The following guide has been contributed by Todd Savage as the second part of the ‘Strategic Relocation Bugging Out: Dreams vs. Reality’ series.
Click to read Part I: The Gut Wrenching Reality: One of the Best Bug-Out Strategy Guides You’ll Ever Read
If you’ve ever wanted to know how a professional retreat consultant addresses the issue of safe and sustainable survival properties, then keep reading. Todd is the founder of Survival Retreat Consulting and most recently the Strategic Relocation For Sale By Owner web site where you can find nationwide listings for top-tier homestead and retreat properties.
Finding that perfect home or retreat can seem like a daunting task, but as you’ll see from the extensive guide below, it can be done quite efficiently if you take the right approach. Sure, you want water and a place to grow food, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. As we saw in the first part of this series, there’s the dreamworld that’s been created by sensationalized and highly edited TV shows, and then there’s the gut wrenching reality of it.
Each of us must approach our preparedness planning based on our own specific needs and circumstances and Todd lays out a very easy to use set of checklists and considerations. Before you relocate or drop tens of thousands of dollars for land in the middle of nowhere, take the time to read the guide below because it not only addresses what to look for in a property before an emergency happens, but how you’ll be using that property should the worst-case scenarios materialize.
If you have questions about your own strategic relocation contact Todd – he’s very approachable and always willing to help solve those uniquely challenging problems that you may run into.
For additional information and insights from Todd Savage and relocation expert Joel Skousen visit the Strategic Relocation Briefings section of our web site.
Bugging Out: Dreams vs. Reality [Part 2]
By Todd Savage | Strategic Relocation
Also Read Part I: The Gut Wrenching Reality
How to Position yourself to Survive a major TEOTWAWKI event
Many folks believe that the crash will be an instant in time, and the world will fall apart in hours. That may be so for local or regional events, or if you’re at ground zero of an event, but it’s more likely that an event that affects the entire nation or world unfolds over time, from weeks to months, maybe over a year, as we are seeing with the possible Ebola ‘Pandemic’ unfolding. It started last year on December 6th, 2013, in the village of Meliandou, Guéckédou Prefecture, Guinea and NOT last week. Maybe a military bio weapon inside job, maybe not, but that won’t matter when you get the ‘fever’, will it?
Where will it be in the near future as it possibly mutates to an airborne strain and goes ‘viral’ during the winter, like a bad Britney Spears video? Nobody knows, but right now is the time to start thinking logically about getting yourself into position to deal with what may come, now or in the future.
Most of us have experienced what it’s like to be ‘out of position’, that empty feeling combined with a sharp pain deep in your gut when you know it’s already too late. Maybe it was the red and blue lights when you knew you should have slowed down, or the moment you realized you were never going to make it to your plane on-time, and of course the proverbial flat tire without a spare, jack or of course a lug nut wrench. Yes, we’ve all done it.
Let’s paint a picture with current events that will demonstrate the perfect storm catching you ‘out of position’.
It’s late January 2015, there are now several thousand cases in the larger cities like Los Angels, Dallas, Atlanta, New York City et cetera. FEMA finally decides that they must act, and the President orders a shut down and ‘preemptive isolation’ as they will call it of these cities. In reality Martial law has been declared with 25 mile no travel zones surrounding each city with all transportation stopped, except for approved food and supply shipments. Panic grips the nation as the sheeple realize that Ebola has now gone airborne, and mutated well past any ‘vaccine’ they may have created. Now smaller cities enact their own ‘self isolation’ blocking travel through on all roadways, leaving only the main US interstate system (in between major cities) for folks to flee and go ‘somewhere’.
The problem is that almost nobody knows where to go, and in haste will actually pack vehicles laden with furniture, TV’s, computers, family heirlooms and bring the interstates to a standstill. Then FEMA decides to order a full transportation shutdown, no air, ground or even sea travel allowed without inspections, permits and escorts, for any reason.
Now is NOT the time to be out of position.
A Transportation shut down = the end of your chances to bug out early effectively. What will you do when the thugs show up? Is this picture below what you want to see as you beg to be allowed to pass the checkpoint and bug-out to your retreat? Good luck. Even worse, think you’ll be able to fight past these jackbooted goons with your family in tow? You’re wrong and you’re family will die alongside you in a vain attempt to ‘secure your freedom’.
As we covered in Part I of The Bug-Out Plan, it’s important that you are prepared to leave early, once an event is identified as a possible threat. Remember, the farther your retreat, the earlier you must leave!
Now in Part II, we will cover in detail how to first decide where your location should be and then how to select the right property using a few basic criteria that all survival properties should have. Joel Skousen does an excellent job in his book ‘Strategic Relocation: North American Guide to Safe Places’, covering where these safe regions are in each state, and is perfect to use after you know the ‘why’ and ‘what’ you’re seeking to shelter yourself from.
The locale location is a very personal/individual selection based upon your own threat analysis and mitigation plans. However, one fact is universal when bugging out; You MUST have some sort of destination, where you know that fresh supplies and a new start are waiting. This is what we call ‘Being In Position’.
Before we cover basic criteria and how to secure your survival property / bug-out location, we need to understand what we’re up against here. The reality is that very few of us have a real understanding (combat veterans, maybe) of what life will be like after the lights go out.
What is life like in the middle of a civil war, socio economic crash or pandemic? I won’t profess to know, but realize that the woefully unprepared will be dead, and those that think they are prepared will be in for a hech of a journey, filled with massive psychological and physiological impacts which will govern their daily activities and decisions ultimately affecting their survival.
Foreign Invasion? Well, of Course.
In addition to dealing with ‘post collapse disorder’ (I’m sure Big Pharma would love to poison us with another pill for this), there is a good chance for a foreign occupation soon after. If you’re new to the Prepper world, and are on the fence about what may happen should we see a major event take place that affects the continental United States, do be warned that under no circumstances will another superpower let the opportunity pass to swiftly invade and create a stronghold by which to complete an occupation of this still great country.
Seriously, don’t stick your head in the sand. There is no reason to argue about who will actually invade and occupy us (although a joint Chinese/Russian ‘Peacekeeping Force’ will be a reasonable assumption), just know that it will happen and be prepared. Period. This may also affect your choice of locale for your bug out property.
If you think this man is scary, wait until ‘President’ Hillary reaches down and unlocks the door to gun confiscation, using UN troops to quell a socio-economic collapse that was years in the making, in thanks to Obama for giving her health care legislation the nod. A nice bait and switch eh?
Every country falls, no need for a history lesson here and so will America. If it’s within your lifetime it’s really going to be bad, very bad. Worse than any book or movie can portray. Why? Because it’ll be your new reality, forget all the preps you purchased, even the property you built for survival, the fact is that of those that make it that far in prepping, half will not make the grade for one simple reason; Mental conditioning.
If you survive the initial lights out event and make it to your retreat, then you’ll need to be prepared to live as sustainably as possible, during a prolonged foreign occupation and subsequent guerrilla war.
The New World As We Know It
Everyone is focused on surviving TEOTWAWKI, when we need to prepare for what the new world will be like afterwards. You survive TEOTWAWKI by preparing your plans and making a successful bug out and subsequent journey to your survival retreat property. Then, all your preps and hard work pay off to help you THRIVE in the ‘New World As We Know It’ (NWAWKI).
No, it’s not meant to replace the pillar of the Prepper world acronym; ‘The End Of The World As We Know It’. As TEOTWAWKI is the event that facilitates the initial rapid change such as a socio economic crash via solar or man made EMP (nuclear), pandemic, foreign invasion or civil war in these ‘united States’; NWAWKI is actually the term for a society forever changed, never to return to pre-event status.
Do you think the world will return to ‘normal’ after hundreds of millions die worldwide from a pandemic like Ebola? Well, there will surely be some fine real estate to buy, for pennies on the dollar. But think about how many years it will take to restore food production operations, transportation and the economy after such an event?
Longer than any of us can imagine.
Are you ready to turn back the clocks to the 1800’s for up to 10 years? Are you ready to literally sweat it out 12 hours a day just to eat? Sound far-fetched? No, it’s just time to refocus on the future, well past the crash.
Before beginning your search it’s very important to self assess your level of commitment to finding that safe haven. This does not entail how much money you have; this means do you have the ability to really make a positive change to your current situation. Do you understand what your personal threat analysis is, and the probability factor of these events taking place? And finally, are you willing to do something about them? This may seem easy, but for some it’s an overwhelming process, especially to those that may be new to the Prepping genre.
Don’t become overwhelmed.
Purchasing a retreat not only comes down to factual search criteria that can be easily vetted with a few spreadsheets, but requires a level of psychological preparedness before moving forward.
Threat Assessment
Not everyone will prepare for the same threats. Some folks think that a nuclear exchange is imminent, others a socio-economic collapse, maybe an EMP (Solar) or, a pandemic like Ebola.
Your threat assessment will help you decide to either relocate permanently to a rural homestead or acquire a bug out property. This list should encompass the full spectrum of threats (i.e., natural, economic, criminal, terrorist, and outright warfare and occupation).
These reasons must be agreed upon by all family or group members to enable a successful property purchase and retrofit.
Everyone’s assessment will be different, and this information will directly impact the selected regions for your possible retreat location.
Rural Homestead or Bug Out Property?
What’s the difference between a rural homestead and a bug out property? The rural homestead is a part-time or full-time residence and is working year round, possibly with a caretaker involved while the owners are away in the big city. The bug out property is sealed shut, hidden and ready for activation upon arrival of the group members.
After you have completed the threat assessment, and understand distance and travel times now it’s time to decide; To live or not to live at your retreat? Both James Wesley Rawles and Joel Skousen highly recommend that you live full time at your retreat, and I concur. However, this is not feasible for most folks. If you’re blessed enough to have the capital to make this move and can obtain new employment or take your job with you (internet workers, small business owners, or retirees) then great! Have at it. But for the rest of the Preppers the bug out property is your best logical bet to make it through a major event.
It’s important to understand that having a safe haven will not fully mitigate any threat, but it will help you minimize those threats based upon the seven basic criteria, Locale, Location, Water, Energy, Food, Defense and Safe Storage of Supplies. Even millions of dollars will not fully mitigate all threats, but a few wise decisions during the retreat search can greatly enhance both the minimization of all basic threats as well as provide a higher level of ‘thriveability’. The ability to thrive and not just survive is paramount.
We all have seen Doomsday Preppers and other ‘reality’ shows portraying fellow well meaning Preppers racing to pack a basement full of preps into a trailer and bug out to the woods…
Stop the Madness!
They are already dead and don’t know it. Period.
A general rule of thumb is to have about 20% of the total preps at your home (along with the Bug Out Provisions) in the suburbs, to last about 3 months. Not that you would EVER stick around if the event was that long, but in the rare case when you were completely cut off and couldn’t leave for some reason, at least those preps are there to be used. If you can evacuate hastily, then those preps could be given away as charity, with a note left at the door. Probably best not to alert the neighbors of course, as they may want to tag along.
The other 80% of your preps should be at the destination property, with a few pre-positioned resupply cache spots along the intended bug-out route. The word ‘Intended’ is used very lightly, as that route will surely change and those supplies will be lost. How to pre-position caches along several routes will be covered in another article.
The point of a bug out property is to minimize as many immediate threats as possible, such as Dehydration, Starvation, Hypothermia and threats of violence. Bug out properties may be rudimentary and very functional but still must meet the seven primary criteria below.
Survival Property Key Criteria
The key elements of any retreat property search are;
Locale
Location
Water
Food
Energy
Defense
Safe Storage
After the retreat is built then you’ll need to properly stock it with Preps (pre-positioned supplies).
Retreat Locale
Before we dive into the fun side of the Survival Property search and criteria, the most important aspect to consider is the retreat locale. This single decision, normally the very first in the search, and in accordance with your threat assessment, will often be responsible for your long-term success and happiness.
The locale should fit you as well. Questions such as; Who are you? What are your beliefs? What activities do you enjoy? Are you single? Married? Children? How old are they now? Does the locale offer all that the children may need as they grow up? And of course the most important question, “is the locale of ‘like-minded’ people?” Will you want to get to know and work with these locals hand-in-hand to build a new town after the collapse?
We are not talking about joining the local Militia (Leaderless Resistance cells are key, never join a group, ever). What we are talking about is purchasing a property with a ‘No Regrets’ platform. This means if TEOTWAWKI happens that the property serves the needs of its’ inhabitants, but if you end up on your front porch 25 years from now sipping tea with your significant other holding hands watching the sunset over the mountains, you’ll have no regrets!
These are but a few of the real questions that you need to ask yourself before even thinking about where to purchase that retreat property. Sound silly? No, these are not off the wall questions, as from them come the wise answers to your long-term happiness.
Location and Vulnerability Test
The actual property location within the locale will be very important. Joel Skousen recommends being about 5 miles from a small town and 2 miles off the main road. This is an excellent base to work from, however, remember that many properties will be missed if this is a non-negotiable criterion. From my experience the actual town will dictate these distances, as well as the subject property’s attributes. For example, in some places in the American Redoubt, if you follow the 5/2 rule, you’ll be standing in the National Forest. That’s not all bad of course, but please allow the actual town and its’ characteristics/demographics create the rule for you on distance and location from the city limits.
This is where you’ll want to turn back to your original Threat Assessment, in order to screen the final properties on your list through a Vulnerability test.
How does each property stand up to the threats you wish to shield yourself from? Is the property within the Red or Yellow risk zones? Such risks may be too close to a main road, Fields of Fire are limited due to the terrain, a disproportionate amount of low lying land near a water source and a risk for flooding, maybe the property lacks a secondary source of water as a back-up or simply cannot sustain renewable energy and food production levels set due to north facing slopes and rocky terrain. The list can go on forever, but only you can make the final determination of the properties worthiness.
Examples of Vulnerability Factors (very basic list for examples only)
Red Zone (EXTREME)
Yellow Zone (High) Possibly Mitigated
Green Zone (Medium) Typical rural property issues;
The bottom line is that a property with a Red zone risk attribute should be discarded. Yellow zone risk factors may well be able to be mitigated with physical changes to the property or dwelling and Green zone attributes are typical upgrades that will be necessary to bring the property to a self-sufficient status.
Too Far Out? Having worked with many clients in the American Redoubt, those that chose to put fear aside as they worked with to complete their retreat search and acquisition are the happiest. The few that didn’t purchased properties so far out in the boonies that over half have since sold them and moved closer to small towns in their chosen locale. It’s almost impossible to survive and thrive at the same time, without a small community to integrate into and create a new and simpler life.
Overlooked Threats
There is one threat that retreat owners almost always overlooked, and is the number one killer of rural homes; FIRE.
Wildland and Structural fires, statistically speaking, are the number one threat, both now and during TEOTWAWKI.
Sure, we all can think about and plan for a raging firefight with UN forces, but the reality is that a simple kitchen fire or slash pile burn that gets out of control will bring disaster upon you and your family, destroying the home and all of your preps. This is why two key improvements are a MUST to consider during your retreat search.
These improvements don’t have to be in place when looking for a home or property, but the MUST be able to be constructed and/or retrofitted to minimize these overlooked threats.
Firefighting Capability Checklist
Water: Regardless of how good the well is it’ll never keep up with firefighting requirements. A cistern must hold a minimum of 2500 gallons, however, this should be sized based upon the exact design requirements and what systems are in use. For a Wildland system alone, a minimum of 20,000 gallons (or more) may be needed since there may be a point where you’ll turn on the sprinklers and evacuate the property. Foam and gel systems that cover the home are now on the market and use minimal water, but are expensive though. There are no drawbacks to having massive amounts of water in reserve on the property, as it can be used for domestic use once filtered.
Energy: First, any electrical system running the water/foam pumps must be run off a dedicated generator system, and located away from the home with buried lines, even if the property is on the grid. Why? Electrical power will be compromised during a fire. The tanks should be buried and the generator located in a small fireproof, concrete shed if possible. If the pumps don’t have electricity, you’re out of luck.
Wildland Firefighting: Of all the fire threats, this is on of the scariest. A house fire is preventable and can be minimized and stopped if caught early. A wildland fire is very dangerous, unpredictable and very hard to fight, as they can grow is size exponentially and require hundreds or thousands of firefighters depending upon the terrain and weather. Choosing a location that is not susceptible to large wild fires is a good choice when looking for a locale. One tactic is to have either preset (buried) sprinklers, or the ability to deploy them around the defensible space on the property, as well as lines that spray the home. Having a steel roof will help immensely, and any retreat should be upgraded as soon as possible after purchase.
Structural: Many structural fires in rural areas are caused by carelessness with wood stoves or cooking stoves and that the owner panicked and fled, instead of using tools to fight the fire such as a fire extinguisher or a fire resistant blanket. For about $100.00 you can save your home. More importantly, having several pre-connected interior fire hoses (similar to what you see in high rises and hotels) are a great way to fight a fire in a tactical situation, or when you know that the volunteer department is not close by. Remember that a fire can double in size every two minutes, so time is of the essence.
Tactical: There may be a possibility of utilizing the Wildland sprinklers prepositioned around the property to confuse and delay an attacker, and the internal systems to stop a fire caused by such threat.
Safe Room Storage: All of your preps MUST be stored in a fireproof concrete, reinforced room(s). Call it a safe room, bunker, shelter, the name matters not, but it must prevent theft and fire at a minimum.
Vacant Land or Home?
Everyone has a different idea of what constitutes the perfect property. The most important advice for this part of the search is to remember that the land can really never be changed. Sure, a bulldozer, an excavator and other heavy equipment can do wonders to a property, but you can’t buy a year round stream at Home Depot.
The land must meet your criteria, since it will dictate how self-sufficient your property will ultimately become. For many, money is an option, and the budget is fairly low. The best advice is to find the best land in your price range, period. Don’t overbuy and put yourself in a position where the land robs you of the capital that otherwise would have been used to make improvements and bring it to its’ highest and best use, Prepper style of course.
For those that have the capital and/or skill sets to build the retreat of their dreams, great, then the land will surely win. But, those that must or want to purchase a home the search instantly becomes harder.
We have all seen the perfect home, sitting in the worst location on land that was nowhere near close to qualifying as a sustainable property. Yes, the home is very important, but one day you’ll wake up and regret that beautiful home if the property as a whole won’t sustain you and your family or group.
What to look for in your future Safe Haven
Now that the locale has been identified and you’ve decided on vacant land or a rural homestead comes the fun part, the criteria that will provide you the ability to become self-sufficient before, during and after the collapse. First, all property should have good sun exposure, hopefully Southern, of course then we can work on the big four.
