Viking Preparedness

Who Leads? How?

2012-01-27T20:02:00.000-08:00

I happen to be a very well trained and experienced man in a lot of esoteric areas. Given a bad situation, whether it be a flat tire on the side of a busy interstate or global social meltdown, I am blessed with the skill sets to see me through. I could survive TEOTWAWKI all by myself…

…until I broke my femur and got an infection when I had to be moving; or came down with a bad fever when my attention was required for security purposes; or unless I wanted to live some kind of normal life and plant crops, tend to animals, read books, eat, sleep, etc – and danger lurked out there.

We were created as social creatures and to reach our maximum potential, we need to be with others. Lone wolves don’t like to hear this and they don’t agree with this but it is true nonetheless. If you are one, you can stop reading.

So eventually, we arrive at the decision, the idea, that we need, that we would like a group of like minded individuals to gather with in times of trouble. You know, people like us who see which way the wind is blowing, who can read the tea leaves, who have read all the way to the end of the Book. People who are proactive like we are.

So we start looking at and for those folks. And we run into a problem: they are like us. They are proactive; they are self-sufficient; they are self-starters; they are individuals. And they typically “don’t play well with others”. They are so used to taking steps on their own to provide for them and theirs that they all want to be in charge. They all know the best way to do things. They all know their way is the right way.

If you can even get these people in the same room or patch of wilderness they will do okay until it’s time to start making long term plans for “the group”. Because right off the bat we have to start coming up with rules, codes of behavior, standards, and yes – even punishments for those who don’t follow the aforementioned rules, codes, and standards.

We don’t like that. We don’t LIKE people telling us what to do or how to do it. We are fiercely independent. It is a part of who we are. And yet – we need each other.

A person on our forums brought up the question: how does a group (he was speaking of a group that gets together, moves to a place together and lives together – a community) decide who is in charge, how they rule, what happens when things “don’t work out” for individuals, families, etc.? In other words – how does the community government work?

Indeed.

This is not an easy question to answer. I know this though: to come into a group, to join a community, one has to give up things. One has to give up some of self, one has to be less selfish and more community/group-minded. How much, how that works, what that looks like is grist for the mill. It is something we all should start thinking about.

And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.
But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth. – Luke 22:24 – 27
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums and catch us on our YouTube channel.

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Backyard Food Production

2011-10-03T10:57:00.000-07:00

I recently borrowed this DVD from a friend who is into permaculture. We both feel that the time is rapidly approaching where, in order to eat, we will all have to produce our own food. We both also believe that it is getting more and more difficult to purchase good food anywhere - what with all the GMO, chemicals, antibiotics and what not being poured into our fruits, veggies, grain and meats.

This DVD is so good and so in depth that I just had to get one for my very own. I am writing this to inform you that you should seriously consider doing so as well. Now, I will tell you right up front that this DVD is not cheap - it costs $60 but it is WORTH it and it is on par with instructional DVD prices.

Backyard Food Production shows one family's working homestead and they are not super-rich. They do things YOU can do and it works for them. I have been at this awhile and I learned a lot - so much that I felt the need to get a copy for my library so I can refer back to it again and again.

Covered on the DVD are sections on:
Water
Garden
Rabbits
Home Butchering
Poultry
Dogs
Perennials: Orchards, Food Forests, and Edible Landscaping
Other Essentials

And THEN there is the CD that comes with the DVD that contains, oh, about 60 documents, booklets and so on for your reference.

I did a YouTube video on this as well but be advised - I got the price wrong in the video. Hey - I could borrow this DVD from my friend pretty much anytime I want to and I still went out and bought it.

You should too - you'll be glad you did.
It is time to start seriously considering how you are going to provide long term for you and yours - this DVD will help you.

And this shall be a sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such as groweth of itself; and the second year that which springeth of the same: and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof. - Isaiah 37:30

.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

2011-07-28T07:53:00.000-07:00

I am noticing a trend.
I’m seeing it on the internet, hearing it on the radio, hearing about it on TV (I don’t have one) and hearing it “around the water cooler”.

It is a disturbing trend and it is dark:
Fear
Anxiety
Worry

Wake up!

We are being played

"Amp up the noise, AMP UP THE NOISE!"
An anxious populace, a scared populace, a FEARFUL populace ... is a CONTROLABLE populace.

Those are all negative emotions.
They prevent clear thinking.
They lead folks to want to herd together - go with the running herd - RUN!

Keep the anxiety up long enough and people will agree to almost anything to get relief.
Which is exactly the point.

Don't fall for it.
We often confuse "trying to stay aware and abreast" with "disaster masturbation".

May I suggest unplugging from the NET a bit (internet, radio, TV, crass consumerism in all its forms).
Hug your babies, take a walk in nature, take a nap, read a good book - read The Good Book.
Chill.

Then (only then, after you have cleared your head a bit)
Take some POSITIVE steps.

Work on your garden - if you don't have one - get a fall garden ready.
Work on physical fitness - take a walk or a swim or a bike ride, or a run; do some stretching, yoga, pushups, weights – SWEAT!
Fix up the place - make those small repairs, pick up, clean up.
Have a barbeque - invite some folks over.
Do something nice for your neighbour.
Praise and thank God for your blessings.
Look into the eyes of your loved ones and appreciate them.
Consider stocking up on some groceries.

DO stuff
Don't fret about what you cannot control - you cannot control what the World Trade Organization, the World Bank, the Bilderbergers, the Illuminati, the Iranians, the Russians or even the cops in the next town - do. So quit spending so much mental energy on it.

You cannot control what your congresscritters are going to do. (so why did I write my three? Because I'm not perfect either)
You cannot control the weather.
You cannot control comets and asteroids and coronal mass ejections and "global warming".
You cannot control our economy.

But you CAN do things to square you and yours away.
Do those things.
In love.

No Fear!

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. – 2 Timothy 1:7
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums and catch us on our YouTube channel.

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

We are on YouTube!

2011-07-27T06:34:00.000-07:00

I know, I know - It has been TOO long.
I have not blogged in a while because I have limited time and have been expending my creative energies in a new venue - YouTube.

I have a channel and have covered such topics as Survival Knives, Groups, Economics, Gardening and so on - all from a preparedness perspective.

So, consider this an invite - check us out on YouTube, subscribe and let's continue preparing for what is coming down the pike.

And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch. - Mark 13:37

.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums and catch us on our YouTube channel.

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

"Pond" Building

2011-05-30T10:24:00.000-07:00

When we bought our home here at High Prairie Acres, it came with a twenty four foot diameter, four feet deep above-ground pool. Lovely...

I was a lifeguard and then pool manager for many years in my youth. I really don’t like taking care of pools. But the family was excited so I dutifully maintained it. Every spring, we would add a couple hundred dollars worth of chemicals to clarify and purify (work with me here) the water. Then we would spend a decent amount of time each week skimming the stuff off the surface and testing and adding more chemicals. I’d backwash the filter as needed and make minor repairs as required.

And the family would use the pool for about an hour a week...

Then the liner ripped and all the water leaked out. It’s a lot of water. I bought a new liner from the local pool supply place for $400 and installed it myself in one hot afternoon. It was fairly simple as I just cut the old liner into manageable pieces to get it out and then proceeded to install the new one according to the directions – it’s just a big rubber bag.

Well, about a year or so ago, the pump broke and needed an expensive repair. I decided that the pool was not being used enough to justify it so instead, I turned it into an above ground duck pond. The ducks loved it and the water soon became “pond-like”. It also grew a whole BUNCH of mosquito larvae.

To solve that pending problem, we put about a dozen feeder goldfish in the pond and that worked very well. Now we had an above ground duck and fish pond. Winter came, the pond froze over and we waited for spring to see how the fish had done. I have always heard one needs eight feet of depth for fish to survive winter around here. Well, come this spring, we had twelve largish fish swimming around!

Then our dogs got caught in the pool, one died and they tore up the liner. I was going to just trash the whole pool instead of installing another $400 liner but we have been getting into permaculture and “going green” here at HPA and it seemed a shame to get rid of such a large water source. I did some internet shopping and found one for less than $200 delivered.

A project was born...
I decided to divert the house roof water to the pool/pond and then use the salvageable part of the old liner to line a smaller “overflow” pond for the ducks to splash in. I’d like to eventually get a solar powered pump to transfer the duck and fish-dirty water into my garden.

Removing the old liner in one piece was extremely difficult as I did it all by myself. Let’s just say it was a dirty, crappy, wet and arduous task. Next, I dug the new “pondlette” and built a dyke at the lower end from rail road ties and the dirt I excavated. Crossfit, BABY!

I dug a ditch around the new pondlette and tucked the edges of the old liner in it and covered it with more dirt. An overflow pipe comes from the pool (I need to make it longer) to the new pondlette. So the plan is – rain flows from the roof into the pool; from the pool into the duck pondlette; from there into the pasture.

Then about a week later I noticed a problem: The liner, exposed to the sun, became brittle and started developing cracks. I tried to tape them with 100 mph tape. I then laid netting down with the idea of planting grass or something to shield it from the sun’s harsh rays. Yeah. . . NO.

That’s a lot of work for a leaky pond – it won’t hold water as high as it is in the picture of it full. I MAY try to drain it, and then using the liner and additional netting as a base, put a thin layer of concrete/cement over the whole thing. I would enjoy reading any other suggestions that do not involve a lot of money.

Well, the above ground pool-pond is doing well and has fish in it once again so at least that works. I will build a little duck ramp for them to more easily get in and out of it.
I’m sure I left some details out but I got tired just typing about it!

Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools. – Psalm 84:5 - 6
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Viking Engine Swap

2011-05-30T09:58:00.003-07:00

A week or so ago, three other Vikings joined Morri (my wife) and I for a day of working on her Jeep. Truth be told - I didn't work on it - I just took a couple pictures and carried on with chores here at High Prairie Acres.

The week prior, my son and his friends assisted Morri in pulling the old engine and this day we intended to put in the new (used) engine. But as those of you who work on new things know - it always takes three times longer to do something than you planned and so the engine did not get put in.

Work was done, fun was had, camaraderie experienced, and conversations on all manner of things occurred. Morri is a self-taught wrencher. “Self-taught” is not accurate – she has had a lot of instruction from friends like those who showed up to help that day. But she has done or helped do most of the work on her CJ over the years and now considers things like replacing water pumps, radiators, fuel pumps, and alternators as no big deal.

Taking the time to learn how to do something.
Doing it “yourself” instead of paying for someone else to do it.
Learning from friends.
Helping each other.

These are things that help all of us to be more prepared for what is coming down the pike.

DIY

The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots? – Judges 5:28
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

If a tree fell in the woods...?

2011-04-30T10:35:00.000-07:00

My family was all set to go camping in the Ozarks with five or six other families from our CiC group. We were all very much looking forward to it but God had other plans. So, we cancelled the trip.

Our youngest daughter was going to bring a friend along and since they both had a hankering to spend some time in the woods, they quickly developed Plan B. They went down into our bottoms and set up camp there all by themselves. Not many teenaged girls today would just go off and camp in the woods alone like that.

The pictured tent has been our daughters’ tent since they moved out of ours at about 4 years of age. We bought it for $10 at a garage sale. I didn’t like the colors (tan fly over maroon tent) so you can see we modified it. Krylon is your friend. We also painted the tarp with deck stain to add a super-waterproofing. We taught our girls how to set up the tent when they first started sleeping in it, lo these many years ago, and we helped them several times but they eventually figured it out and have been setting up that tent all by themselves for years.

The girls had to cross pastures and slide under two very hot electric fences and continue the hike down a large hill to get to where they wanted to camp. After they had been gone awhile, I went down to see how things were going and told them not to burn the place down with their campfire (which they had not started yet). My daughter said, “Please, Dad – we’re not Boy Scouts!” Well, I took that as my cue that they had everything well in hand and hiked back home. The weather was beautiful and calm and I knew they’d have fun.

We left one of the house doors unlocked for them “in case they had to come in for something” but they took toilet paper and shovel with them so I doubted they would be back that night. About four in the morning I awoke to the sound of my sliding glass door opening (all of our doors are loud) and heard the girls voices. I heard the toilet flush twice and I will admit I was a bit disappointed. Then I heard continued talking and decided to go down and see how they were.

My daughter’s friend was sitting in the kitchen with a pack of frozen venison on her knee. “What happened?” I asked.

“A huge tree fell on our tent and landed on Sarah’s knee!” my daughter explained.

I looked at her knee and it was okay. My daughter apologized to me and said she thought one of the tent poles may be broken. Well, Plan C became a sleep over in our daughter’s room and I went back to bed.

This morning I went to investigate and you have already seen what I saw. Wow.
Praise God! That puppy could have crushed them both. It was a standing dead tree that just decided it was time to fall. Good news is I have firewood. Bad news is, neither I nor my daughter looked for it. We did look up for “widow maker” branches in the limbs of the above trees but not for dead trees themselves. And this tree was a fair piece away.
All’s well that ends well. According to my daughter and her friend, YES, you can hear a tree falling in the woods – especially when it falls on you.

I’ll see ya out there.

And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. – 1 Kings 19:5
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

An Idea is not a Plan

2011-04-29T04:24:00.000-07:00

I surf and participate in a fair number of preparedness and survivalist forums. I suspect you do as well. For the vast majority of participants, these forums are merely social entertainment. Most posters are not really into preparedness – they are just interested in the subject much like most people who enjoy martial arts movies could not fight their way through a Boy Scout troop.

One thing that bugs me (because I care) is that many people have actually fooled themselves into thinking that because they read a lot of posts about preparedness, they can handle anything that comes down the pike. They cannot. Many people have an idea that “bugging out” is the thing to do when the world turns upside down. I mean, gosh! EVERYBODY (on the forums) knows that trying to stay in a city during social turmoil is a bad idea! So their idea is to flee the city ahead of the crazed, starving masses and bug out to a safe place.

As if they will get warning before said masses.
As if they will be able to travel to their intended destination.
As if they really had a destination (does Aunt Mabel know your intentions to live with her?)
As if living at Aunt Mabel’s would actually be any better (how much food is at Aunt Mabel’s?)
And that is for the folks who actually have the idea of living somewhere specific – many have the idea that they will bug out to the country and live off the land.

Uh-huh.

An idea is not a plan.

I discuss Planning (capital P) in my book Survivalist Family (which is also available at Amazon) but let’s cover just a bit here as well.

Plans start with ideas.
I don’t like planning to bug out as a primary response to troubles so let’s consider something else...hmmm....ah! Food.

Let’s say you have an idea that food could get scarce for you and yours.
Good start – let’s kick that around a bit – why would it get scarce? (no answers from me – this is YOUR idea!) Based on each “why” (because there are many causal factors and yeah, you better start making lists here) you could develop your idea as to how long food could be scarce. You will probably develop related ideas depending on the causes you dream up – if it’s plague then you might want to avoid people; if it’s a Chinese invasion you might want to have a plan to hide your food, and so on. Consider these, but try to stay focused on food – you are developing a food plan.

Let’s say your idea is a longer term food shortage. You look around your place and figure out that you have an acre of lovely lawn surrounding a house with about four days worth of food in it. This is an assessment of your current situation. It is your start point.

Now figure out, based on your ideas, where you want to be. Maybe you want to expand your food storage but have no room but you do have the idea of converting part of the house into an honest to God pantry complete with shelves, lights and the works. That would be short to medium term. Maybe your idea carries out further – perhaps you desire one day to sculpt your property into a permaculture food forest (if you don’t know – YouTube it) complete with a rabbitry, egg production facility and tilapia pond.

Right now you are still in the idea phase. Let’s start planning.

For each idea, (you have several now) come up with three courses of action (COA). They have to be feasible and unique. Take the food storage idea: Maybe COA 1 is to convert the spare bedroom into a pantry. COA 2 might be to wall off part of the basement and COA 3 could be to build a separate shed for the purpose. Each is doable; each is different from the others. Now start looking at your COAs and try to pick them apart. Be ruthless. Find the holes; discover the things you didn’t think about yet. Consider costs in time, money, emotional investment, and so on. Consider threats (would one COA be better than another when considering foraging Chinese soldiers?) Consider how well each COA meets your needs. Then pick one.

Let’s say you chose COA 3 – the shed. You know your current situation – you have no shed. You know what you want...or do you? Have you really thought out how you want this puppy to look? How you want it constructed? Wood or concrete block? Front yard, side yard, or back? You now have other COAs to consider. Do so.

Once you have this figured out you need to develop milestones, points along the way from now (no shed) to competed survival pantry. With each milestone set a date.
Perhaps you have something like:

1. Complete blueprint – July 4 (that means you want it done by Independence Day)
2. Raise funds – July 10
3. Purchase materials – July 12
4. Exterior complete – July 20
5. Interior complete – July 25
6. Food purchased and stocked – 1 August

Now obviously that was grossly simplified but you should get the idea. You now have something more than an idea – you have a plan. And because you have an actual plan – you will very likely accomplish what you set out to do. Sure this is a lot more work than dreamily typing on some internet forum – I plan on storing a lot of food; but you will actually have a food storage facility someday as opposed to the folks who only come up with ideas.

Time is short.
You can feel it.
You are running out of planning time.
Get busy.

I’ll see you out there.

A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished. - Proverbs 22:3
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Morels!

2011-04-23T11:35:00.000-07:00

Took a little walk in the bottoms today and look what He provided!

They were tasty.

.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Mulching the Upper Orchard

2011-04-11T15:35:00.001-07:00

Several years ago I had a student for a private course “Survival Intensive 1” who was a fascinating man. He was (and probably still is) a nationally known python breeder. Well, if you are in those circles you would know him. He was also a arborist. He knew all about trees. He told me my fruit trees would do much better if I mulched them. He also told me to mulch them well beyond the drip line and to mulch them at least 3” deep. He was a professional in his field and I like advice from professionals.

So, we took his suggestions, mulched our trees and man, did they start doing better! Now, we free range chickens and ducks and Guinea fowl and they have access to our orchards. They like to scratch. They spread the mulch a bit out into the grass and every year we need to add a bit more to keep up.

Yesterday was a gorgeous day at High Prairie Acres and while I was out attending to other things, my wife went to the county dump/transfer station/waste disposal place to pick up some mulch. When the county picks up grass and brush and limbs and trees they put it all through a grinder and out comes a beautiful mulch. They load it into your pickup for you for $10 a load. And people in this county still run to the various box stores to buy their mulch for about $5 a BAG. Silly sheeple.

As you can see from the photo, our work truck is in pristine condition and we don’t want it scratched or dirtied – I mean, we paid $800 for it so we want to take care of it! My wife laid a brand new tarp in the bed and had the men at the station fill the bed with mulch. That was a mistake. We unload it with a potato fork because a shovel just doesn’t work and a dirt rake does not have long enough tines for the job. My tarp now has some holes in it. Live and learn.

We cannot back the truck up to each tree in the upper orchard so we have to get close and then offload. We could use a wheel barrow I suppose but we really like using those plastic toboggans to haul stuff around HPA. We just place it on the ground under the tailgate, fork the mulch in, drag it to where we need it, dump it and rake it nicely. Ta-da!

We want to mulch out a bit farther from the trunk but our goal yesterday was to just get some fresh mulch down.

My wife and I had a good time working together. It made the job easier and more fun. We would have had even more fun and the job would have been that much easier if we were doing it as a community though. We have been meeting regularly with a group of Believers investigating what living in an intentional community would look like. We do stuff together and it is awesome. It will be more awesome when we get CiC off the ground and onto the land…another blog entry for another time.

Spring is in the air – I’ll see ya out there!

And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them. – Isaiah 65:21 - 23
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Christian Preparedness - Don't Worry

2011-04-01T15:29:00.000-07:00

A reader recently posed the question, “How do you justify preparedness in light of what Jesus said as recorded in Matthew 6:25 – 34?”

Here is what Jesus said:
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

It's a good question – I’ve heard it before. The key to unraveling this bit of scripture with regards to preparedness rests on two points - the first of which is the verse preceding it, Matthew 6:24 - No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

We always need to take things in context and here the context is that you can either serve God or the world (worldly things and ideas) – but you cannot serve both; and then examples to illustrate the point follow.

We need to serve Him. Period. The greatest commandment is to love God with everything we have – heart, soul, and mind.

The second point is how we translate/modernize “Take no thought for”.
What this means is “do not WORRY about.”
Don’t WORRY about life, food, drink, clothing and so on.
Worry is a sin.
There is no trust of God in worry.
Trust God – He’s got it all under control.

I try to follow God’s commandments.
I read the Word – His letter to me (and you), and I try to learn from it.
Here are some things I have learned about preparedness from the Word of God:

Adam
Because of Adam, man has been cursed with work. By the sweat of our brow shall we eat our bread. Does it mean we don’t trust God if we actually listen to Him and go out and work for our bread? Should we instead just lay around and wait for it to fall like manna from the sky?

Noah
Noah built the ark. God told him to get ready and Noah did. It was not a popular thing to do - building an ark when one was not needed. Did Noah trust God? You bet. Did Noah say, “If God wants to save me from the flood let HIM provide an ark?” Of course not.

Joseph
Joseph stored up wheat during years of plenty so that he would have it during the lean years. Did Joseph trust God?

The Ant
We can read in Proverbs 6:6 – 11
Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.
How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.

After being told to consider the ant who works hard and stores food during times of plenty are we to now “trust God” and not do anything about our future preparedness? That would not be trusting God – that would be TEMPTING (testing) Him.

10 Virgins
Consider the ten virgins waiting for the wedding feast (Matthew 25). Five had oil and five did not. Those with oil are called wise, those without – foolish. When the time came did the wise virgins share with the foolish ones? No, they did not. That story has a few different levels to it but the obvious level is still true.

If you buy my book, Survivalist Family, from me instead of from Amazon, I sign it. Along with that signature I write this: 1 Tim 5:8.

I Timothy 5:8 reads: But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

My understanding and advice is to Work (with a capital W).
Instead of spending your money on worldly things – prepare.
Prepare and then leave it in God’s hands.
Have faith in Him.
Then get busy – faith without works is dead.

I prepare.
I don’t worry.
I am not overly concerned about tomorrow – in fact I eagerly anticipate His return.

I prepare because I am told to.
I don’t worry because I know God is in control.
I don’t worry because I read the whole book and I know how it all turns out in the end.

I hope to see some of you there.

He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. – Revelation 22:20 - 21

.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

What's in YOUR Coat?

2011-03-25T13:43:00.000-07:00

We have been experiencing Pacific Northwest weather (which is to say, cold and rainy) lately and it just seems as if winter does not want to let go – we are actually expecting snow and sleet tonight. So, I have been wearing my coat longer than I planned this year but when my wife took this picture I figured it would be a good opportunity to tell y’all about my coat.

Relatives gave me money for Christmas one year and I spent it at Cabela’s on a Dry-Plus (Goretex after the patent ran out) parka with a fleece liner. I think it cost about $200. I am a size Large but I buy most of my shirts, sweaters, hoodies, and coats size XL. I like to have the ability to layer under them when it’s cold and I like to be able to conceal some useful items on my person without printing. Lately it’s been in the high thirties so I just wear the coat as a shell.

This parka is pretty neat. It has a BUNCH of pockets – 4 exterior and 3 interior and when I first put it on I thought I should just go ahead and put some useful items in there on a more or less permanent basis. That way, if I was ever “caught out” I might be able to make myself more comfortable.

The coat itself makes a fine shelter all on its own – I could sit up against a tree in the rain and just wait it out . It has a hood for rain protection or warmth and pit zips to allow for cooling. It is also the perfect camo-camo color – it blends well in the city and it disappears in the woods.

I did not “load” the coat for this blog post. I figured I’d just empty my pockets, take a picture and talk about it. So here we go. We can start in the upper left and work our way generally counter-clockwise. Try to keep up.

Paper napkin and some tissue – I reckon I was in line for food somewhere and just stuck them in my pocket. I didn’t put them back after I snapped the photo.

Knit cap – it’s not the same one I am wearing in the photo up top – it’s an acrylic Thinsulate hat because wool makes me itch. I don’t know if I’ve ever worn it because I usually grab some kind of hat on my way out the door. So it’s a spare.

Becker Knife and Tool knife. I have never used it and honestly – I forgot it was in there. I like the size, weight, and shape a lot and I guess I should go play with it to see if I like the steel and grind.

A pen and two large trash bags. The bags are for emergency shelter or emergency rain gear for people (like my daughter at a football game once) who get caught out without. I know, I know –she should know better. Actually she DOES know better. Kids...
Oh yeah, there is a Viking Pocket Fire on the one bag (lighter and inner tube) – hey, if you click on the photo it will enlarge for better detail.

Three granola bars and a throat lozenge. I used to have fruit in there too but I must have eaten it.

That’s a space blanket in the bottom right. I have a couple packets of Bio-Freeze a friend gave me one time and I forgot they were in there too – like I said, this coat has a lot of pockets.

A hank of 550 cord and my “EMT knife”. It has a seat belt cutter and is wicked sharp and pointy. I carry it in my off side pocket with that red flashlight you see there.

I keep a simple first aid kit in a one gallon Ziploc bag – two large gauze, some duct tape and a few Band-Aids.

