A letter to a friend

I've been e-mailing "Al" from the story all morning. He's been pretty concerned about the healthcare bill, and how it affects him and the wife (IRL he's married). I've warned him in the past, but he didn't really listen, and kinda looked at me like I was crazy. I am crazy, but that's beside the point. Here is my latest response to him:

I warned you about a year ago... Canned food and a shotguns :) handy for the zombie apocalypse, too!

The dems will do anything to pass us further into socialism. Most democrats are openly socialist now, Obama has done one thing, he galvanized the collectivist - altruistic - statists into leveraging as much “reforms” as possible to make us into a European socialist state.

Our Debt to GDP ratio has skyrocketed, it’s only a short time before no one buys bonds (the Fed Reserve is buying most now) and the Fed cannot buy all the bonds, the existing holders of the 5year+ T-bills would dump them as worthless paper. That collapses the dollar, and Zimbabwe hyper-inflation sets in.

Great for paying off loans, bad for everything else.

I’ve been reading about all this for a couple years now, and I cannot see any way out other than human stupidity. If the idiots on wall street still think the dollar is strong, and the dumbass investors don’t see the warning signs that are out there, then we might be able to do it. All it takes is one big bond investor to dump their bonds and that will trigger the rest, and the collapse comes in a matter of days, maybe even hours.

China is no longer the biggest holder of US debt. They haven’t been selling bonds, but the ones they hold they have not re-invested as they matured. China not buying bonds was the biggest warning I’ve seen. China doesn’t want to upset the apple cart, they want to divest our debt without triggering the collapse, and so far they have been doing a brilliant job. All it takes is another country to unload too fast and the shockwave panics investors and then we collapse.

The news is not covering this at all, after all these people have all their money tied up in the stock market as well. So these guys have a vested interest in “forgetting” to report the failed bond auctions, and other critical warnings.

Scary-ass shit, man.

Hopefully he will wake up.

Preparedness

I always wondered how people could go about their daily lives without taking minimal precautions about what challenges they face. If it was going to snow out, I'd always wear clothes a little warmer and weather-resistant that if it wasn't. I always made sure I had at least some cash for a cab ride home after a night of drinking.

It wasn't until Katrina woke me up did I start prepping for the bigger things. But better late than never, right? I now have the means to keep myself and my family alive if something really bad does happen.

Take a look at what is going on in the economy. It's a ship without a rudder and no one at the helm. From personal experience, it's just a matter of time before the boat gets swamped. Our economy is but a wave away from disaster, and we need to be ready for that, and more importantly what happens next.

Walking through the supermarket the other day, and adding up how many people live nearby, there is but a couple of day's food in the whole store. Assuming, that is, the food is distributed properly and equitably. Like that is going to happen. As a society, we are on the edge of chaos, just a hungry belly between peace and war.

We have a moral obligation to try to convince people to be ready. There is a good saying though - You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink. Those friends and family who you try to warn, but do not heed your concerns, will get a harsh enough lesson. I will give what charity I can spare to them, only because the plan is to bail for points north, leaving nary a clue behind for those to follow me.

I foresee a lot of hard decisions we preppers are going to have to face, on who we can help, and who we cannot. I can offer no advice, no sound reasoning on who to help and who we should not. I have yet to make those decisions myself.

Winter Wonderland

Well winter has showed up with a vengeance. Last week it was about 15 degrees F every morning when I left for work. Then we get 18" of snow over the weekend. I was ready for it, but still 18" of snow is a lot. Thankfully, it's all powder, so shoveling it is easy enough.

I had to swing by a few markets the day before the storm, not to buy anything, but to see the panicked buying of bread, milk, and eggs that precedes any snowstorm. If people panic-buy eggs for 2" of snow, I can assure you the shelves were totally bare for lat night's storm. If sheeple cannot plan ahead for a simple snowstorm, how in sam hill could they be ready for a real catastrophe?

Typically, most people forget how to drive in the snow, and as I made my way to a friends house to watch the Pats game today, I saw several knucleheads sliding all over the road. All the four wheel drive gets you is the ability to not get stuck, and allows you to accelerate without slipping. A 4x4 doesn't prevent you from sliding when trying to stop or turn, and that's what the noobie 4x4 driver doesn't get.

So part of My prepping has been to learn how to drive a 4x4. I don't get to practice often, but when I can I go out to a freshly plowed parking lot and do snow donuts. Learning how your vehicle reacts in a skid will help you if your car does start to slide in the rain or snow. Remember, we are not just preparing just for some grand disaster, but for the smaller more personal disasters that could hit us almost any time.

Being able to change a tire, or for that matter making sure your car has a spare tire. It's becoming less common in this day of "roadside assistance". I doubt AAA will be able to help you if your fleeing from a hurricane. So it's a smart idea to learn how to swap a spare tire, or change your oil, how to fill the anti-freeze, so on and so forth.

Here is a short list of skills everyone should know.

Build a fire
Change a tire
Tie the following knots: Bowline, Tautline hitch, clove hitch, sheetbend, square knot.
zero a rifle
sharpen a knive, axe and saw.
split wood & stack it correctly
perform CPR
Heimlich manuver
pitch a tent
Figure out the directions from the sun or stars.
Fell a tree
Field dress game
Clean a firearm
Use a map and compass

I could go on for hours, but this is what I could think of in the few minutes I had before going to bed. Expect the next installment of the story real soon. On the train ride to boston, I am either reading, or writing.

I just finished Heinlein's Farmer in the Sky. Although written as "youth fiction" I still found the story enjoyable, and it was a very, very, quick read. Only took me 5 hours to read the whole thing. There was a bit of deus et machina to end the book, but hey, your average movie has that to somehow have a shriveled up pitiful excuse for a plot!

