MANITOBA PREPPERS NETWORK

For Women: Other Weapons

2011-10-16T10:28:00.000-07:00

Last post we covered some of the issues facing women in regards to firearms. Today I’d like to talk about some non-gunpowder weapons for women, but require some consideration in use.

The most important of these is the bow. Whether simple, re-curve, compound or even crossbow, it is important to ensure that they are appropriate for the woman using them. The first thing to consider is draw weight. It is important to make sure that the bow can be drawn comfortably and consistently, and that getting the bow to full draw not require a heroic effort, although the highest comfortable draw weight is to be aimed for the purpose of getting the best range from the bow.

The trade off to a lower draw weight is less overall power, but this is not as important as it seems at first glance. While bullets kill largely by the amount of kinetic energy they transfer to the target, arrows are different. An arrow usually kills by causing blood loss from the action of the razor sharp broad head mounted on the arrows. As the target moves, it causes more damage with every shift of position. Thus the absolute power of the bow is not as important, as long as the energy is sufficient for penetration into the body cavity.

Due to their generally shorter stature, it is also important for the bow to be sized so that it is not too long and unwieldy for women. This can be difficult with conventional bows, but easier to achieve with compounds. Despite my dislike for the more complicated compound, it may be the best choice in terms of draw weight and fit for women.

There is also the crossbow to consider. Here we get the same draw weight regardless of user, although there are other issues. For example, the same concerns for rifles apply here, where the stock must be fitted to the user. Recoil is not an issue, but cocking the bow might be of some concern. However, where a woman might not have sufficient upper body strength to cock the bow solely by hand, there are devices that can help, from the simple waist hook to mechanical cranks.

Another weapon that may require some thought is the knife, specifically the size of the weapon’s grip. Women in general have far smaller hands than men, and it is important that the handle of any knife be proportioned properly so that a proper grip can be established and maintained. This is more of an issue than ever, as more and more the larger knives are becoming the popular choice for survivalists, and few makers take into account that the hand holding it may be a female hand.

There are other weapons to be considered, such as throwing sticks, spears, atlatls, and slings. While any of them are usable by women, I feel the best choice for women in this group of weapons is the sling, where the power of the weapon is derived from conversion of centripetal force, and not just on raw muscle power; and is a surprisingly effective weapon in skilled hands for hunting small game. As well, modern slingshots are easily used by anyone and are also effective.

Most importantly, regardless of what weapons women choose it is important that time is made to practice. In some cases, such as bows, there may be a necessity for a woman to build upper body strength for maximum effectiveness. Really, there is no earthly reason that women in a survival situation be any less armed or dangerous than their male counterparts

For Women: Firearms

2011-09-18T20:25:00.001-07:00

It’s an appealing movie image: a beautiful but determined woman blazing away with any number of weapons, mowing down foes unflinchingly, firing shotguns freehanded, making impossible shots with .45 s held at impractical angles.

The reality is somewhat different. Very few men can handle weapons the way they do in the movies, and women, due to their lighter frames, shorter stature and smaller hands, are at even more of a disadvantage. Unfortunately, few survival writers take this into account, preferring to pontificate on the ‘best’ weapons and calibers regardless as to their suitability for use by females.

There are a number of things women can do to ensure they are armed with effective weapons that they can handle comfortably. We’ll start with firearms, since that is probably the most ‘macho’ of weapons, and where women have been most poorly served.

First, ignore the bleating of the gun aficionados that argue for a particular caliber or make of weapon. The proper firearm, for men as well as women is the one you can handle comfortably and can use effectively. For women, this comes down to two main issues: recoil and size of weapon. First, firearms such as rifles and shotguns tend to have stocks sized with a particular proportion between butt and fore grip. For some women of shorter stature, this makes for an awkward hold that will affect accuracy and lead to excessive fatigue.

If custom stocks are not an option, you may need to look for weapons particularly sized for women or perhaps the youth market. As well, look at moving down in caliber if necessary. I’d rather have a woman making comfortable, aimed and effective shots with a Ruger 10/22 than doing spray and spray with a heavier weapon unsuited to her.

And that brings us to recoil. If the weapon is of sufficient caliber, it will literally shift a small shooter backwards. I have seen this on a particularly small girl at a range. After every three or four rounds shooting prone, she had to squirm back to her original firing position. She was game, but the weapon she had was obviously far too heavy for her, and she wound up with some spectacular bruises to show for it. Given a long enough time, the bruising recoil will eventually make a shooter shy of the weapon, making effective aim very problematic.

Finally a word about weapon caliber. While you want the most effective round you can get, remember that a light round that hits the target is far more preferable than a clean miss. In fact, in some circumstances, a smaller round may be more devastating. In the recent shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in the United States, it is thought that had she been shot with a less penetrating round, the bullet would have caused more damage internally rather than exiting.

In conclusion, the rifle or shotgun for women is one which is comfortable to hold and to shoot, which they can use with accuracy, preferably with a largish magazine capacity. Everything else is at best secondary.

Handguns are also a problem for some women. Grips tend to be sized for male hands, and again, much BS floats about with regards to caliber and make. The same advice applies: use heaviest comfortable caliber (or even one less), good magazine capacity, comfortable to hold. As I said before, caliber doesn’t really matter. I’ve seen a variety of handguns carried by women, including a seven shot .22 caliber automatic called the Escort. Known as a ‘purse’ gun or ‘belly’ gun, the barrel is so short that it is wildly inaccurate beyond a few feet (hence the ‘belly gun’ appellation: you stick it in the opponents belly and pull the trigger.) It is far from ideal, but I’d rather see that carried than nothing at all. At least if the lady carrying it manages to get several rounds into an attacker, it will likely do the job.

Again, custom models, smaller calibers and so on are all options in handguns as well. As well as sizing the gun to the user, it is important that there is enough training undertaken to make the woman confident and capable in whatever weapon she is carrying.

All in all, there is no reason why women should not be as effectively armed as the men in your group. Anything less is putting your life and theirs at risk.

Vehicular Everyday Carry

2011-08-30T21:49:00.000-07:00

Bug out bags that are permanently stowed in vehicles are a fine thing. I personally do not stow a large kit in my vehicle on a day to day basis. I do most of my travelling in the confines of a very limited area, and live within a mile and a half of my work. I feel that for me, a bug out bag that rides in the vehicle is unnecessary, although I do tend to load up the vehicle for the occasional longer trip.

That doesn’t mean that it isn’t a good idea for you, but each circumstance is unique. I also feel that I practice vehicular every day carry, which I feel is a good middle ground in my circumstance. Again, I cannot emphasis too strongly that my risks are not yours, and everyone needs to develop plans and techniques suitable for their situation.

So, just what is in my vehicular EDC? There is of course the usual spare tire, tire tool and jack, all of which are regularly checked and maintained. I do not keep spare gas, oil or other fluids in the vehicle unless I am travelling outside of my usual very limited area. There is always a collapsible shovel for getting unstuck, and an extension cord for plugging in during the Canadian winters. That is about the extent of usual directly vehicle related items.

Additionally, I have a First Aid kit on board, one that is considerably more extensive than the cheap kits usually sold for cars, but still compact enough that it stores out of the way. It contains a variety of OTC meds as well as a day’s worth of our prescription medications.

Another item always in my vehicle is bug repellent. It seems to be the one item I always forget when I want it, so I make a point of having it in the car at all times. Saves me a lot of itching and scratching.

Of course, summer and bugs eventually give way to winter here in Canada, so there are other items always on board, the most important of which is a warm wool blanket. One simple layer might mean the difference between life in death if you’re stuck in your vehicle. Emergency food is also carried. Generally, I have roughly 2000 calories in the form of long storage type energy bars, and which are replaced annually. In winter I add a few small containers of peanut butter for the concentrated extra calories.

I also carry a shake type LED flashlight. I favour this over a battery type for the reason that there are no batteries to check, and performance seems to be unaffected by cold, unlike batteries. Changing a tire in the dark is likely the most frustrating experience I’ve ever had, and I plan on never having to do so again.

A roll of toilet paper is carried for ’emergencies’, as well as a few rags for general cleanup. There is generally a selection of rugged cloth grocery bags in the car which might be handy if I need to abandon the vehicle but take as much stuff as possible with me.

I don’t carry a lot of tools in my vehicle, but one that is always in the glove box is a pair of pliers, as it seems to be the single most necessary tool I need in almost any variety of circumstances. I recently added a multi-tool as well, giving me a second gripping tool and a variety of other small tools. I’m of the opinion that carrying a big selection of tools is largely useless with modern vehicles, unless you have the diagnostic devices and spares to fix it as well, and that is a whole other level of preparedness.

There is a generally a pad of paper and a few pens or pencils as well, and usually a dispenser of small plastic garbage bags that might serve any number of purposes, from water carriers to footwear, and who knows what else.

Finally, I keep some supplies for my dog in there, consisting of a plastic container of dog food with plastic bowls that fit over each end, as well as a webbing leash. Most of the time, there is a two liter bottle of water in the car for the dog, but of course it is drinkable by me as well.

All of this stuff is stored neatly and out of the way, and is practically unnoticeable unless you are looking for it. I feel this is just normal stuff that every Canadian should carry or is likely to carry in their vehicle. Sadly, not many Canadians do carry as much as do I, even though I feel what I’ve got in my car is very little in the bigger scheme of things, and far from a full fledged bug out bag.
So what’s the content of your vehicular EDC?

For Women: Fitness

2011-08-17T22:13:00.000-07:00

While many survival writers emphasis fitness, it somehow seems that all they write about are men and fitness, never women and fitness. Generally, in articles written for women, fitness seems to be more about having firmer thighs or a shapelier butt rather than building strength or endurance. In reality, women interested in survivalism and being physically prepared need to take specific steps in order to get ready for the demands of a crisis.

A very important aspect for women is upper body strength. This is a must have in the area of self defense, in my opinion. If a woman lacks the strength to land an effective blow, her ability to defend herself is limited. Additionally, the ability to escape and evade, or simply to travel distances with a loaded pack can be limited by a lack of upper body strength.

The easiest way for women to increase strength is to either use resistance machines or by weight training. Since women do not produce the amount of testosterone necessary for the type of hypertrophy seen in male body builders, the chance that they will wind up with a body like Arnold is highly unlikely, unless they take steroids ( a stupid thing for anyone to do) or are exercising to the extreme. They will see some increase in muscle size, but think of a result like Jillian Michaels rather than Arnold Schwarzenegger. Overall, an increase of up to 40% in strength is absolutely possible for women.

In my opinion, in addition to overall strength for self defense, a woman should also aim for a minimum upper body strength that will make it possible for her to do a few chin-ups or pull-ups, or be able to climb a rope if necessary.

Endurance training is another area that women should look at. In our modern society, we drive everywhere, and few people are used to walking any sort of distance. The survival minded woman should be able to walk fairly long distances, and preferably over uneven terrain with a loaded pack. Walking paths and sidewalks in the urban environment are a fine start, but do not resemble the difficult terrain that would likely need to be travelled during a bug out or escape and evasion. Train with a full pack wherever possible to build strength and to get used to the weight and balance of the pack.

There are other areas women should train towards. Speed is important, both in evasion and combat. Flexibility is also important, and often an area men neglect, giving a woman a possible advantage. There are of course lots of side benefits to better fitness: feeling better, looking better, and increased confidence.

Women should incorporate martial arts training into their fitness program as well. There are lots of martial arts styles, and each will have its particular demands that the body needs to be trained for. Additionally, sports such as parkour and obstacle running impart skills that while ensuring the highest level of fitness, will also impart skills that may one day be live savers.

Fitness, and survival fitness in particular are areas women should not shy away from. There is little to be lost except perhaps that muffin top, and much to be gained by training hard to become as strong, fast and quick as possible. Maybe even your life.

For Women: Self Defense

2011-08-07T15:36:00.000-07:00

It’s a common scenario in most movies. The female lead, whether tough as nails cop or helpless homemaker, is at the mercy of the physically bigger and stronger male villain. Usually, she is saved from beating, rape, or death only by the intervention of the hero, generally an equally strong male who will defeat the bad guy in a no holds barred physical confrontation. Nice in theory, but art unfortunately does not imitate life, and in reality it is likely up to the woman to save herself.

Ideally, the lady in question will be armed to the teeth. Again, the reality may be that she is not and must defend herself as best she can without weapons, or only with what comes to hand. Given the disparity of size and strength between male and female, the odds are heavily against the female winning such a contest.

While there is no guarantee, women can shift the odds in their favour. One way is by becoming fitter and stronger, about which more in an upcoming post. Another way to even the odds somewhat is by taking training in martial arts.

There are several benefits to doing this. Strength, speed, and flexibility can all be improved while training in the martial arts, although usually not enough in my opinion. I still think women must go to extra lengths to obtain the strength necessary to fight effectively.

Another benefit is to ‘untrain’ them. Whether you believe it is in a woman’s nature to be less aggressive, or it is the role society trains them to assume, it is a truism that women tend to be less forceful and less likely to react physically to threats. Martial arts training will help with that.

Finally, martial arts techniques will give a woman the training and techniques that will make fighting for her life a viable option rather than a hopeless gesture.

So, what sort of training is appropriate? First, although the sort of ‘rape-proofing’ self defense class that is usually offered to women might be an okay starting point, it should not be considered anything more than a warm up to more effective training. The unfortunate thing about many of these classes is that there is an assumption that escape or assistance is eventually available. Nor do these sort of classes advocate deadly force.

There are a lot of classic martial arts, but some will not transfer well to either life or death combat, or to the size and strength of women. Some ‘harder’ styles of Karate for example, will not work well for a woman facing an aggressive male. Other styles can take excessive time to master, have arguable effectiveness, or are perhaps too ‘sportified’ (e.g. judo) to be useful. However, rather than create a tedious list of what not too take, I’ll get right to the point.

I believe the overall best martial art for women is Krav Maga, the unarmed combat system used by the Israeli armed forces. It has emphasis on continuous motion, aggressiveness and speed. It also teaches techniques for dealing with attackers with weapons, and places some emphasis on improvised weapons. I believe the importance it places on violent action to end a confrontation as soon as possible is of most benefit to women, both psychologically and physically.

Jeet Kune Do would be a close second choice, due to its emphasis on speed and effectiveness over technique. Unfortunately, both it and Krav Maga are eclectic styles and not widely available everywhere.

In fact, a woman looking for martial arts training may have very limited options. In choosing something to learn (since almost any martial art has at least some utility), try to find one that involves full contact. Again, women are trained not to be physical, and practice in hitting and being hit will at least benefit the mental preparedness side of things.

Regardless of the martial art, look for the techniques that have application in real life combat. Even a sport like judo will teach at least one or two throws and chokes that may be useful. It is the same in any other style. Avoid the complicated, look for the simple and effective. Even boxing has something to offer, if only to teach speed and precision in punching.

Women should (at least in my opinion) try to avoid styles that have a heavy emphasis on grappling and groundwork, two areas that they will likely be at a disadvantage. Weapon heavy styles are also to be avoided, as the likelihood of you having your weapon of choice at hand when you need it most is not high. But if grappling or weapons styles are all that you can find, take them. Any training is better than none at all.

Even with the best training in the world, there is no guarantee that a woman trained in a martial art can defeat any attacker. You can be guaranteed that with training, her chances are orders of magnitude greater.

For Women: Backpacks

2011-08-01T22:27:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned elsewhere, there is a tremendous lack of writing in the preparedness and survival field for women. The first area I’d like to discuss is packs specifically for women. Backpacks seem to form the basis of everybody’s B.O.B., but no-one looks at what might be necessary for the woman or women in your group to carry loads safely and effectively. By safety I mean without injury, and by effectiveness, I mean the ability to carry a meaningful load over distance without undue fatigue or effort.

There are a number of physical characteristics that need to be taken into account when choosing backpacks for females. Women tend to have shorter torsos, curvier hips and bust, and tend to be less broad in the shoulders, proportionally, than males.

The first thing to look at is torso length. Women’s shorter torsos can make it nearly impossible to get a good ‘fit’ on a pack that is too long, even on a highly adjustable model. Better brands of packs come in varying torso lengths, and should be sized to the length of your torso, whether male or female. If your local sporting goods store doesn’t know what you’re talking about, find a store that does, and that can help fit you.

The second issue in getting an effective woman’s pack is in the hips. Generally speaking, a woman’s hips are bell shaped, as opposed to the more cylindrical hip structure in men. A good woman’s backpack will have conforming hip-belts that allow most of the load to ride on the hips comfortably. Look for a pack that rides relatively low on the hip bones, where women are most able to bear the weight. It is hard to over-emphasis the importance of this area of fit. A heavy pack with a standard belt can leave startling bruises on the hips, as well as making the wearer too sore to continue.