Property Attributes and Criteria
There are four distinct and primary property aspects that must be considered which all work towards the goal of becoming self-sufficient;
Abundant year round water + Alternative Energy + Sustainable Food Production = a property worth Defending.
It’s that simple.
Water
This attribute, like oxygen to live, must be number one, every time. Secondary water is most critical and should be sought after. Not everyone will end up with this attribute, but keeping it on the top of the list, no matter the budget, is paramount.
Most rural properties will have either drilled water well or a hand dug well with a cistern. A few will utilize surface water such as a creek/stream/brook and sometimes spring fed ponds or lakes for the domestic water source.
Hydro Power: If you find a property in your price range that has the ability to install hydroelectric power, and it meets all the other criteria on the list, BUY IT. Hydropower is the most sought after power source for most Preppers, although it generates less power each hour, it creates this power 24 hours a day. Plus, you may be able to divert part of the penstock water flow for a gravity fed system for the home, and use the tailwater from the hydro system to feed a stocked pond.
Surface Water vs Well Water: Gravity fed spring or diverted stream water into a cistern storage tank is perfect if your budget is constrained. It’s better to have a year round surface water source (in an area of deep wells) as you can save cash for building the home or safe storage facility, by simply hauling and filtering the water (never haul water from off site); even integrate it into an Earthship or other alternative building style along with rain catchment.
Wells: A shallow well (under 400 feet is best) that produces over 2-3 gallons per minute will be sufficient for almost all retreats. An artesian flowing well is very sought after and should be highly coveted if found.
Community Systems: Although much less acceptable, some properties have a small community water system fed from large producing wells nearby. These are done primarily due to the local well depths, sometimes 700 to over 1000 feet deep, and at cost over $30.00 a foot, it’s sometimes cheaper to hook up to the local private water district. It’s ok to buy these properties if you plan to drill a well at some point, or have secondary year round water. Even a large pond filled with seasonal run off would work if done properly for emergency water and firefighting, coupled with rain catchment for very conservative homes or retreats.
No matter how spectacular the property, make sure there is some type of primary water available. Most vacant land will not have a well drilled by the seller, so be sure to check neighboring parcels for the depths of those completed wells and speak with the neighbors and a local driller before completing the purchase. This information will at least give an idea of what to expect.
Energy
After your property is purchased and you have ensured a year round water source has been completed, the power must go on.
For many Preppers they narrow the property search right away to only off the grid type properties. This is a mistake. Very few buyers find a fully functioning and ready to go retreat. Why? Because, alternative energy is not and will not be very popular with the mainstream crowd for sometime due to the lack of education about the viability of the systems.
Today, especially in the past 48 months the advances in technology and manufacturing of Solar Cells, Nickel Iron Batteries and upgraded charge control equipment have brought the prices down considerably to the point that its economically feasible to be completely off the power grid, which is the point of being a Prepper, right? Does it really matter what the pay back time is on an alternative energy system is when the lights really go out?
Most retreats will have Solar power with some sort of generator backup source (gas, diesel, propane) and on rare occasions will have hydropower. No matter the power source the batteries will be the heart and soul of the system. Most folks will use a lead acid battery that is susceptible to discharge issues and freezing, and they last between 8 and 20 years. By far the best batteries were invented by Edison over a century ago and are made of Nickel-Iron. They last upwards of 30 years or 11,000 cycles. These US made batteries are from Iron Edison. Be sure to check them out, they are well worth the extra soon to be worthless fiat currency.
Food
In many retreat areas in the world, other than the tropical regions, year round food production can be a real threat to the life of a Prepper. During a major TEOTWAWKI event, fresh meat from wild animals will quickly become scarce for several years, combined with the lack of live enzymes from nutrient dense fresh garden foods will only increase the death toll from sickness that could have been prevented or cured by healthy immune systems.
This leads us to the next task; how to grow this fresh food in the winter? For those that are able to bring alternative power of some kind to the retreat, then growing food is as easy as pie, well sort of. Construction of a standard or walipini style greenhouse heated by either a wood stove, wood fired boiler or a rocket mass stove is best. Then simply use LED grow lights and you’re off and running. In addition, the property should meet your own specific needs relating to animal production, from grazing pasture to ponds stocked with fish, the sky is the limit.
One last note of sustainable food production; A rural homestead, up and running, with food production already in place when the crash happens will be a valuable asset. Arriving at a sealed bug out property, with only dehydrated food and a properly stored seed bank, will be a major task to get up and running knowing that it could be up to three months to the first harvest. If it’s winter, the greenhouse will need to be constructed or taken out of mothballs, so to speak, and the seeds started, while trying to maintain proper heat either in the greenhouse, or the home, bunker, et cetera and provide the light needed. No small task, even for those of us that grow year round, it’s a challenge.
Defense
Now that we have a property with abundant Water, alternative Energy creation and sustainable Food production we can talk about defending the assets you have in place. There is no way to cover actual defensive plans as they are specific to the actual property, location et cetera, but we’ll cover a few areas that most overlook. It’s not all about guns and ammo; it’s more about food and billeting.
First though, understanding what it takes to really defend a property all comes down to one nasty aspect; the willingness of the defender to take another human life. There is no need to push out our chests and spew macho talk, we all agree that protecting our family is what we are called to do, and we plan to do it, hence our genre of Prepping. However, if you’ve never seen combat or been involved in a life threatening situation that resulted in the loss of life to someone, in front of your eyes, then seek out somebody that has. We should seek out those with knowledge in areas we lack in to help us prepare, and this is an important area to gain knowledge in. No amount of preparation can teach you the ‘gravity of the moment’ you’re looking at a threat through a rifle optic with your finger on the trigger, but it may help.
Moving on. What to expect once you make it to the retreat and everyone is settled in may be different than you think. Here are a few thoughts and tips on overall defense of the property.
When searching for the right parcel of land or rural homestead, if you put the defensibility factor first, there is a good chance that the property will not be very self-sufficient. Living on the top of a mountain top, in a fire look out, sounds really cool and defensible, and it surely is, but the year round stream for hydro power and secondary water is not going to appear out of the air and the rocky terrain will not grow your food, so choose wisely.
Simply remember that a property with water, alternative energy and food production is worthy of defending. Talk to any combat veteran and they’ll tell you that almost any specific area or property can be defended, it’s just a matter of personnel and equipment, and at what cost.
As a retreat owner, this equates to: Do you have enough friends now, or can you make enough friends in the locale, and can you feed and billet them all? A very simplistic task on paper, but a logistical nightmare to implement in real time.
After your purchase and getting to know the property enough to where you can walk it in the dark, you’ll then be in a position to really sit down and think through a realistic plan of engagement for defensive operations. If you can afford it, and the property is big enough, seek professional help from those with actual combat experience to help you design your defensive plans.
Safe Storage of Supplies
Finally, the property and/or the home must have options for secure storage of supplies; otherwise, what’s the point in bugging out to a great retreat with nothing left after a theft or fire? It’s not imperative to have the best soil for building basements, however, it certainly costs much less to make improvements without boulders of granite, but it can be done.
I’m a proponent of having two separate storage facilities, one underground, built to be fire, flood and theft proof, outside the home along with a safe room(s) in the home for easy access. Joel Skousen is a master of this area and has written a fantastic book called the Secure Home, and should be consulted whenever ready to make such improvements.
In Conclusion
It’s time to get you and your family into ‘Position’ to survive. Stay within your financial means to find, secure and stock a rural homestead or bug out property that is within reach of your current location based upon a realistic capability to reach that point in a worst-case scenario.
Owning a survival property is an attainable goal to strive for so work hard, think and act decisively so your family will survive the coming collapse.
If you have questions about finding a retreat property please contact Todd Savage at [email protected] or call 406-241-1795.
Todd Savage is the CEO of the Strategic Relocation Group that operates Survival Retreat Consulting, Strategic Relocation Realty, Strategic Relocation FSBO and Strategic Relocation Blog.
Also Read Part I of This Series – The Gut Wrenching Reality: One of the Best Bug-Out Strategy Guides You’ll Ever Read
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Until Mac sets up a side line scenario, I would like to propose that I could be the person who you could sent your email to respond to others here. Just place your moniker in the email, your email address, then who you want to contact. Just tell whom you wish to email to, to hit me with the request, and I will respond ASAP. I already talk with 4 other posters here, and I just want to get others to have a way to email each other, then phone numbers if you desire. It is JUST A SUGGESTION, if Mac has no problem with it until he gets set up. Please respond if everyone thinks that it is a good start, if not no problem. I feel as if I already know a bunch of yall, though we never have met. I know Mac is a busy guy, and have seen many posters wanting to correspond to each other. Again, I am NOT a scammer of any sorts, your email will not go anywhere, except where you want it to go.
Just a suggestion, if enough posters want to see this happen, I will post my email for the 3rd time on this site.
Hi Eppe, thanks for offering this “service” 🙂 something we should have put a priority on over here.
We have already installed a “BuddyPress” plugin on this site. Trying to work out some kinks, but this system should allow people to interact directly with eachother in a secure (SSL) environment (not one that will prevent high-level gov snooping, however… we don’t have the resources for that, unfortunately).
Anyway, this should be coming soon, along with a community forum system.
Trying to finish up one project right now for the ‘day job’ and will then turn to getting this system up and running. Goal is by the end of the year, even if we have to release it in a beta version.
Thanks for your patience all!
Mac
Keep up the good work Mac.
Thank you, your site IS the home page,
I especially appreciate the open format that doesnt dump every single post into moderation and the ability you afford us to vent.
Thank you much!
It is also nice to know we can almost always find a few like minded folks floating through
hi, kula…i personally put up briefly what the “news story” is that i want to bring to attention to readers, then in a separate comment, i put the link, so if it gets moderated, at least the word is out on the previous post, and it can be “googled”, or something similar….thanks for being an ASSET to SHTFplan!
I dont know about being an asset, maybe just an ass!!!!! ;0)
But thanks, ALMOST everyone has something good to contribute,
Its all about info,
Need to look at it like the military when they war game,
Look at all possible scenarios and figure out ways to react and possible outcomes,
There is no 100% right way and every event is going to have different circumstances
So is better than to have at least considered stuff than just shuffle through life with blinders on.
“do be warned that under no circumstances will another superpower let the opportunity pass to swiftly invade and create a stronghold by which to complete an occupation of this still great country.”
You mean, like we did in Ukraine, Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Africa, The Balkans, etc…you name the small, defenseless, struggling country with something we want, and we’re THERE.
The U.S. is no stranger to this tactic, we’re just not used to being afraid of it being used on US.
KARMA is a bitch.
Anybody who is stupid and gillible is a stupid sheep deserves to get hacked by sharing your email address with eppe. Ever hear of affinity fraud? First he tries to earn your trust. Stupid sheep follow then get set up to get fleeced. OPSEC YOU STUPID SHEEP. You just broke the first rule in Prepping. TRUST NO ONE. Nothing like hacking into Macs data base of emails. SO hat do you really know about EPPE? Don’t be stupid gullible sheep. He will email you some joke embedded with malicious code and start hacking and draining your bank accounts steal your identity and destroy your credit. So many gullible stupid sheep on here I laugh. When SHTF stupid sheep will die first.
Eppe any chace I could get WhoWouldaThunkIts email address. That was a joke!
C’mon wrong
Put the sons of bitches in their place.
Horseshit can only spread as far as the
manure spreader can toss it. Call it, man.
I live on the east coast and am really pulled in the middle about 2 different locations to move to: I was thinking of possibly the poconos area because its close by and has mountains, beautiful creeks and scenery I heard… or possibly western NC. Western NC has a lot to offer as far as natural resources– mountains galore and there is a strong focus there on living sustainably.. any advice?
I’d be up for that. There has to be a way some of us can band together in respective regional areas. I ahve an email address set up just for this, but will wait for the BuddyPress plugin to be working.
mac, is there a way we can donate to your cause to help implement this?
ScoutMotto:
Of course there is a way to donate to the cause. Buy some of the products from Mac’s advertisers so they remain on his site.
Mac,sorry guy but “buddypress button”sounds like some kind of toy for the ladies!Of course,would recommend edison iron batteries for the ladies toy as power may be gone a long time!
Dixieland Shortcake
Prepare and cook cornbread how you like it. Set it aside.
Saute diced chicken.(or canned chicken) Put in a covered dish to keep warm.
Saute 1/2 cup onion, 1/2 cup green pepper, and one can mushroom. Put it in the covered dish to keep warm.
Make gravy using flour, 2 chicken bouillons and 2 cups water (or chicken broth), when thickens as you like, pour in the covered dish to keep warm. Stir this well.
Cut a triangle of cornbread and slice through the middle.
Cover the cornbread with the chicken, vegetable, and gravy mixture.
Dixieland Shortcake….enjoy!!
These ingredients can/should be part of your stored items.
Canned chicken
Dehydrated onion
Dehydrated green pepper
Canned mushrooms
Chicken bouillons/flour/butter for gravy
Corn Muffin box or homemade cornbread (powdered buttermilk, powdered eggs, vacuum selaed cornmeal)
Thanks!
Dinner tomorrow.
“Oh, I wish I was in Dixie”
Hold the kudzu…
i was wondering mac, if you tried to email Be Informed to find out why he’s been gone? it’s ok to give eppe my email if he wants/needs it.
great plan, eppe! i have been wishing i could contact preppers here in victor valley, ca for years now,but just don’t know how to do it. i’m down for it! good luck!
Eppe
You got my email my friend. That is one excellent idea. I appreciate you thinking of that.
Again it shows what type of person you are.
I like this way better than posting my email where anyone can see it. Doing that has not caused any problems for me so far. It just gives you that funny feeling to do it.
Mike; Where in Va. are you?
Jim
I am about an 45 minutes south of Charlottesville.
Geez Mike..damned large state. I’m between Front Royal and Winchester.
Jim
I still would like to have a cup of coffee with you one day. Maybe we could meet in Harrisonburg one day. I am off for the next 6 weeks anyway. Had knee surgery.
Hi, Mike in Va. I am from Salem and Roanoke, Va. The other day, a guy named Arby said that he was looking to share/rent out some land to other preppers. (Or hook up with other preppers). I expressed interest in contacting him. I believe you said I could contact Mac for your email address..? anyhow, if eppe publishes his email address on the board here, I guess I could try to contact you’ll that way.
Hi, Jim! I am real close by you! Ha! Small world..
Anonymous
I put my email address in the post where I responded to Abby. You can either get it that way or let Eppe know. Eppe has my email address.
Was about several years ago I looked at 40 acres over by Dillwyn near Farmville. But I could see the economy tightening up and I didn’t need two mortgages. It was a nice place. The house would’ve been a tear down though but I’d of kept the old tobacco barn(along with the spring). I got kin in Winchester, StuartsDraft, FrontRoyal/Strasburg/Waterlick and Culpepper.
PO’d
We would have been close had you purchased that land.
What a dope. OPSEC YOU DIMWIT.
I’m 40 min to 1 hour south of Richmond. Out of curiosity you guys staying and roughing it out? I plan to, don’t know if its the best location since our state has prob the most bases in the conntry….
There are a few here I would like to chat with – Mac has my email address eppe, and he is welcome to pass it on to you.
Aussie
Aussie I would love to chat with you.
If you’re happy where you are,instead of relocating, killing the people that will and do threaten your life and staying put sounds much better.
the problem with that is they too have friends and family that may not take kindly to your plan.
Then they better have a shitload of fucking bullets then because I do.
Thats it!
Band together with your neighbors, mutual protection,
In our AO that will be the name of the game, far more people who will lean that way than the ones who will be a problem, lots of old school folks and most of the libs will be more than willing to change tack
Maybe eppe you should consider starting your own website. Really. You seem to have a lot of time and energy and a great following here who enjoy your comments. That way, those of us who come here to focus on what Mac has to share in his articles and the various constructive posts thereafter, along with our occasional comments, can keep our focus on the issues at hand rather than getting sidetracked by someone else’s constant personal issues; your own and theirs. (case in point, look at the first post on this thread, does it have anything to do with the topic or is it mostly all about your needs and desires? wanting to control things here? I suspect you wrote this comment well before this article was posted, then you spent a great deal of your time coming back until Mac posted it, then, you copied and pasted you personal desire to satisfy your personal desire. Which is, indeed legit, but somewhat self-centered, IMHO)
If you had your own site then you could choose who is allowed to post, and who isn’t, (and it appears you have a number of supporters here that would love to visit it). Mac just happens to be very generous with everybody, even me, today, as “An Epiphany”.
Something to consider.
Dark,though I up thumbed you look what one guy has done in Penn.avoiding hostiles.I do not know what hidden background he may have but sure is giving em a run for their money.One guy,100’s of police plus drones and other high tech.Hell,a 1000 lone wolves at same time could it seems bring the powers that want to be to at least stall mode!
Epiphany,nothing wrong in the prep picture with like minded folks sharing information/contact as long as they use care,some like you don’t want to which is fine but seems many here are interested,so,consider that.
What a dumb ass remark (above).
Oops…! Sorry, WARCHILD! THAT REMARK WAS MEANT FOR EPIPHANY!
@ An Epiphany : Grow up. If you don’t like somebodys comment, for what ever reason, move on. Read the next one. If it really bothers you, red thumb them. Then move on. If he did something wrong, then you did the same thing. You just wasted space, somebody elses reading time, to post your own selfcentered,satisifying comment. If you really think he is doing something wrong, lead by example. If it really, really, really can’t stand it, show us all and leave. That will really show us.
Not to highjack this wonderfull sub-thread, and yah Iknow that everyone’s about Ebola’d out, I know I am, but I thought everyone should see this:
Ebola 2014 Is Mutating As Fast As Seasonal Flu
Yesterday we reported that according to Peter Jahrling of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease – one of the top authorities in the world on Ebola – and who is on the front lines fighting Ebola disease in Liberia, there is something different about the current Ebola outbreak in that not only does it spread more easily than it did before, but the viral loads in Ebola patients are much higher than they are used to seeing. “I have a field team in Monrovia. They are running [tests]. They are telling me that viral loads are coming up very quickly and really high, higher than they are used to seeing…. It may be that the virus burns hotter and quicker.”
This article goes into some detail that speaks to the mutation rate and how the bat virus is adapting humans. Not in a good way.
ht tp://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-10-21/ebola-2014-mutating-fast-seasonal-flu
(take out the spaces)
Sorry, but I believe the Ebola shit is overhyped at this point. It has fizzle-shizzled. I stated before, if the idiots pressure washing the shit from the sidewalk didn’t get it, I don’t feel too worried. On the other hand, that leaves about 19 other issues to worry about on our current national and world stages.
