fact that it supports a 50 round magazine of 5.7 rounds and bridges the gap between a pistol and a longer rifle. In reality, it looks really cool. Four mags on my hip (and one in the rifle) gives me 250 rounds. In an urban/suburban location, which will be the most difficult part of our journey, I do not see a need to shoot over 100 m. Most action will likely be under that, and that is the niche for the PS90. Additionally, it’s bullpup design keeps it short and maneuverable in a vehicle without sacrificing accuracy (it has a 16 inch barrel). More importantly, we have packed way about 150 pounds worth of ammo in our G.O.O.D .bags and another 70 lbs in our BOB’s. We have so far two extra ARs and three Glocks for barter/trade. We don’t have a weapon for the 22LR, but either we will (Ruger’s 10/22) or it’s for barter. Our bags are meant to carry the lead at the sacrifice of food. It may be easier to barter rounds (heavy but small) for food (light but large). If we do make to the hinterlands, having our ammo added to the favorably situated ‘castle’ will be a bonus. My wife and I both shoot accurately to 200 m, and well enough at 300 - 400 m to keep the philistines away. We continue to practice our shooting skills by range time and class time. We will get far. I’ve begun a ‘collection’ of survival knives and high quality folders by buying two at a time (again, two is one, and one is none). They will be needed en route and, like ammo, possess an excellent weight to bartered value. My guess is that knives will lost or broken and there will be a demand for them. In the same category, are redundant Katadyn water filters kits. Extras were purchased because they are small and will barter well. Bolt cutters were bought because they will be useful traveling and also in barter. Bic lighters, assorted tiny screws for spectacles with jeweler screwdrivers , rechargeable CR123 and AA batteries, extra Gerber multitools, quality compasses, 550 cord, several small but bright flashlights (Fenix brand – 1 or 2 CR123 batteries and they pump out over 180 lumen and fit on a keychain or a rifle), two Old Testaments, and 2 American flags fill the small spaces in the gear. We keep thinking on how to improve our “stock” and get more bang for the buck with ‘value dense ‘ items. I thought of the extra eye-glass screws after having my own come apart just as I got to work and spent a miserable day squinting. Someone missing their glasses won’t function at near capacity and the eye glass screw may be the equivalent of the nail that caused a horse to be lost, then a rider to be lost etc. We also have our own gear and clothing, using the layer approach with an outer hardshell in camouflage. We both have packed two pair of extra boots, either for the long haul or barter. These items get thrown into the trunk along with our Camelbaks, and our mountain bikes (with extra tubes and tires) go on top supporting a few jerry cans of gasoline lashed between them. If we can’t get to a refuge with available gas or the roads become impassable, then we load the bikes up and ride/walk until we are welcomed. If we’re lucky, the Collapse will wait until we can move to a more geographically desirable location and all these purchases will remain useful while we focus on new needs (stored food, long term water and power and etc). If not, I have improvised a plan that adapts to our situation and hopefully will change our refugee status to a valued team-member. This is written in part because there has been no view from the prepared refugees. There may be more preppers without a safe haven than those able to develop a safe haven, not because of any deficit or laziness on their part, but because of reality. In addition, all preppers cannot move to a sparsely populated area in the US for if they did (imagine merely 10% of NYC, LA, and DC doing so during by the end Obama’s administration), those areas would no longer be sparsely populated! So think of what you can carry that can be bartered for things you can’t carry and that will make you into a valuable team member. I have worked hard to become a doctor (and perhaps even harder to remain a doctor is this crazed system) and to be able to give charity rather than receive it. If I am to receive the charity of shelter from someone who is able to do so, I will be sure that we do more than just pull on own weight. We will add security, in the short and long haul. So if TEOTWAWKI happens, keep a lookout for strangers who may have much to offer. But for the grace of God, it might have been you unable to live in a geographically desirable area and looking to add to an established sanctuary. « Economics and Investing: |Main| Prepping for the Worst Case: Becoming a Refugee, by Dr. L.D. » Letter Re: Preparations for Eyesight and Hearing
Mr. Editor: Also, remember that as a person gets older, the eye muscles simply weaken, which is why many people need reading glasses by their mid-40s. For those of you who were genetically lucky enough to not need glasses, oh how I envy you! (Forgive me Lord!) For those of us who do need glasses, contacts are a nice thing. Remember that eye solutions do have expiration dates and never sleep with your contacts in because it can lead to eye infections. Make sure your hands are “hospital surgery clean” (HSC) when you place the contacts in your eyes. A post-TEOTWAWKI eye infection is not something you want to deal with. « Letter Re: Firearms Spare Parts Recommendations |Main| Note from JWR: » Tuesday October 6 2009Is Prepping an Insurmountable Task?--The Beginner's Primer, by Gary T.
Once you realize the importance of being prepared for coming hard times, you may ask yourself, “How can I possibly prepare for any scenario? This is an insurmountable undertaking.” The more you ponder this, the more the reality of this seems to be confirmed. Let not your heart be troubled. As with almost any endeavor, the road to success begins with the first step and continues one step at a time. Consistent, prioritized, careful preparation over a period of time, preparation built around what your personal situation (budget, job, family, medical needs, etc.) will allow, can get you in a position in relatively short order to weather the scenarios that are most likely to occur. The mere fact that you have considered the possibilities of what may lay ahead can very quickly put you ahead of the vast majority of the population. Consider the possible scenarios whereby preparedness would prove to be literally a lifesaver. These scenarios range from very geographically localized events, either natural or man-made, to the proverbial TEOTWAWKI. The likelihood any of these events occurring generally becomes decreasing likely in a given time frame as the geographical scope and severity of the event increases. Therefore the occurrence of a total multi-generational societal collapse, requiring the maximum amount of preparation is far less likely to occur over the next year or two or five than relatively local, relatively short term events such as tornados, hurricanes or floods, or even some major terrorist events, all requiring far less preparation than TEOTWAWKI situation previously mentioned. This should be considered in the early stages of preparation as priorities for investment are made. Therefore, your preparation should follow a well planned, measured, prioritized process that enables you to be positioned to go through the most likely scenarios first followed by progressively increasing severe scenarios. Ongoing preparation will build on the past. No effort goes wasted. This should be encouraging to the beginning prepper. How should you start? Start with a careful analysis of the most likely localized events that may occur in your area or region, or events from another region that may impact your local area (remember passenger air service after 9/11). Shutdown of transportation systems, especially trucking and rail should be of paramount concern. What is the probable time frame that these events may cause you to rely on your own resources? Make a list of all the items and quantities you will need to get through that period of time. This constitutes the Phase I physical resources preparation plan. Prioritize the list and within the constraints of your budget begin to acquire the items you have listed. Keeping an Excel spreadsheet makes this task much easier and allows you to see at a glance exactly how much physical resource preparation you have achieved, how much you still need, the value of those resources, the cost to complete your initial Phase I purchases, etc. Your spreadsheet should include rows listing each item with columns for:
In the same way you used Excel to track your Phase I resources preparation status, use your spreadsheet to list categories, sub-categories, items and quantities that you wish to acquire for future Phases, up to and including a Phase for TEOTWAWKI. This allows you to systematically build your level of preparedness a Phase at a time. As you start with Phase I, you can also see how well you are gearing up for future Phases as well. Remember, on-hand quantities, pricing, etc, can carry from the Phase I sheet to the Phase II through Phase “n” sheets so redundant data entry isn’t required! Don’t forget to make hard copies of your files and save them in a three ring binder. Additional Tips for getting started. So you have determined what you need to acquire and have begun to do so. But prepping isn’t just about acquiring tangible goods. It is also about skills. It is especially about skills. Even what I have called “Phase I” preparation should include training in the plan. A diversity of skills within your group (which may start out as just your family) is important. Take advantage of any relevant training available to you at low or no cost. Programs available in many communities include CERT, First Aid, CPR and similar. Use these opportunities to increase your skill base. These are great skills to have in normal times and are great skills to build upon. Even these basic courses could prove to literally be lifesavers in “normal” as well as tougher times. Learn to garden. Even if you don’t have a retreat with the space, perfect soil, and water supply, you should garden on a smaller scale in your city or suburban back yard. This will give you a head start in knowledge and experience (i.e., harvesting and saving seeds for future years) when you are able to move to that retreat location. Plus, fresh garden vegetables are healthier and taste so much better than what you purchase from the store, especially if the store bought vegetables are poured from a can! Nothing beats enjoying a hand picked, vine ripe tomato fresh from the garden (and I confess, I take the salt shaker out back with me!). Put away the foods you eat today. Nitrogen packed survival foods are expensive and likely should and may be a part of your plan. However, many foods that you eat today can be more immediately utilized to kick start your storage pantry at moderate cost while you save for other more expensive longer term options. You can buy or easily build out of plywood a FIFO rotation canned goods rack, set it in a pantry or closet and start loading it up today with the foods you already eat. This accumulation can be done for little perceived cost if done over time. Simply buy a little extra of what you already purchase each time you are at the store. You will be amazed at how quickly you can build up a 30, 60, 90 day supply of canned goods that will never go bad because they are what you currently eat so you rotate them via the FIFO system into your daily meals. Canned vegetables, meats, soups, fruits and sauces can all be stored in this simple way. All at very moderate expense. Learn about your firearms. Practice with them as much as you can afford to. Get professional instruction. Basic courses for novices are available at moderate expense. There are NRA sanctioned courses for basic safety, handling and shooting skills. Work toward completion of an NRA course or equivalent in self defense in the home and self defense outside the home. If you are or once you get to be more advanced, get even more advanced training. If your budget doesn’t initially allow this, do the best you can but plan for more advanced tactical training in a future Phase. The key now is to get what you can afford and build on that. Practice, practice, practice. Don’t think you must necessarily purchase a complete set of new firearms right out of the gate for your survival armory. Conventional wisdom suggests .45 ACP pistols for carry, .308/7.62 NATO semi-autos for your MBR (with expensive red-dot optics), a good .308 bolt action for long range and / or large game hunting, and perhaps a more expensive shotgun than you have budget for. If you already have 9mm pistols, that AR-15 you bought a few years ago “because you wanted one”, the scoped .303 you inherited from Dad and an old but functional Remington 870 Express in 12 gauge, you are good to go for now, as a beginner prepper. Make sure that adequate ammunition is part of your plan, but with this or a similar adequate set of calibers and shotgun you are set for your initial Phases of preparation. Early on, food, water, medical supplies and the like are likely a higher priority than new firearms. You can upgrade in a future Phase. Focus on firearms training at this stage. It’s about prioritization. Besides, later phases prepare for scenarios that will be more likely to require the capabilities of upgraded firearms. A basic principle. Standardize. If you pick .45ACP for your personal carry weapon, it is advantages for all members of your group to do the same. The same principle applies for your MBR, self defense and hunting shotguns, etc. Ammunition and magazine plans will appreciate this. Try to standardize on 1 or 2 battery types for your battery operated devices. Or more correctly standardize by using devices requiring only 1 or 2 battery types. You don’t want to have to store and/or maintain charges on AA, AAA, CR123, C, D, N and CR2032 batteries, when you could be more efficient and effective with perhaps using only AA batteries. This principle applies to anything that you have more than one of. Radios, flashlights, etc. Remember the axiom, two is one and one is none. Standardization means simplicity, efficiency, spares. There may be exceptions, but take standardization into consideration when you develop or modify your plan. Initially, you may have to have a wider assortment of devices depending on the devices you currently have, but have a strategy to standardize. Plan to read or more correctly, to learn by reading. Whenever you come across a useful article, print it out and save it in a three ring binder with other useful articles you have saved. Even if it is something you can’t purchase or do or use until a future Phase, save it now and add it to the plan now. There is an incredible amount of useful information in SurvivalBlog.com. Read and save (and purchase through Jim’s site when you decide to purchase goods from one of his advertisers). Jim helps us so we should help him where we can. If you have relatives or friends in a rural location that you can get too and who are willing to take you in during appropriate events, have a G.O.O.D. plan. This includes hard copy maps with routes and alternate routes. Practice all routes before the big day. Practice your load out plan, again, prior to the big day. Search SurvivalBlog.com for loads of information on G.O.O.D. There are many concerns related to evacuation in certain scenarios. Educate yourself and make educated decisions. This article is the tip of the iceberg with regards to beginning prepping, but hopefully it has a few pointers to get you thinking and to get you started and is an encouragement that this can be done, that you can successfully prepare for the future. You don’t have to purchase all nitrogen packed long shelf life survival foods or the perfect arsenal with one of every conceivable firearm type for every circumstance (in fact limiting (standardizing) models and calibers has some clear advantages) in order to successfully prepare for the likeliest of scenarios. Remember, methodical, prioritized preparing is the way to go for those of us on a budget. Start small, build your knowledge base, supplies and skills, and very soon you will be in the enviable position of weathering the most likely calamities to occur in the next few years. If you continue this methodical, ongoing process, you will continue to improve your situation and continue to put your self in a position to weather increasingly more severe and longer lasting scenarios. The important thing for those on a budget is not to wish you could do it all now by immediately trading cash for all the tangibles and training you need, but to start and to start now and to consistently build to our plan as we can afford to do so. « Influenza Pandemic Update: |Main| Is Prepping an Insurmountable Task?--The Beginner's Primer, by Gary T. » Letter Re: Firearms Spare Parts RecommendationsJim, Thank you very much for your time and effort. - TheOtherRyan (Co-editor of Total Survivalist Libertarian Rantfest) JWR Replies: For some suggested spare parts to keep on hand, see these articles in the SurvivalBlog archives and at my static pages:
Beyond those references, you should talk with specialist gunsmiths that are well-experienced with your particular models. Be sure to ask them not only about high breakage parts, but also high loss parts. Some parts under spring pressure tend to go flying across the room, during disassembly. Have you ever spent a half hour with a magnet, trolling through shag carpet in the search for a tiny, errant spring detent? I have! In closing, I should remind readers to take full advantage of the SurvivalBlog archives, via the "Search Posts on SurvivalBlog:" box at the top of the right hand bar. If your question is technical, then odds are you can quickly find the answer in the more than 7,600 archived posts. They are all available free of charge. « Letter Re: Firearms Training -- Some Stress is a Good Thing |Main| Jim's Quote of the Day: » Monday October 5 2009Letter Re: Where to Start in Survival Preparedness? Mr. Rawles, Option #1 - The Air Force pays large bonuses for certain career fields if you reenlist into that career field. I'm interested in one that will pay me a minimum $50,000 ($25.000 on signing, the rest spread out over the length of my reenlistment.) We talked about paying off one auto loan and our credit cards with the up-front $25,000. This would free up about $500/month which we would probably put towards our bigger auto loan. Since the first auto loan would be paid off, we can then sell that car and buy a less expensive '73-'86 Chevy/GMC Blazer or Suburban (gas). That would take care of survival vehicle #1. The other $25,000 over the following years would be used to pay down our other vehicle to where we can pay off or even break even so we can purchase survival vehicle #2---1994-1997 Dodge Ram 2500 4x4 5.9L Cummins diesel. If we go for this option, most if not all of our debt will be gone and we'll have about $1,000/month to spend on fortifying our equipment, supplies et cetera. The problem with this option is we won't be too prepared if something were to happen in the next 4-to-5 years or so. Option #2 - Let's assume that I still have the same bonus as listed above. I retire in eight years and would like to have a little piece of land to go to--TEOTWAWKI or not. We plan on 10+ acres somewhere in north central Idaho (Orofino/Pierce/Deary--that area). Well, I could take the $25,000 up front bonus and put it down on a piece of land. We don't plan on spending over $80,000, so we can figure on a payment of around $300-$600/month. Then, when I retire, I'll move the family up there and build a house with a mini-farm. Of course, if I went this route I would still have a lot of debt. Option #3 - Perhaps I should plan for more immediate needs. My family has little of the proper equipment/supplies that we would need. Shoot, we don't even have a Bug-Out Bag.. I've considered using that bonus money (or a portion) to build up in the equipment area and forego paying any additional to debt (after all, if TEOTWAWKI happens in the near future, debt will be the least of our problems). So, this is the dilemma that I am faced with. I know my end goal a (self sustaining mini-farm in Idaho, while still receiving a pension and being debt free). Getting there is the hard part. The costs of my current debt, state of provisions, buying land, building on the land, vehicles, alternative power for the retreat will probably cost anywhere from $200,000-$500,000 when it's all said and done. I think the smart choice is putting as much money as possible towards debt and getting that out of the way, but at the same time making small provisions for WTSHTF. Perhaps I've missed something? - Dan W. JWR Replies: For anyone that might be laid off, debt can be a real killer in the next few years. I still predict a at least another 18 months of deflation to be followed by sharp inflation. In deflationary times, having any debt load would be disastrous if income were interrupted due to a layoff. Granted, military service is a unique situation, but my general advice is to pay down debts, and avoid taking on any new debt. The situation in the immediate future will resemble the Great Depression of the 1930s, where cash was king, and the few people that had jobs fared well, but those that were unemployed suffered badly. So my advice is to take Option #1: Pay off one auto loan and your credit cards with the $25,000 re-up bonus. Not only will it remove the stress of potential loss of income, but it will eliminate interest payments, which are a non-productive drain on your resources. Then make your preparations gradually, using your expendable income, without incurring any new debt. If need be, downgrade one of your vehicles to an older model that won't require a car loan. That will free up even more cash each month. « Economics and Investing: |Main| Five Preparedness Lessons Learned, by Allen C. » Monday September 28 2009Two Letters Re: Preparedness Information for Diabetics
Dear Mr. Rawles, James, « The SurvivalBlog Mirror Site Project |Main| Note from JWR: » Friday September 25 2009Preparedness Information for Diabetics, by Chuck Fenwick
I ran across an article on survival and diabetics written by a nurse. It was what we call a basic brush and floss kind of article that quoted from some well-known medical books. I call it a brush and floss article because it contained mostly information which a diabetic already knows, much like the way a dentist tells you what your mom has told you a bazillion times about brushing your teeth. However at the end of the article the nurse pretty much consigned type 1 diabetics to doom and even referenced Darwin and the "survival of the fittest". I know in the novel One Second After, the diabetic daughter died because of lack of insulin, but the part in the book about it going bad because of temperature variations is not accurate. Here’s some information which will be of help to those who use insulin, specifically Humulin. We've been helping with diabetic preparedness for several years and there are some important things which are not common knowledge. Humulin--unopened--has a shelf-life of at least one year at room temperature. And Humulin can be frozen without ill effects to the user. Lilly won't tell you this, but I know of a type 1 diabetic who froze a year's supply for Y2K. Her name is Madeline and in 1999 she called me to ask if I knew if insulin could be safely frozen. I told her that I didn’t know, but I would find out. Several of us in the Medical Corps organization started making calls and found out it could. I relayed the good news to Madeline. I suggested that if she were going to freeze it that she keep a log of her blood sugar test values with un-frozen insulin and then with the frozen insulin. She did and her blood sugar did not vary. In fact, Madeline still practices that type of preparedness with her disease. As for the Darwin and the natural selection mindset, EMP or not, this country is not the Titanic. There are lifeboats for everyone. As medical people, and for non medical as well, our job is not to pick who gets to live or die simply because we may not know the answer to the problem. Our job is to solve the problem and not bow down to Darwin or "selection" or ignorance. Diabetics, preemies, old people, retarded children and the like are not mass causalities and a matter of triage. They are just a people problem which can be solved. I do not have the moral right to pronounce doom on the sick or injured. I do have a moral obligation to at least try to solve a problem. To say that a Type 1 diabetic wouldn’t have a tough time of it if the system collapsed would be untrue, but problems can be solved. People who are insulin dependent or dependent on any medications need to put away extra supplies for treatment and support of their condition. I would not solely count on electronic devices either. Telemetry has a bad habit of failing, so old fashioned ways of checking blood sugar might not be that old fashioned if we lose telemetry because of an EMP. Keep in mind that there are several other diabetic problems and that there are medications to treat them. Therefore, it is not just insulin which will be in short supply if the system fails. These supplies will only be a cushion though if a disaster of the magnitude presented in, One Second After, happens. That cushion will give us some time to work on finding answers for a myriad of problems which would surface. As for diabetics we will have to find a way to duplicate the work of Banting and Best and other researchers of the early 1920s. This isn’t a survival-of-the-fittest type of thing. It is a problem to be solved. Just recently some Canadian researchers injected capsaicin into the excess pain receptors of the pancreas of diabetic mice. Then a neuropeptide was used to soothe the inflammation. The pancreas immediately started producing insulin and 4 months later the previously diabetic mice were still “cured”. Is the diabetic survival problem complex? Of course it is. All TEOTWAWKI problems tend to be complex. But they are still just problems to be solved. Keep in mind that if an EMP wiped out all type one diabetics, it would not be an end to type 1 diabetes. If it could be ended by some sort of natural selection then where did it come from in the first place? Summary: 1) Humulin can be frozen without damaging the contents, bottle or seals and then used without ill effect to the patient. 2) Unopened Humulin has at least a one year shelf-life at room temperature (70 degrees F.) 3) Darwin wasn’t a diabetic or a survivalist so who cares what he said. - Chuck Fenwick, Medical Corps « Letter Re: Chronic Troubles with PT/MMC Pistol Night Sights |Main| Note from JWR: » Wednesday September 23 2009Letter Re: Think of Preparedness as Insurance
Jim, 1) Why do you have firearms? Police insurance. If the police can't come in time, (can they ever?) or are overwhelmed (Los Angeles riots anyone?) or just go home (Hurricane Katrina?) then you may need need firearms. 2) Why do you have stored food? Eating insurance. Just in time (JIT) delivery systems, monocrop susceptibility to plant diseases, lack of any food stored at the national level. 3) Why do you have stored gasoline/diesel? Transportation insurance. If you live in the country or suburbs walking everywhere is probably not realistic, or want to bug out of a city. 4) Why do you have a ham radio and portable transceivers? Communications insurance. Storms, blackouts etc. No monthly charges like cell phones and easier than smoke signals. 5) Why do you have generators and stored fuel for them? Electrical insurance. This way the frozen food I have stays cool for a few days etc. 6) Why do you have stored water? Cooking, drinking and washing insurance. 7) Why do you have precious metals? Fiat Currency insurance. In case some bureaucrat decides to print up so much money that we go into hyperinflation. Even the adage, "one is none and two are one" is not ignored by the masses. Ask someone who relies on their eyeglasses to see if they only have one pair. How many people have two cars when they could really get by with one. It is only the wandering barefoot ascetic with a loincloth and begging bowl as his only possessions who makes no preparations. It is human nature to prep, the only question is to what degree. - SF in Hawaii « Letter Re: A Practical Use for Post-1982 US Zinc Pennies |Main| Jim's Quote of the Day: » Thursday September 10 2009Letter Re: Living in the Time After TEOTWAWKI
Dear Mr. Rawles, However, I have not seen anyone talk about how we will boot strap ourselves to back towards some sort of village life and civil society[, in the event of TEOTWAWKI]. In your novel "Patriots" , you touch on this with the Troy Barter Faire, and then fast forward at the end of the book to this being an accomplished fact. In the novel "One
Second After", the author makes the point that an EMP event could have pushed people back to a 19th century lifestyle, but things were more medieval because no one had the knowledge of how In a post-SHTF scenario, there won't be much call for fibre-channel administrators, but there will be a demand for bakers and candle makers. What I suggest is that while people are assembling their preps, they also look at the skills and services that they will need afterwards, and see if they can't learn to do these things themselves. After all, if they need them, Here's a quick list of skills/trades that I think would be useful in a post-SHTF world. Food: Dry goods, sundries: Clothing: Materials: Manufacturing: Many of these skills and trades can be started as a hobby. I suggest that people think about these now, and find what they have a knack for and consider it "job security" for the future. - Bear in California « Economics and Investing: |Main| Letter Re: A Practical Use for Post-1982 US Zinc Pennies » Letter Re: Prepare to Garden Like Your Life Depends on It, by Prepared in MaineMr. Editor,: Ok back to work, Now lets see... Who was it that had fertilizer and Malathion on sale? And I need... - Barry JWR Replies: In my estimation, the best course is lies in the middle ground: Get experience with both gardening techniques. If we ever have a dreaded multi-generational TEOTWAWKI, then experience with organic gardening will be invaluable. In the short term, it also has some health benefits, and amending the soil naturally is a good thing, even if you decide to use pesticides. I agree that after the Schumer hits the fan, crop yield will trump all other considerations, since there will suddenly be a lot of hungry folks to feed, without any conveniently-stocked supermarket shelves. Even devoted organic gardeners should store some pesticides! But don't overlook the possibility of a worst-case situation that could go on, and on, and on, and we find that all available pesticides and chemical fertilizers are expended and irreplaceable. Again: Get experience with both techniques. « Influenza Pandemic Update: |Main| Preparing for Uncertain Times--A Simple Guide to Getting Ready, by Mr. and Mrs. Joe Patriot » Tuesday September 8 2009Letter Re: Thoughts on Shedding Bad Habits, and Developing Good Ones
Hello Mr Rawles, I would like to caution her, as well as others, that preparedness and survivalism is not an activity one does for a few weeks, and "is ready". It is a lifestyle changing activity that probably reaches every facet of life, changing many things all at once. Don't burn out on it. Things like the glass of wine, some breath mints or chewing gum are all small things that add up. Remember, you should be in this for the long haul, and a perpetual cycle of denial of these little things can add up, building a resentment to the lifestyle you're trying to adjust to. I know when I'm going backpacking for a long time, I miss my bed. If I was suddenly out of the house and this was my only means of warmth at night, I would begin to resent requiring the tent and backpack, and long for the days of my warm house and bed. Finally, when I get my nice warm bed back, I'm likely to never want to camp or backpack again.If you deny yourself a lot of creature comforts all at once, then start "caving" on a few of them, you may find yourself in a backwards slide where you resent the whole preparedness mindset. Even if that sacrifice of these little treats is acceptable to you, what of those in your family, who may not feel the sense of importance about what you're doing? Suddenly being denied soda pop and television may cause an instant animosity to the lifestyle you're hoping they embrace. Even a gradual denial of these things may cause it, albeit less severely all at once. If candies or wine are important to you, find ways to store or re-supply what you have. Preparedness should be about sustainability, not denying ones self of what they feel is important. As for television, it is a tool. You can cut it out altogether, or look at it as another medium of information. Yes, you can turn off Spongebob, but maybe you should be watching shows about deer hunting or food prep? Even the occasional movie is important, as your family all watches it with you. Some households, this is the only "together time" there is, sadly. Look at what that television means to your family. If gathering to watch a movie every other night is some family quality time, then don't deny that. These are the people you care most about in the world, and the ones that will have your back in the situations you're prepping for.Just having that quality time to reinforce family relations is important. - DA in Michigan « Influenza Pandemic Update: |Main| Note from JWR: » Saturday September 5 2009You're Not (Yet) Prepared, by Ted B.