Also, a proper woman’s pack will be contoured anatomically to give the best fit over the chest, making breathing easier as well.

Finally, women are narrower through the shoulders than men, and a woman trying to use a pack designed for a male will often find the shoulder straps too far apart for proper fit and load bearing. Again, a well made woman’s backpack will have shoulder straps set closer together.

Another factor to consider is internal vs. external frame backpacks. Since women tend to sway at the hips more when they walk, the overall stability of the pack on the wearer is an issue. Generally an internal frame pack tends to hug the body more, giving better balance and stability in rough terrain.

When choosing a pack, go for one that has a good amount of adjustability in both harness and in keeping your load stable, especially with packs that are not crammed full. For lighter applications, a lumbar or large fanny pack might be a good choice, as it too keeps the weight low on the hips and close to the body.

There are a variety of sizes and brands available. Gregory makes a women’s expedition pack with an 80 to 90 liter capacity (see picture above), and there are a number of multi-day packs in the 60 to 70 liter range from both Arc’teryx and Gregory. There are also a number of companies making daypacks in the 15 to 35 liter range as well as packs in 35 to 55 liter capacities specifically for women.

We all hope it will never come to it, but one day the ability to carry enough supplies and equipment to sustain you may be the difference between life and death. Having load bearing equipment that is suitable for a woman to do so might be the difference between her life and death.

Review: Dual Survival Season 2

2011-07-24T20:28:00.000-07:00

The bloom is off of the rose. Season 2 of Dual Survival has run its course, and I have to say, while I sort of liked the first season for various reasons, the second leaves me wondering if I can somehow get the time back I have spent watching it.

The disillusionment started right off of the bat in the first episode. For some reason, they decided it was a good idea to demonstrate how to cauterize a wound using black powder. So Dave Canterbury slashed his own arm, and Cody Lundin dumped on the powder and lit it off. It did cauterize the wound, although I wonder if the procedure caused more additional trauma from burning than it was worth.

Furthermore, the slash was not of a severity that couldn’t be treated with direct pressure and an improvised wound dressing. Not that I am advocating Canterbury maim himself for television, but I am concerned that they may leave the impression that cauterization is the treatment of choice for a wound of such limited severity. On top of which, it ticks me off that in none of their scenarios (in which they play the part of the typical persons) does anyone ever carry a first aid kit. Wouldn’t it be nice to have some CELOX coagulant in a first aid kit? On the off chance you don’t happen to be a black powder hunter with powder horn at the ready?

Overall, the series continues the well-worn format of hypothetical situations used by almost every survival show out there. The pair proceeds through a variety of situations, but there is little of novelty or interest in them. What originally promised to be differing viewpoints of how to tackle a survival problem seems to have degenerated by the last episode of the season to two cranky old men bickering. The differences that arise seem to have little to do with their varying styles and more to do with the personalities involved.

Canterbury is very much the push-on, hard charger type of personality whereas Lundin is innately cautious. I believe that over two seasons, the difference in personalities is causing friction, and indeed, some of the talk-to-camera asides are far less respectful and civil than in the first season.

The difference in style is wearing to the viewer as well. Watching Canterbury make a high risk descent down a steep valley had me half cringing and half hoping he would fall a punishment for his bull-headedness. Frankly, I can do with a little less testosterone and a little more common sense and information.

Lundin’s insistence on bare feet and shorts is becoming similarly annoying. He might get away with this behavior in his home turf in the American southwest, but it strikes the viewer as pig-headed stupidity as he gets his legs and feet damaged in multiple shows in varying terrains. If bare footedness was such an advantage, shoes would not have been invented over 5,000 years ago.

There isn’t a lot of new information in the second season. Follow rivers downstream to find civilization, stay dry, and stay hydrated and so on. Lots of the basics any show of this type has presented, and very few new concepts or ideas.

While I felt the show was, overall, worth watching in the first season, I can’t make the same recommendation for the second season. I really feel that if you took the twelve hours watching this show a would take and instead spent twelve hours practicing any survival skill at all, or even spent it organizing your preps, it would be time far better utilized.

Unfortunately, the show seems to have been renewed for a third season, so I’ll be watching at least twelve more hours of it.

Review: World Made By Hand

2011-07-10T21:29:00.000-07:00

James Howard Kunstler’s World Made by Hand has been around a couple of years now, but I’ve just read it, and frankly, I’m underwhelmed. I previously read his non-fiction work The Long Emergency, and was quite impressed by that, and had high hopes for his novel. Alas, disappointment ensues.

The book takes place after a collapse of society precipitated by the confluence of peak oil, financial collapse and climate change. The resulting society is functioning at an 1800s, largely agrarian level of society, and where it is not, it is scavenging old technology and materials. The viewpoint character is the local carpenter and handyman, formerly in the computer and software business prior to the collapse.

The story is fairly slow to develop, and the pace of the book is almost languid in places. While the prose is well written, I found the plotting to be slow enough that I had to force myself not to skip ahead. The ‘exciting’ parts of the book are barely that, in my opinion, and the novel is unlikely to keep you on the edge of your seat.

The main problem I have with the book is that it almost completely glosses over how the characters in the book evolved the current society, and doesn’t really show anything of the devolution and collapse that preceded it. If you’re looking for a book from which you can draw a lot of lessons in survival, this isn’t it.

As entertainment, it is okay, a decent enough read, as far as it goes. I would recommend borrowing it from your local library rather than laying out hard earned cash.

I just looked at how short the review of this book is, and maybe that’s the telling point: There just isn’t much to say about this book, good or bad. It just misses the mark completely, and falls somewhere in the middle.

Review: Doomsday Preppers

2011-07-03T06:38:00.000-07:00

Doomsday Preppers is a show that recently aired on the National Geographic Channel. It examines the preparations of four families for disaster, and assesses their readiness. Whether it is any use as a ‘how-to’ guide is highly debatable, although some excellent and even ingenious ideas are shown.

The first family shown is a suburban couple in Phoenix, Arizona. The husband (pictured above) is certain that there is going to be a coronal mass ejection in 2012 0r 2013, and is preparing for that. Unfortunately, he comes off as a bit of the stereotypical obsessed prepper, and has a tendency to throw around the usual catchphrases like ‘grid down situation’.

Their focus is self sufficiency in food, and he has converted a backyard swimming pool into a greenhouse/ aquaculture facility, and is raising everything from fish to chickens and goats at his suburban home. His setup is kind of interesting, although it is never explained where he plans to get his water if the grid goes down. The main problem I see with his situation is that his operational security is pathetic, and while he might have a plan for defending himself, his wife and their two small children, it is never shown.

The second family is that of a family also in Phoenix, and the emphasis is surviving economic collapse/hyperinflation. The family shown is pretty reasonable in their preparations, although again the operational security is pretty funny. They are shown getting a pallet of food delivered at night to preserve the anonymity of their food stores, from prying eyes, although I believe a semi offloading pallets in the middle of the night is going to be a bit noticeable no matter what. On the plus side, the family is armed, and practices with the weapons, even the kids, and they also seem to make an effort to acquire other skills.

The third group is a group of up to four families preparing for the collapse of society, although only two are shown. They live the retreater’s life on about 50 or 60 acres of woodland and pasture. They store food, power at least one vehicle by gasifying wood, and seem well prepared defensively. Again, the main problem seems to be their high profile in the area and questionable security. One of the men of the group is ex-military and seems to me at least a little overconfident in their ability to keep themselves safe.

The last family depicted is preparing for a nuclear war. They have built and stocked a fairly elaborate underground shelter and seem well prepared for immediate survival. The fault I find is that while the shelter seems well thought out, he seems to have no infrastructure or plans for the long term. There appears to be nothing but the shelter where he is, and he doesn’t elaborate on any plans for after he and his family leave the shelter.

On the whole, the program is an interesting glimpse at part of the prepper/survivalist movement, although some of the people come off as a little strange, especially the first family. This program really won’t do anything to enhance the image of preppers, and might actually reinforce some stereotypes.

It’s worth a watch for the few interesting ideas presented, such as the use of the empty swimming pool, but if you don’t get to see this, it won’t hurt your chances of surviving any.

Essential Tools: Around the Retreat

2011-06-28T10:07:00.001-07:00

Today we’re going to look at what a basic end of the world toolkit looks like. This is by no means an absolute list, but rather a starter kit you should have at your home or retreat. You can add to it as money and skill allows. None of these tools are particularly expensive, and most could even be picked up at yard sales if you are careful about checking for wear and quality. If you can afford the cost and storage for multiple tools, double up (or more) whenever possible. Tools do get lost or break sometimes, and they are nifty barter items.

Hammers – There are a lot of specialized hammers, but you need a minimum of two types: a claw hammer for hitting nails, and a ball peen hammer used for striking metal.

Saws – Handsaws are cheap and easy to use. For the long term, think about learning to sharpen them by hand.

Hacksaw – buy plenty of blades, they wear out. For cutting metal objects such as pipes.

Screwdrivers – A complete range of slotted, Phillips and Robertson screwdrivers would be the minimum for me. There are other specialist types such as Torx, but if you’ve got the big three, you’ll be okay in most situations.

Allen wrenches – Also known as hex keys, these are used for the recessed hexagonal headed screws/bolts seen in many applications. A good quality set with a range of sizes.

Measuring tape – at least one of 25’ or so. If you can afford a large reel tape of the sort you see surveyors use, that’s nice to have, as well.

Squares – Two types here, roofing or framing square, and a smaller combination square.

Levels – Two again, short one and at least a four footer.

Bit and Brace – what you’ll use after your electric drill doesn’t run. You might need a little practice using it, and make sure you know how to keep the bits sharp. Try to have a nice variety of lengths and sizes of bits.

Hand drill – NOT a bit and brace, but similar in use. Generally a hand cranked, geared drill, you can use it for lighter, tighter, and finer work than the bit and brace.

Socket set – ½ “ size, with a good variety of sizes and some extras like extensions and maybe a breaker bar.

Combination wrenches – A wrench with an open jaw one end and a box end on the other, in a variety of sizes.

Adjustable wrenches – At least two, and more in a variety of sizes if you can afford it. There’s always an off size bolt you’ll need these for.

Pipe wrenches – Always in pairs, and two pairs if affordable in larger and smaller sizes.

Vise grips – There probably isn’t a more abused tool out there, but it is invaluable for many jobs. Multiple sizes and styles if possible.

Pliers – The traditional style to start, then add needle nose and other types as you see fit. There are dozens of types, but have found lineman’s pliers and fencing pliers very useful. Your mileage may vary.

Pump pliers – in two sizes. These are adjustable long handled pliers that come in handy in a variety of situations.

Files – A variety of sizes and types, used for metal work/ sharpening.

Tin snips – For cutting sheet metal.

Cold chisel – Used to cut heavier metal.

Wire stripper – Self explanatory, I would think.

Side cutter pliers – Used to cut wire, you’ll find other uses the manufacturer never intended.

Wood chisels – A moderate range of sizes will keep you going in most circumstances.

Wood plane - a general purpose plane such as a jack plane. Learn how to use it.

Bolt cutter – Also known as a chain cutter, this is a specialized tool, but one I think necessary for certain uses. Buy a large one.

Crow bar – used in demolition mostly, but pretty handy to have around.

Nail puller – You can use the claw on your hammer, but the specialized tool is easier on wrists and hands if you’re salvaging a lot of lumber.

Box cutter and blades – multiple uses.

Stapler – I mean the construction type here. Great for tacking up almost everything. Buy lots of staples.

Clamps- If you have room and money, clamps make building anything easier, especially when you haven’t got someone around to ‘just hold this here’.

Bench vise – and some bolts to mount it. Even if you screw this to a log, you’ll find doing a lot of things easier when they are held securely. It is nearly indispensible when sharpening a variety of tools.

There you go, a list of the basics. You can of course add to it, but when acquiring tools keep in mind the likelihood of needing the tool (You need a six foot long pipe wrench? Really?) and your ability to use the tool.

Some tools come in a variety of weights (hammers, for example) or sizes (saws). Make sure the tools you have are tools you can use safely and without undue fatigue. If you’re not a person handy with tools, start learning now. There are lots of how-to guides out there for almost every task and project imaginable. Start simple and build your skill, confidence and toolkit. It’ll save you money, and maybe even your life someday.

Review: Man, Woman, Wild

2011-06-20T18:32:00.000-07:00

There is yet another survival show out there. I find it interesting in that it takes a step away from the rugged he-man of some shows (Man vs. Wild, for example) or even two men (Dual Survival). This show features a married couple, Mykel and Ruth Hawke. Mykel Hawke is an American, the usual ex-military, ex-special forces type. Ruth Hawke is a television journalist from England, and apparently a survival newbie.

While the show follows the timeworn and familiar format of “we’re stranded in the desert, on an island,” etc. and most of the principles and skills being taught are basic and familiar to anyone that has watched almost any show in this genre, it has some features that intrigue me.

For a start, there is a female involved. Almost all of these shows involve beefy males showing you why they are manly by eating bugs and why you’re a wuss for puking at the thought. Her reactions to some of the situations have a distinct feminine viewpoint that is somewhat refreshing and interesting. Seeing that half the world is female, there is a good chance you might end up trying to survive with one of the fair sex, and it is worthwhile to see how at least one of them copes.

Additionally, we are seeing how a married couple interacts. Not everything is nose rubs and cuddles, and again, the psychology of a male/female pairing working together is interesting. While at times the Hawkes are so cute together it makes you want to puke, you do get a bit of a look at their marriage dynamic works in a survival situation, good and bad.

Another interesting thing is that unlike many of the survival shows out there, at least one of the presenters is new to survival. Ruth Hawke is presented as someone wanting to learn the skills, and that works on two levels. One is that often things need to be explained at a very basic level to her since her level of knowledge is so low, and thus we get the actual basics without a subtext of assumed knowledge.

Another thing that is refreshing is her reaction to some of the skills she learns (She takes a childlike delight in boiling water with hot rocks), and her disgust at some of things she has to do to survive.

The show also has going for it the fact that unlike some shows,the Hawkes fail. In the initial season, at least one of their ‘missions’ results in failure when they cannot achieve their goals and Mykel Hawke considers them dead, had it been a real situation. In at least one other episode, one of them would likely have died, had there not been a crew on hand to intervene in a medical emergency.

All in all, it is a somewhat different take on the usual hair- chested approach to survival. While it has its faults, it is worth watching for the male/female dynamic and female viewpoint alone.

Next week it's back to our tool series.

Essential Tools: Chopping List

2011-06-14T05:57:00.000-07:00

Many people seem to think that in the event of a major collapse, they will repair to the woods and homestead. They will throw up a sturdy cabin and live happily ever after. The hole in their plans is what they plan to do this with. If you’ve ever watched any of the survival shows on television, you will note that the presenter/expert seems to be able to whittle anything, up to and including a grand piano using only the whopping big knife that he carries. The rest of us less talented mortals may need a little more in the way of tools.

So what exactly do you need in the way of tools in the woods? What follows is a by no means comprehensive list, but if you have these cached at your retreat, you’ll be in good shape to work the resources around you into everything from a primitive shelter to a snug little cabin. Note that the tools can’t do it by themselves. As always, you’ll need to acquire the knowledge of how to use the tools and the construction techniques involved in creating shelter, furniture and tools out of wood.

Axes – You’ll notice I used the plural. Ideally, you will have a selection of axes, starting with the felling axe, preferably in a variety of sizes. You’ll want at least one full sized one as well as smaller handled lighter weight ones for tighter work. You’ll also want a splitting axe, which has a more wedge shaped head, for firewood. If you are going to be shaping timbers, a broad axe with its single beveled edge would be useful.

Adze - This tool has a narrow, hoe-like blade set perpendicular to the handle. It is used for rough smoothing and shaping of timbers. In skilled hands, it is one of the most versatile shaping tools out there.

Bow Saw - Also known as a Buck Saw or Swede Saw. An excellent tool to section up logs for construction or for the firewood pile. Spare blades are a must.

Frow (Froe) - A nifty little tool used to split planks from larger timbers. It is an L-shaped tool with a long blade perpendicular to a handle. The blade is driven into the end of your log, and then the handle is twisted to split the log.

Hatchet - It has its uses, but don’t obsess if you don’t have one. You can usually do the same job for less effort with a small axe.

Hand Saws - Nice to have, and will make for nicer finished work, but not absolutely essential.

Draw Knife - Again, not critical, but nice to have a few on hand of various sizes. Makes short work of de-barking trees, as well as other shaping tasks.

