A Book Review, Of Sorts

I was tired of surfing the Internet last night and decided to lay down to read. I didn't want to get into anything "heavy" so I picked a small paperback written by Gary Paulson called Brian's Return. The book is part of a series written about a boy who survived a plane crash in the deep north (Canada). It is written more for juvenile readers and I had bought it to help introduce my youngest son to the survival mindset.

As I read it I began to be a little more absorbed and didn't notice the time. I finished the book and looked at the clock which read 11:38 PM. Oops! I have to get up at 4:00 to get ready for work! Of course, I couldn’t fall asleep because, I needed to. So I lay there and thought about what I would do if I were put in the same position as this young man.

The books I read as a youth inspired a love of the outdoors as well as that of adventure: Robinson Crusoe, Swiss Family Robinson, The Boxcar Children, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, My Side of the Mountain, and a few more that I can't remember at this moment.

After reading this book I began to feel the same urges, the longing for the woods and freedom of the out of doors, the smell of wood smoke and the sighing of wind in the trees. I guess you are never to old to be one with nature.

In modern life we block out nature, enclosing ourselves in cacoons of sheetrock, fiberglass, wood, vinyl, aluminum and glass. We hide from the stars under steel and composition roofs, denying ourselves the freedom of the open sky.

If you have young children, take the opportunity to read these books to them at bedtime. You will instill in them a love for books and adventure, and perhaps kindle the spirit of survival in them also, creating a lifelong path of self sufficiency and acquiring skills sets for the future. Take them camping and teach them survival skills. It is an adventure they will not soon forget!

Thank You

I would like to thank all of you who have expressed concern over my recent illness.
I am feeling much better today and will probably be nearly well by tomorrow.

A special thanks go's out to Patricia (The Handmaiden) for her remedies and suggestions for overcoming this illness.

I spent most of the time sleeping as much as I could so I am way behind on my planned posts.

I am planning a series on security measures, some as I implement them and others as ideas to bounce off you, so keep checking back.

Falling Apart At The Seams

Mayors ask Congress to help fix U.S. infrastructure


content edited due to low-life scum suing bloggers for alleged copyright infringement


Gee, who would of thought that with all the billions going to enrich Haliburton and friends in Iraq, that our own country would be falling apart at the seams. I guess it is no longer desireable to keep the infrastructure back home in any kind of shape.

"Hmmm, your city is no longer livable, time to move your residents to our newly completed (by Haliburton) FEMA camps. We have all the necessities for Life (repressive slavery) at our camps."

It seems the system is being encouraged to fail by the neglect of our leaders.

When it comes time to move the population into camps, those who remain in the city will be at a disadvantage. Egress routes will be cordoned off by troops as they clear the city block by block. Whether they use busses or train cars, it won't matter to the occupants, the result is the same: Enslavement for your meals, labor for your upkeep.

A "Radiaological Event" may occur, allowing them unrestricted authority to empty any city. Just the possibility of a threat may allow them to evacuate any city. After all, who would want to stay in a city threatened with nuclear destruction by Al-Qaeda.

Hospitals, Healthcare Centers, Dentists and Pharmacies may be dismantled and setup in only the camps. Needing any sort of healthcare will require you to enter. Once in, you will never leave.

This will be all justified under centralized logistics. One shipping point, many distribution points within the camp. Everyone will be served! Dwindling fuel supplies may become the trigger for this.

This could be your future if you are not wary.
Prepare like there is no tomorrow.
The Government has sold it and you only think you have more time.

Thanks to all who inquired as to the state of my health. I'm still sick, but feeling a bit better.
I still have nightime fevers though. Kinda strange, those fevers. They seem absent during the day, but I wake with cold sweats and decidedly odd dreams.

Battling The Bug

I'm battling a bug this weekend and so far its kicking my ass. My meds for fighting this type of crap have been depleted by the last round and I have not built them back up yet.

Post SHTF there will be little avaiable in over the counter meds so it is a priority now to identify those that are needed to fight my (and yours) most common ailments.

For me it is sinus, throat and chest related illnesses, so I need to stockpile those items that will combat the bugs in those areas. I have plenty of cough drops but no benadryl and only one bottle of night time medicine. I will also need to stock up on decongestants.

Now post SHTF, this stuff will go fast and herbal replacements must be either grown or identified in the wild. Three good sources for info on herbs are: Back To Eden by Jethro Kloss, The Herb Handbook by John Lust, and The Naturopathic Handbook of Herbal Formulas by Richard Scalzo.

I'm sure there are hundreds more but I'm going to go back to bed now and hopefully I will be ready for work tomorrow. Feel free to post your favorites to share with the rest of us.

I Believe

I believe...

Those two words have sparked heated debates, angry words and nods of agreement. We all have our own beliefs of what will ensue once TSHTF.