Yeah, War, I thought we were going to get a brief respite from Ebola… and we did. But it was a little too brief– it seems it is back. New (possible) case in NYC… and Michighan.
Eppe, braveheart may just take you up on that offer. Wish I could get WWTI’s e-mail address. I would read him the riot act for his unjustified attacks on you.
This was about the best posting I have seen here, bit there for long time preppers and lots for newbies!
I am lucky enough to have a BOL but realise lots don’t and will have no choice but to bug in.
One thing that a prepper should consider carefully if they will have no choice but to bug in is where they live. Apartments in large (or even small complexes) are the worst possible place to be, especially if you don’t live on the lower floor. No power and the lifts wont work so it’s up and down the stairwells – carry 10 gallons of water up 8 flights of stairs in a stairwell with no power, therefore in the dark? Or carry sewage out to dump? Not the safest strategy. Water and sewage will be a serious problem and where there is one apartment complex there are usually lots of others. Lots of people in not much space.
If you live in such a place you should seriously and urgently start working on an alternative NOW! A house on its own block of land no matter how small gives you lots more options – safety, place to dump sewage, small garden even, more storage space. Less people for a given area.
There are areas of units in my city. They are undesirable places to live now, barely tolerable because there is still law and order. Some are public housing – subsidised by gubbermint for alcoholics, druggies, mentally not the full deck and suchlike and when the balloon goes up they will become the equivalent of shanty towns in 3rd world countries.
Think carefully about what hellholes they will become and plan accordingly.
Aussie
I have a mobile home on a lot accross the road from my small rural town home. I am going to advertize it as a bug-out location to those living in nearby cities. Someone with preps stored there and a skill could shelter here and barter better than they could in the city, especially if living in an apartment.
Bwahahaha. Then eppe cuts and pastes your email address to every joke spam board out there. What a jackass.
EXCELLENT IDEA! I have often mentioned a possible “underground railroad for Patriots”….but your idea is great!
Count me in
fob
Hiya Feisty, been wondering where you were – even put a reply to Granny below asking just that – and now here you are!
Aussie
Howdy Aussie! All okay with you? I am okay…. was tired a bit as I went from prescribed meds for high bp to natural solutions, but I am happy to report that they have had the desired results….and have been writing a cook-book, of all things…but this one has none of the fancy stuff I used to do, but heart warming, stick to your ribs kinda stuff :} made with beans, rice, and Herbs!
Hoping you are well and happy and ready for whatever comes down OUR pike
fob
Excellent idea Eppe…thank you for offering!
I am very familiar with my area of operation. In most cases I will stay here. I’m very close to Chicago. I would move into Chicago if I thought it would be an advantage. I’m here for the fight. I ain’t runnin’. Fear this.
Prophet
When TSHTF If you can make it to Marseilles just ask around for Sgt. Dale and there will be someone that can tell you where I live. You are welcome here. If we don’t get the land we are looking for before TSHTF we are her and are going to stand and fight!!!
Sgt.
Sarge,
Hows the weather been holding out up there, hope its not too cold a winter, but all indications are looking that way,
Have a good holiday season, its coming up on us quick
“It’s time to get you and your family into ‘Position’ to survive. Stay within your financial means to find, secure and stock a rural homestead or bug out property that is within reach of your current location based upon a realistic capability to reach that point in a worst-case scenario.”
I wonder how many preppers there are who’ve done this. I wish I had the financial means to do this.
For those of us who do not have the financial means,
Make the best of your current sitch,,,,
There is a lot you CAN DO!
Just search out the people and info who have been in similar locations,
IE the differences like Selco vs JWR
There are others Im sure, use your resources while you can, even if its just gathering info,
5 Ways to Beat Old Man Winter and Grow Veggies During Cold Weather
“There are several frost-hardy vegetables which will help you extend the season. For example, you can plant root vegetables such as carrots, radish and beetroot late in the autumn and then leave them to grow under a thick layer of mulch.”
1. Invest in a greenhouse.
2. Assemble a cold frame.
3. Build a straw bale cold frame.
4. Make hoop tunnels.
5. Put up A-frame cloches.
“When you select vegetables for planting in your frost cheaters, go for those that are naturally frost hardy. Quick growing veggies like radishes and broccoli are great choices as you can have several harvests throughout winter if you keep planting them in batches.
Don’t forget vegetables like turnips and onions that offer their leaves for harvest while plumping up their roots and bulbs under the ground, giving you double advantage. Leek is the most favored by the English in winter.
Many perennial herbs can be successfully grown in your undercover winter gardens.”
Off the Grid News dot com
Direct link…
http://www.offthegridnews.com/2014/10/15/5-ways-to-beat-old-man-winter-and-grow-veggies-during-cold-weather/
Another great vegetable to grow in cold weather(even with snow on the ground) is Kale. Rich in many vitamins and minerals. Can also be used as a great mid-winter treat for livestock.
There are already many, many groups forming around the world and here in the US… these are called transition or intentional communities. I guess you people would call them libs as they are concerned about the environment. I don’t… I just call them people who are awake. They know (like the people here) that the govt is corrupt as hell and we are on the verge of everything collapsing (Peak Oil, economic collapse, peak austerity/police tactics, and peak environmental catastophies, pandemics, etc.). For people who don’t have the finances to have their own little hideaway in the woods, this could be a good option. They are mostly focused on sustainability, perma culture and living in harmony with the environment. Little groups forming everywhere- some eco villages and some right wing groups.. people know that the present system is not working/on the verge of collapse. I’m not liberal or conservative– just a human being who sees both sides of the issue and hates the govt.
Anon,I do see a growth in these communities or perhaps more just paying attention to them.I have no personal interest in being in such a said community but would like to share information with them and new ideas,am just more of a loner but times get real hard will try to help others.I to a degree guess I have a community with friends and would certainly help them also in tough times,we help each other out now with different ways of living a better lifestyle while having as little impact as reasonable,the two can and do go hand in hand.
I also am a loner, Warchild, and don’t think I would like living with them but I would love to live next to them or visit and learn about permaculture, living off the grid, micro hydro energy systems, how to build cobb houses (real cheap!!) etc.
I am very reserved and like my space.. but I love what they are doing (transitioning to a more sustainable lifestyle, away from the system)…
wish I had a community of friends like you…;(
Anon,I assume you have visited builditsolar,great site for low grid/off grid building,motherearth another great site,andlowtechmagazine,all have old school plans with new modern ideas using old school tech,great stuff to peruse/build,enjoy!
Thanks, Warchild! (Now, if I can just find the right spot to relocate to…!)
There are about 315 million people in this country, only about 3% have stocked up with supplies that will last longer than a week or so. That means 300 million people who will get hungry and stream out to the countryside looking for food, water, and shelter.
They will find yours.
And if you are not there, they will break in to it and use your supplies including your arms and ammo. If your property is defensible, they will use your defenses. Then how will you evict them?
Already in these “good” times preppers have visited their retreat and discovered that all their preps were stolen.
You need to either live in your retreat full time, have family members live in it to protect it from thieves and wild animals while you are in the city working, or be able to get to it to check on it almost every day AND be able to reach it in a few hours even if am EMP renders your vehicle inoperable.
Any other plan will probably not work.
People, Just imagine for a moment all the hacks and viruses on eppes computer. All the joke span this clown opens up on a daily basis. Then this dolt says hey everybody send me your email address and I can be the moderator who can forward your cut n past info to others. Like what moron in their right mind would allow eppe to have their email address in eppes contact list. People this is serious business here cyber security. Dont be gullible. Sheesh. And get off of face book and all the rest of those government data bases. eppe is a moron and is absolutely clueless. Follow the sheep off the clifff weeeeeeeeeeeee.
Well WWTI does that means I’m not going to be able to get your email address from eppe? Trekker Out.
or have reliable neighbors watching it for you
@ FreeSlave : This whole article was like watching “Doomsday Preppers”, it is for rich people. I can barley afford to live and prep as it is. The banksters are happy to let me pay rent for 25 more years. I am working the crap out of my property as much as possible. 3 gardens, 50 fruit and nut trees. Crappy locale. I will have to live in it as long as I can. The next alternative will be squatters rights. My property, like others is underwater. I guess I could walk away from it all, live in the camper for a couple of years, no gardens or fruit trees, save some money for 6 – 8 years, then go possibly buy a bug out location.
Yeah, right.
Electricity is a luxury. It would be nice to have it, and you can extend a lot with refridgeration, but still a luxury. Not a necessity. The article also did not say anything about acerage. 3 gardens and 50 fruit and nut trees ( not all producing yet ), my wife still goes grocery shopping every week. When one of you pipes up and tells me that your garden is producing more than you can consume, turn off the sprinklers, through away the commercial fertilizers, and then comment on what you are producing. I grow as if The S**t has already hit the fan. Real life lessons on growing and producing food. We do preserve our excess, but it is not enough. We have raised livestock in the past, not this year. S**t happens. Then you go hungry. We will be hopefully raising livestock on a more sustainable scale next year. I guarantee we will still be grocery shopping though, providing TEOTWAWKI hasn’t happened.
I like the articals for the most part, but I don’t think that most of the posters and writers really have a clue about how much work and space is really involved in sustainable living. Good luck to us poor folks and keep prepping.
Hi Fishandmud– You may be poor, but you are honest and that makes you rich indeed. Yes, it takes work. It takes division of labor and knowledge to make the world go round. It takes us all pulling together to survive.
FishandMud,
I don’t mind that this article was written for people of more means than I have. I live in the suburbs of about 60,000+ people that’s about 30 miles away from a metropolis that has about 500,000 people on the Left Coast.
What I like about this article is that I can adapt some of its teachings to where I live now, and where I will make my stand.
I was reading an article on Mr. M.D. Creekmore’s site and there was a fellow who had a terrific survival retreat. He put a lot of time, effort, and money into it. A lot. Then things went sour on him and he learned a lot of lessons from it. You really have to live at your BOL. Your BOL should be your primary homestead.
Anyways, since that’s not in the cards for me and my family, we’re going to be self-reliant suburbanites! And here’s what sucks. While our city allows a limit of 3 chickens per home (so many feet away from the fenceline) our homeowner’s association (curses be upon them) has by-laws against having chickens.
I was ticked. 3 hens laying egs would provide some decent protein for my family of four, a middle-school daughter and elementary school son. Powder milk gets tiresome. Oh well.
How much property do you have ?
Can you plant any trees that you want ?
free slave,
have you thought of coturnix quail for eggs. if you feed them commercial poultry feed their droppings are smelly so would want them in a basement or outbuilding. they are small but 3 eggs equals one chicken egg and they lay nearly an egg a day for one year. would classify as a caged bird, not as poultry for city living.
Fishamud;
I read you clearly. We also grow, can, and butcher. We still spend a fair amount at the grocery store. We also work our asses off. I guess our finances are a little different but you just cant explain to people who haven’t had it, the difference between grocery store “fresh fruits and vegetables” and what you grow. But how many would wait up till after midnight to hear the last jars pop after working for hours to prepare for same. Keep up the good work. Also, the 25 years left on your mortgage can be shortened and if you are young enough you will be amazed how quickly it will pass.
This is my #1 ebola survival idea, but also works for any SHTF event.
If you live close enough to the coast and have about 15K, you can buy a boat (i.e. houseboat) that you can live on for years.
You have all the fish you’ll ever need and you can convert sea water to drinkable water.
If you can’t do that, there are places all over the usa. I was just in the mountains of north carolina where there is house after house or trailer after trailer where ebola is never coming to and the feds arent coming to unless some there is making a public spectacle of themselves. There’s probably tens of thousands of places like that all over the usa where, if you have a years worth of food and water; you’ll survive whatever the worst is. now, you may not like living in what comes after the worst, but planned or not planned by others; there’s too many landmines to not make the worst come within 5 years imo.
I think a boat is a bad idea. It takes a lot of energy to distill water. Fuel supplies may be extremely limited. Your boat can be seen from a great distance if you’re on open water.
pirates?
I gave you thumbs down, Lena, without reading all your comments… I don’t think living in a house boat is good idea because of sea surge which is not that bad at moment, but believe me, the ocean is going to get real energetic in near future.
However, what you said in the rest of the post was really good and I appreciate your sharing the info.!!
With all due respect, your comments sounds like that of a typical Al Gore acolyte, or that goofy Fourth Assessment Report on hurricanes, stating hurricanes and typhoons have increased, which is utterly incorrect. England’s The Register notes “A statistical analysis of the raw data shows that the claims that global hurricane activity has increased cannot be supported” and quotes Dr. Les Hatton, who once fixed weather models at England’s Met Office, who studied math at Cambridge, and has a PhD as meteorologist, with his area of expertise in tornadoes and waterspouts. He’s also a fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, and currently teaches at the University of Kingston. According The Register, Hatton “found that North Atlantic hurricane activity increased significantly, but the increase was counterbalanced by diminished activity in the East Pacific, where hurricane-strength storms are 50 per cent more prevalent. The West Pacific showed no significant change. Overall, the declines balance the increases.” Hatton himself stated “When you average the number of storms and their strength, it almost exactly balances.” In sum, the article concludes this is not indicative of an increase in atmospheric energy manifesting itself in storms (and – moreover – the one anomalous year of 2005, the year of Katrina and Rita, skewed the data). Hatton concludes by noting about hurricanes and the like that “The IPCC goes on to make statements that would never pass peer review” Subsequent to this comment, as of Dec. 3, 2011 when I wrote this, 2,232 days had elapsed since a category 3 hurricane made landfall in the U.S., the longest period in more than a century that the U.S. has been spared a devastating storm. I wrote this a few years ago, and the moderation of hurricanes has become even more profound. Tell me how many hit this year or last? How many named ones in the Atlantic? Having trouble, aren’t you!
Tornado damage is similarly unremarkable. Roger Pielke notes that if one adjusts for inflation, $1 bn in tornado damage is equal to the $400mm in 1980 that occurred, F5 tornadoes have decreased in frequency in the past 50 years, and even NOAA, co-opted as it has been, has found no tornado causality from increasing greenhouse gases. In fact, even the IPCC, in a March 28, 2012 report on weather extremes, had to admit that “There is medium evidence and high agreement that long-term trends in normalized (property) losses have not been attributed to natural anthropogenic climate change.”
In fact, for 2012, when I last looked, while the U.S. tornado season got off to a record start, after May the number of tornadoes dropped off to a historic low. Sum total, according to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, as of December, 2012 there were a miniscule 888 tornadoes, compared to 1,691 in 2011. As Roger Pielke noted in Dec. 2012, “When the Atlantic hurricane season starts next June 1, it will have been 2,777 days since the last time an intense (that is a Category 3, 4 or 5) hurricane made landfall along the US coast (Wilma in 2005). Such a prolonged period without an intense hurricane landfall has not been observed since 1900” 2012 also marked the quietest U.S. tornado season on record; only twelve tornadoes touched down in the United States in July 2012. Yup, that global warming sure is causing severe weather.
Greg Carbin, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., told the Washington Post back in 2012 “We are approaching a theoretical minimum in the annual tornado count for the modern era”; Bob Henson, a meteorologist and science writer for the University Corporation for Atmospheric for Atmospheric Research, in Boulder, CO. concurred, stating “It looks like we are close to having the quietest year for tornadoes on record.” Of course, tornado counts have “inflated” over the years, given the rapidly increasing number of storm chasers, population increase, and advances in technology – so perhaps it might be more statistically fair to adjust today’s numbers downwards – but we’ll leave that legerdemain to the warmers.
The tornado drought of 2012 broke some other records. July, for example, was an extremely tornado-starved month, with only 37 twisters, according to NOAA. This beat the previous low of 42 tornadoes set in July 1960. There also haven’t been any tornadoes the month of November, which is unusual, Henson said.
But let’s return to the hurricane scam, which seems to possess more of the warmers attention. Blogger The Poog notes at http://thepoog.com/?p=4143: “For a meaningful discussion of hurricanes we need a similar approach, a long-term baseline against which we can compare current observations. Unfortunately, however, we have a problem. We have no methodology for eliciting longer term information other than anecdotal historical writings. Indeed, modern hurricane data begins in 1851 and does not become really reliable until the advent of satellite observation in 1966.
I don’t know why everybody hates poor old Al Gore– He was the first politician to bring the issue to the public’s attention and you republicans act like he’s the worst person in the world for it!! You criticize democrats for acting like sheeple and yet you have your heads so far down in the sand (ostriches) forgetting your a– is showing…
If you are too afraid to face the facts about climate change, so be it, but don’t put down everybody else down because they refuse to be ostriches.
In the summer of next year, according to the US navy (as well as climatologists) the summer ice in the arctic will be gone, most likely. Whenever that event does occurs– whether its this coming summer or the next– lets see you deny climate change then, you old ostrich!
@ Anonymous : I love Al Gore. If it wasn’t for him inventing the internet, I would not be able to talk to you.
Politicians are puppets of oil companies. Jimmy Carter said if we full expanded on solar and wind energy back in the mid 70s that we could be at least 50% energy in the year 2000. Reagan killed that reality plan. Thus why we have today perpetual war to save the petro dollar.
Whowuddathunkit– FOR ONCE I AGREE WITH YOU WHOLE HEARTEDLY!!!! You have brains, after all… about some things– at least you are aware of the fossil fuel industry (billion dollar/day industry which spreads mis-information about climate change so as to keep the money keep rolling in…)
“to hell with future generations– just give me their money!” is their attitude. And these ostriches fall for it!!! (Unbelievable!!!)
Well, he advocated for it ONLY because he had set himself up to make a Soro-sized fortune from it,using the power of the Government to enhance the returns and suppress skeptics.
His “science” was 99.44% fraud. (Michael Mann, et.al.)
If you look at how he personally lives, the word hypocrite does even begin to describe him.
You have been snookered if you believe even 10% of what you wrote.
The world’s top scientists (about 99% of them) all agree that climate change is happening, and that burning fossil fuels is the main cause of it…. plus, all the scientific academies/ organizations around the world all agree to this…(I know this is true, I have researched this topic for years!)
Of course, if you agree with about 1% of the climate scientists which say other wise (who deny the science) then you either have stocks in the fossil fuel industry or a job with them… otherwise, why would you condemn your children to hell on earth???!!!
(Or maybe you are just not very good in science, reading, or too lazy to go to the library/spend time researching it… )
to the ignorant person above (TEST), please note that a meteorologist is not a climatologist.. please look the words “climate” and “weather” up in the dictionary– you people get to me… some people just do not comprehend science!
PLEASE– look up what meteorologists do and then look up what a climatologist does… duh!