Rasp - Nice to have, but again not crucial. It is used to shape objects to a ‘rough finish’ stage.

Two Man Saw - a long crosscut saw with handles on both ends. Used for felling larger trees, as well as in the production of boards, usually with a sawpit.

The last ‘rough’ woodworking tool I recommend that you cache is a brace with plenty of bits, especially long bits. A lot of construction in human history has been done without screws or nails, by way of joining pieces with wooden pegs. If you can create the holes for them, you can use pegs to fasten together almost anything.

You might want to add a few tools more suited to clearing brush, such as a machete or even the traditional billhook. With those, you are equipped to deal with most of what you’ll find in the woods.

Finally, make sure you have plenty of files and whetstones of the proper type for maintenance. All of the tools above are useless to you if they are dull, if not downright dangerous. It takes far more effort to use a dull tool than a sharp one, and the more effort you’re expending, the less control you have of the tool. There are plenty of books and videos around to show you the basics of sharpening your tools.

Make sure that you get practiced at this. Make yourself a little log hut in the woods, or start chopping firewood, or even make a little rustic furniture. All skills you might someday need. And did I mention that it is both fun and good exercise as well?

Essential tools: Garden

2011-06-07T21:13:00.000-07:00

Welcome to another mini-series. This one is about basic tools.

Have you ever noticed how many survival gurus tell you to be prepared to grow your own food? Mostly they tell you to do so, mutter something about heirloom seeds, and then proceed straight to the discussion of what main battle rifle would be best to have to protect your garden. Very rarely will they recommend what to plant or what you need in the way of tools to cultivate your garden.

This isn’t an article about what to grow. This is a discussion of the tools I think are useful in to a survival garden. You don’t need all of them all of the time, but these are the ones I believe would be most useful to someone trying to grow enough food to stay alive. So let’s begin:

The Cutter Mattock – this consists of an adze with an axe blade mounted opposite to it. It is used for digging and chopping, and would be my first choice if I needed to break ground for a garden. You can break up and move the densest soils with this, and the axe component of the head will make short work of roots.

Garden Fork - a four tined fork used for lifting and turning over the soil. I believe this is likely the most basic and most necessary of the gardener’s tools. It is easier to get into the soil than a shovel, and the tines can be used to rake out weeds and stones.

Rake – the heavy duty variety, not a leaf rake. You’re going to use this to smooth out your soil once it is dug, leaving a nice level seed bed that is free of clods and rocks.

Hoe – One of the most ancient of tools, this is used for creating furrows for planting, hilling plants (i.e. moving soil) and weeding. Another must have in my book.

Dutch hoe – a type of hoe with a sharp, sometimes oscillating cutting blade that cuts off weeds just under the ground. Great for weeding between rows.

Shovel – you’ll want several here. Include a pointed spade for digging in hard ground, a square spade for somewhat easier ground, and a square shovel for moving loose material like sand for a start. If you have the need, you might want to acquire a trenching spade as well.

Axe – at least one general purpose axe.

Sickle – used to harvest grass or grain, it’s worth taking a look at. Handier in tight spots than it’s cousin.

Scythe - The cousin of the sickle, you can harvest far more in the same time, but there are drawbacks. The most important these is that it takes some skill to use one efficiently.

These are the basic tools you’ll need, but there are lots of others out there. All of the tools mentioned are long handled compared to hand tools, and you need to know how to maintain and repair them. The minimum you'll need is a good whetstone and some flat files. If you can afford multiples of each tool, get them. And speaking of hand tools, there are a few that would come in handy:

Garden knife - also known as a soil knife or weed knife, this a large double sided knife used for weeding and digging. Especially useful for working with berry bushes, grape vines and that sort of thing, in my opinion.

Garden trowel - a small shovel like hand tool used to dig with. Very handy when transplanting into a garden or other plant bed.

Seed dibbler – for seeding, obviously

Watering can – No running water? You’ll need a good sized one of these.

Of course, what you get will depend on what you’re growing where you’re growing it, and how you’re growing it. While my preference is for basic tools that I can repair, do not require gas, and don’t require parts, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take advantage of whatever technology you feel comfortable with. If it’s a gas powered cultivator, fine. Or maybe it’s simply a push along precision seeder like the one at the bottom of the page. It's up to you and what you're comfortable with.

Just make sure that you have the tools you need, not just the seed.

Next week we’ll look at a basic tool selection for the woods.

Ouch.

2011-05-30T07:16:00.000-07:00

The next time you are watching television or a movie, start counting the shoulder wounds. If the hero is going to be wounded, he will be shot in the shoulder, and will end the movie with a little square of gauze taped to his shoulder. In reality, unless you are grazed by a bullet tearing up your deltoid muscle, there is no spot in your shoulder that will not suffer major and debilitating damage from a bullet impact. Feel the anatomy of your own shoulder. It is a complex joint, and a projectile is likely to cause permanent loss of use to at least some degree, if not loss of life.

Have you noticed in the survival fiction that hardly anyone ruptures a disc as they scavenge supplies? No one seems to suffer a compound fracture; it’s always a slight injury like a sprain, a flesh wound, or a survivable sniffle. It is never a condition that will disable the hero for a long time or even permanently.

We are conditioned by movies and books to think that many of the wounds and injuries portrayed are neither incapacitating nor fatal. Understandable, as watching an hour of the hero screaming in agony as he dies, or reading a hundred pages about the main character bleeding out makes for poor entertainment.

The reality is different. Major injuries or trauma will quickly become fatal without advanced medical aid. In the picture accompanying this article, the injury is from a boat propeller. Could you help that person? Reconstruct his leg, prevent infection? In fact, the ability of even medical professionals to render help is severely reduced if the usual suite of supplies, assistants and diagnostic tools are not available. With out modern medicine, the man in the picture will be at least crippled to an extent, if he doesn't die. So assuming you are not a medical professional, what does this mean for your preparations?

1. Your medical supplies are not enough. You may think you have a decent stockpile of medical goodies, but you are wrong. If you’ve ever observed a hospital emergency room, you will have noticed that the personnel burn through supplies at an astounding rate. It will take very few casualties to make a huge dent in what you think is an adequate amount of gear. Medications will go quickly as well. Who would deny pain killers to a friend or loved one, regardless of prognosis?

2. Your training is not enough. Unless you are a trained ER physician, it’s unlikely that you will have the skill and knowledge necessary to treat major trauma, even if there is a fully equipped ER at your disposal. Even most GPs will lack the knowledge that is needed to successfully treat major injuries, or even the surgical skill necessary to repair something like the ruptured disc mentioned above.

What’s the solution? In my opinion, there just isn’t one. In the event of a major collapse or extended crisis, people will die from injuries that are survivable when treated by competent doctors in a modern medical facility. We will all need to retreat from the idea that everyone can be saved by heroic measures and realize that certain injuries will sooner or later mean death to the person injured. That doesn’t mean there aren’t things you can and should do.

While your training will likely never be up to ER physician standards, DO get all the training you can to the highest level that you have the skill, time and money to obtain. Then get as much experience as possible. The greatest fault I see in the medical aspect of prepping is the lack of hands on experience. It is one thing to know to apply direct pressure to a wound, another thing entirely to do it while the blood is seeping through the compress and getting on your hands. You can know how to do CPR on a 20 pound training dummy, but it is something else entirely to do it on an unresponsive person that weighs 200 pounds who pukes on you. Get used to the sights and smells.

2. Equip to your level of training or a bit beyond, but don’t get stupid about it. To take it to the absurd, there is no point having an X-ray machine if you can’t read the X-rays. But it is useful to stock plenty of what you do know how to use, and more than you think you’ll need. Medical stock will make sought after barter goods.

Do equip past your skill level to some extent. While you likely shouldn’t try to have a fully equipped ER, it might be useful to have the tools that a more trained person could use. Additionally, if it comes to amputating a crushed finger or losing the person to infection, you may find yourself pushing the envelope more than you thought you ever would.

This brings me to my final point. The best way to treat a major injury is not to have one. In a crisis, you will be full of adrenaline, trying to get ten things done at once, and taking shortcuts. Counter-intuitive as it may be, take the time to work safely. You will do yourself and your family no good whatsoever if you are too injured to work, fight or flee.

Slow or Fast?

2011-05-23T19:11:00.000-07:00

There are several long-running debates in the prepping world. One of these concerns the best survival firearm. Another is about which vehicle is the ideal bug out transportation. But the one that I want to talk about is the fast vs. slow collapse.

While we talk about be prepped for any circumstance, once you go beyond the 72 or 96 hour bag, the BOB for natural disasters and so on, what are you prepping for? If you’re honest, you are prepping for a collapse of society, or at the very least, an extended period of civil disorder where food, medicine and shelter may be difficult to obtain and keep, a time in which you cannot look to local or national government for aid.

That’s fine. Given the way we’ve messed with nature (climate change) and our own institutions (financial crisis); it is not an unreasonable assumption that we are reaching a limit, some sort of tipping point. It is only sane and reasonable to attempt to safeguard yourself and your loved ones. But when does the SHTF, when is TEOTWAWKI? When does the balloon go up?

And therein is the heart of two opposing viewpoints. One camp would have you believe that collapse is imminent, that you need to move away from fiat currencies into gold silver, beans, bullets, and band-aids. The collapse of world financial system, or peak oil, or a Carrington Event sized CME or other dire event is just around the corner. Time is running out, Chicken Little, the sky is falling!

AT the other end of things are the slow collapse folks. Things will be okay for three, five or ten more years, and even then there will be a slow genteel slide, allowing plenty of time to set up that off grid energy system or to get a few more pails of wheat stocked up stocked up. It’s okay, relax, and don’t panic, lots of time left.

At this point, let me introduce a concept from evolutionary biology called punctuated equilibrium. The concept arise from the fact that in the fossil record, there is little change in species over millions of years, until in a relatively short time, geologically speaking, there is an explosion of evolution, with many species suddenly appearing before things settle down once more.

The explanation for this is that it is hard to disrupt an ecosystem, but once it happens, things occur very quickly and species rapidly evolve to fill the niches created by whatever upset the normal conditions, whatever event disrupted the equilibrium.

There is some evidence that this happens with human societies. There is a normal equilibrium state which is very hard to disrupt. After all, the society that created that state desires that it continue, and will do everything it can to maintain it. That’s why you saw the US government intervene rather than let everything crash in 2008. It’s the reason Europe keeps trying to bail out the weaker economies. They are trying to maintain the status quo.

But if you look at history, you see that no matter what a society does to patch up the ship of state, they eventually have more patches than boat, and more leaks than patches. Sooner or later, the society in crisis will collapse under its own weight or other external political factors. Disorder will abound, populations will be on the move, and life gets orders of magnitude more difficult. Think Libya here.

Sometimes the triggers for a collapse are not social or political, but environmental. A series of droughts, earthquake, or other catastrophic event can pull down a society that seems otherwise healthy. Think Mesa Verde, or perhaps Haiti. It was and is bad enough with massive aid. Think what it would have been like without it.

Once that equilibrium is breached, there will be a nasty period until some sort of equilibrium is regained. New ideas, institutions, and societies will rapidly evolve to replace the old ones. The trick for you is getting from one stable point to another.

Don’t panic, but don’t think you have forever to prepare. Things may very well decline slowly for years, but once we hit a certain point, slow collapse will become fast collapse in a blink of an eye. And once that happens, the time to prepare has ended.

With the Stroke of a Pen...

2011-05-17T20:10:00.001-07:00

In preparedness literature, both in print and on numberless blogs, there are dire warnings of the evils of government. Governments will seize your weapons, seize your goods, herd you into camps, and a dozen other paranoid ramblings about how the government is out to get you.

Frankly, it’s all childish babble. There is no secret plan to get you, it’s just a government, an organization made up of people, who for the most part are no smarter than you, but by election or employment, have certain powers in an emergency to make decisions for and about you. The fact that they do have this power can make a hash of your plans and preparations, but knowing just what they can do makes you a little more able to do what you need to do in an emergency.

The current legislation in Canada that says what may or may not be done is the Emergencies Act. This was enacted in 1988 and replaces the old War Measures Act. There are various types of emergencies delineated under the act, and various powers are given to deal with each type of emergency.

The first of these is the public welfare emergency, which means: “an emergency that is caused by a real or imminent
(a) fire, flood, drought, storm, earthquake or other natural phenomenon,
(b) disease in human beings, animals or plants, or
(c) accident or pollution
and that results or may result in a danger to life or property, social disruption or a breakdown in the flow of essential goods, services or resources, so serious as to be a national emergency.

Pretty reasonable as far as it goes, but this means that during such a crisis, the government may:

make such orders or regulations with respect to the following matters as the Governor in Council believes, on reasonable grounds, are necessary for dealing with the emergency:

(a) the regulation or prohibition of travel to, from or within any specified area, where necessary for the protection of the health or safety of individuals;
(b) the evacuation of persons and the removal of personal property from any specified area and the making of arrangements for the adequate care and protection of the persons and property;
(c) the requisition, use or disposition of property;
(d) the authorization of or direction to any person, or any person of a class of persons, to render essential services of a type that that person, or a person of that class, is competent to provide and the provision of reasonable compensation in respect of services so rendered;
(e) the regulation of the distribution and availability of essential goods, services and resources;(
f) the authorization and making of emergency payments;
(g) the establishment of emergency shelters and hospitals;
(h) the assessment of damage to any works or undertakings and the repair, replacement or restoration thereof;
(i) the assessment of damage to the environment and the elimination or alleviation of the damage; and
(j) the imposition
(i) on summary conviction, of a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars or imprisonment not exceeding six months or both that fine and imprisonment, or
(ii) on indictment, of a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars or imprisonment not exceeding five years or both that fine and imprisonment,
for contravention of any order or regulation made under this section.

I’ve highlighted the most important bits. To put it in prepper terms, the government may; restrict your ability to bug out; may remove you from your retreat; requisition your property or otherwise use it; requisition you; and ration food water or other resources. This type of order has effect for 90 days unless otherwise shortened or extended.

The second type of emergency is a public order emergency, which to me is pretty vague, and I think not well defined by the act. It allows the government the following powers:

(a) the regulation or prohibition of
(i) any public assembly that may reasonably be expected to lead to a breach of the peace,
(ii) travel to, from or within any specified area, or
(iii) the use of specified property;
(b) the designation and securing of protected places;
(c) the assumption of the control, and the restoration and maintenance, of public utilities and services;
(d) the authorization of or direction to any person, or any person of a class of persons, to render essential services of a type that that person, or a person of that class, is competent to provide and the provision of reasonable compensation in respect of services so rendered; and
(e) the imposition
(i) on summary conviction, of a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars or imprisonment not exceeding six months or both that fine and imprisonment, or
(ii) on indictment, of a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars or imprisonment not exceeding five years or both that fine and imprisonment,
for contravention of any order or regulation made under this section.

Again, I’ve highlighted the important bits that I feel might have immediate effect for preppers. This has a 30 day duration unless otherwise mandated.

Next we have the international emergency which means: an emergency involving Canada and one or more other countries that arises from acts of intimidation or coercion or the real or imminent use of serious force or violence and that is so serious as to be a national emergency.

Sadly, in these ‘War on Terror’ days, these conditions might be easily met. It means that the government may engage in the following;

(a) the control or regulation of any specified industry or service, including the use of equipment, facilities and inventory;
(b) the appropriation, control, forfeiture, use and disposition of property or services;
(c) the authorization and conduct of inquiries in relation to defense contracts or defense supplies as defined in the Defence Production Act or to hoarding, overcharging, black marketing or fraudulent operations in respect of scarce commodities, including the conferment of powers under the Inquiries Act on any person authorized to conduct such an inquiry;
(d) the authorization of the entry and search of any dwelling-house, premises, conveyance or place, and the search of any person found therein, for any thing that may be evidence relevant to any matter that is the subject of an inquiry referred to in paragraph (c), and the seizure and detention of any such thing;
(e) the authorization of or direction to any person, or any person of a class of persons, to render essential services of a type that that person, or a person of that class, is competent to provide and the provision of reasonable compensation in respect of services so rendered;
(f) the designation and securing of protected places;
(g) the regulation or prohibition of travel outside Canada by Canadian citizens or permanent residents within the meaning of subsection 2(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and of admission into Canada of other persons;
(h) the removal from Canada of persons, other than
(i) Canadian citizens,
(ii) permanent residents within the meaning of subsection 2(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, and
(iii) protected persons within the meaning of subsection 95(2) of that Act who are not inadmissible under that Act on grounds of
(A) security, violating human or international rights or serious criminality, or
(B) criminality and who have not been convicted of any offence under any Act of Parliament for which a term of imprisonment of more than six months has been imposed, or five years or more may be imposed;
(i) the control or regulation of the international aspects of specified financial activities within Canada;
(j) the authorization of expenditures for dealing with an international emergency in excess of any limit set by an Act of Parliament and the setting of a limit on such expenditures;
(k) the authorization of any minister of the Crown to discharge specified responsibilities respecting the international emergency or to take specified actions of a political, diplomatic or economic nature for dealing with the emergency; and
(l) the imposition
(i) on summary conviction, of a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars or imprisonment not exceeding six months or both that fine and imprisonment, or
(ii) on indictment, of a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars or imprisonment not exceeding five years or both that fine and imprisonment,
for contravention of any order or regulation made under this section.