You saw the warning signs years ago and decided to be the ant, not the grasshopper. You found and purchased the home on land that is now your residence as well as your retreat. You’ve gathered the materials to survive, perhaps even thrive, during the coming storms of political upheaval, food shortages, social disorder and economic distress. You took courses on weapons use and feel confident in your ability to defend home and kin with any of the weapons in your personal armory. You assembled canning materials and learned how to use them. You consume, replenish and rotate those foods regularly, not just watch them age on the basement shelves. You have the house wired for 12 VDC as well as standard 120 VAC. Your solar panels, batteries and backup generator are all positioned and tested. The neat stacks of silver rounds lie nestled in protective containers, waiting to be used for purchases when the dollar is finally recognized for the worthless paper it has become. Medical supplies are all labeled and stored in easy to reach locations in the house, barn and bunker. Manuals on survival techniques, emergency first aid, growing and preserving your own food, and a host of other critical topics are carefully filed away for future reference in an Internet-limited world. Stabilized gasoline and treated diesel sit quietly in sturdy underground drums. Your communications gear includes CB, ham and FRS radios, and you rigged up wired field sets between the main house and outbuildings. You even took some steps not normally included in the various “Preparation for Apocalypse” articles that flooded the media and which were read by millions. You measured the firing distance to each property landmark visible from your home and wrote up landmark-specific bullet drop tables for the calibers of rifles you will use in defense. You got part of a fresh animal carcass from the local country butcher and practiced your wound suturing skills on real flesh. You picked up and squirreled away various strengths of reading glasses that you don’t need now but may need in years to come. You gathered moderate quantities of several multi-use chemicals and a book that shows how to make simple mixtures such as match head material, flash powder, and smoke grenade filler. When buying and storing your paper goods, you didn’t just lay up three years worth of toilet paper, you also remembered that "If The Momma Ain’t Happy, Ain’t Nobody Happy" and, setting aside your embarrassment, you bought and carefully stored away a generous stash of feminine sanitary products. You knew that having beans and rice for months at a time potentially could be considered a fate worse than starvation, so you added hard candy, plenty of dried fruit and other treats to the pantry. You feel a sense of accomplishment and confidence as you fine-tune your checklists and provisions. You can’t plan for absolutely everything, but you feel you’ve done all you can to get ready for the majority of scenarios that might come about. You are prepared. Or are you? A vital component that many people forget is preparation as a community. Self-sufficiency tends to lead to some amount of isolation. My own little slice of heaven in North Idaho is a prime example. Almost every resident of my small rural town is independent, largely self-reliant, skilled, practiced and ready for everything from extreme weather to MZB attacks. Each of us knows the neighbors who are in our immediate vicinity, and within that small area we all share goods as needed and assist when the situation calls for it. But until very recently, no one but the Postmaster could say he actually knew the majority of people in our community beyond a wave and a hello as they drove past. Each micro-community, composed of anywhere from three to a dozen families, had social interaction at backyard barbecues, fireworks displays and 4H meetings, and teamwork interaction at such events as road clearing sessions after a big windstorm or snowstorm. But these individual micro-communities did not interact regularly, did not know what skills or provisions each could contribute in times of widespread emergency, and most importantly did not know whom to call to rapidly disseminate important, time critical information about events that could impact the entire region. We had no phone tree, no list of skill sets available within the town, and no plans for assistance beyond what each micro-community did as a matter of practice, informally developed over the years. We were not truly prepared, even though most of us thought we were. While it is still an ongoing process of refinement, as all preparations tend to be, we took an approach that may well serve your own community. First, we advertised a community preparedness meeting, with enough advance notice that people could get it on their calendar if interested, but not so far in advance that it was forgotten by the time it arrived. The invitation, via signs at the Post Office and Fire Station, and distributed via flyers, had three key elements: It was to be an informal meeting with no governmental spin or involvement; it was to get folks talking about community preparations for a variety of situations where we could help each other out effectively, while maintaining our privacy and independence, and finally it would include some refreshments. You’d be surprised how many people are drawn by the prospect of home made brownies, fresh coffee and Huckleberry lemonade. The meeting itself stressed that the purpose was to:
Also mentioned up front was that the meeting was not called in order to: We reminded attendees that planning was important now: - So that preparations can be done when we have time, resources, good weather, low stress levels We talked about the various scenarios that might require the community to band together instead of trying to deal with the issue on our own, including wildfire, extreme weather, a major transportation interruption, a large scale natural (or man-made) disaster, economic meltdown or further acts of governmental tyranny. We discussed the focal areas that might be established to get people with specific knowledge or skills involved on teams of resource planners/coordinators to allow the best response to the situation:
We asked attendees to sign up, voluntarily, for areas where they felt they could add benefit by thinking and researching, providing leadership or just helping out on a time available basis. We established a web site where residents can find out – at their convenience – about meetings of possible interest; tips from others on various topics such as food preservation, animal husbandry, and ammo reloading; updates to community contact lists; and other information that may be of value but does not warrant continual phone calls or E-mail messages. We created a phone tree that allows any person to make as few as three calls and be confident that within 5-10 minutes the vast majority of residents had either been personally contacted or had a message left on their phone machine. The mechanism is simple: The close the loop step ensures that the community phone tree has been activated, at least partially, from top to bottom and allows cross-trunk communication if the line is severed unintentionally by personal or electronic difficulties. A community of >1000 people can be reached in just five vertical steps if each person makes just four phone calls without duplication; six steps if only 3 calls per person are made. For events requiring continued updates, such as wildfire location or direction of approaching zombies, the web site can then be used to stay up to date without tying up the phone lines again and again. To ensure that the phone system itself does not cause a breakdown in communications, the community should have backup schemes as many layers deep as necessary, including CBs or other pre-established radio lines, “pony express” mechanisms using car, ATV, snowmobile, horse, dogsled or whatever makes sense in your region. This one step alone can dramatically improve your overall preparedness as you will have hundreds of trusted eyes and ears scanning for dangers, hundreds of hands and minds that may be applied to a situation that would overwhelm your own family’s abilities, and a means to call on resources beyond your own wealth – as long as the spirit of give and take is kept balanced and not abused. Beyond these steps, you might also consider establishing an appropriate number of recurring activities or meetings, whether they are weekly or quarterly as prescribed by the level of availability and interest; fleshing out or refining your community preparedness plans based on detailed threat scenarios that seem likely for your area; establishing response plans, including identification of leaders and supporters; and holding community response drills to see what holes you’ve missed so they can be corrected before a real crisis comes along. As a final thought for consideration, a hand-cranked 110 dB siren suitable for notifying all locals within a considerable distance that they need to get on “the community net” can be had very affordably on your favorite auction site… Now you can go clean your M1A again while gazing fondly at your stuffed pantry shelves, secure in the knowledge that you probably are about as ready as you’ll ever be. « Letter Re: Old Boy Scout and Girl Scout Handbooks are Available Online |Main| Notes from JWR: » Tuesday September 1 2009Developing Our Family's Survival Strategy, by FBP
We started prepping about 18 months ago. I have felt like a chicken with its head cut off, going wildly in all directions. I’ve learned a lot about a lot, some by research, but have learned most from doing. Being prior military (I served six years in the Army Captain, and as a civilian, I was a financial planner), I started identifying mission statements and initiating plans, backwards (aka backwards planning) in order to get them accomplished on time. The first mission: “How do we survive hyperinflation?” My readings led me to believe that the best protection is to plan on not needing to spend money on stuff and save money for taxes. The question is how to accomplish that! I concluded that becoming as self-sufficient as possible and inter-dependent and mutually supportive with other like-minded persons. Another mission: “How to survive societal meltdown with options and strategies.” We determined that we needed to prepare in-place in our current home while we simultaneously worked to identify a homestead, but one that also optimized our security needs under a societal meltdown scenario. We had to define those security needs and defensive goals. We also decided to initiate some basic security in-place. What kind of retreat? What does one need for a retreat and where? Our pursuits included looking at everything from two perspectives, the retreat and the in-place strategy. We have decided that if we haven’t relocated, that bugging out would entail leaving the majority our resources and is not a viable option. We will defend in place if we don’t get relocated before TEOTWAWKI. My research indicated that to be fully self-sufficient where we not only grow our own food, but also that of our livestock, that we would need around 15 acres. Notably, a 5 acre homestead would do a lot! In researching homesteading and agriculture in-place alternatives I found out that Cubans grow 70% of their own food in the cities! I found that there are several cases of very small acreage homesteaders of an acre or less growing nearly all their needs! I recently discovered that I wouldn’t need to preserve so much if, instead of a huge garden once a year, I maintained a year-round greenhouse and grew what we needed on a staggered rotation basis inside the greenhouse with fresh food all the time! This year a summer thunderstorm hail storm wrecked a good portion of my garden and reminded me of the need for having a storage pantry! I will be doing a bit of both, for safety. Other factors which have bearing on the retreat are: [JWR Adds: Finding a property with sub-irrigated pasture is great, as is finding a property with micro-hydro development potential. But finding a parcel with both is a genuine rarity, because land that is sub-irrigated is almost always dead-level, near a stream or river. But for good micro-hydro power, you need a fast-flowing creek or river, with plenty of "fall" that you can exploit. For that, you need hilly property, not "bottom land." So those two goals are almost mutually exclusive, unless you buy a huge parcel that has both features.] How does one survive hyperinflation? Research includes Harry Figgie's book Bankruptcy 1995, in which Chapter 8 spells out the history of hyperinflation. I figure that the US didn't go Bankrupt in 1995 because it has been spending Social Security funds for operating capital. Can you spell Ponzi scheme? Other research included the hyperinflation of the Weimar Republic 1923, Argentina 2001, and Zimbabwe today. I have obtained an actual 100 Trillion Zimbabwe dollar note, worthless and no longer a currency, as a reminder of where we are headed. The Zimbabwean people have to pan for gold to buy bread. With worthless currency, the population (will that be us?) cannot get paid enough to keep up with the ever increasing costs of things and cannot afford heat, or food. It is my belief that hyperinflation can be survived primarily through Homesteading and Self-sufficiency and/or inter-dependence in a tight-knit group. Essential Elements for self-sufficiency and which I/we have done include: How do we survive a melt-down crisis? In addition to food, we wanted a year’s store of normal shopping of household supplies: toilet paper, aluminum foil, plastic wrap, (handkerchiefs instead of Kleenex tissues), (towels instead of paper towels), laundry soap, bar soap, shampoo (sure we could make it, but we’d need “fat” and “hardwood ashes” to make it ourselves), medical supplies for general medicinal and also for emergencies: bleeding, dental, disease / quarantine supplies (masks, gloves, antiseptics), etc. We also anticipate that the banking system will not be available, i.e. there will be no operational ATMs, no open Teller Windows, and credit cards will be declined/inoperable. We set aside an amount of “cash”, today’s currency, for our crisis operating capital, and some in silver. We liquidated some IRAs to obtain the assets now. To us, these assets are better now to get prepared and are better than having more, but worthless currency in the future. The saying, a bird in hand is better than two in the bush, comes to mind. We have researched the metals markets and deemed them manipulated but with lots of upside (see Ted Butler's commentaries). We feel that one of the best investments is agricultural real estate. We are debt free and hope to stay that way. We own our own home free and clear. This is not to brag or make someone feel bad, but rather to motivate you to wonder how. It is by not being a ‘consumer’, but by being balanced and frugal, buying what we needed, foregoing vacations, doing without ‘designer labeled jeans’, without landscaping, however we did invest in having a dump truck load of dirt dropped in the backyard for the garden since all we had was rocks for soil. We have several original household appliances and fixed them when they broke instead of getting new ones. We buy good used cars, maintain them well and keep them for years as long as they meet our needs. I believe that there is a game of keep-away when it comes to how to get and stay ahead financially. The banks and others profit more by people remaining ‘consumers’ and participating as a throw-away society. Massive disinformation exists to misdirect and profit from the populace efforts. A lot of wealth for others is made and maintained by keeping the populace misinformed about financial tools, how they work and what they are used for correctly. However, ‘financial tools’ (CDs, Stocks, Insurance, Loans) are exactly that, “tools”! Tools can be an incredible resource and can help us build monuments, or can be deadly weapons that can destroy us. Financial success starts with you. Identify your ‘needs’. Spend to meet your needs, not to ‘save’ on an on-sale item that you truly didn’t ‘need’. Shop wisely. Will second-hand merchandise meet your needs; can the item be repaired, etc.? Take care of your things and you don’t have to replace them so often. You need to shop and learn about financial tools to meet your goals. The first is the placement of your savings (short-term, mid-term, long-term). There are numerous options with a few listed below. Banks ‘are not your friends’! They are a ‘Tool’! They are a place to situate your short-term cash--your working capital that is used to pay bills. Loanership dollars where you loan your money for a rate of return to you (interest): Banks (CDs), Money Markets, Insurance Companies (annuities), Corporate (Bonds), Municipal (Bonds), and Government (Bonds). Ownership dollars where you invest your money and accept ownership risks (of loss or gain): Insurance is a “Tool”! You need insurance to cover the calamity expense/risk(s) which you cannot afford, only! Often, you are not informed that your premium would be much lower if you accepted a higher deductible. It might be inconvenient to have to pay $1,000 if your car was wrecked or your home damaged, or a major medical claim, but the insurance would cover a catastrophic loss! A home loan is a tool too. The structure of a loan is important, fixed or variable. Variable contains a ‘gamble’ element. Unless it is stipulated otherwise, most home loans can be prepaid, or accelerated. You have the ability to pay an extra amount above the mortgage payment. This extra amount can be applied towards principal, which you need to specifically specify ‘apply to principal’! Pre-paying a mortgage, especially in the early years of a loan is one of the greatest savings rates a person can achieve! We actually paid our 30 year mortgage off in about 12 years. Admittedly, our friends drove newer cars, went on vacations, have better furniture, prettier lawns, fancier clothes, and went out to dinner and the movies more than we did. However, we are debt free. Yes, we are still worried about tight finances and the world situation, but our current position is a lot less stressful than being loaded with lots of debt. It can be done, with sacrifices! It is an imperative for Americans to educate themselves, to not trust the system. Find out about things. Get inquisitive and broaden your horizons. This year I have eaten cooked nettles. Yes, it was very good. It was similar to spinach and no nettle burn! I had Yak meat at a local restaurant and now want to pursue having Yaks for livestock. Learn new things and hard skills. Become creative and inventive; how else can it be done? Become flexible, find alternative ways of getting things done, adapt! We have a small group of friends with whom we meet regularly, try new projects and explore ideas. Our daily ‘walks’ have helped us meet our neighbors. Our friends suggested that we hold a ‘Meltdown Neighborhood Tea Party’ Potluck get-together. That sounds like a good idea to meet our kind of people. I believe we can do anything we put our minds to, especially if we work together. « Letter Re: Laser Protective Goggles |Main| Note from JWR: » Tuesday August 25 2009Inventory Control for Retreat Logistics, by Rob C.