Furthermore, if you are actually interested in facts (which I very much doubt!) but if you are, look up Jim Hansen on the Internet– research him. He is the world’s foremost climate scientist.
…not meteorologist, but climatologist… get it? (there is a difference).
Of course, I will get many thumbs down– this is a right winger website.. what does one expect from followers of Rush Limpballs….
Jim Hansen stands even above Michael Mann as a fraud and a liar. But you need to be able to understand three-syllable words to appreciate the work of people like Anthony Watts and Steve McIntyre, who have exposed Hansen for the mendacious politician he is, over and over and over.
9/11 truthers, anti-zionists on this blog, chemtrails, and claims that CDC is testing Ebola as a bioweapon are conspiracy theories without a shred of truth to them, but there really is a giant conspiracy in the world, and Glowbull Warming is it.
Old Coach:
Ever check to see how many Zionists are pushing the Glowbull warming scheme? Apparently your research skills are not up to par.
If you need any of those names and fail to find them, let me know. I will be glad to assist you in your education.
Well, of course, old stupid coach– that is why is the world’s top scientist, why he was head of NASA for so many years, why he is highly respected around the world– you should know, being unknown to anyone except posters on this website– gosh@ how impressive are your stupid credentials!
Hansen was never much of a scientist, let alone “the world’s top scientist”. As the now complete proof of the falsity of his theories attests. Only Paul Erlich has been shown to be more of a fool than Hansen. Wedll, maybe Paul Krugman, too. But at their ages, they can’t admit it, without accepting that their whole lives have been worthless.
Early on Hansen became a no-holds-barred climber of the NASA corporate bureaucracy tree, and finally became director. Maybe you have to have seen how people rise in bureaucracies, as I have. The key tactics are a.)brown-nosing your superiors, and b.)knifing your colleagues in the back, c.)steal credit for others’ work whenever you can benefit. There is a d.), which is a consequence of b.) Never actually do anything, because if you’ve done nothing, nobody can fault you for doing it wrong. Been there, seen that, retired early, bugged out.
Hansen got on the Glowbull Worming bandwagon because highly placed people like Gore were already on it, and he saw an opportunity for advancement to, say, a cabinet post, by brown-nosing them. This is how it works.
Anonymous
On this one I have to disagree with you. I freely admit I am not sure which pole it is but one has record ice right now. I wish I could remember where I saw it and will look it up if you doubt me. Furthermore the Earth has been cooling for the last 15 years. I just don’t think climatologist are smart enough at this point to understand all the complexities of the earths climate. In the 70’s they were forecasting an ice age.
The earth just goes in natural cycles. Check the statistics also on the amount of so called polutents that are sent into the atmosphere during a volcanic eruption.
Global warming is a hoax that is put in place to further agenda 21. In Albert Gores case he used it to become a wealthy man. That is also another goal of so called global warming.
If old Al and his pals in the government cared about global warming then they would not do the things they are doing. One example is shutting down coal fired power stations here which are highly regulated for pollution. Then exporting coal to China to coal stations which have no regulation and no environmental equipment in place to remove pollutants.
Mike, after my sister passed away a few years ago,, I spent every moment I could researching this topic… I read every book I could find on it, and when was in college taking a few courses, I did a term paper on it (this was before the topic became a hot topic). I realize this is not a popular attitude on this site– this is a mainly right winger website and everyone knows republicans say “its all a hoax”… However, I actually know a lot about this topic — I am 100% sure.
as to the poles– its true the south pole is accumulating a lot of ice– this is due to warmer temperatures– not colder temperatures– at the Antarctic.
and its the north pole which is losing ice– it seems everyone in the world should know this– I have been seeing pictures of it for the longest time– its getting thinner and thinner– everyone has been talking about thsit for so long (scientists, newspaper articles on it, etc.) it really amazes me that so few people know about something which is so in your face, so to speak… I have been reading articles and books about it for the longest time and people on this website deny it… really weird!
Look up NASA satellite photos of ice melt in the north pole.. it is getting thinner and thinner.
I don’t know for sure the exact day the summer sea ice in the arctic (north pole) will be gone- most think it will be around 2016 but, of course, no one knows for sure the exact date. However, I do know that when it disappears, there will be humungous changes on the earth.
Its the ice at the north pole which keeps our planet at a hospitable temperature…
There was a show on TV where these scientists were doing an experiment– they had ice in a flask heated by a bunsen burner and as long as there was the least amount of ice in the flask, it kept it a cold temperature… but when the last little bit of ice disappeared, the flask heat up dramatically almost instantly… as long as there was ice in it– even a little bit– it kept the flask cool… but when it all disappeared, boom!!
While many models say that arctic ice volume is less than the average since 1980, they also report that for the last two years it’s been INCREASING again.
Gee, how does this fit your “2016” prediction? If the model says it’s going down, what do you say when the model when it shows that it’s going back up? Will you do a Michael Mann and ignore/hide the data? Your hero Hansen would, which is why what he does ain’t cience.
http://neven1.typepad.com/blog/volume-and-concentration/
Anonymous
We are just going to have to agree to disagree on this one.
I say that respectfully. There are many climatologist who disagree with global warming. Some of the data was intentionally falsified. Not all but some. It is actually something that neither of us will be able to prove the other wrong.
I just think it was created for political purposes. For money, power and control.
It is fine that we disagree in my opinion. As preppers and friends it does not really matter.
Anonymous it is just so hard to educate these people. just as a climatologist and a meterorologist are not the same, neither is a vegetarian or a veterinarian the same. You would never be able to get a vegetarian to eat a dog, even if they were a Vietnamese. Trekker Out.
First of all I agree that hurricanes are down. Hurricane Andrew was during a slow year. Read your facts. It was also the first storm of the season. All that aside, a protecting hand will be over you and you will never see a hurricane ( I don’t belive that for one second, but for arguments sake ). Have you ever been in a HOUSE BOAT in the middle of a SUMMER THUNDERSTORM. Bring plenty of toilet paper. I guess those are down to nothing also. Well how about a winter storm. Damn, I forgot those are down too. OK. You win. Good luck.
@ Iena : You need fruits and vegtables on that boat or you ain’t gonna make it. Next, what are you going to do, when that hurricane or noreaster pops up, on that houseboat? I have lived around water all my life in sunny Florida. Good luck.
boat idea is bad for the pacific coast. fukishima has badly polluted the waters.
Wow! I was shocked to see that we have FOUR nuclear power plants here in Florida. Geez, I wonder why we all aren’t glowing in the dark already???
Anyway, I live in a rural area, we have ourselves ready for whatever comes. I say “ready” in our sense of things. I’m not moving/leaving. As a last resort, I have enuf ammo to hang in there for a lonnnnnnnng time.
EPPE thanks for the offer! We could all use a joke!
Florida is probably the worst state in the union to live in after it hits the fan. 20 million people on a peninsula with about 6 million in the Miami metro area with no place to go but north.
Tell me about it. I stare at exit plans and there really is no choice. Timing is far more critical to South Floridians than regular people.
@ Barn Cat : We came from Miami, great place ( We left the flag down there. Still have relatives there. ). We moved when I was 12, 40 miles north of Tampa, as the crow flies. Our residence was right across the street from a game preserve. No other kids around except my sister, I spent alot of time in the preserve. When I became old enough to hunt , guess where I hunted. When I became of legal age to drive, I could go anywhere I wanted to hunt. I went other places, but I usually did better, quicker ( in the preserve ), Why?, because I knew the area like the back of my hand. You say 6 million in Miami? Great. 3 million dead in the first couple of weeks. That leaves 3 million. Some of those are going to stay there. The rest, well, their will be a whole lotta s**t to go through to get up here. Anyways, part of the moral of the story is to know your area. Big advantage. Obola has givin me a great second advantage, just write ebola on the outside of the house. Most people ain’t coming in. For all of those that have a secondary location, the one thing you will not have is to know the area like the back of your hand. Big disadvanatge.
I will bug out if I have to. I have thought about going north but I will probably go to what I know. South. Not too many people coming down to the Glades. The mosquitoes have their own zip codes down there. Plenty of food and water in the River of Grass. On top of that you can garden year round. I will not own my land but as a Native American, me and my family will coexist with nature. Good luck to anybody that can make it out to my bayhead and take my cabin from me.
As far as your comment about people going north, I think if you look at the makeup of the USA, most folks will be going north. Next thought, don’t you think that an island would be worse than a peninsula? Just saying. Now that makes us 49th. It does not matter where you go, somebody on this site will shoot you down, and have some place better. It is all relative and individual opinion, and you know what they say about opinions.
Florida will be a great place to live in SHTF cause all you people dependent on the grid up North With $2000 electric bills per month will freze your butts off. No worry as you all try to come here we will close the border off. Try the Swanee river that starts in GA and goes to the Gulf of Mexico.
Gators, coral snakes, bloodsucking insects that even God doesn’t remember making, hurricanes, malaria, retired NYT pressmen, (did I mention gators?)……..yeah, Florida will be a great place. I was pretty much done when I went to visit rural friends outside Tallahassee in the ’70s. They had a heavy chain link fence around their yard. I had to pass an indoctrination course making sure the gate was never left unlatched, and on how to get away from a ‘gator before they’d let me walk outside the perimeter. Farm boss packed a 44 magnum everywhere he went. Not sure if that was for ‘gators or for dark-skinned two-legged poachers, though.
And I don’t speak Spanish, nor do I want to.
David,
Florida only has two active nuclear reactor sites: Turkey Point, south of Miami AND Port St. Lucie on the lower east coast.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Lucie_Nuclear_Power_Plant
The star location north of Tampa is Crystal River and the nuclear station closed down years ago due to a containment crack of some sort. The only power generating stations at Crystal River now are coal-fired only. The northern most star location is the Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Plant, located near Dothan, Alabama.
The Turkey Point facility has two oil/natural gas stations and two nuclear reactors stations. FPL is in the process of adding two more nuclear reactors to this facility I think.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey_Point_Nuclear_Generating_Station
@ anon : Crystal River is shut down but still requires around 100 years ( not really sure how long it really takes ) or so to cool the rods down, which are still there.
That nuke map is not accurate. The Crystal river nuke plant on central Gulf coast has been shut down for several years. Want accuracy on Current Nuke plants go to this site and it updates every minute for radiation emissions. http://Www.RadiationNetwork.com.
I asked a question to all yesterday. The question was this.
How many of you all have a bad gut feeling or a feeling that something very wrong is going on right now?
Another way to ask it would be how many of you all have a feeling of dread right now?
I would just like to know if my gut feeling is coinciding with most or is it just me?
Mike in VA,
Yes, I also have a bad feeling deep in my gut. Call it a warning? Can’t explain it, but do feel it.
Keep praying and prepping!
KY Mom
KY Mom
I will continue to pray and I will pray for you too.
Mike in VA,
Thank you!
Prayers for you and your family too.
Mike
I think we all do. that is why we are here on this site.
Sgt.
Sgt
I agree that is why people come here. It is just that my gut feeling is in overdrive lately.
In your line of work I am sure you understand that feeling I am talking about.
The feeling if you pay attention to it is rarely wrong. That is why I asked the question and it is scary for all.
Mike: There is another commenter here that is also named m so don’t confuse us. I rarely comment here or anywhere anymore. I do come here daily for see what certain people post though. Nightbreaker being one of them and SGT Dale is another. I think that they both have a decent pulse on what may come. But I rarely post because in the future I can envision a time where someone is standing trial and all that is needed for conviction is “threats” to the system posted on various websites.
To your question:
Nothing makes sense right now for me. With the ebola thing whether fake or real, the administration is handling it so incompetently that a person really has to ask themselves seriously if they want this to spread and panic the people.
Then I keep reading about isis self infecting themselves and coming here to catch of football game or to fly across the country a few times or simply just hang out in a mall. It is as though they are sending an invitation through mexico for them.
I also read that after the elections that the administration is going to start rounding up domestics or what they will label domestics. This is why I believe nightbreaker here will become a valuable asset as far as information goes. He will hopefully get briefings on this if it occurs and pass the information on. Although I am still trying to verify the roundups from more than one website, I only read it once and it wasn’t the most reputable from what I remember.
What I fear is that disease is the ultimate boogieman. It scares the hell out of everyone. Through fear the administration could gain much more power and people would beg them to take it all in the name of safety.
Imagine people begging to get in to fema camps because they were told that they would be safe from disease? It would happen. Imagine people asking the federal gov’t to outlaw paper currency. Think it couldn’t happen? How is ebola transmitted? Through sweat. All the feds would have to say is that one of the ways it spread was people sweating from hands to paper currency. Now usher in digital age. This one crisis which will not go to waste could go in an infinite amount of directions as far as a stronger more centralized govt. If the hospitals are overwhelmed which would most certainly happen who then would take over health care? My bet would be the feds. The Sheeple would beg the feds to take away the right to move freely around the country. Like I said disease is the ultimate boogieman.
I am not sure what the future brings and will deal with it the best I can but I am concerned about the time right after elections to 2016 elections.
“M”
To start with thank you for the compliment!
Reading and then rereading your post it looks like you have a very good idea of what’s to come and what could cause it.
Worse case is like the movie The ROAD, and new direction that the Walking Dead is going, Best case after TSHTF is The Postman. I know that they are just movies but it gives you an idea as what things could get to.
Let us Pray it doesn’t.
A.S.M.S.
Sgt.
I read ya copper.. but one thing.. those movies end. the shit going on now is just getting started .. an end to it would be great.. problem is, this shit is going to go on for decades , even after were gone and its your kids dealing with whats left for them to fight for and their kids too ..if anything
Sgt. Dale: Not sure I have any idea of what is coming or how bad it will be. I do know that this little ebola episode had me revisit and revise some plans. So now making adjustments and am thankful I have the opportunity to do so.
But please know and understand that you and others that might be privy to some briefings will be many peoples’ early warning systems for certain things. People don’t have any other way to gather credible information that they know isn’t sensationalized.
Thanks
M and everyone else
The only thing we got so far on EBOLA is.
A term that the Ambulance service is going to use term to let us know if they are going after a subject that has answered questions that might point to Ebola.
What I been seeing is that they are pushing Ebola and talking about nothing else. (Russia, Money, The Border, ECT.)
Watch your 6 because I think they are going to pull off a false flag while we are watching EBOLA!
Sgt.
Sgt. Dale,
Speaking of “The Road”, can you believe Survivalblog yesterday. They mentioned Viggo Mortensen’s birthday, his horse, AND, of course, the fact that he lives in THE American Redoubt. But not one mention of his acting in “The Road”, not one. Ridiculous.
As for Todd Steven’s, does he pay for advertising like the advertisers on this site? Just asking, just saying.
Yeah the Postman. Another Kevin Costner end of times flick like Waterworld. Love that movie. How much for the woman. Everythings for sale everythings for sale.
M
Wonderful post. I have fears regarding Ebola even if it doesn’t infect a million people. If it infected enough in this country in different areas then there would be panic. It could shut down the whole system so the feds could ride in and be the savior. It does not have to be a major pandemic. It just has to cause enough fear.
m: Maybe my memory is off but shouldn’t we already be seeing some politicians getting their names and faces out there so they can gauge if they will declare 2016 candidacy or not? Isn’t it kinda quiet?
Oh no, not 2016 already. We haven’t gotten through this years miserable season of junk mail and TV commercials. But if you believe Hitlary is in Colorado to campaign for Mark Udall, and not herself in 2016 you’re silly.
@m: I’m a futures trader and former day trader. I self-taught myself the entire financial industry. That includes how the Fed does not “help” the US economy. It only makes the banksters richer and able to commit more fraud upon the people. My dad drilled it into my head how bad the Fed is/was for the total destruction of the US dollar. We’re doomed by the debt that has consumed everything that Lincoln and Jefferson warned us about central banking. So is Europe. We are in the beginning of the end. The Euro zone is already starting to unwind with almost daily riots in Greece and other countries. This is why everyone should have some silver coins and if they can afford it, gold coins. Gold jewelry and silver jewelry will be worthless for trades. You can’t carry it. It needs to be weighed and then someone makes a decision as to how much it’s worth. This is NOT the case with silver or gold coins. Especially US American gold eagles. Same for silver coins. ALL silver coins, (except the 1965-69 Kennedy half dollar and other certain issues) are 90% coin silver. Plus there is another advantage to silver coins. No known bacteria is known to be able to survive on or with silver. The Romans used silver to purify and store water during long boat voyages. This is why the Chinese and Vietnamese are buying gold like madmen. Although the powers-that-be are currently managing gold/silver to the downside, this won’t last forever. Be prepared. Buy gold, buy silver. Buy a small safe, place it out of site, tell no one. When I mean no one, not even your mother. With the Patriot act and now the effing net neutrality act about to unfold, we’re doomed. The next 30 years will be nothing like the last thirty years.
Hi Mike in VA,
I think things are bad right now, and will get worse too. Much worse.
What helps is that I have assurance of salvation. I know Who wins in the end. And I know Whom I trust. And He knows me. So even if I and my immediate loved ones become a statistic, even victims of violence, we know Who we’ll see and where we will be.
Trust me, I’d rather not have to endure hard times that the libs have brought down upon all of us, either directly or indirectly, but we have to count it as joy. Which I confess is not easy for me. Anger and lamentable sadness at preventable self-destruction are what come to mind and heart. It’s a struggle at times to count it as joy. Just being real.
Here is a clue. TRUST NO ONE!!! And your chances of survival greatly increases.
My gut feels really funny, I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Me thinks around or after these midterms, too many fires smoldering
I don’t have that feeling. I think we have a year yet before everything hits the fan. Reasons:
The dollar still isn’t dead.
Ebola isn’t killing people by the thousands everyday in America.
No martial law.
No World War 3.
One of the Biggest indicators of Economic collapse is that few people have extra cash to spend. I have read several articles lately tgat Ebay sales are non existant. I have adds on craigs list and get desperate people calling and giving really low offers. Had a yard sale most money people had was $30. People are flatass broke. Retail is dead. This appears similar to 1929 just before the crash. Hold on the main event is around the corner.
One thing that I have been hearing is that people are getting calls from utilities when they have just gotten their bills, with threats to cut them off if not paid immediately.
Normally you would get your 30 days grace then a reminder call not letters in 2 weeks after the bill is printed. I wonder if the corporations are going broke too?
We all know why too. Election day. Obama CANNOT let elections take place. Ben Carson spelled it out. Obama or the ones that pull his strings, won’t let his grasp on this nation go. They will do everything in their power to try and stop a fair election from happening.