S&W Airweight .38 Special and two speed strips of +P ammo for reloads. I keep it in a slightly modified pocket holster that a friend gave me. I cut it a bit to allow trigger access and I carry it in a pocket in such a way that I can ruin my coat if an up close and personal emergency occurs. I don’t keep the handgun in the coat all the time but it was in there today.

So there you go. I don’t carry a “survival kit” but I could do pretty well with this coat and what I typically carry in it. No, there is no water but I usually have a bottle with me – I had two bottles in the shoulder bag in the first pic.

I hope you found something useful and interesting in this post. I’ll see ya out there.

When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. – Matthew 24:15 - 21
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Death and Life at HPA

2011-03-07T14:08:00.000-08:00

It has been a rough two weeks here at High Prairie Acres.
The picture is of our Anatolian Shepherd puppy and was taken about a month ago when he was 8 weeks old. We called him Bru or Bruski. He had just started working with the goats, and he had figured the shepherd thing out. He would bristle and bark (pretty deeply for a pup) at approaching dogs, or chickens that he didn’t recognize as such because they were too far away (hey, it could have been a BIG THING farther away! It takes time to get used to such things as range and what is normal on the farm). He was our daughter’s puppy.

Called..
Was..
Past tense.

Long story short, he drowned in our pool/pond. Our above ground pool quit being a pool two years ago and instead, became our pond. Ducks swim in it; gold fish grow in it and I had plans to divert our house roof water into it and then pipe the overflow into an-as-yet-to-be-made small pond. I was also planning a solar pump affair where I could pump the “dirty” (nutrient rich) water from the pool to our large vegetable garden.

Well, two dogs walked out onto the ice when no one was watching, the ice cracked and they fell in. The larger dog lived but the pup didn’t make it. It was really quite tragic. Not only was the death of Bru a sad shame – the dogs just tore up the liner trying to get out and now our pool/pond has only about two feet of water in it. A new liner cost us $400 three years ago. So, the pool is coming down and going away and I’ll plant something that does well in sand where it once stood. Any ideas?

We have also had a critter sneaking in and killing our chickens. We are down to only a few. Every few days we’d find a dead, half eaten bird. We then discovered the culprit – our Aussie Shepherd/Blue Heeler. Yep, Drover is a chicken killer. We have tried all the “remedies” and they don’t work. They didn’t work with another dog we had years ago either. Once they get a taste for fresh chicken blood it is darn near impossible to get it out of them. Drover is a beautiful boy. House broken, polite, comes when called, sits, etc. But he kills chickens. We tried to give him away but no luck. His days are numbered here at HPA.

Regular readers will know that we raise goats. We like Alpine Boer crosses. About ¾ Alpine and ¼ Boer so that we can milk the girls and the boys have some meat on their bones to eat. Last year we got an Oberhaslie (also a milk goat) and bred her to a Boer. She had triplets on “Easter” – Shadrack, Meshach, and Abednego. It was difficult for her.

This year she looked like she was carrying at least twins. And then she went down. As in – wouldn’t stand up.
For a few days. We did everything three different vets and four different goatherds told us to do. She went into labor – for about 48 hours. The first kid came out (with assistance) dead. The next morning I checked on her as I went out for a jog. She had a little goat foot sticking out of her. I pulled gently on it and it pulled back – “good, it’s alive”. I decided if it was still there an hour later when I got back I’d see what I could do. It was and I pulled and maneuvered the little guy as Brownie contracted – he was born!
He did great – for one day. Then he crashed too. We tried to help him but he died about 4 hours later. That was yesterday and Brownie is still not standing up - I think her days are numbered also. Well I know they are - even if she lives, I doubt we will be able to milk her and we certainly cannot breed her again. I'm not into feeding critters that don't produce - it sounds hard, it sounds cruel but it is farm economics. As much as we love them - they aren't pets. They are livestock.

Last year, someone gave us a registered, papered Red Boer. They are supposedly rare and expensive. Last night, we took her to a friend’s house. Our friend recently “got into goats” and also purchased a three year old Anatolian. She had about four goats and had a borrowed Boer billy so we took our girl over to get bred. The dog killed our goat sometime last night.

That’s just how it goes sometimes I reckon but, MAN! It’s been a tough couple weeks.

Today however we got a delivery of 60 chicks. Half Barred Rock roosters and half Barred Rock hens. I think they are about the perfect all around farmstead chicken. We’ll see. They have taken to their new temporary home just fine. Very soon though we are going to have to expand their personal space and we have not yet decided if we will get another trough or what. All of our other troughs are currently being used to water critters.

So that’s life here at HPA.

I’ll see ya out there!

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
- Eccleasiastes 3:1 - 8
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Mora Neck Knife

2011-03-05T11:58:00.000-08:00

For a few years in the early part of this century I was a Boy Scouts scoutmaster. It was a lot of fun and I think I was able to pass on some useful stuff to boys in my troop. One thing I instituted early on in my tenure was an addition to the weekly uniform inspection. In addition to checking for proper wear of the uniform at weekly meetings and prior to campouts, we would do a “Fire and Steel check”. When a Scout leader said “Fire and Steel!” the Scouts would have to hold up their knife and a means of starting a fire.

As an aside, I laugh (if I didn’t I’d likely weep) at folks on the Internet who say things like, “Boy Scouts cannot carry a sheath knife” or “Boy Scouts cannot wear camouflage”. My Scouts did both – and yes, at District events also.

Anyway, back to the post: I have always liked Mora knives. They are inexpensive and work well within their intended parameters. I do dislike the sheaths, however. They are cheaply made and look ugly. So, I decided to make one of my Moras “cool” from a scouting perspective.

Basically, I modified the sheath and hung cool do-dads on it. First I cut off the belt loop and then affixed a long leather thong to the sheath by wrapping it first with dental floss and then covering the whole with epoxied on leather. I left enough extra to cut fringes. You will notice the necklace is adjustable for length – sometimes I wore it over just my Boy Scouts shirt, sometimes I wore it over (and outside of) my parka.

A good friend gave me the little leather pouch which holds blood tubes stuffed with PJBs (petroleum jelly coated cotton balls) and a piece of wax impregnated cardboard. Both are excellent for starting fires. I also have a small Boy Scouts ferrocerium rod “sparker” and a striker fashioned from a bit of hacksaw blade (it works well at sparking and I could possibly use it as a small saw also). You will notice the handle of the knife is covered in part by a piece of bicycle inner tube. You can read Viking Pocket Fire to see how to use it. Yes, I modified the knife handle a bit – just sanded the paint off, then carved it a bit, sanded some more and stained it – all to “make it mine”.

My Mora is made from carbon steel and has a full, though skinny, tang. I sharpened the upper “false edge” and blued it with some liquid cold blue. I keep it oiled with vegetable oil so I am not afraid to slice and eat an apple or something. This knife can get wicked sharp – another long story entails me slicing my thumb to the bone –yes, to the bone (my bad). But it does need to be touched up a bit while in the field so I also attached a DMT flat diamond hone. If you click on the photo it will enlarge - you may notice that the top/back of the knife is nicked. I have started a few fires with flint (real flint - the rocks, not ferrocerium)with this blade as well.

Because I don’t want to open cans with my Mora, I also attached a P38 can opener. That completes it. Sure, I could have added other stuff. A whistle comes to mind but I really wasn’t trying to create a “survival necklace” I just wanted to have some useful stuff handy when I needed it. And that’s the key to my little contraption – I actually used the stuff on my neck knife ensemble. I doubt I would have used a whistle.

And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair. – Ezekiel 5:1
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

An Investment in the Future

2011-02-23T14:44:00.000-08:00

If you have been following the forums you may have noticed a post called February - No Consuming
Basically, we decided to try to spend no money this month beyond bills, gas, and groceries. We would not buy “stuff”; we would not go out to eat; we would not consume.

We failed. In the past week we have eaten out three times and today we put a dent in the credit card. For various reasons I won’t go into here, I may be transitioning job-wise and we wanted to splurge a bit and get some things we “need” before our paycheck disappears. Yeah, yeah, I know...

But honestly, we view today’s credit card splurge as more of an investment in our future than it as outright consuming. We have already started a veggie garden – we have turned some ground and planted Swiss Chard. This year, we are going to take our first steps into permaculture and we want to grow a HUGE garden. We are going to try and supply most of our own food. If you have been reading this blog for long you know we have rabbits, goats, and all manner of fowl so we should be okay meat and dairy wise but veggies...well, we are going to get serious.

Hence our investments of today. We bought those seed starting trays with clear plastic tops so light can get in but heat and water won’t get out. We already have several so we also bought some replacement little peat pellets that expand when you add water. Last year I kept these trays in an office and left the lights on 24/7 but this year they will be at home so we also bought some florescent lights – not “grow lights” but we hope they will work. We also bought some potting soil and small biodegradable pots which will hold some transplants.

We have a small orchard and two grape vines which we plan on adding to again this year but we aren’t ready to put them in yet. We have some blackberry vines that did well last year so we bought two more and four blueberry bushes. We had bushes in Washington State that did well and I didn’t know they would grow here on the prairie until last year when I saw some at a friend’s house. So we’ll see - I reckon in a couple years we may have enough blueberries to make a pie.

We also bought a bunch of seeds: everything from tomatoes to peppers, to turnips and corn and squash and on and on. We got some heirloom so we can save the seeds and some hybrid so that we can be assured a good crop. I learn more about gardening every year and for me at least, it is not something one can just read about in a book and then go do successfully the very first time. But based on last year, I have confident hope for a good season if God wills it.

We bought the gardening stuff on plastic (which we pay off in full every month) but I also had some extra FRNs so I stopped by a coin dealer and bought some silver bullion. We got one ounce rounds at a buck something over spot. The store will buy back silver at sixty cents under spot – not bad. Our dollars are worth less and less every day and silver is worth more and more everyday and I think it is currently under priced when compared with gold so we’ll see.

So did we consume? Yes, probably but the stuff we bought today should show us a decent return on our investment.

Hey, I’ll see ya out there!

He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth; And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart. – Psalm 104:14 - 15
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

National Winter BoB Exercise - Viking Edition

2011-02-14T06:21:00.000-08:00

The Seventh Annual National Winter BoB Exercise – Viking Edition was a success.
Conceived by a good friend of mine well…SEVEN years ago – the exercise is designed to test oneself and one’s gear in a winter setting.

The concept is simple: On a designated winter weekend (we get to designate it because we invented it) take your BoB out of your closet, head off to the nearest patch of wilderness and survive for three or so days with just what you have packed. Bring extra gear in your vehicle so that if you make mistakes they are not fatal. If you have to go back to the vehicle you “fail” but you live and learn. Go with friends if you can for the same reason and because it is a lot more fun that way.

In years past, we did this exercise in the Ozarks – there are several writes ups on this blog. Quite frankly, I tired of walking into or out of our training area in t-shirts (despite choosing dates in “deep winter” the temperatures were frequently in the 40s or 50s in the Ozarks) so I moved the Viking edition of the exercise north a couple hundred miles to northeastern Kansas. This year, week prior to our exercise, the temperatures were below zero and I was a bit concerned for those who regularly attend from the Deep South. Yes, we have people who drive hundreds of miles and more than half a day to attend these events.

When we linked up at the training area at noon on Thursday the temperature was probably somewhere around 15 degrees or so – it was COLD. We rucked up (or is that BoBed up?) and walked over hill and dale, through the snow to a preselected area. Enroute we had to cross barbed wire fences, horse jumps, downed limbs, creeks and all manner of terrain. New folks discovered what more experienced folks had also learned the hard way during past events – BoBs were too heavy to carry all day across terrain, and people were dressed to heavily for conditions. We stopped after about 15 minutes of hiking to allow folks to take off layers so as not to sweat. Sweating in cold weather is a bad thing as it condenses in clothing and makes one COLD once exertion ceases.

We saw several trails made by what appeared to be a mountain lion – very clear, very large cat tracks in the snow – pictures will undoubtedly show up in the forums…

We set up camp which consisted of folks picking out individual areas to set up their shelters, clearing snow, building fires and what not. Most grabbed a bite to eat and by then it was sundown. We had a group campfire where we attempted to solve the world’s problems and most folks turned in early – it was cold and they were tired.

The next morning we woke up, made breakfast (I ate instant oatmeal made with water from melted snow), broke camp and moved BACK to the link up area to pick up some folks who just could not get off work on Thursday (or who saw that the weather was supposed to steadily get warmer and decided to wait a day….just kidding)

We then moved to a different campsite even deeper in the woods and set up camp again. Later that afternoon, four other intrepid souls joined us (the girl in the party could not miss class that day so they waited for her) and easily tracked us to our camp site. It is difficult to “leave no trace” when moving in snow…. All in all, we had 14 people on this venture including a 10 year old boy and an 18 year old woman – both of whom “had never done anything like this before” and both of whom had a blast.

On Saturday we had range time where we fired various weapons at various distances and had a class on snares. That does not sound like a lot of activity to those who have not camped in cold snowy conditions but no one was bored. Just living in those conditions takes time. This was the second Winter BoB Exercise where I did not use my water purifier. The first was because it never stopped raining so I just gathered water off my tarp and this time I just melted snow the entire time.

O Most folks built fire reflectors and open-sided lean tos and this seemed to work well.
O Those without stools or camp chairs wished they had one.
O Clothes got wet (due to melting snow near warm fires) and had to be dried out.
Most folks cleared the snow under their sleeping arrangements which typically consisted of evergreen boughs topped by sleeping pads.
O One fellow did not bring a rifle – but he did bring a snow shovel. He was very popular.
O There was no precipitation while we were out – in fact, it was sunny so I rigged my Swack Shack with a fairly high profile to block the wind but allow me to sit by my fire and reflect heat onto my back – it worked perfectly. I think three people had Swack Shacks and I know some more will be buying one after seeing ours.
O Two guys had cook kits fashioned from #10 cans and picture hanging chain – they were the best things going for melting snow due to their size.
O I only ate one of my meals the entire time I was out there – but when I got back, I was hungry. We walked a lot but not all day so I’m sure I’d have eaten more if we were exercising more.
O I’ll say it again because it bears repeating – most BoBs were too heavy. Things were made more difficult by moving overland through snow. The only way you can truly appreciate how difficult is by getting out there yourself. I encourage you to do so.

I hope to see some of you next year for the EIGHTH Annual Winter BoB Exercise!

But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. – Matthew 24:20 - 21
........................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Just Cache It!

2011-02-09T06:59:00.000-08:00

Midnight Gardening…Making a deposit in the Earth Bank Land and Trust…Caching. A cache (pronounced “cash”) is basically a hiding place for valuables. To cache is the verb for hiding your stuff. You should become very familiar with the concept and techniques.

I have discovered a man, a Brother in Christ who “gets it”, and his YouTube post of yesterday “Banks Unannounced Warrantless Looting” got me to thinking about the subject of caches and caching.

Watch his video (watch lots of his videos – he teaches and preaches on a wide variety of things that readers of this blog will find interesting and useful) and think. I bet most of you realize that our dollar is, at any given time, just 72 hours away from being worthless. All it takes is the idea to catch in a few sheeple minds that these pieces of linen-paper are backed by nothing and the stampede will start.

I’d bet most of you also realize that the banks are not safe places to have things (whether they be dollars in an account or items in a “safety” deposit box”) when the balloon goes up.

When the emergency strikes – the banks will be closed and have contracted security with M4s, body armor, and Oakleys standing outside on the sidewalk – you are not getting in and you are not accessing your stuff that day.

The Patriot Act took your liberties – well, you gave them up, basically – and it can, and I submit, will, be used to take a lot more also. Snooping, expectation of privacy, collecting information on everyone, storing it, collating it, keeping it ready for The Day. If you think your stuff is safe in a bank – think again.

If you think your valuables (be that precious metals, cash, guns, jewels, food – whatever) are safe in your home or in your barn – think again. Common dangers like fire, or thieves, or floods are threats to your “stuff”. Let me tell you about another potential threat – your government gone crazy. It could happen. Oh yes, it could.

Our military and certain .gov organizations have gotten very, very good at searching houses, at searching villages, at looking for and discovering simple caches in obvious places. Those skill sets are not going away anytime soon.

You need to cache your valuables. Sooner rather than later. There are three main types of caches. Concealment caches are where you just hide stuff. I did it with wheat and you can read about it here. Another type is submerged – think a sealed PVC pipe anchored down with cinder bricks in a pond. The safest cache in my opinion is a buried cache.

I may do an article on the techniques of caching but you can find that information in a lot of places. The important thing for me to impart today, I think is for you to get over your FEAR of caching. Doing it correctly is not difficult and done correctly – your stuff will be very safe and secure. Consider some ideas I have used in the past:

House key
Everyone should know not to “hide” a key under the mat, above the door, under a flower pot or in the grill. But there may be a cause to hide a key. At one house we placed a key in two Ziplock sandwich bags and then “buried” it under about 3 inches of bark mulch that was around a tree in the backyard. It was easy to get to and secure enough.

Cash
We kept cash at one house in two Ziplock bags (a trend?), inside an old metal can tossed into the corner of a chicken coop. It wasn’t “hidden” and it looked like crap – guess why?

Handgun
At another place, we kept a loaded handgun inside…yep – two Ziplock bags, inside an old wooden box in a carport. There was a lot of junk in that carport.

Those are fine cache locations for things you want quick access to and are only trying to hide from run of the mill thieves. If they KNOW you have stuff hidden – you must be smarter.

If you are trying to cache stuff from organizations with means…you need to think like they do. They think about what most people do. Most people are afraid to cache their stuff in places they cannot see so they cache very close to their house – like in the flower bed. Most people, despite their perfectly fine waterproofing efforts are worried their cache will leak, so they cache stuff inside sheds, barns, or under pieces of sheet metal or plastic laying out and looking “junky”. These are the FIRST places professionals search. However, unless you have given them a reason, pros are not going to search your place. Do your own risk assessment.

Do not worry about “ground penetrating radar” – no, they cannot determine from space that you have a cache in your back forty. And even if they could (work with me here) how could they differentiate between your hole and a badger hole and a coyote hole and a Model T wheel, and a tractor disc and a…. Yes, they can, if they want to, go over your back yard with a device but there are not too terribly many of these devices and they have to have a really good reason (like they suspect you of having bodies buried out there or you being the regional arms dealer or something) to bring all that gear to YOUR little slice of heaven. They can also dig up your entire yard if they want to. If you are worried about that – don’t cache on your own property.

Here is the bottom line: You should have stuff at home or fairly nearby – accessible. Do not trust banks or storage lockers or similar places that rely on others to secure you valuables. Take personal responsibility. Consider the threat when deciding where to cache your goodies – fire, crack heads or organized people – and cache accordingly.

Tell ya what – why don’t you put together a “fake cache” – you know newspaper in the place of FRNs, quarters in the place of gold coins, some old tools in the place of firearms and go do a test cache. PROVE to yourself that you can do this safely and securely. Then go cache those valuables you have laying about your house.

In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light. – Job 24:16

.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Root Cellar 1

2011-01-27T14:31:00.001-08:00

The other day I was returning home late afternoon/early evening and all along my road were parked several working pickups. You know: the 4 door big white ones full of tools and gear in the back. A track hoe was parked in the field, there were a bunch of dudes standing around the boss’s truck, and I could tell they were wrapping up a long cold day.

I thought to myself, “I ought to ask them if they could do a small job for me for some beer or something…” But then I thought that their day was over, they were tired, and since the track hoe was parked – they were likely coming back in the morning. There is a gas pipeline underground near High Prairie Acres and I assumed they were working on it. I was correct.

As I exited my vehicle, my wife came out of the barn looking and acting strange. Her body language was just “weird” and she was motioning me to “come here” in a rapid manner. She obviously didn’t want to speak.

I immediately went to Code Orange and started scanning the area for trouble. I’m looking at her for signs of physical distress, I’m scoping out the guys by the trucks over there; I’m looking for other people possibly hiding in the area…(It was one of those days and I just defaulted to a more “tactical state”.)

She led me to our pasture off the drive and pointed at track hoe tracks going across our field and said in an excited whisper, “We need to call the Sherriff – look, they drove across our property”. She was still acting very strangely and I was thinking very fast.

I don’t care if they drove across our field – it doesn’t look like they did any damage…Sure, they don’t have an easement or permission but still, we are not like that…

I said, “So what?”

My wife said, “You should see what they did over here!”

So, looking back at the guys saddling up to leave for the day and thinking they were “getting away” I said, “Well call 911 NOW”. I figured I’d figure out what was going on later but we better get these guys who upset my wife fast or they are gonna get away…

We were still walking and following the tracks and my wife said, “they drove through our fences, and they drove into the bottoms and, THEY DUG YOU A ROOT CELLAR!” At this point she was giggling and jumping for joy.

We have been planning a root cellar down there for a long time. We want a place to store produce. Yeah, we actually want to use it as a root cellar. We had tried putting teenagers to work with shovels and they did dig a pretty good hole one afternoon but we figured out we would need more mechanical advantage.

I talked to folks about borrowing or renting a back hoe or a bobcat or something but we just never got around to it.

Until the crew showed up that afternoon.
When they all pulled up on the land next to ours my wife went over to the first truck and asked if they were the Boss. They said, “Nope, we’re the surveyors – the boss is in that truck.”

She went over there and said, “Are you the Boss?”

The guy said, “Yep – I’m the one you complain to.”

My wife said she had no complaints but heard that sometimes they would do a good deed if it was a small job and close by and described what she wanted. They said, “Sure” and drove that huge beast down into my bottoms and dug the hole. Took about 15 minutes and my wife says there is a Bobcat-sized rock in the dirt pile.

Anyway – a really tough part of the root cellar build is now done thanks to some really cool guys and a pro-active wife.

I’ll keep y’all informed of the progess.

And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety. – Job 11:18
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Show-n-Tell

2011-01-26T08:00:00.000-08:00

Last night our CiC group got together to do BoB layouts and show-n-tell. It was a lot of fun as well as a good learning experience. CiC is Christians in Community and we are a group that gets together fairly regularly to discuss and undertake activities related to Preparedness and Intentional Community from a Christian perspective.

These men and women are well ahead of the average person as far as preparedness goes – physical and spiritual. It is because I want everyone to be more prepared in these areas that I write this blog.

Below are some observations and lessons from last night.

First – it was FUN. It was good to get together again (we had taken a break for the holidays), share some food and just fellowship in a very safe, non-threatening environment. Ten people showed up and we laid out eight BoBs.

The last time I used my BoB I failed to put it completely back into a ready state. Hanging on the outside of it was my European mess bucket (cook kit) and I a.s.s.u.m.e.d it had been cleaned and was hanging on the outside so that I could repack it at my leisure. Yeah – NO. It was dirty and had trash in it (I carry out all my trash). It would still WORK – just not as well as if it had been cleaned and put away properly. Same with two pairs of socks. Hey, dry, dirty socks are better than no socks but c’mon, Joe!

Also, I “borrowed” my white gas camping stove from my BoB and failed to put it back. I’ll do that on Saturday.

As dirty and tired and busy as you are when you get back from an event – square your gear away before you forget about it.

Things to add
Based on what others displayed there are some things I will consider adding to my BoB:

o Sutures. One the one hand they are light, and cool. On the other hand I will very likely be in a non-sterile and even filthy environment and suturing dirt into a wound is probably a bad idea. I do have duct tape…

o Handcuff key. I will buy several and squirrel them away here and there.

o Fishing kit. EVERY time I get together with folks and look at BoBs I tell myself I’m going to add a fishing kit. I saw a pocket fisherman and a really neat deal made from a short section of PVC pipe.

o Maps – my maps are in my vehicles. I need to get another couple sets.

Looking at other folks’ gear I made some observations:
o Have a trowel to bury your waste. Chinamart sells a very good, very light, very tough plastic one for about a buck.

o Waterproofing. Waterproof your stuff – especially your paper products. Double Ziplock bags work well.

o Sleeping bag. If you live north of I-40 you better have on in winter.

o Tarps – have you practiced setting it up?

o Fire – can you build a fire with the gear you carry?

o Clothing. I have a lot of clothes in my bag – parka, sweater, rain suit. Here's why: If one plans on starting out fully dressed for the weather and carrying your BoB any kind of distance at all you will quickly find yourself warming up,...then getting hot....then overheating. You do NOT want to sweat in cold weather - it will come back and bite you when you sit down. So, being the smart bugger outers you are, you will remove layers....where will you put them? Have a plan for that. You could easily strap your clothing to the outside of your BoB - do you have cordage cut and ready to go to do so? Sure, you all have cordage - but getting it out and cutting it (especially if it's your tarp set up cordage) might not be the best idea. Experiment now and leave some straps or already affixed cordage on the outside ready to use.

A few folks had pouches they intend to retain if they had to dump/leave their BoB for some reason. Good idea. I also like to keep certain items on my person. I have a bag I call “pocket litter” that I transfer from the ruck to my body as soon as possible upon commencing to bug out. Is has a multi tool, Viking Pocket Fire, compass and so on. The more knowledge you have and skills you own, the less gear you will need to survive. Acquiring this knowledge base takes time and effort and does not happen over night.