There is often a good deal of attention paid to the accumulation, storage and usage of critical supplies performed in the process of preparation, but one thing I rarely see discussed is proper management of your carefully gathered inventory before, during or after a critical event comes into being. It's important to consider viewing your family or team as a quasi business entity and recognize that one of the top cited reasons for small business failure is poor inventory management. Inventory issues can cause nightmarish headaches for any business, and the consequences for your family will only be magnified if you do not begin to view you group, and their supplies, as important assets that necessitate careful management. Throughout the article I'll refer to the inventory concepts using canned food as examples, but the procedures could be applied to anything you stock: from ammunition, to clothes, to cleaning supplies. First in, first out (FIFO) rotation of inventor should be used. Generally you want to apply this concept to your food storage and consume the items you acquire first as soon as possible. It makes sense to mark dates on cans when you acquire the food, but do you relish the idea of staring at a huge shelf or bin of cans, buckets or jars and trying to determine which one to consume first? The following control systems can make life much easier: 1) Split your items into color dated 'blocks'. This will create a quick and easy visual trigger every time you dip into your inventory. When you begin to break into your red inventory, it's time to pull up another six months worth of cans and mark those with your green marker. A note or sign indicating which color is currently being consumed should be posted near by so all members who have the ability to draw on your resources are sure to take the proper goods. A bit of time spent once a month saves countless hours digging through supplies looking for the oldest items to consume first. 2) Implement a simplified Kanban-esque system. - Have a portion of your supplies in a convenient location to the kitchen (again, ideally using the oldest first) and attach a small card to the last item of the 'lot' which lists the good being consumed, and the quantity that needs be replaced from your long term storage. - When you reach the last item that has the card attached, you need to replenish your on hand stock with inventory from the long term location. The card should be placed in a re-order folder to ensure that your long-term storage has been re-supplied for the same amount you just pulled into normal, day-to-day usage. - Upon re-supply, the card is attached once again to the last item of the lot and the process repeated, as needed, ensuring your replenishment process is accurate, timely and efficient. At a glance, you can look in your order folder and determine how much and what you need to be on the look out for in order to restore your long-term inventory to its pre-determined levels. In this manner, you only re-order what you've used, and you ensure you're constantly rotating inventory to reduce the risk of spoilage. As a quick example: you use one can of beans a day, keeping seven in your kitchen cabinet. In your pantry you toss a card under can #7 that simply reads: Beans: 7. When you get to the can of beans that sit atop this card, retrieve seven more from your storage and place the tracking card in your re-supply location. At any time a review of this location would tell you every consumed item you need to replace for your long-term location. 3) Security and control. I can't stress this point enough: The more casually you allow people to treat your long-term inventory, the more your errors will multiply. 4) Visual inspection and count. If you have a large group of people and supplies, you may want to increase this twice a year count to once a quarter. It's crucial you identify errors or missing items early only to keep small issues from snowballing to huge ones. Quantity and quality inspections should have a primary counter and a second person verifying accuracy. 5) Record keeping. This data allows you to track over time what you're using, and how often, and allows you to better prepare for not only your requirements, but also to identify what you may have that's not being fully utilized and trade it before you run the risk of spoilage. When planning your food needs or trade possibilities, knowing you have 100 cans if item X is good; however, knowing half of those are 1 year past their use date and your consumption has dropped by a third would allow you to keep an eye open for possible barter opportunities in advance. Try to keep your records in pencil. Speaking from accounting experience, it's much easier to correct a mistake in pencil that it is in ink. With a pen, over time, your records simply get sloppy from crossed out figures and attempted error corrections. 6) Second review on scrap or waste. It’s good to have stuff, be it ammunition, food or barter items. It’s better to have a lot of that stuff. It’s best to know exactly what you have, and when it’s approaching the end of its life, so you can use it in a timely fashion or trade it to someone who can. The topics above only touch on the very, rudimentary basics of inventory control but it's important to consider proper management of your assets and realize the benefits you can obtain through accurate tracking, control and utilization of your material resources. JWR Adds: Keep in mind that cooking oil that has gone rancid is often still quite suitable for stretching your diesel supply. (In effect, formulating your own biodiesel, up to 10 percent, by volume, in hot weather. This is not recommended for cold weather unless you have a fuel tank heater, or a fully-capable biodiesel making system and a vehicle that is rigged with two tanks--one for biodiesel and the other with dinodiesel, that is used when starting up and shutting down your vehicle.) And food that is no longer palatable for humans because of taste issues (rather than rancidity) are often still safe to feed to poultry or swine. « Economics and Investing: |Main| Camouflage: The Art of the "Liar", by T.W.P. » Friday August 21 2009Letter Re: Preparedness for Living on a Chesapeake Bay IslandMr. Rawles, JWR Replies: A few things come immediately to mind:
Your situation is unusual, but not unique. Make the best of the local resources, and organize with your neighbors to provide a common defense. One could safely predict that in the event of a "slow slide" depression, you may see a situation develop similar to that of present-day Roatan Island (off the coast of Honduras), where burglars and even home invasion robbers commute to the island from the mainland via ferryboat. « Letter Re: Comfort and Holiday Foods for Family Food Storage |Main| Notes from JWR: » Tuesday August 18 2009Barter Goods -- A Woman's Perspective, by "Wry Catcher"
Most of the survival information published today comes from thoughtful and hardy men who plan, prepare, and protect themselves and their families from disasters. My admiration and appreciate for such men cannot be overemphasized. I doff my hard hat to all of you. There are, however, some elements of survival that are perhaps better served from a woman’s perspective. In particular, this article focuses on barter goods – those items that can be traded to other survivors for an improved quality of life or for basic necessity. For purposes of clarity and ease of reference, this article is divided into age groups. That’s because each age group has a specific set of needs and wants, aside from basic survival supplies. Let’s get to it! Infants and Toddlers Chew Toys: Chew toys aren’t just for dogs. Very young children like chew toys, too. The toys help with teething and they keep a child content when parents are busy. Be sure to acquire those that have no extraneous parts, and any painted surfaces must be non-toxic and non-allergenic. To be safe, buy those that are made of new materials and have little or no decoration that could come off, including surface colorations. Go for the plain models, in other words. The child who wants a chew toy is not looking for anything fancy, just something to mouth. Do not acquire a chew toy that could be swallowed or could block the airway. The toy must be too large to fit wholly within the child’s mouth. Any store specializing in infants and toddlers should have a wide array of acceptable chew toys, although they may prefer the term “teething ring” to “chew toy.” Most people working to survive a disaster of any type are not going to plan for something as specific as a child’s chew toy. They will, however, soon learn that their young one will be much happier and therefore much less fussy if there is something fun and safe to chew on. The toys will make good barter for adults with young children, and chew toys take up little space and weigh next to nothing. If teething infants are not part of your survival group, these toys may be used as dogs’ chew toys or as older children’s playthings if not too infantile in decoration. Keeping the toys simple will make them more versatile. Pull Toys. Toddlers like to walk, and when they walk, they like to drag something along with them. A few inexpensive pull toys will provide hours of enjoyment for them. If the toy makes a little noise, the fun is doubled. Beware those that have excessive parts – they are harder to repair and could become a choking hazard. Ages 4 – 9Crayons & Coloring Books. Nothing keeps a youngster as content and therefore as quiet and occupied as a set of crayons and a coloring book. Put aside some girl-oriented coloring books and some books appropriate for boys. Girls like girly things: houses, clothes, female figures, rainbows, horses, and furry critters. Boys like trucks and tractors, robots, war scenes, cowboys and Indians scenarios, and outdoor scenes. These are the types of outlines that coloring books should contain in order to satisfy a child who is cast into a situation where her/his world may be vastly different and his/her friends may be unavailable. If your own child has a particular preference, be sure to include that theme in your acquisition. Published coloring books will have gender-specific covers that will immediately signal whether they are more appropriate for boys or for girls. Crayons should be non-toxic and come in a wide variety of colors. Acquire several boxes of crayons and do not remove them from their boxes, they will be less likely to melt. Obtain or make several coloring books, some for your own children and some for barter or charitable donations. Downloading outlines and compiling them into 3-ring binders can be done in lieu of purchasing published books. Kids of all ages might find them fun, whether they color on them or not. Older children may use the books for paper airplanes or for journals. Crayons are useful for adults, too, when an all-weather writing instrument is needed. Hard candies add a sweet touch in what may otherwise be a sour situation. Kids love candy, and giving them an individually wrapped hard candy at midmorning or mid-afternoon may be a treat that eases the change in routine which is an unavoidable part of any survival scenario. Although there are some drawbacks to storing candy, the rewards for doing so will offset any problems. Store them in rodent proof containers and in a cool, dry location and they should be good for 12 months or more. Dental hygiene may be difficult, and too much of anything is seldom good, so ration the dole and don’t divulge the hiding place. Families will want to add some candy to their provisions, so lay in a supply of individually wrapped hard candies. [JWR Adds: The ingredients for candy store much longer that wrapped candies, but even old candy that has "gone sticky" is generally still safe to eat. An annual candy-making session can be a lot of fun for kids, and it is also economical. Our favorite to make at home is molasses taffy.] Clutch Toys. Yard sales often provide an inexpensive source for small, fluffy clutch toys. These are toys that young children can carry with them for comfort and companionship. Look for small, soft toys and dolls that are clean and, whenever possible, brand new in the package. All loving parents want their children to be happy whether in good times or bad, so items that children want will make good barter items. Senior Citizens Personal Care. Denture cream, magnifying glasses, packets of facial tissues, hand creams, bucket hats (this style of hat is often worn by both men and women), cold packs, heat packs, compact chess and checker sets, large print puzzle books (don’t forget the pencils), condoms, over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications, Ben-Gay, Vick's Vap-O-Rub, hard candies, and sunglasses. While perhaps not as vigorous as they once were, these elderly folks can provide much depth and affection in a family, particularly for the children. They should be treated with the respect and care they deserve. When they or their family have nothing to trade, a caring person will provide the barter item anyway. That’s what keeps us human. Adults Some good barter items for this group, and in general, include pocket knives (get some small and colorful ones for the ladies), condoms, individual cosmetics, WISP (Colgate product) toothbrushes, .22 ammo, honey, Vaseline, sturdy work gloves in various sizes and colors, romance and mystery paperback books, spare batteries in various sizes, feminine and masculine baseball-style caps, pocket sewing kits with spare buttons, eyeglass repair kits, used hand tools (hammers, wrenches, screwdrivers, folding pruning saws), tampons, pencils and pens, journals, and bags of jerky. A word of caution: don’t trade anything to anyone that could later be used against you or your family. For example, don’t barter ammo or a fixed-blade knife to someone you don’t trust, unless you absolutely need what they have and can’t get it elsewhere. Conclusion « Economics and Investing: |Main| Note from JWR: » Sunday August 16 2009Letter Re: Viability of a Well-Stocked Suburban Retreat?Good Morning! Attached greenhouses are wonderful for situations where there isn't much home invasion crime, but they are a huge security risk in inimical times. I recommend that you hedge your bets by pre-positioning some of your supplies with your friends, in anticipation of worst-case grid down collapse, where the municipal water will not be available. This is not a major issue for you, since you have an abundance of stored water, and rainwater collection system. But "grid down" will be a true disaster for your neighbors within just a few days. They will likely abandon their houses, leaving you by yourself to defend against large numbers of very desperate looters. You mentioned that you have a five year food supply --which is quite commendable--I'd recommend that you store up to half of it with your friends in the country. Keep in mind that you may only have the opportunity to make one trip Outta Dodge, so it is important to have some crucial logistics stored at your backup retreat. « Three Letters Re: Acquiring Pre-1965 Silver Coinage |Main| Note from JWR: » Wednesday August 12 2009Preparedness Beginnings, by "Two Dogs"I am a retired Marine Corps officer and Naval Aviator (jets and helicopters), commercial airplane and helicopter pilot, and most recently, an aircraft operations manager for a Federal agency. I graduated from numerous military schools, including the U.S. Army Airborne (“jump”) School, U.S. Navy Divers School, Army helicopter, and Navy advanced jet schools. In addition, I have attended military “survival” courses whose primary focus was generally short-term survival off the land, escape from capture, and recovery from remote areas. Like most Marine officers, I attended The Basic School, an 8-month school (only five during the Vietnam era – my case), which is still designed to produce a second lieutenant who is trained and motivated to lead a 35-40 man platoon of Marines in combat. This course covers everything from field sanitation to squad and platoon tactics, artillery and other ordnance delivery, communications, reconnaissance, intelligence, firearms training, and much more. Later, I attended the Marine Amphibious Warfare School and the Command and Staff College, both follow-on schools and centered upon the academic study of tactics and strategy as they applied to the missions of the Marine Corps. I flew helicopters offshore in the Gulf of Mexico and across the U.S. I found out first hand how thoroughly corrupted is the federal bureaucracy and the government, in general. Not a pleasant experience. I’d rather have been flying. I have bachelor's and master's degrees. As a result, my wife of forty years and I seem to have been moving endlessly from place-to-place. Nevertheless, I have tried in each place to do what I could to maintain a level of self-sufficiency for my family that varied greatly with locations and personal finances. My intention here is to try to share some of the less-than-perfect ways that I have tried to accomplish that end. Only in the last few years, primarily as a result of the political and fiscal situation in the U.S., have I begun reading some of the huge amounts of literature about how one can prepare for serious long-term off-the-grid survival. I have found that the preparation required to be ready for that contingency seems to be endless. I do not want to talk about all of those preparations. Others have done so very well, and besides, I’m not there, yet. What I would like to do is to talk to those, perhaps like me, who are not true survivalists in the commonly referred-to sense, but who are genuinely concerned about the future of this country, and might desire, like me, to begin to prepare. Perhaps my elementary and simplistic efforts might be of help to someone else who is beginning to think about the subject of preparedness. There are many scenarios that might require this, but the two that I am thinking most about are economic collapse and electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack. I’m building small Faraday boxes, but not doing much else for EMP. My thinking on begins with my own estimation of the basic problems: shelter, water, food, fuel, and security. I view these as the most critical needs, whether living in a tent or other outdoor shelter or here in our rural home in West Virginia. Here I have and often take for granted what I have -- shelter, well water, a small stream, a pond, a rain barrel; canned, dried, frozen, and freeze-dried foods; fuel for the generator and portable stoves, kerosene heater and lanterns; factory-made and reloaded ammunition for any one of several firearms. Edible plant books. Gardening books. Encyclopedia of Country Living-type books. Reloading books. Hunting books. Tracking books. A few novels devoted to the “what ifs” of the future, including Jim Rawles' excellent "Patriots:
A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse" Those are the basic things about which I think. I have been thinking about them for quite a while, in fact, longer than I even realized. Perhaps I’ve been thinking about them ever since I was a young lad. For example, my very first “survival book” was the Boy Scout Field Book, the original of which I still have (circa late-1950s edition). It is still a great reference if one is looking for an all-in-one manual for starting fires, making simple shelters, recognizing game tracks, tying knots, and much more. I note that it is still available on Amazon.com. (It’s probably been scrubbed to favor the politically correct, but don’t know [JWR Adds: Yes, I can confirm that unfortunately it has been made politically correct--with the traditional woodcraft skills showing any injury to innocent and defenseless trees duly expunged. So I advise searching for pre-1970 editions!] ) One does not necessarily need the SAS