Dont have a feeling of dread per-say but definitely things are all wonky in the world,
The government is troubling, i think there are forces trying to really screw us up but that the inherent ineptness that prevails in government is slowing them down, i am real skeptical of obola and his direction and am appalled at congress and their unwillingness to cut the crap,
Honestly, and i know we need to be careful what we wish for, but the best thing to happen could be a military coup that overthrows and locks down DC and closes the borders followed by a purge of anyone here illegally or on expired papers. Then followed up by an emergency election and repeal of all the amendments that have facilitated the problems we are up against. It wont happen though and could definitely go sideways, is evidenced by the millions of useful idiots who are loyal to these extreme elements that have derailed our republic.
You’re not the only one.
Hello Mike in VA,
I do too and I said so on the article about ‘the Last wake up call’. Subsequently I was told to ‘grow a spine’ and ‘not be feeble minded’ by one here everyone knows.
Looking back at that though, I believe he was probably trying to encourage me, and I was having a bad day, took it personally as an insult. To DK, I admire your optimism and knowledge, although I don’t always agree with you I could have been more respectful.
I hope you will accept my apology.
Now comes the RED THUMBS because as I’ve seen in the past here, so many times, saying something like what I just did makes everyone sick. Oh well, I really don’t care what people think anyway. I just try to be at peace with people, that’s my personality. And when I’m wrong I will be the first to admit that.
God bless!
W69
If people don’t like you being nice and respectful then the heck with them.
True freedom is when you don’t care what other people think. You were correct in what you said in your post and you are correct in how you treat people.
You are someone that I wish was in my group.
Mike,
Thank you, thumbs up, ditto 🙂
Mike, I put a thumbs down – not to naysay what you wrote, but rather to emphasize that it APPEARS this Ebola thing may not “go viral,” despite Obungler’s fecklessness. People who had DIRECT contact with Duncan, other than the two nurses, HAVE NOT come down with it (yes, I grant the incubation period for about 2% of the cases should go out to 41 days). There are dozens of of people who were at risk, and none besides the nurses are sick. Could the virus morph into aiborne, or another (I think it is called ) clade? Of course. But right now, it hasn’t. Moreover, those two nurses, at least at last report, or doing reasonably well. They brought a reporter in from Africa, and another doc who got sick as well – both went to the Nebraska facility for treatment, and both are OK so far.
SO… that means out of seven people who got Ebola, one died, six others lived (two nurses, the two at the Nebraska site, Dr. Brantly and Nancy Writebol. Then think of all those folks who flew back from Cleveland with nurse #2. I know incubation time is not over, but there should be SOME, at least, who developed this from her – and then there are the airplane cleaners, and all those who are family of those people that flew with Nurse #2. Is this disease nasty, and often fatal, yes! Will it have 90% fatality rate here? I suspect not, given the better infrastructure, sanitation, etc. And why no outbreak in Kenya, Nigeria, etc? After Sawyer came into Lagos, they nipped that one pretty quick. Now, I know Nigeria is MUCH more competent than Obungler and his cadre of clowns, but still, we should be OK, I **think**
What I have a much worse feeling about is the gay Nazis, who now want to jail two pastors because they wish to exercise rights of conscience. Really? Anyone hear of the 1st Amendment? And that fascist mayor in Houston, who subpoenaed pastor’s sermons. THESE ARE NAZI BROWN SHIRT TACTICS. We have 100 mm not working, 46 – 48 mm on food stamps (up from 32 mm when Obungler took office), and – according to Dr. Lawrence Kotlikoff, U. of Boston and former Treasury bigwig under Reagan, our TOTAL debt is not 17 trillion, but – counting ALL unfunded liabilities – $222 freaking TRILLION.
We could overcome all of the above, but the nail in the coffin is the lack of morals and ethics. As Dostoyevski once wrote, “If there is not God, **everything** is permissible.” And I can tell you, mon ami, that when “everything goes” you will have a utter, utter disaster. Mad scientists. Even more cronies than you see now in the Obama administration. Massive financial scams that will make Bernie Madoff look like a 5 yr old (ok…. that $222 trillion already is that, I grant you); even MORE weird STDs from sexual promiscuity, and even MORE viruses coming across with illegal aliens (the EV-68 virus, which has already killed six and paralyzed a dozen is just the first. And despite the CDCs LIES, it DID come across with the line jumping illegals. Next year the illegals will bring the chikungunya virus. Wait til you and YOUR family get it.
Meanwhile, the utterly, UTTERLY ignorant continue to support leftist candidates. Joni Ernst in IA, the Senate candidate, now trails from vile, despicable TRIAL lawyer in her race. Really? You are such an ignorant leftist you will vote for an idiot trial lawyer who supports the absurd Obunger agenda, Lois LernerGate, BenghaziGate, Ebola malfeasance, million dollar vacations every month????? Really?
***IF we have got to the point where a populace is that ignorant (my immediate neighbor is one of those, sadly), then we will go down a very sad path. And good people, like those reading here, or innocent people, like the mentally retarded or Downs kids – will get swept away thanks to the vile, despicable, disgusting, arrogant ignorance of the vile, despicable, disgusting, arrogant, ignorant leftists who caused this mess.
In sum, Ebola going viral? Maybe, but probably not, as of right now. Longer term? Unless we stand up and stop the evil beast stalking this country and the rest of the West, we are in serious, serious trouble.
Test
Thanks for being honest man. That is the way people on here should disagree. Everyone of us will disagree at one time or another because we are human beings.
You just caused me to have a lot of respect for you for what you said and how you said it.
Test one thing though. My bad feeling may or may not be Ebola. I have had this feeling for about 2 months. I am not sure why my gut, or little voice, or sixth sense or whatever is giving me the bad feeling. I will try to describe it. Examples would be things like
1 – You are walking down the street and see three guys walking up to you. You feel they are up to no good or something is wrong.
2 – You meet someone. They are perfectly nice but something about them just tells you something is not right.
3 – You are about to do something like starting a power saw and you get the feeling you should not.
4 – You are about to turn on a certain road and something says don’t go that way.
1 – Number one had I listened I would have avoided conflict. Not sure if they were going to rob me or what. Did not get to that point. Other people showed up and they left.
2 – We hired a very nice lady as an aid for my son. She ended up stealing a dress from my wife. We found out after the fact that she was on drugs.
3 – I cut my knee that day and had to have 10 stitches.
4- I found out later there was a bad accident on that road.
I am sure we all have had things like this happen in our lives. Everyone says dogs have another sense about people. They have certain people they don’t like because they sense something.
I believe humans are way ahead of dogs regarding this sense. Humans just second guess it and don’t listen to it. I think preppers should pay attention to it. It could be very valuable to learn to listen to the gut.
Now I probably sound insane and if I do I am sorry. It is my opinion and you all are sure welcome to yours. I just know that it has saved me a lot of trouble once I started listening.
lol
Now I am insane. I am replying to myself. Thought of a few more things I wanted to say.
There is a book I read called the gift of fear. They site many cases where people knew something was wrong but second guessed themselves because the person was nice. Many victims of crime who could have avoided it had they listened to there gut feeling.
Test regarding Ebola. I am not sure whether it will be serious or not. Yes for the moment the US has not seen any more cases. If it continues to grow in Africa then we are not out of the woods. In fact all it would have to do is hit south America and then I think we are screwed. I am taking Ebola very serious. Not because I fear catching it. I think the chances are extremely low of me catching it. I am taking it serious because of what I think 100 cases in different areas of this country could do regarding panic and services. Maybe it would take more. 100 is just my guess. What would 100 cases in Mexico cause in this country. Again it could be more.
If we had 100 cases and had no panic then the government would use the crisis to take away as much freedom from us as they could.
That is why I am taking it serious.
ha, ha! that is funny, Mike! I was just getting ready to post a comment to you about that book– and you already know about it!! Ha, ha! Intuition… yes, I have had many intuitive experiences and obviously you have too…
I could tell you something– an intuitive experience I had concerning Ebola, but will not because I will get a lot of thumbs down..
People including myself have been saying that same shit for the past 3 years. Nothing comes of it. Now, that being said, I will keep prepping as I know natural laws can’t be held at bay forever.
Mike, I’ve had the same feeling in my gut for a few months. I was watching the Ferguson riots on Livestream last summer and wondering if that would ignite things. Now there’s a lot of media coverage on the Ebola virus. Other than that, I think things are relatively quiet.
Too quiet.
BTW I saw a comment by another person named “meathead”. No problemo.
You know what they say: “two meatheads are better than one”……
Meathead
Regarding Ferguson. I think drudge had an article today that said the police officer would most likely not be convicted. Then it said all hell would break lose.
Who knows. Maybe that would cause race riots all over and that would cause the coming catastrophe. Damn it. There are just so many things right at this moment in time that could cause the world as we know it to stop.
I will take two meatheads any day compared to one. lol
Mike in VA. I’m betting the Ferguson cop will be aquitted of any and all charges in the Michael Brown shooting. And I agree that there’s a high probability of more riots in the Ferguson and St. Louis areas after the hearing.
Another person mentioned the many smoldering fires; any one of them could be the tipping point for a coming collapse. The situation in Ferguson could start it, and I also think this ebola “crisis” is a cover for something else that’s brewing. And there was also a comment about a nuclear power plant shutting down in Ohio for unknown reasons. Nothing in the news about that. Yet.
You said it all when mentioning the uneasy feeling.
Meathead
I am a supervisor in the power industry at two different gas fired power stations. If the nuke plant shut down due to an emergency then I am 99 percent sure I would know about it. We get reports daily of near misses in power stations that could have got someone hurt. We get reports of any major incidence that happens in the industry so we can learn from them.
There was one case that I found out about on SHTF plan six months before the power industry did. It was a case where people shot 17 large transformers at a PG and E plant in California.
A nuke plant shutting for unknown reasons does not bother me at all. If there were radiation issues the employees would have set off alarms way before the government got involved. Majority of the time it is because of a failure of a peace of equipment so they shut down to fix it. Not equipment that involves the reactor. They have backups for backups for backups when it comes to the reactor. They are so highly regulated that I can honestly say they are extremely safe. I know that is hard for people to believe but the media and environmental groups have caused major fear regarding nuclear.
They have taken the possiblilty of human error out of the equation. For example. If you have to repair a valve on lets say a simple sump pump that removes sewage. It has nothing at all to do with the operation of the plant in anyway. You have to pull a procedure that tells you every step to do. You have to notify like 10 different departments. The department heads have to sign off on it. The operators tag it and it is never just one. The ops supervisor approves the tags. Two operators go together to tag it. The ops supervisor watches the tag out and it is done using a procedure. The maintenance supervisor approves the tag out and verifies it is correct. This continues through the maintenance guys and on down the line. It takes 6 hours of power work and approvals just to replace a valve on a sewage pump. Three Mile Island was blown way out of proportion by the media. Most of what you hear about it is untrue. Since then it has become so regulated that it could never happen again.
Here are the real concerns in my opinion about nuclear.
1- Fukishima nuclear station was not built to the correct codes. The power company over there cut corners. It was not built to withstand a sunami. It should have been built to withstand the worst possible earthquake and sunami.
2 – Here in VA we had a 5.6 earthquake several years ago. The Nuke station closest to me was built to withstand a 6.2. That is very scary. VA to my knowledge has never had a 6.2. Maybe Mr. Rodgers could clarify that. We we have a 6.2 or higher. With the way things are acting in the world who knows. The station shut down as it should. IT did have two back ups fail but had like 6 more back ups. There was no damage. No issues. It shut down for almost a year to do checks.
3 – I fear the spent pool rods more than the nuclear station itself. If the economy collapses for example and the power goes out. The cooling pumps for the spent fuel rod pools will run until there is no more diesel fuel. Around 20 days. If there were and E.M.P. same thing. Then they will put out radiation. There may be more than 20 days of fuel but if it is not resupplied that terrifies me.
I hope this helps everyone. I would not ever say something that I did not know was true. I would never try to give a false sense of security to anyone on here. Hell that would meant that I may get you killed one day and I just could never do that.
I am nutty just replied to myself again.
I think I will consider that my daily rant!
Mike in Va – having passed the 60 mark one of the things I have learned in that time is to trust my instincts more and more.
My instincts tell me that in what time I have left I will witness the great unravelling!
Aussie
Yep, Aussie…..WE will indeed see/be a part of it all….May God be with US ALL …..the Trib is indeed on the way….
fob
Feisty
May God bless you and yours and my prayers are with you.
Mike….spread the Love….and God Bless you and yours too!
Aussie
I have never told you this but there are a few on here that I always listen too. We all have a few people on here we have come to consider wise. You are definitely one of the people that I have found to be wise. Years in life add wisdom for most people. They sure have for you.
I wish I had learned to listen to my instincts earlier. I am 46. It would have sure saved me a lot of money, time, injuries, and trouble.
I said 7 years ago that if the unraveling happens I hope I am young enough to fight for what is right. I don’t want my son to have to fight when I am too old to fight. I also told my father in law that he would be so valuable to me if it all unravels. His old ways and knowledge are invaluable.
Aussie I hope you and I are both so wrong. Unfortunately my instincts tell me we are not and time is short.
Mike….You will be okay. Never panic. It ain’t gonna be a picnic, but WE WILL prevail..GOOD over Evil…..eh, yeah…GOOD wins ALL!
fob
@ Mike in Va : I have been prepping since 1998, but in the last couple of months I have ramped it up big time trying to hurry and complete my list. Good luck and keep the faith and keep prepping.
I forgot to add that I think we have around a year to go, but that still equals overdrive for me. Miles to go before I sleep.
fishandmud
I feel by the end of the year. Again hope I am so wrong. I am not making a prediction it is just my gut.
God help us all.
Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
Mike ,
I have been feeling like this since the begining of summer , sometimes our subconscense tells us things that we do not see , like a sixth sense , trust your instincts .
Lately I have had the unpleasant experience of dreaming about Gulf War 1 , my nights have been of burning LAV’s , calling Artie support and fighting in the dark . This is the first time since 1993 that I have had dreams of my past experiences mainly the battle of Khafji , it’s like something is telling me conflict is coming. A lot of the guys that served like me at work have the same tired look , with out speaking I know they are going thru the same thing. I agree with Sgt Dale it will be like the combination of THE ROAD and the Walking Dead .
In the first few months of WROL it will be something we cannot imagine , a Malthusian crash nightmare when the population declines due to lack of modern technology to support the population , it will bring out the darkest and the best of humanity . The main thing is to hold onto your humanity and survive as best you can . Nothing is guaranteed in this life but preparation can enhance your odds and having people you trust by your side is priceless.
Best thing to do is pay attention to your surroundings and keep alert , do your own intelligence .
One thing is certain is that change is coming , this state cannot continue the way it is now .
I still believe that the Ebola scare still has potential to be an end gamer maybe not this month but later due to the fact it is raging in Africa , just one mutation it could cause something unbelievable another pitfall is uncontrolled illegal imagination ( from 3 rd world countries ) and potential unrest in the inner cities. ( ferguson ruling due soon , they ( TPTB) are slowly leaking out information to try and diffuse the situation the officer will not be charged ) .
.
Semper Fi 8541
Night Breaker
I have always told you I respect your post. When gulf war 1 started I was training at Fort Brag. The 82nd was locked at there barracks. Thy were handing over 100 dollar bills to guys to go get them tobacco products and sanitary items. We all helped those guys. I was told to call home and tell my family that I did not know when I would be home. They ended up sending mechanized infantry and I was light infantry.
I am sorry about your dreams. I will say many prayers for you. No one is perfect but I try to always stay at some state of alert. At home even I have a weapon close by. In puplic I have forced myself to develop habits that cause me to look around.
Back in the service and this is more for others on here. We had a class on terrorism. Things like take different routes on your way to your residence. Keep your eyes open for the same vehicles. Look for strange situations. Suit cases and bags just laying around.
One other thing. How many people are texting or playing on there cell phone while walking to there car. Just some quick thoughts.
Night
I feel the same as you. Have not had dreams but just the bad gut feeling that is usually right. What a world we live in now.
The Ferguson situation could spread to other cities. Just so many threats right now.
Stay safe my friend. If you ever need anything feel free to ask me.
I think we have one more year, Mike… I think this is the beginning of the unraveling but I think we better have all our bolts in place by the end of 2015.
Mike and Anon…..Nope, not one more year….it is coming faster now….so much negative input from OUR gov’t and people seem to be oblivious to it….
Best time to cause upheaval? Fall and Winter
Be Well, Be Well Aware, Have Faith….
In God, Yourself, and Others….
fob
Mike in va,
after the election, obama is going to go full steam ahead in destroying this country as he has been groomed to do. he won’t hold anything back with only 2 more years to go, and if he can, he will be the last president we ever elect.
I had the strong feeling that we have until 2016– then, times up! However, that was before Ebola…
Actually, my feelings changed around Easter time…if we ever correspond by email, maybe will tell you…
For sure something in the economic realm is going to happen September 2015 – the end of the shemitah year. It is a 7 year pattern: 2001, 2008, 2015.
I expect SHTF to happen immediately following a triggering event. Such as:
OPEC no longer accepts dollars as payment for oil.
There’s a dollar-selling panic on the international markets. The dollar loses 90% or more of its value in a matter of hours or even minutes.
Every major bank in the country is hacked and everyone’s account has been wiped out.
Welfare cards no longer work.
Officials warn 500 million financial records hacked…
“Federal officials warned companies Monday that hackers have stolen more than 500 million financial records over the past 12 months, essentially breaking into banks without ever entering a building.”
“The U.S. financial sector is one of the most targeted in the world, FBI and Secret Service officials told business leaders at a cybersecurity event organized by the Financial Services Roundtable. The event came in the wake of mass hacking attacks against Target, Home Depot, JPMorgan Chase and other financial institutions.”
According to the FBI…
– “Nearly 439 million records were stolen in the past six months”
– “Nearly 519 million records were stolen in the past 12 months.”
– “About 35% of the thefts were from website breaches, 22% were from cyberespionage, 14% occurred at the point of sale when someone bought something at a retail store, and 9% came when someone swiped a credit or debit card.”
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/10/20/secret-service-fbi-hack-cybersecuurity/17615029/
Staples says investigating possible payment card data breach
“Staples Inc said late Monday evening it is investigating a possible breach of payment card data and has contacted law enforcement about the matter, making it the latest U.S. retailer to become a possible victim of a cyberattack.”
Reuters dot com
Direct link…
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/21/staples-cybersecurity-idUSL2N0SG09720141021
KY Mom. Spot on. I work in the card payment industry 20+ yrs and also cyber security w/ security clearence. Its a mess. Trust No One and never give any personal info out or email addresses out. Most business cyber hacks are when idiots open up spam with som embedded joke atttached or see brook shields naked. Curiosity kills the cat. Never let up your guard. Eppe could be a russian hack spy trying to earn your trust. So its everybody’s choice if the want to be a victim.