Thats enough rambling for now. I need to hit the rack because tomorrow's commute is going to be brutal.

Disaster Recovery

I work as a Server Engineer. Recently my company has been looking into planning for Disaster Recovery (DR). In the I.T. biz, that means making sure we have all our data and applications online in case something really bad happens. Things like flooding in the Data Center (DC), or some nitwit in a backhoe cutting all our fiber links to our remote DC. Stuff like that. Computer systems are not designed from the get-go for DR. For example you cannot have a subnet online in two geographical locations without some big $ being thrown around.

So I thought I would see if some of these thoughts would work for prepping. In a DR scenario you split your applications up into different tiers. Let's take a fictional company's applications for an example.

Payroll
Accounts payable
Accounts receivable & billing
Inventory
Shipping
Home directories file share
HR file share
Intranet web site
Extranet website
E-mail
Printing

Ok so that's a small list of the applications used by a small company. Most of the mail order companies of any size will have at least this many apps. The hard part is to group them into levels of importance.

Tier 1
E-mail
Inventory
Accounts receivable & billing
Extranet website
Printing

Tier 2
Payroll
Accounts payable
Shipping

Tier 3
HR file share
Intranet website
Home directories file share

So for our example let's say we are an online survival store. Now, the idea of the I.T. department is to make sure orders go into the system as the most important. This way users out in cyberspace don't go run off to your competitors when your DC gets flooded. Picking tickets need to be printed so the warehouse guys can pull orders while the rest of the systems are brought back online.

A word about the tiers. The tier 1 applications are your core. You cannot operate without these at all. Tier 2 need to be available for weekly or monthly tasks, and tier 3 are the little things that make life easy. I think I see some parallels already.

But onto this company. Now what most DR planners forget is that none of these systems will run at all without some infrastructure. A network, account authentication, etc. So let's add a tier 0.

Tier 0
Active Directory
Network
Power

So many DR consultants forget to plan for power. That wafer of silicon ain't doing jack shit without some electrons there, buddy!

Well you get the idea. Now in DR planning we talk of an alternate site. This site is either a Cold, Warm, or Hot site. If you are a fortune 500 company we can talk about hot sites, otherwise your too poor. A hot site is fully online simultaneously with your primary site. Downtime (if at all) is measured in seconds.

Warm sites are up, but might need infrastructure to be changed in order to go online. Like shutting down a subnet in one data center and bringing it up in your DR network. Recovery is measured in hours.

Then there is the Cold site, which is just about useless. Sometimes hardware needs to be ordered, or physically carried form your production site, dried out, then powered on and tested. Trust me from past experience this sucks hairy monkey balls.

Ok now after that hour long explanation, let's see how this works in the prepping world. Let's start with the sites.

A hot site would be where you have all the equipment and supplies pre-staged and ready to go. Now if you live at your retreat, that's not a hot site. That's your primary site, and your DR site might be a debris shelter in a national park... Anyway, very few people will be able to afford this. Since I didn't win Mass Millions, I'm still poor, and cannot afford this.

A warm site would have the infrastructure ready, but not everything is ready to go. This could also be a friend's or family member's house out of state.

A cold site is just that. You got what you can carry, that's it.

Now onto the tiering of the prepper's infrastructure:

Tier 0
Health

Tier 1
Shelter
Water
Food

Tier 2
Security
Communications

Tier 3
Power
Gasoline/diesel
Luxuries

Now it's interesting that I made Health a Tier 0. I did this because you're not doing squat if you got dysentery, a broken leg, or a new hole somewhere there ain't supposed to be one. The rest I think are self-explanatory. Hope this simple system helps a few out there get rolling on planning what is important, and what isn't. Sure, a gas grill is nice to have, along with that nifty new flashlight, but a tent is more critical to your survival.

I also hope people start to think about the next step. There are a lot of people ready to make a stand at their remote homes, but your still need a backup site in case a forest fire or flood, or who-knows-what-else happens. Even if it's a barn at your brother-in-law's on the other side of the valley.

Don't forget now is the time to stock up on mason jars. I bought 5 cases of quart jars for ~$10 a box. I'll be working my foodsaver overtime this week packing away food.

Insanity

How do you know when you are crazy? When do you know that line between the sane and the insane has been crossed? I think our brains have evolved a way to police itself, and try to keep from going off the deep end. It makes sense. If we went nutty too easily, then how as a species would we have survived so far.

Don't get me wrong, we, as a race, are a little tapped. A bit off kilter. It's an advantage to (sometimes) think in non-linier paths of thought and reasoning. But there is a line that has been crossed. The government of America is now bat-shit crazy.

I think, as a nation, we are about to cross that line. The Tea-Parties are like a white blood cell for the psyche, trying to fix the damage before it gets to far. As a nation, we are on the road to ruin. Even if we are out of this depression, there is another just on the horizon. Every time we manage to make it through a depression by direct and drastic action, we make the next one exponentially more dangerous to our economy.

When was the last time in this nation we had such a crisis? We have a federal government completely out of touch with the average American. Our economy is failing from too much debt and a middle class taxed at an unsustainable level. We have been invaded by a non-incorprating population that is leeching off of our health and social services system. Our military is involved in four major wars (drug, Afghanistan, Iraq & Terror) with no exit strategy or clearly defined goals in any of these conflicts. Our neighbor to the south, Mexico, is on the verge of complete collapse - a failed state in all but name. Let us not forget the unemployment rate is 21%!