Survival Handbook I think that my first education in “survival” came at about fourteen. That’s when I first shot a .30-06, an old [Model 19]03 Springfield. It pretty much rattled my cage. Mostly, my older brother and I used to track and shoot small animals in the deep woods of Missouri as youngsters. We were “issued” ten rounds of .22 LR ammo by our father, a retired USAF pilot, to be used in a bolt action, single shot, .22 rifle with open sights. One would be surprised what that meager handful of loose ammunition could do for one’s choice of shots, one’s ability to be patient in waiting for the shot, and for one’s great satisfaction at having brought home six or eight squirrels for the cooking pot, having used just those ten rounds – and sometimes, but not often, less. My point is that the knowledge of firearms is, in my view, basic to the notion of preparedness and in surviving in the wild. And it need not be exotic or overly complicated in nature. One can surely attend modern schools that will teach one to double-tap a cardboard target or silhouette at seven yards with a semi-auto pistol, as well as basic and advanced tactical rifle courses, but very basic survival skill with a rifle can be had without much cost if one is committed to learning the skill and if one disciplines oneself. Start with only one round, and work up from there. As Col. Jeff Cooper used to say, “Only hits count.” In a purely off-the-grid survival scenario, I can envision that .22 LR rounds would be very precious, indeed. Consequently, and even though I own handguns and rifles that will shoot .45 ACP, .44 Magnum/.44 Special, .357 Magnum/.38 Special, .380 ACP, .223, .25-06, .270, 7mm-08, .308, .7.62x39, .30-30, .30-06, and .45-70/.457 WWG Magnum (a wildcat), I shoot a .22 rifle and pistol more than all of the others, combined, and normally at least twice a week. And I’m hoarding them, as well as shooting them. I have the capability to reload all the calibers (except .22 LR/Magnum, of course) above, as well as shotgun ammo in 12 and 20 gauge. I wasn’t really thinking of “survival” when deciding to do this about twenty years ago, but was interested only in having the capability to shoot more, and to do it more cheaply. Yet it appears that much of that ammo could be used for barter. I had never even considered this until reading some of the recent “survival novels.” My apologies. I’ve wandered into the weeds here, as I could do forever on my favorite subject. Suffice it to say that whatever firearm one chooses – and make no mistake, one is necessary in my opinion -- there are all kinds of reasons to choose one over the other, depending on the situation and the person. One must endeavor to shoot it well. Owning a firearm is of almost no consequence, at all, unless it is properly employed. Personally, I prefer a M1911 .45 ACP pistol and a 7.62 M1A SOCOM, while my wife is comfortable with the milder .38 [S&W] revolver and 20 gauge. pump shotgun. I won’t even begin to get into the debate over .223 vs .308 and 9mm vs. .45 ACP. Suffice it to say that in Vietnam I had the opportunity to see the effects of all of these, and I chose for my own security the .308 and .45 ACP. Having got my favorite subject out of the way, I’ll talk about one that is likely even more important. Water. It is amazing how complicated this can be, and how many choices one has to solve this problem. I have not yet solved it. I have put up a rain barrel, and plan to get a couple more. It’s amazing how rapidly a 55 gallon barrel will fill in even a moderate thunderstorm. I got mine from Aaron’s Rain Barrels. http://www.ne-design.net/. I’ve camo-painted the first one to make it recede into the bushes that surround it. We have a very shallow stream down the hill that I need to dam so that it keeps only about a foot-or-two deep pool for gathering some water. It flows into a large pond, of which we own half (The owner of neighboring property owns the other half.). But that’s over a hundred-yard trek downhill with empty buckets, and the same distance uphill with full ones. Now, while that is okay for a backup, in my thinking, because I’m going on 63 years, I prefer to have something closer. So my next “big” purchase will be a Simple Pump that allows one to drop a pump and pipe though one’s existing well casing down to below water level and extract water by means of a hand pump or DC motor attached to a battery which, in turn, will connect to a solar panel. This is much, much cheaper than a Solar Jack. At $1,200 for the hand pump capability (I’ll add on the DC and solar later), it’s a bargain, for me. See: http://www.survivalunlimited.com/deepwellpump.htm. I’ve also started collecting clear plastic soda bottles for use in Solar Disinfection (SODIS), see; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_water_disinfection. I’ve set up a rack for putting out the bottles in a sunny place. Again, that’s a backup, but I’ll use it. I have bought three different water filtering devices, the best of which is the Swiss-made, all-stainless Katadyn Pocket Microfilter. It works wonders in that shallow stream and pond down the hill.. [JWR Adds: The same Katadyn filter model is available from several SurvivalBlog advertisers. They deserve your patronage first, folks!] With the exception of the Simple Pump, these solutions are relatively cheap and effective, if not producers of great volume. So far, they are what I’ve come up with. I won’t go much into the food problem. It isn’t quite as complicated as the water problem. I’ve either got to have it [stored], grow it, or kill it. I’ve started storing all kinds of Mountain House freeze dried #10 cans (with expiration date dates in 2034), two-serving meals from Mountain House (expiration dates circa 2016), and numerous grocery store-type canned foods (expiration a couple years), in addition to dried beans, rice, Bisquick (sealed in plastic bags with desiccant inside), salt, sugar (Domino, which are sold in one-pound plastic tubs), olives, peanuts, wheat, etc. Basically hit-or-miss, so far. I need to get this “food problem” organized and do it right. But it’s a start. I think we’ve got only about a 60-day supply now, for two. I’ve got two Coleman two-burner stoves. One is a butane stove, and the other a dual fuel (white gas or unleaded gas), as well as several small backpacking stoves, the best of which is a MSR Whisperlite International Concerning backpacking stuff, I can recommend a book that I read back then called The Complete Walker, by Colin Fletcher. I haven’t read it in at least a decade, but its import is such that I remember much of it. He emphasizes simplicity in gear. That is to say, don’t pack a tent if you can get by with a tent fly – which you cannot in cold weather. I’ve still got my old three-season tent, but am saving up for a four-season. And he emphasizes: don’t worry about pounds – worry about ounces. That is to say, if one is packing tea bags, remove the labels from the bags. Ounces. Remove all packaging material unless it is absolutely necessary (usually never). Don’t carry a “mess kit,” nor a knife, fork and spoon set. A spoon will do (I’ve done it) along with a pocket knife. Now I have so many knives of so many types that I can’t remember them. Personally, I’d go for a multi-tool. But it’s heavy. I never used to carry a weapon while backpacking. Of course, it was (and is) illegal in Hawaii, but I think one would be remiss in not doing so today. There was so much good advice in that book that helped me in the USMC, if nothing more than when packing my helicopter before a mission, or a car, trailer, or truck to move across the country. “Think ounces, not pounds.” I always think about Mr. Fletcher’s advice when I pack. Anyway, I think I’ve got the camping stove angle covered in spades. That is, until the fuel runs out. Same goes for kerosene heater and lanterns (5). My plan is to pull out our pellet stove and replace it with a free-standing wood stove. Pellets are nice, but they must be bought, and the price is getting exorbitant, according to my pocket book. They likely will be non-existent in a crunch. I connected a 12,000 Watt/50amp gasoline generator when we moved into this house nine years ago, as I have with every house in which we’ve lived for the last two decades. I’ve got it wired through a transfer box to the circuit-breaker panel, a job that I did myself. It works, and it’s safe. The main reasons for having this were to run the 220V[olt AC] well water pump and to run the refrigerator and our free-standing freezer during power outages. But I’ve got it wired, anyway, to nearly every circuit in the house, except the other 220V appliances – water heater and heat pump. It is somewhat selectable. That is to say that I can choose which circuits I want to power by engaging or disengaging the switches on the transfer box. The problem is that it uses gasoline. So in a long-term outage it would soon become useless. I’ve had the propane gas company come out to estimate what it would cost to get a dedicated 100 gal propane tank for the generator. It would be about $500, but then, in addition to the 50+ gallons of gasoline, butane tanks, and white gas that I keep stored in a separate outbuilding, it would make a great explosion when hit with a tracer round. Which brings me to the subject of security. We live in a split-level home on about ten acres of forest. The property is surrounded by other similar-sized properties of seemingly like-minded individuals. I gleamed this because everyone out here shoots. The sweet sound of gunfire can be heard at times in a full circle. West Virginia, at least, has still got its priorities straight in this regard. But I digress. This is a frame house with half of it below ground in front, but framed in back, which faces the forest. The forest, itself, is a maze of downed pine trees blown over by the wind, interspersed with small saplings, vines and low brush. Not a likely avenue of approach for anyone but the most determined. For those who are determined, the downed trees would make excellent cover and concealment. So I have a security problem to solve there, as well as at the front. I’ve started buying rolls of barbed wire and baling wire. Unfortunately, I do not have access to dynamite, which we used to be able to buy in a hardware store in the 1960s. We used it back then to blow stumps while clearing the land for our house. I am thinking of buying a bunch of used railroad ties to build cover in the back; I’ve thought also of bricks and sandbags. Problem is we’re reaching the point in all of this where the house would begin to look like a fortress, of sorts, to all but the most ignorant observers. So there’s a line here concerning security versus “normalcy” that I must cross sooner or later. Inasmuch as my wife is a few years older than I and is on constant medications, I’m afraid that finding a retreat (if we could even afford one) would be out of the question, as access to doctors, hospital and pharmacy are a necessity. Nevertheless I’ve got the bags packed and gear ready to throw into the pickup (Toyota 4x4 – like to have one of those older model American trucks, but I think they are getting rare, at least around here. And what there are will likely go to the Cash for Clunkers Program….grumble, grumble. What will they think of next?). So it looks to me as if we are here for the duration of the crisis, or sooner, if they try to take the guns from my cold, dead hands. Speaking of, I still have to build a cache or two for guns and ammo and a few other necessities. And since I’ve more-or-less made that decision (here for the duration), I’ve thought of organizing the apparently gun-loving neighbors. I’ve begun to buy walkie-talkies, if not field phones and commo wire. I’ve got solar panels and several batteries (need to get a mega deep cell or two, however) to run the small battery chargers and the CB radio. My shortwave is up and running. I will have to wait to talk to the neighbors, whom I rarely see, much less know. I can just imagine the words that would come out of their mouths if I were to mention to them the notion of forming a security “company” and establishing a perimeter. “That old retired Marine down the road is nuts!” So that’s what I’ve got to say. I do hope it at least stimulates some thought for those who are starting out trying to prepare, as I am. All of this shows me that one “problem” in this “survival” business leads to several more, and they in turn lead to even more problems. Lots to do. So I’m glad I’m retired. I’ve got time to think about it. If I were rich, I could do a lot more and likely in a far away place, but as it is, we do with what we have. I have to use the lessons taught to every Marine: Improvise, Adapt, Overcome. Long Live America. Keep the Faith. - “Two Dogs”, Col. USMCR (ret.) in West Virginia « Two Letters Re: Advice on Storing Precious Metals--Are Safe Deposit Boxes Safe? |Main| Note from JWR: » Friday August 7 2009Preparedness on a Very Tight Budget, by Shane M.I see it several times a week: What gun should I get? How much ammo should I have? How big should my garden be? Should I get gold or silver? And on and on it goes, week after week. More and more people are becoming “aware,” and are seeking the advice of those of us who have “been there, done that.” There is so much great information out there to answer the plethora of those types of questions. Invariably, someone eventually asks, “how do I afford that?” There are other variations of this question as well, but it all boils down to the same thing in the end. Many of us, including myself, are not monetarily wealthy. Considering that most of the country is in debt, that means that many survivalists, especially those new to the subject, are in debt. With the sudden realizations smacking them about the head and chest, combined with the required urgency of the situation, people want to get the necessary preparations in short order, but are not sure how to do it with limited funds. It can be done. Just like your 401(k) investments, it happens a little bit at a time. I do not know a single survivalist that just bought into the life with just one check from the checkbook. This is not a life you just buy into in a day. So rest assured that those of us who are well prepared did so over time, with trail and error, money, sweat, and bruised egos. You have an advantage that we did not have – the internet. You can learn from us, from our mistakes and our wisdom through the internet and gain valuable insight, hopefully without many monetary mistakes. Absorbing this knowledge is your first key to being able to “afford” preparations. Beans, bullets, Band-Aids has been articulated many times and in many ways. Now, how do I afford it all? A budget and prioritizing are the answers. Did I just hear you moan? I am sorry, but you cannot do it without a budget and setting your priorities to pay down debt and acquire preparations. All other things go to the bottom of the list. I have never in my life made more than $40,000 in a year. Looking at my last 22 years of taxable income statements, it shows that my average yearly pay is just over $18,000 per year. This is not because I do not have the ability to earn much more, it is because I choose to live life and not be a slave to societal pressures to have a career. I have still managed to prepare with miniscule funds, debt, and a family by setting my priorities and keeping a strict budget. So, how do I get started?
Now that you are started with properly managing your money, it is time to make lists for preparations. Food should be the first thing on the list, followed closely by defense (guns, ammo, and training) and medical supplies and training. Clothes, shoes, coats, etc. should also be on the list along with communications gear. There are plenty of other things to put on your lists, and much of it has been discussed on this blog. Now that you have your lists of things to get, research real costs of these items and document your findings. What do I mean by real costs? In the business world, this is called total cost and is the actual cost of an item, shipping, storage, and upkeep of the item. You need to know all costs involved for every item on your lists. Fifty pounds of triple cleaned oats may cost you $12.50 from you local supplier, but to put it up long-term, you will need a bucket, mylar bag, and oxygen absorbers. You also need to know where you are going to store it, and any associated costs to keep it stored. Some items may require a climate-controlled environment for long-term sustainability and this cost may be separate from your home costs depending on your situation. You can severely cut into the total cost of preparations by researching, pooling resources with other preppers, and working as a team to put up those preparations. You can get bulk discounts by purchasing case lots, pallet lots, and purchasing seconds. This goes not just for food, but also for guns, ammo, clothes, seeds, construction materials, etc. Write down the price quotes you get, the name of the business, the phone number, and with whom you spoke. After the first few calls, it will get easier and become enjoyable. If you have friends, break up the lists and put others in charge of researching a subject. A big thing to remember when researching your future purchases: businesses must sell products to stay in business, but you are not required to buy – most things are negotiable. So, how did I do it? Using all of the above, I started by allotting $10 per weekly trip to the grocery store to get canned goods. These were put away for emergencies. Other money was saved until I had enough to purchase an item at the top of my list (i.e. a rifle), and then the process started over. Later, I learned that I needed to set a budget for my weekly grocery trip and make a list for that as well. Since I was keeping track of every dollar I spent, I noticed that my weekly shopping trip expenditures were erratic, fluctuating between $90 and $190 per week plus my $10 preps. So, I made a list for the week’s groceries and set a [weekly] budget of $125. The first few months of this were hard. I had to make concessions, purchase lesser cuts of meat, off-brands, or simply cut certain things altogether. After a year of doing it this way, we were spending less than $75 per week to feed a family of four. What do you think we do with the extra money we were spending at the grocery store? That’s right, it buys more preps every week. I sold my full sized four-door truck with payments, which freed up $430 per month, and paid cash for an early 1990s model beater S-10 Blazer. Is it as nice as my truck was? Not even close. Does it get me where I need to go? Absolutely. What do you think I did with the extra $430 per month? Right again, I bought more preps. Every time we pay off a debt, the money we were paying towards it gets put towards another debt, until it is paid off. Then all of that money goes to the next debt and so on, until suddenly, no more debt. Every extra dollar we got, paid for a prep or went to a debt. I also save the required money and purchase exactly what I want, not something to get me by. Always buy what you want. Never purchase something that you think you want or something inferior. I see others do this all the time. This is the best way to waste your money. I see others with slim budgets purchase a Mosin Nagant and a tin of ammo, simply because they wanted to have something, when they really wanted a M1A or an AR-15. If I want an expensive rifle, or high quality tent, I stay patient and save the required amount of money and get exactly what I want. I learned this lesson the hard way, so you shouldn’t have to. If you were as prepared as you thought you could be, and TEOTWAWKI came to pass, you would do everything in your power to properly manage your resources and hopefully ride out the storm. You would document all of you food, guns, ammo, and supplies. You would make plans on how best to utilize what you had, disseminate those plans to your family (and friends) and make certain that those plans were followed. Well, TEOTWAWKI has not come to pass, but all of the ingredients required to survive are the same ingredients needed to prepare to survive. Document what you have in monetary means, make plans to best utilize those means, disseminate those plans to your family, and make sure everyone sticks to the plan. Before you know it, you will be well stocked and supplied.
« Letter Re: Advice on Storing Precious Metals--Are Safe Deposit Boxes Safe? |Main| Jim's Quote of the Day: » Thursday August 6 2009Hard Times at Here--Are You Ready?