Ha, ha, ha! eppe a Russian spy… he, he, he! Why are you so down on little eppe… I mean, really– why?! He seems so nice!!!! and provides us with humor and we really need some relief!!!
KY Mom. Exactly. But eppe want everybody to send him your email address to his home PC where his kid plays online video games. Bwahahahaha
Yep, Barn Bat, any of those things would definitely do it.
Sailboat.
I know of people that thought this was a good idea..
2 years later they have decided to rethink this , oh and the first two years were not heaven by any stretch
Fletcher-class Destroyer, much more versatile. Should be no problem getting a crew.
But the fuel, man, the fuel. Those things don’t get miles per gallon, they get barrels per mile.
Thoughts from the garden~~as mine is winding down, I have gone back to a prep a week for lots of things we still need.
This week I bought canning lids in bulk. Some for next year and some to store as they will last forever 😉
https://www.lehmans.com/p-2831-bulk-canning-dome-lids.aspx
These lids are excelent for canning of all types of foods, meats included.
Reusable canning lids are fine for some things
BUT
they are NOT recomended for canning meats and items that contain meats, such as soups.
Grandee:
I checked several local stores that sell regular canning lids. Some stores were willing to sell lids cheaper if you wanted to buy a case.
Hi granny!
….missed you baby! Glad you’re back!
Me too Granny 🙂
Also wondering where Feisty Old Broad is – I like her!
Aussie
Hi Ready….Thanks for the shout out. Some really fantastic truthful posters have left this site. Boy, do I miss their info……
Hi HUNTER:
Had computer problems; had to take it to a doc for meds. But I’m back and can hardly wait to see your next fun, truthful post……
The Magic Number Is Revealed: It Costs Central Banks $200 Billion Per Quarter To Avoid A Market Crash
“For over a year now, central banks have quietly being reducing their support. As Figure 7 shows, much of this is down to the Fed, but the contraction in the ECB’s balance sheet has also been significant.
Seen from this perspective, a negative reaction in markets was long overdue: very roughly, the charts suggest that zero stimulus would be consistent with 50bp widening in investment grade, or a little over a ten percent quarterly drop in equities.
Put differently, it takes around $200bn per quarter just to keep markets from selling off.”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-10-21/magic-number-revealed-it-costs-central-banks-200-billion-quarter-avoid-market-crash
Yup… and keep all those paper shorts on silver and gold in place to artificially suppress the price, and the “Yes we can/Yes we have no bananas” chanters don’t get a clue!
Sounds like a dream bug out plan, but we don’t even have all that desirable stuff at our homestead.
How To Position Yourself To Survive A Major TEOTWAWKI Event
bend over ..keep bending..ok can you see your own ass now?
if so, than your getting really close to the position they want you in
the one you will be in right before you kiss your ass good bye
Where did that saying “Kiss your azz goodbye” come from?
Who would ever take that literally? People would rather FOAD then kiss their butt goodbye.
Ever wonder why the praying position on your knees is similar to the execution style position on your knees, just before you are shot? So which one came first? lol.
How do you pronounce TEOTWAWKI? I think I will make it my Indian name.
TAY-oh-tee-wah-kee–if you consider the meaning, you might want to go with something a bit less negative.
But I could be like a Sioux Drednaught lol
Chuckle……
Just curious, what does that mean???
I had to look it up
The End Of The World As We Know It…cuz SHTF just wasn’t enough I suppose
Eppie great idea and Mike same here, bad gut feeling things just aren’t right!
Momma
Thank you for the training exercise. In all my years in the service I never had one like that.
Momma in all seriousness. God I hope we are wrong.
You’re welcome Mike, I hope you found it as useful as I did, learned a lot!
Sailboats can be EXCELLENT short and Long term bug out tools, and even can sustain you for the long haul and be considered a RETREAT, so to speak. The big issue is the ability to make FRESH WATER and be SKILLED in fishing, as you’ll not want to use up valuable space with freeze dried food on the vessel. We will cover all these in another article. Thanks. TS
The “American Loop” is trek alot of sailors make and there is plenty of fresh water during the route…it takes about six months to do it so you could actually go North in Summer ans South in Winter and only have to worry about fresh water for half the trip. Lakes Huron and Michigan are both on the tour. The Asian carp is invasive along the Mississippi and easy to catch, you can scare them out of the water with engine noise. But to do any of this you need ur big girl pants.
And to do any of that AFTER a collapse????
I was thinking more like south pacific, or Hawaiian archipelago,
Thats alot of cash to shell out for a boat that could go safely into open water like that, not to mention the huge pair of brass balls you’ll need. A collapse will be felt everywhere, including the Islands. Eventually you are going to need things and unless you know how to carve them out of the woods you will have to deal with destitute people on foreign shores.
Corsair, C37RS
Trailerable, lots of space for storage, and fast
I’m in the process now of negotiating with my hilltop neighbor to turn part of his property into a garden.
My lots are too wooded and hilly for it and that’s my biggest drawback.
Other than that, I think we’re good to go, assuming we can actually get to it.
That’s why I’m keeping my head tuned to events.
My ham radio is being repaired, hopefully it’s done soon.
Much love, peace and courage to all of you in the days, months and years ahead.
And yes, my gut says be ready.
Scott C.
Mike in VA…My Spidey senses have me on alert too. I’m in the Tidewater area.
Weedhopper
I am south of Charlottesville. It is nerve racking to learn that there are a lot of people feeling the same. Instincts are normally correct.
If you ever want to have a cup of coffee half way let me know. Hope you and yours are doing great.
This is really great info but respectfully : Reality check.
Most people must work and do not have the means to have a second home, farm or bug out location. A very helpful series of articles would be how to maximize OPSEC and security when living in the suburbs, how to create a suburban “farm” with energy sources that are possible in that environment etc. How to blend food and “landscape” plantings to maximize food while not drawing attention to your yard as a food source etc. What to grow and how to grow food for small animals like chickens, goats, rabbits and small pigs, and in what amounts. What animals might be allowed in suburban areas and how to check on that. Space requirements for healthy, happy animals. And what would be required of you. Could you be a good owner? How to keep hens laying in winter. Roosters. What about quail for meat? Are quail “roosters” quiet? Alternative medicines for animals and humans like herbs that can be grown as ornamentals in the front yard.
– These ideas may not sound as sexy as bug out plans or owning a second home /farm with a caretaker but those ideas might as well be about space travel or living on the moon because most people do not have the financial resources to consider them.
Quail roosters sound a little different, but they won’t make your ears bleed. Quail is a good alternative fyi. Eighteen days from egg to chick (must be incubated). Six weeks til the females are laying an egg a day. Excess males are easy to process. Easy to feed and can be raised indoors in a rabbit cage or a plastic tub with adequate light. Plus, there are no regulations in most communities. I think they consider them pet birds or the same as pigeons.
That was funny, right as i was reading your response i had the covey that lives on our farm squawking away right outside my window,,, funny stuff, and i was thinking, dammit, shut up you stupid birds! LMFAO
Here ya go
soundboard.com/sb/Quail_bird_Sounds
Add the usual h t t p / / w w w .
California quail is close to what we got
KRM
I have American Guinea hogs. They are smaller than normal hogs. They are better than normal meat hogs because of the marbling in the meat. They are very friendly in there behavior. They are foragers and eat almost anything. Someone could actually care for them on a very small peace of land. I use a solar electric fence. I feed them corn. I think they are a great prepper animal.
They have been great for me at least.
GREAT! We’ll work on this aspect to. Very good point and should be investigated. Thanks TS
Around here nothing is really quiet but that’s fine with us.
We all got noisy critters. Hens, roosters, quail, dogs, cats, cows…even the neighbor’s wife down the road gets noisy at times.
I start to worry when things get quiet.
You can put a light on a timer to keep the girls laying better in winter. I just stockpile eggs ahead of winter because they moult this time of year and won’t lay while they are moulting.
Quail are noisy, too. “bob white, bob white”…I hear the ones across the road every day.
Fruit trees, rhubarb, asparagus, strawberries, horseradish are all incorporated into landscape planting and are not really obvious as useful to flatlanders in the offseason. Some wouldn’t even recognize them in season.
The job of growing feed to overwinter your animals may not be that easy for a smaller acreage homestead after SHTF. You may have to cull your birds and breed a new flock in spring with a rooster and a couple broody hens. It would certainly be hard for me to grow enough feed for many animals over winter. I could possibly barter or buy from the Amish, but they may need their feed for their own stock.
A lot of folks really don’t know what they are. Really JRS, Quail covey’s have diminished around here drastically since my childhood. A good upland pointer/setter could retire here unless they’re on a reserve and cater to the paying customer. Most of them are dumb birds and try to hide behind a blade of grass. I still love to throw them on the grill with the dove however. Marinated………mmmmmmmmmmyeah!
Yeah, I lived somewhat closer to your sandbar when I was younger, but it is the same here. There is no longer an open season on quail. They have gone the way of the ringneck.
The ones I hear are in a pen. They are not allowed to be released into the wild.
Ah…Sandbar… now you’re talking memories. Pull the skiff up on a bar in some outta the way cove. Pull out the cooler with some brews and ‘shine. Scatily clad homegrown gals wearing daisy dukes, get home afore the skeeters run you in (if you’re payin’ attention to them). DAMN I sure do miss being eighteen. Bought my first skiff and outboard when I was eight. Paid for with winter trapping money. The creeks and bays were my highways till I turned 16 and even then I still spent much time on them. Walking the marsh flats checking muskrat and otter sets before and after school. Bundling the hides and dickering with the buyer over sizes of the them trying to get a fair price. I miss it. Life was much simpler. No charades. Straight forward.
Coyotes killed off all the ground-nesting birds in my area. Sad. Coyotes don’t make nearly as good eating. OTOH there’s no closed season.
Hold and Squeeze
Coach
They introduced Coyotes here. How stupid. Now you can get a 50 dollar bounty in certain counties. Allowed to shoot anyone you see.
Dunno about Bob White quail but Japanese Quail are a walk in the park. Don’t need much space and the females are prodigious layers. Wont go broody though so if you want to turn your flock over or breed ’em for meat you need an incubator or a bantam hen to do it for you.
Aussie
I love that,,,
Might as well be about space travel or living on the moon!
Just aint gonna happen!!!
My daily rant!
Several months ago I was called into a leadership meeting at work. We had a meeting on respect. Respect for all sexes, religions, transgender, gays, you name it. We watched 7 different video clips and were asked how particular individuals would feel in that situation. One clip had a lady and 3 guys. The guys shook hands but did not try to shake the ladies hand. I told the plant manager that southern gentleman are taught to shake a ladies hand if she puts her hand out to shake yours. He said we would have to change what we had been taught.
Then this is the big one. After all the video and discussion they say the company has a new policy. At lunches or company functions if we as leaders are asked to pray we must refuse.
I am a free American. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I would be told I could not pray in the country. We got into a heated debate. In a room with around 30 people 3 of us spoke out against this policy. I am the only one that said they would not comply with the policy though. The human resources person said that I was the 3rd person to do that and she had been in several meetings. She represents around 500 people. I stated that if a Muslim wanted to put his prayer rug down and pray to the east then nothing would be said. I stated that we were in a meeting about respect for everyone and now I was offended and that my rights had been violated. I was told that they were not telling me that I could not pray on my own. I said you are telling me when I can and cannot pray. As a Christian how is the person who asked me to pray going to feel if I refuse? What kind of example am I setting? They stated that if there was an atheist on my shift he may feel that he would not get fair representation from me.
I have worked many jobs. I never really cared what religion someone was. I only cared that I had a good boss.
Luckily I did not get into trouble. I guess I could if I am asked to pray but I don’t care. The sad thing is my two immediate bosses have asked me several times to go to religious men’s retreats. Why did they not refuse to comply with this?
Whether you are a Christian or not does not matter in this case. Christians seem to be the only religion that is told what they can and cannot do in this country.
After contemplating that meeting I realized that the country is going to collapse for sure. I had thought that for years because of the endless debt in this country. After the meeting I realized that it is going to crash because we have thrown God out of everything. Christian principles do not matter. If you go by Christian principles then there would not be a large debt in your home or in the country.
Not only that but society is in such decay. There are no morals in most of society. It has become a society of lazy people who feel everyone else should pay for there life. Respect for other humans is non existent. Respect for human life is not there anymore. We hear foul language daily, we see sex on tv daily, we see men kissing men on tv, we see graphic killing on tv, video games become more graphic, there is anger all over, and different races blame each other for there situation. Marriage is in steep decline. Kids are being raised by single parents. Two people of the same sex can adopt kids. There is no respect for prayer in schools, locker rooms, graduations, or in public. There in no respect for the national anthem anymore. When I was a kid so many kids wanted to be president. I can’t remember the last time I heard a kid say that. There is no pride in the country anymore. The education system does not teach good history or economics anymore. In fact the education system, universities, turn our kids into liberal spouting idiots.
We are setting on a powder keg.
How many people do you know right now that are actually happy? How many people do you know right now that are on antidepressants? How many kids are on medication for ADHD? How many people do you know that use illegal drugs? How many people do you know that drink way to much? How many parents do you know that use video games as a babysitter? How many fathers do you know that take there role in the family seriously?
For those on here that don’t believe in Jesus or those that are another religion I am not complaining about you. I have met some very good people that did not believe. What I am complaining about is the fact that a very tiny group of people think it is okay to tell others they cannot worship.
Did it ever occur to you that it never stops at just one group. Liberals have never liked or wanted Christian beliefs in general. In fact they just want power and money. Christian values don’t coincide with the way they want things.
Everything above has gotten so much worse in the last 30 years. Times have changed so.
That is why I know for a fact that we are headed for a crash. I only hope we can restore the country to the way it should be. A country where all men are created equal and have the right to pursue happiness.
Not a country where some are given advantages over others and people think that they are guaranteed happiness.
Good post/comment Mike in VA. Thanks for standing firm in the faith.
Cowardice, and cowardice by Christians, and most especially cowardice by Christian pastors, is a moral cancer undermining the social and moral fabric of our country, our culture, and our youth.
Evil happens when “good” men do nothing.
What’s that new saying that they’re telling people to do? “See something, say something.” That’s a bunch of hooey. These politically correct environments that we are subjected to, if you say something that’s contrary to the PC Lib Totalitarian, you’re gonna get hammered. Called names, have lies told about you, have what you say misrepresented, have to endure unending false accusations, it’s so bad that you think it’s both stupid and foolish to speak up and tell the Truth in Love to the Lib Liars.
It’s a Rock and a Hard Place.
Speak up, Get Damaged Horrendously.
Be Silent, then be cowardly and complicit and morally culpable to the harm that the Lib bullies inflict.
Sucks.
FreeSlave–>
-(quote)- “..What’s that new saying that they’re telling people to do? “See something, say something.” That’s a bunch of hooey. These politically correct environments that we are subjected to, if you say something that’s contrary to the PC Lib Totalitarian, you’re gonna get hammered. Called names, have lies told about you, have what you say misrepresented, have to endure unending false accusations, it’s so bad that you think it’s both stupid and foolish to speak up and tell the Truth in Love to the Lib Liars…” -(unquote)-
————————-
Taking a page out of the enemies’ playbook,..why not take advantage of their..”SEE SOMETHING — SAY SOMETHING” official advice / mantra???
Target the libs(enemy)..get their license #, home address, car(make model & color), name etc..etc.
————————–
..then call the fed-hotline numbers via a throw-away minute phone(paid for in cash)..
—————————–
Example:
“..buzz-buzz..(phone ringing)::: ..’hello, agency ‘XYZ’ hotline, how may I help you?”
-(you w/ breathless sincerity):
“..Yes(pant-pant), I’d like to report a possible terrorist cell meeting at “ABC-location”.
Fed-operator: “..wait one, (connecting to next level)..
……………………(bzzzt)…..
(affirmative-action hired agent): “..special agent so-n-so here..”
**(you)**:
“..yes sir / ma’am, I want to report a possible terrorist cell meeting at -((fill-in-the-blank))- …address / location!!!
“..they were / are dark skinned, Arabs maybe..3 of them, I saw a briefcase / small suitcase also..they’re all wearing sun-glasses and suits…one is outside…I think he’s the look-out…he seems very nervous too”
(agent): “..huh???”
(you, w/ voice raising several octaves):
“…Oh God!!! ..they see me!!! I gotta go..-(screech / scream)-”
———————————
Then disconnect & kill / destroy the phone & battery immediately!
———————————
———————————
———————————
Do such as much as possible..whilst avoiding purchasing said phones at the sane location..
..they f%ck with us…let’s f%ck them back!!!!
..and use their own “SYSTEM” against them!!!
..be creative..use imagination..but, be safe too.
———————————
GOOD LUCK to all……
Oops!! …forgot the part that goes:
(you):–
“..they’ve got assault weapons..I saw ’em..they were in the trunk of the vehicle..they carried ’em into the house…………………”
————————————–
-(deep sigh)-
You know..if nothing else, perhaps we can “turn / roll over” an enemy in situ…into a defector in place…per this exercise!
-repetition- …is the key!
—————————–
Swamp ’em, folks!!!
They’ve given us “a gimmie”….
..let’s not waste it!!!!
Mike in Va., I ran into a similar situation at work where we had a class on respect and were offered more money for learning Spanish. I raised my hand and offered that perhaps we pay our Spanish speaking employees/residents money instead to learn English. Since I was already retired and just working part time for spending money I didn’t care what the outcome would be. Nobody spoke up until after the meeting and was told by others that they agreed with me. We are getting hit from all sides and people are not standing up.
Jim, Hunter, Free, Test, mtgrandma, Sidney,
Thanks for the compliments. I mean that. That to me is sad as well. We are in this situation because really good people don’t stand up. I am lucky to be honest. Everyone in the room is a Christian. That fact alone makes you feel like crying.
In my real rant when I got home my wife told me to calm down. She said you are going to have another heart attack. My response to her was that if there is ever a time I should be upset it is this one.
When you think about it the reason we are in this situation is because good people did not stand up. My belief in our lord Jesus has to be my personal most important thing. When you think about it though. Believe or not good people did not put a stop to this years ago. Part of it was because they were good people. It was a mistake and a mistake that will cost us all dearly.
I am lucky in that where I work is in a rural area. Most likely this will not cause me to lose my job. What I told my wife and am now telling you is this. If it does then who cares. Yes it will cause hardship for me and my family. But that means the good lord wants me somewhere else. I have thought about that and discussed it with my wife. Maybe I am not working where the good lord wants me too. Then I realized that maybe I am working where I am supposed to be because of what happened. Who knows. I know this. I have faith that no matter what happens regarding this it is the lords will.