And now the Democrats want to ram through health care reform at a cost of $9,000,000,000,000 over the next 10 years. Of course this is assuming the unemployment rare remains at 8.5% which it hasn't. Even the government-published unemployment rate is ~9.4%. The lack of tax revenue will add to these deficit numbers.

I fear there will be a time soon when the house of cards comes tumbling down. For the preppers like myself, it will be an interesting time (to say the least!). What we must do during the collapse is lead whatever is left of America into a new age. We need to be the councilors and confidants, the psychiatrists and priests to the fledgling nation that rises from the ashes.

There will be a lot of hurt in the world, and we will need to help heal it. Many will be lost without the teat of uncle sugar. Those that survive should be free of their addiction. We will need to act as a preventative force - preventing the system of dependence and encouraging the virtue of what this nation was founded on - INDEPENDENCE.

Threat Assessment

I've been thinking (and writing) a lot lately about the government, politics, healthcare, etc. It's time for a threat re-assessment. Periodically you need to look at the threats out there in the world and make sure you are doing your best to plan for these threats, and make sure you and your family will be prepared for any of these catastrophes.

The way I am looking at things now, here is the list of "bad things" and the percentage chance they will be the "bad thing" if a "bad thing" does happen.

Economy 45%
Pandemic 10%
Solar Storm/EMP strike 10%
Hurricane 30%
Food Shortages 5%


First on the list for me is economic collapse. My preps in this area have gotten much better, but I still am short in regards to having hard currency at the house. Silver has been a bitch to find anywhere near the spot silver price. I have been saving, and I'm currently on my way to building up 6 months of cash for bills. That is a lot of cash, though. It seems that every time I get past a month's worth, something I've been wanting a really long time goes on sale. The most recent culprit was the vises I need for my woodworking bench. Ah well.

Hurricanes are a fact of life on the east coast. Just because we haven't had one for a few years doesn't mean squat. I'm within 60 miles of the cost, so any cat 3 or better storm can cause a lot of damage before it swings back out to sea. I have all the supplies I'd need for this disaster. This was the first thing I worried about way back when I started this journey, so I am the most prepared for it.

Next up is a Pandemic. It could be Swine flu or bird flu or who-knows-what. I'm not as concerned with this as some are. Avoiding human contact is quite easy for me. I did get some N95 masks before the prices shot up. which was good. I also bought several big bottles of the alcohol gel stuff at the dollar store. The hard part would be laying low while FEMA rounded everyone up. I seriously doubt the local fuzz would let me stay in my home. Regardless of my personal rights, In this scenario I fully expect LEO to forcibly try to take me to a FEMA camp if I'm found out. That would be bad. It's not like I'd be able to hide, as odds are they would go house to house to check for the dead. Of course while they are in there they will search the place top to bottom confiscating guns and such. I need to think about this some more and see if there is a way to keep the LEO's hands off of me, without a big confrontation.

We are in a low point in the Sun's natural cycle of solar activity. When the Fusion furnaces kick up again we will see a huge spike in the frequency and intensity of solar storms and CME's (Coronal Mass Ejections). Our antiquated power grid cannot handle a huge EMP pulse, so I fully expect weeks to months without power. The whole northeast corridor is flagged red on NASA's danger area for EMP strikes. So if this happens, I expect it to get real bad real fast.

There has been talk of food shortages. This wonky summer weather really has caused a lot of crops trouble. Even my small garden isn't a lush as it should be. The corn is at least 3 weeks off schedule, it started flowering the week I was on vacation. On the trip out no flowers, on the way back the fields were filled. I recall that usually happened in July. I'm not too concerned as long as I have a job I can make the cuts to buy food at the inflated prices, using my preps when the food riots and rationing breaks out. An unlikely scenario IMHO, so I've assigned it a low priority.

Finally we have a small chance of getting nuked. I think New York, LA, or Washington DC would be a higher-value target, but I'm no terrorist and have no clue what they have up their sleeves. But in this day and age, we need to think about suitcase nukes, dirty bombs, chemical or biological attacks. This is the weakest area of my preps, and I don't see it getting any better anytime soon.

For the noobies.

This post is for those who haven't started prepping yet. With all the crazy stuff going on in Washington, the Middle east, North Korea, etc. doesn't it seem like a good idea to have a head start? Never mind natural disasters like ice storms, blizzards, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc.

Ok so you finally have an uneasy lump in your stomach. Your worried for your families safety and food. Excellent! Now we begin.

1) RELAX! sit down have a nice cold glass of water.
2) Make a list. Walk through the house and note roughly how much food you have in the house. Don't be too exact, your looking for a rough number. Also check how many days worth of prescription meds you have.
3) Now talk to your family. You'd be surprised how all this doom and gloom from the real world news manages to percolate through the nation's consciousness. Try to work out a plan together.
4) I personally feel it's too late to head off for the hills if you don't currently own a retreat property. So that means riding it out in your home or a relatives in the country. That's one of the harder decisions, but as a family work it out.
5) Now pick a date and a goal. Plan on having enough food and water for 2 weeks for the whole family. Set a date to accomplish this goal. Be sure you have enough prescription meds for this two week period as well.
6) Reduce your debt. Don't build your supplies up by going into more debt. This is a terrible mistake. Just ask all the nitwits that maxed their credit cards just before Y2K. Do your best to reduce debt by selling junk you don't use or need.
7) Now you met your primary goal. You can live for two weeks without support. Now go and add the items that make life bearable. Band-aids, Asprin, toilet paper. Baby wipes are unbelievably handy to have. You can give yourself a bath with them. Also don't forget garbage bags and stuff to cook your meals with. Eventually you will need to address security, but for now worry about food and water first.