We have a plethora of pending disasters that could in our mind, trigger a SHTF event. Avian Influenza is a ticking time bomb according to the WHO. Climate Change is already affecting many as we can see by all the storm related deaths around the world and, here at home.

Famine, caused by climate change will affect the poorer nations before the western nations begin to feel it much. Peak Oil will make an essential product unavailable except to the richer nations, and those who produce it themselves. Trading food for oil is not too far fetched to happen.

UG99 Wheat Stem Rust will decimate crops world wide, but Monsanto will save us, or enslave us with their control over our seed stock. I encourage everyone to stock up on non-hybrid seeds and learn to grow your own food. Learn to save seed for your next years plantings.

Even buying the hybrid seed is not a totally bad thing if you store it in the refrigerator or freezer. Buy as much seed as you can now while it is still available. You will have weather related failures as well as insect pests to contend with.

You should stock up on supplys to build greenhouses with, as there is no guarentee that the weather will cooperate for growing food. Clear plastic and black plastic will be indespensible for this purpose. If you have the chance, salvage windows from Craigslist as people are remodeling all the time. Use them to build Cold Frames and in your greenhouse construction.

I believe that those who do not prepare now, will have no chance later as prices spiral out of control on essential goods. It will begin to take all of their disposable income just to keep food on their table and gas in their tank.

Gas has hit $4.25 a gallon here now, and will probably be $5.00 by Labor Day. I am actively looking at other forms of transportation now in an effort to not feed the greedy bastards who keep driving up the price of fuel and everything else in our consumer society.

I looked at soup in the local grocery store: $1.67 for a can of Campbells condensed Beef soup. The store brand was $0.10 cheaper. These prices are criminal. I try to buy only the out of date meat and other products from this store now. I toss the extra meat in the freezer and use the rest up as quickly as possible.

As soon as chicken goes on sale again I will begin to start canning it instead of freezing. I would not want to loose all that meat if the power went out long term. Canning is a great way to add some normalcy to your food storage. Cooking up soups and stews, chili, and tomato sauces, salsa and fruit: It all is a good addition to the beans, rice and wheat.

I have two food dehydrators that I am going to start up making jerky and hamburger rocks. I am going to dry in season fruit and vegetables and create my own soup mixes in pint jars. I have been saving all the glass jars and lids that I generate rather than throw them out or send to recycle. They will work well for storing dry mixes and dehydrated foods.

One of my favorite snack foods is Tim's cascade Style Potato Chips. They come in a sealed mylar/aluminized lined plastic bag. I think I will experiment with resealing these. If it works I will be able to have my chips and long term stored grain too!

The Marlin Model 60 Survival Rifle

The Marlin Glennfield Model 60 was my very 1st rifle. I bought it when I turned 18 and just recently gave it to my youngest son for his 15th birthday. Long before I was married (and divorced), a co-worker sold me his Marlin for $50.00. So now I have 2 too customize.

Due to an early experiment (didn't work out) at trying to create a folding stock, 1 of the rifles was needing a replacement. So I chose the Dragunov as the only other stock was a factory version. I like a pistol grip and it has the "cool" factor.

Part of the fun of owning a rifle is to customize it to your own liking.
So I did (am).

I wanted to create a survival/foraging rifle that would take small game yet be something I could just grab and go if needed. This is what I have come up with so far.

The heart of this survival kit is the Marlin Model 60 with ATI Dragunov stock.

Next item I added is the QD swivels and sling.

Then I followed up with a 3x9 40mm scope w/rings and lens cap. If you use low mounts, the front lens cap will not fit without modifying it.

A nice folding Bipod for those important prone shots (Harvesting Game, Varmints, etc...)

Heres a look at the bipod mounting system. I'm not real fond of it as I had to use some spacers to get some of the slack out of it.

My solution is to drill and tap the mount, then epoxy it to the stock. The bipod can be removed and the mount used for something else. Here is it folded up.

The Uncle Mikes Sidesaddle shotgun buttstock shotshell carrier will hold 3+ empty plastic medicine bottles, depending on how you arrange them.

There are loops for 5 shells, but the medicine bottles are much larger around than a 12 guage shell so only a few will fit. You could use a thin walled plastic tube with press fit ends if you can find enough.

One bottle is filled with .22lr
One is filled with wooden matches
One is filled with cotton balls soaked with petroleum jelly
One will have an emergency fishing kit
40 feet of 550 para cord is wound onto the stock

Under the elastic buttstock is 2 contractor trash bags taped together and a survival blanket, as well as a mora knife, butane lighter and swedish fire steel.

Using a sewing machine to create a modified button hole like stitch, I will be adding slots for attaching a Molle style pouch for more gear.

This same setup can be used with the Ruger 10/22 when utilising the ATI stock.
Another future upgrade is this laser/flashlight setup for night time varmint shooting (weasel in the henhouse).

With the addition of some of this,

no one will know your poppin' weasels (or coyotes) at night.

Ain't she sweet?