I don’t deserve any compliments for this. In fact I think I will never be the man my father was. I am going to say something to you all that I never thought I would. I am not perfect. I am weak. My son is 22 years old. In the last year he has been in the hospital 8 times. I worry about him every minute of every day. Without a long story. 3 Months ago he had another seizure. It was 4 and a half minutes long. I have not been right after that moment. Bad nerve problems and not happy. The doctor told me that the body is not supposed to have stress on a daily basis. She said I was having random panic attacks. I have never agreed with medication but am now on venaxoflan. I am better now.
I am ashamed of myself for that. I feel I should have more faith in the good lord.
The reason I went on the rant about prayer is because that told me we are done as a country.
I wish I were stronger. I have always considered myself to be a tough guy. Martial arts, Emt, Infantry in the Army, went through the death of my mother at 18, my father at 23, a divorce, custody of two boys, bankruptcy, and a heart attack. After it all I realize that life is hell. If you believe in Jesus then this life is the only hell you will ever know.
I deserve no compliments, thanks, kudos or anything else. I am humbled and a week human being. I am not the man my father was or the man I should be. I feel I should be stronger in my faith and my trust in the good lord.
I thank you all for the support but I don’t feel I deserve it.
Just read Matthew’s gospel, the last 3 chapters where the disciples denied and fled. You didn’t deny but spoke up for yourself and your faith. You deserve the compliments and they are offered as encouragement. Take them and move ahead. Keep up the good work and example.
Wilson
Thanks you so much. I never quit. I never give up and will always do my best.
Mike, these are very, very difficult times!!! I won’t say what I have been through this past year but I have also had a very rough year!!! And its very difficult to focus on God when you are dealing with so much grief, pain, stress or whatever!
I meditate (have been doing so for over 30 years)… please try to learn to meditate. The Bible says, “Be still and know that I Am”. Also, “they will say look here or look there but the Kingdom of God is within you.”
When we are restless, focused on the world, it is very difficult hear the still, small voice… thats why its so important to take some time for yourself, away from family duties and just meditate on the Source from which we came… God DOES speak to us, but we have to get away from the world, make time for Him.
I would just say, “sorry, can’t go along with that policy.” Job or no job. God first!
As for Atheists, sorry, but you can stick your fingers in your ears if you like– we have a right to pray!
Its our duty to stop this horrible machine that is trying to overtake our country/the world.
@ Anonymous : We are getting so F**K**G PC it ain’t funny. They are taking us down with this PC S**T. I am sick of PC. Some folks need to grow some balls.
Fish, if you are referring to me (there is more than one Anonymous on the board)… ummm… I’m a female. I would rather not “grow balls” as you put it. Thank you very much. (Also, I do not know what PC refers to).
Incidentally, I bought my property from http://www.dignam.com I have ZERO association with them, other than having bought from them. They sell rural properties across Canada, and I think my property in Nova Scotia was a good deal.
And please spare me the “it’s too cold there” comments. Really? From the SHTF community?
Thanks, Mike. Presumably you heard about the two pastors in ID. facing jail time for refusing to marry gays? Talk about homofascism. No word yet if they would jail MUSLIMS for that stance, but I think we all know the answer to that. Then there is that vile, dispicable mayor in Houston, who, I guess, wants’ to burn pastors’ sermons, and those two Christian bakers, one in OR. and one in CO. who were fined and sent to communist gay re-education camps (and don’t forget Elaine Hueginin, the photog in NM or the T-shirt maker in KY now)
THANK YOU for standing up!! You are 100% correct that it is the moral erosion that will destroy us.
I am a dual US/Canadian citizen, and in the mid-1990s I took a similar stand to what you did. I lost my job, due to some dirty tricks right out of the Lois Lerner book of scams. But you know what? I would do it all over again. I am NOT going to be cowed by these fascists. The truth is, they will *** harass and badger you, and then fire you or (literally or figuratively) kill you anyway. Personally, I will stand on my feet and tell them to their faces they are frauds before I bow one knee.
Armando Valladares, who wrote Against All Hope, after resisting Castro’s and Che’s THUGS in Cuba wrote “”For me, it meant 8,000 days of hunger, of systematic beatings, of hard labor, of solitary confinement and solitude, 8,000 days of struggling to prove that I was a human being, 8,000 days of proving that my spirit could triumph over exhaustion and pain, 8,000 days of testing my religious convictions, my faith, of fighting the hate my atheist jailers were trying to instill in me with each bayonet thrust, fighting so that hate would not flourish in my heart, 8,000 days of struggling so that I would not become like them.”
This comment will probably be used against me. My husband just gave a stepping on toes sermon last week. After the Houston mayor thing, he went ballistic. This is so unAmerican! We will do what we have to do according to our conscious.
Bingo Mike! Way to take a stand! We are living in systems created with a slanted intent – according to TPTB’s agenda – which is really a harmful agenda. It is an agenda that is being expanded and the progressives make it sound all nice so they can get the non-thinking, lazy people to think any way they want.
What are we doing about this agenda that is being forced upon us? Are we looking for ways to positively influence in our communities through our knowledge and experience. Will people listen? Maybe a few, but we can’t just stay quiet any longer – and we don’t have to give up OPSEC to get involved in our communities. If we don’t, we sure know who is.
I’ve said this before, our biggest weakness is a lack of leadership and coordination. I sure don’t see any leaders or any plans for changing the path our country is on – now yes…there is that dread feeling that was mentioned earlier. I’m not just talking political leaders here either. There are many leaders that have changed history and they weren’t politicians. I think we can all agree that the politicians will not figure this out, nor can they, and likely it fits with their agenda.
Our country is divided and even we are divided. How is the house to stand? Yes, each of us is managing our risk to this threat by prepping to our ability, but don’t forget to teach what you know in your community and be the citizen you want to see in others.
Be well
Mike, I have never voted republican in my life and never will… I don’t believe in either party, at this point– they’re all gangsters and we are not invited to join their gang– its only for the elite/billionaires…
However, I feel very, very strongly about the Constitution, esp. the 2nd amendment… Obummer and Bushwipes have tried to destroy it.
I believe abortion is wrong but don’t have strong feelings one way or the other about other womens’ decisions.
I am a tree hugger and proud of it– I LOVE TREES!!! And I feel very strongly about a healthy environment (it means healthy citizens!)
I hate/distrust the government!!! I know they are corrupt as hell.
God is the most important thing in my life!!!
I don’t believe homosexuals should have the right to marry because its a sacred union between one man and one woman… however, its not OK to persecute/harm them, discriminate against them… they are God’s children too (though I don’t see how in the world they can do the crap they do!!)
So, does that make me a horrible person/democrat? ( I have never considered myself a liberal– just a human being who loves trees, the environment, the Great Spirit who created me, and all colors of peoples, and the Constitution…
I vote republican every time but it is just voting for the lesser of two evils. They are all in it together.
Should the situation occur where foreign troops are on American soil. Under the auspices of helping settle society. The plan for every patriot should be to take back the government. Restore the military and the nuclear arsenal.
Under NO circumstances does bringing foreign troops in trump bringing our troops home. At that piont is’s a blatent attempt of an overthrow.
A beeline for the head of the snake is the only solution. Otherwise, you’ll be smoked out of your BOL like a rat.
4th generation warfare,
Who the hell in their right mind will want to be in charge when the leaders get offed every time they come out,,,,,
Kula–>
Hmmmmm……!!!!
Yeah, I see your point, per conventional doctrine.
That said…”WHO” says you have to take orders from somebody?
..why not simply use / modify someone else’s idea / modus-operandi, to suit your own particular strategy / tactics?
Then run w/ it when you deem necessary.
——————————
..the I.R.A. did such and they eventually bought a nuclear-power(U.K.) to the negotiating table!!!
——————————
Success, in a worst case scenario outcome (vs. govt)..will live or die..via those who’re able to think & operate / function…..
..outside the box!
@ Sierra Dave : Shot to wound. Wait for it, wait for it, OK, now shot some more.
If foreign troops try to help out around here, their will be blue hat planters all down the highway.
Prepping tip: Don’t raise rabbits that you have to feed yourself. Use live traps on your property instead. Depending on the size of your property you might be able to eat rabbit 3 times a week indefinitely.
trap and breed a couple of wild rabbits, free the young ones,,,get rid of the hawks, crows, foxes and coyotes to ensure a good crop of rabbits
Unless you live somewhere like I do,,, have been seriously considering raising a few, hard to get the big eating breeds over here, and almost impossible to import. Real pain in the butt for the paperwork, quarantine etc
I have some rabbits. Post collapse, it won’t take more’n 15 minutes a day to gather some Johnson grass and what not to feed them. More important will be to save up enough to feed them for 3ish months in Winter.
I have a sausage grinder and need to experiment on making my own pellets.
All of you do know it is over, “they” just tell the slaves last. The experiment has failed by design.
The only question now is: how long do we have?
Its interesting when The American Rifleman has a four page SHTF article in their November issue.
I will not be moving,have drawn line in the sand,moved enuff.That said this is much better then the average relocation write ups usually seen in that it talks about things you can look for and do with property you ALREADY have.Excepting work/others personal reasons for traveling will be staying at home,that is that!
My only complaint with this article, is that he saying not to join a group. You NEED support, especially in war. A lone wolf will not accomplish much, especially when untrained. And you cannot trust everyone in town, so you need a close-knit group.
Dark,though I up thumbed you look what one guy has done in Penn.avoiding hostiles.I do not know what hidden background he may have but sure is giving em a run for their money.One guy,100’s of police plus drones and other high tech.Hell,a 1000 lone wolves at same time could it seems bring the powers that want to be to at least stall mode!
What I mean by this comment in the article is that Leaderless Resistance is where one or more folks get together that have life long associations. They allow nobody else in, they don’t talk to anyone about anything, and they operate on an at will event calendar. This may be two people, it may be four or ten, but they key is NEVER allow anyone else in, as they may be a long term .gov implant. Read into Leaderless Resistance and you’ll see that is very effective against OPSEC compromise. That’s all I was saying. When the invading force is settled into our country, I’m sure that many cells will come together, but only after the second revolution is upon us. You get the point. Thanks Todd Savage, SRC
I am a lone wolf and always have been (except for small family group)… However, I think when SHTF, we will all automatically be drawn to a group for survival’s sake… we will need someone to watch our backs.
The Alpha Diaries
Spent the last few days in Milwaukee.
Had my luggage searched by the fucking pigs both ways because I had a canteen, medical kit, space blanket, compass, and whistle. I didn’t bring weapons, as they are “illegal” in Wisconsin, at least for a non-resident. On a plane, the TSA prohibits quantities of capsaicin sufficient for bear defense, so you are left walking the trail with your hands or whatever arrangements you can make.
As fresh water is crucial for manufacturing, farming, and brewing, all the nation’s first industrial centers such as Shitcago, Detroit, and Milwaukee are located by the Great Lakes.
Milwaukee is the birthplace of Harley Davidson (shitty bikes, good helmets). I went to the Harley Davidson museum. Small “no weapons” sign on a wall well away from the front door. Good exhibits on mechanics and machining (more educational than the science centers your child’s shit public school sends them to). It holds a Fat Boy, costume, shotgun, and knife actually used by Arnold and Linda in the film Terminator 2. One exhibit detailed how a Japanese man’s garage housing his new HD was uprooted in the great tsunami and floated across the ocean to Canada, where a beachcomber found it and traced it back to him. The owner, whose family died and whose property was all destroyed, donated the bike to HD as a disaster memorial. When motorcycle clubs first started up in the 30s, HD executives publicly denounced them, stating that they wanted “clean and decent customers”, not “maniacs” although they switched tunes when the bad boy image started making profit, and quickly started making ads with bikini clad girls on the bikes, even in the 30s. In the “Hollister Riots” a few people suffered minor injuries and the government used it to scare the sheeple with paranoid fears of marauding biker gangs. HD started marketing bikes to women in the 30’s. The museum has several exhibits detailing how women played an important role in the history of HD (bullshit).
Went to Cave of the Mounds (no weapons allowed), a natural gemstone cave and travelled deep into the Earth. Went to the Experimental Aircraft Museum (no weapons allowed) in Oshkosh. Check out the Airventure held annually. Took brewery tours of Miller (no weapons allowed) and Pabst (no weapons allowed). Kayaked many miles on the the Urban Water Trail. Hiked many miles on the Oak Leaf and Ice Age trails. There have been many ghost sightings in Grant Park.
During my urban trekking I witnessed two young black thugs on the street in front of me destroying city property. I was enraged but decided to do nothing. But, after a minute a pig drove down the street. I strongly hesitated to act but reluctantly stopped the pig and appraised him of the situation. He left without asking me for ID or searching my pockets. The blacks split up and ran for it. He went off chasing them.
Made fun of my waitress’s Wisk-kaaaaan-saaaann accent. Played with her hair.
ALPHA AS FUCK
“Sometimes you have to pick the gun up to put the Gun down.”
― Malcolm X
.f.
i still prefer bugging out to the woods where i live.
there’s more than enough small valleys and caves here with fire road access to get lost for awhile, while the towns go to hell under zog dhs martial law.
all i need is ‘double wide’ fox hole with a log roof deep in the woods , an some anti bear barb wire strung up and i’ll be happy.
.f.
Nope I don’t want to communicate with any of the posters here other than on the open forum. I don’t want emails or to become aquainted with anyone here. I dont want to join any group ever. For those of us who have several months of food & preps The biggest hurdle we will face is our own mental stability. Next is those who you think you can trust becoming mentally unhinged. The more folks who know you the better chance that they eventually will cause you problems. The plains Indians lived in concentrated camps. they where part of a group. and it was that very fact that allowed them to be killed or rounded up. Yet the Seminole Indians where spread all over the everglades and very few where captured. The only places that I know that are fireproof and cant be detected from above are remote caves.
Sorry, but I believe those who think they live isolated lives are living a dream….some will indeed find you. Hope lies within all GOOD folks coming together to fight the common foe….don’t you see that yet? Individually, WE are lost….UNITED WE STAND against the enemy…..REMEMBER? This is not just about YOU and your family….It is about ALL of US and ALL of OUR FAMILIES combined! WAKE UP! NO ONE alone will defeat what is coming our way!
fob
Just how do you propose to determine who is GOOD? Every group or club ive ever seen has squabbles. there are power struggles and folks become Jealious. How about I take care of me and mine. and everyone else takes care of them & theirs? The entire plains Indians where united. Long time enemies Sioux, Arapaho, Cheyenne and a host of others joined forces against the whites. And they lost everything. However the Seminoles who kept moving about in the everglades survived and are still there today. The first white men who went into the mountians to trap. They went alone or maybe just two men . Me & mine have know how & are self reliant. We don’t want any help or need to be burdened with others of questionable trustworthiness.
I believe in the GOOD which lies within MANKIND still….I believe in GOD. I feel very sorry for those who feel they cannot ever trust anyone…some may, indeed, survive for a while….but then what? I believe in the GOOD of the WHOLE of the GOOD….some believe in nothing but existing….I understand what they say, but I cannot believe in merely existing, without any purpose other than that….May God help those who help themselves…and others.
fob
What we are discussing here is survival. Now their is nothing wrong with believeing & having faith. A quote from the movie second hand lions ( it don’t matter if something is true or not. If its worth believeing in then go ahead and believe in it). However to be realistic religion & faith most likely wont feed and protect anyone. many animals hunt alone or in pairs fox,hawks, bobcat to name a few. those who run in packs like wolves& coyotes the strongest eat first and in hard lean times the young & weak perish. And when real SHTF happens humans will revert to animals suprizingly fast. I have very little percentage of stored goods & weapons in my home. the bulk is hidden in several places. I would prefer to remain at my home. However Im afraid I will be forced to leave. That’s when I will take the younger ones and hide. burn everything when we leave. my children will be the snipers and defenders who will do whatever necessary for the protection of their offspring. Our plan is entirely for the grandchildren to survive. Im not a Christian. I believe in the Theory of reincarnation so its very importiant to me for my grandchildren to survive. I would willingly give my life to save the lives of the younger ones. If it occurs like I think it will you will see folks abandon their children and infirm family members in order to try & save themselves. If you wish to remain mentally sane you better get tough thick skinned and hard hearted & keep you eye on the ball. it wont be a 1930,s or 1800,s type thing. It will be more like stone age existance. Ok heres a joke. Why did cave men drag their women by the hair? Because when they drug them by the feet they filled up with dirt!
Yep.. God is Love, Old Broad– some people just don’t get that!
Also those some who will indeed find me? They likely wont live very long after they make that discovery.
Spot On Old Guy. Ever notice those who think community living is a requirement are usually the weakest link of the bunch. Bunch of useless eaters. A lone wolf runs silent and deep. A bunch in the woods eventually gets a yacking so loud they give away their position to the lone wolf who picks them off one at a time. Just saying.
Fester ,
Sounds like a good hides hootch to me make sure you blend it with the local vegetation and use light discipline.
Semper Fi 8541
There exists objective reality, reasonable probability, unlikely potential scenarios and the deeply troubled devotees of doomsday porn/fiction.
leon panetta says prepare for a 30 year war ending with zog amerika/nato going ‘toe to toe’ with russia.
this i gotta see… WW3
from my bunker in the rockies.
.f.
Well, here it is for me. I don’t like liberals. I don’t hate them neither. I just figure that somehow their brains got scrambled and they’re truly frigged up. I don’t understand them and don’t care to. Maybe it was some childhood history there. Anyhow, if it comes to me and them,vs. my family….I will put a round in their brain pan. I will harbor no hate toward their cold body. I might bury them or not, ‘pending on the season and the prevailing wind. (Buzzards do work rather quickly cause I’ve watched them). And I will continue on my daily chores until the next person comes along and so on. If’n I can’t hold what I got, no problem, I’ll with drawl knowing there will be another day and time. I have no problem shedding blood or pain for my family and those I deem brothers or sisters as long as you are genuine.
Posted above by accident: so here it is again. Enjoy!!
Dixieland Shortcake
Prepare and cook cornbread how you like it. Set it aside.
Saute diced chicken.(or canned chicken) Put in a covered dish to keep warm.
Saute 1/2 cup onion, 1/2 cup green pepper, and one can mushroom. Put it in the covered dish to keep warm.
Make gravy using flour, 2 chicken bouillons and 2 cups water (or chicken broth), when thickens as you like, pour in the covered dish to keep warm. Stir this well.