The hard economic times that I--and many others--warned you about are now here. We are clearly now in the opening stages of a full-scale depression that will last a decade or longer. This news article (sent to me by SurvivalBlog reader Eric C.) .about an unemployed couple in Indiana is a microcosm of what we will be witnessing for the next decade. Take a few minutes to read it. Our pampered society is in for a rude wakening. Now, at the risk of sounding unkind and judgmental, the term "white trash" comes to mind. Note that this man in Indiana had no savings, plenty of debt, and obviously no food reserves. Also note that despite his "austere" budget on unemployment insurance, he wastes hundreds of dollars per month as he smokes cigarettes, drinks soda pop, drinks beer (in large quantity), gambles, and pays for commercial car washes. His wife still carries a Blackberry with an airtime contract. Why are they buying disposable diapers, when they could be washing cloth diapers? The article also mentions that the husband has gained 40 pounds in the year since he was laid off. Did he consider planting a vegetable garden? Or washing his own car? (Both would have saved money and provided exercise.) This couple needs a serious lesson in budget priorities. They say that they are worried about their children's school grades, yet they still have a television and XBox games. It is time for a garage sale, to sell those time-wasting gadgets. Then regularly-scheduled trips to the local library, to get their children literate! This gent is in his thirties, yet he has ruined his health with drinking, smoking, and over-eating. He and his wife seem to view military service as a last resort for their high school senior son. Well, I have a news flash for them: Both the son and the father should have enlisted! In 2006, the US military raised its maximum age of enlistment to 42. (BTW, as the economy continues to worsen, I expect the military to raise their standards considerably and eventually begin turning away large numbers of candidates, just as they did in the 1930s.) It is also noteworthy that this man is on anti-depressants. He is not alone. Consider this article that was sent to me by Karen H.: Antidepressant Use Doubles in US, Study finds. That is alarming just by itself, but just consider what will happen if and when the Schumer Hits the Fan, and all those patients run out of their medications. (And their booze, and their cigarettes, and their marijuana, and their MTV, and their Crackberry instant messages, and their chocolate, and their American Idol, and their Dunkin' Donuts, and their porn, and their meth, and their soap operas, and their "Energy" drinks.) This could get very ugly, very quickly, once so many millions of suddenly very cranky, very desperate people start roaming the streets. My suggestion is: Don't be near then, in any significant numbers. Move to hinterboonies. In summary: I had no idea that wallowing in self-pity was such exhausting, time-consuming work. At least they have a comfortable couch and recliner. This old quote mentioned by a SurvivalBlog reader sums up their situation: "The Lord does not bless the farmer who leans on his hoe." Here is my advice for SurvivalBlog readers on how to survive the currently unfolding Depression:
Forgive me for ranting, but that article about the unemployed family in Indiana got me a bit riled up. One suggestion, in closing: If you get laid-off, do not move to a relative's basement in Michigan. Instead, move to where you can find work, even if it hard, "rolled up sleeves" work. « Three Letters Re: Here Comes Winter! |Main| Note from JWR: » Tuesday August 4 2009A Prepper Husband and a Stubborn Wife, by JRM
Part 1 - Introduction History will repeat itself, for history has shown, that history will repeat itself. Unfortunately my wife is not interested in history. She is, however coming around, and now I pass my knowledge on to others whose "significant others" might not see the picture. Understanding the situation is the first step to doing something about it. We have been married for three years, and I was blissfully unaware of the possibilities that life as we know it might change. I was in high school when my parents prepared for Y2K, but saw decent planning and stockpiling take place. My wife's parents planned as well, but they planned a holiday ski trip to Lake Tahoe [for December 31, 1999.]. That being said, when I joined the Navy and landed in Virginia I did not begin to take steps in preparing. That was my first mistake: I met my wife, I wasn't preparing, and she had no indication that a couple years down the road that I would open my eyes and want to devote so much time and resources towards preparing as best I could. I can't pin down the exact moment when I realized that I had lost precious time and felt the urge to get ready. I think it was a steady stream of facts that I was able to put together, and the more I researched the more bleak the picture looked to me. I then began looking for a way to make my family's situation better. The first thing I realized was that it would cost money to prepare. So, I dusted off the planned budget, took out a red pen and started making cuts and shifting priorities around. After I felt satisfied, I sat my wife down and proposed the new budget. Needless to say, my "radical" new budget was shot down. Part 2 - The Wrong Way I was not entirely discouraged, but a little disappointed that my wife didn't just take my word that we needed to spend money and time on preparing. I suppose that an older (read: "wiser") man would have known to ease his wife into a new lifestyle. I then made my second big mistake. Feeling that I "knew better" and was doing it for "her own good" I began to run a "disinformation campaign" on my wife. (Note: I don't endorse this method, as in my own experience it will fail in the end!) With spring starting, I began a dialogue with my wife about camping. It seemed logical to me, we devote money and time preparing for a few camping trips, I cross some of my items off the "need for preparation" list and she is none the wiser. It worked. We both had bug out bags, I mean "hiking packs", some cooking gear, some camping knives, flashlights, a good tent, sleeping bags, first aid kits, and the like. I was even allowed to make most of the purchases for her (thus ensuring that we didn't end up with a bright red tent, a hot pink pack and such.) We went camping, it was great, learned a few things about her ability in the wilderness (and my own) and several more things were added to my "preparation list" that I had never though of. I felt great, stage one of my disinformation campaign was a success, and I felt ready to move on the next stage. The garden. My wife loves her flower garden. We started with a weed-infested back yard, and with a lot of hard work (on my part) and a vision (wife's department) we ended up with a nice yard, with a lot of flowers and ornamental trees. I don't intend on eating trees and flowers, so I just brought up the subject of a home vegetable garden. She liked the idea, but it was something that we really knew nothing about. We did some research on the internet, and she was immediately overwhelmed by the information and lost motivation. (I mean, c'mon we live within walking distance to the commissary.) I was greatly helped by a new girlfriend she had made. Her friend opened her eyes to organic foods and sold her on the benefits of buying organic. I just had to wait for the right time, because I knew that the organic food store was much more expensive than the commissary. I would use my wife's own argument against her, that organic foods cost too much, but I would compromise and "allow the expense" of growing our own organic garden, which would offset the cost of buying organic meats and milk. Stage two complete. I continued with my disinformation campaign for months, and was able to cross a decent amount of things off my "preparation list". But it was this very list that was my undoing. While cleaning she came across my list, and saw that very clearly, I had checked many things off. Then the light bulb clicked on and the gig was up. Understandably she was hurt. For months I had been less than honest about my intentions, and she viewed it as selfish and childish. Which it was. I won't go into detail about how terrible that night was when I got home, but it's safe to say that my plans for being ready were placed on hold. Part 3 - The Right Way As a uniformed service member I feel it necessary to keep my political beliefs private. Because of this, my wife became my outlet for venting frustration with policies I don't agree with. At first my wife was uninterested in the happenings in D.C., because she felt that it would have little impact on her way of life. This was a blessing in disguise that brought my wife to a point in her life where she wanted answers. My wife and I were invited to a friend's house for dinner and drinks. Little to my knowledge, my friend's wife is very passionate about politics. As drinks were made, discussion ensued, and before long politics was being discussed. My friend, a Marine, is a conservative through and through. He has no problems voicing his opinions on any number of topics and policies. His wife is as liberal a person as I have ever met. The debate was quite invigorating. My poor wife, knowing only the politics that I preach to her, decided to throw her two cents in, but could barely regurgitate the things I had said previously to her, let alone defend her "position" when pointed questions were asked. The next day I came home to my wife watching the news, and reading headlines on her laptop. She would never get into another political debate without knowing what she was talking about. I was impressed, and engaged her in many long conversations. I showed her articles and stories, and allowed her time to come to her own conclusions, the same way I came to my conclusions. But in the end it was Glenn Beck's show that prompted a question from her, "Is it possible that our economy could really collapse?" Now I know, at 25 that I am in no position to give history lessons, but I did my best and pointed mostly towards the 1930s as an example. I talked at length about the increased danger we live in now, as modern day America is not what it was in 1930. The danger is not in the market, but in the fragility of our now intertwined systems. We talked for quite a while, and in the end talked how to protect ourselves. And finally talking about how to prepare for the worst, should it come. Part 4 - The Plan Again, we pulled out the family budget, and re-prioritized. In the end we were able to devote $200 a month for preparations. That was three months ago. Simple. That was my number one priority, as it pertains to a plan. Mostly, because I knew that there is a decent chance that I could be across the world when/if an event happened. My first purchases were paper, a few three-ring binders, and some shelving. I started by making lists of everything. Then I developed a set of SOPs, checklists and a commo plan. These are very much still in a beginning stage, but they get better every week. These binders serve three purposes. One, they allow me to think things though, and shoot holes in my plans. Two, give my wife an easy set of instructions to follow should I be deployed. Three, give me piece of mind when I am away. Eventually, these binders will evolve into an all encompassing SOP. Set up similarly to a "choose your own adventure" book. Meaning that, you evaluate your current situation then flip to that section for a course of action. (For example, a Hurricane is rolling in, and it's going to require an evacuation. Turn to page 16 for instructions. Or it is a G.O.O.D. situation and you have an hour to get loaded up and out of town, turn to page 74.) In conjunction with this, the shelving units in the garage are organized with the binder. Meaning, that for a hurricane, all items on shelves one and two have priority in the truck. Most of the things we have done thus far are extremely cheap. Making plans for instance, are free. Aside from the cost of the 3 ring binder, paper and ink, planning for an escape was free. We live in a very densely populated area, and our tentative plan is to bug out early to a planned waypoint to reassess the situation. I do not want to risk waiting and "fighting" my way out of town, so we may have a few "unplanned camping trips" that turn out to be false alarms, but I'll chalk it up to practice. As funds are available, I hope to store a cache of goods at this location to enable us to travel further west without needing assistance or gas stations. This first waypoint is just inside the range my truck can go on a half a tank of gas, with three routes already planned if needed. I feel that at this stage we would be ahead of the hordes of people trying to evacuate the east coast. From this point we should be able to "camp", assess the situation via radio, and decide on the next course of action. If it's a false alarm, we pack our things in the morning and head home. If not we decide which preplanned route would be safest to get to our second waypoint. (note I have planned for a few waypoints for my second leg. Basically, if you drew a vertical line every 250-300 miles across the US there would be a few waypoints close to that line.) This will allow for flexibility in planning as we continue to assess the situation. If we must go north to get out west we will have a plan, if we can still use the interstate there will be a plan, of we need to go south there is a plan. All we have to do is chose at each leg. The hardest part of planning was having contingencies for natural barriers, such as the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi river. Of course we have a destination in mind, and that is linking up with some like minded family members, who will hopefully be waiting for us when we arrive at grandpa's house out in the middle of nowhere. 90% of our focus has been on bugging out, but we plan to start shifting some focus on maintaining the homestead. This would likely be limited to a high inflation scenario, where food storage would offset costs and impact us less, as well as securing the house for the rise in crime. However, it would be foolish in our situation to stay in our city for most foreseeable situations. The other cheap way we have begun to prepare is mentally. This was difficult for my wife. I started by giving her my copy of "Patriots" and then a copy of "The Road I will end with this. We are only three months into actively preparing ourselves. And in a short essay it is impossible to discuss all the things we have tried. But there are some fundamental things that have worked for us. - You have to be a team. I have gotten much further working as a team than trying to "sneak around" and prepare. - You have to prepare spiritually. I am not a fan of church, as every time I go I feel like I am being sold something. My wife and I go straight to the source for our spiritual guidance. Prayer and studying the Bible works for us. But you need to find what works for you. - You have to stay motivated. Keep yourself informed, and do something every single day that makes you a little more prepared. 365 little things to prepare will get me much further than saving up and buying a bunch of gear at the end of the year. - You have to look for support. Too many of my peers (20-30 years old) are happy being blissfully unaware. But many are opening there eyes every day, and just need a friend to help them. This is where my plan falls flat, for now. Establishing a network of people to count on is very high on my priorities, but with the ever evolving network of friends getting rotated to new duty stations every couple of years this has been hard. - You have to have a plan, and expect it to fail. I've been on many military missions, and Murphy has been there every single time. But it is easier to adjust a plan or fall back on a contingency than it is to shoot from the hip. « Letter Re: Increasing Security for an 1870s House |Main| Jim's Quote of the Day: » Monday August 3 2009A Vault Full of Hedges: Tangibles, Tangibles, Tangibles!My gun vault down in Jim's Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) is now full. It is a large vault (a Zanotti ZA-III modular six-footer) but it isn't big enough. For more than 30 years, I've been accumulating barterable tangibles: guns, full capacity magazines, precious metals, optics, and knives. Each of these represents a fairly compact and liquid asset. They all have practical uses, although the coins and ingots are more of a medium of exchange rather than something intrinsically useful in and of themselves. (Oh, I suppose the silver could be melted down, cast into bullets, and put to good use if the ranch is overrun by lycanthropes. What if silver someday mysteriously becomes nearly worthless? If cast into buckshot, if propelled by just a wrist rocket slingshot, as Mr. Spock once said, "they would make formidable projectiles" to slay garden pests.) I rest well at night, knowing that the vast majority of my net worth is either in the form of productive land, or useful tools. The US Dollar could get devalued or wiped out by inflation, and yet that would only hit about 3% of my net worth. This is because I convert my greenbacks into tangibles at the first opportunity, and only keep modest bank balance to pay my monthly bills. I'll admit that I may have gone a bit overboard. Do I really need a half dozen spare Swiss Army Knives I suppose that I'll soon have to buy a second vault, and bolt it down, right next to the existing one. Someday in the future, after I've joined the Choir Invisible, my children or grandchildren will have a quite a day, sorting though the contents of my vaults. And something tells me that my heirs won't be disappointed, or consider it "junk" that they are dividing up. None of the foregoing is meant to brag. Rather, I hope that you will emulate my approach at investing diversification to prepare for the tumultuous decade ahead. Think: Tangibles, Tangibles, Tangibles! « Letter Re: Shoot or Don't Shoot--Moral Implications of the Split-Second Decision to Take a Life |Main| Jim's Quote of the Day: » Tuesday July 28 2009Gear Up -- Appropriate and Redundant Technologies for Prepared Families
I frequently stress the importance of well-balanced preparedness in my writings. All too often, I've seen people that go to extremes, to the point that these extremes actually detract from the ability to survive a disaster situation. These range from the "all the gear that I'll need to survive is in my backpack" mentality to the "a truckload of this or that" fixation. But genuine preparedness lies in comprehensive planning, strict budgeting, and moderation. Blowing your entire preparedness budget on just one category of gear is detrimental to your overall preparedness. Another common mistake that I see among my consulting clients is an over-emphasis on either very old technologies or on the "latest and greatest" technologies. In the real world, preparedness necessitates having a bit of both. At the Rawles Ranch we have both 19th century technology (like hand-powered tools) and a few of the latest technologies like passive IR intrusion detection (Dakota Alerts), photovoltaics, and electronic night vision. My approach is to pick and choose the most appropriate technologies that I can maintain by myself, but to always have backups in the form of less exotic or earlier, albeit less-efficient technologies. For example, my main shortwave receiver is a Sony ICF-SW7600GR. But in the event of EMP, I also a have a pair of very inexpensive Kaito shortwaves Here is my approach to preparedness gear, in a nutshell
If you are serious about preparedness, then I recommend that you take a similar approach. « Six Letters Re: Self-Sufficiency in England? Take the Gap |Main| Notes from JWR: » Wednesday July 22 2009Often-Overlooked Readiness: Preparing for Joy, by Carla
I am sitting here and it is raining, and raining and raining and... Four inches so far, nobody can water like God can! After our last rain, everything in the garden had a tremendous burst of energy. The dreary, raining day for some folks though, is especially depressing. I enjoy those occasional days, when I feel like I can actually sit down at the computer without feeling guilty because there is so much to do outside that I really shouldn't be here. It got me to thinking again about “what if?” How can we defeat those occasional bouts of dreariness, especially if and when TEOTWAWKI comes along? Making sure every ones attitudes stay uplifted might be one of those things that make living in a very, very hard time a little more bearable. You’ve always heard the saying, “if momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” Well, momma, start with yourself first. Make sure your priorities are straight, your head, your body (I’m especially in need of that), your spiritual life, and your relationships are in great shape. Remember, you and your family are a team. It is going to be you and them against the world. Ya’ll will possibly be the only ones you engage with for a while. Your relationships to each other is of vital importance. Pick your battles, which is something I have to be very conscious of. Make sure everyone in the family knows how vital their contribution is. Even if it is just the little ones trained well enough to know how to mind and do their chores. It will save a lot of added frustration especially if things are in really bad shape. Make sure you have something that is special to you stored back--I know this may sound irrelevant and maybe even a little selfish, but just a small bottle of perfume, or a little lipstick, after you come in from a long, hot, sweaty day in the garden, to clean up and smell and look pretty, will give you (and him) a nice, uplifting feeling. You are the heart of the home, make it a place that gives your family a feeling of warmth and welcome when they are there. Grow a few hardy flowers that like hot weather and do well without much rain. We never know from year to year how much rain we will get. Cut them and put them on the table. Save your dish water to pour on them if the weather is dry. It will lift everyone's spirits to come to the table with a nice tablecloth and flowers. Your conversation makes a difference, too. Talk about memories, funny stories, you might even start writing them down so you won’t forget them when they happen. You will be the one who makes a vital difference in attitudes, and this is true even when things are normal. Make plans for birthdays or other special days. Birthday candles do not take up much space and cost very little , they are a very important part of birthdays, especially the little [single digit] ones. Folks like me have to have permission from the Fire Department! You know what is important to your family as far as holidays and families times. Prepare for those special times. What about things to do [at quiet times]? My husband loves puzzles. I will have some puzzle books put back. My daughter is like me: she loves art. If you have a child who loves to draw, make sure you have some art supplies on hand. A reader? G.A. Henty Games are a great family time and some of them are just for fun, some help learning skills. Whatever your family enjoys and make sure you have a few for all ages. You need those old fashioned ones, because the computer may not be working. We have made our own games. We’ve dug some small holes in the ground and found some old washers and used them similarly to horseshoes. Since we home schooled, geography was taught by buying plastic posters of the continents. Each person would have a different place and we would ask about rivers, mountain ranges, countries, anything that was on the map could be formed into a question. Charades, an old game is great if you have visitors. Music is wonderful. Maybe you have a musician in your family. Sing together. It makes a light-hearted atmosphere and gets everyone away from all the talk about news and what is going on. There are web sites on line that can give you many more ideas, and now would be the time to prepare. If you have folks who like to sew, knit, crochet, woodwork make sure they have a few items that could give them some time to be creative. All work and no play makes a really bad attitude. It is a good way to make gifts as holidays and birthdays come along. Make your own cards and stick one on a bed or on the mirror to tell your family how much you appreciate their hard work and their good attitude. A little praise goes a long way. Preparing for fun and relaxation is as important as preparing for physical needs. Fear and bitterness are some of the worse life threatening things that will bring the whole household down. Having a lot of time on your hands, gives time to think about what I don’t have, or what I’m missing. Just adding some of the fun items will keep your family occupied in good, clean, happy, useful business. Don’t forget rest~satisfying rest. When you are overworked, tired, hungry and worried your responses to folks can be well, not nice. That can lead to arguments and a lack of teamwork. Making sure everyone gets a restoring night's sleep will help get them ready for another day of taking care of business. Don’t forget to say your prayers. God has got you through another day. Your relationship with God, knowing that you belong to Him and that your family does, is the first thing you need to have total faith in. Know that although you have prepared to the best of your abilities, that nothing happens to us that does not pass through God’s “hands” first. You must know that what He allows in our lives, He has either caused, or will use for our good and His Glory. These are just a few ideas. There is so much information on the web now, that finding other ideas are only a mouse click away. Make a notebook and keep ideas in it. If you do not have the time right now to get things together, with the notebook you won’t forget about them. This might be good for the kids to do. Depression is a killer, of the spirit and sometimes of lives. Just a little joy in hard times makes things go so much easier. When you can laugh during adversity, it might make a difference in getting your life back to normal. “A merry heart doeth good, like a medicine.” So remember while you’re storing up the beans, rice, tools and ammo, don’t forget to store up some joy. - Carla « Economics and Investing: |Main| Oh, Henry! Worried About TEOTWAWKI? » Sunday July 19 2009Two Letters Re: Savings and Self-Sufficiency with Homemade Laundry Detergent
Hello Mr. Rawles,
Dear JWR: The reason for this letter is to add something to the very interesting article about the homemade laundry soap. I have been making our own soap for months now. But there is a way to make it in powder form if you prefer powder detergent:
Grate the soap finely. You don't want big chunks. I use a hand grater, but I suppose you could use a food processor [that is designated for only non-food purposes]. This part takes a long time and is labor intensive. A few things to be aware of: your soap won't suds up at all. That does not mean you have to add more soap. And clean clothes smell like nothing. You don't need added scent for clean clothes like most commercial laundry soaps. Also, if you want a softener, then add about a quarter cup of vinegar to the rinse. Your clothes won't smell like vinegar, but they will be nice and soft. You won't need a dryer sheet, either. One last thing: Fels Naptha is a laundry bar. Meaning you can just rub the soap on a stain and watch it come out in the wash. I have tried it, and it does work. So buy an extra bar for stains instead of expensive pre-treaters like Oxy Clean. One bar will last a long time! - Anita « Two Letters Re: Recommendations on Discreet Self Defense Weapons and Training |Main| Note from JWR: » Saturday July 18 2009Savings and Self-Sufficiency with Homemade Laundry Detergent, by Carla
What would make someone want to make their own laundry detergent? It is so convenient to go to the store and get a ready made, nicely package, conveniently mixed, nice smelling, make your clothes fresher and your life better if you use me, laundry detergent. My husband and I have always had a preparedness mentality-we live 10 miles from a grocery store and 20 miles from a Wal-Mart. You don't just run up the street to buy a roll of toilet paper. We prepared for Y2K and have always thought "what if." We don't worry, for we know God is in control and is truly the provider, but feel he leaves it up to us to do the leg work. [Some deleted, for brevity] Not only am I preparing for my family, but I have neighbors that will ultimately need some help, extended family members that are not in the position financially to be able to stock up and hopefully enough to barter if necessary. So as I buy, it is on my mind "How far will this go to feed possibly 10-to-15 people?" Soup ingredients, meat extenders, et cetera are some of the things that will help to feed a lot on a little. Not wasting the money we have and are trying to save up, making sure I spend wisely for the money is of utmost importance. I started looking for ways to "substitute" my own homemade items for those that we normally buy. Homemade mixes for Bisquick, brownies, rice mixes, etc., anything that saves money is on my lists. One of the most expensive-even though I would lean to the least expensive side-was laundry detergent. It is an item where you are literally throwing your money down the drain. I began to look on the web for ways to make my own, and lo and behold I came across a lot of formulas. I started making my own and have passed the recipe to many friends. They can't thank me enough! It is as good and in my humble opinion, better than the most expensive store-bought laundry detergent. When you figure the costs savings, it is outstanding! Even if you are not "into" preparedness, it is just a great way to save money in these harder times. I find my ingredients at the local Kroger's [grocery] store and one of the items can be bought at Wal-Mart, but for the few cents savings, unless I am going there for many more items, the time factor and extra mileage, it is just not worth it. Trying to buy laundry detergent in bulk, the storage problem and costs factor, is really diminished by making your own. I have tweaked the use part of this recipe to suit me, but will give you the total information and then let each decide on their own.