Again, I’ve highlighted those parts most relevant to preppers. This has the duration of 60 days unless otherwise specified.

While there are provisions to prevent the abuse of these powers, these do you no good at the moment you are having your car or food requisitioned, or if you are forced to work to provide an essential service. After the fact compensation will not help you survive the here and now.

Be aware of what can and cannot be done may help you. It may not. But knowledge is power, and having the knowledge of what the government’s powers are just might shift some of that power back into your hands.

Apartment Survival: People

2011-05-08T08:07:00.000-07:00

As important as food, water, shelter, and security are, I’ve been discussing them largely in the absence of what is likely the very most important factor in apartment survival. That factor is the presence of the other people in your apartment complex. Depending on the circumstances, those other people may be a help, hindrance, or outright danger to you. The other people in your complex will determine the longer term viability of bugging in to an apartment.

First, let’s look at some broad classifications of people that you’re going to have at your apartment building. The first type will be those that believe everything will be better tomorrow morning. They will wait for the water and power to be restored, and are sure that the bus service will resume tomorrow so that they can go to the grocery store. They may also be extremely frightened and agitated, and could be dangerous if armed. I would expect this group to have the lowest overall survival rate.

The second type will be the G.O.O.D. type, whether they are preppers or not. As a crisis looms and deepens, they will pack up and head off to find safer, better situations somewhere else. They may or may not take all of their resources, and if you have exposed possessions, they may or may not take some of yours. What is more, they might not stay gone. It is entirely possible that a proportion of them will find nothing better out there and survive long enough to make it back ‘home.’

The third group are the ones that while perhaps not prepped, are proactive and coping as best they can. They will be among the first to start pilfering empty apartments for food, water and resources. They may be jerry-rigging solutions to things like heat and water purification, and they might even be a bit territorial, and perhaps somewhat aggressive in some circumstances. I would expect this group to do better than either of the others.

Finally, there are you and hopefully one or two more people like you. But there are no guarantees of that.
So for you, the first question is to find out who stayed and who left. When you know who is left, you can assess them as to whether they are threats or possible comrades. Remember, threats need not be limited to actions directly against you. It might well be that the neighbours are being a threat because they will not make proper sanitary arrangements, or making too much noise or light which may attract unwelcome attention.

It is imperative that you find like minded people in your building as soon as possible. Everything I’ve discussed can be done more easily by a small to medium sized group than can be done alone. This may require you to make the first overture, and will likely necessitate you taking a leadership role. Depending on the depth of the crisis, you may need to make decisions (or guide your group into making the decisions) for everything from defense and rationing to water and sanitation. This doesn’t give you license to become a feudal baron, but you will find that in a crisis, people will rally behind someone that is willing to step up to make those decisions, as long as the decisions are sound.

A small group working together will greatly increase your chances of survival, and group pressure will likely bring the ‘unwilling’ into line and into your group. The flip side is that a building full of uncooperative individuals makes it almost certain that all will fail. Despite everything you try, you may fail to weld the remaining people in your apartment into a cohesive group.

I see no easy answer to this, short of relocation. If you cannot get everyone in your building on side very quickly, the viability of staying at your apartment is severely diminished. Whether it is an empty building or storefront, an abandoned house, or a multiple unit such as a four-plex from which all have fled, you and whoever is like-minded need to go. You may even be able to find a building that is working together to join, but I believe strangers will have a difficult time getting in to a functioning group unless you possess goods or skills that are needed.

In the final analysis, the determining factor as to whether or not apartment survival is a viable option will come down to who is left in your apartment, and whether a community can be created from a collection of what were likely strangers before the crisis.

It is on this that all of your other efforts rest.

Review: After Armageddon

2011-05-01T21:32:00.000-07:00

After Armageddon is a program produced by the History Channel, and presents a hypothetical end of the world scenario (pandemic), as experienced by one family, with commentary from a wide variety of experts. While it was broadcast some time ago, it is available for download from a variety of sources.

The family in question is portrayed with little or nothing in the way of prior preparations, and possess no exceptional skills, other than that the father is a paramedic. It runs through an escalating series of crises, from the beginning of the pandemic through a ‘bug-in’ phase to a bug out scenario and finally a rebuilding scenario.

Interspersed with the dramatizations are commentaries from various experts that give basic survival information, speculate on how various scenarios might develop, and give examples from recent disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. It is nicely balanced between the commentary and the dramatizations, so neither bores the watcher.

There are some incidents portrayed in the dramatization that will make the longer term prepper wince, and I know the overall lack of preparedness by the family made my teeth grind as almost anyone can be better equipped than this family just from what is around the average house, but overall it is a decent show, and likely a good way to introduce family or friends to survivalism and preparedness.

I was also pleased to see that the psychological aspects of coping with such a crisis were not neglected in the show, and there was also some decent discussion about what form a rebuilt society might take.

As this is Preparedness Week, it might be worth sitting down to watch this and role play through the show. Look at each crisis that occurred in the show and assess whether or not your preps are good enough to cope. Dissect each decision that the family makes in the show and see if there was an alternate case of action that would have served them better.

Overall, After Armageddon is a decent exploration of the SHTF scenario. I can recommend it without any caveats except this one:

After you watch the show, get off your butt and make Preparedness Week a real high point in getting further along in your preparedness.

Next week we'll return to the Apartment survival series.

Apartment Survival: Security

2011-04-25T06:40:00.001-07:00

In deciding to ‘bug-in’ in a city, and especially if you are bugging in to an apartment, there are a lot of challenges. Food, water, and heat will all be difficult to manage, but next to the monumental task of your physical security, they are easy. Getting the essentials for survival might be less difficult than keeping them. And by deciding to try to survive in your apartment, you’ve made the task that much harder, but not impossible.

First, let’s look at your own apartment. How secure is it? Hopefully, you are in a poured concrete or metal and cinderblock building rather than a wood frame type. Obviously, the more robust the construction of your building, the better, but the unfortunate trend in modern construction of two and three story apartments is to lighter and shoddier construction. Hopefully, you are relatively secure as far as walls go, but windows and doors will remain a problem.

Starting with your front door, you need to make sure that this access point is hardened. If your landlord will allow it, replace a hollow core or wooden door with a steel one. Sometimes this will be allowed if the original apartment door is replaced when you leave. If you can’t get this concession, consider hardening an interior room’s door instead. Make sure that you have locking hardware that consists of a minimum of a deadbolt on your doors, exterior and interior.

Windows are also a concern. Again, aftermarket hardware is available to make entry more difficult, but by their very nature, windows are always vulnerable. Still, there are things you can do, such as having metal grills made that you can bolt over the windows once a crisis arrives.

Being on the second or third floor may be desirable. The elevation gives you a small measure of added security, especially if you are able to chain, lock, or otherwise block stairwells to your floor. Remember that this has consequences with regards to escaping fire or other circumstances, but may be preferable to unfriendly folks having easy access to your floor.

If there are vacant apartments above, beside or below you, consider, mouse-holing into adjacent spaces to provide alternate escape routes, better fields of fire, or just to enable tactical movement. Be aware that you will need to secure these alternate routes as well, or they become a liability instead of an advantage.

You will need to consider ballistic protection. While concrete is ‘reasonably’ resistant to high velocity impacts, cinder block will disintegrate under repeated hits and anything less is little barrier at all. The easiest solution is to sandbag what you will use as your fighting positions, at the very least.

If bags are not available (and you can stock a lot of them empty), or if sand is not nearby, improvise. Hard packed (not loose!) dirt in a suitcase is better protection than nothing at all, and pillow cases, boxes, and in fact any container at all that will hold packed earth or sand will offer some protection. Multiple layers are recommended, and don’t overlook materials at hand such as books, furniture, appliances or whatever else can be pressed into service as a ballistic barrier.

Just remember that it takes a LOT of mass to protect you, and a washing machine that is mostly sheet metal and empty space may not do the job, although that might change if it is packed full of dirt or sand. As well, try to get at least one layer under you if you are on an upper floor, to protect from angled fire from below.

As for weapons: whatever you can get. If legal, consider the types of weapons police carry, who are operating in an urban environment: handguns and shotguns are most common, followed by compact assault weapons. If not possible to obtain, weapons such as crossbows are as deadly at short range as any firearm, and may have to do in a pinch.

Better yet is avoiding the need to defend your apartment. If you must shelter in place, do everything you can to avoid drawing attention to yourself. This will require you to maintain tight control in several areas.

The first of these is light. A candle can be seen at a range of a couple of miles if there is no other light source, and in a grid down crisis, a lit window in an apartment is an open invitation to ne’er-do-wells. If you must have light after dark, ensure that it is in a light proofed area of your apartment, safe from observation and accidental exposure by you or other inhabitants.

Another area is noise discipline. In a situation where the background noise of city life is absent, any sound will have the potential to betray you. Running a generator, hammering a nail, or even calling your dog may have unwanted consequences. Every activity you undertake must be assessed as to how much noise it will make.

Smell will also inform on your location. Have you ever walked through a neighborhood in the summer and had your mouth water at the smell of someone’s backyard barbeque? Your cooking smells will carry an amazing distance, and lead someone right to you. At least initially, try to stick with things that can be eaten cold, prepared using boiling water (e.g. cup of noodles), which will limit the amount of aroma given off.

Finally, try to eliminate visual clues. Smoke from a fire, laundry on a line, recent tracks and pathways, and you standing in a window are all giveaways. Try to maintain as low a profile as possible, and be aware that even though you can’t see anyone, you might be observed when you go out. Take circuitous routes back and make sure you observe your own trail when you return.

As you can see, security for the apartment survivor is a tough proposition. Not impossible, but definitely a big challenge. Next we’ll look at what you can do to make this challenge, as well as food, water and so on, a little easier to manage.

Apartment Survival: Shelter and Heat

2011-04-17T09:21:00.000-07:00

Living in your apartment, you might think you’ve got the shelter aspect of survival sewed up. Maybe you do, but maybe not. Let’s begin by looking at what ‘shelter’ means to us. Then we can see if you’re apartment is still providing this and how to provide for it if something is missing.

Prior to humans learning to reliably create and use fire, shelter would have been just a place to stay out of the wind, rain, or snow. Given that your apartment has not suffered any damage, it fits that criteria, and does it well enough. However, once we learned the secret of fire, we began to heat our shelters, and to cook in them. In a major catastrophe, it is likely that the heat will cease to function, as well as the electricity. Any modern home, especially apartments become far less functional as shelters when that happens. Still, it doesn’t mean you can’t make it work.

Here in Manitoba, there are perhaps seven months of the year that you can stay warm without a heat source of some sort. In a house, you have the option of putting in alternate heating methods such as a wood stove as a back up. In your apartment, you don’t have that luxury, at least not prior to a collapse. Please don’t even think about dragging your barbecue inside and heating your place that way. The apartment might get warm, but your body will inevitably get colder after death from carbon monoxide poisoning.

There are options such as propane space heaters which are relatively cheap and quite a bit safer, but these still have the possibility of depleting the air in a tightly sealed apartment, although the better ones have oxygen sensors that will shut the unit off in that case. Overall, though, any fuel burning heater will pose some inherent danger. And there remains the problem of storing sufficient propane. The same problem goes for running a small generator to power an electric heater.

The problem of heat in an apartment is not an easy one to resolve. Over the longer term, I believe the best option would to be to obtain or build a wood burning stove of some kind that would be vented to the outside. Wilderness stores sell small stoves meant to be used in canvas tents that might be a good option, or you can build your own (see picture). Obviously, you will need to vent it to the outside, and storing the stove and other parts may be a major problem. Fuel can be scavenged from a variety of sources, and it takes a surprisingly small amount of wood to heat a small space. The downside is that you may draw attention t yourself, and that a poorly made stove badly installed may cause a fatal fire.

Otherwise, there are measures you can take to make your situation somewhat better. Make the area you live in as small as possible by sealing off as much of the apartment as you can with plastic sheeting and duct tape or other materials. Seal a layer of plastic over the windows as well, and seal openings such as bathroom and kitchen fan vents if not in use. Make use of passive solar if you can, especially in a south facing apartment. Get as much sun as possible during the day, but make sure drapes and blinds are closed at night to slow heat loss. Restrict your trips in and out of the apartment to as few as possible to avoid losing warm air.

If you own a tent, you might consider pitching it inside your apartment and sleeping in it to conserve even more warmth. If you don’t own a tent, hark back to your childhood and make a blanket fort. If you are able to boil water, a small hot water bottle taken to bed with you can make the difference between a miserable night and a comfortable one. And of course, there is always cuddling in with a friend. It may seem silly, but you and your significant other, or even the whole family sharing a nest of blankets will make it warmer for all.

There is no easy answer to staying warm in an apartment, but if the polar explorers of the last two centuries were able to stay alive without the modern materials we enjoy, there is no reason you can’t. Some pre-buying of appropriate bedding, equipment and clothing may be necessary, but if you are serious about making it in your apartment, it can be done.

While heating may be difficult, cooking is a little easier to arrange. Many apartment dwellers have a barbecue on their balcony, which will do in a pinch but I feel that the average gas barbeque is a poor choice for emergency cooking, due to its inefficiency. A far better use of the 20 pound propane tank on your barbecue would be to obtain a camp stove that is designed for one pound propane bottles. Not only can you use the one pound bottles which are small and easy to store, but by using an inexpensive hose and adaptor, you can use the 20 pound tank as well. The bigger tank should let you cook for many, many days.

Of course, if you’ve installed a wood stove, cooking will take place on that, but if not, there are other options. The best of these is the twig stove made from a coffee can. There are plans for various types of these ‘hobo’ stoves on the net, but remember that you need to be careful. Ventilation due to smoke and carbon monoxide make this a design best used on the balcony, and as always, an open flame demands respect. Still, you get much heat from very little fuel, so it may be the cooker of choice once other fuels are gone. As always, remember that cooking on your balcony will likely give you away to outsiders.

A last but limited option is a solar cooker. While it is using a free, unlimited heat source, it may not be effectie at all in colder weather. As with all things preparedness, you'll need to try it to see if it is a viable option, at least part of the time.

Overall, I believe that staying warm and cooking are the biggest challenges for the apartment survivalist. You need to give this area more thought than almost any other aspect of apartment survival, with the possible exception of security. If at all possible, try out whatever strategies you come up with before you need them. Find an abandoned building, a shack, anything without heat and power, and try to stay warm and cook using what you’ve come up with.

You need to know now what will work then.

Apartment Survival: Food

2011-04-10T09:19:00.001-07:00

Assuming that you have your water supply squared away, it is now time to think about food. Again, the absolute minimum recommended by authorities is three days worth of food, but given what we’ve seen in Japan, where it has taken ten days or more to reach some communities, my personal recommendation is to have at least three weeks of food and water on hand. If you can store more than that, then by all means do so.

There are as many schools of thought about what you should set aside as there are types of food. One option beloved by the camo crowd is the military field ration. Known as MREs in the US and IMPs in Canada, these are pre-packed rations intended for troops in the field. They tend to be somewhat bulky until field stripped, may not be considered tasty by all, and their storage life can be considerably compromised by high temperatures. The advantage is that they may be eaten cold or hot (some come with a chemical heater) and each ration is about 1200 calories, with a complete set of breakfast, lunch and dinner giving you roughly 3600 calories. They are pretty much nutritionally complete for the short term, although they can be deficient in some elements (Canadian IMPs do not have enough folic acid or calcium to meet requirements long term, for example).

Another option is commercial freeze dried hiking/camping food. These usually come in packages of two or four portions, and generally require significant amounts of water to make them palatable. Add to the fact that in my opinion that they are fairly bulky versus the calories they contain, plus their high cost per serving, they would not be my preferred option. In their favor is a long shelf life, and that they are widely available everywhere from camping supply stores to Walmart.