Now you are well on your way to saving your family from a FEMA camp. Notice I don't suggest buying 3 guns for each family member. You don't need 20,000 rounds of ammunition, hospital beds or bomb shelters. If you want to go that far down the preparedness path, by all means, but don't put the cart before the horse. Work on shorter goals before running willy-nilly to the higher level goals. In other words work your way up the ladder, rather than trying to ride an elevator.

This summer is going to be pretty interesting. We may see wide scale riots. We may see a economic collapse. We may see nothing out of the ordinary. But now is the time to start. Starting a small garden isn't that much in the way of money, or even time, but you'll learn something. that's another step on that ladder.

If you tackle this in a systematic approach, like two weeks, then three months, then six, then nine then a full year.Then you can fill out your preps with the other necessities on the way without killing yourself. Slow and steady wins the race.

Preparedness Alert Levels

Now I had an idea that might prove to be of some worth to groups of preppers and their families. See, the problem was how to develop patterns of behavior to suit the different levels of threats we prep for. For example you would have one pattern of behavior during a snowstorm, and a completely different pattern of behavior if you were in the midst of a mutant ninja zombie attack.

Now the government has a few, namely the DEFCON (DEFensive readiness CONdition) from the cold war. And we cannot pass up the much maligned HSAS (Homeland Security Advisory System). US military units use the REDCON (REaDiness CONition) to set up unit security details and such.

Although the NSAS is pretty much pointless because of the politics involved with the raising and lowering of the levels, I find a color system is much better to use than a numerical one. It's much easier to slip into messages to your group or your family than a number. If your part of a group the answering machine message could be changed to "You have reached blah blah blah leave a message after the tone." In the background play he appropriate music for that level. Black is Metallica or AC/DC, green and/or blue for Weezer, red for the Cure, purple for Prince, white for The Beatles. Etc. Good security and very subtle.

The colors can be used out in the open with little possibility of alerting the sheople. simply putting a red ribbon on the mailbox would be enough to let your kid know to come home right off the bus because bad things are happening. Or a text message of "red front of bldg 5 min" is very evident to the recipient of the message.

An issue I have with all the systems mentioned above is there are only five steps in all of them. I think having a slightly wider range of levels gives your group and family the ability to tailor their preps to different situations. One thing I figured out when cooking up this idea is that the levels should be linear. So each level adds more and more protection and awareness to the levels below it.

These levels are not intended to replace Cooper's States of Awareness. You could still be murdered in level Violet, for example. These levels are for group and family level security, not individual per se.

Here is an example of some of these ideas assembled into a crude plan. Feel free to use this as the foundation of your own thinking. The levels are arranged from lowest threat to highest amount of danger. All the previous security measures are in effect when moving to a higher security level.

White - no threats - All asteroids and comets have been removed from local space. Politicians, priests, and lawyers have all taken up gardening, leaving their former jobs to men of spotless virtue. Don't hold your breath, it's never going to happen.
Violet - minimal threats - Solid economy, record lows of unemployment, no nukes missing from Russia. Food is in abundant supply, and social-politically things are fairly stable. The years of 1990 - 1995 would probably fit this criteria.
Purple (indigo) - Peacetime - Keep prepping, things are bound to get worse.
Blue - Cautious - Avoid "bad areas of town." Never let your fuel tank drop below 1/2 full. Concealed carry is optional, determined by circumstances. Keep additional supplies in your car in case of emergency.
Green - alert - Keep in close contact with the group for escalated levels and keep everyone updated with your location at all times. Be ready to render assistance if needed. Verify power generation systems are fully functional & tested. Also check chainsaws and/or plows or snowblowers, etc. The good news is you can still go on vacation. This would be an appropriate level for a snowstorm, or during tornado season.
Yellow - imminent danger - Everyone allowed to legally carry a concealed sidearm will do so. If concealable body armor is available, it is always worn outside the home. All stocks of food, water, fuel, and medical supplies will be double-checked and re-inventoried ASAP. Every day a complete security walk though of the home will be done. High-use consumables like fuel will be checked daily. BOB's are re-checked and placed at the home's main entrance for easy access. Don't go to work unless you will lose your job if you bang in sick. Bathtubs are filled in case power is lost. Vacation plans are most likely canceled. This would be an appropriate level for a Cat 3 hurricane or a blizzard.
Orange - danger - Bathtubs and every pot, bucket, etc. are filled with water in anticipation of water/power going out for a long time. People are not lawless, but it can be touch and go if you have something they want (i.e. fuel, food). No one leaves the house alone, a buddy system is used to keep track of everyone. The home's security will be beefed up as best as possible. One area of the home would be designated a trauma center, with pre-staged medical supplies. Fuck work, your life is worth more than your job. This would be an appropriate level during hurricane Katrina.
Red - imminent disaster - Everyone is armed with a pistol on their body unless they are washing up or fucking. Long arms are always within arms reach. All magazines are loaded, and combat webbing is loaded and ready. Body armor, if available, is worn. Full security measures about the home, such as boarding up windows, 24x7 security patrols/fire watch are set up.
Black - TEOTWAWKI - Weapons free, i.e. longarms are carried openly in public. When moving as a group, full military spacing with pointman. Only leave your retreat only if absolutely necessary. You are your own law - deal with thieves as you see fit. Assume everyone outside your group wants to kill/rape you. Anyone who approaches your home is searched thoroughly at gunpoint.

I hope this gets you thinking, and acts as a catalyst to archive another level of preparedness and security for your family and group. If you develop a full plan for your group, please e-mail it to me for posting for everyones benefit!

Three Layers of Safety

And no, I'm not talking about using the rhythm method while wearing a rubber when your girlfriend is on the Pill.