Grate the Fels Naptha soap into small pieces. You can chop it with a knife, cheese grater, or food processor. Heat four quarts of water in a large, heavy saucepan on top of stove and add soap, stirring constantly till melted. This will take a while depending on the size of your grated pieces. Meanwhile, fill the five gallon bucket half full with warm water. Add the 1 cup of washing soda and the 1/2 cup of Borax and stir well. When soap is melted pour into bucket, then continue to fill bucket with warm water until full. Stir well and let sit overnight until cool. This "concentrate" will thicken as it sits. Stir before using. Now, I use this concentrate straight out of the bucket and use 1/3 cup per large load. The original instructions said to save an old laundry detergent container, fill half full with concentrate then add water to top. Shake and use 5/8ths cup per large load. Repeat till your concentrate is gone. This will give you 10 gallons of laundry detergent. That just seemed more trouble than necessary. So I use the concentrate as-is. No need to have to make room for another container. You will have enough leftover soda and Borax to make approximately five more buckets of detergent. You will have to buy more soap. The costs for one 5-gallon bucket (not including the bucket) is approximately $2.40. If you compared that to the expensive brand of concentrate @ $20.00 per container, just think of the savings and that is if your store bought container makes 180 loads! Since I don't buy the twenty dollar Tide brand, I'm not sure if that is for 180 loads, so the savings could be a lot more. $14.40 for a total of six 5-gallon buckets compared to $120 for six containers of Tide 2X concentrate. In a small space, enough to hold 1 box of Borax, 1 box of washing soda and 6 bars of Fels Naptha you can have better cleaning power than six containers of store bought laundry detergent. This will also save more than $100! I have a niece that uses Ivory bar soap, which is cheaper than the Fels Naptha and is totally pleased with her product. The Borax and washing soda have many other household uses also, as the detergent would not. Making my own has gotten me hooked on doing many other things for myself. Why pay someone to do the mixing? It would be nice to put the savings into a jar, but there are too many other things that we need to get ready for when TEOTWAWKI comes along. It is good to look at my pantry that God has provided and know that my family will not go hungry. We can stay clean, one of the most important factors in hard times, thanks to many of the good articles that you have on the blog. I just read today about using a 5 gallon bucket and making a washing "machine." We have many things that we still need, but are working on acquiring and every time there is a new entry marked off the list, it gives us a sense of security knowing that is one thing we won't have to worry about. We have encouraged others that we know are capable to do likewise. Not necessarily because they believe [in disaster preparedness] as we do, but to just be good stewards of what the Lord has given us. Whether it is an ice storm, which we have made it through several times comfortably, or tornado damage and electricity out for 4-to-5 days, we can survive easily. I'm thankful for all you folks who are teaching me what to do and how to do it. Saving money in small ways makes it easier to acquire more of the needful things. - Carla « Letter Re: The Latest Special Operations Forces Medical Handbook |Main| Disaster Procedures: A Survival Field Guide, by A.V. » Saturday July 11 2009Five Letters Re: How to Build a Deeper Supply of Prescription Medications
Dear Mr. Rawles, Pat C.'s recent post regarding the acquisition of prescription drugs in quantity includes many good thoughts. As a pharmacist of more years than I like to admit, I feel compelled to add to a few of Pat's points. Pat mentions FDA restrictions on quantities of several types of medications, including some "powerful antibiotics, pain drugs, and highly abused drugs". I'm unaware of FDA restrictions on dispense quantities of any drugs, except regarding a very small number of drugs with unusually high-risk of adverse reactions. These few drugs would rarely come into play in stocking for calamities. The point that I believe Pat is driving at involves the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) restrictions on "Controlled Substances", which, as a matter of definition include drugs with addictive potential, such as the opiate analgesics (pain relievers), many anti-anxiety agents (Valium, Xanax, etc.), and the amphetamines and related substances used for treatment of ADHD. The Federal list of these agents can be found at the DEA web site, for those who have time on their hands and are not easily bored. Many states have added a few agents to their very own 10th Amendment (my attempt at humor) replication of the Federal list, so check with your local pharmacist about specifics. You don't want to come off looking like a drug seeker! The methods suggested by Pat will attract a lot of attention if you innocently try to apply them to, say.... Tylenol #3 (acetaminophen with codeine - a Controlled Substance under Federal regs). Also, Pat's statement, "some generics don't work as well as branded drugs" may breed confusion. Though there will be endless opinion-driven debates over this topic, the science, the FDA, and the overwhelming medical opinion at this point is that generic drugs rated as "therapeutically equivalent" to the innovator (brand name) product, can be used interchangeably without harm. Again, if you want specifics, you can Google (or, as I prefer, Scroogle) "FDA Orange Book", where you will find all of the products that are "AB rated", and thus approved (at least by the FDA) for interchange. Or, again, ask your pharmacist. Practically all commonly-available generic products are now listed as equivalent. Okay...so I'm biased (I'm a pharmacist), but you may come off better asking your pharmacist about which tablets you can cut, than to ask your doctor. I think that I can safely say (without offending my friends that are medical doctors) that we pharmacists have a lot more time to study such things than most doctors! Just my 2 cents worth! As always, thanks for all you do to help us live fuller live! - SH in GA
Dear Mr. Rawles:
Hi Jim,
James, As far as tablet splitting, some good points were brought up. I'd just like to make sure every one understands that if a tablet is not scored do not try to split it. Pharmaceutical sales people have told me that manufacturers do not guarantee an "even mix" in unscored tablets.
Mr. Rawles; « Letter Re: Net Producer-Net Consumer Equations for Self-Sufficiency: Getting Out of the Pit |Main| Note from JWR: » Friday July 10 2009How to Build a Deeper Supply of Prescription Medications, by Pat C.Most well-prepared individuals with chronic health conditions want to keep a deep supply of medications on hand, in the event of disaster that would disrupt normal chains of supply. Medical insurance plans typically have a 30-day limit on the amount of medication that can be obtained at one time. There are various reasons for these limitations - medical complications, FDA regulations, and cost-containment by your insurance company. However, there are ways to get around these limits and build a deeper stock of meds as part of your survival Multiple Scripts Ask your physician to write several prescriptions, each of which authorizing six refills for each drug you need. You might have to explain why you need such a large supply so be ready with a non-political story - your rural location, concerns about getting snowed in, bridge or road washing out, extensive travel outside the US, etc. Then, go to different pharmacies to fill each script. Do not go to different locations of the same chain because the chain likely has a central computer that will flag multiple purchases of the same medication in a short period of time. Tell the pharmacist at each drug store that you want the whole batch filled at one time. You'll probably have to pay out of pocket for the drugs but you'll end up with a good supply of meds that you can start to rotate to keep your stock within the expiration dates. If you belong to a health plan and the pharmacy is a contracted provider of your plan, then you should get the discounted price for your order even though the plan won't cover more than a 30-day supply. Ask the pharmacist about that. Multiple scripts that authorize several months of refills will work for most drugs but the FDA has strict dispensing controls on certain meds such as powerful antibiotics, pain drugs, and highly abused drugs like Vicodin,Xanax, and Adderall. It is unlikely that your doc will write a script beyond the FDA-approved limits - it's illegal. He'd lose his license to practice and could even go to jail. So don't push it - if he says something about FDA limits, respect the situation. Even if you did get such a script it's unlikely that you could find a pharmacy to fill it - it's illegal for them to do so. Generics Versus Branded Drugs To keep your costs down, ask your physician for a generic version of each med as opposed to a branded drug. Branded meds are protected by Federal patents which is why they are so expensive - no other pharmaceutical company can market a branded drug until the original patent expires. (It was the Reagan administration that extended drug patents.) Branded meds typically have cute names like Allegra, Celebrex, Lipitor, and Valium. Generic drugs are copies of branded drugs that are no longer under patent and usually have a chemical name such as Ampicillin or Hydrochlorothiazide. Wal-Mart now offers generics for $4 for a 30-day supply; I recently heard of a major drug chain that will fill a 90-day supply for $10. At these low prices, it's cheap enough to bypass your insurance company and pay out-of-pocket, which eliminates one level of control. Some generics don't work as well as branded drugs and many meds are only available in branded form (the patent hasn't expired yet.) so you may have to stick with branded drugs even though they are more expensive. However, beware of "new and improved" branded drugs. Often, that means that the original patent has expired and the drug is now available as an inexpensive generic. Not wanting to lose its lucrative monopoly on the medication, the pharma company makes a slight change in the original formula and then files for a new patent. Several major branded drugs such as Lipitor will soon be off patent so do your research and ask your pharmacist. Pill Splitting Many drugs are available in different dosages, many of which come in tablet form that can be split in half. If you take a 20mg dose of a certain medication and a 40 mg pill is available, ask your physician if the pill can be split. [by cutting it in half at a grooved line--properly called a "score".] If so, then have the doc prescribe the 40mg dose which can be split in half, doubling your supply. Combined with the multiple script strategy outlined above, you'll have a nice stock of meds, each of which is double your actual dose. This works for both generic and branded meds but is of particular use if you need expensive branded drugs that you have to pay for yourself. There are two important cautions about splitting your meds: 1) You must ask your physician about this since not all pills can be split. For example, some pills have time release coatings; if split, the dose is released into your body too quickly which could be dangerous or even result in death. Also, splitting doesn't work with capsules. Ask your doctor before splitting pills. 2) Do not split pills until just before you need them. Keep them sealed in their original containers or packets and store in a dark, cool place. Keep them from freezing. Pull only enough pills from your stock for the next 30 days or so. Split one pill at a time, as needed. Canadian Pharmacies You can also order meds through Canadian pharmacies which offer lower prices than US outlets due to strict governmental price controls up there. I am unsure how large a supply they will fill for each order but I suspect that you could obtain several months at one time. However, you have to make sure that you are ordering directly from a Canadian pharmacy. There are many Internet sites that claim to be Canadian pharmacies but it's impossible to know for sure whether you're working with a legit outlet or a crook in Nigeria or the Ukraine. Do not respond to e-mails about cheap drugs - most of those are fronts for identity theft rings - they want your credit card number. Others will send you meds beyond their expiration date or even fake pills that are perfect reproductions. Beware of scams, especially with anything you'll be putting in your body. If you are anywhere near the Canadian border, make the trip in person once or twice a year so you can personally visit the pharmacy and talk to the staff. « The Case for Accumulating and (Eventually) Using Silver Coins |Main| Note from JWR: » Thursday July 9 2009Survey Results: Your Favorite Books on Preparedness, Self-Sufficiency, and Practical SkillsIn descending order of frequency, the 78 readers that responded to my latest survey recommended the following non-fiction books on preparedness, self-sufficiency, and practical skills: The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery (Far and away the most often-mentioned book. This book is an absolute "must" for every well-prepared family!) The Foxfire Book series (in 11 volumes, but IMHO, the first five are the best) Where
There Is No Dentist "Rawles on Retreats and Relocation" Making
the Best of Basics: Family Preparedness Handbook The "Rawles Gets You Ready" preparedness course Crisis Preparedness Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Home Storage and Physical Survival Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times by Steve Solomon Tappan
on Survival Boston's
Gun Bible Seed
to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners Survival
Guns Boy Scouts Handbook: The First Edition, 1911 (Most readers recommend getting pre-1970 editions.) All
New Square Foot Gardening When Technology Fails: A Manual for Self-Reliance, Sustainability, and Surviving the Long Emergency Back
to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills, Third Edition Preparedness Now!: An Emergency Survival Guide (Expanded and Revised Edition) Putting
Food By First
Aid (American Red Cross Handbook) Responding To Emergencies Making
the Best of Basics: Family Preparedness Handbook Nuclear War Survival Skills by Cresson H. Kearney (Available for free download.) Cookin'
with Home Storage Root
Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits & Vegetables Stocking Up: The Third Edition of America's Classic Preserving Guide The
American Boy's Handybook of Camp Lore and Woodcraft Emergency
Food Storage & Survival Handbook by Peggy Layton Seed
to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life by Neil Strauss Five Acres and Independence: A Handbook for Small Farm Management Essential Bushcraft The Survivor book series by Kurt Saxon. Many are out of print in hard copy, but they are all available on DVD. Here, I must issue a caveat lector ("reader beware"): Mr. Saxon has some very controversial views that I do not agree with. Among other things he is a eugenicist. How to Stay Alive in the Woods by Bradford Angier The New Organic Grower by Eliot Coleman Tom Brown Jr.'s series of books, especially:
Total
Resistance Ditch Medicine: Advanced Field Procedures For Emergencies Living Well on Practically Nothing The Secure Home Outdoor Survival Skills The Last Hundred Yards: The NCO's Contribution to Warfare Camping & Wilderness Survival: The Ultimate Outdoors Book by Paul Tawrell Engineer Field Data (US Army FM 5-34) --Available online free of charge, with registration, but I recommend getting a hard copy. preferably with the heavy-duty plastic binding. Great Livin' in Grubby Times Just in Case Nuclear War Survival Skills by Cresson H. Kearney (Available for free download.) How to Survive Anything, Anywhere: A Handbook of Survival Skills for Every Scenario and Environment Storey's Basic Country Skills: A Practical Guide to Self-Reliance Special Operations Forces Medical Handbook (superceded the very out-of-date ST 31-91B) Wilderness Medicine, 5th Edition Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills, Third Edition Government