If you decide on a commercial product as part of your storage, consider something like Datrex emergency rations. They are small in size, high in calories, and reasonable in storage life (5 year). Remember that you are always trying to get the most calories for the smallest size (and price). You will need to do some research to see what is most appropriate for your situation.

Then there is the bucket brigade, those storing buckets of wheat or beans and other things in food grade buckets, complete with oxygen absorbers, mylar bags and/or CO2 filling. While this option can be cost effective (bulk buying) and great for long term storage (25 years is claimed for wheat stored properly), the sheer weight and bulk of these buckets may make it a difficult option for the apartment prepper with limited storage.

An easy way to start storing for emergencies is to store what you eat now. It’s easy enough to buy three instead of two cans of tomato sauce or an extra package of noodles the next time you go shopping, and if you stick with a weekly buying program you will build up an impressive amount of food very quickly. The downside of this is that you’ll need to create a rotation system to ensure older stock gets used and replaced, but this is relatively easy to do.

I believe that if you are trying to get some serious food in reserve as an apartment occupant, your initial focus should be on the conditions in your living space. If you are in an apartment that swelters in the summer, you will not want to store foods that have their storage life adversely affected. The second thing to look at is your storage space. It might be damp, prone to insects or rodents (I’m thinking storage lockers here), or have other conditions that must be reckoned with.

All of this should help you decide on what type of food you store, whether IMPs or cans of tuna, and what you store it in. Don’t be discouraged if your space is limited as there are likely spaces you haven’t thought of using, For example, simple things like plastic containers that slide under your bed will allow you to store an impressive amount of food and not compromise your living space. Dual purpose wherever you can. A blanket chest holding a single layer of cans of tuna under your spare bedding is now a blanket chest plus!

Storing food is only one aspect of preparing to sit it out in your apartment. If you have good sunlight exposure, there is no reason not to be growing herbs by your windows. If you have a balcony, you are better off than you imagine. Using square foot gardening techniques (look it up) and containers, you can raise an impressive amount of food for the space available to you. I have seen one arrangement that used a bleacher like structure of containers that maximized both sun exposure and storage. Remember that in certain situations, a balcony full of tomato plants might make you attractive to others, so caution must be exercised.

Again, getting access to the roof of your apartment is a must. While caution must be used in loading the roof with the weight of containers, soil, and plants, there is likely a lot of unused space getting a lot of sunshine up there. You might even be able to get access now, and get practiced at container gardening.

Other usable room might be available if there are abandoned apartments in the building. This might give you additional balconies to use, or you might even have your own greenhouse of sorts if there is enough light and warmth.

The grounds around your apartment building bear looking at as well. There may be space where a garden plot might be dug. Gardening may be difficult if the area is not protected from animal or human poachers. Still, it is worth looking at if you are going to be in your apartment through the growing season. If so, you need to be prepared preserve your harvest. There is little point to going through all the trouble if what you grew rots before you can eat it. Remember that canning/preserving, like gardening, are skills you need to learn now, before they are absolutely critical.

Another thing to check on is the possibility of there being edible landscaping on the building grounds or on local streets. In my on neighbourhood, there are Nanking cherries, crabapples, and lingon-berries on public property within a block of me. Others may also be seeking the same supply, so cooperation might be necessary if there are a number of you trying to harvest the same resource.

A better strategy might be to go after wild edibles. Depending on where you live, there will be a variety of ‘weeds’ that are edible and contribute necessary nutrients to the diet. There are things like purslane with its high iron content, or the Vitamin C content of wild rosehips, as well as things like burdock and cattails that can supply some starch to the diet. Proper identification is the key to safe consumption, as nearly seventy-five percent of all plants are toxic to humans to some extent and even some edibles (like acorns) need processing for safe eating. Again, it is a skill you need to acquire now, not after your judgment is clouded by hunger.

Finally, consider doing some guerilla gardening right now. This can take a variety of forms. One is to garden a little plot in an out of the way spot. It might be the space between two buildings, a vacant lot or similar spot but it will allow you to practice technique as well as seeing where you can garden undisturbed. This should be at some remove from your apartment to avoid leading folk right to your home. Another is by planting certain crops in out of the way areas. The plants are then ignored and left to fend for them selves. My favorite for this is Jerusalem artichoke, a very hardy plant that will self propagate and has an edible root that stores very well. I’ve also done this with different varieties of squash, but with less success. The final method is to try to spread wild edibles. My choice for this is burdock, which I’ve managed to establish in several ‘secret’ locations by harvesting seed and planting it.

It might not be five acres and self-sufficiency, but I believe you can bug in to your apartment without sentencing yourself to death by starvation. It takes work, forethought and lots of practice, but you can develop a storage and gardening program that will boost your survivability.

Next, apartments as shelter.

apartment survival: water

2011-03-29T03:54:00.000-07:00

I said in the prior article that trying to survive most crises in an apartment is not ideal. That hasn’t changed, but as stated in the first article you might not have a choice. Survival is about making the best of what you have, both knowledge and resources.

Assuming that you need to stay at your apartment for a relatively long period, the first problem to consider is water. You need to have a decent supply in your apartment or in a storage locker in the building (if in the locker, make sure it is camouflaged as something else). The amount you store is up to you, but a three day supply would be the absolute minimum, while a three week supply (or more!) would be far better. That seems like a lot of water, but if you store for drinking and cooking only, it will not consume an unreasonable amount of space. Sanitation needs may have to be put on the back burner.

The next step is to get whatever extra water that is at hand that you can obtain. The toilet tank is always available, and in some apartments, you may have your own hot water heater. Have a plan for filling tubs, sinks, pots and pans or whatever else you have if you get a chance. Collapsible water containers are easily stored and can be filled along with other containers, so plan on buying at least a couple of them to fill in an emergency. Learn where the nearest pond, stream or river is located and have plans and equipment for making it potable (more on that later). Better still would be to know the location of any wells in your area, but they may be owned and guarded by others, and you may have no way to get the water to the surface. Note that in going outside of the apartment to get water, you are exposing yourself to personal risk as well as risking using water that may be contaminated with toxins a primitive filtering system will not remove.

You should consider a rain catchment system that you can set up yourself. If you have a balcony, a couple of broomsticks in a V, a garbage bag, some duct tape and a bucket for collection and you’re in business. Just remember that some of that water may be cascading off of your building and may well have harmful impurities that you can’t filter or treat, so use due caution. Also realize that a catchment system deployed on a balcony will likely give away your position to observers, so discretion will be required in its use.

A better solution might be to get access to your buildings roof. I’m assuming that it is flat and will have plenty of open space to set up your rain catchment system. The design is up to you, but there are a huge number of possibilities. One simple design would be garbage bags cut open to give a large area for collection, and the lower ends taped to a length of clean eaves trough which in turn runs into a bucket. A fairly primitive arrangement and I’m sure there are many other ways to do it. You might even be able to store the parts for your system on the roof. In my experience, the roofs of apartments are rarely visited unless a problem occurs. Again, purity of the water obtained this way may be an issue depending on the type of crisis.

Of course there is also the issue of water collection in winter. Melting snow is a possibility, but many five gallon buckets of snow would need to be melted to give you one bucket of water, as snow isn’t very dense. If you can harvest ice, you get far more water per pail of ice. Again, there is the possibility of contaminants, so care must be used in using this water for drinking and cooking. There is also the issue of needing to melt the ice or snow, which will be expensive in terms of fuel.
Finally we come to the issue of making your water safe to drink. The first step here is trying to start out with the best water possible. If you can, avoid water that may be contaminated with human or industrial waste. That said, you have a lot of options: To start with you can do a lot with a t shirt, a couple of large coffee filters in a kitchen strainer, and some unscented bleach.

Filter your water through the (hopefully) clean t shirt, then through the coffee filters in the strainer. This should give you more or less particle free water. You might want to let it stand to let any suspended solids settle out and then decant the cleared water. If you have the fuel, boiling this water for two to three minutes should kill the any harmful bacteria. I would add an extra step and add eight (8) drops of unscented bleach per gallon of water, and if you have cloudy water that you cannot filter or clear, you can double the amount of chlorine bleach. The flat taste of boiled water and the chlorine taste can be removed by aerating the water by pouring it between containers or even vigorous stirring.
Using either method or (my preference) both together will give you drinkable water. Remember that this will rid your water of bacteria, but will not remove chemicals dissolved in the water, so again, finding the best water you can for treating is important. Don’t panic too much, as most chemicals in water (with exceptions) are mostly a problem in long term consumption.

By the way, here’s a neat little bleach/water calculator:
http://www.csgnetwork.com/h2oemergencypurifycalc.html
There are also filter systems of various types on the market. Katadyn produces a variety of reasonably priced compact, portable filters. Where a gallon of bleach will treat roughly 3800 US gallons (about 14,300 liters) of water, the Katadyn filter I own is good for 13,200 gallons (50,000 l), and weighs far less in a smaller volume than does a bottle of bleach. It’s also 35 times as expensive.

There are also large stationary filter systems, such as the type made by Berkley. These claim to remove some chemicals and metals as well, and are reasonably priced. Going the other way, you could use water purification chemicals like AquaMira, or compact devices like Steripens that purify smaller volumes of water using ultraviolet light. Do some research and find out what you feel suits your needs, and get the equipment and chemicals you require to make your water safe.

So for our apartment dweller, water comes down to this: Store it, collect it, purify it. The biggest issue is that you will not have a dependable source of clean water from a well like Joe Retreater, so a source needs to be located and you need to make sure some sort of purification system is available to you.

Apartment Survival Intro

2011-03-23T20:09:00.000-07:00

Most survival experts will tell you that trying to survive a major catastrophe in an apartment is a bad idea. For the most part, I agree with them. You are far better off out in the country, or at least a small town. The problem is that many people in today’s housing market can barely afford the rent of an apartment, let alone a house, and a well equipped remote retreat is something that is the stuff of dreams. On the other hand, it doesn’t mean you can’t prepare, it just means you have to work harder to overcome the difficulties.

Over the next few articles, we’ll look at some of the options the average apartment dweller has for being more prepared, and some basic supplies and equipment. These aren’t intended to be definitive articles and the last word on any subject, but should get you started in the right direction, if only that you think about the consequences of where you live and what can happen in a major crisis.

Remember that unlike the Japanese Tsunami, most crises rarely have everything coming down around your ears at once. It might be just a power outage, or it might be the water stops running, spring flooding, or a dozen other things, singly or in combination. The trick is to look at what you have in your apartment, and imagine that you have it no longer. You need to plan now for the what-ifs later.

Look first at your building. How big is it? If you live on the forty- first story of a fifty story apartment tower, is it even practical? Imagine hauling water, food, or just yourself up forty flights of stairs. Now imagine doing it in the dark, as those battery powered emergency lamps won’t last long. Even the buildings resources won’t be what you think they are. There might be a fifty thousand gallon pool in the basement, but it’s no good to you in Apartment 4101.

For the purposes of our discussion, I will assume you live in a two, three or four story apartment building, which is a pretty common sized building in Manitoba. You might live in something as small as a fourplex, or a building a little larger than described, but most of the lessons will still apply.

You will need to look at every aspect of your life in the apartment: food, water, sanitation, safety from natural disasters, safety from humans, easily reached resources and so on. You’ll need to make a plan for dealing with the loss of any and all services you presently enjoy, from the easily reached grocery store to electrical power.

There is one other factor that the apartment dweller needs to deal with, and that is the other inhabitants. While you might be dealing with your waste responsibly, the guy right above you might be peeing off of his balcony. You might be doing your cooking in a safe manner on your barbecue, but the moron next door might light your building on fire trying to figure out his alcohol stove he bought at the camping store.

Your preparations and forethought can disappear or be rendered ineffective because of others. This is what makes the apartment survival scenario so challenging. In addition to all the other preparations you may need to make preparations to get others organized and working together.

But that’s for a later article. First we’ll look at the more material aspects of apartment prepping.

Flu: The Scoop

2011-03-19T13:27:00.001-07:00

Although spring is approaching, I want to write about something most of us consider a winter topic: influenza. I have heard people for years state that they had a ‘touch of the flu’ or a ‘bit of a stomach flu’. These people are liars. You either have influenza or you don’t. Everything else is mere transient viruses. I know because I caught influenza this year.

I have had colds and coughs previously, but I believe this is the first time I’ve actually had influenza. I had a high fever, chills, cough, stuffed up nose, body aches, headache, watering eyes and fatigue. The only major symptoms I missed were abdominal cramps and diarrhea (thankfully).

This might not sound like a big deal, but to someone in a situation where they needed to be active, it could be fatal. For an entire week, I was unable to do anything more than try to get well. I had chills so violent I couldn’t even butter bread. What if I’d had to get a fire started? I’m sure that for a couple of days I lacked enough co-ordination to light a match.

During the first week, I coughed, sneezed and when I slept I moaned and snored (so I’m told). It would have made keeping a low profile in a survival situation a little more difficult. Again, if my life depended on stealth, I would have been in trouble.

The combination of body aches and fatigue were dreadful. My ability to do any kind of useful work was almost zero. Travelling any distance on foot would have been impossible and doing hard physical labour like collecting firewood likewise unlikely. Again, the consequences for survival are obvious.

However, after the first week, I was getting better. I had avoided any complications like pneumonia, and was definitely on the mend. That did not mean I was suddenly all right. For another week, I experienced most of my symptoms in declining severity, with the exception of fatigue, which was still a significant factor. It took another full week before I could get back to work, and it took a full three weeks before I was close to 100% better.

During my illness, I lost almost 7 pounds (a little more than 3 kilograms). While I needed to lose the weight, it’s not a method I recommend, and in a crisis, where you might already be malnourished, that much weight loss might not be something you can afford. Malnourished and without medicine, I might have been sicker for a longer period, developed complications, or even died. All of which are not good outcomes for me or my group in a disaster.

This brings me to the point of today’s post: Get a flu shot.

Yes, I know that the medical types are only making their best guess when they formulate the vaccine. I also know that it won’t always prevent you from getting the flu, though I believe in those cases, it shortens intensity and duration. I also think over the years, multiple vaccinations may confer an advantage against newer flu strains, although this is my own idea developed from anecdotal evidence.

So why you ask, did I get the flu? Because I’ve never had a flu shot. Although I boast several vaccinations most others don’t have, I never got a flu vaccination. I intended to do so, but since I had never had the flu, and rarely get colds of any sort, I just didn’t get around to it. Good intentions, shitty follow through. Possibly a case of thinking I was invulnerable.

So next year, you’ll find me at the head of the line, sleeve rolled up, and waiting for my shot. I also intend to review my present vaccinations to ensure that I’m current, and to see if there is anything besides the flu shot I should get.

Getting the flu was a learning experience.
I learned that I had a blind spot in my preps.
I learned that I am not invulnerable.
I learned that a minute at a clinic can save days or weeks, and possibly lives.

That’s what this winter taught me.

Everyday Carry: The unseen kit on your person

2011-03-12T17:32:00.000-08:00

The subject of the everyday carry kit has been extensively written on by many people. The main objection I have to most of the articles I’ve read is the bulk involved in many of the recommended kits. The reason for this is twofold.

The first problem is in the sheer number and variety of items that are recommended, everything from pencils to pry-bars. There is an old military adage that goes: ‘He who tries to defend everything defends nothing’. The same goes here. You just cannot carry enough on your person to cover every contingency. If you try, you’ll wind up with a bag full of crap that you won’t take with you, and when your ‘EDC’ is sitting on the hall table because you just don’t want to be bothered carrying it that day, it’s useless. Taken to extremes (and you can find examples on Youtube) what you have is something that weighs too much, is conspicuous as hell, and looks more like a full sized BOB. And as an unfortunate side effect, it might look like a burglary kit to a LEO having a cranky day,

The second problem, and related to the first, is that once you’ve gone beyond what fits in your pockets or on your belt, you’ve strayed into the territory of the get home kit or the B.O.B. Again, it is just my opinion, but if you can be separated from your gear by losing a handbag or briefcase, then it’s not my idea of everyday carry. Watching some video of people fleeing during the Japanese earthquake with nothing but the clothes on their backs should bring this point home to you.

Before we go any further, let me state that I am not opposed to having gear in a bag, briefcase or purse. For women, whose normal business or street attire generally has few pockets or other areas to conceal items, a purse might be the only way to go. I’ll even concede that women may be less likely to be separated from vital supplies in a purse by the very nature of how and where they are carried. That said, I’m still not completely happy with the idea of relying on any gear that has to be remembered.

For me, EDC means that whatever gear I’m carrying is largely invisible, light, useful and always on my person. I’ll detail what I carry, and mention some alternatives. We’ll start with my key ring.