What I mean is using three levels to prepare yourself in every category. These would be a short-term, long-term and (for lack of a better term) a middle level of preps. Dividing up your thinking allows you to split a problem into something more manageable. It also allows you to tackle many categories for the short term without getting yourself lost trying to go whole hog at once.

Let's face it, it can be so easy to go nuts and max out the credit cards buying the latest Gen III nightvision scope for the customized battle rife with the 300 magazines and 4 billion rounds of ammo you bought. The four pallets of MRE's are on the way with the five water purification systems and gas masks, etc. were bought with the home equity loan you were going to use to fix the roof... I can't do that, I haven't won the lottery yet. Prepping can be done on the cheap. It's remarkable how little cash it can take, if you spend your prepping dollar wisely and you follow a plan.

Take food for example. My short term solution is what I have in my freezer, and in the cupboards of my house. The moderate level would be all my canned goods and grain I have stored. The long term solution to food would be learning hunting and animal husbandry skills and growing vegetables from open pollinated seed.

For water, I have bottles in my fridge, freezer, and pantry with a few drops of bleach in them to keep them good. That takes care of the short term. For moderate term I need to start catching rainwater and use my Katadyn filter. Longest term is to filter it through coffee filters and boil it. It's not the best solution for now, but it should be quite serviceable. This allows me to focus on the other areas that need prepping. The amount of time, effort, or resources to improve the water situation, would have a lot more effect if applied to another area.

Every segment of prepping can be broken down this way. Medicine, firearms, security - the list goes on. Also by thinking in these phases, you consume your preps along those lines. Your short term supply is generally has the shortest expiration of all your preps, so it is what is rotated out the fastest, and is most likely stuff you use on a (somewhat) daily basis. So that bag of chips on the counter wasn't purchased as part of my preps, but when a snowstorm buries the house, it just got drafted into the preps.

Another way of looking at preps is from most likely to least likely to be used. Medical and security preps seem to "fit" better to this path of thinking. Band-Aids are the most used with disinfectants while child birthing kits are a lower probability of use. Or, I should say, less frequency of use. Unless your Irish Catholic, then you better have plenty (just kiddin')!

To my mind you would more likely need a kevlar vest, than a pile of biohazard suits and dosimeters. But then again I'm not trying to prep for WWIII, I see the biggest threat from social unrest and economic collapse. If Iran ever gets a nuke and ICBMs I would need to re-evaluate.

If you have not started to prep it is not too late. Please go out and try to get others to start to do something, anything to get ready for hard economic times. Even if you have only a weeks worth of food and water saved when the poop his the fan, the you are a week ahead of everyone else. You have a week's worth of buffer between food in you families belly and starvation.

In the comments to my earlier post on grain storage, hotdogjam had this to say.

No insult intended.

Do you like grain? Do you plan on rotating the grain? How long will it take you to work through 50 pounds of grain?

Man, I stick to what I like and eat regularly.

An excellent point. And no insult taken. I wholeheartedly agree that you need to store what you eat, so it can be properly rotated, and you will enjoy eating it in a stressful event.

I love cornbread, and I'm in the process of figuring out the recipe I like the most, and stocking the supplies I need to make it. I also enjoy johnny cakes, and taco's. Both of which come from corn.

The dried corn is intended for me to stretch my prep dollar farther, by supplementing the canned goods I have with wholesome cornbread. Lots of fiber, carbs and protein in there. Depending on the situation I would tap into the corn after using all the corn meal I have in my kitchen. Granted I, do not eat cornbread as often as I would if I was living off of my preps, but I don't eat a lot of canned food either.

Don't overlook the value from storing grains. As best as I can figure without doing any real math, 50# of dried corn would make about 75 - 100 skillet-sized cornbreads. That is a lot of food in a compact form that has a very long shelf life for short money. Dried corn in mylar bags is good for over 10 years. So:

$14 for the corn
$2 for the mylar
$1 for the O2 absorbers
$5 for the bucket and lid
$21 total

That's $2.10 a year it cost me for a lot of wholesome food. $2.10 will buy four cans of generic canned food here, most of it has an expiration date in a little over a year. Economically there is no comparison between storage of whole grain and canned goods. Freeze dried lasts 25+ years but is really, really expensive. I'm eyeballing freeze dried dairy products in #10 cans because that is what makes the most sense. Buying freeze dried noodles seems crazy to me, as the grain to make the noodle has a great shelf life with the simple addition of an O2 barrier.

I'll start worrying about rotating it in about 5 years. I will, however, check it every three months to make sure it's still sealed, and I poke around my food storage every few days to make sure no mice are around. Everything is sealed but I still don't like vermin anywhere near my preps.

So yes, I eat grain. I just process it some.

How to store grain

Well things have been very, very busy for me at work. I've been dialed into the job from home too, so no time to post. Sorry about that. I did get in my FoodSaver, and it is SWEET. I also took the time last night to pack the last of my grain up for storage. I'm going to go over exactly how I did it for you, so there is no excuse not to do this yourself.

1) OK the first step is to collect up your gear. You need an iron set on "cotton", a thick oversize paperback book, mylar bags, oxygen absorbers, buckets with lids, and your grain. I'm using the homer buckets because I ate plenty of "wall candy" as a kid, and I am gambling the releasing agents won't eat through the mylar and spoil my grain.

2) Then put a mylar bag in the bucket and fill it to about 1 1/2" below the top.


3) Pull up the mylar and fold it back and forth so you have a nice flat area with no creases. Work out the air pockets in the bottom of the bag while you are at it. You might be able to get more grain in, or have to take some out to get it right.