Some folks were new to the whole concept of BoBs and going on the National Winter BoB exercise might not be the best idea. We will likely set up some easier training events once things start thawing out. Things like taking the BoBs to a park or piece of woods some morning, setting up camp, building fires, eating lunch, breaking it all down and going home to sleep. Maybe follow that up with a one-night campout where we also bring all the amenities – we can experiment and play with the BoB gear but enjoy other more civilized camping gear like coolers, chairs, stoves and what not as well.

Baby steps.

I'll see ya out there.

When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. - Matthew 24:15 - 18
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Rocket Stove

2011-01-17T15:28:00.000-08:00

I have been watching rocket stove videos on YouTube for some time now – they fascinate me.
These are stoves that are basically shaped in a J. The fuel goes in the lower horizontal end and the heat and flame exit the vertical part of the J at the top. They are extremely fuel efficient as all of the heat goes straight up to your pot. They are also efficient in that they take twigs and scraps.

I decided before Christmas that I’d eventually get around to making one. I think these would be just the thing for emergency off grid cooking. Some folks build beautiful ones. Some folks turn them into cob oven home heaters. Some folks charge way too much money for them if you want to buy one. Anyway, I had some free time today so here we go!

I won’t go into explicit detail concerning how I built mine – there is plenty of better stuff in video. Just go to Google video and type in “rocket stove” – you’re welcome. But the basics for mine were as follows. A friend from church gave me a popcorn tin for the outer container and I had some stove pipe of different diameters laying around for the guts. The wider pipe is vertical, the narrower stuff is the horizontal bit. I cut holes in the big popcorn tin and the vertical pipe with my angle grinder (thanks, Viking 1 for recommending I get one) and tin snips. I’m no artist with metal – the holes were ugly and ragged. This is just a prototype though.

On one video I watched, the instructor said to fill the outer container with vermiculite ( I THINK I remember that correctly – it’s not like I took notes). It is used to insulate everything and it doesn’t burn – I think.

So after cutting and fitting pieces it was time to go buy some vermiculite. Home Depot – no go. Tractor Supply – no go. Chinamart ...(Yes, I went there and I’m hanging my head in shame...) – no go. My wife said I should have ordered 50 pounds of it on the Internet a month ago because, “no one is going to have it now and we could use the excess in our garden”. Whatever...

Finally, the place I should have gone to FIRST – ACE Hardware – had it. At least they are semi-local and not huge corporate monsters...

Back home I assembled the pieces – they did not fit perfectly because I did not cut the holes perfectly so when I poured in the vermiculite and started tamping it around the stove pipe it spilled out of the gaps. So I filled the gaps with aluminum foil. Ugly. Un-professional. Hey, it’s a prototype and it’s for ME – I’m not selling them.

I drilled three holes just outside of the vertical pipe hole and put 1 ½” bolts through them to act as a pot rest or trivet or whatever.

Finally, I cut up a metal gallon soy sauce container (that was destroyed by sorghum but that is another story entirely) to serve as the shelf in the intake tube. You put the fuel on top of the shelf and air flows (rushes) in underneath it – thus creating the “rocket” I guess.

We needed to par boil some chicken for supper and I needed a test so we set it up outside and had a go. I rigged up a hasty wind screen of aluminum foil around the top to concentrate as much of the heat as possible on the pot.

Normally one would use twigs but our twigs are currently soaked so I split kindling even smaller to replicate twigs and used that. Start with a piece of newspaper shoved in the chute and feed the twigs across the shelf. Wow – these things DO work well. The only downside is it turned the botom of our pot black.

One thing I failed to do was insulate the bottom from the picnic table and now we have a scorch mark. Ah well, as my daughter says, “THAT’S why we can’t have nice things!”

Hey – I’ll see ya out there.

And Samuel said unto the cook, Bring the portion which I gave thee, of which I said unto thee, Set it by thee. – 1 Samuel 9:23

.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Out Behind the Woodshed...

2010-12-24T09:28:00.000-08:00

We have a wood stove in our home that was traded to us for a box of .45 Long Colt shells. Friends in the business installed our stovepipe for just the cost of the pipe and we use that little stove for a significant portion of our home heating.

You can see a picture of our stove (and a drying duck) here.

For the past few years I have stored our firewood at the end of our gravel driveway stacked between several T-posts. We covered it with plastic sheeting and tarps and tied them down but it was an unsatisfactory arrangement. The plastic would shred because of the elements, or it would blow off and our wood was always wet or covered in snow just when we needed it the most. So, I resolved to solve the problem. I decided to build a wood shed.

I am not a construction guy. I have had no formal or informal schooling and the only experience I have has been building stuff around High Prairie Acres. I’m sure those of you with experience can tell that right off from the pictures.

I built it from some spare lumber I had laying around and sided it with plywood that I bought. The roof is my standard roof construction – 2-by lumber covered with OSB and topped with tar paper and shingles. I’m getting better at roofing but I still don’t have it perfected yet – I used the wrong sheet metal strips for drip edge... It did go easier this time though because I now own an air-compressor and I borrowed my buddy’s roof nailer for the job. He also helped me to set the rafters - something I'm not that good at yet. I bought us (he and I) a big box of roofing nails and just the other day he stopped by to pick up his gun and I told him the nails were his to use. Barter.

I divided the shed into two sections – one for firewood and one for kindling. I envisioned filling the right side up to the roof with dead branches for use as kindling but I haven’t gotten there yet. I left the back open a bit so that my view of “the bottoms” would not be totally blocked. The overhang is such that rain and snow don’t really blow in there. If it becomes a problem I’ll probably close it off with clear plastic.

I thought the plywood siding would hold up to the elements okay but I was wrong. About a week after I built it, it rained and one side developed a big bulge from water swelling. Great... So I used some old orange paint I had and got a coat on. It was an atrocious color but it was free paint. I couldn’t stand looking at it though and planned to cover it with something better. Then it got cold for a couple weeks and I could no longer paint. When it warmed up, I used some left over white paint I had for a second coat. I figured I’d leave the wood “trim” white and paint the sides with a third coat the color of my house to make it match. Now I am thinking of siding it with vinyl siding – I’ve always wanted to learn how to do that and this is a small project. But for now, I’m done working on it.

It snowed today and this is the first day I’ve really appreciated the effort I put into building this shed. So that's it – nothing major for the blog this time but I thought you might appreciate that an average Joe can take some steps on his own to alter his environment – to improve his situation.

Have a Merry Christmas.
I’ll see ya out there.

And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings. – Leviticus 6:12
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

AR rebuild

2010-12-13T20:05:00.000-08:00

I have had a collapsible stock AR15 (it’s a civilian version of the M4 – sort of) for years. If you have known me at all either in person or via my writings on the net, you know I’m not big into goo-gaws. The only “accessorizing” I did to it was spray it with some Krylon and paint the front sight post yellow. Oh, and I added a “really highspeed sling” mounted to the rear and the front sight post with 550 cord. About a year or so ago I mounted a bright flashlight and a forward hand grip – the barrel gets hot when you rip through several magazines in rapid succession.

It wasn’t pretty. It didn’t spend hundreds of extra bucks doing the “Barbie for men” bit. And I could still shoot it better than most mortals.

But then I got an EOTech for Christmas one year. I had an ACOG back in the day and really liked it but I had to give it back and couldn’t afford my own. EOTechs are almost as cool – they are very fast for target acquisition out to a couple hundred meters. Well despite my booming business, I’m not made of money so I bought a cheaperthanmud “gooseneck” mount for my rifle and threw the EOTech on it. It worked great once I zeroed it....until I put it away and took it out again – then because the cheap mount would move, I’d have to rezero it. I can imagine what would have happened if I had to run, dive, and jump with it – it wouldn’t work.

I decided I needed/wanted a flat top upper. But they are too expensive. Then some guys on the forums suggested I just build my own. “Can I DO that? I’m not very mechanically inclined”. They all assured me I could.

They were right.

I bought an upper receiver for $100 and a back up/flip up iron sight (BUIS) for another $100. A friend gave me a sweet ambidextrous single point sling attachment back plate and another bud lent me a bunch of tools (punches, vice adapters, punch plates, etc) and a DVD explaining the process (he gave me the DVD). He also consulted with me on the project and provided a lot of help that way too.

I sat down and watched the DVD once and then got to work. First I removed the forward assist by merely removing a roll pin – then I stuck it in the new upper.

Next, I added the ejection port cover which was easy except for the 20 minutes I spent looking for a little C-clamp I dropped – it was tiny and it bounced far. I had a spare cover assembly so I left the original one on the original A2 upper.

Next up was removing the gas tube – again just removing a roll pin and it was out.

Then I had to remove the barrel by unscrewing big nut at the base with a special tool. I used the tool wrong and broke off a piece, emailed my bud asking for advice and he told me how to use it correctly. I felt pretty dumb but once I did it correctly, the barrel came right off and went right on the new upper. It was a bit tricky aligning it correctly to accept the gas tube but we got it done (I went to another friend’s house to use his bench vice – I don’t have one). Then I just replaced the gas tube roll pin and the upper was done. I used my original bolt, carrier and charging handle.

Replacing the old back plate with the new one that allows me to attach a single point release sling was easy – I had replaced a buffer tube before and new about the two springs to watch out for.
All in all (not counting looking for the C-clamp or the first 10 minutes trying to take off the barrel the wrong way) it probably took 2 hours to complete – but I was working slowly and methodically. It would be a lot faster if I did it again.

Anyway there she is. I’ll probably get a decent snap link or something for the single point release instead of the 550 cord I’m using now and it obviously needs new Krylon. More importantly thought, I need to zero the BUIS and the EOTech and I’ll be back in business.

Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend. – Proverbs 6:3
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

"I'll just hunt for my food"

2010-12-11T06:26:00.000-08:00

I'm a pretty good hunter – in addition to as many squirrels and rabbits as I want, I shoot a couple-three deer a year. This year I have been out hunting about 6 days and have not got ONE deer. This is mildly upsetting. See, we just bought a new upright freezer and I aim to fill it with venison.

While I've been out there hunting I've had the opportunity to do a lot of thinking.
Hunting takes TIME.
Time that I have now but may not have later.
Hunter Gatherer cultures didn’t really thrive. They are not known for robust arts and sciences programs. This is because when one is living that life – one’s LIFE is dedicated to obtaining calories. All day long every day.

Hunting is uncertain.
That's why they call it "hunting" and not "shopping".
During the Great Depression, whitetail deer and turkeys were about hunted to oblivion. Hard to believe, huh? It was through the efforts of many good people that these species made a come back.

There were a lot less people running around in the 30’s. If we hit really hard times the ubiquitous whitetail will disappear me thinks.

So, I want to shoot a few deer to fill my freezer. But if I don’t, I’ll buy half a side of grass-fed beef and call it good. Because I can. Now.
Counting on deer for food – well, I’m just not that good, I reckon.

I came up with a few recommendations whilst sitting in the cold and they make up the bulk of this entry.

Assemble a robust food stockpile. Get into food storage. Canned goods, stuff in jars, crackers, rice, beans, pasta. You know - the stuff you can buy at your grocery store. Buy a lot. Then go get a bunch of wheat and corn and put it up in buckets. Then get some grinders.

That would see you through a lot of problems. Not just The Dollar Crashed Overnight problems but “I just lost my job” problems and “It’s not safe to venture out” problems and so on.

But no matter how much food you store – it will be a finite amount. Some day it will run out. And you’ll go hungry...

To supplement your food storage, in addition to hunting, I recommend you learn how to trap (and find a recipe you like for possum - I saw two I could have run down and brained with a stick). I'm an okay - as opposed to "good" - trapper. I can without too much difficulty trap a coon or possum that decides it likes eating at Joe’s Chicken Coop. I got good enough trapping rabbits that I got bored with it. Then we moved to a place with not quite as many rabbits running around so I began raising my own. I even did some very limited fur trapping but I quit doing it because I really don't like skinning and fleshing. And, truth be told, I still have those skins in my freezer. I did the skinning but really didn’t do the fleshing -I need to bite the bullet and get a fleshing knife and practice some more...but this post is about food. (yeah, I suppose you could eat a fox or coyote...)

So in addition to working on your hunting skills, and trapping skills and building up a robust food stockpile, I have one more recommendation that can be summed up in a word: Sustainable.

Get yourself a garden going that will continue to produce year in and year out.
Get some critters that will provide food and more critters.
It is better to live out in the sticks – but that is not an excuse for not doing this.
You can raise a prodigious amount of food in your backyard or on your balcony.

You can raise rabbits in an apartment. Many municipalities are beginnig to allow chickens in the yard. Some forbid roosters which is not a problem – you don’t need roosters to make eggs.

Something else I have been investigating lately is Permaculture - sustainable agriculture. There is a lot to it. It fascinates me. Google it. Watch some videos.

Food is very important. We are blessed with not having to give it a whole lot of thought. Things may not always be so. Someday we could be focused on nothing but where our next meal is coming from.

If really hard times come (and I believe they eventually will)
Some will starve
Some will get by
Some will have excess to share with others
Where do you picture yourself in this situation?

Do some serious thinking.
Make a plan.
Get started.

And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it. – Genesis 27:5
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Land of the Free and Home of the Brave?

2010-11-26T07:03:00.001-08:00

I think not.

One word: PROFILE

Okay, one more word: CONDITIONING

Okay, last word: SHEEP

I got the photo from Prison Planet - there is a decent write up / article there as well.

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; - Isaiah 61:1
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Muttonfest

2010-11-21T05:54:00.000-08:00

I am tied in with a community where we are all doing our best to get ready for what is coming down the pike. We have skillsets that we bring to the table as individuals but it is when we gather together and share our combined knowledge, experience and capabilities that we truly begin to shine.

We have been trying for the past few months to involve each other in our mundane and not so mundane tasks. We are putting aside ego and reaching out for help in chores and unfamiliar tasks. This is not easy to do for most people – let alone for people who are trying to become more “self-sufficient”. As an aside – I have taken to calling it God-sufficient because we really do rely on what He provides – whether we realize it or not.

Members of this community do not have it all figured out – not by a long shot. We have an attitude of “Just Do It” and we jump into things without first analyzing them to death and figuring out all the angles. One example is sheep.

As you may have read in Sheep Shearing Sisters one family had sheep but really didn’t know a whole lot about them. They were figuring it out as they went. By involving community, we all got to learn something. This family decided it was time to kill, clean and butcher the critters and they didn’t know how to do it. Now, they are extremely intelligent folk (intellectuals, actually) but they are new to the ways of preparing meat. This did not stop them. They moved to the country and started working hard on a self-sufficient (some day) homestead and had to give up a lot to do so. They are not afraid. WE should not be afraid of stepping out just because we “don’t know how”.

My wife and I have butchered a lot of deer over the years and we were asked to help. A new member of our crew has actually butchered sheep in the past and stepped up to lead this effort. This gave him a way (as a “newbie”) to make a very real contribution to the community. It is important to let everyone contribute. It is important to find or create opportunities for people to participate. So we set a date (yesterday), sounded the assembly horn and met up at the farm to make meat. We invited folks who were not yet part of our little group because community in many ways is about including not excluding folks. Men, women, children and babies all showed up. It was good to observe people fall into community patterns of watching out for each other’s children, breaking into sub-groups to accomplish certain tasks and so on. The day was filled with rhythms of earlier times.

Catching the sheep was our first challenge. These were not very tame and I really don’t know how the women got them into the shearing shed before. We finally corralled them, the owner shot them with a .22 in the X formed by imaginary lines between ears and opposite eyes, and we dragged them up into a pickup for transport to the hanging tree.

When I shoot deer, I field dress (gut) them in the field and then when I get home, I hang them by the back legs. We hung the sheep by their necks, skinned them and then gutted them into a large bucket made out of an old 55 gallon plastic barrel. The woman who owned the sheep kept the heart, liver, kidneys and lungs (lung soup!). I’d have to be real hungry… She also saved the fat to render into lard or tallow or something.

We saved the hides for tanning later and then proceeded to cut up the critters. We butchered the first one “the professional way” in that we used a saw and made cutlets, chops, leg o’ lamb and so on. We did the second one the way my wife and I do deer basically removing major muscles using only knives.

While one group was butchering outside, another group was inside dealing with the individual cuts – wrapping some for freezing, canning some, grinding some. All the while children were involved to one extent or another although they did poop out rather early and retire to the television to watch some children’s videos. The older boys got a fire going to smoke some the meat.

There was a big pot of chili going and others brought soup, rice, desert and so on so we did take breaks to eat and relax a bit before getting right back to it. All in all it was a long tough day but it was a lot of FUN and it felt real. It felt so much more real than “Black Friday” is going to feel to the masses. That’s my assessment anyway.

Hey, I’ll see ya out there.

These are the beasts which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat, The hart, and the roebuck, and the fallow deer, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the wild ox, and the chamois. And every beast that parteth the hoof, and cleaveth the cleft into two claws, and cheweth the cud among the beasts, that ye shall eat. – Deuteronomy 14:4 -6
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Woods Walkin'

2010-11-18T09:17:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we were experiencing Pacific Northwest weather in that it was cold and rainy. Temperatures were in the forties with wet snow predicted. I had a couple of hours free which is a very rare thing for me these days. What to do?

Woods Walkin’. I put on some old cammo clothing and a boonie hat to keep the rain off my glasses and then I remembered my Rain Boonie! This is a great bit of kit a friend of mine invented that I had not yet really had an opportunity to try out. It’s basically a light weight camouflage (Multi-cam), waterproof cover for a boonie hat. You can read all about it and get one very inexpensively from Survival Solutions

Next I grabbed a shotgun I have shot a lot but with which I have not hunted very much. It’s an old Harrington and Richardson 12 gauge single shot that my girlfriend (THEN, now she’s my wife) bought me for a present when I graduated from college. It has a full choke. I remember thinking that thing kicked an awful lot when I first shot it. Of course, back then I didn’t weigh as much and didn’t know nearly as much about firearms as I do now and really, had very little experience with them at that time. I also primarily shot 00 Buck through it because "that was cool".

Over the years it became the Kitchen Gun and we killed a few snakes and a possum with it. Eventually, I got a wild hair and decided to paint it cammo. It fell from its perch once and the plastic trigger guard was broken. Then one day it broke pretty good. The fore grip is attached to the barrel with a screw that goes into a threaded tube permanently attached to the barrel. That tube busted off. Without it, the fore grip will not stay attached. Without the fore grip, the shotgun will come apart (in fact, to disassemble it, one removes the screw, removes the fore grip and then removes the barrel from the action.

I did a hasty repair job with 100 mph tape and it seemed okay. I really wasn’t sure if it would work but decided to take it and a pocket full of high velocity 5 shot shells along on my Woods Walkin’ in case I saw any critters for the stew pot. I really like this gun for its lightness and just overall handiness but when I am seriously hunting I try to stack the odds as much in my favor as possible and usually use a pump gun which allows for faster follow up shots. Well, that's the theory anyway - the reality is I rarely take/need a second shot.

It was a wonderful afternoon. As I entered the woods the rain was intercepted by the upper story tree branches and so wasn’t pelting me nearly as hard as it did on the walk across the pastures. Since everything was wet it was possible to move very quietly. I figured I would spend the time working on my ninja stalking skills, scout a little for deer (season opens for modern rifle in a couple weeks), and think the big thoughts. About 5 minutes into my journey I saw a big ol’ squirrel. BAM! The gun held up fine.

I waited a bit to see if he had any friends and then slowly made my way up to where he fell. Yep, he was big. I hung him up on a tree branch to keep him out of the reach of coyotes and continued on my walk. I figured I’d pick him up on the way back. I didn’t get 50 feet before I busted a rabbit from cover. BAM!

Now, when I shoot, I immediately reload. This time however, my action would not break open. Seems my 100 mph tape fix was only temporary. Well, my hunt was ended so I retraced my steps and went home to clean the brace of critters.

I ended up cooking them both down until I could remove the bones. Into the broth I added onion, garlic, parsley, hot peppers, Worchestshire sauce, salt and black pepper and the special ingredient…….mustard greens. That’s them in the background of the photo above. By the time the meat had simmered enough to get soft and easily give up the bones (longer for the squirrel than the rabbit) the broth had much reduced – as I intended. I put it all in the fridge and tonight I plan on rolling out a dough and making a pot pie for supper.

So, that was my afternoon - I got out and about despite the weather, tried some new gear (it worked very well – as advertised); tested a field expedient repair (it worked – twice); worked on some stalking skills; scouted for deer (found a rub and a scrape about 30 yards into the woods); brought home meat for the family; and had some quality “alone time”. Not bad.

I’ll see ya out there.

And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter; slay and eat. – Acts 11:7
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Teach Your Children Well

2010-09-25T19:52:00.000-07:00

You who are on the road
Must have a code that you can live by
And so become yourself
Because the past is just a good bye.

Teach your children well,
Their father's hell did slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you'll know by.

Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.
- Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young

Today, Viking Services LLC conducted a basic pistol course for children. Originally four girls were signed up by their parents who said they were coming but at the last minute two didn’t show. This is why for most courses we charge in advance. We made an exception in this case but I reckon we learned something today too.

The two young ladies who did show up were a delight. It can sometimes be difficult to train children and as an instructor you never really know “what you are going to get” as far as attitude, behavior and so on. Both girls today were bright, well behaved, polite, and eager to learn. Both also just so happened to be homeschooled - I don't think that is a coincidence. They were a joy to teach and are a strong testament to their parents.

The course began in a classroom where safety, handgun characteristics, and so on were discussed and then moved to the range where the young students shot a variety of targets from a couple different positions – mostly sitting supported. Both girls were zapping their targets with regularity and both not only improved during the course but had fun as well.

The weather was looking very iffy when we began with temps dropping and dark clouds gathering but the rain held off until range time was completed. In fact it was perfect weather – not too hot, not too cold and no sun blazing down into eyes.

Firearms instruction is very important. Being able to safely and accurately shoot guns is something every American should know how to do. Sometimes as parents we are not the best teachers for our own children. In this instance, both girls had parents in attendance but the instructor was Morri who specializes in teaching women and children. She has a knack for being able to connect with these students and does a great job.

The time to learn is now.
The time to train is now.
This goes for your kids as much as it does for you.

I’ll see ya out there.

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. – Proverbs 22:6

.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Burgled!

2010-09-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, good friends of ours had their home broken into. They were shocked, saddened, and angry. I was called to the scene and while there spoke with the responding law enforcement officer at some length. It seems that burglaries are on the rise in these parts and the techniques are pretty much the same. As our economy continues to deteriorate, we can expect to see more of these crimes. So, I figured I’d share what I learned with y’all in the hopes that you can take some steps to harden your defensive posture.

Most break ins occur in the mid-afternoon – around 2:30. The targeted home has been cased for at least a week. Out in the country, one cannot just “hang around” – surveillance must be mobile. Criminals drive by and note numbers and types of vehicles, where they are parked and so on. They note activity patterns, kids, dogs, neighbors and so on. Many times they will reverse look up the phone number from the address (something that used to be available only to law enforcement) and they will call the home repeatedly at different times to determine when someone is home.

When they show up to break in, they don’t want to be caught – these are intended to be property crimes – they don’t want to be confronted. They will typically pick a time when they think you are not home but to make sure, they will have a ruse and drive boldly into the driveway, get out, and knock on the door. One crew was surreptitiously filmed and they knocked on the door loudly for 5 minutes. Then, because the home was obviously alarmed, they threw a patio brick through the rear window and took off. They did this first to make sure no one was napping, then to test the alarm system and any response. They returned 15 minutes later and knocked on the door several times again. Then they broke in.

These guys (and gals) operate in crews of two to four. After they determine no one is home they kick the front door in. The vast majority of dead bolts go into a crappy piece of pine. Long screws and metal strike plates don’t matter. My friends’ door took two kicks (footprints) but the frame shattered and the door was split. It was a metal clad door. If there is an attached garage they check it immediately – if there is space, they may pull their car into it. Most of the time though, after they gain entry and don’t have any initial problem, the driver takes the vehicle and moves away from the home to a place (or route) where they can keep an eye out. They communicate via cell phone.

The burglars move immediately to the master bedroom and toss it – drawers are pulled out and dumped on the floor, closets are gone through, beds are looked under. Goodies are thrown on the bed and when the pile gets big enough, the sheet/blanket is gathered at the corners and hauled to the pickup point – either the garage or near the front door.

Desks are tossed – they are looking for papers, records and keys. Computers are taken. My friends had all their spare keys nicely labeled – one set was for their brand new car in the garage. The thieves loaded their stuff into their car’s trunk, in the garage out of site. Speaking of keys – do not keep the keys to your gun cabinet on top of said cabinet… yeah…

These break ins typically last less than 15 minutes. When they are ready to go, they call the pickup car and it drives into the garage (preferably) or as close to the front door as possible. It gets loaded and they take off. This is a very dangerous time to confront them. If you show up while they are tossing your place, the inside people typically run and get picked up by the car a ways away. If you confront them while they are loading the car it could get violent.

Many times, the burglars will strike again within 48 hours. They saw things they want to get “next time” and most people don’t feel safe at home and so they stay away until the doors get fixed, alarms get installed and so on. They took all my friends’ spare house keys, keys to the rental they own and keys to their other vehicles…

Take aways:

Neighborhood watch. Get to know your neighbors. Watch each other’s homes and drives. Report suspicious activity, people, and vehicles. Let passersby see that you see them.