By Emergency The Weed Cookbook: Naturally Nutritious - Yours Free for the Taking! The Modern Survival Retreat Last of the Mountain Men Primitive Wilderness Living & Survival Skills: Naked into the Wilderness LDS Preparedness Manual, edited by Christopher M. Parrett The
Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging
Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century Principles of Personal Defense - Revised Edition The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year Round Vegetable Production Using Deep Organic Techniques and Unheated Greenhouses « Influenza Pandemic Update: |Main| Survey Results: Your Favorite Books on Preparedness, Self-Sufficiency, and Practical Skills » The Case for Accumulating and (Eventually) Using Silver CoinsI recently did a study of prices (food and gasoline) comparing the costs in the early 1960s with 2009 prices for the same items. I chose the early 1960s because that was the last time 90% silver coins were in circulation. It was common back then for people to go into a grocery store or gas station and pay for purchases with a few quarters or dimes. The prices were that cheap back then. For my 2009 food prices I looked at the prices in my local Safeway store in Portland, Oregon. I was careful to only look at the regular prices, not the “sale” prices. The problem one typically runs into when making price comparisons is that many of the food items have been reformulated or repackaged into different-sized containers. There is a also a much larger variety of items available today. To circumvent these problems I focused on items that I can remember seeing back in the 1960s. (I’m giving away my age here.) They were mostly name brand items that many people avoid today precisely because they are so expensive. Government-paid economists often fudge the numbers by making excuses that the products under study have changed or that people will choose to substitute less expensive goods for the ones they formerly bought when the prices go up. That’s clearly cheating! I stuck with the name brand items so that the comparisons would be fair and honest. I made sure that I studied only foods and brands that were commonly available both in the early 1960s and today. Most meat, produce, and dairy products easily fit the criteria. So does regular gasoline. This way we have an accurate picture of how much food or gasoline a silver quarter or dime would buy then, and now. For the purpose of this discussion I will limit the list to just the following 20 common items:
Notice that I have priced the items both in dollars and in ounces of silver. The prices (in dollars) are deceptive because, on average, prices for these 20 items have increased eightfold since the early 1960s! The prices in silver tell the truth. In most cases the prices (in silver) are somewhat comparable. Many items even look “cheap” now, in silver terms. That implies that the price of silver is too low. But, that’s the topic of a different discussion. Two columns show the prices in silver terms. The column all the way to the right shows how many of each item may be purchased today with a single ounce of silver. This is a useful table because, if the paper money completely fails, one can rely on the table to price foods and gasoline in silver. One ounce of silver buys four pounds of pork chops, for example. The same ounce of silver buys close to five gallons of gasoline or 22 pounds of bananas! It’s easy to see that as little as 20 ounces of silver could take a family of four 1,500 miles over the highway while feeding them all along the way. If the dollar goes all the way bad you are to find a store that’s open along the way you might be able to convince the manager to accept some pre-1965 90% silver coins because he would recognize them for what they are (real American money.) The pricing is all you would have to haggle over. Many people love the old (pre-1936) silver dollars. It would probably not be difficult to convince a store manager to let you have a couple of pounds of ground beef, a loaf of bread, a bag of potatoes, and a box of Cheerios for one silver dollar! « Letter Re: Escape From (Fill in Your City Here), 2009 |Main| Letter Re: Some Thought on Dual-Fuel LPG Vehicles » Tuesday July 7 2009Letter Re: Home Heating Oil Price Fluctuations--Time to Buy Low
Hi Jim, If the predictions of temporary global oil over-supply are correct and fuel oil drops to around $1.50/gal, filling or topping-off a 600 or 1,000 gallon tank at that price would be a prudent thing to do with any extra money in the budget or even savings beyond the 6-month emergency reserve. Over-supply and clearance-pricing will be temporary as OPEC and others throttle back expensive drilling and pumping operations while the supply chain clears and prices return to "normal". Even if a person is a renter, having a full heating fuel tank is a good thing. Some rental contracts make heating the building and a maintaining a minimum heating fuel level a requirement. The fuel in the tank remains the property of the renter, minus the amount that was there when they moved in (or language in the rental contract), and can be sold to the landlord, next tenant, or sucked up and moved by an oil company truck for a fee. Filling before heating season allows plenty of time for sediment to settle in the tank before drawing it into the in-line filter ahead of the burner. Anecdotal commentary by furnace service men indicates that furnaces that run on mostly-full tanks have fewer burner problems than those that use "bottom of the tank" fuel. Farm and trucking supply houses have "fuel polishing" additives/fungicides and pump/filter systems that keep tanks and fuel clean that might be safely added to a home storage tank system. Being able to fill a five-gallon can of stored/filtered Home Heating Oil from a valved-spout in the basement might be useful at some point in the future [, since Home Heating Oil can be substituted for diesel fuel, in extremis]. Cheers, - Karl in Portland, Oregon « Economics and Investing: |Main| Note from JWR: » Sunday July 5 2009Three Rules for Persuading the Sheeple, by Tall Sally
This article could also be titled: "How to Convince Friends and Family to Prepare for Economic Collapse." One of the greatest problems for the prepper is getting family and friends on board without alienating them or terrifying them into inaction. With this article, I hope to use my experience to show you how to gently and persuasively warn friends and family about the coming economic crisis. I have used this approach with several people and found it to be successful. Why should you listen to me? Well, in my previous job, I was a corporate educator at a large mortgage bank. I learned two things from that job: how to watch my income spiral down into oblivion along with the entire mortgage industry, and how to explain complex concepts in simple ways. You don’t need my help to watch your income spiral into oblivion, so instead I will teach you how to explain complex concepts. Three Basic Rules of Persuasion Use concrete examples that matter to them. Which of these two approaches is more captivating? or, Obviously, the short sentence that relates to their life is better than the ten-minute history lecture on something they barely understand and don’t care about. Also, notice that each part of the conversation is related to one of our three rules. Start with Pleasantries. (This establishes a sense of ease and rapport.) "Hi Aunt Bea, it's been awhile since we talked. Yes, Terry and I are doing well. We went hiking last weekend and really enjoyed it. How are things in Mayberry?" Rule 2: KISS... Rule 3: RELATE... In conclusion... The Memsahib Adds: Before approaching a relative or friend with the topic of preparedness, consider: Is there some aspect of prepping that would fulfill one of their long-held desires, or perhaps even a childhood fantasy? Have they always wanted to own a horse? Be a master chef? Live like a Native American? Live off the land like a Mountain Man? Be a doctor? Be an herbal medicinalist? Be an explorer? Be a teacher? Own a large acreage? Be a park ranger? Sail the seven seas? Be a philanthropist? Be a missionary? There are aspects of preparedness that can fit into all of these desires. So, in effect, you can make prepping fun and fulfilling for them. When I was growing up, I always loved baby lambs and wanted to own sheep. I was also disappointed that I didn't grow up on a farm, as my mother had. (I was raised in the suburbs.) Our path to preparedness was a great excuse to buy some acreage, and raise a flock of sheep. This led to buying spinning wheels and a loom, learning how to card, spin and dye wool, learning how to knit, how to felt wool, raising angora rabbits, and raising angora goats. This in turn eventually led to us getting dairy goats, and later a dairy cow. So all of this fulfilled a childhood fantasy of having my own farm. Thus, prepping felt rewarding, and in no way did I feel threatened or did it seem like I was living under a dark storm cloud. When I served my first loaf of bread that I had made with eggs from my chickens, and wheat that I had sown and later hand-ground, the rooster in our barnyard couldn't crow any louder than I could! My grandmother would have been proud of me. Talk about heavy gravitas, when bringing such loaves to a church potluck! (But even just brining muffins with berries that you grew yourself, or picked out in the wild can give the same sense of accomplishment.) It was much the same for me when I finished making my first sweater with wool from sheep that I had helped deliver. I had shorn the wool, carded it, dyed it, spun it and knitted it--bringing the sweater all to its final form. What a lot of work, but what great fun! My favorite way to introduce this topic to other women is through teaching "heritage crafts". The homemaking skills of our pioneer ancestors are something that most women--even city women--can relate to. Whether it is canning, gardening, small livestock, sewing, cooking, baking, knitting, leather-working, candle making, soap-making , et cetera. I have done all of these, and and have enjoyed passing on these skills to neighbors, friends, and even my nieces and nephews. Perhaps your local church, 4H club, scout troop, PTA, homeschooling club, or public school would be open to having you teach a class or put on a demonstration. I found that the more I learned about one preparedness topic, the more that I wanted to learn about related topics. For example, when I was raising rabbits, it was fun learning how many different ways I could prepare rabbit meat dishes. And when I was dairying, it was fun to branch out into making yogurt, soft cheese, and milk soap. With God's providential guiding hand, your friends will each find a special preparedness niche, that will benefit their families, and in turn get them excited about many more aspects of preparedness. A note to husbands, fathers, brothers, and uncles: Please do not alienate your female friends and relatives from preparedness by "assigning" them a prepping specialty. Instead, let them pick their own, to suit their particular disposition and interests. By letting women choose our own areas of expertise, it gives us the feeling of being in control of our lives in an uncertain world. Encourage and nurture their interests, but don't dictate them! Part of getting prepared is recognizing the fact that some aspects of preparedness are more "fun" than others. And, correspondingly, what constitutes "fun" for one individual is not necessarily considered fun by another. How many men wouldn't blink an eye at buying a $700 SIG or a $1,500 FAL, but get anxious about "the expense" when they see their wives looking through a Louet or LeClerc catalog? What is needed is a well-rounded approach to gathering logistics, tools, and skills. There is much more to preparedness than just "guns and groceries." Get prepared, but don't obsess over all the gloom-n-doom "what ifs?" You should instead take a well-rounded approach that will provide a family with educational activities and lots of fun, all while actively learning, preparing, and cross-training. One way to ease your spouse into a preparedness mindset is by encouraging her to get involved with a the local fiber guild, 4H club, or farmer's market co-op. Tall Sally is absolutely right about going slowly. Get your friends and relatives into preparedness one small step at a time. Encourage them to get prepared, by playing off of their pre-existing interests, fantasies, and hobbies. « Influenza Pandemic Update: |Main| Letter Re: Medical Corps Offering a Field Dentistry Class in August » Wednesday July 1 2009Two Letters Re: Last Minute G.O.O.D. 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! Although my family now thinks that my cheese has slipped off my cracker, I know that if the time comes, I will be able to provide for them.
, and a combination 
are absolute "musts"!] Don't get in a hurry unless there is a threat to life. Be hyper cautious, be very aware of your surroundings and things that can go wrong. Don’t toil alone. Make sure you have a clear path to beat a hasty retreat if things go wrong. Wear those gloves, safety glasses, boots and maybe a hard hat.
) was to "keep your principles public and your actions private".
, which is about $6 at Wal-Mart, you can ‘can’ almost everything you may want to put up including meat, vegetables, and even condiments and meals! I also discovered 
] just in case the web bots are right and we have a problem with radiation.
or the U.S. Army survival manual. I have them and have read them. They do cover security problems, but then don’t cover other topics. Alas, there appear to be no “perfect” manuals, and the Boy Scout Field Book is no exception. But it’s not a bad beginning. And so I was beginning the journey even before I knew that I was. 
, which uses virtually all fuel (unleaded, white gas, kerosene, diesel, and maybe even corn oil). I was heavily into backpacking when we were stationed in Hawaii in the late 1970s, and still have all the gear. After having one knee replacement and hedging doing another, I’ll not be backpacking if I can help it. Nevertheless, I have two bug-out bags with essentials in them, ready to hit the trail if need be. I’ve saved up and bought two good 
". It allowed her to see a significant contrast in what could happen, as well as the difference between preparing or not preparing. 
(of various models), or four spare 
? Probably not, but there they sit, new, stacked up in their factory boxes. But I don't expect their resale value to go down anytime soon. Do I truly need a stack of HK93 magazines, or Glock 17 magazines, or M14 magazines, when I don't even own any of those guns? Probably not, but they sure do make great barter items. And why do I have so many stainless Colt M1911 .45 semi-auto handguns? After all, I can only hold two at a time. But perhaps a day will come when my descendants can no longer attend a gun show and walk home with what ever they please, sans papier. And again, I don't expect them to go down in value. 
and a trusty old 
, and biodiesel compatible vehicles)
and 
are your allies.
is one great author, especially for your boys. Even my daughter loved his books, lots of history in great mysteries. Get online and find some of the older books or look at used bookstores, thrift shops, or your local library. They get rid of older books every once in a while, so be on the look out for those old classics. Don’t do the “fast food” type of books that you can read in 15 minutes. Give them something that takes a while and better yet, have daddy read to the family at night. Just a few chapters, discuss it and enjoy a peaceful evening. 
by Murray Dickson
by James 
by Jack A. Spigarelli
by
Mel Tappan
by
Boston T. Party
by Suzanne Ashworth
by
Mel Tappan
by
Mel Bartholomew
by Matthew Stein 
by
Abigail R. Gehring
by Aton Edwards
by Janet Greene
by
Vicki Tate
by
Mike Bubel
by Larry Dean Olsen
by Carol Hupping
by Cody Lundin
by Maurice G. Kains
by Ray Mears
by
H. von Dach
by Hugh Coffee
by Ed Romney
by Cody Lundin
by John Poole.
by Don Paul
by Kathy Harrison
by Chris McNab
by John & Martha Storey
by Eric A. Weiss, M.D.
by Paul S. Auerbach 
by Elliot Coleman
by
Dr. Gary North
by Adrienne Crowhurst
by Ragnar Benson
by Harold Peterson
by John McPherson
by James H. Kunstler
by Jeff Cooper.
by Ragnar Benson
by Eliot Coleman