4) Get as many buckets in this ready position as you can, because once you open the O2 absorbers you don't want to dilly-dally. The longer they are exposed to air, the less O2 they will absorb.

5) Crack open the package of absorbers and put the correct amount in each bucket. I stuff them in different depths and sides to try to maximize their effectiveness. Just remember to take them out before you put the grain in the grinder! I sealed my extra o2 absorbers in a FoodSaver bag as soon as I pulled the ones I needed out.

6) I couldn't snap a photo of the next step as I have yet to grow a third arm, guess I need to eat more wall candy. With the book on one side and the iron on the other, you iron a seam about 1 1/2" wide across the top, leaving a gap so you get the air out. I let that one cool and go down the line of buckets so the first one is cooled off for the next step.

7) Start folding the mylar into the bucket, trying not to manhandle it too much and punch holes in it. After getting as much air out as you can, use your book and iron to seal the last bit you left open.

8) Fold the last of the mylar bag into the bucket and snap on the lid.

9) Finally LABEL IT. What's in it, and when it was packaged. Then store it in a cool, dry spot.


I used my FoodSaver to seal some of the extra corn I couldn't fit into the buckets into bags. I labeled these and put them in the Galvanized trash can with the two full mylar bags I had in there. There is no chance of light getting in there so that's good enough for me.

Hope this helps, and Good luck!

Ice Storms

Well last week we got the business end of some serious storms. Many of my coworkers from NH and VT are still without power three days later. Some don't anticipate getting power back for another few days.

I took an informal poll of those affected by the storm, and of the four only one had a generator, Granted it's not working, so that doesn't count for squat. He went and moved the wife and kids to his parents house until they get power back. Another had power back in 6 hours, but when you live on the same street as a hospital, you get power back soon. Another toughed it out in his house with no heat, he's sick as a dog and banged in sick to work today. Another was in, relying on a wood stove to keep the house at a balmy 43 degrees. The last one was in, having showered at the gym before work.

I spoke with all of them, and except for the one who had a generator, none were planning on getting one. This boggles my mind because it's not like ice storms don't happen in New England...

Viral Marketing

I have to admit the interest in the New England Prepper Network has been rather low. I'm wondering if I ran my own marketing campaign how successful it would be? My idea is to print off a ton of stickers with the web address and a little logo for the NEPN and slap them on street signs and such. Also print out flyers and stick them on bulletin boards.

Yeah it's technically vandalism, but I think the message has to get out there somehow. If Cartoon Network can do it for a show I think I can to save lives. I'll have to think about this some more, especially on where I can put them to at least reach a few more people.

I suspect the low interest in the NEPN is because of a few factors.
1) The bulk of the population is asleep.
2) We have a larger percentage of Moon-bat liberals.
3) The vast majority of the population is urban, not rural.

I think I'll map out all the local gun ranges in the area, and start with putting flyers up there.

A Family Conversation

First off, I need to apologize, as my cellphone died a spectacular death, and took the photos of my new rifle with it. I'll post pics of it soon - I promise.

I was surprised during dinner when my brother brought up storing food, getting his firearms license, preparing for social upheaval, etc. I was floored. My brother used to be a card carrying, banner waving liberal. My Mum wasn't too thrilled with the conversation, as she is very much anti-gun. After describing several scenarios of what is possibly on the horizon, she is now concerned that we might be facing a crisis of moderate to devastating severity in the near future.

I confessed I had nine months of food stored, and I was working to getting more. The look on Mum's face was priceless. That's when she got serious, and started asking questions. By the end of the night Mum had a better understanding of what I was doing, and why I've been buying firearms. Neither of them knows about this blog, as it's really for the readers, and not my family or friends. I get to tell them in person!

Mum summed it up when she said, "Oh my! I need to stock up on Zantac!" I was surprised I had her on board so easily. But then again, her parents were teenagers during the Great Depression, and they raised their kids poor. She raised two kids on her own with no child support and working three jobs. Over the years, her tolerance for bullshit has dropped to zero.

So now the rest of my family is on board, and have promised to start storing food and water. I warned my Mum not to go and buy too much too soon. I suggested to buy two boxes of her zantac every time she ran out of one, unless it was on sale. Then rotate her stock. My Mum has about a months food in the house outside of what's in the freezer. That's a good start. I suggested buying a few extra cans of food every trip to the supermarket.

My brother has contacts in Maine, and he's actively looking for property up there. ?He has a line on 70 acres of landlocked land, that abuts his buddies property. This fellow already agreed we could have access if we get it. The hard part is figuring out how much the landlocked land is going to go for. Most land in Maine is going for $2000 and acre. That's way too much! I'm going to be careful with any land purchase - it's all talk for the short term.

My brother is very much a noobie when it comes to planning for a crisis. He thinks we will head north in a caravan of trucks like it's Mad Max or something. I can straighten him out, but it will take some time. I did let them both know that we will meet at Mum's and we can work out where to go or what to do from there.

You can do the same thing. It's not too late for my Mum, it's not to late for you! Start now, at least if the balloon goes up next week, you have a head start. Start with water, food, medicine, shelter. Then move on to personal security and training. Work on financial security. Build a community.

Back in the Real World

Vacation is over. Oh well. For 6 days I didn't read the news, check my e-mail, or watch any TV. Mentally I am refreshed and ready to take on the world. Physically I hurt like hell. Playing a video game for 16 hours a day in a chair that's bad for your back can break you down.

I did get out a bit, especially yesterday. In the morning I practiced shooting, and scored my best to date with my 22 rifle. At 50 yards I could cover the 5 shot group with a nickle. Considering I have a low-end .22 rifle, I am pleased as punch. I have no intention on buying a better .22 rifle at this time. Although there is a strong desire to compete, I got more important things to buy.