Don’t be obviously home or gone. Install a gate and keep it locked all the time – not just when you are gone. Do not tie a yellow ribbon on your tree if your spouse is away serving the nation. If you have more than one vehicle – drive and park them randomly. If you can always keep them out of site that is best.

Alarm system. If you have one - make sure it works and is turned on.

Dogs. Two big, barky outside dogs are a powerful deterrent. A little yappy inside dog may deter burglars in the city but not so out in the sticks – no one will hear it and the burglar is not afraid of Fi-fi.

Doorframes. Reinforce them with oak and steel.

Telephone. Don’t answer it if you don’t know who is calling. Either get caller ID or let your recorder pick it up – every time. Don’t let people know if you are home or not through your telephone.

If a stranger knocks on your door in the middle of day be extremely wary. Get an excellent description of the people, vehicle, and license number. Keep a pad and paper or camera at your front door. Remember – they will have an “excuse” to be there and don’t want a problem. When confronted they will leave – get the info and report it.

Keys. Keep your spare keys hidden and secured.

Computer. Keep records somewhere other than in your computer – at least a spare set.
Have a plan to lock down your accounts in the absence of your computer.
Have a plan to contact your insurance agent – in the absence of your computer.

Make a video of all your stuff. Walk through each room with the drawers open and slowly film everything. Keep a copy of this video somewhere other than your home.

After a burglary, keep someone on the premises 24/7 or consider removing remaining valuables to an alternate location for awhile. My friends disabled the vehicles they don’t normally use.

When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils. – Luke 11:21 – 22
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Vikings in the Rain

2010-09-11T07:50:00.000-07:00

Last night, a couple Vikings and I were at a dinner party with several other folks (a real dinner party - lasagna, wine, desert - not a campfire with venison on skewers although that would have been good too...) when a pretty good thunderstorm blew in. We had finished eating and were gathered here and there "having adult conversation" which was nice, when the house started booming and the lights began flickering.

And then my wife remembered she had her goats tied out. You see, everyday, she removes them from their pens and ties them in the woods and woodline so they can browse on shrubbery ("Bring us, a SHRUBBERY!" - sorry, stream of consciousness there...) during the day. Goats don't like being wet. Goats can get respiratory infections and DIE - fairly easily. So the goats had to be brought in. In the pouring rain.

Our daughter had called from a friend’s house and said the rain was coming in sideways. So we quickly started our goodbyes and a woman (fellow Viking) said, "I'll come help". Wow, in the pouring rain, in the dark, goats on rope (a "goat rope").......she's cool that way.

Truth be told, I actually wanted to leave anyway - I had gone to bed late the night before and then gotten up at O-dark-thirty and done Crossfit (a particularly brutal one)then had come home and continued working on my super wood shed - hauling pieces of OSB and 2x8 lumber (overkill, I know but it was free), cutting, carrying, lifting, screwing, hammering) and now with a belly full of lasagna ....I was starting to get sleepy.

So we left.
In the sideways pouring rain. Reminded me of Southeast Asia and the monsoons.
We got home and what greeted us at our door?

A baby copperhead slithering along the wall.
I didn't want to shoot into the concrete so I ran inside and secured a fireplace shovel - you know those cute little brass ones - and came back out to dispatch the critter while my wife changed into her goat-ropin' clothes (which are quite different from dinner party clothes). Yeah....think that snake was still there? Nope.

So I go hunting - in the rain. I look behind the box we built for mail packages to be delivered to (so our dog would not eat them) - not there. I looked behind the mini dog house (why do we even HAVE this?) – not there. I look behind the large Vari-kennel with plastic draped over it that serves as our newest puppy’s home - not there. Did I mention it was raining on me? No longer sideways rain but rain nonetheless. Then I look in the puppy house – we have a t-shirt and some blankets in there for him – but he really rather enjoys living in the barn with the cats which is where he was. No snake.

“Okay, forget it – it’s gone”. Yeah, right - about a week ago, my wife blew the head off a 38” long copperhead about 20 feet from this area – how many babies can one have at one time?
But I’m done. Our friend showed up and the ladies headed off into the slackened rain to round up goats. Then they milked some of them. I, on the other hand, changed into lounging attire (shorts and t-shirt) poured myself a glass of Pinot-Noir and settled down to watch a Chris Janowsky video another Viking had given me the day before.

I could feel the tension slipping away (see, despite my chosen lines of work, I’m actually an introvert and after a lot of public “face time” I really crave some quiet alone time) and the sleepiness creeping up on me. I may not finish this video…

And then my wife burst in the back door. “JOE!” Uh, oh – that tone.
“Joe – Bobcat!”
I love my wife – she knows how to communicate very well with very few words when she needs to.

We have had a juvenile bobcat stalking our critters for the past two weeks. It is particularly fond of ducks. My wife got a shot off at it a week ago but it was 8-shot from a 20 gauge at about 30 yards so it really didn’t do anything but scare it away.

As I slip on shoes she explains that she found a big pile of duck feathers out by the bee hive and then as they were looking around they could see the bobcat’s eyes in some bushes. He really is a dumb bobcat – the night my wife shot at it she saw it chasing a duck, it saw her, she went inside and grabbed her shotgun, came back out and it was still there.

I grabbed a Maglite and my deer rifle and off we jogged – in the rain. Our friend was down in the bottoms by the bees and was shining her headlamp at the bushes. "It’s right in there!"

We shined lights around and THERE – I saw the glowing eyes – rifle up, and…..they weren’t there. I also did not like the angle as my neighbor’s house is in the direction I was aiming and even though he is about a quarter mile away – a .308 round would get there very fast. So I maneuver a bit to the flank and we continue to shine our lights – this time I’m holding the Maglite under the rifle and looking through the scope. Big lesson here – I’m going to get a light mounted on that puppy (I’ll take it off for deer season so I don’t get in trouble). One of the women saw the eyes and called me over – this cat was only about 20 yards into this very thick brush – and hanging around – we figured he had the carcass in there with him.

Anyway, I sent my wife back to the house to get her shotgun which has a light on it and told her to make sure it was loaded with buckshot. She came back and decided she was “going in there after it”. Well, she just took a Gabe Suarez shotgun class so she was feeling pretty confident. Through the barbed wire onto my neighbor’s land (we have a free ranging agreement) and into the bushes – thick bushes.

BAAM!
I’ll shorten a long story – she missed. She saw the eyes in her gun light and fired but her shotgun is shooting left (so they told her at the course last week – I need to check it out). Our friend and I clambered through the fence and we searched the brush for awhile – in the rain, in the cow pies, in the urine from some critter (cows?, deer?, the cat?) that was all over the bushes, in the poison ivy……..in shorts). My wife was angry – angry woman with a gun – look out! But we decided to call it a night. Our friend went home, my wife and I took a shower and went to bed.

I am happy to report I don’t have poison ivy (symptoms) this morning.

Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house. – Ezekiel 12:2
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Hunker Down

2010-09-08T08:41:00.000-07:00

Comet strike, nuclear war, Yellowstone caldera, pandemic flu – pick your poison: life as we know it could change so much and so fast that people would not be able to comprehend reality for some time. Shock and awe. Real shock and awe – not what George II and his administration (and the oh, so compliant media) called the opening volleys of the second US-Iraq war…

People think (actually, no, they don’t. People HOPE) they will have enough “warning” to “bug out”. Well, there will be very little to no warning and the vast majority of people have absolutely no plan (I did not say "no dream”) to bug out to a viable location or in a viable manner. “I’ll just run to the Chinamart and pick up those supplies I have been putting off purchasing.“

I know, poor dears…there are only so many hours in a day and there is only so much disposable income. Priorities, don’tcha know? I mean we have to go out to eat lunch with our girlfriends, or to the ball game with our buds; we have to get a new car – the old one is almost 7 years old! And we need a new flat screen, and we need to take a vacation – we deserve a break from all the stress….

Yeah, yeah –whatever.

TEOTWAWKI will come in a blink. It will be a no-notice examination. Pop Quiz. 3-2-1, GO!
DOH!

People are going to go crazy. Nuts. Gonzo. But not at first. At first they will stand still, mouths agape and WONDER. Wonder what just happened. Denial – “this cannot be happening!”. They will seek consensus (because sheep are herd animals, after all…) and then it will start setting in…slowly at first like the cold trickles dripping from snow melting off a warming roof…and then it will turn into a raging torrent – PANIC!

Run around! Yell, shout and scream! Pick this up, no! Grab THAT! “Get outta my way!”. Car crashes, fights and yes, shootings…

Very quickly a certain type of human will see the possibilities and start enacting their will... On the confused and bleating sheep. I speak of Predators. Criminals, sociopaths. They will quickly realize that the rules have changed. They adapt faster than do sheep. They already disregard most rules – but they do fear capture and prosecution. Those fears will be gone – and they will start hunting. Ruthlessly. Predators realize action beats reaction. They will not hesitate to strike.

Many of them will understand strength in numbers. They will band together before the sheep stop panicking and figure out the same thing. They will be several steps ahead when the sheep do start flocking up. For a while there is going to be a feeding frenzy out there. A blood bath.

And you do NOT want to be out there.
No, you don’t.
You need to be prepared to hunker down. Stay home (.gov is on track here). Go to ThreatCon Red or whatever you call it. Lock the gates, board up the windows, and prepare to repel boarders.

Do not go out there. Let the people panic. Let them shout and push and fight. Stay out of the chaos. Stay home.

I’m betting that after about 60 days things will have calmed way down. The weak will no longer be panicking and endangering all those around them. A lot of the predators will have been picked off. Good people will have figured out how to defend themselves and some kind of “New Normalcy” will ensue. Of course, the Predators still roaming around will be a lot tougher and smarter – but there won’t be near as many of them.

Are you prepared – RIGHT NOW – to hunker down for 60 days?
Thirty? Two weeks won’t be nearly enough – most people who survive the initial whatever will start getting very hungry about two weeks into it. Previously nice, normal people will become vicious rats with beady black eyes and razor sharp teeth. Oh yes they will. They will have to feed off of each other for a bit before they get sorted out. You don’t want to be playing in those sewers.

Water
Medicines
Food
Yes, some ammo also

Tic, Toc….Tic, Toc….Tic, Toc….

I’ll see ya out there (after a while).

Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. – Revelation 18:9 - 11

.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Tiny Houses

2010-09-02T07:36:00.000-07:00

I have a friend who lives in a small house.
It's not "tiny" but it is very, very small - especially when considering the three kiddos.
She lives there very comfortably and has got me considering a few things - which I'll share with you.

Tiny houses have a lot to offer:
They are inexpensive to build
They are quick to build
They are simple – and we need more simplicity in our lives...
They are easier to clean and maintain
A tiny house beats a large tent - hands down.

But I have WAY too much stuff to even consider living in one ......for now.

I have a lot of stuff because I live PACE - I have for example 4 shovels, 4 rakes, 2 chain saws and multiples of most things: cars, clothes, water filters, cooking implements and so on.

I have a lot of stuff because I have been economically blessed.
I have a lot of stuff because I have been at this a very long time.
And I don't want to give it up just to live in a tiny house or even a small house.
I LIKE my current house.

But we have been considering (to various degrees) .......moving.
So that's ONE
.............

I think tiny houses are a great idea for those who bug out.

Why? Because bugger-outers won't have a lot of stuff (typically). The concept of bugging out (according to Joe) is to MOVE!
Right now! Quickly! When it's time to go - GO!

Flee or die.

So, you won't be able to carry a lot of stuff.
So your destination dwelling, unless you have pre-stocked it (and most cannot afford to), need not be large.
.......................

Therefore, I think if one is expecting company during some Bad Time in the future - building some tiny houses now would be a good idea.
Some people call these tiny houses sheds. I have several on High Prairie Acres.
I have a horse tack shed, a POL shed, a wood shed, a goat shed, and well, you get the idea.

But if we are going to move our friends and their families into our sheds we have to consider some needed modifications– if not now, at least easily and quickly accomplished when the company shows up. One big one is ventilation. No one would want to live in my tack shed right now – it is stiflingly hot. And when you shut the door – it’s dark. Another consideration is heat – it gets cold here on the prairie. Insulation and a wood burner would be very nice. One may want to consider “kitchens", toilets, showers, and what not also.

Lest this seem overly harsh to my potential future guests – I can switch perspectives. I would be much happier living in a tiny house on the property of one of my friends than I would be crashing on his living room floor... with my family.... for possibly a very long and indefinite period of time. I would be very happy to have in or adjacent to that tiny house the ability to prepare my own meals, have some quiet time, and take care of personal hygiene.

I think if one has a bug out location selected, building a tiny house there now would be a good thing – it would sure beat living in a tent. It would be better than waiting until one had enough money to build the vacation home or super cabin because we may not have much time.

Anyway, that’s what I have been thinking about for the past 24 hours. I just started a discussion you are welcome to join if you desire.

I'll see ya out there!

And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. – Joshua 24:15

.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Roll With The Punches

2010-08-20T06:49:00.000-07:00

This has to be some kind of a record for me, blog-posting wise! What is this? Three in less than a week? Lot's happening, I reckon...

Sunday.
The final day of Viking Fest 2010.

It started by me excusing myself and going to sleep.
We were all sitting around talking about things Vikings talk about on events like this and I noticed it was almost midnight (Saturday). By the time I got myself sorted out and tucked in it was morning (albeit very, very EARLY morning).

I awoke just prior to dawn. Don't sleep beyond dawn - Dawn's when the French and Indians attack. (Ranger Vikings will understand...)
I broke down my personal camp, did a light police call, packed up some group gear, said goodbye to the Vikings who were awake and took off.

Drove an hour home, emptied the vehicle, took a shower and got ready for church.
Went to church - I have duties there...
Enjoyed the time fellowshipping and worshiping not only with my church family but also with several (oh, about 15 or so) Vikings who also chose to attend.
Fellowshipped (which is Christian-speak for hung out and chatted with) folks after church.

Went home, changed, and my son and I drove an hour back to VikingFest to do a final police call (thank you Vikings who left after I did - you did a great job) and officially check out of our location. It was nice spending time him, just us talking.

During the hour long drive home, my truck started acting funny.
Speed up, slow down, sputter, cough, wheez. We stopped to check it out.
The oil was low (my bad - my daughter drives the truck daily but that's no excuse - I was the operator for this trip)
Put some more oil in and got on our way.
LESSON ONE: Carry fluids and a funnel

It did okay - only.
Told the family, "No one drives Big Red until I check her out" (turns out is was over a quart low on oil and about two quarts low on transmission fluid
LESSON TWO: DO routine maintenance - check your fluid levels. (and double check other operators)

Then I helped my son load a Suburban and trailer I borrowed from another Viking to take my son's stuff down to college.
Did I mention it was hot?
Did I mention I usually chill out and decompress after church on Sundays?
Did I mention I was starting to wear down and get sleepy?

We load up the trailer and Suburban and then my wife drives that rig while my son and another Viking follow along in his car. The trip to his school is 2.5 hours.

Well, it is supposed to be....

As we drive (about an hour into it) I smell "the truck in front of us" (what truck?) brakes.
You know, that burning rubber smell...
Well, it's sort of like a burning rubber smell
It goes away.
I smell it again (no air conditioning - 4/55 A/C but whaddya want for a loaner moving rig?)
"Hmmm, maybe we are passing a meth lab" I rationalize
We are far out in the sticks...
An hour from anywhere
and the smell gets worse
and I hear a whinning
and it gets worse
and the smell gets worser (I know)

So we stop.

I do a sniff check...
I look under the vehicle
"Oh WOW!" It looks like the real differential is about to catch fire - it is SMOKING
and leaking.

OUT OF THE CAR!
My wife and daughter bail out on the side of the highway.
"Call Viking One (the Viking we borrowed it from)"
LESSON THREE: Have commo. We did. I love cell phones.
"Ask him if he as a fire extinguisher in the rig" (no)
LESSON FOUR: Have a fire extinguisher in the rig.

It cooled down.
My son and Viking Two (the Viking with him) are both good mechanics.
They tighten the lugs around the differential - "very loose"
"We need Gear Oil"
LESSON FIVE: Carry ALL necessary fluids
My son is not a Viking per se - but he is my son.
HE had gear oil in his little car
But no funnel
or hose

Jehovah Jireh - there is a piece of plastic tubing laying RIGHT THERE next to our pulled over Suburban.
There is also a discarded plastic drink container.
"Call Viking One back and ask if he has duct tape in the rig" (we keep asking because we buried his stuff with my son's stuff when we loaded it up for the trip to college.
LESSON SIX: Do a pre-operational check of any vehicle you are getting ready to drive.
Nope - he switched everything over to another rig.
LESSON SEVEN: Duct tape rules the universe - have some

But he DID have electrical tape in the door pocket.
We improvised a funnel with a long tube (necessary for adding gear oil)
LESSON EIGHT: Learn to improvise.
Gear oil is thick, it flows like molasses running uphill in February....
It took a while.

When we stopped I made everyone exit the vehicle.
I had watched this video just days before.
Of course my son and Viking Two are UNDER the dead Suburban on the side of the road.

We pulled two yellow plastic bins from the trailer and put them out behind the trail vehicle (my son's car) for some visibility.
We hung Viking One's little boy's life jacket from the open trunk lid of my son's car - it waved about and was yellow.
LESSON NINE: Make sure sleepy, inattentive drivers SEE you on the side of the road.

We use all the gear oil we have and it's still about a half inch low - but it was empty before - and still driving. Sort of.
We call Viking One who owns the rig and he says, "proceed on your journey."

We do.
For about 10 miles.
Smell
Bad Smell.
Noise
LOUD CONTINOUS NOISE
Pull over - the spider gears are by this time no doubt little chunks of metal.
I call Viking One - "Dude, she's dead on the side of the road"

Viking One: "COOL - I'm launching now - be there in an hour"
He really was excited - he LIKES emergencies (he's weird that way).
We have an hour or so to kill...

We put the stuff back out as warning signals...
LESSON TEN: Have flares/ warning triangles etc. in your rig.

We pull lawn furniture from the trailer and sit up stream from the vehicles on the side of the road about 10 yards in on the grass (that was a far as we could really get as this was a Toll highway with fencing and what not). I figured if some bad driver honed in on the parked car and drove right into it (ask a Trooper - it happens) that stuff would all "flow" down stream and we would not be hit...

What to do for the next hour?
Anyone have any cards?
My Daughter: "Heck yeah - I have Vans Warped Tour cards in my purse."
My Son: "We will be here an hour or so, I have a Risk game in my car - let's play THAT."
So we did.
For an hour.
On the side of the highway.
A Highway Patrolman drove by - he didn't stop - must have looked like we had it under control.
LESSON ELEVEN: Don't panic - roll with the punches.

...so there we are playing Risk and it's starting to get dark....

I have Australia and a good chunk of Asia;
I took Egypt so my wife no longer has Africa;
I'm trying to decide if I'm going into Europe or North America next..
LESSON TWELVE: Risk is an offensive game - if you are not attacking you are gonna lose.

And up rolls Viking One with Big Blue - the 4wd Suburban he uses to snow plow with - a powerful beast.
We quickly put the Risk game away and go over to see him.

He unhitches the trailer and moves the first Suburban farther off the road.
He hooks Big Blue up to the Trailer.

He then pulls from Big Blue his BoB and (I kid you not) Shrimp Cocktail.
"Okay" he says "go ahead and take off - Joe (our mutual friend) is coming with his truck and a trailer - I'll wait here."
We give him a lawn chair and he goes to the same spot we were happily munching away
We take off.
LESSON THIRTEEN: BoB: Don't leave home without it.

The rest of the trip to Collegetown, USA was uneventful - Praise God.
Viking One got picked up, and towed his dead Suburban home where it will be worked on this weekend.

And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. - Luke 21:34
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Sheep Shearing Sisters

2010-08-19T15:56:00.000-07:00

Sisters in Christ, that is.

A few of the Crew ladies got together today to learn how to shear sheep.
No one had ever done it before…

They had two pair of old fashioned scissors-type sheep shearers but those didn’t work well. These are special women though – they do not give up and when confronted with a problem; instead, they work a way around it. They ended up using a pocket knife, regular scissors, electric clippers, and pinking shears.

The sheep didn’t really like it but they endured and, when done, the women placed the wool in a trash bag for storage. The owner is going to wash, dry, card, and try to spin it.

I wasn’t there so I cannot add much more.

I guess the main point is, just because you “don’t know how” to do something does not mean that you can’t do it. My wife and I learned to butcher deer by trial and error and we can now take one apart and package it for the freezer in about an hour. I reckon these ladies are on their way to becoming quite the sheep shearers!

Another point is to get out and DO stuff – and when you do, do it with friends.

I’ll see ya out there.

And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep. – 1 Samuel 25:4

.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Viking Fest 2010

2010-08-17T07:33:00.000-07:00

Well, the second annual Viking Fest (2010 edition) has drawn to a close and it was a smashing success! Over sixty Vikings converged on north-eastern Kansas for four days of fun in the very hot sun fellowshipping, learning preparedness related tasks and practicing living outdoors as a group. Men, women and children, and babies came from as far away as Texas, southern Louisiana, St. Louis, Michigan and from all points in between.

The first two days saw temperatures topping 100 degrees and frankly – it was HOT! But that did not stop the smiles or the fun. Over the course of four days Vikings participated in classes on everything from first aid and home remedies to stick fighting, from ham radio operation to plant identification, goat milking and critter trapping to beekeeping, child lost proofing to bow drill fire making and Dutch oven cooking, bullet casting to reloading in the field – and on and on. The classes were non-stop but somehow we managed to squeeze in some baptisms, a wedding vow renewal, evening worship sessions, group discussions, fishing, swimming and hiking. Some meals were eaten individually and some were pot-luck. Some stayed the whole four days while others popped in just for the day and went home to air-conditioning at night. All came to learn and share and experience community with fellow Vikings.

On the last night we raffled off some wonderful prizes generously donated by corporate sponsors to whom I give my heartfelt thanks. Survival Solutions donated hundreds of dollars worth of gear from a Swack Shack, to a super poncho to survival kits, water purifiers, tritium lensatic compass and more; Camp Chef donated a beautiful limited addition Dutch oven and camp cutting boards, Buckshot donated a Mora knife and fire starter, Lehman’s provided a Trapper knife, We had vacuum packed heirloom seeds from Baker Creek Heirlooms, Yellowstone River Publishing provided Arlene Hoag’s excellent “Do it Yourself Emergency Preparedness, donated a large mug and a hat, Vikings donated personal items, and Viking Services LLC donated t-shirts, my book and other Viking gear items. Everyone who entered went home with something.

As always, the best part of Viking Fest was just being with other like-minded individuals and families. There was a very real sense of community pervading this gathering and as it drew to a close, I found myself wanting to spend more time with my old friends and get to know my new friends even better. Four days was not even close to enough time to discuss everything I wanted to discuss, to hear everything I wanted to hear, to do everything I wanted to do. Time is so short and these types of things are so infrequent I am already looking forward to next year!

You can read some more After Action Reviews and see more pics here: Viking Fest 2010

If you think you might be interested in participating in a diverse community focused on preparedness and security – why not stop by the forums and have a look around? Viking Services LLC facilitates a variety of events each year and all are welcome to attend.

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
– Hebrews 10:25
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

What's in YOUR Purse?

2010-07-18T18:45:00.000-07:00

Man Bag… Murse… or as a male friend of my daughter calls them, Thatchel (there is a lisp in there). I like to think of mine as a Possibles Bag because that’s what the mountain men called them. Let’s face it though – it’s a purse.

I carry mine around most days to and from my tent–making business and, just like my wife’s purse, mine accumulates STUFF. I decided to clean it out and see just what I have in there and, what the heck – I bet you want to know what I tote around too, huh?

What you don’t see in the picture below is my lunch which I usually toss in there. Typically it is leftovers from supper in a Tupperware container with a spoon or fork as needed.

I reckon we’ll just start in the upper left corner and work our way around…(you can click on the picture to enlarge it)

Steno pad and some mail I still need to deal with.
My badges. I work in a secure facility so I have to go through combination locks, key locks and little machines one “swipes” one’s magnetic card across. That’s the card you see. While walking around this prison, er, place of employment, one must display the required picture ID – it’s on the other side but hanging on the same lanyard (you are not allowed to see it). What I did was Scotch-tape the two cards on either side of a Tool Logic “Survival Card”. It’s about as big as a credit card (or ID badge) but thicker. It contains an LED light, a knife, toothpick and tweezers. When I get to work I wear this gizmo around my neck.

A bunch of pens (I only put two back in the bag) and a little notebook – I have started to write everything down. If I think of something – bam, it goes in the notebook. Quite handy.

My daily carry knife. I was actually wondering where I put that thing – I usually carry it in my front pocket but I put it in the bag one day as I was headed to CrossFit because I didn’t want to lose it in the gym. It will be in my pocket tomorrow.

I have a snap link (“NOT FOR CLIMBING!” shyea, like anyone would try)…. that I clip my keys to. A water bottle. I carry a variety of water bottles and at least one 3-liter bottle of water (not shown) every day.

A ziplock of cash and a fire starter that fell out of the survival kit.