Firstly, I don’t carry many keys. Car, house keys front and back, bike lock and a mailbox key are about it, and the key ring fits in my pocket. In addition, there is an old Sears 4-way screwdriver attached to the ring. I dislike the ‘biner’ type key rings with twelve things attached to them. Sooner or later you don’t want the keys in your pocket, and they get left in or on something, along with whatever gear is with them. But if you want to attach a couple of things like a pill-case or mini flashlight, go to it. Just make sure you dump that half- pound, plate sized “Sexy Beast” key ring you’ve been using when you add something worthwhile.

I also carry a wallet. In addition to the normal things like identification, credit cards, and money, I also carry an un-lubricated condom or two. While you might think I’m a cad on the make, the real reason is that it makes a rather nifty water container if placed in a sock for support. Additionally, you might want to carry something like a pocket magnifier or a more elaborate device such as a Swisscard in your wallet or purse. I tend to sit on my wallet and bend everything in it, so I try to keep as little as possible in it.

I wear a watch, which most of us do in modern society. While mine is a basic timepiece, you can pack quite a bit of interesting stuff into modern timepieces, including an altimeter, barometer, digital compass, and thermometer, all for not much more than a basic watch costs. I’ve also seen watches with thumb drives incorporated into the watchband. Really, there is a plethora of interesting options for wrist wear, including watchbands braided from paracord.

The one piece of gear that I do wear in plain sight is on my belt. I always carry a Victorinox ‘Huntsman’ with me which I like for the blend of tools contained and it’s light weight and un-threatening appearance. I’ve added a mini screwdriver that stores in the corkscrew, as well as a straight pin that fits into a hole on the handle. I don’t usually carry a multi tool, but that might suit others better. Either one is innocuous in appearance and quickly becomes ’invisible’ to the people around you, and of course either could be carried in a purse as easily. You might even want to carry a small survival kit or selected other gear on your belt in a small pouch, preferably one resembling a cell phone holster.

In all seasons, I tend to wear a suit coat, jacket or parka. In mine, I carry a small first aid kit, a miniature LED flashlight, a miniature compass, and a small lighter. I also carry a knife, (one that is legal for where I live) the Wedge by Outdoor Edge. It is small, easy to carry and comes with a lanyard and a swivel clip that give you interesting carry options.

I could carry more, but I feel relatively comfortable with the amount I have, which is considerably more than the average person carries. It is all unseen, and most importantly, what I carry is on my person at all times. I don’t need to remember to take a separate kit.

Remember, there are lots of options for unseen everyday carry besides the ones I’ve described. I’m not usually a hat wearer, but let’s say you are. Buy a Tilley hat, which are available for both men and women in a variety of styles. Many of them boast a secret pocket into which you might slip extra cash, a Swisscard, or whatever else you think you need. The only limit is your own imagination.

What you carry and where you carry it are up to you, but make sure that it’s with you.

A Perfect storm

2011-03-03T20:14:00.000-08:00

Very often in survival circles, you will hear people talk about preparing for when “the shit hits the fan”, or the end of the world as we know it” (usually abbreviated to TEOTWAWKI), or even just “the big one”. What they mean by that is quite varied and depends on who you’re talking to and their personal beliefs and opinions. The person speaking might be talking about an EMP event, a major earthquake, a financial/ societal collapse, a terrorist attack, a flu epidemic…well, the list goes on and on.

The interesting thing about this sort of talk is that there is an unspoken assumption that they will recognize the event before it happens, making it possible to put their preps into effect. Often, survivalists will be deeply knowledgeable about a particular type of disaster, usually the one that they fear most or for which they feel least prepared. For example, Prepper X might be able to give you chapter and verse on EMP, how it is generated, what the primary effects are, the follow on effects, how to protect your gear from EMP and so on. While he will likely have at least some knowledge in other areas of concern, he may not be watching them closely or may see their effects as minor.

The danger for this type of prepper is that the ‘big one’ might never happen. What happens instead is a whole bunch of little ones combine to create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. It takes only a quick look at the news over the last few months to see that we’re enduring a veritable swarm of little ones. Just a few examples:

Food prices are becoming an issue, from the less than spectacular North American and European wheat harvests of 2010 to the Australian flooding to the Mexico freeze, and who knows what else. Here on the prairies the prediction is for a cold wet spring, hardly ideal seeding conditions.

Mideast unrest is presently driving up the price of oil, which in turn will drive up the price of damn near everything else. It will make already expensive food more so because of transportation costs, and fertilizer and herbicide/insecticide prices will also rise, pushing up production costs. If things went exactly wrong, you might see actual oil shortages rather than just speculation driven price increases.

And how about the financial world? The Euro isn’t out of the woods, neither is the U.S. dollar. There may be a second wave of home mortgage debt to deal with, never mind the commercial mortgages. Add into that the debt crisis facing many of our southern brethren’s cities and states, and you’ve got something to keep you tossing and turning at night.

If that isn’t enough, you are seeing massive labour unrest across the border as many states enact or try to enact union busting legislation. I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before some nincompoop Canadian politician tries it. If Mr. Harper gets a majority in the spring, all bets are off.

At any rate, I think you see my point. It isn’t one big event that might be a problem, but a host of smaller ones that combine to create the ‘perfect storm’. By the time you realize your dinghy is in trouble, it may be too damn late to row for shore.

I urge everyone to keep a wary eye on events as the year progresses. I’ll mix boat metaphors and say that you should keep building your ‘ark’, whatever form it takes. Stick to your program of prepping, but don’t get so caught up in the prepping that you fail to see the rain coming down and the water rising. Don't spend so much time on polishing the handrails that you forget to launch your boat.

Don’t get caught by a perfect storm.

Bring out your dead!!

2011-02-21T04:54:00.000-08:00

A funny scene from a funny movie, and it was even funnier in the Broadway show. We laugh at death, but it’s just our way of not thinking about it, not taking it too seriously. But we should, and here is a short scenario to show you why:

You are manning a firing position, engaging a gang of bandits who are intent on looting your group’s retreat. One of your group shifts position to get a better firing angle, but unfortunately, he exposes himself in doing so and is fatally shot. You and the rest of the group manage to fight off the horde after a fierce engagement, killing five of them but losing one of your own.

Now comes the hard part, which is dealing with the bodies. In most of the survival literature you’ll read, you’ll rarely find the subject of death and the disposing of bodies being mentioned. After all it’s about surviving, not dying, right? So what are you going to do with the half dozen dead people littering your retreat area? How do you plan to deal with your casualty? What sort of body preparation and rituals are appropriate? Will you treat the bandits differently? Will you bury them in the same area as your own people? Will you bury the bandits at all or will you use a gallon of gas to drive their bodies a distance away and just dump them?

Death is not something we deal with anymore. You die in a hospital, the nurses whisk a curtain around the corpse to keep it from view, and very shortly the mortuary folk come and remove it. The body is embalmed, made up, dressed up and laid out in a lovely coffin worth more than your dining room set so that family can exclaim: “Doesn’t he/she look good!!” From start to finish, our modern society is protected from the realities of death.

And death is not pretty. At the very least, you will have a corpse on your hands that may or may not have leaked body fluids (which in the case of some diseases can be infectious in nature), with mouth agape and eyes that don’t quite close, despite what you see in the movies. The pretty young woman that you can carry easily in your arms alive at 125 pounds is nearly unmanageable in death. It can be a hard thing to deal with for most people.

In the event of collapse, you have no undertaker to help you avoid the unpleasantness, so you need to give some thought as to how death will be dealt with by your group. What rituals will you perform for the living? What care is appropriate for the dead? Will you try to make a casket, or merely wrap a shroud? Perhaps not even that?

This might seem morbid and unimportant, but how you deal with your dead will have a very large psychological effect on your group. Their ability to function will in part require ritual and routine to help them go on, some trace of ‘normalcy’ is needed to make sure they feel there is a point to surviving.

So what happens in the above scenario? Well, the attackers are driven a half mile to an old gravel pit, dropped over the edge, and enough slope knocked over them to keep animals from getting at them, more for reasons of sanitation than respect.

The group’s casualty is washed, dressed, wrapped in a shroud (maybe poly, maybe cloth), and a grave is dug. Prior to the ceremony, the body is placed in the grave, something that is horribly awkward to do, and nothing the family needs to witness. The burial ceremony takes place, and the grave filled. A marker is erected, and you pray you don’t need to do this again for a long time.

Ah, but what about cremation? If you are secure enough, if you have fuel enough, and time enough, go ahead. Just remember that a wood fire cremation may leave you with bones to be pulverized, or with things like hip replacements largely intact, possibly a distressing prospect for the family.

Here’s another scenario:

One of your people contracted cholera while on a foraging mission. Sadly, you can’t save her, and she passes away in your camp…..

Seems like a simple scenario, but this has a catch. Because cholera is one of the few infectious diseases that can be spread by human remains (this is caused by fecal matter from the corpses leaking into the water supply. In a case like this, the remains should be disinfected as far as is practical, and buried at least 100 feet from sources of drinking water.

There aren’t a lot of infectious diseases that can be spread this way, but when you are dealing with things like cholera, it pays to be careful.

How we will treat our dead after a collapse will vary from place to place and group to group. As I mentioned before, there are strong reasons to have a procedure in place, not the least of which is the psychological effect the death of a group member will have on the survivors. This is something that needs to be planned for just as much as other aspects of preparedness, talked about, and procedures decided upon.

In many collapse or disaster scenarios, death is expected to occur and in the absence of modern medicine, perhaps become much more commonplace. How we deal with that prospect is up to us.

Country Mouse, City Mouse

2011-02-12T06:17:00.000-08:00

I’m often amused by a particular attitude that runs through much of the prepper/survival community. Usually held by those in a rural setting, there is an assumption that farm and rural folk are better prepared, better positioned, and better skilled than those living in an urban setting, and thus more likely to survive a major crisis. Indeed, attitudes often border on contempt when the country mouse considers his city cousin. But how true is it that farm trumps city?

Much will depend on the type of crisis that occurs. In a pandemic, being isolated from the hundreds of human contacts that a city dweller experiences in a day will likely be an advantage. That’s not a certainty, as rural children are often bussed to large schools which are likely vectors for disease. If a food crisis, having the ability to grow food, or having food on hand will likely be an advantage as well.

In other forms of crisis, the advantage is less well defined. In an EMP scenario, whether natural or manmade, or a severe fuel shortage, the rural advantage is smaller. Unless Mr. Farmer is one of the few hobbyists that maintain a working team of horses and the equipment sized for them, he’s out of luck. Modern tractors, combines, trucks and so on depend on electronics in their systems nearly as much as do newer cars. A farm without modern machinery is unlikely to prosper.

Indeed, if we look at modern farming, it is nearly as dependent on the present supply network and infrastructure as are cities. Fuel, parts, fertilizer, seed, herbicides and pesticides are all inputs produced off the farm. In some extreme cases, farms don’t even have their own water, as some rural areas have municipal water systems, with farms depending on water piped out to them rather than wells. Many farms would be in as much trouble without power as any city dweller, as few farm homes have alternate heating or lighting sources anymore. Manitoba Hydro has been too darn dependable

Even livestock operations are often dependent on electrically lit and heated barns to produce livestock, get feed from off farm, or need inputs like antibiotics and supplements in order to produce on the scale that they presently do. Sometimes, in the case of feedlots, or chicken or turkey operations, the animals being raised are born elsewhere than the farm that ‘finishes’ them for market.

Surely, though, the average farmer has skills that will give him an edge in survival? Possibly true. Many farmers I know are damn good amateur mechanics, can weld with the best of them, and a few are even decent machinists. Sadly, all of these skills depend to an extent on society staying whole. A talented mechanic can do nothing without parts, and without power to run a lathe or welder, the machining and welding skills are useless..

Without modern machinery, pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizer, it is likely most farmers would be little farther ahead than the urbanites. Neither group now knows how to cut grain with a scythe, tie a sheaf, or stook those sheaves. Few now remember how to make harness, shoe a horse, or smith a tool from raw stock. Nor can these skills be acquired in without practice and experience, in many cases, years of it.

Then what about the farm wife? There must be a repository of skills there that give an advantage to rural folk? There will at least be a kitchen garden to fall back on, won’t there? There might well be, but Ms. Farmer is buying her hybrid varieties from the same few companies as the city folk, her seedling tomatoes from the same greenhouses. She is dependent on the same weed killers and pesticides, and without a gas tiller, she is turning the earth with the same sort of garden fork. It won’t much matter how much land she has if she has to dig it by hand. Gardening after a collapse will be little different wherever you are.

And perhaps she doesn’t garden at all. Many farm wives work full time off the farm, often from financial necessity. That full time job likely means that the farm pantry looks little different from the city one, and has as few reserves. Processed, ready to eat is the norm on the farm now. It is likely that Ms. Farmer is as dependent on a well stocked supermarket as anyone else.

Some farms I know of do produce their own food to an extent. There is often a side of beef in the freezer, or chickens or pigs that were raised on the farm. In most cases, these animals are slaughtered and processed off the farm. Few people have the skills or facilities to butcher their own stock. I hardly need to mention that even if you have a freezer (or two) stuffed with meat, it doesn’t last long without power.

The traditional domestic skills have suffered as well. Fewer and fewer people can or preserve food, do their own sewing, or can create a warm quilt from little more than scraps. Even cooking from scratch is becoming a rarer talent, with so many families being pressed for time.

Being situated in a rural area might even be a disadvantage. There is the possibility that in the city, you may find, along with or instead of disorder and violence that people organize, and share the burden of raising food, obtaining water and maintaining a defense. The farm dweller has likely a far smaller labor pool to draw on to do what is necessary. It is often miles from the nearest neighbor, a poor arrangement when mutual aid and defense is considered.

Of course this is not the situation with every country dweller, but it is more common than not these days. I think many of us that live in rural Manitoba would do well to reassess how prepared we actually are, and be honest with ourselves as to how self sufficient most of us are not.

Like anyone, the country mouse needs to look at the range of possible emergencies, and to actively prepare for them. We’ll look at farm preparedness in a future post.

Studying to Survive

2011-02-03T23:37:00.001-08:00

I’ve just come across several articles on the net that list the ten or fifteen or umpteen essential survival skills. Everyone has a different take on what is essential, depending on their personal preparedness planning. Someone planning an ‘urban’ hunker down is likely to need a different skill set than someone planning to get way back in the bush away from everything and everybody. There is also the issue of looking at what level of skill in each area you need to acquire, since some advanced skills require an advanced infrastructure to support them. So let’s look at a few of these skills with an eye to what is ‘essential’.

Medical - Traditionally, this is rated as one of the highest, if not the highest priority skill by many authors. I agree that you should get advanced First Aid training and whatever other medical training is available, but remember that there will be a limit to what you can accomplish in a severe crisis. Supplies will likely be limited, and equipment as well. I think that abundant manuals or not, most individuals cannot develop the sort of skill required for even moderately complex surgery. Remember as well that the infrastructure for caring for someone after a complex procedure or over the long term may not exist, as well.

I believe that a good knowledge of basic modern techniques would be better complemented by adding traditional and alternative medicine, rather than knowledge of advanced medical techniques that you cannot support. You might be better off having learned some useful herbal lore for the long term rather than attempting to memorize the entire contents of an advanced surgery manual.

Martial - This covers a lot of ground, from personal self defense to knowledge of military weapons and tactics. I think a course of study in a personal self-defense martial art is worthwhile, as it provides physical and mental benefits beyond fighting skills. It really doesn’t matter what you study, as long as it has practical applications. Which is my way of saying choose to learn Krav Maga over fencing, or karate over Tai Chi (Yes, I do know that Tai Chi has a combat form. Never seen it taught in Manitoba).

As far as other military skills go, I think many authors over-emphasize the level you need. While it might be lots of fun to be roaring around in the bush learning small unit tactics with your buddies, is it a level of skill you really need to obtain? This is something you have to answer for yourself, but I believe knowledge of and practicing stealth, evasion, and camouflage techniques are to be preferred over knowing how to lead a squad in combat. My feeling is that if you are involved in a firefight, you’ve already screwed up. Not that you shouldn’t know how to extract yourself if it happens, but better you should not get into the situation in the first place.

Weapons - This is separate from martial skills because it isn’t necessarily military in focus. As far as firearms go, I believe you need a decent level of skill, but don’t get hung up if you can’t snipe someone at a mile range. Practice, but don’t obsess, there are a lot of skills to acquire besides pulling a trigger. Learn to handle everything you own, and how to care for each firearm.

It is also worthwhile to learn to use something that does not make a lot of noise or require hard to get ammunition. Skill with slingshots, bows, and other ‘primitive’ weapons can be a valuable addition to your talents.