I still have a major hard-on for an FN-FAL or an M1A battle rifle. Maybe it's foolish because obama might take them away, but I want something handy in case it really goes to hell in a handbasket.

I picked up more food supplies for my preps. My main batch of seeds came in! I have what I need to grow food for myself if push comes to shove. It's a load off of my mind, but there is more to do. I could not find any hard red winter wheat, but the crops should come in the spring, so I'll buy some then. I didn't get a chance to grab another 150# of corn, but I will this weekend.

I've been over my supplies and there are a few items I need to grab. I need cheap garden tools from a flea market or yard sale. I also need to grab some cheap LED headlamps. And I also got to grab a solar battery charger, with a second set of NiMH batteries in AA and AAA. I'll order these items this week. Having vacation at home and cooking (most) of your own meals saved me a ton of cash. All of which will be set aside for a MBR, or put into food preps. That's it for me on an update now, I'm also writing up an article I'll post later on.

Autumn

I love this time of year. The trees are a riot of color, the air is crisp and clean as new sheets. Soon, the rain and snow of winter will come, but for now, life is quite good.

I don't think I could leave New England. There is a certain something to the land here, it's hard to describe to someone from another part of the country. I've visited most of the country, and I lived in the deep south for a while, but there was nowhere that felt like home, or that could become home. Maybe the rest of the country isn't rude enough for me.

My preps are going well. I'm going to cut down on the amount I shoot, as I've gotten pretty damn good in the few months I've been slinging lead downrange. I am to the point that instructor-led training will be needed for me to continue to advance. My birthday is coming up, maybe I'll treat myself to the Sig Academy for a couple days. It's up in Exeter, NH so it's reasonably close.

Above is a photo of my secret stash. It's not the best quality photo, but it came out better than I though, considering I was stuffed into the corner behind my galvanized garbage can which has some pasta and boxes of mac and cheese inside. The photo from the doorway didn't come out at all, as the lighting is just awful. Since I am single, you are looking at about two months of food if I drop my caloric intake to 2500/day. Every shopping trip I get another two or three days worth of food, or food-related supplies. There is a shelf above the photo with more canned goods, and a big metal box full of more pasta.

On the floor I have a 6-pack of propane cylinders and two 7 gallon jugs of water. I have 22 gallons of water here, with another 5 or so upstairs. I regret not getting another pack of those propane cylinders, I got them really cheap from BJ's in the summer, and they had run out a week later.

The ammo boxes are all labeled clearly. I have 12 gauge slugs and buckshot, .22 LR, .45 ACP, and 7.62x54R for my Mosin. I need more ammo, and I will be buying more here and there as I switch gears in my prep buying. I invested in mylar bags and O2 absorbers to store grains. I'm having trouble with the company I bought the bags and absorbers off of, they have yet to bill my account and ship it, so I'll have to call them up and see what's going on.

Some of the more interesting items I have are big bottle of hand sanitizer and a huge box of baby wipes. Tons of salt, it's cheap and can be used for food preservation and trade. Needles, thread, etc for barter items. Gallon jug of EVOO, and 5 lbs of honey. I have an extra bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide for trade, next trip to the dollar store and I'll pick up travel-sized hand sanitizer and more Hydrogen Peroxide.

I guess the point of all this is to encourage everyone to start to prepare, no matter how small an amount you can set aside each week. Over time it will add up to a surprising amount of food. I can easily survive a couple weeks without power, and maintain a healthy and relatively clean lifestyle. Even with this looming financial crisis, you need to stock up, it is not too late. Focus on gathering food, water, and medical supplies. Then worry about security. My stash is deep in the back corner of my basement, obfuscated by crap I have running around. The way my basement id laid out, you would have to have a pretty good sense of 3D space to figure out there is a 2 foot closet back there. It's not even locked, as a big padlock would draw attention to it. I plan on building another closet in front of it to help hide the second closet, but that is lower priority until lawlessness rises sharply.

First Frost

I love New England. We had our first frost in my area this morning, and there is not a cloud in the sky. The sky is the color of your childhood, that pristine blue that you won't find on a color pallet.

The first frost is pretty much right on the average for this area. Scraping the car this morning sucked. We have a ritual in New England where we are late to work the first frost because everyone needs to hunt through the house, garage, and shed for the ice scraper. You figure after all these years we would plan ahead for this occurrence, but my elderly neighbors were doing the same thing.

Another bit of good news, my unofficial diet has me skinnier than I have been in a while. I got 1 notch left in my belt before I have to go and add more. I have not been following anything in particular, matter of fact I had ice cream this weekend, but rather cutting down on my portions, and trying to eat a little healthier.

Last night I experimented with my preps to make sure I would eat what I was storing. The beans are no problem, I love baked beans. I took a can of sauce and made my own sauce by jazzing it up some. Lots of garlic and fresh onion sauteed in EVOO. Add the sauce from the can with a can of tomato paste, and water to thin it out. Oregano and fresh basil, salt and onion powder. Not too shabby, actually, quite yummy.

Mind you, I have been begging, threatening,cajoling, etc. my Mum for her spaghetti sauce recipe for thirty years, with no luck. Time to make my own. Next trip to the grocery store I need to grab some crushed tomatoes in cans so the sauce is a little thicker. Next time I'm at BJ's I need to grab some more oregano, basil, etc. They have big canisters for $5 a pop. Need to store extra in case I'm eating my preps.