Some AA batteries - don’t know why they were there, but what the heck – I kept them.
That black fanny pack is a survival kit I have carried around the world several times. I had to make some modifications (removals) after 9-11. I really don’t like going anywhere without it – it comforts me. Perhaps I’ll blog about it next.

Three lighters “Viking Pocket Fire” with inner tube pieces. I think one fell out of the survival kit – I tossed it back in there, kept one more and removed the other. I typically also carry one in my pants pocket.

An Army “Demo Knife” (sounds cooler than Boy Scout knife) – it fell out of the survival kit because its zippers are toast.
Tupperware sandwich box containing a first aid kit I have carried all over the world.
Two permanent markers – for marking stuff…

A little ratchet set for the Leatherman Wave you see below it. I’ve never used it but got it for free. I put it back in the bag – what the heck, good a place as any to keep it…
Cold Steel Bushman survival knife with some wraps of tape around the handle for grip. Sometimes you just need a bigger blade.

Some tiny zipties I picked up from a techie and a comb for my long locks (beard).
One rubber glove – we have boxes of them at home we use for medical calls (Volunteer Fire Department) and I guess I tossed some in there one day. It was trashed – it’s gone now.

Ya know those $5 flashlights they sell at the counter of the auto parts store? The LED ones that take three AAA batteries? Real bright in the store? Yeah….they don’t hold up well bouncing around the bottom of a Man Bag. The batteries are fine – the light does not work anymore. Chinese junk.

Fork and a plastic knife from some lunch long ago – put in the dishwasher.
A magazine a buddy gave me containing an article on a DIY solar hot water heater – I still need to read it – moved to the bathroom.

Blood powder – so if I had some free time I could look up the ingredients on the Internet. I did. The bottle is now in the medical closet.
Some chestnuts a buddy gave me last fall – they are now on the kitchen table….

Assorted paper trash – in the burn pile now.

So that’s it. Obviously not a super thought-out Uber Kit. But it’s real. And it’s what I’ve been toting around.

I’ll see ya out there!

Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. - Luke 22:36
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Viking Fest 2010

2010-07-14T06:09:00.000-07:00

Viking Fest 2010 is fast approaching! August 12 - 15 within an hour of Kansas City.

I'm looking forward to seeing the Old Crew and meeting some new Vikings.

We have some slots left so if you are interested, check out the link above, sign up and tell me how many folks you are bringing.

Here is a REVIEW (with pictures) from last year. And this is the last "cheap" year - only $50 a car/truck/BOV.

And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. - Hebrews 10:24 - 25

.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Why should WE care about THEM?

2010-07-03T08:04:00.000-07:00

The dichotomy:
We and Them
Us and Them
“We’re Number ONE! – They suck!”
I win – you lose

Or the related:
I got MINE
Sucks to be YOU

Those thoughts (my thoughts) came to me after I recently received an email from a reader referencing the last blog entry. He said he’d answer my question, “why are these guys at the gun show so angry?” if I’d answer his which basically boiled down to, why should I (Joe) care if others are prepared or not? That kind of gets to the heart of this blog.
My reply follows:

Hey xxxxxx,
Thanks for taking the time to write.

My question about the angry dudes was mostly rhetorical. Yes, I get that the world looks less and less pleasant every day. I can see, hear, and feel that locomotive coming down the tunnel. But life is short. We really need to enjoy what we have while we have it. THESE are the good times....just wait...

It is certainly written in the Bible that we are "to witness" but the "Bible" doesn't tell us to do so - Jesus did.

Your base question "but do you have a reason other than that, which makes you want to save all those folks from themselves?" and the additional but related one "why do you care?" can also be answered in something Jesus said.

Some lawyer was trying to trick him - put him in legal corner and he asked Jesus - "What is the most important commandment in all of God's law?"

No matter WHAT Jesus answered, this lawyer was going to try and say something like, "A-HA! so you are saying that X is more important than Y?!"

Jesus said, "The greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart and all your soul and your strength and all your mind AND to love your neighbor as yourself."

Elsewhere he defines "neighbor" as your fellow man - humans.

SO first off we are "commanded" to care. But that gets into legalism. If the only reason I care about others is BECAUSE God told me to care - then I don't get it.

See, God loves me and he loves you too. Whether you love him or not. Kinda like the perfect parent vis a vie their child. The closer I walk with God, the more I love my fellow man.

I DO care about others - primarily because God has changed my heart to be more loving and caring. I was not always so...

There is also an earthly practical (and therefore more selfish) reality to "trying to save all those people from themselves" - there is a lot of truth to the old saw, "If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem."

Would you rather be surrounded in a crisis by 2,000 unprepared people or 2,000 squared away people? A family man with an AK and some ammo but no food and no plan is going to part of the problem when his hungry little girl looks up at him with tears in her eyes and says, "Daddy, I'm hungry - when can we eat something?"

I am prepared to deal with "problems" but I would really rather not have to. Every prepared American strengthens our country. So I do my bit...

Every prepared American is one less who will look to suck off the government teat.

Every prepared American is one less who will actively work towards giving away our God-given rights to GOV.com in return for the lie/promise of more "security".

Every prepared American lessens the burden on relief efforts and lets those efforts go to where they are really needed.

Preparedness = Strength.
I CrossFit and there is a quote in CrossFit (from Olympic lifting coach Mark Rippetoe) that says, "Strong people are harder to kill and generally more useful".

I like strong people.
I like prepared people.
I try to surround myself with them.
I try to help others become strong and prepared.
Life is better that way.

I'll see ya out there.

For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. – Luke 1:49 - 51

.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Gun Show Vikings

2010-06-28T17:59:00.000-07:00

A good friend and I worked a local gun show on Saturday – I did it primarily to sell my book and he did it to sell gear. Neither one of us had ever worked a show before although we had of course been to many over the years. We both made some money, got to spend the day together, and got to visit with several Vikings who dropped by so it was a good day.

Truth be told, I had not been to a gun show in quite some time. I’m not a “gun guy” although I have some and consider them useful tools I just do not need a big collection of them. But when I went in the past, I did enjoy it – I like people watching and I usually picked up a few things and got to speak with like-minded folks.

Being on the other side of the table is very interesting. First off, you see everybody. Most are normal people but there are some characters that attend. One thing I found amusing? disturbing? was the number of apparently angry men walking around. I mean c’mon! They obviously were out of the house, surrounded by people who like what they like, probably had some money in their pocket – what’s to be angry about? It was weird. They were not angry at me – they were just angry – you could see it. If they were angry there I can just imagine what they must be like at work…

I met some cool couples and possibly got a start on a couple new friendships with folks who live in my area.

I’m not really a salesman so I was experimenting with different tactics to sell the book. One was to engage folks in conversation and say, “So, you probably have a few guns and some ammo at home – how are you set for chow?”

I had a few people tell me they didn’t need to stock up food because they had guns and ammo – and I think they meant it. Had one fellah tell me, “I am prepared – I have an AK and will just shoot deer.”

I asked him if he was a hunter and he replied, “No, but there are a lot of deer.”

Further conversation revealed that he basically had an AK and an attitude and that was about it.

Ya know, I speak “Good Ol’ Boy” and can recognize one even if he’s dressed in a coat and tie.

I speak “High Speed Operator” and can recognize one of them even if they are in shorts and sandals.

This guy was neither. He was some Urbanite with an AK and thought he had it licked. He won’t last two weeks…

Another thing that interested me was this: About half way through the show, I started missing my church. The people who attend it. I thought to myself, “that’s weird…” Now, lately I have been trying to be more contemplative, more introspective and so when I “feel” something I try to unpack it and have a look at it – see why I feel like I do.

I’ll tell ya what I concluded: despite my many sins, I am starting to walk closer with God. And I am surrounded for the most part, day to day, by other Christians. But in the show – no, I was not surrounded by many Christians. I was definitely in The World. I was out of my element – the environment I have become used to. And I could feel it. There were a LOT of people walking around with a big hole in their life. A hole they were trying to fill with yet another gun or yet another accessory. I felt sad for them. I felt powerless to engage them on the important issues - to witness to them. I really felt a bit overwhelmed. Which is ironic but that is another story... I felt like I needed to be with my Brothers and Sisters to get recharged.

Guys and Gals – this is a preparedness oriented blog. A survival blog.

Guns are important. They may be vital for your survival.
Preparedness is important – I wrote a book on it. I wrote the book to help and to inspire folks.
Physical survival is “important” – I obviously get that.

But eternal survival is a lot more important.

If you have not yet come to Jesus I encourage you to do so.
Time is short.

Do you know what He said about this?
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. Revelation 3:20

Not what you expected from a blog entry on a gun show, I know.
It was not what I expected either.

I’ll see ya out there.
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Gloves

2010-06-05T16:23:00.000-07:00

Gloves.
You should have gloves in your kit.
You should have gloves in ALL of your kits.

Two days ago I was doing some gardening in a patch that used to hold a large round bale of hay.
The horse ate and crapped there - repeatedly.
That was two years ago.
I fenced it off last year and planted corn in it.

This year I was at it again in the same spot except this time I am doing the Three Sisters – building mounds and planting corn, pole beans and squash in each little hill. As I was turning soil I came across some hay bale netting.
This stuff is very thin black plastic netting similar to bird netting.
It was in the ground, hampering my shovelling so I grabbed it and yanked....
It was firmly affixed to the ground by the grass roots and didn’t budge at all – but my skin did.

I could have probably used two or three stitches in the distal crease of my index finger.
That stuff cut like a knife.

I HAVE work gloves.
I have several pair.
I have leather gloves and hi-tech Mechanix gloves, and flight gloves, and grappling gloves, and….I wasn’t wearing any of them.
No good HAVING them if I don't USE them.....

I treated my wound with triple antibiotic ointment, a Band-Aid and tape.
Crossfit on Friday was interesting....
Digging in the garden again today was interesting...

It’s okay though - I have lots of hot water, soap, unlimited ointment, Band-Aids and tape - now. But this might not always be so. And besides – I am limited now in what I can and cannot do because of the cut. Our hands are very important. They will be even more important when we are dealing with some sort of emergency. Best to keep them safe.

One of my buddies, who is no softie, is very good about wearing gloves when doing anything - gardening, working on vehicles, moving boards, or rocks, or whatever. I have learned a lot of things from him – but apparently, I haven’t learned this lesson yet.

Wearing gloves - It's one of those things we need to do NOW if we plan on doing it post-TEOTWAWKI.

Got Gloves?
Use them?

And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck – Genesis 27:16
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Seeking Weakness

2010-05-24T09:45:00.000-07:00

If you read my book, Survivalist Family or you read enough of my blog posts you will know that I am "all about planning".

There is a lot to "planning" and there are multiple variations but I'd like to talk about something I heard Tony Blauer say (caution - language alert for the link): "Great warriors seek weakness."

But first, who is Tony Blauer? Tony Blauer is one of three Warrior Trainers out there who I really respect for their “thinking outside the box”. The other two are Gabe Suarez and Southnarc.

I came across Tony Blauer (whom I have never met) on the Crossfit site. My wife and I have been Crossfitting for a bit over two months now and it has made a WORLD of difference. This post is not about that – but I recommend you check them out. Do not be intimidated by the studs and studettes on the site – Crossfit is for normal people too. Maybe I’ll do a blog post on it someday.

Anyway, Blauer said , "Great warriors seek weakness" and that struck a chord with me.

This weakness is not the weakness in the enemy but weakness in oneself.
Constantly striving to improve is one major part of achieving greatness.

Blauer said, "If you had to beat you, where would you attack you? What would you do psychologically, emotionally, physically, to attack yourself?"

See? We cannot improve if we do not identify deficiencies.
We cannot identify deficiencies if we don't admit (at least to ourselves) that we have them.

And we don't like to DO that.
We like to stress the positive.
We like to DO what we are GOOD at.
Most don't like looking, feeling, BEING awkward - so we don't train on those things we are not good at (poor English, I know - those things at which we are bad).
And if we fail to train at/for the things we are not good at - we won't get better.

I think the same thing could apply to survival/preparedness in general, right?

This is why we have to imagine the unimaginable.
This is why - to TRULY prepare, we cannot default to "well, that would never happen to me so I won't think about that.”

Take some time.
Examine yourself. EVALUATE yourself and your true level of preparedness.

Seek your weaknesses

Then address them.

For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you. Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
- 2 Corinthians 13:4 – 5
.................................................................................
If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe
You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Attempted Burglary

2010-05-05T07:22:00.000-07:00

I spoke with a friend the other day.
Like most of my friends, he lives in the country/sticks/boonies.
His house is set well back from the road with lots of trees/woods.

Last week for several days they kept getting phone calls at all times of the day. When they would answer, the other party would hang up.

Then one day his son was on the Internet. When that happens at their house, if you call, the phone on your end just rings and rings - but on their end, nothing.

The guy's wife says, "Richard - there is a car parked in our driveway".
Their driveway is long - probably 100 yards and the car was about 20 yards in.
Two dudes sitting in the car.
Richard arms himself with a 1911 and goes outside and starts walking up the drive - the pistol is in his hand.

The car reverses, spews gravel and pulls out to the road and then goes down the road about 50 yards.
Richard is focused on the car trying to get a description. All he got was "white males"
The guys in the car start hollering - "HEY! HEY! Over HERE!".

DOH!
That's when Richard realized what happened and beat a careful retreat to his home whereupon he called the Sherriff.

These guys had his phone number. Probably opened his mail box one day - saw who lived there, looked him up in the phone book.

They would periodically be out looking for trouble (burglary) and call his home - when there was an answer, they knew someone was home and would just hang up and look for easier pickings.

Then they called and "no one was home".
There were at least THREE of them (I suspect four)
The car pulls in off the road so passersby don't see it.
One (or more) guys get out and go to scope to the place out - dogs? cameras? alarms? People actually home?
If all is clear they likely hit the place and then call in the car/lookout to grab the goods and off they go.
If the coast is not clear - they beat a retreat.

There was at least one other person in the woods/behind the house when Richard went out - that's who the car occupants were hollering to.

There were at least 3 (and I think four so the recon guy didn't have to be alone) dudes.
And a 1911 with 7 shots (mine carried 9 on board but his had 7 - I asked).
Richard's eyes aren't that good.
I've seen him shoot - he's "okay".
That's not enough rounds if those guys decided to fight.

Lessons Learned:
o Be alert to pre-operational surveillance. Most crooks plan at least to some degree their attack. These guys had been "reconning by phone" for a few days.

o Consider how easy (or hard) your place is to hit when you are not home - fix deficiencies.

o The threat you see is not the only threat - to not get "target fixated". Richard could have been killed by the guy(s) in the bushes.

o Plan for the real threat - not your fantasy. You will rarely have a single opponent.

o Carry more ammo.

o When you have a choice - a pistol is not the choice. As Clint Smith said - "A pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should have never laid down in the first place".

o Criminals tend to prey on their own. Criminals operate in and amongst their own socio-economic class and race.

o It CAN happen to you - have a plan.

When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils. – Luke 11:21 – 22
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Available Now!

2010-04-27T05:22:00.000-07:00

Soon you will have the opportunity to be the first on your block to own a copy of Survivalist Family. [Edit: it is available now]

Survivalist Family
by Joe Fox
Are you and yours prepared for what is coming down the pike?

How well would you do as a family if there was an electro-magnectic pulse that knocked out power over the entire country?

Would you be able to provide for your family in times of chaos caused by war, nature, or economic turmoil?

Are you prepared for a future pandemic?

Survivalist Family will show you how to ensure you and your loved ones come through to the other side of what waits.

You simply must have this book.

Written by Joe Fox of Viking Services LLC and www.vikingpreparedness.com.

Joe has been living the preparedness lifestyle since he was a child, and now teaches men, women and children all over the country to prepare and survive. A former Special Forces officer and SERE instructor, Joe will impart knowledge you just cannot get anywhere else.

Buy this book and Survive!

Stay tuned for more information on where to buy this upcoming book.
[Edit: it is available now Survivalist Family and at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc]
Excerpt from the recently released Survivalist Family by Joe Fox:

Just what IS a "survivalist family"?

I suppose some people shudder at the very thought! Watch enough television and you'll see that the media's version of a survivalist family is a dirty, ignorant clan living in a remote ramshackle log cabin. It will consist of a fat, bearded, camouflage-wearing, tobacco chewing, over domineering misogynist running roughshod over his cowering mouse of a wife who is trying to raise filthy little barefoot ragamuffins who run around spouting racist right-wing propaganda they picked up from "Pa".

Well, who would want to read about THAT? Certainly not you. Instead of "survivalist family" we could say "prepared family" or talk about "family preparedness" but that is just so politically correct it makes me gag. Just because the media don't like survivalists and therefore vilify them does not mean we have to change our language. For our purposes, the Survivalist Family is defined as, "A multi-generational group of people living in one house (usually consisting of a father, mother and their offspring) who take positive steps as a cohesive group to prepare for possible future negative situations and circumstances beyond their control."

We say "multi-generational" because if it's a man and a woman they are really a couple - not a family in the truest sense of the word. It's actually easier for a couple to prepare than a family. Just because a family in our definition usually consists of a father, mother and children does not mean that a single mom with two boys is not a family - they are. I said "usually". So do not get hung up on people - focus on what they do. They take positive steps to prepare as a group for future bad times.

Where do Survivalist Families live? Everywhere - in city apartments, in suburban split-levels, in country farm houses and yes, even in remote log cabins surrounded by deep, dark woods.

What kinds of jobs do Mom and Dad have? Every kind imaginable - Dad could be senior geologist for the Department of Agriculture, a grocer, a mechanic, or a computer programmer. Mom could be a nuclear scientist, a secretary or a stay-at-home-mom.

In a nutshell - they are average, every-day American families who have taken the decision to prepare for emergencies. The level to which they prepare varies greatly and is not always obvious. You probably have some Survivalist Families in your neighborhood and do not even realize it.

Most are not very forthcoming about their preparations. One reason is fear of being labeled a "survivalist" and having friends and neighbors think them kooky. Some fear that when bad times come, their family could be at risk if others knew of their preparations. Someone who failed to prepare may try to take what they have or the government may requisition their supplies or any of a myriad of other reasons.
©2009 Joe Fox

Should I, or shouldn't I? PMs

2010-04-24T04:20:00.000-07:00

“Buy Gold!”
“Buy Silver!”

The reason (so the argument goes) that we are to buy gold and silver is that the dollar will soon “be worthless" and precious metals (PMs) will "hold their value".
Fine.

So if or when you Buy Gold! and Buy Silver! you are trading one medium of exchange (soon to be worthless paper dollars) for another (PMs).

When the "dollar becomes worthless" along with that will come hyper inflation.
Prices will skyrocket. Stuff will cost a lot more.
Stuff like shovels.
Stuff like clothing.
Stuff like food.

Your mortgage however will be suhweeeeet!.
Unless you lose your job.
And of course in times of economic turmoil that is a distinct possibility.

My advice is to sink some your EXTRA money into PMs
Extra after what?
Extra after taking care of you and yours.

Do you have a Big Berkey water filter? It costs the equivalent of about 3/10ths of an ounce of gold - now.
Do you have your pantry squared away? Do you have all the food you need?
A hungry man will not trade you a can of beans for your shiny PMs. Food will likely be UNavailable for awhile.
Does everyone in your family have THREE brand new pairs of boots socked away? What about good socks? If they don't, you need to spend your "soon to be worthless dollars" on them rather than PMs.
Whether or not you garden now - you will later if the bottom drops out. People will be converting their precious suburban lawns into veggie patches. Do you have the tools?
In multiples?
Does everyone in the family have a bicycle? And spare tires? And air pumps?

If the "dollar becomes worthless" we will certainly be living in dangerous times. Have you ensured you and yours have received the training you will likely need during bad times? Training is expensive - current rates are $150 - $250 a day per person. It doesn't matter if you are taking a Basic Handgun class, an intensive Beekeeping Seminar, or learning Evasive Driving.

...ahem....which makes VikingFest 2010 such an awesome deal ....ahem

So yeah - if you have spare cash laying around (and you should) you may want to convert some of it to PMs - in the smallest pieces you can find (1/10th ounce gold is getting more and more difficult to find and demands a premium because of this) but really - you should be squaring yourself away for what comes WITH a "worthless dollar".

Get ready.
I’ll see ya out there.

And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold. – Exodus 20:22 - 23

.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Websites Down

2010-04-22T05:08:00.000-07:00

We are experiencing technical difficulties on the FORUMS and on the WEBSITE.

No Fear! We are aware of it and the best webmaster in the world is working the issue.

Time to exercise patience.

Or perhaps take a little nap...

Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. - 1 Timothy 1:16

Got Salt?

2010-04-20T07:08:00.000-07:00

Some time ago, I read a book titled, “Salt – A World History” by Mark Kurlansky. This is not a review of that excellent book (but you can buy if for less than $10 delivered here: SALT but the book spurred me to action. It nicely laid out the history and importance of salt throughout time ended and after reading it, I ended up salting away a lot of salt.

Then today I read a Washington Post article, “FDA plans to limit amount of salt allowed in processed foods for health reasons” that lays out how the Nanny State is going to try and protect me from the salt shaker. I could go off on a tangent about .gov attempting to “protect me from myself” (actually it has little to do with protecting and a whole lot to do with controlling me...and you) but this blog entry is not about CONTROL – it’s about salt.

Right now people think in terms of limiting salt – not stocking it up. We have too much salt – why store it? Well the reason is this – you NEED it. Not only do we need salt to make our bodies work – we will also need it to preserve foods when things go south in a big way. And most of you cannot find a ready source of it should the Just In Time system fail. Think about it – where would you find natural salt? If you live on the coast you can get it from the sea. If you live near the Salt Flats you have a source there. Maybe you live in Jericho with a salt mine just outside of town. But most of us do not have easy access to natural salt. And that’s why the history of the stuff is so fascinating – caravans transported it for vast distances, battles were fought over control of salt sources, and so on.

You could drink the blood of critters you kill – if you can continue to obtain critters and if you could stomach it. There is, however, a better option – store it now.

Salt is cheap and you should buy a lot of it. You do not need a lot – but it makes an excellent barter item. It won’t “go bad”. If for some reason you fail to keep it dry and it forms a big rock – you can break it up with a hammer or grinder or brick…

I like buying the round cardboard cylinders of salt. I think they are in a readily barterable form. I get iodized and uniodized (which is used for canning and such)and store them in plastic buckets. They do not store efficiently that way and I may eventually move to something like a Tote bin with desiccant packs and a duct taped lid. Those containers are cheap but you can get even cheaper salt.

If you carefully read the contents of bags of rock salt used for salting sidewalks you can find rock salt that is pure salt. Sure, there may be some “impurities” in there but trust me – you won’t care later. Make sure though that your sidewalk melt doesn’t have weird chemicals in it. Sodium chloride (NaCl) is salt. Sometimes around this time of year you can find great deals at grocery and hardware stores where they are trying to clean out inventory. I found it in 25-pound bags for $2.50 each. A hundred pounds of salt for 10 bucks - pretty cool.

I know salt is used in water softeners but I don’t have one and so am not sure if that is a good type of salt to buy or not. You may want to investigate that option as well. But whatever you do - do not just read this and think, "hmm, good idea" and then continue on as if no action is necessary. Go and Do.

So…Got Salt?

Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.
– Mark 9:50

.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Health Care

2010-03-23T10:13:00.000-07:00

Today our president signs a “health care bill” into law.
Most Americans are unhappy about this.
There is much posturing around coffee bars at work, on job sites, and in grocery store lines. Talk radio is abuzz, people are calling in saying the country is lost; Republican politicians are on saying “this will not stand!” and making all sorts of promises (yeah, right…). It’s even worse on line – people are thumping their chests, saying “That’s IT! From this point forward I am ….” (yeah, right…) There are rumours of doctors and nurses quitting in protest (yeah, right… not YET anyway). I have received phone calls from normally sober individuals who are deeply concerned about what is happening.

This is all venting, letting off steam, and I reckon it’s good in some ways. But the sheeple still don’t get it – not in any kind of large numbers.
You see, this bill is not about health care - it's about population control via health care. Think deeply on this.

Instead of sounding off and shouting (in person or on line) and making all kinds of dire predictions and empty threats, I think it would be more useful to focus on what we can do. Obviously, writing and calling our congresscritters doesn’t work. As I said, this bill is about population control - but it will use the health care system (and the IRS and, if necessary dudes in black kit with really cool weapons and other toys) to do it.

Whining and wailing will not help us. So what can we do?
It’s time to get your medical situation squared away. Here are some ideas:
I am not a doctor or any kind of medical authority.
Before you implement any of these suggestions you must check with competent medical authority. Really.

Get up to date
Schedule yourself (and your loved ones) for a physical. Get a blood workup. If you have an ongoing problem – get it taken care of. Go see your dentist for a teeth cleaning and check up. Then get your teeth fixed. Go to the optometrist and get new prescriptions. Or go get lasik or PRK or whatever – get your eyes right. If you wear glasses – obtain several pair. If you wear contacts – make sure you have spare glasses.