Don’t waste your time with learning skills such as throwing knives or using a katana, unless of course you have an interest as a hobby. Knowledge of exotic weapons might qualify you as a top ranked mall ninja, but is unlikely to add much to your practical skill base.

Wilderness Survival - I have a hard time saying you can know too much in this area, as almost all of the skills and techniques can be transferred to almost any setting or scenario. Fire-making, navigation, water purification, plant identification, small animal trapping, learning to avoid things like hypothermia…well, the list just goes on and on. The beauty of this is that using most of these skills don’t require anything beyond very basic equipment, if any. Of course like anything, you can overdo. Knowing how to make a fire bow and having experience using it is fine, learning to make a mirror from a pop can using chocolate as a polishing compound is likely going too far.

Trades - almost any practical and traditional trade is valuable. Carpentry, plumbing, electrical or mechanical knowledge are good for you to know. You can save yourself money now, have a skill to barter later, and can provide you with an entertaining hobby. Don’t restrict yourself to ‘modern’ trades. Knowing how to weave, blacksmith, drive a team, or a hundred other ‘obsolete’ trades likely will be in high demand after a breakdown. Again, competence is required, not absolute mastery.

Gardening and animal husbandry - This should be part of everyone’s skill suite. Get good at growing at least a few things. You don’t need to be able grow prize winning cantaloupes, but if you can reliably get a crop of tomatoes, potatoes or beans, you’re ahead of the game. As for the animal husbandry, make it your business to raise something. Rabbits, chickens, goats, whatever you can do where you are. Raise something you like. You don’t have to duplicate Noah’s Ark, but having expertise with
at least one species is again getting you ahead of most folk.

Hunting and fishing - I have a bit of trouble with this, as the traditional methods in North American hunting often are energy intensive. Pushing deer out of thick brush is exhausting, for example. I believe you are better to use more passive methods like traps or snares (or nets). Otherwise, if you must pull the trigger or bowstring, do it with as little energy as possible.

Those are just a few areas, but there are dozens of others to think about. Food preparation and preservation; bartering, sewing…well the list goes on…

The point is, make an attempt to acquire a set of skills that are useful both now and in the future. Be aware that you likely can’t live long enough to become expert in all of the areas you’d like to be expert in, so don’t stress about it. Get to levels of skill that are practicable and practiced. Aim for competence in as many fields as you feel necessary, but remember it’s not necessary to be expert in all fields. And since learning should be enjoyable, try to have a little fun as you do so….

Let me know what skills you plan to learn...

Hordes!!!!

2011-01-27T16:02:00.000-08:00

As the briefest survey of survival websites will show, guns are a big deal in preparedness circles. You will find endless discussions on the best make and best caliber of MBR (Main Battle Rifle); the number of MBRs required, how much ammunition to store and so on. And that’s not even considering the ongoing handgun debates.

What is the reason for all of this intense discussion? It is the so-called ‘Golden Horde’ or ‘Mutant Zombie Bikers’, the concept that in a post-apocalyptic scenario, tens of thousands of the unprepared will spill out of the cities to ravage the countryside like locusts. Survival writers from Saxon to Rawles and everyone in between have warned of the likelihood of a “killer caravan” coming to your house SOON! But just how likely are bands of starving looters after a major collapse? The honest answer is that no one knows.

We know that banditry, looting, and other lawlessness will rise sharply after a major crisis. We have only to look at the human misery surrounding hurricane Katrina, or the ongoing chaos in Haiti to see how bad it can get even with major outside aid available. In a situation where there were no outside agencies mitigating the situation, the deterioration of the social order would be orders of magnitude greater. So why wouldn’t the ‘Golden horde’ scenarios come to pass? They might still happen, but I can see a few reasons why they might not in Manitoba, at least not even close to the scale envisioned:

The first of these reasons is the time of year. A major factor in how a society might break down is the weather, especially in northern latitudes. While things like hurricanes and earthquakes are devastating, they last a relatively brief time. Seasons like winter have a little more staying power here on the prairies. Consider an event on the scale of the recent earthquake in Haiti, then add in below zero temperatures and snow for three months during and following the earthquake. What would the death toll be then? How easy is it for the populace of a city to “scatter like… cockroaches”, to quote the late Mr. Saxon, when there is no gas, no one to operate the snowplows, and several feet of snow covering the highways?

Additionally, the vast majority of heating in Manitoba is either electric or natural gas. If the supplies of those commodities vanish in mid-winter, the potential for a horde to occur is pretty small. People will freeze at home or freeze on the road, but they will freeze in significant numbers. Think about the consequences of no power and the four storms in two weeks that have hit the northeastern US and Canadian Maritimes recently. It won’t take much to immobilize a lot of people.

The second reason a horde might not occur is disease. In a major collapse that compromises infrastructure you will probably run out of clean water. If it occurs in winter, you might be limited to what diseases can occur when large numbers of people huddle together to stay warm. Come spring, all of the bodies, the untreated sewage and who knows what else will all unfreeze and one way or another make their way into the environment.

Consider cholera running through a moderate horde of 1,000 people, and for the sake of argument let us say everyone gets it. With treatment by oral or intravenous re-hydration and antibiotics, the death toll will be approximately 10 people. A loss easily sustained by the average horde, but what if there is no treatment available? Then the fatality rate approaches 60%! That’s 600 dead, and a much reduced horde. Now scale that up to the size of a city. Breathtaking, isn’t it? And remember that many of those that catch the disease and survive will be in a weakened state for some time, requiring someone to care for them. In a collapse that may drive the death toll even higher.

And that’s just one disease that is quite likely to make a re-appearance. Typhoid fever has up to a 30% fatality rate when left untreated and is likely to show up as well when sanitation fails. Other diseases like influenzas are nearly certain to appear as clean water and medical services disappear, ravaging a weakened population. Our horde might not feel well enough to be locust-like.

Starvation is often stated as the reason the ‘Golden Horde’ comes pouring out of the cities to ravage the rural retreater’s humble abode. The strange thing is, no one seems to think that one through. In the first place, although it is possible, it is unlikely that food will be available and abundant one day and not available at all after that. Unless there is a complete and instant breakdown of infrastructure, some food will likely be available, although supplies will likely diminish fairly quickly over a period of days, weeks or months. Thus we have a population that is already weakened by chronic hunger before everything is gone.

In that already weakened state, death can occur from further starvation in as little as two weeks. Before that occurs, there is increasing fatigue and apathy, even a reduced ability to feel thirst. A hungry horde might be a horde too dehydrated, oo weak and too apathetic to despoil the countryside. And did I mention the increased susceptibility to disease that goes along with starvation?

Another factor is three things about human nature, two bad and one good. First, there is the very human fear of the unknown and of change, plus our modern reliance on government action to fix things. In a crisis, many people will not leave their homes, their neighbourhoods, or their towns. For them it will be a case of better the devil you know than the devil you don’t. They will be too afraid of the unknown to leave, and many will die waiting for help that never comes. That’s the bad.

The good is the flip side of the fear of change, which is that humans like stability and order, and we readily follow someone that will attempt to maintain that stability. It takes very little common sense to see what needs to be done in a major collapse, from rationing to defense and everything else. The likelihood of people with that small amount of common sense stepping up and getting people organized for long term survival is very high, at least here and there. While that won’t happen every time and place, it will likely happen often enough to both reduce the number of people on the road, and provide an attraction for those on the road, keeping them out of your area.

But let’s say we do have a diaspora of the desperate. This too is self limiting, as the leading wave will clean out the easily available supplies. Every gas station between here and there will be quickly emptied of everything usable, and those following will find nothing to sustain their travels.

This isn’t to say that you won’t someday find yourself confronted by a half a dozen grim strangers looking to take what is yours, but the likelihood of facing human waves of emaciated looters is pretty slim. In a major collapse, you will very quickly see the population crash and adjust in a very short period. Certainly that is a dangerous time, but in my opinion it will be a short time.

The best protection in those times is being difficult if not impossible to find, self sufficient as possible to avoid having to leave your area and expose yourself, and most importantly, constantly vigilant. The fanciest weapon in the world does you no good if a starving looter sneaks up and bashes your head in with a rock.

But hordes? I doubt it, but you might disagree…feel free to say why.

Storing Food

2011-01-16T20:16:00.000-08:00

If you are new to putting back a little food storage, you’ll likely do what I did many years ago, and read books (or these days surf the net) looking for how-to articles, which usually have some sort of list of what to store. I have a couple I’ve seen over the years that I like, although I’m a big fan of developing your own list that essentially comes out of your day to day grocery consumption. It will of course require common sense modifications (powdered milk vs. fresh is an easy example), but it will be things that:

1. You WILL actually eat.
2. Since you will eat it, there is a better chance that you WILL rotate your storage in a timely manner.

That said there are some seriously BAD storage plans out there as well. The faults are many, including but not limited to:

1. Being nutritionally unsound. Deficiency diseases are not fun.
2. Far too bulky. Having a few hundred cans of beans and weenies is all well and good, but have you tried getting them in your car? What if you need to go somewhere else?
3. Require too much preparation. If at least part of your supplies cannot be eaten cold as is, you’re not thinking through your possible scenarios properly. What do you cook with when you’re off grid and out of propane? If it’s dehydrated, where is the water coming from to re-hydrate?
4. And the greatest sin, being too expensive. You can assemble your own food reserves far cheaper than buying a pre-packaged ‘kit’, or buying individual freeze dried meals.

Anyways, here is one of my ‘bad’ lists from the internet. This list is an older one, but still pops up on different forums from time to time. The idea is to buy five dollars of food per week, and at the end of a year, you have:
• 500 lbs of wheat
• 180 lbs of sugar
• 40 lbs of powdered milk
• 12 lbs of salt
• 10 lbs of honey
• 5 lbs of peanut butter
• 45 cans of tomato soup
• 15 cans of cream of mushroom soup
• 15 cans of cream of chicken soup
• 24 cans of tuna
• 21 boxes of macaroni & cheese
• 500 aspirin
• 1000 multi-vitamins
• 6 lbs of yeast
• 6 lbs of shortening
• 12 lbs of macaroni

Supposedly, this will give you “1,249,329 calories which based on a 2000 calorie a day diet will provide enough food for two people for 312 days!” It might, but let’s go through this line by line to see what faults (if any) there are in this plan.

a) 500 lbs of wheat – ok as far as it goes, but there are basically only three ways to use it: Eating it hot or cold as ‘wheat berries’ requires water and fuel. Processing it to flour and then using it requires both of the above plus special equipment. Not quite as cheap when you look at the big picture, since it requires other inputs.
b) 180 lbs of sugar – Sugar is a necessary ingredient in many things such as bread, as well as being a sweetener, so this isn’t necessarily a bad thing to have. You need to think about whether you need 180 pounds of it, and if substituting some other foods might not be a bad idea. By the way, just under 25% of the roughly 1.25 million calories that this list gives you are from the sugar!
c) 40 lbs of powdered milk – Fine, but remember it requires water as an input to use it.
d) 12 lbs of salt – Fine, except I think there is too little of it. You’ll need it as a vital component of food preservation, not just as a spice.
e) 10 lbs of honey – Its ok, but again, not a real stand alone food. About 16,000 calories here.
f) 5 lbs of peanut butter – Better, but not enough of it. If you look at the whole list, there aren’t a lot of fats/oils on it other than the peanut butter. And at nearly 2700 calories to the pound, a very nice calorie/weight ratio.
g) 45 cans of tomato soup and …
h) 15 cans of cream of mushroom soup and…
i) 15 cans of cream of chicken soup – Seriously?? Nearly fifty pounds weight in those 75 cans of soup, giving you only 14,700 calories or about a week of calories for one person. And that’s without looking at the water and fuel inputs required for best results. Dried soup base is a far better option here.
j) 24 cans of tuna – good, just not enough of it. If this list is supposed to feed two people for 312 days (10 months), then you each get a half can of tuna every two weeks. Pretty sparse, protein wise.
k) 21 boxes of macaroni & cheese – bulky, but high in calories. Water and heat inputs required. It would be a bad choice for me personally, as I hate this stuff!!! But since you only have enough to eat one box every two weeks, you won’t get sick of it, I guess.
l) 500 aspirin – It’s not food, so why is this on here? To keep your arteries from clogging from all the crap? This should be in a different category of preps altogether.
m) 1000 multi-vitamins – you’ll need them, since there aren’t any vegetable or fruits being stored on this list.
n) 6 lbs of yeast – I assume so you can bake bread. Nice to have but not strictly necessary, as you can make unleavened bread, or make sourdough starter if you must have raised bread.
o) 6 lbs of shortening – baking and cooking. Again an ok thing, but not stand alone food.
p) 12 lbs of macaroni – At last, a good choice! This is your wheat processed and condensed. It stores as well as most foods, if not as long as wheat in pails, is no worse to prepare than anything else on this list, but has a pretty high calorie to weight ratio. Still requires water and heat inputs.

There you have it, my critique of what I see as a “bad” list. It is of course better than no storage at all, but a little forethought will give you a better balanced, higher calorie list for your money. Which beings me to the one thing I DO like about this list: The idea of a regular weekly allotment of a small amount of money to food storage purchases. It’s an older list, so I suggest that five dollars per week is a bit small. I’m currently conducting an experiment on what you can amass on one dollar a day (i.e. $7/week) and it seems to be working well.

So what about your own experiences with purchasing food for storage? Do you have the ‘ideal’ one-year list? Or a list of don’ts instead of dos? Feel free to share them.

In the meantime, keep putting away food, if only a little every week. Any amount is better than nothing. Given the last crop year and the current prospects, it is worthwhile to do so as an inflation hedge, if for no other reason.

Where's my Magic Eight Ball?

2011-01-05T22:32:00.000-08:00

First, let me wish you all a Happy New Year and I hope you’ve all had a decent holiday season overall. I realize the greeting is a bit late, but it is still the first week of 2011. Seeing that it is so early in the year, though, how do we think it will unfold? I have some areas I’m concerned about.

First, I believe that the Western economy/financial situation will continue to sputter along for another year. That doesn’t mean that things are in any sense healthier in that area, and I also believe there are a few potential ‘bombs’ out there that might result in a worse financial crisis than that of 2008. I recommend that everyone get as squared away financially as possible, reducing or eliminating debt and ensuring that their ability to purchase goods and services is in some way protected.

Second, I’m quite concerned with the weather. It’s been a weird winter that followed a strange spring and summer, weather-wise. I’m not predicting terminal global warming or another ice age, depending on what side of the argument you’re on, but be prepared for strange weather. Implications for agriculture are particularly serious. You might want to plant a wider variety in the garden this year, and double check your preparations for severe weather events. Just an idea….

I’m also concerned with the price of oil. It is above $90/bbl, and I feel it could well be higher by the end of the year, perhaps by as much as $30/bbl. This will affect everything from home heating to the cost of manufactured goods. Make sure you’ve an alternate to petroleum based transportation. Do it now.

And that of course fires into an increase in agricultural inputs, which will push already rising food prices higher. We are already seeing sharply increased prices in some areas, and MUCH higher prices are predicted for items such as chocolate and coffee, among other things. In fact, due to crop losses last year, we are in as much of a food ‘crisis’ as in 2008, and it is only the fact that many Third World countries had very good crops for once, as opposed to critical failures such as wheat in Russia, that has prevented a crisis from becoming full blown. How is your food storage program coming along?

I don’t see warfare, either conventional or asymmetric, as being a significant threat to us here in Manitoba. EMP events are unlikely, and alien invasion even less likely.

However, it may well be a very wet spring here on the prairies, and flooding is almost certain in some areas. If you’re at risk come spring, you might think about some simple preps now, such as getting the family album onto the second floor…..

There you go. Not a very detailed set of predictions, but those are the areas I’m keeping my eyes on. How about you guys? Any particular areas of concern for 2011?

The Long Emergency

2010-12-24T12:42:00.000-08:00

The Long Emergency by James Howard Kunstler is an interesting book, for serveral reasons. The first is that the author has tried to take a reasoned approach to peak oil and its consequences. Kunstler is on the pessimistic end of the spectrum in his views, but he presents well reasoned arguments to support them. I agree with some of it, some I don't.

The part I do agree with is that increasingly expensive and scarce oil over the next decade or so is going to force a radical shift in how we organize our society. For example, Kunstler examines how much fossil fuel is required to farm in the form of fuel, fertilizer and pesticide, and paints a dim picture of what happens as it oil runs out. He predicts many more of us will be engaged in food production in the future.

He is also highly dubious about the survival of our large cities and their suburbs in their present form, and goes so far as to make some broad predictions about the prospects for different regions of the US as oil becomes scarcer. It's not a pretty picture.