Cut a triangle of cornbread and slice through the middle.
Cover the cornbread with the chicken, vegetable, and gravy mixture.
Dixieland Shortcake….enjoy!!
These ingredients can/should be part of your stored items.
Canned chicken
Dehydrated onion
Dehydrated green pepper
Canned mushrooms
Chicken bouillons/flour/butter for gravy
Corn Muffin box or homemade cornbread (powdered buttermilk, powdered eggs, vacuum selaed cornmeal)
Mr. Rodgers, anything new regarding that sun spot?
Hey POP;
just fyi, I was having some discussion with Mr R yesterday or Monday (can’t remember) but he said he would be offline for a day or two.
GR
Incidentally, I bought my property from http://www.dignam.com I have ZERO association with them, other than having bought from them. They sell rural properties across Canada, and I think my property in Nova Scotia was a good deal.
And please spare me the “it’s too cold there” comments. Really? From the SHTF community?
Canada os actually a good Redoubt if you understand how to Prep around certain laws….
What is wrong with this picture. Right at ONE BILLION DOLLARS will be spend to re-elect or elect just the U.S. Congressmen and Senators.Think they are going to be representing WE THE PEOPLE, no way. Our Government is such a joke, that no wonder we’re doomed. What ever the Corporations’ want they shall have.
Feed Jake
Governor Scott of Florida just dumped $22Million of his own money into his election campaign that only pays about $200,000 in salary. So what’s corrupt about this elected position? Power and Influence.
OK,for those near a Cabellas,they have .22 bricks for 25 bucks,a fair price for .22 ammo,tis Remington LR 40 grain,happy shopping to those that need it.
That the old 500 round brick or the new 333 downsized brick?
500 rounder Kevin,get shopping!Just get what you need and leave some for others,this happened all along there would not have been a shortage,I.e.scalping.
You are right about the scalping War, talked to the lady at wallyworld sports dept, haven’t been able to get anything there for a year and she told me the third shift guys unload the trucks then buy ALL! She was mad because she works there and can’t get any either! And the only other place to buy ammo here has a group of three guys that come in and buy it by the pallets as soon as the truck pulls in! Very frustrating.
Thunderduds? You can have my share……….
I can definitely appreciate the subject content on this article, I’ve been regularly reading this site for almost a year now, and the subject of relocation is on the top of my priority list. I’m a service connected disabled veteran in college now through the VA’s vocational rehab program, and being currently located in Las Vegas, every time I read an article like this I get “Oh Shit” feeling in my stomach when I contemplate being stuck in this city when the SHTF.
My wife thought it was a little quirky all the preps I’ve been making for the past year, then when the Ebola news hit mainstream media outlets, she came to believe that there just may be something to this whole being prepared thing!
We have a 21 month old son and a 6 month old daughter, good reasons to be out of major population center. I’m from small town Tennessee, she’s from small town Texas, we didn’t expect God to put us here, however his will has brought us through complete and sorrows to blessings without bounds.
Our trust in our creator gives us faith that no matter what the timeline may be, we’ll be aight, I personally would just like to have the timeline of events of getting out of this wretched city be along the lines of “Oh YAY! We get to finally move to North East Utah!” Not “OH SHEEAT! We gotta get the HELL outta here now! How much can we pack in the van before we’re trapped in the city?”
Oh well, time will tell… I’ve always heard the best way to make God laugh is by making plans for tommorow! Great article! I’ve always enjoyed the comments section of this website! You guys are great!
May the Lord keep you all safe and sound through the night and in to the day, when we wake up again hustle, and bustle, play and pray….
Hustle
May the lord keep you safe and my and I hope all on here’s prayers are with you.
Back in the days of the First Depression, many were on the road seeking work of any kind….and when those poor souls found some kind hearted people, they would make a small mark indicating to others like themselves that the people living there would offer comfort, work, and a meal….that is what I believe we will face again….only on a much larger scale, and with the horror of those who wish to merely TAKE. BE READY to leave all you have in order to live and hopefully make a difference for those young souls who will come after US…..I believe that all with GOOD within their hearts will find one another for the purpose of making the difference between LIFE or DEATH of this Republic…..just my opinion….
fob
I sure hope your right FOB
My mom live during the Great Depression… she said they didn’t have it hard because thy lived on a large farm and had orchards (hired people to work for them) and huge vegetable gardens, etc…
And people would come by and my grandma and grandpa would load up their cars (whatever they drove back then) with produce… they helped them out…
get some metal kerosean lanterns from wal mart for out side to light perimiter hard to shoot something in the dark how are others going to deal with this im in a small town and when the electric goes out its pitch black out side
Heres what im getting, not the best but from reviews is decent, getting mine through Cabelas,
Add the usual prefix
amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00BT9LPS2/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Sure wish some “wise” person would write an article on the benefits, nay, NECESSITY, of clanning….like minded people coming together….alone, with a few in your group, you will soon be gone and all your preps in the hands of a gang who took them from you and left you and your family dead. Is that the scenario you envision? Strength lies in numbers….and within the numbers…..
fob
from what you post its obvious you don’t have any confidence in your own ability to survive on your own. Apparently you are wanting someone else to be your enabler. Even if you find your group if you don’t bring something of value ( and any preps you bring will be taken away very first thing) or a rare skill that is necessary for the survival of the group you will be cast out . in good times no productive parasites & oxygen thieves are tolerated. when things get bad they are soon weeded out. The meanst smartest alpha males & females will rule the roost. the old haggardly men & women will be the first to be cast out. Im 63 and fit and still a good shot. however I know my living isn’t a priority when push comes to shove. My grandchildren are the priority. to survive in a group you must become someone who the group belives is necessary. Many will be expendable. Im of the opinion many here just don’t realize how bad and how ruthless & how quickly humans can become. I don’t want SHTF. If SHTF I will have to do unthinkable acts to protect Me & mine. Its believed 90% will die. I believe those who live will wish they also where dead.
Old Guy:
Anyone watching the LA Riots or Ferguson, Mo. and still believe when the real shtf begins that things will be kinda like the depression years is fooling themselves.
You are correct in your assessment of what is planned and is going to happen to America. Those who are anticipating the downfall of America can almost smell their victory.
We Americans should be ashamed of ourselves for allowing America to fall into the gutter. The fall of Russia and the killing fields there is the blueprint in the making for most Americans. We are in for hell on earth.
Im not ashamed. I didn’t allow anything. Im not to blame. Those in the UN and Now have started their plan before I was ever born. Ive been a producer avoided debt and voted regularly. Most of us are no more to blame for what has transpired than the water that seeps into the crack in the rock & then freezes is to blame when the rock breaks apart. Those who want to take that which is not rightfully theirs are the ones to blame. Those who amassed great debt and enabled the banksters are to blame. those who are parasites and think someone else has more than their fair share and voted themselves money & goods from the public coffers are to blame. It wont be a reset.
it will be a great fall and from their on a withering decline for a generation or two. The NWO will not succeed in the end.
SEMPER-FI Old Guy !
Sure people with the right skills will survive isolated on their own. But they will do nothing to rebuild the country for the following generation. Old folks may not have the eye sight or strength to fight off the wolves, but they have the wisdom and knowledge to produce and maintain necessities if the strong do the defending. So I agree with fob it will take communities working together to really survive.
YOU are missing the point old guy….I am attempting to re-acquaint people with the Bible and Faith…. I can survive without any help from anyone.. happily, I have a group of many with Faith AND skills, and I am one of those whose skills would be wanted….WHAT do YOU envision this REPUBLIC to be AFTER? Is THAT when you would wish for the GOOD to come together? All well and good to do what you wish….I will fight for GOOD vs EVIL…and THAT is indeed what I have been saying…..
We are in the End of Days…..and I believe the People of Christ will endure much before it is all over with….
We ALL have FREE WILL….do with it what you wish…
fob
Do a search for “Last Minute Tips for Parents When the SHTF”.
I wrote many many pages on ways for parents to cope with their children, make practical things using ancestral skills, how to be a leader in your community (I called it a tribe), how to teach people how to harvest water and food, how to set up a market day to barter things from what they have or can make, how to organize a school, how to organize a medic center, how to purify water, how to start a council, etc.
I deleted many pages for OPSEC reasons but you should still be able to get many many pages of valuable practical information from it.
Many years ago, some ex-Peace Corps and staff from Christian missions assembled the most helpful information they had been giving to 3rd world villagers to do similar things. You know like making building materials from common things that the villagers had around since they couldn’t afford to buy them. That information is huge, could be stored on a backup portable hard drive, and then serve as a massive library of information post-collapse. Sure we will have libraries, but most libraries are full of fluff instead of practical information.
That can be downloaded for free and the easiest way is a torrent. That’s called CDW3d. Look for it.
We will be alone for a long time post-collapse, but there will be young orphans, the rare refugee with practical skills, and we’ll slowly band together.
A lot of trained professionals think they have valuable skills like physicians, and while yes that is critical for a tribe, unless the physician knows how to treat in the absence of prescription medicines, then he/she is not much use say seven years down the line, right? It will be back to herbs and harvesting wild plants to treat because to make drugs again will just about impossible due to lack of infrastructure and chemicals and chemical engineers and sanitation (like clean rooms).
There’s lots of educated eggheads who work in engineering but lack the practical sense that any farmer would possess to move heavy things in 1860. Unless they can learn how to construct without heavy equipment, then they’re useless. The fuel will run out, and make it impossible to use them. Think how long would it take to get a refinery operating again, not to mention extracting oil again.
Tribes have always formed in history under diverse names, and in a collapse or persistent post-collapse situation, then we MUST band together to survive. One man or one family cannot repel many invaders.
The lucky thing is that many who would be invaders lack ancestral knowledge, so many of them will die out.
The thing to worry about is the evil survivalist who lacks morals but has enough ancestral skills, and possesses charisma, and who could create their own tribe and enslave what survivors they find to do their bidding.
Re: email and security
Every time you get on the Internet, you have to make a connection. That connection is called an IP address. That connection is then polled every time you go to a website. Now there are ways around that by using a proxy. You should be doing at least that every time you visit websites, for otherwise that can be captured.
Then that information is shared in databases. Let that sink in.
Your cable modem in your computer and your Wifi modem both have MAC addresses. Those values tell the website which specific computer and modem connected to that website.
There are free programs which alter the Mac address of these. One is TMAC.
Each time you go on the Internet, a series of scripts run on the website. Then these can be used to identify you and your browsing habits. One program which halts those scripts is Ghostery. Another is Disconnect.
If you did all of these things, you should also block the GPS function that is built into your browser. That’s why when say you visit some websites like for weather reports, it automatically knows your region.
Now on top of those security procedures, every time you send email, then buried within the “headers” there is your IP address as well. One thing you can do is stop using your normal email and use specific ones made up for specific uses like hushmail. Maybe you only use it for one time use. Then create a totally new one the next time.
That’s how to be vastly more secure when you browse website and communicate. To not do this is to tell the other person exactly where you are physically located. It also means that you’re in a database somewhere based upon that IP and MAC addresses and compared to other sites you’ve visited, and a record of these can then be used to assess a threat level.
In no uncertain terms would I communicate with someone on a website like this as it would be severely breaking OPSEC.
Each time you see those social media buttons, those run scripts and Tritter, Facebook, and any similar ones then by scripting get reports of the websites you visit. Unless you’re using Ghostery, Disconnect, or others (like Stopsocial), then all of those get reports of where you visit too.
You do realize that not only have these social media agencies admitted that they have to report that information to the No Such Agency (NSA), but they share that data among themselves for marketing reasons, and this is one reason why you get targeted ads and why you might get on mailing lists. In addition, the insidious nature of
Facebook is there are clear links with them to the NSA.
Say you visited Glenn Beck’s website The Blaze. There are 15 tracking scripts running on that homepage 5 for advertising like Taboola and Criteo, 4 analytics like comscore and chartbeat, social and some content scripts as well.
Every website knows what website you visited before you came to them. They know what website you are clicking upon as you leave too.
Every website monitors every weblink that you click on within its site, and when you click upon it, then the new website knows where you came from within that previous site (who sent them the traffic).
You really need to learn about Internet security. If you don’t believe what I’m telling you, then you should be a good critical thinker, look it up, and decide for yourself.
The way the free email program hushmail works, it spoofs the IP address header so that upon examination all of your emails come from another geographic spot in Canada instead of where you really are.
That benign virus program you run as an ap? It monitors what you do on the Internet and what files you open, and some of you agreed to send anonymous data about that back to the virus company in exchange for free updates.
Lots of aps on your computer that are free do this. Why do you think malware exists? It’s not just hackers being playful, but loading up some ap from being on their site, and then monitoring your Internet and computer use, and then selling that information.
Why do you think that porn sites are free? They do the same thing to gather all of the above information and sell it to some organizations? Where do you think that information ends up? The NSA and many of the same marketing agencies that run scripts on various websites.
And you guys are talking about exchanging email information. I get that people want to reach out and that it might be for creating new friends and potential allies, but someone else is always watching too.
Ever hear of cops talking about “known associations”? Well people who use Facebook voluntarily give away their known associations through their “friends” list, right?
It came out about three years ago that the Pentagon has paid cyber soldiers. They are given a profile which details their age, race, education, political leanings, spiritual beliefs, passionate subjects, etc. Then these actors visit online forums and they pretend to have those characteristics. Their goal is to incite conversations and to gather what personal details they can in order to create a profile from the ones they can penetrate. Why? Because they sniff out people they think might be instigators.
You should be extremely cautious, not disclose where you are from, who you associate with, what organizations you belong to, etc. It’s also wise to intentionally put false misleading information in with your statements so that it’s assumed you have other attributes to help create a layer of anonymity as well.
Some people are like babes in the woods, innocent and unsuspecting, and never realize that trolls are not there just to make you angry, but might be specifically sniffing a forum such as this to gather data and do recon.
Be as wise as serpents and innocent as doves. We’re up against an American government who since the Patriot Acts has labeled the American people as the potential enemy, often because of prepping, Christian beliefs, and ex-military service.
Ok Its seems the death ship ebola has lost its wind. its becalmed and dead in the water. I wonder what will be the next big thing to pop up?
Some of us are too old, not well, or can’t afford a get-away
place. I am 65 and am dying of Diabetes and a bad Heart.
Either I will die when my meds. run out, or while I am
defending my little apartment and my prepper supplies.
Do not feel sorry for me. I am a combat Marine, and
“I will not go quietly into that good night” Many will go
before I do !
SEMPER-FI !
Yes, I have met some very, very honorable service men… if you were close by we could help each other… best wishes… 😉
This is a good article followed by equally good comments. However, I don’t believe there’s a single best course of action for everyone. We all have the same basic needs to survive but we also have different ones based on our location and our individual or family’s strong and weak points. While I’m still in very good shape for my age (65+),I’m no match for a fit 20yr old soldier. I’m not going to run too far or too fast with a full pack but I can still knock the fleas off a groundhog at 100 yards with open sights. Now, I’ve had a great deal of experience in the back country, was a survivalist before I knew what it meant, and after my military service, worked as a wilderness guide. I’m very comfortable in that environment. I prefer to hunt alone. That said, I have had to adjust my thinking based on my current abilities. Fortunately, I live in an area where I stand a good chance bugging in and am surrounded by terrain and tree cover which would allow me to disappear easily and in which I have cached limited supplies. Water sources are abundant both on and surrounding my property. My children are all adults and have been well-schooled in all survival skills and, although they no longer live on the farm, they do plan to join me here if possible when SHTF. If that isn’t possible, I’m confident in their ability to survive without me.
Most of us have a feeling lately that things are speeding up toward an unpleasant scenario. What exactly that will be is up for debate, as is precisely when. So, we prep and pray and hope for some advance warning. What we shouldn’t do is maintain a prolonged stress level. That will only weaken us physically and mentally. Take some time to enjoy what we still have while we have it. Have a laugh, play a little, and don’t let every conversation center on prepping or gloom. Remember, luck has as much to do with our survival as being prepared.
I take offense to the “bad Britney Spears video” jab – she might look a bit ditzy and dumb, but in all actuality she is a brilliant business woman worth north of 100M and making 33M with her current gig at Hard Rock in Vegas. When Todd Savage has a financial net worth more than Ms Brit, then he can throw daggers. Other than that, decent article.
islam is the enemy of the world
Greetings everyone!
I’m new to the site but have been prepping for a few years. The knowledge base here is great resource and you guys and gals sound well informed. My question is about Alaska. Has anyone investigated it as an option for relocation? Has moved or have plans to move up there? I’ve been studying AK and other options for several years, but it is a huge task and takes time.
I currently live in Texas and hate hot weather. But more to the point: long term sustainability does not look promising for my area so I’m looking elsewhere. Plans are to locate a starting point and vamoose by the spring of next year if not sooner. b
Thanks for the feedback!
Give me a call, we can chat about the viability of Alaska. See my contact info at http://www.survivalretreatconsulting.com thanks, todd
I fully appriciate the need to be prpared for any situation. But looking at all the sophisticated equipment I am reminded of the simple parabal Jesus spoke concerning the man who thought it wise to build bigger storage barns.
He was a prepper of sorts, he carefully considered his future. However great his preparations were, he never once considered the fact that he would meet God someday.
Prep is good, but it is God who decides the outcome in any matter. Consider carefully not only how you choose to survive in this world but where that choice is taking you.
Let me be clear. How you choose to deal with people in the coming crisis will be directly proportional to the grace God will return to you.
Jesus spoke plainly. Those who seek to save their lives will lose it and those who lose their lives for his names sake will gain it. Jesus was not talking about a crusade. He was talking directly to this generation. Those who take up the sword must be killed with it.
I know that guns and the second ammendment have a great deal to do with prepping. But I have news for you, they have nothing to do with Jesus.
A true prepper has his spiritual house in order. They repent of their sins. They fulfil the law by loving others more than themselves. They pray for and forgive those who wrong them.
Friends, ( those who have ears to hear) the gate to heaven is narrow, so narrow infact that it is difficult to find. It is important in this late hour to ask ourselves what are we prepping for?
Jesus said perilous times would come, nations in distress with perplexity! Jesus is our preparation and our sanctuary. All the preparations in the world will not prolong your life a single day if you are not ready to lay down your life peacefully.
And even if you do prolong your life by a day, what will it mean when you will still have to stand before God and give an account for your actions that lead you there?
Defense with guns, taking anothers life is a heavy heavy burden to bear. Rationalize it all you want as self defence, a murderer cannot fit through that narrow gate. The only thing you can carry on your back through that gate is your cross, not a gun.
Thank you for reading this. Please consider your next move carefully.