Stockpile
Start (continue) squirreling away all manner of medical supplies and medicines. Start with things you know how to use - Bandaids, Neosporin, cough medicine, pain relievers and expand into areas where you may not (yet) be “qualified” – stethoscope, blood pressure cuffs, minor surgery kits, casting material, scrubs, and so on and so on. You may not now how to use these supplies yet – but you could learn, or an itinerant doctor could wander by. Most medicines can be frozen to prolong life. You can bet this stuff will start being controlled.

Get Healthy
Eat right and exercise. Cut the sugars, cut the fat, cut the useless calories. Eat a lot more vegetables and leafy greens. Eat less red meat. Exercise portion control. We as a people are FAT. You are probably FAT. Stop it. Exercise some personal discipline. Exercise – (after checking with your doctor) get your heart rate up and sweat for 20 minutes at least three times per week – five times is better. Pushing a shopping cart is not exercise. Walking your dog is not exercise. Playing golf or mowing the lawn is not exercise. You need to be breathing hard, your heart needs to be thumping and you need to be sweating.
Get out there.

Create a network
Start seeking out, approaching and assessing medical people for potential future help. EMTs, paramedics and dental hygenists may be the best “doctors” you can find. I told a woman who works in an orthodontist office that she was our dentist. She said, “I am not qualified”. I told her it was either her or me with a pair of vice grips and a bottle of whiskey – she took the job. By all means seek out doctors and nurses as well. Practice your people skills.

Get trained
Start getting medical training. Make sure others in your household do as well – you may need them. Take an EMT course at your community college. If you join a volunteer fire department they will likely train you to be a First Responder and may pay for all or some of your EMT training. Join Boy Scouts and sit in on the First Aid merit badge – or just go buy the book and work through the exercises (yes, actually DO them). Certified Nursing Assistant is a fairly short course of study at the community college. Red Cross offers certification in first aid, CPR and other related areas. Find a doctor or nurse and have them give your group classes – then think about inviting them to join.

If you are a medical person
Don’t quit – yet. Start planning now to run your own underground clinic, dispensary or surgical ward. You will need a place, supplies, and a plan. You will likely also work outside of your area of expertise – that’s okay the rules will be different and you will know more than the auto mechanic does. If you are not a medical person – start meeting some and planting seeds in this area.

Gather references
Start your medical library. Where there is no Doctor and Where there is no Dentist are both good. Others suggest the Physician’s Desk Reference (PDR)

Think “old school”Start learning and practicing home remedies. Gather needed supplies. Start learning and using medicinal plants. Build up a supply. Plant an herb garden. If you don’t know this stuff – learn. If you do know it – teach others.

Go and DO
Reading this blog, reading a book or website on the ‘net is not enough. Not by half. You need to actually get out and do stuff. PRACTICE. Practice again. Vary the conditions. You have all the time in the world now. You have perfect conditions now. It’s legal – now. Act while you can.

I’ll see ya out there.

Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise. – Jeremiah 17:14
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Tribolt - "Supplies, Knowledge, Experience"

2010-03-03T11:41:00.000-08:00

We at Viking Services LLC have changed our logo.

The original symbol on the shield was the Viking rune - Algiz.
I thought it was striking.
But I was constantly asked, “What’s with the broken cross?”

If you have been reading this blog for any length of time you should fully realize that I am a Christian. When asked this question about the symbolism, I would invariably reply with words to the effect of:

It is not a broken cross - it is a Viking rune. The Vikings used runes as a system of writing.
Specifically, it is called the Algiz.
It pre-dates the Christian cross and has nothing to do with the Cross.
It is the rune for protection and preparedness.
Therefore, I find it very appropriate for Viking Preparedness LLC.

Now, I am fully aware that some Wiccans use runes.
I am fully aware that White Supremacists use runes.
For all I know, aliens use runes.
Okay, fine. I will not let others' use of runes keep me from doing so.

And I don't "use" runes. I don't cast them to foretell fortunes or anything else.
As far as I am concerned, as far as Viking Preparedness LLC is concerned - it is simply what it is: A symbol of preparedness and protection.

Alas, Despite my explanations to the contrary - it just became a stumbling block to some Christians.

Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. - Romans 14:13

So, after some prayerful reflection, we put the most excellent Viking Services LLC Graphic Arts Division on it and viola! We have a new logo.

Some of you in the know may think the Tribolt stands for "Land, Sea, and Air" but you would be mistaken.

It stands for the three aspects of preparedness as preached by well, me:

Supplies
Knowledge
Experience

One can go out and buy all the supplies in the world, but without the knowledge to properly use them - they won't help much.

One can have all the book (and Internet) knowledge in the world (to go with those supplies) but without experience they won't be all that useful.

Experience - the intangible that comes from getting out and doing stuff - this is what will allow supplies and knowledge to be maximized.

All three together make a pretty good start on Preparedness.

We have not and will not “deregister” the old logo and someday, who knows? We may use it again. But for now – all hail the new logo – the Viking Tribolt!

And those of us with merchandise containing the old logo – how cool is that? We now have “old school” merch!

I’ll see ya out there.

But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak. - 1 Corinthians 8:9

.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

VTT 4

2010-02-10T10:40:00.000-08:00

Over at the FORUMS we value those who DO much more than those who merely TYPE. Some time ago, we started a series of Viking Training Tasks that range from the simple to the mildly difficult but all deal with preparedness in one way or another. Basically the Vikings are given a task to do, conditions under which it must be completed, and an explanation of what success looks like (standards). Participants have two weeks to complete each task.

Our task this time went like this:

Viking Training Task 4: DRINK A GLASS OF WATER

Simple, huh?

Not quite. You may not use water from your tap, toilet, water tank, well, or water storage. You may not use bottled, canned, bagged or dehydrated water.

You must get water some other way.
You should purify it prior to drinking.

The basic idea here is for you to identify alternate sources of water in your area and be proficient at purifying it for consumption.

You have two weeks to complete this task. When you are done, tell us about it.
Some ways to purify water:

o Boil it at full boil for a couple minutes.
o Use water purification tablets per instructions
o Use 16 drops of bleach per gallon
o Use a purifier pump
o Use a solar still (also one means of obtaining it in some areas)

Of course, I participate in these tasks as well. I went out to one of my emergency water sources (an above ground pool) and Lo! It was frozen over! …I knew it would be actually… I just wanted to scoop up some snow that hadn’t been trampled on, urinated on, or otherwise molested by my dogs, goats, chickens, guineas, ducks, rabbits, horse…

I scooped it and packed it lightly into my wife’s newest “camp pot” and brought it to the bedroom “tea service” area. Next, I heated the snow on a hotplate until it melted; brought it to a full boil and kept it there a bit; and then I made a cup of Folgers as is my want.

All that snow barely made one cup of coffee.
It tasted fine – if you can stand instant coffee.

Who Dares Wins
………………………………
PS: Anyone want to hazard a guess as to when we bought the can of Swiss Miss?

Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. – Haggi 1:5 - 6

.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

BoB Blades

2010-01-23T05:01:00.000-08:00

These are the bladed implements carried by seven men on this year's Annual Winter BoB Exercise. I know it's difficult to see - if you click on the pic it will enlarge.

I will attempt some cogent observations later but right now I need to go work on a wheel chair ramp for some poor widows...

...as Arnold said, "I'll be back!"
......................................

A blog reader sent in this comment with regards to the picture: Is that a kukri? They would be on par with a machete for clearing brush, but I wouldn't imagine carrying one in a survival situation for their size and shape.
I started to post a reply in the comments section and just decided to bring it out here for all to see more easily.

It is not a kukri it is a parang - a bit lighter but still heavy. It's a jungle knife fashioned from a leaf spring. I am probably going to replace it with my Mora 2000. It’s heavier than a machete so it is not as good with light vegetation as a machete but it is much better at hacking through tougher stuff. And that’s the rub – it is heavy.

But the thing is, I have been on events where all of the wood was covered in a layer or ice, or soaked with rain, and I had to baton my way into them to reach dry wood. Now - I can baton with a Mora2k - sort of. And there are other lighter knives that can baton well - my wife carries a BK&T Camp Knife that is as big as my parang but much lighter.

Also, I have a background in Filipino Martial Arts and I can FIGHT with that parang. The balance, the edges, the handle geometry... Now, granted, I can fight with a Swiss Army knife as well and let's face it - I won't be fighting with my knife in a Bug Out situation - I guess I could but come on....

Another thing the parang does which a lighter knife will not do nearly as well is hack. And there again, truth be known - on the 20 or so events I have carried the parang along on - I really haven't hacked all that much.

There was some kind of touchy feely move amongst the “save the earth” hippy crowd back in the 70’s to get away from big aggressive (say it with a lisp) knives and simply carry a Swiss Army Knife or some such. And truth be known – you can do the vast majority of your knife chores with a very little knife. I gutted and went through the ribs of a young doe with an original Gerber LST (about a 1.5 inch blade). And while “a big knife will do anything a small knife can but not vice versa” is generally true – it’s hard to clean a rabbit with a foot long blade.

If I “could only have one thing” in a survival situation it would be a knife like that parang or a Cold Steel Trailmaster bowie. But I am not limited, am I? I have a whole BoB full of goodies. What it is coming down to with me, gang, is weight. I am getting older and am not the 30 year old mountain running stud I used to be. And really - we could all probably make better use of the weight allowance (no matter how fit one is – one can only carry what one can carry and so choices must be made).

So yeah, I’m probably going to bid adieu to the heavy knife. The good news is, I’ll have it out so I can actually play with it more.

See ya out there.

And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's rasor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weight, and divide the hair. – Ezekiel 5:1
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

6th Annual Winter BoB Exercise

2010-01-18T07:11:00.000-08:00

For the sixth year in a row, some hearty souls determined to test themselves against nature with just their Bug out Bags (BoBs) to sustain them. Because they were hearty souls, they did it in winter.

We came up with this idea as a way to shake out the bugs, get rid of the winter blahs and really see if our BoBs were adequate. It is actually The National Winter BoB Exercise and everyone is encouraged to participate – with me or on your own. Just grab your BoB and live out of it for a couple days in January. As usual, we had old timers and newcomers. Some regulars did not make it this year and they were sorely missed.

Originally 20 men and women indicated they were attending but I think the weather (sub zero temps) two weeks ago scared a lot off. As it was, we had temps ranging from the mid 20s to the low 50s. It rained a bit at night – just enough to make us appreciate our shelters. All in all we had seven souls from four states attend this year.

As usual, we had a wonderful time meeting new people and getting back together with old friends. We linked up at a local eatery for a last meal on Thursday afternoon and then moved to the training area – a hilly landscape covered with rocks and trees. We simulated having to abandon our vehicles Enroute to our bug out location and then having to continue on foot.

After everyone rucked up we moved out about ¾ of a mile cross country. It was enough for folks to get a feel for how their BoB felt while doing something other than standing in the living room. One “newbie” to the whole idea had a small BoB – and had everything he needed. And had absolutely no problem carrying it. And probably could serve as an example to us all.

Everyone used some version of tarp for shelter – they are much lighter and smaller than tents and actually work better when used in conjunction with a reflected fire. One guy made a last minute switch of his poncho for a piece of heavy duty plastic. There is a lesson to be learned here: “if you haven’t tested it – it doesn’t work” (my buddy thought that phrase up). When he unrolled the plastic for the first time out there he discovered it was long enough – but only about two feet wide! DOH! Luckily we had an extra poncho in the group. The Mil-Spec ponchos are small – smaller than US military ponchos – buyer beware. I used my Swack-Shack and loved it. I made one shelter that I could stand up in.

After selecting shelter sites and getting sorted out we gathered around a fire and told stories and solved the world’s problems until late in the night. The next morning after breakfast (I eat instant oatmeal and make it by pouring boiling water into the actual pouch – saves muss and fuss) we packed up and moved about ¾ of a mile to another site where we remained for the next two night.

We had classes on moving in a safe and secure manner as a group and we did a bit of shooting. We hiked around and purified water at a stream with a variety of filters (I like the PUR like I bought my daughter better than my old school original and HEAVY Katadyn). We compared gear and discussed various options for doing various things (you really had to be there…) and solved more of the world’s problems.
Everyone had small personal fires and we gathered at a large group campfire at night – privacy and camaraderie all in one.

Some lessons learned and relearned:

• Most people pack BoBs that are too heavy for real cross country foot movement
• Most people overestimate how far they can go on foot
• Most of us need to get in better shape
• You can get by with a very small (day pack sized) BoB
• Water is heavy but you either carry it or make a lot of trips for more
• No one ran out of food – most had a lot left over
• Getting out and DOing is the only way to really test yourself and your gear
• Don’t be afraid of the weather – be prepared for it
• People are cool – Preparedness people are really cool
• You can heat water in metal canteens
• Goretex is nice
• A large tarp is very nice
• Backpacking stoves are fast, quiet, and low signature (smell, sight)
• Time spent around a campfire with friends adds to one’s life

And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing. – Isaiah 10:27
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Brrrr!

2010-01-09T07:28:00.000-08:00

It was -15 degrees Fahrenheit this morning (that is -26 for our Celsius readers).

Some readers will scoff at such tropical temps. Others will shudder at the thought. I wasn't too terribly happy with the temperature this morning - I have thin blood owing to the fact that I was raised in very warm third-world countries. Well, that's what I tell myself anyway. But I had chores to do.

I'd like to tell you I went on some adventure but no - I simply had homestead stuff that needed to be taken care of. I shoveled ice and snow away from the mailbox down the road so we can get our mail - the plows had put a really nice "icecrete" barrier between the box and the dirt road. I had to carry water to the rabbit (two died so I'm down to one) and check on her food. Before I got there I had to shovel a new path due to the drifting snow. Then I shoveled the hump of snow at the end of our drive so nicely left there by the road grader/plow. Then I shoveled our walk way - AGAIN.

Once I got moving, I wasn't that cold. I lost the scarf and at one point took my pakool (hat) off - but not for long.

My wife was also out there. She spent a good bit of last night out in the goat shed (to call it a "barn" would be too much as you would probably envision electric lights and heat - ha!) waiting for a mamma to kid. We lost twin boys from our one meat goat yesterday and although we think they were still born, she was still concerned. As of this morning, still no babies. This morning she hauled water and hay to the goats - on foot; fed and watered the birds; walked down the road to the neighbor's to give them a belated Christmas present (we are like that); and then checked on her horse. All of this consisted of walking and much of it through "paths" of about a foot or two of snow.

Well, that's it - just a quick update. Hope y'all are warm.

See ya out there!

The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing. - Proverbs 20:4

.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

What will we do about the refugees?

2009-12-30T06:49:00.000-08:00

In the aftermath of a Big Bad Event (I'll call it a BBE - maybe it will catch on) there will be lots of hurting people. But we won’t be amongst them! “WE will be squared away because WE have stored food. The SHEEPLE will be hungry. If I give MY food to the SHEEPLE - my daughter may starve to DEATH - so I gotta be hard.” That’s how some of the thinking goes…

Others say, "I will give ‘til it hurts." But they haven't thought through that when they feel the pain it could be death pangs for their own family.

Others have prepared "refugee meals" to hand out to the miserable masses that stream past their retreat - "Here, take this and move on". Some have set MREs aside for this purpose. One cool idea I saw was a family who made up about 100 meals consisting of a 2 liter bottle of water and a small metal paint can full of rice and dried beans. On top of the product but under the lid was a pack of matches. The idea was for folks to take this food kit and move out to a place where they would have to build a fire and cook – so they wouldn’t hang around.

What happens if they DON'T move on? What if they set up camp across the road (or just down the road out of sight) and you become a soup kitchen. What happens when there is no more "soup" and you now have a mass of humanity right across the street? Hungry humanity.

In my travels I have met a few people who believe God laid it on their heart to prepare for others. In every case it was for Christians who never got or never listened to the Preparedness Message (Proverbs 6:6 is a decent place to begin) and were now running from "the Beast government" and needed some respite in the wilderness. They had a LOT of food put aside for others. I’m talking trailers and barns full.

I have recently been coming across others who have started to feel the unction to prepare for others – others who failed to provide for themselves.

There are obvious problems with feeding the hungry.
The first is having the food to feed them.
How can we afford it? Where do we get it? Where do we store it?

Then, how do we prepare it? You will not prepare 100 (or 1,000) helpings of soup in a canteen cup - or even your normal kitchen soup pot. DO we prepare it or do we hand out ready to eat food, or food that they themselves must prepare. Perhaps it would give them some dignity to do something for themselves – something like cook their own food.

An idea I am working on is turning our church into a way point, a food distribution center and perhaps even a shelter to be activated after a BBE. The church has resources to buy food and space to store it and water. This allows us to separate “their food” from “our food”. It lets us maintain a degree of homestead security in that the masses are not at our personal front door.

Security can be a huge issue. Most have probably seen the opening scene in “Blackhawk Down” where the starving masses are gunned down by evil militia who are stealing the food. Food is a weapon – it always has been and there will always be people who know how to wield it as such.

If one sets up a feeding operation one will have to secure the hungry people from bad guys. They will have to secure the aid workers from bad guys and perhaps from hungry people. They will have to secure the FOOD from everyone. Not just the area immediately around the feeding or distributing operation will need to be secured, but also the approach and departure routes.

If you encourage or even allow folks to stay around in hopes of another meal (and many will try) you will now have a refugee camp on your hands. Very quickly you will have more than food and security concerns. You will be confronted with hygiene issues – they eat, they drink – they have to go somewhere. Housing, clothing, medical – disease. It goes on an on.

John Smith hung a sign above the gate to Jamestown – “He who does not work, shall not eat” (that is biblical, by the way). See, they showed up on our shores with a whole bunch of soft handed “gentlemen” and a few servants. Well, folks got sick and died. It was time for everyone to pitch in to grow food and hunt critters but the gentlemen did not want to. They felt entitled to be taken care of.

We have a couple generations of people in this country who feel “entitled”. "Feed me, help me, do for me" – when they are perfectly capable of doing for themselves. It angers me when I see perfectly healthy adult males sitting on the porch or hanging out on the corner day after day while I work to support them. Is there anything wrong with telling the refugees who are able – “you have to work before I feed you”? Maybe make them make the big pot of soup, or fetch firewood for the cooking fires or…. But I fear many will refuse to do so, will get angry and then possibly violent.

I recall the “starving masses” at Katrina plus 4 days. All ANGRY because they were given MREs to eat. “I can’t eat THIS!” Yeah, it’s not chicken nuggets….

And yet, in a real BBE – there WILL be hungry people. There WILL be helpless people. And they likely WILL be in your area.

Where am I going with this?
I want to know what you think.
What you believe.
What you have seen or done.
What ideas you have.

I just started a post over at the forums.

Why don’t you register, log in and tell me what you think?

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. – Matthew 25:41 - 46
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

2009-12-24T18:44:00.000-08:00

Recently a regional sportsmen’s collective contracted me to teach them some of the finer points of Woods Walkin’ and nature observation. Back when we made the arrangements they new it would be cold but I’m not sure any of us anticipated the white stuff. No matter – more to learn and teach. I’m sure you can understand me when I say that they were a bit camera shy but I took the opportunity to get some snaps of me, and my stuff, and in the process this blog entry was born.

I call my shelter “the snow shack” but it’s really just a white version of the Swack Shack which you can read all about a few posts down. You can get one of these and a whole lot of other cool stuff at Survival Solutions. It worked exactly you would expect – just fine. It is big enough for me and a big comfy bed, my rifle and my dog who also came along but as it turns out, was also camera shy. It works great in the snow as far as camouflage goes and it is a bit less expensive because it is not made of the proprietary Multi-Cam. Cool!

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect terrain and vegetation wise so I brought some heavy duty stakes – and I’m glad I did. They went into the frozen earth just fine. I rigged this one with a main ridge line above tarp/through the loops. I attached some waxed cord to the end loops with girth hitches and tied them off to the ridge line with prussics. I built a deep leaf bed and slept on a thick closed cell foam mat inside a military 3 bag system. I was fine. If it had been windy I would have stowed my rucksack at my head to keep the wind off. Stay off the ground and out of the wind.

Another tip for working in the cold is to dress in layers. I like tops that unzip or unbutton all the way down so I can ventilate. Sure, a hoody is really warm and traps the heat nicely around your neck and face but when you start warming up from exercise it is impossible to vent off excess heat. The last thing you want to do in this environment is sweat. I actually brought two hats – a fleece watch cap and the ball cap you see in the pic. When that picture was taken I was quite warm despite the temperatures because we had been walking a bit.

When we are cold we don’t feel thirsty and so it is easy to become dehydrated. Make sure you drink plenty of fluids. Warm fluids keep the body temperature stable unlike ice cold canteen/bottle water. Due to the nature of our nature observation, we chose not to have fires – but we still had stoves to use to heat water. If nothing else, try to eat something and change into dry socks before you get into your sleeping bag. The calories will warm you and your dry warm feet will thank you.

Snow camouflage is pretty simple – I saw one person with a poncho made from a flat white sheet – it worked very well. Surplus snow cammo is easy and cheap to obtain from places like the Sportsman’s Guide. My stuff is cotton but nylon is better because it dries quicker. Some folks say, “nylon is noisier than cotton” and that is true – but you cannot move through snow like a ninja so the little swish swish of nylon is not a big deal. When I’m in an area with trees and bushes and I’m walking, I like to wear white pants and a darker top. It blends better and it also really disrupts the “man pattern”. Most people in the group put white adhesive tape on their shooting irons but I saw one with neoprene sleeves velcroed onto the buttstock and foregrip and one rifle painted white, gray and black.

If you are in an area where the snow is gonna be around for awhile you can paint whatever you need to with white paint. Stripes, blotches or solid white depending on what you are dealing with - it’s not rocket science. If your white is “removable” you can adjust your camo as the situation dictates. If it’s painted you will need more paint to change it.

I know some folks can’t stand the snow but it really does provide an opportunity to get out and try new stuff, experiment with gear, and just get more comfortable in the woods.

I’ll see ya out there.

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. – Isaiah 1:18

.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Tallow

2009-12-17T13:14:00.001-08:00

We burn all of our paper trash here at High Prairie Acres. We save a paper feed sack after we empty its contents into a galvanized trashcan placed out by the chicken coop and it sits in our kitchen and gets filled with junk mail, official mail, catalogs, notes – you name it. If it has writing on it, it goes in the burn bag. We do this for OPSEC reasons - I don’t want our “identity stolen” or any other trouble that could come from ne’er-do-wells reading my old mail. We also burn the cardboard boxes we get in the mail and so on.

Today was a nice day so I decided to burn some trash. We have a round deal we fashioned out of field fencing and then wrapped in chicken wire into which we toss our burnables and then we cover it with a similar lid and fire that baby up – it keeps errant embers from lighting the woods on fire. As I was burning the trash I noticed that there were several unburned catalogs and magazines in the bottom of our burn cage. They were charred on the outside but because the pages are so close together, they don’t burn well. These had been covered in snow and really didn’t burn well. I stirred them up but they still didn’t burn so when most of the fire was down, I removed the cage and added some firewood figuring I’d get a hot little campfire going and that would take care of the wet, charred magazines. It did.

While my little fire was happily burning away I thought, “What can I do so I don’t waste this fire and wood?” Can’t cook on it – well I could, I just don’t want to cook over a trash fire. Hmmmm then I remembered the fat.

We recently butchered a few deer and this year, as I sliced the fat off the belly and back I tossed it all into a cauldron thinking I would render it later for tallow. I’ve never done this before but today ended up being The Day. The pot was about 1/3 full of mostly pure white fat but there were some bits of meat and gristle in there as well.

I suspended the pot over the fire and waited. Sure enough, it was like cooking bacon – the smell was similar, the sounds were similar and soon I had reduced all the stuff to just liquid and chunks – I reckon those are cracklin’s but I don’t know.

I think I may have cooked it too long or perhaps on too high of a heat. I stopped when the bits turned very dark brown. There was a good deal of liquid in there and I used a slotted spoon to get the larger bits out and then I poured the remainder through a sieve into a metal coffee can.

The liquid is dark. I’m hoping it will clarify a bit and solidify as it gets cooler. The chickens got the cracklin’s or whatever the cooked solids are called.

What am I going to do with it you might ask? I’m going to try and make candles or tapers. Beyond that, I’ll probably do some Internet research and hopefully some of you will write me with some other good ideas.

And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. – 1 Samuel 15:22
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

"It's ALIVE!"

2009-12-11T18:49:00.000-08:00

Well the Land Cruiser is back on the road!
I bought this puppy several years ago and it needed (ha! it still needs) a lot of work. I’m trying to teach myself about vehicle maintenance/repair by doing all of my own work.

We all make mistakes as parents and I think my dad made one with me. See, he would not let me buy a car. Not with my own money and certainly not with his. As freshmen in college, we were not allowed to have cars on campus. So it was not until the next summer that I finally bought a car. A ’74 Ford Pinto. I changed the oil and checked the air pressure I the tires but that’s about it. See, as a college student, I didn’t have time to work on cars – so when something went wrong, I’d turn it into a shop and pay to have it fixed. Honestly though, that was a pretty good car and not much went wrong with it.

Time progressed, I got a job and a new car and then I definitely didn’t have time to learn how to work on cars. Now if my dad had let me buy a car as a teenager – not paid for it himself – make ME pay for it; and if he had not paid to have it fixed, I could only have afforded a junker and I would have had to spend my Saturdays learning how to fix it with my buddies who had and worked on cars. But noooooooo. That’s okay – other than that, I had (and have) a great dad – he did teach me a lot.