I have been buying buckshot left and right. It sucks at $1 a round, but it is the best home defense round you can buy. I also bought an extra mag for my Sig, only $25! It is not as nice as the factory, but it was $10 cheaper. It feeds ammo fine, which is what I bought it for.

If anyone has experience with shotgun shell reloading please take a look at this loader. I've been shooting Skeet to hone my reflexes and to get out of my man-cave. I shoot an average of 3 boxes of shells a week, but this will go up as I'm in a winter league now. From what I've been told you save about $1 a box if you reload it yourself. Now if I take my empty hulls and load buckshot, then I'll save about $18 per 25 rounds... Granted, it's only a 2 3/4" hull so that's 9 OO buck instead of the 15 in a 3" hull. But it's better than nothing!

The reviews on that loader are good, but the guys at the gun club were saying to buy a $250 one. Regardless, I need more than just the press. You need a scale, all the materials, etc. I suspect it will still be worth the cash. But let me know if that looks like the right idea, I'll do some more research before I buy, that is for certain! I got to start saving my hulls, the guy I give them to at the club is going to be pissed :P

It's the end of the...

world as we know it, and I feel fine.

Odds are the fuck Americans in the ass bill is going to pass the gaggle of boobs we call congress. I expected the senate to pass it, as the senate is supposed to do what is good for the State. Congress is supposed to listen to the needs of the people.

I watched Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay the other day. Although I don't use or condone drug use, it's a funny as hell movie for my sick and twisted mind. Seriously, I have never done weed, or anything worse. I'm happy enough killing brain cells with tequila and beer. But onto my point. In the movie, George W Bush says "Hate your Government, but love your Country." Profound Truth found in the modern version of Cheech & Chong movie.

I love my country, and I love it's citizens. I can't stand government and the heavy hand of that government muddling in my business. This just takes the cake. This bill is exactly how Argentina dropped from a first world country to a third world country in a few years. Thanks to Michael for pointing this out. Foreign banks can dump their toxic debts (i.e. bad mortgages in the US) and get bailed out by to US government. So we collapse and the international banks profit.

How could I possibly feel fine about this? Is it some smug assertion the I was right when everyone else was wrong? That all this effort into preparing was not in vain? NOT AT ALL. I feel fine because I know I'll be OK, and my friends and family will be better off because I did prepare.

I need to buy a few sturdy trash barrels and put them under my downspouts. I'll need the water for my garden next year. I did order mylar bags and O2 absorbers yesterday. I slacked off on the job and put together a big order for heirloom seeds, but they are not taking orders until after Nov 1. Hate to say it but they lost my business this year. I fully intend on buying from different companies so I can have the best chance of success.

I'll be buying more silver tonight. Wish me luck as it's in a shitty section of town.

Buy tangibles! Take a deep breath! Buy more tangibles!

brains!

I am a ZOMBIE. I've been reduced to the mental capacity of the American President. Easy decisions are now difficult with the lack of sleep I've had in the last few days. So odds are this post won't make much sense, but what the hell!

This stresses to me that when and if a big event happens we need to have as much thought out ahead of time as possible. I'm going to work on plans and assemble them into my survival book.

I found a galvanized garbage can yesterday at Benny's. It's a local k-mart type place. $20 for the can and another $6 for the lid :( Oh well. Now to buy grain, mylar bags and O2 absorbers.

I got 20 pounds of spaghetti, with enough canned sauce for it. That's a lot of pasta. At 2200 calories a day I have 20 days of food in spaghetti alone. :) I realize if I am fighting, working, etc I'll need more than 2200 calories a day, but this at least gives me a yardstick to measure my preps by. I have a few boxes of other pasta I got on sale, too. Almost forgot about those. Now I got a good head start it's time to focus on canned meats. I have about 10 cans of canned chicken I bought. Figure at worst I could heat it up and toss it with the pasta or add it to the beans. I loathe SPAM, both e-mail and meat by-product. I'm not a fan of jerky, either. So this is a spot I really need to improve upon.

Another spot I need to get squared away with is vitamins and veggies. I'm a strict carnivore, so veggies are not anywhere near the top 1000 things I like to eat. The veggies I do like are basically found in salads. I walked through the caned veggie aisle, and the only thing I liked was some baby peas (I take them like pills) and sauerkraut. Not much of a selection. Off to buy vitamins and fiber pills I guess.

60 days of food, 30 to go by Jan 1st. Too bad it's the expensive stuff I need to buy.

I still haven't decided to invest in silver or gas for this week. I'm leaning towards gas. But I'm not 100% certain. Time to fish or cut bait.

One goal met. many to go!

Well In an earlier post I mentioned I wanted to get 25 gallons of gas set aside. With all the shortages in SC, NC and TX I bought a couple more containers, dumped the 1/3 full one in my jeep and filled them up with "Sta-Bil"ized gas. So I'm done there. One task down like 50 more to go.

Preparing is like fighting a Hydra, the many-headed mythical beast. You take care of one thing, and two more spring up in it's place. I wanted to grab a galvanized trashcan to store mylar bagged grain in, but lowes and home depot don't carry them any more. Off to the local hardware stores to find one. I figure that the mylar bag (with O2 absorbers) will do just fine in protecting the food from oxygen and insects. To stop mice, I'll load the bagged grain into a galvanized trash can, and seal the lid with a heavy weight, like some ammo cans of ammunition.

I can then use the smaller mylar bags and store a wider variety of goods. Beans, rice, pasta. Salt and sugar. All protected and ready for use. I need to shop around for a grain mill, too. If you think the mylar bag + garbage can won't work, post a comment, and let me know.

I'm working most of the weekend so I'll have a bigger post for later. I hate working all-nighters.