Well I resolved to go and not do likewise so I let my son buy a car just as soon as he could. I paid for half of his first vehicle. I paid nothing else. He learned to work on cars. As a pre-med student in college he had owned and sold about 5 cars and built two from hulks up. He now owns two and works on both of them as a hobby.

So now I’m trying to learn. I bought this project vehicle – it ran but only barely.
I put narrower tires on it.
Changed out the steering stabilizer and lubed the steering and tie rod ends.
I fixed the throttle.
I changed out the master cylinder.
I added some lights.
Temporarily stopped some rust.
And then it just quit on me. It would drive fine for about 20 minutes and then just chug along at 5 miles an hour.

I thought it was a choke problem – so I fiddled with that.
I thought it was fuel filter problem – so I changed that.
I sprayed carb cleaner in the carburetor.
No joy.

When I bought it, it came with spare parts, old parts and what not. In the box of stuff was a carb rebuild kit. A bit beyond my time constraints to learn how to fix so there it sat. And sat. And sat. Until a buddy who thought he owed me a favor (he didn’t) said, “Hey, why don’t you let me take that home and mess with the carb?”

He fixed it. In fact, he totally rebuilt it. Said it was so bad he couldn’t understand how it drove at all before. Then he taught me how to check the oil in the front and rear differentials (it was low) and the transfer case. Then he taught me how to lube a vehicle. Then we tightened up some belts and added some air to the tires. Then he taught me how to check the u-joints.

I have on order now, two front end u-joints and four new shocks – we will put them in together.

So it has taken 30 years but I am now spending part of my weekends with my buddies learning how to wrench on a vehicle.

My goal is to get it mechanically in tip top shape then work on the body and exterior. I’ll paint it a normal color – when I got it, it was the original green with some bluish grey bondo and some gray primer. As I noticed rust, I would wire wheel it and splash it with a different colored grey primer. Then I learned about this black rust-eating paint so I started using that. The thing looked like it had measles. So I started “connecting the dots” and lo, a camo pattern emerged. But I’ll probably end up painting it grey or tan. Next I’ll work on the interior – it’s a mess.

Some day it will be nice.

Right now it’s a project for me to learn on.
And it works well in the snow.
And it has a fairly high “cool factor” too, don’tcha think?

See ya out there.

And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him: - Exodus 14:6
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Field Expedient Slugs

2009-11-29T15:28:00.000-08:00

Based on the amount of mail I have received about the field expedient slugs we created for the shotgun course, I thought I’d give y’all a quick explanation.

There are a couple times when you want a slug for a shotgun – one is penetration. A slug will go through a much denser barrier than will shot – the smaller the shot size, the less of a barrier it will penetrate. Another time you may need a slug is when you want to make a precise shot – say into the head of a bad guy holding a hostage. It just wouldn’t do to pepper (in this case) the little girl in order to “save” her.

There is a technique called scalloping whereby you hold off to the side of your intended target and only hit it with the outer edge of your pattern. Nice theory but it doesn’t always work out in practice and you cannot account for the wad. A plastic wad can penetrate 1/4” plywood at room distances and it never flies to the same place. I wouldn’t want my daughter to have to absorb that energy with her face, or eye. So sometimes a single projectile – in this case a slug - is called for.

I told the students to bring slugs to the class. One failed to do so. No problem, it created a good learning opportunity for what I call a field expedient slug. Others call them “ringed rounds”, “cut down shells” and so on. I think it was invented a long time ago by folks who couldn’t afford slugs to hunt deer with (they are more expensive than bird shot by a long shot); or maybe it was some good ol’ boy out dove hunting and he saw something that just cried out for a slug strike. In any case, I learned it a long time ago at a mysterious place called Mott Lake and now I reckon I’ll teach you.

Know this up front though: I am not telling you to do this. I am not saying this is safe. It may be extremely unsafe. It may void the warranty of your shotgun. For all I know, it could cause your gun to blow up. You could cut yourself. You could somehow (who knows?) ignite the powder. Consult a professional before you even CONSIDER doing something like this. This is just FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY.

A shotgun shell is made up of the brass cup which holds the primer and the gun powder. Above that is a plastic wad and shot cup. The wad is about ¾ inch long or less and the cup is just thin plastic wings which contain the shot inside the shell. The primer ignites the powder; the powder burns very quickly creating gas; the gas expands and forces the wad away from the breech; the wad pushes the cup containing the shot through the end of the crimped shell and down range. The wad usually flies about 10 yards or so and then just falls to the ground while the shot continues down range.

What you do is cut around the plastic hull where I marked it on the intact shell. A serrated blade works best. Cut all the way through the hull to the wad but leave two tabs opposite each other connecting the top of the hull to the bottom. This round is a bit more fragile than an intact slug but you can load it without difficulty.

When you fire it, instead of the wad pushing the shot out of the end of the crimped hull, the hull separates at the tabs and the intact upper hull containing the shot moves out down range.

The important thing is it moves out as a single projectile – not multiple pieces of lead shot. The other important thing is it hits as a single mass in a single point - thus allowing greater penetration than the shot would by itself. It will not hold together like a slug once it does impact so you won’t get the same penetration performance out of a field expedient slug – but it is impressive when compared to the shell it was created from.

For our use though, we needed a single projectile for a precise hit and as you can see from the photo in the blog entry below – it worked.

Sometimes it doesn't extract quite as well as full sized round does. You can see the remenant of one there on the right - it even has a tab still on it. So for those who wanted to know - there ya go!

Then Jael Heber's wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died. Judges 4:21
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Defensive Shotgun Course

2009-11-28T13:37:00.001-08:00

The hills were alive with the sound of gunfire on the day after Thanksgiving. We conducted a Defensive Shotgun course which covers a wide variety of topics but which basically trains students to make maximum use of the ubiquitous shootin’ iron.

We plan the courses weeks and months in advance and this time of year one really never knows what the weather will be on The Day. Once, a couple years ago, we had to build warming fires for the students. This time it could not have been better – mid fifties with bright blue skies.

Six students attended this iteration and were taught a variety of related topics from safety, to proper selection of a defensive shotgun (regular readers will already know I’m not big on goo-gaws), ammo selection, proper hold, stance, negotiating various obstacles and several drills or “mini-scenarios”. This course is aimed and empowering the home defender and the final exercise scenario has a gang of ruffians invading the students’ “home” forcing him or her to deal with several situations in a compressed time cycle.

The final obstacle is a 20 yard slug shot to save the little girl. This student showed up with no slugs so we showed him how to make some field expedient ones out of regular ol’ bird shot. Not a bad shot, huh? I’d say he “solved the problem”.

Everyone left happy and with some newfound skills they will hopefully never have to put into practice for real.

And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; - Ezekiel 9:2

.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Come out of Babylon

2009-11-21T07:30:00.000-08:00

On the forums recently, a Viking asked what would be the sign for the chaos that is coming so that he could tell his friends, they could be alert for that sign, and – when the time was right, they could flee the city for safer regions. For our purposes, “city” need not be NYC - it is any place there are a whole lot of people crowded together. It includes "suburbia".

There are a few problems with this line of thinking:

1. There is more than one potential scenario
Our world could change significantly due to a number of situations: Real Pandemic Flu; Nuclear strike “Out of the Blue”; Comet Strike or Yellowstone Caldera, or Krakatoa; Foreign Invasion – be it Chinese, or Venezuelans, or Aliens. Hey, the list goes on – pick YOUR poison.

Each scenario, while being life changing, is also unique. Each contains its own problem sets and each presents with different indications and warnings. One could develop a watch matrix for each potential threat (what I consider potential threat will differ from what you do) and monitor all of them. But the sheeple won’t…which leads us to…

2. By the time a sheeple gets his sign – all the other sheeple will get it also and it won’t do them any good – it will be too late
The Life Changing Event will make our so called “shock and awe” at the start of the current iteration of the Iraqi war look like a kumbaya sing-along. To paraphrase one of the Wayans brothers – it’s gonna rock our world, Baby!

By the time those living in the cities get a clue (even those looking for signs) it will be way too late. Google OODA Loop and do some reading. People living in cities are, in vast percentages, “sheeple”. They are all going to realize nearly simultaneously that something is up and panic will ensue. Those who thought they had a plan will find it is severely impacted by the chaos around them.

Here’s another little tidbit: There are people in higher places (.gov, industry and private organizations) that are paid to watch for signs. They will see these indicators before the masses do. That is their intent. That is what they are paid to do. When their little indicator board lights up they will inform their superiors who will take action before the masses even know something is happening. In short, the masses will be acted upon.

3. They want it all and they want it now!
This is the problem of the people asking the original question, “What will be the sign for which I must watch so that I can flee this city ahead of all of those who do not get it?” The sad fact is THEY don’t get it.

They think they are wise – they live where they can have Ethiopian, or Thai or whatever kind of ethnic food they want delivered to the house in 20 minutes; they make “better money here than I can out in the sticks”; they have to live near their family who lives in the city – and yet they think they can flee in time to stay ahead of the Four Horsemen.

Most people have an idea of some idealized retreat or bug out location – a little cabin in the woods; a working ranch/farm on which live a few families; a small town nestled out there in the boonies…what it is, is not germane to this post – the point is they KNOW that where they are will not work in their envisioned scenario and yet they don’t want to move “out there” for a variety of reasons. So their plan is to flee there at the last safe moment.

4. Bad boy, bad boy – whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?
“I’m gonna bug out!”
“To where?”
“…uh….umm,….hmmm…”

See – that cabin, that ranch and that small town – they don’t really exist. Not for the majority of the sheeple who are just awake enough to ask, “What will be the sign…?”
They don’t exist because they would divert funds from other pursuits, they would divert time from other activities and quite simply – most don’t have enough of either.

The Real Answer
The real answer flows from this precept: Real preparedness does not happen overnight and there is no easy, instantaneous solution. It is costly in terms of money, time, and most importantly for some – ego.

No, Mr Capitalist…
No, Ms Consumer – you cannot buy your way out of this.
You CANNOT have it all, Baby.
You cannot live in the city surrounded by pretty shiny things.
You cannot drive your SAAB Turbo to work, drink lattes by the gallon, and dine out at a different restaurant every evening.
You cannot maintain your current lifestyle.
Not if you want to survive what is coming down the pike.

See, real preparedness is a lifestyle. It encompasses everything we do. It guides our daily actions. If one is truly concerned with surviving the turmoil ahead, one will change one’s lifestyle to reflect that.
If one was truly aware, one would move, get a different job, value different things.

Real preparedness is a lifestyle
If you want to survive the calamities that are just over the horizon – if you truly want it – you will change your behavior. You will change your lifestyle.
Now.
While you have time.
If you want to survive that – let your actions mirror your words. Don’t just talk about getting out – get out.

If you want to survive eternity, if you truly want it – you will change your mindset. If you want to survive what is coming after the Horsemen ride though – you will allow your heart to be changed – and your actions will follow.

Either way, you need to come out of Babylon.

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. – 1 John 2:15 - 17

Life is about choices
Choices have consequences
Choose wisely
Choose Jesus

And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. – Revelation 18:4 - 5

.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Viking Pocket Fire

2009-11-20T12:51:00.000-08:00

I don’t smoke. I do, however, carry a lighter everywhere I go.
You just never know when you are going to need to start a fire.
Oh, I can and do make fire a bunch of different ways – I teach people to do so. But I carry a lighter in my pocket for when I need fire. A good friend of mine is fond of saying, “If Davy Crockett had had a Bic – he would have carried it.”
Amen.

I also teach wilderness survival and in the wilderness survival arena there really is not much that is “new”. Instructors just rehash old knowledge with their personal spin on it.
I do believe I have “invented” something in this area though, and I will share it with you now.

Now I did not come up with this idea completely out of the blue. A long time ago, in a land far away, I was working with some foreign commandos in a dark and dank jungle. As real darkness descended (and it does so quickly in the jungle) the commandos wanted to get a fire going. Hey, it was their jungle, their bad guys – if they wanted a fire who was I to tell them differently? I wondered how they were going to do so with all the wet wood laying about.

When I was in the Pacific Northwest (another dark, dank, wet place) we would get fires going with Trioxene heat tablets – they were like magic. These guys had hexamine fuel for their little ration heaters but they didn’t have a lot and they were not going to waste it starting their fires. What they used instead was pieces of truck inner tube they all carried. They just laid the rubber on a log, whacked it with their heavy bladed jungle knife and sliced off a piece about an inch and half wide by about 3 inches long.

They slid this slice of rubber into the end of a long green stick they had split a bit. They then lit one corner of the rubber with … you got it – a Bic. I was impressed. Until that night, I never knew that rubber burned like that. The now hotly burning torch was applied to their damp fire lay and in no time we had fire.

My twist on this technique is to slide a piece of bicycle inner tube over my lighters. I get it from my son who rides and hangs out with other bicyclists. They must be rich because most of the time, instead of repairing their flat tires, they just use a new inner tube. And my son gives me the old ones.

When I want to start a fire, I just slice a circle around the inner tube using the lighter as a cutting board. I then take my donut of rubber, hang it on a stick, light it with the lighter and voila! I have a big hot match. If the wood is wet – slice a thicker piece of rubber.

So there ya go – I boldly and unabashedly lay claim to the concept of Viking Pocket Fire. I reckon we could call it VPF and sell them by the boatload if we wanted to – but why don’t you just make your own? Heck, make several – they are cheap!

See ya out there.

And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. – Genesis 22:6

.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Snake - it's what's for supper

2009-11-15T16:52:00.000-08:00

Several years ago, I was living on a couple acres but we had neighbors on both sides – the houses about 100 yards apart.
Behind the houses was a big wooded hill. We had our chicken coop up on the wood line.

One day my wife says, "I know where all my eggs are going - I found two big black snakes in there and they had eggs in them." You see, we had a hen sitting on a clutch of eggs and every other day or so, some eggs would be missing. Now we knew we were be raided by a pair of snakes.

"Did you kill them?" I asked.

"No, but I took them about 25 yards into the woods and let them go" she says.

"They'll be back" says I.

Sure enough on a Saturday my wife comes down from the coop with a 6 foot long live black snake in her hand. It had an egg in it.

"KILL this snake!" she says. (She's a lover, not a killer)
So I chop the snake's head off.

My then little (7 years old) daughter says, "Daddy, can I hold it?"

Now this snake was still wiggling as recently dead snakes are apt to do.

You know I let her hold it. When she grabbed it by the middle, both ends were touching the ground.

Next door, my neighbors were having a barbeque. He was a Major in the Army and had his whole office over. Now HE was cool - he shot everything that moved in his back yard and had killed deer, turkey and a bobcat back there. But the other families that were visiting him "out in the country" were decidedly urbane. My neighbor had a daughter about my girl's age....there were other kids over there at the barbeque as well...

My daughter says, "Daddy, can I go show Sarah the snake?"

heh, heh, heh - "SURE you can Sweetie!"

Off she runs to the neighbors.

I watched.
I listened.

Oh the screams
Oh the jerky movements of the moms AND the dads.
Oh the look my neighbor's wife shot me across 100 yards of pasture.

Priceless.

My daughter came back dejected - "They didn't like my snake, Daddy"

"Yeah Sweetie, some people are just weird like that".

"Can we eat it?"

…Yeah, she's Daddy's little girl...

We gut it, skinned it, cut it into six-inch pieces and soaked it in salt water over night. The next day I placed the pieces in a glass baking pan, brushed them with olive oil and sprinkled them with Italian seasonings and lemon juice.
Baked at 350 until it was “done”.

We served it on a rice pilaf with steamed asparagus.
It was good and when we were finished eating, we gave the bones to the chickens - kinda karma-esque.

I think a chilled Rose` is about the perfect wine with black snake.

Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. – Matthew 15:11

.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Just in Time for Christmas!

2009-11-11T13:41:00.000-08:00

I acquire gear like some women stock up on shoes. And like some of those women, I may get something and then wait a long time before I actually use it. Such was the case with the Swack-Shack. I got this piece of WonderGear some time ago but I just didn’t have time, couldn’t find time, wouldn’t make time to go play with my new toy.

Well recently I took the time to do some Woods Walkin’ with my new puppy to the far reaches of the realm were we set up camp, hung out, and howled back a coyotes. Well, I did, Mahdi barked back.

So just what is this “Swack-Shack”? To call it a tarp would be to do it a grave injustice. To those in the know, it is more properly called a “basha” and it was designed by a friend of mine, George Jasper who wrote the most excellent book, 6 Ways In, 12 Ways Out and with whom I sometimes work. The basha is 8.5 feet long and over 7 feet wide – it is big. But it folds up small as you can see. It folds up much smaller and is much lighter than the two ponchos I used to carry. It is made of rip-stop nylon, is very light weight and comes with multiple, very well made loops and grommets to allow for a variety of tie out options. You can see more pictures, read more details, and yes, order a couple for Christmas here: Survival Solutions

The Swack-Shack stood up to a mild rain with absolutely no problems. I was in a hammock and I was completely covered and remained completely dry. I had seam sealed it when I first got it and I suggest you do the same – Sur-Sol who runs Survival Solutions also sells the stuff for very reasonable prices. His customer service is excellent and he is not just a merchant – he is a practitioner of the arts of preparedness and survival.

Due to the numerous grommets and loops, this piece of kit just begs to be played with. I typically set up my hooches as depicted in the other photos but as I was packing up I decided to see if I could make a tipi by suspending it from the center loop. I did and it would have made a nice hasty shelter to eat lunch under or take a nap or what not.

So there ya go – a great piece of kit, reasonably priced at $84, and it comes in a cammo pattern that will make your gear queer buddies drool. All this and just in time for Christmas!

And the children of Israel shall pitch their tents, every man by his own camp, and every man by his own standard, throughout their hosts. - Numbers 1:52
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Cold Duck

2009-10-20T11:44:00.000-07:00

I have hunted ducks successfully but I am not what you would call a duck hunter. When I used to get haircuts I’d pick up the odd Field and Stream in the barbershop and I would read pretty much every article in there while I was waiting. Some of them were about ducks. A lot of them were about ducks. I have a pretty good memory.

We raise ducks here on High Prairie Acres. I say “we” like I have a lot to do with it. My wife raises ducks. She also raises Guinea fowl and chickens (and goats and a horse and dogs… but that is beside the point). She knows a good deal about birds – especially our birds. But, I do pay attention and I do know a thing or two myself.

We have a pond here. It used to be a 24’ above ground pool. But for the past two years we have not “shocked” it, added any chemicals or in fact – swum (is that even a word?) in it. The pump no longer works. But a few weeks ago, I added a little bridge from the deck to the water surface and we herded the ducks down into it.

Now, these ducks had never been in a big body of water. The most water they had ever been in was one of those big metal wash tubs – which they thoroughly enjoyed. So it took some convincing and they were very loud in their protestations. But once they entered the water they took to it like….well – a duck to water.

They were fun to watch paddling around, swimming a bit under the water, preening their feathers. See, ducks have an oil gland that they dip into and use to keep their feathers nice and water resistant or whatever.

So the other day I’m outside doing chores, it’s pretty chilly – about 40 or so, and the ducks are swimming around in their “pond”. One duck though was in distress. Instead of floating above the water – just like a duck decoy – it was submerged between it’s upper back and the top of its neck. At first I thought it was just sliding down in the tub like I do but no - it was having difficulties. To make matters worse – another duck would come by periodically and push the obviously messed up duck’s head under water. Nice duck…

So I go get our really big net. It’s about 30 inches in diameter and on the end of a long aluminum pole. I think it is for netting deep sea fish – no idea where I got it. Anyway – I scoop the duck out of the water. I was expecting it to fuss and make noise. Nope. When I moved it to the deck, it just lay there – shivering.

Who ever heard of a duck shivering? The one day I hunted ducks (there, the truth is out) it was SNOWING and the ducks seemed fine. I called my wife and said I think we have a sick or injured duck. She looked it over and pronounced it, “not sick”.

So I said, “Good let’s eat it”. We have too many ducks anyway but I know better than to get into my wife’s business…. So when she gave me The Look – I just shrugged.

Anyway – long blog short – she took it in to the wood stove, wrapped it in a towel, put it in a box on top of bricks that we keep atop the wood stove as a means of trapping more heat and then she BLOW DRIED it. I took pictures and tried real hard not to make any smart alec comments.

But would you believe that duck recovered and is now waddling around out on the pasture? I don’t think it’s going back in the water though.

Imagine that – a duck that doesn’t do well in cool water…

And the servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals; for it was cold: and they warmed themselves: and Peter stood with them, and warmed himself. – John 18:18
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Sodden Viking

2009-10-10T06:45:00.000-07:00

I love watching those shows about people who were thrust into survival situations and who prevailed despite all the odds. I like watching Les Stroud doing his stuff in Survivorman. And no, I don’t watch the other guy’s comedy show purporting to be survival.

I have done a few “Survival Campouts” on my own but to do a really hardcore one you really should have some form of backup in case things get hairy. I have done a few with friends but it is hard to convince folks to join you in the woods for a couple days “with just a knife”.

And then I got my own website…

Twelve Brave Souls signed up for Iron Viking.
I had promised them a minimalist survival experience (the packing list is in an earlier blog entry) and gave them very little additional information except that I would try to make sure they didn’t die.

I told everyone to meet at a given location at 11 a.m. so that we would all enjoy a big meal together prior to beginning the exercise promptly at noon. By 12:30 nine Vikings had shown up – we moved out to the training area.

It was raining.
It was forecasted and threatened to pour.
Thunder rumbled.
Because I’m such a softie, I issued each participant a large trash bag to keep their blanket and long underwear in.

As we were going over initial instructions and preparing for our layout inspection one more intrepid Viking pulled up to the exercise location.
He was sick.
Very sick. I think he had H5N1 or something…
He was brave if a bit misguided showing up.

I had promised each participant a “goody bag”.
I refused to tell them what was going to be in it.
I won’t tell you what was in it except to say it was obviously in a feed sack.

We moved to the initial campsite in the rain.
The route was about a mile long, cross country over rocks and downed trees, across gullies and up and down large hills. Did I mention it was raining?

Spirits were high.
Along the way each Viking was "injured" and had to deal with his/her injury. They were then graded on their performance by a doc who came along. He was graded by an EMT who came along.

We continued on.

When we arrived at the initial campsite I was a softie again and gave each participant a HUGE piece of plastic to use in making their shelter. It was something like 3' x 6'.

People set about making shelters in the remaining daylight and most looked pretty good.
They then started building fires. This was very easy as it had only been raining there for two days and each Viking was given TEN paper matches.

It actually stopped raining for a bit and I built a big ol' fire to dry my clothes. Oh yes, I was playing also.
Once that was done I started another small fire inside my shelter - the soaked rocks we were using as fire reflectors kept exploding with glee and I wanted my shelter rocks to settle down before I climbed in there.

About that time, one of our FIVE medical personal came up to me and said the sick Viking was bad off - did we have any caffeine to give him to help his breathing? Yes, of course we did - it's just that no one knew it yet. I dispatched a "nurse" to make a cup of tea for the ailing Viking but was soon informed that said Viking had (wisely albeit a bit late) decided to bag it - and go sleep in his car and then depart in the morning.

We were way back in the deep dark woods about a mile from the cars.
He didn't know the way.
It was getting dark.
Sigh....okay - I'll lead him out.
Walking through the very wet woods soon had my recently dry pants soaked once more (whine).
After dropping the Viking off, just as it got fully dark, a mile away from my compadres – LO, the skies did burst forth!
There was lightning, there was thunder and there was PRODIGIOUS rain.

I swam the mile back.
I got a bit discombobulated in the dark/BRIGHT woods with fogged over spectacles.
I finally found home.
I was wet - totally.
My large fire was very sad.
It was THUNDER storming.

I crawled into my hootch.
I was okay. I had made a bed of spruce boughs.
I changed into long underwear, fleece top, hat and Gore-Tex parka and settled down to sleep.

And one point a Viking woke me and asked if I was wet.
“No.”
I resumed dreaming.

Another Viking woke me.
She was supposed to be way over there - why was she here?
And then I realized who it was but I couldn't understand her.
She was totally wet and hypothermic.
We sorted her out about the same time God decided to create a stream through my bed.
I know all about "properly selecting ground". This was not just a bit of rain trying to find a place to go - no, the fountains of the deep had obviously burst open again. In fact, over the next 12 hours it rained 5.5 inches.

Thus began a long wet, cold night.
Mildy hypothermic Vikings.
No sleep.
Most ended up sitting against trees with meager plastic wrapped around their heads...

Prior to dawn (GOD, what a long night) with every Viking awake and suffering - everyone soaked from at least the waist down and most soaked from the crown of head down...
We broke camp and headed back to the cars - in the dark. Everyone did have an emergency flashlight which they used but still..

We got to the cars, turned on the heat, put on dry clothes, and napped for an hour or so.

And then after hearing that the forecast called for more of the same to include a temperature drop I made a difficult decision - I cancelled the exercise.

It was a safety thing more than anything else. When I was dealing with the first hypothermic Viking in the wee hours of the night I found myself worrying that some other Viking was out there experiencing hypothermia without telling anyone.
Responsibility.

I felt really bad about/for one Viking who road a bus, hiked 17 miles, hitched, slept in a very interesting place, and arrived from a state far, far away. He's probably mad at me.

On the way home I heard the temps were forecasted to drop into the high thirties that night.
Everything and everyone was SODDEN.
I'll stand by the decision.

That five and half inches of rain had fallen on ground already soaked by two days of almost continuous rain and sprinkle. Every creek and river we passed for a few hundred miles was well over its banks. In fact, our way out was blocked by a washed out road and we had to take a detour. I saw a golf course with a lake in the middle of it - where the greens were supposed to be. I saw a 55 MPH sign with water to within 6" of the bottom of the sign. Yeah - it rained. And it was still raining for the first two hours of the drive home.

So the first Iron Viking was a bust. I think my t-shirt designer was prescient when he put water droplets on the shield.

In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. - Genesis 7:11

.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Life

2009-10-05T16:40:00.000-07:00

I know, I know…it’s been way too long.
Sorry.
Life has happened and I have just been too busy to sit down and blog.
I resolve to do better.

Woods Walkin'
Went out with a couple friends Woods Walkin’. We built traps and snares, constructed a lean to shelter, discussed fire reflectors and did a wild plant identification walk amongst other things. It’s good just to get out there and smell the smells, see the sights, and feel God’s creation all around you.

Kill, Clean and Butcher
I have given two classes and taught five students to kill, clean and butcher rabbits. Not a “fun” thing but necessary for the cycle of life. I remember LOVING the movie “Jeremiah Johnson” when I was a kid. Man, that’s what I wanted to BE. I made a buckskin shirt, built a Green River knife from a kit and even got a Thompson Center .50 caliber Hawken kit. Then I wrote the American Mountain Man association (no email back then) and was just crushed when they told me I had to be 18 years old to join. But back to the movie: years later when I watched it as an adult I realized there was a lot wrong with that tale. For one thing (and our point of the moment) Jeremiah comes back from some woods walkin’ and just dumps a rabbit carcass – with the hide still on it, into a cook pot. Yeah, riiiiiiight. The students I taught over the past few weeks at least know how to properly deal with a rabbit.

Canning
Pears and apples are all in and we have been giving classes on canning and “putting up” reserves of food. This is becoming a several times a week deal and we do it at our house, at the church and at other folks’ houses. This is also a time of fellowship and just slowing down to be with each other. Plus we end up with yummy, nutritious food!

Church
Our church has been growing by leaps and bounds and not just in numbers (although we have seen a 30% increase over the past two months) but also in the Spirit, in Discipline, in Works and in Faith. This keeps me very happily very busy.

We had a little bonfire the other day to which we invited all our friends and family – whether the attend our church or not. The weather was perfect, we had a cloudy start to the day but it ended with clear, cool skies lit by a full moon – and our two fires. We sang and played instruments, and ate, and talked and just fellowshipped and it was wonderful.

The Immediate Future
Iron Viking is coming up soon and we’ve been doing a lot to get ready for it as well. I’m quite sure it will provide fodder for future entries as well as some gear I’m going to test out this week before the adventure begins.

Don’t give up on me – I haven’t given up on you!

In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. - 1 John 4:9

.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

College BoB

2009-08-15T14:41:00.000-07:00

My daughter heads off to college very soon and we took the opportunity to totally revamp her BoB. She is going to be several hours away and with the world being how it is, and Dad being how he is…..well, we just wanted to make sure she was okay. She has grown up in “the community” and has attended a great many training events, BoB campouts and just plain ol’ camping since she was in diapers. She was very active in Girl Scouts and can camp with the best of them. She lettered in Cross Country the past two years and is fit.

Plan A is for her to wait for Mom and Dad to come get her.
Plan B is to get a ride with someone.
Plan C is to walk.

In every case, she will bring her BoB. It weighs in at 35 pounds – a bit steep but we have discussed what she will dump if she has too. Water makes up about 10 pounds of that weight and if she needs to, she will “dump weight” by drinking a lot of it. There is a wool sweater and a sleeping bag in there that she will dump right away unless the forecasted temps are for below freezing.

With that being said, let’s talk about what she is carrying.

The rucksack itself is a decent Kelty in a nice green color.
Datrex Coast Guard Rations – 3600 calories of cookies in a long lasting package. This should sustain her for a few days.
Pot – this is a surplus German one. I like the bail on top which allows it to be suspended over a fire. For heating up warming beverages, boiling water to purify it and cooking up squirrels …
2 Quarts of water in old soda bottles with duct tape wrapped around them. Duct tape rules the world. This is actually “100 mph tape” but is very similar.
Granola bars – eat on the go.
Hot cocoa and Oatmeal – something to start or end a cold day with.
Tea
T-shirt, Underwear, and socks – sleeping in wet underthings is a no-no
Wool knit hat and gloves – if your feet are cold, put on a hat!
Bandana – triangular bandage – 1,001 uses
Fire – Boy Scouts “Hot Spark” ferrocerium rod, striker, and a bottle of vaselined cotton balls. There is also a P38 can opener in there my buddy offered me $12 for (I guess it’s rare)
Lighters with inner tube – for starting fires, of course she doesn’t smoke!
Long Underwear – “silkies”
Flashlight - Mini MagLite and a "kubaton" (yes, she knows her strikes)
Head Lamp - these are da bomb when you need to move or use your hands
Map and compass - yes, she knows how to use them.
Knife - Mora and razor sharp. More inner tube for fire starting on the sheath
Pencil, pen, notebook
Bible and Constitution - the two most important "documents" we can own
Katadyn water filter - it's light but still has heft to it but the weight is worth what it provides - limitless clean water.
The ruck has 3 liters of water in a Camelback and a little led light attached.
Pepper Foam - for bears and other evil creatures
Cash - in small denominations - ain't nobody making change...
Wallet - this now contains the cash, the fire kit, a lighter and is attached temporarily to the knife and head lamp - these things become "line one gear" and will be on her body.
First Aid - kit with all kinds of goodies plus ACE wrap
Toilet Paper - she'll dig a scrape with a stick or her heel.
Feminine Hygeine products - because Murphy shows up at the worst times
Tooth Brush, Paste and floss - basic hygeine and the floss has many uses
Sleeping Bag - in a water proof bag
Goretex suit - top and bottom and in a nice camo - this is her primary shelter
Tarp - nylon, for home sweet home if she needs it
Sweater - 100% wool
Cordage
Trash bags - shelter, ground cloth, etc
Tea candles and Aluminum foil not shown but there.

Additionaly, she has a "naked bag" attached to the BoB. This is a bag that contains a complete set of clothes and shoes in case she starts out in her PJs or something. If she doesn't need it, it gets left behind.

Well, that's it.
She has the skills to use everything in it.
Hopefully she will never have to.

And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. - Revelation 12:14

.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Scary, isn't it?

2009-08-14T11:07:00.000-07:00

Just because I can.

Remembering Combinations

2009-08-12T05:02:00.000-07:00

As economic times get tougher and crime statistics worsen, more and more of us are buying safes and security containers, locks, and other security devices. Many of these security items allow one to change the combination to one of the owner’s choosing. The problem comes in remembering the combination.

See, we are not supposed to pick birthdays, or phone numbers, or anything easy that some bad guy could intuit. We certainly should not write it down anywhere. Additionally, one should not pick numbers that all end in 0 or 5 – people do this because it’s easy to see on the dial. One should also not pick numbers that get larger or smaller in series for example: 22-34-46 or: 93-78-45. Remembering random numbers is tough – what’s a guy or gal to do?

A trick I was taught when designing a combination is to think of a word with the same number of letters as there are digits in your combination.
Say you can set a combination for three two-digit numbers - pick a six letter word.

Like.....oh.... VIKING

Now look on a telephone key pad: V is an 8, I is a 4, K is a 5 and so on so VIKING =845464 so the combination would be 84-54-64

Now, I don't recommend you choose a combo all ending in the same number but you get the idea

You can also think up a longer word but just use the first six letters like oh,..... LONGBOAT L=5, O=6, N=6, G=4, B=2, O=6 so your combination would be 56-64-26

It's easier for many folks to remember a word than a series of numbers.

You can also try and make a word from a given combo (I'll just make up a combo and see if it works)...
32-56-74
hmmmm… DAKOSI that's Japanese for ...... I have no idea but it sounds like a word to me

I bet if I played with this a bit I could find a real word but you get the idea (I hope).

Hey – I’ll see ya out there.

But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. – Matthew 24:43
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Kansas Kitty

2009-07-31T06:56:00.000-07:00

And they keep saying there are no mountain lions in Kansas...

My buddy was coming home from hospital mid day.
This mountain lion ran across the front of his driveway and into his backyard. The tail was about as long as the body.

My friend went into his house, picked up his camera and went to the back door - there it was peeking at him around the corner of his shed. He took the pic and only then realized it was standing when he took it.

That pile of pavers is 18" high.
This is a juvenile mountain lion.

This was a residential neighborhood.

Where's Momma?
Where's Daddy?
Where are the siblings?

Hey! Where is Fluffy?
Fluffy, Fluffy - come here, Fluffy!

And he cried, A lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights: And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground. - Isaiah 21:8 - 9

.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Elderberry Tincture

2009-07-29T11:15:00.000-07:00

EDIT: I say later in this article that I am not a doctor. Truth. I have gotten some email since this article was published that says Elderberry Tincture may actually be harmful to those with H5N1 ("bird flu"). What about H1N1 ("pig flu")? Check this link out: HERBALS Is it true? I don't know. I just don't know. Take what you can use, discard the rest.

The powers that be are all saying with more or less stridency that a bad flu is coming down the pike this Fall. My brother thinks it is all just misdirection so we focus on that and lose sight of what is really going on in the world, in our country, in our lives.

I think chances are excellent that this flu will arrive with a vengeance, I think it is quite possible that it will sicken and kill a lot of people and I think it's quite possible that this is, and will be used to distract us from other issues. Yes, "we can have it all!"

I don't trust .gov to keep me or mine safe. I don't think they care about me. I don't think they are staffed by the most competent people. I think there are some bad actors scattered about that probably have evil intent. I definitely don't trust Big Pharma. They don't want to heal - they want to dose. No, they want to SELL and continue selling. Many of the so-called WonderDrugs do not work against H5N1 ("bird flu") Will they work against H1N1 ("swine flu"?) I don't know. One thing that has worked evidently is tincture of elderberry, Sambucol and so on.

Hey, I'm not a doctor. I am not a drug, or tincture, or herbal salesman. I'm just a guy with a family who sees things coming down the pike. I read a lot. And I believe that elderberry tincture just might work. I have made some and I'm going to make some more. I suggest you do the same.

A friend of mine wrote up a great article with lots of photos. It's a "Why" and a "How to" article and it is excellent. It is kind of a pain to post pictures in this blog so instead of doing that I'm just going to give you the link.
Elderberry Tincture

Please go read it.
Then get off your duff and go make some.

See ya out there!

And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. - Genesis 1:29-31
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

On Sherry, ALICE, and Personal Growth

2009-07-23T15:15:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I was reminiscing about my family’s journey through the survivalist movement and I remembered Sherry. Thinking about her reminded me of how she helped my wife make some big personal strides. So, if you’re out there – Thanks, Sherry.

Back in the mid 1990’s my wife and I decided to “join the movement” in that we took the decision to get out there and start interacting with other survivalists who were, at that point, complete strangers to us. It was a big step for us. We had always been “into preparedness” but we kept our preparations to ourselves. This whole aspect is fodder for other blog entries but today I want to discuss weight and gear.

When we started hanging out with these folks and started joining teams and starting teams (we moved around a lot back then) there was a distinctly military flair to everything. Everyone, including the kids, wore woodland pattern BDUs; everyone wore boonie hats; everyone wore LCE/LBE (combat suspenders and gear – more later) and everyone carried ALICE packs. I’m telling you no matter where you were - from the Southeast to the Northwest - everyone was very similar. The only difference was the rifle – was the group carrying AKs or ARs?

Like many dutiful husbands, I strongly influenced my wife’s decision about what her BOB contained. It was a medium ALICE ruck and probably weighed about 50 or 60 pounds. We used to take hikes carrying our BOBs but we never wore our LBE or carried rifles unless it was a bona-fide training event. My wife was always got tired but gamely struggled to complete her hikes and she wasn’t real happy. Then she met Sherry.

We attended a gathering of over 100 people several states from our home and conducted classes, networked, ate, trained and made friends for life. There were folks there from all over the country and from outside the country. They were by and large the most normal people you’d ever want to meet…if you could overlook the BDUS and guns. One of the classes was on BOBs and what should go in them. Sherry was there and made some side comments that caught my wife’s attention. Sherry was something of a legend in the Survivalist community – she had been there and done that for years, she was around when several then famous groups got their start, and she “knew stuff”. Later that evening she and my wife had a long discussion around the campfire about BoBs for girls. (I’m sure they didn’t call it that but that’s what it was).

The weekend after we returned home as we were restocking our BoBs (very important) my wife made a big pile of stuff she was no longer going to carry. I told her all of that stuff she was discarding was vital for her survival and she replied no it was not. We went back and forth a bit and then she played her trump card – “this is what Sherry carries.” At that time Sherry knew more about this stuff than I did – and I realized that. So suddenly my wife was carrying a BoB that weighed about half of what it used to. ALICE went from overweight to downright svelt!

Most of the teams we were on conducted training every month or so. Every event we attended revolved around classes on a variety of topics. One thing we seemed to do a lot of back in the day was patrolling, moving and shooting, and general Infantry skills. Because, you know – we were going to have to fight off the Godless Communists some day. As I said above, folks wore LCE. This was way before combat vests got popular and everyone knew Alice but no one had ever heard of Mollie. Most folks wore a pistol belt with suspenders and on this rig suspended two canteens, two 3-magazine ammo pouches, a first aid kit (pouch with a dressing or two) a sheath knife, an FRS radio, and sometimes a buttpack, flashlight and so on. This was our “fighting load” our “line two gear” and so on. It was stuff we would need in a fight against an armed foe.

We would give classes on how to properly adjust and wear this gear, we’d hop up and down to make sure it didn’t make noise, tape off things that did make noise and then we would go for long walks in the woods or low crawl in the dirt or use Infantry movement techniques (kinda like flag drills in football) to rush objectives and then live fire and so on. Yeah, it was like that…

Anyway, one day my wife and I arrive at the team training location and everyone starts donning gear. We carried it in kit bags. Instead of putting on her battle harness, my wife donned the gear in the picture. I said something like, “Hon, come on – everyone is getting suited up in the SOP gear – you need to put yours on”.

“Nope – that stuff is too heavy.”

“But Hon, that stuff is vitally important for your survival in combat”

Then she told me, she had water, she had first aid, she had extra ammo and she had a knife and a flash light. No, she wasn’t carrying six extra mags – she decided she just couldn’t handle the weight. In case you can’t see the picture clearly (but it you click on it, it should expand) she had a Camelbak to which she taped a trauma dressing and she carried an extra magazine in a buttstock pouch (which she purchased on her own). She carried a folding Buck knife and a mini Maglight in her pocket as well. Okay, the mini Maglight is not in the pic, but you get the idea…

That was the day I realized my wife had “arrived” in a tactical gear sense – she was thinking on her own. Heck, she “discovered” tactical Camelbacks a decade before our military did!

Soon after that, she quit wearing BDUs and started wearing earth-toned “civilian” clothes. “NAFS” (it’s not a fashion show) she would tell me. I no longer had to dress up Survivalist Barbie and take her to the woods to play – she understood all by herself.

Today I see all manner of Gear Hounds out there in the “movement”. They buy all the latest stuff and deck themselves out at events. Special high speed camouflage, vests, pouches, holsters, optics, yada-yada ad-nauseum. They are for the most part doing what they think is best. Many are imitating our brave soldiers fighting Over There.

You know, when we first sent regular troops into the Afghanistan mountains after the bad Muj, we sent our boys up there on foot with well over 100 pounds of high-speed light weight (and some not-so-light) gear. Extra ammo, water, SAPI plates, helmets, batteries, radios, optics, cold weather gear, goggles, first aid (“blow out) kits, and on and on and on and on until they were in many cases just crushed under the weight of the approach march. A march thousands of feet above sea level. News flash - there is no oxygen up there – especially when one is not acclimated.

They were fighting dudes who wore man dresses and sandals, carried an AK and 2 or 3 extra magazines and a blanket. Sometimes a small canteen, sometimes a knife – but often not. They had stuff stashed all over those hills. They LIVED there – they could breath. It was very hard catching those dudes. These were (these are) men who have been fighting in those hills for hundreds of years – and they still are.

Hey – I know high speed gear is cool. I know we love to take pictures of ourselves wearing it and post them to the net (at least take them in the back yard and not in your living or bedroom please…). But I offer you this: Consider just what it is you are carrying and why exactly you are carrying it. Consider what your real physical condition is. And then consider lightening the load some more.

It worked for Sherry.
It worked for my wife.
It works for the locals running around the hills in Afghanistan.
It will probably work for you too.

Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. Psalms 55:22
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Body Mind

2009-07-16T08:59:00.000-07:00

I rarely have other’s material on this blog but every now and then I find something that I just have to share. The piece below was written by my friend Bad Chadio – a brilliant, scary man who has been and done. Enjoy.
.................................................................................

Background
Western cultures have traditionally maintained a significant separation between mind and body. As a result, many service members train their bodies and then attend to mental fitness, if at all, as a separate activity. When you improve the connection between body and mind, you can more effectively develop your mental skills – skills that can give you an edge on the battlefield (especially since your mind and body have a significant physical connection). Ensuring that there is a good connection between mental and physical fitness can increase performance and reduce work related stress.

Last week on TV I saw a performance by the brilliant fingerstyle guitarist Pierre Bensusan. He told a story of being offered a contract to perform in Spain. The only condition in the contract was that he improvise the entire show. Being a master of improvisation he signed, but as the date of the show approached he became increasingly nervous. Finally, he sought the counsel of a friend. “Look at it this way,” said the friend, “you won’t forget anything.”

What a relief it is when the burdens our minds create...disappear. To be sure, much of mental skills work in the military – and in the performing arts – is about “using your mind on your mind,” and that certainly can be effective. But it’s not the only way to master the mental obstacles to optimal performance.

Why do we take on the challenges of a physically demanding nature, challenges that call on us to use – and learn – these mental skills? Why do we willingly take on the suffering, the disappointments, the adversity of tough challenges, long deployments, and brutal training? (For the hotties that flock to us after we return, I know, but besides that?)

One of the reasons, even if we’re not aware of it, is frequently this: The body is the Great Equalizer for the mind. When the mind is too dominant, we’re out of balance, and then we often pay the price – with anxiety, runaway thoughts, and so many other kinds of distress. But when we draw on the power and wisdom in our bodies, we can restore balance, bring mind and body closer, and relieve the burdens that our rampant minds so often create.

In Western cultures philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes had a huge impact on the particular kind of dualistic view that separates mind and body. But in the last 50 years, Western civilization inches, and now crawls (or perhaps toddles) toward a more integral view of personhood. Fortunately, it’s been Toddling “under the influence” of Eastern philosophies, among other forces. So when I use the phrase “power and wisdom in our bodies,” I’m not talking about wattage and facts. I’m suggesting that your consciousness – your experience of yourself – is not located only in your heart rate monitor or GPS. Your emotions, sensations, past experiences, self-awareness, and even your thoughts all have a physical component. Discovering and living the physical in everything you experience – what is sometimes called being more in your body – can be the key to better mental fitness, and a better experience/performance under stress. But how?

Mind-Body Techniques
Led by doctors such as Herbert Benson, mind-body medicine began to guide what he calls the “third modality” in health care – in addition to pharmaceuticals and surgery – for maintaining health and well-being: self-care. And so over the years, health care practitioners, researchers, and the people they’ve worked with identified a number of things you can do to better integrate mind and body for performance, including:

Improving Your Emotional Awareness
Emotions affect health, energy, and strength, and of course the reverse is true as well. If you have even occasional difficulty answering the question, “How do you feel about that?”, you may need to look to your body for the answer rather than your mind. For example, when you’re anxious or stressed or fearful, where do you feel it in your body? Does your chest tighten? Does your breathing get shallow? Do you get knots in your stomach? Biofeedback can build your awareness and skill here. As you strengthen all the pathways to and from your emotions, you give yourself a better chance to handle your emotions, experience them, and use them.

Grounding Yourself
No, I’m not talking about banishing yourself to your room) If you want to be more in your body, becoming more conscious of your physical connection with the Earth is a great way to drive your consciousness downward from your head. In other words, gravity works; so sometimes, when you’re sitting, standing, or walking, practice paying attention to the contact of your feet (or shoes) with the ground. And finally, there’s nothing more grounding than paying attention to your breath – the place, perhaps, where Body and Mind meet.

Being conscious about what you put in your body
Paying more attention to what you eat and drink – the choices you make, the impact those choices have, but also the actual moment-by-moment experience of eating and drinking – can be a great way to narrow the mind-body gap.

Continuing to discover your physical potential
There is amazing transformative power in physical, body-focused experience. You can use your physical training in overcoming adversity or work related stress. You can use your fitness regime to learn what’s possible for your mind and body to achieve. Yet as you stretch your physical limits, perceived or real threats to your body may raise visceral fear and anxiety, perhaps evoking the fundamental mortality that underlies every moment of life. But in facing that challenge by drawing on everything within yourself – from mind, body, and spirit – you go through a crucible and a stronger person emerges.

Bottom Line
Many of the most successful competitors, at any level, are set apart from others by mental strength. And your mind will be much stronger when it has a good connection, good communication, and good balance with your body.

The five core skills of mental fitness are: Goal-Setting, Self-Talk, Managing Emotions, Concentration, and Communication. Ensuring that there is a good connection between mental and physical fitness can increase performance and reduce work related stress.
...............................................................................
But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. – Job 23:13

.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America

Why Should We Accept You?

2009-07-08T07:39:00.000-07:00

We have a discussion going on over on the forums that is based on a scenario where you and your family are displaced during a TEOTWAWKI situation and are moving in the stream of humanity to points unknown.
You are a refugee.
"You got nothing."

Up ahead, an apparently competent and well off group is interviewing people - looking for potential members. The scenario called for you to have 30 seconds to describe why the group should take you in and 30 seconds to ask any questions you may have.

We received a lot of interesting responses.
We received a lot of responses that avoided the issue or claimed it was too unrealistic.

Those folks missed the point.
The point of the post was just to get folks to think about themselves as someone else might perceive them.

I posted this in response:

What DO you have to offer to a group?
Why SHOULD a group let you in?

I personally don't care - it is an exercise for you to do some self evaluation.

"What are my strong points?"
"What can I bring to the table?" (as a person - not your barn full of supplies although sometimes that is helpful)
"What are my weak points?"
"What can I do to quickly improve my skillsets/abilities?"

I get a fair bit of mail from folks looking to join groups and asking advice. I get less mail asking how to form a group.
It comes to this: If you had a group, would you let you in?

Life is a journey - we should constantly move forward.
It's hard to move forward if we don't know where we are.

Self assessment is hard.
Thinking the hard thoughts is unpleasant.
Imagining the possible - when it is terrible - is not something we are good at. We put up psychological defenses, we "yeah, but" or "that's not possible", or "it would be hopeless" as coping mechanisms.

We fight the question.
The question/scenario and how it was framed is not the key point.
YOU are.

Elite performers do consider the ugly possibilities - and then take steps to mitigate them.
I want everyone to be elite performers.
I realize we will not all be - but we can all do better - MUCH better.

A typical response was something like:
How could a person have a chance?

By way of example for this one point (but conceptually applicable to the whole) we have this: I have medical people in my crew but I don't have an Emergency Medicine or Family Practice Doctor. We have goodly supplies of medical gear - for our future doc to use.

We don't have a blacksmith or enough musicians - but we have tools and instruments.
We don't have a gunsmith - not a real one.

As far as "good people" who are needed to man guard posts, tend critters and gardens and what not - their value depends on the group's ability to feed them.

Someone asked with exasperation, “How can one ensure one's family's security when they have nothing and are with a group they don't know?"

Indeed.
First we have to decide if our family is better off with the group or alone. I submit that a family is MUCH better off with a good group than they are alone. It is fantasy to think we can do stuff alone. Societies have been built over millennia for a reason.

So then the problem becomes how do we determine if it is a “good group”. In the problem I posed – it was a good group (but people keep fighting the problem to avoid dealing with themselves). But it is a good point – how do we determine that?
You get 30 seconds.

If you decide you are better off with the group and then turn out to have made a bad choice how do you ensure your family’s security? Well, how do you?

These are not new problems; these are not novel situations – mankind has been experiencing similar predicaments forever. And it’s not just ancient history: look at the Balkans, look at Sudan, look at Georgia.

I encourage you to take some time (just a bit, no need to dwell here) thinking the hard thoughts.
Embrace the Monster.
And then get out there and take some steps to improve your (potential) situation.

And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. - Matthew 26:39
.................................................................................

If you have any comments I’d love to hear them.
If they really interest me, I may even post them.
You can reach me at Joe

You can also join us to discuss this and other issues at Viking Preparedness Forums

Prepared Americans for a Strong America