On the whole, the book is well written and informative, although it suffers from being written only a few years after 9/11, and the general paranoia that gripped Americans after the event is very evident. So are Kunstler's biases toward the region he grew up and lives in. However, these are easily seen and allowances can be made for them.

If nothing else, Kunstler's book makes an excellent starting point for you to investigate the possible consequences facing us here in Canada. Give yourself a present and put this in yoiur Christmas stocking.....

Merry Christmas!

More gatherer, less hunter

2010-12-15T12:03:00.000-08:00

Like you, I’ve watched many a survival show where the instructor-hero walks up to an odd looking plant then slashes it apart with his machete to get the local equivalent of plant filet mignon. Sadly, we do not have a lot of plants in Manitoba that are like that. No coconut trees, no breadfruit, no heart of palm, zippo. We just don’t have any kind of ‘wonder’ plant growing here.

We’re not without excellent plant resources, however. While we may not have the equivalent of bananas in the backyard, we do have a wide variety of local plants that are useful to someone that is willing to get out there and forage in order to supplement and extend their food stores. In order to do that, you need to know what you are looking for out in the woods and fields. A mistake may result in effects ranging from mild stomach upset to serious illness or death.

Which leads us to the subject of today’s post: The forager’s library. I believe that anyone serious about surviving a major crisis needs to be able to recognize wild plants that are safe to eat, and to do that, reference books are an absolute must have item. They are easily obtained and for the most part easily used, if a little common sense is applied. That said, I cannot stress enough that you should NOT eat anything you are not ABSOLUTELY SURE IS SAFE TO EAT. Anything else is digestive Russian roulette.

So let’s start with the easiest and yet most dangerous things out there: mushrooms. Technically, they are fungi, not plants, and for the most part have little nutritional value. So while I do not put a high priority on harvesting them, I do recognize that they will add flavor and variety to what may be a very dreary survival diet, and also that nutritional value or not, starving people will try to eat anything. I feel it is better to know now what I can eat safely, rather than experiment later.

I don’t try to become an expert on mushrooms. It is far better is to focus on several common types that you can always recognize and eat safely. For me, that means I can always recognize morels, shaggy manes and chanterelles. I also know what the few species that resemble them look like (e.g. false morels) and how to differentiate between them. I can recognize several other edible types of fungi, but because of the presence of toxic lookalikes, would hesitate to eat them without consulting my guidebook to ensure I am correct in my identification. Maybe not even then, if I have the least doubt. Always err on the side of safety where mushrooms are concerned. Some of them are so toxic that even with advanced medical care, death is the likely result of ingestion. While there are a number of handy mushroom references, I like:

National Audubon Society Pocket Guide – Familiar Mushrooms.

The next category of green stuff you should get to know is edible weeds. Pretty much everyone knows the dandelion for it’s use as a salad green, but few people know about burdock root or purslane ( the first will give you about 70 calories per 100 g; the second has a large amount of dietary iron available: 3.5 mg per 100 g). Many weeds will supply trace elements, vitamins and minerals required for health, although most are low in calories. There are a lot of them out there, but again, try to learn just a few to start with, and once sure of your identification, give them a try. Learn chicory, if you’re a coffee drinker. You’ll thank me later.

There are a few guides out there of this sort, but I like:

Edible Garden Weeds of Canada by Adam Szczawinski and Nancy Turner. This is the first volume in a four volume series produced by the National Museum of Natural Sciences.

The only downside is that some plants shown in the book don’t have colour plates, making identification harder. I have downloaded my own pictures from the net to supplement the photos and drawings. On the plus side, for most of the plants in the book, recipes and instructions of how to use them are provided.

Another category of edibles are the wild fruits and nuts to be found on the prairies. In Manitoba, one can harvest acorns (with care), hazelnuts, and an astounding variety of berries. While most of us raised here can identify quite a few types, there are a surprising number of edible berries in Manitoba that are little known or used, although some, like those of the mountain ash (or rowan) need to be dealt with very cautiously. My reference is:

Edible Wild Fruits of Canada. This is volume three of the series mentioned above, and by the same authors. It shares the original volumes strength and weaknesses (lots of info and recipes, not enough pictures).

Also in the series is: Wild Green Vegetables of Canada, although I think this reference is more useful for the coastal types rather than us prairie folk, since many of the plants mentioned prefer that climate and ecosystem. Still, there is useful info in the book on plants you will encounter here. There is also a book on coffee and tea substitutes in the series, but I haven’t a copy of this one, so can’t really recommend it or not.

Finally, you might want to round out your beginner’s foraging library with :

Stalking the Healthful Herb by Euell Gibbons.

This book is one of the classics of foraging. It’s kind of all over the place in content, but a decent and informative read nonetheless.

There you are. A few books to get you started. I’ve found the ones mentioned to be great starter books, but please, please be careful. Take it slow, concentrate on learning a few plants really well, and make sure of your identifications before you eat anything.

P.S. Do you know what the plant in the picture is?

"And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows..."

2010-12-03T19:23:00.000-08:00

Elisha I'm not, but I’ve previously written and posted a couple of articles on primitive weapons. The first article concentrated on pretty basic stuff like throwing sticks and such, the second on a more advanced ones, like the sling. This third one is about bows, which are likely at the top of the heap in non-gunpowder weapons.

There are several good arguments for including some sort of bow in your planning. The first of which is that the bow is likely the most lethal of the non-firearm weapons. Using modern arrows tipped with razor-edged broad-heads traveling at a couple of hundred feet per second, you can count on penetration and killing damage if you hit the target properly.

The second reason to choose a bow is range. Generally, you can place an accurate shot out to 40 or 50 yards without an unreasonable amount of practice, and an expert bowman might take a shot on a large target like an elk out to 70 yards, but as accurate arrow placement is critical in dropping big game, shorter is usually better. Still, the bow outranges everything else except firearms.

Another reason to consider bows is the question of maintenance and ammunition re-supply. Generally, arrows can be recovered and reused without the need for additional equipment and supplies, unlike firearms. They are simple to maintain, and what parts you need are cheap and easily replaced by most people. This may not be strictly true in the case of some compound bows that require ‘tuning’. Still, the likelihood of you being able to maintain and repair your bow are far higher in my opinion than your chances of being able to maintain firearms and a supply of ammunition over the long term.

Of course, even the most careful archer will lose or break arrows and strings or even the bow itself. The advantage the archer has is that with again a not unreasonable amount of practice and skill, he can manufacture ammunition, parts, or the whole weapon! Other advantages of bows include the near silence of operation and the low carrying weight of the weapon and ammunition.

That said, taking a bow to a gun fight is usually bad news for the bowman. Despite their occasional use by special forces and guerillas, the likely defensive use for bows is limited to the occasional silent ambush. The more proper role for the bow in survival is as a supplement to firearms. As mentioned previously, ammunition will eventually run out if things are bad enough for long enough, and having a bow and some skill in its use will push the day when you fire your last bullet further into the future.

There are three broad classes of bows to choose from. The first of these is the compound bow (see picture above). Using a system of eccentric pulleys, the compound bow allows for a ‘let-off’ of a certain proportion of the bow’s draw weight, making it easier to wield a more powerful bow with less effort. They tend to shoot arrows in a flat, fast trajectory, and are a popular choice.

The second type of bow is the ‘simple’ bow, either re-curved or longbow style (A re-curve is pictured here). Simpler in construction, they require more skill to use, but generally are lighter than a compound bow and easier to maintain. Essentially having only two components (the stave and the bowstring), they are deceptively simple in structure. This type of bow is also the ‘easiest’ to manufacture from available materials.

If I was choosing between these two types my choice would be the traditional bow over the compound, but I’ve shot and enjoyed both.

A third type of bow you might want to consider is the crossbow. The crossbow has two main advantages. The first is that the draw weight is far higher than with the other two bows, giving the bolts (not arrows!) a lot more kinetic energy upon release. The second is that it most often has a rifle style stock and trigger, and is sighted much like a rifle, so the transition from rifle to crossbow may be easier for some people. It also retains most of the simplicity of the traditional bow, and both crossbow and the ammunition for it can also be built from scratch.

The downside is that due to its high draw weight, the crossbow is more difficult to reset, which leads to a slower rate of fire. It also tends to weigh more than traditional bows, and that combined with the difficulty of cocking it may make the crossbow a less than ideal choice for people of smaller stature. Additionally, it can be somewwhat more complicated mechanically, although this depends on the maker.

Finally a word about the ammunition for bows, whether arrows or crossbow bolts. There are many different types available. There is of course the traditional razor edged broad-head, which will do fearful damage to any living thing hit solidly. Additionally, there are ‘blunts’ for hunting birds or other small game, as well as arrows designed for fishing, complete with attached fishing line. These tips are usually interchangeable, and make the bow a very useful and versatile weapon.

So there you have it. Bows don’t replace firearms, but they are an incredibly efficient and economical addition to any survival ‘battery’. So give some thought, and see if you can’t get in touch with your inner Robin Hood…

Review: Dual Survival

2010-11-22T10:35:00.000-08:00

I’ve just finished watching the first season of a show called “Dual Survival” on the discovery Channel. It features the usual device of putting people in a nasty environment which they then survive while teaching you the tricks and tips of doing so. The difference here is that the show does not dump a single individual a la Les Stroud or Bear Grylls, but rather two individuals working together.

The individuals are Dave Canterbury (at left, above), an ex-military type with a lot of bush experience hailing from the American Northwest and Cody Lundin (at right), a primitive skills survival expert from Arizona. The two men have somewhat differing approaches to survival, which is part of the interest.

Together, they work through a variety of survival scenarios, with the two of them mostly agreeing on how to proceed, but sometimes in sharp disagreement. A good example is when Canterbury goes after honey from a possibly Africanized honeybee colony over Lundin’s protests. He gets the honey, but gets stung multiple times. The lesson, as Lundin puts it: “Do dumbass things, suffer dumbass consequences”

There is a good deal of talk about cost/benefit of survival actions when it comes to food (Calories expended vs. benefit received) that I haven’t seen on most of the other survival series I’ve watched. There is also a reasonable amount of talk about survival psychology, which is a topic that interests me a lot.

In addition the gear and operating styles of the two men are very different. Lundin is a primitivist, and improvises a lot of his gear. In fact, throughout the season, he is barefoot and wearing shorts throughout each episode. He feels this is actually an advantage overall, forcing him to slow down and be more aware of and in touch with his environment.

Canterbury is more of a hard charger in your face type, and seems to go to higher risk situations more readily than Lundin. He tends to feel survival is a battle to be fought with Nature, in contrast to Lundin’s more adaptive approach.

As far as techniques go, the show doesn’t present much you haven’t seen on other programs, although watching the ease with which Lundin operated a fire drill compared to Canterbury’s palm blistering efforts is instructive.

Overall, I feel the show somewhat misses the mark in presenting differing approaches to survival situations, although that isn’t really their fault. Often, there is only one sensible way to proceed. I think the idea of a team of two is interesting, and something I have not seen before. All in all, it’s a watchable show, but it’s not going to give you any eureka! Moments.

Gimme shelter

2010-11-10T17:52:00.000-08:00

So let’s talk a little about shelter. I believe that most preppers are a bit complacent about it, believing they can rough something up in a hurry if the need arises. In Manitoba, lack of shelter can kill you far quicker than a lack of food or water, perhaps in as little as an hour or so in the right season.

Ok, for a start, if you have a home now, is it weather-worthy after a crisis? What do you need to do to keep it secure and livable if the grid is down? Most importantly, what is your alternative heat source, off grid? If it is not a wood stove, you’re likely in big trouble here in Manitoba come winter, as most of us simply can’t afford to store an alternate fuel like heating oil, nor have an extra furnace sitting in the basement. Like gas and most of the other fuels refined from oil, it will eventually go bad, unlike wood. I suppose if you had to, you could look at burning coal, wood pellets, or something like that, but you need either a big supply laid in, or easy access to a source.
Now, what if your home is destroyed? It can happen for a variety of reasons, manmade and natural. Or the ‘loss’ might even be your decision to relocate to a safer place, so plan for alternate accommodation. The cheapest and fastest shelter possible is a good three or four-season tent and the gear to go with it (sleeping pads and bags, etc.). Cooking can be a wood fire, but heating your tent with it is pretty difficult. Tents, while great temporary shelters, are not a long-term solution in my opinion. They have too little space, too little insulation, and no way (usually) to heat them. One exception to this is the old miner’s/trapper’s tents made of heavy canvas and intended for use with a small wood stove.

I suppose you could consider the traditional First Nations dwellings as upgrades of the basic tent idea, but they are not really superior to the trapper’s tent, in my opinion. The only other tent I can think of that might be winter-worthy in the Canadian Prairies is the Mongolian yurt, but like the traditional teepees, the usual materials for them are unlikely to be ready at hand for quick construction.

Without a tent, you had better be able to construct expedient shelters from available material. There are a number of styles you can use, from simple debris shelters to fairly elaborate lean-tos (almost a half hut, actually) that will provide temporary shelter. These are good as far as they go, but are stopgap measures and unsuitable for long term habitation.

Whether a tent or expedient shelter, you won’t last long in the conditions the prairies can dish out without constructing something more substantial. The next step up is building with sod to create a ‘soddie’; or digging down or into the earth to create a dugout type shelter, or using wattle and daub to construct a hut similar to one that might have existed in the Middle Ages. Or you can use a combination of these techniques.

An interesting variation/combination is the burdei, used by the early Ukrainian settlers in Western Canada as temporary housing, although larger, more elaborate versions were used in Europe as permanent dwellings. It was created by digging out the sod, excavating a dugout approximately 1 meter deep and 2 wide by 4 meters long. Then a frame of logs would be erected, over which the saved sod would be laid to create a roof.

For heating and cooking you might have to make do with a fire pit in the middle of the floor and a hole in the roof for venting the smoke, but you’ll be reasonably snug. More time and materials makes you a fireplace and a chimney, but this might be beyond the expertise of some.

If you live somewhere where the material is easily available, you might even consider a corban or some variation of it. Examples of these beehive shaped monastic huts (see picture above) can still be found standing in the British Isles and parts of North America hundreds of years after they were built. With dry stone walls up to 1.5 meters thick, they required plentiful time and material and a certain expertise in constructing the roof. If a survivor decides to build a hut in this style, he might be well advised to consider thatching rather than the traditional stone roof. No one knows how many monks might have gotten closer to their god through faulty roof construction.

At this point, we’re talking pretty much permanent dwellings and the dugout, soddie, burdei, corban and other construction methods mentioned can be used to create comfortable long term dwellings. The next step up is the log cabin, but the building techniques require a bit more skill. Great if you have the ability, logs, tools and time, but this is asking a lot of the skills of the average refugee or survivor.

A word is in order about the scale of the shelters and dwellings I’ve mentioned. These are not large. In fact, for heating purposes, the smaller it is the better. A typical hut made of sod or wattle and daub might be only 100 square feet, of even less. Living in that amount of space might be a strange notion for those of us living in our McMansions of thousands of square feet. If you don’t think that it is possible, check out the replica ‘soddie’ at the Manitoba Museum. It’s amazing how little space you really need to survive.

Furnishing your habitation can be accomplished with a little effort, and tables, chairs, beds and so on can be made from available materials.

So far I’ve assumed you are without resources other than natural materials. Realistically, this is unlikely. There will be everything from abandoned cars to complete houses available as shelters, and even in an area that is largely been turned to rubble, there are generally structures that can be repaired, or at the very least, materials that can be salvaged for building. So think now what you would build, and how you would build it. What tools would you need? What skills? And always the most important question in Manitoba, how will I heat it?

How comfortably you live during and after a crisis is dependant on you. If you are adaptable and resourceful, life need not be “nasty, brutish, and short”. As survival expert Ray Mears put it: “If you’re roughing it, you’re doing something wrong”. What he didn’t say was that you need to acquire and practice your skills now, and not when you actually need them to survive.

That means ensuring your present home will be viable in a loss of power situation. It means learning the skills to maintain your present home, and learning skills to build a new one if need be. So get out there, take a course, do some DIY around the house, build a lean-to, a soddie, or a log cabin. Make a fireplace out of clay and river cobbles. Get ready now.

Crops, Consumers, and Cash

2010-11-01T06:41:00.000-07:00

It must have been a hard fall for everyone. Posting has fallen off sharply on the other blogs on CPN, and I'm starting to feel a bit like Cassandra these days. Signs seem to point toward a major economic hiccup occurring sooner than later, and time to prepare is getting a little tight. Yet the activity on many boards, not just these, is declining. My hope is that people are too busy preparing to read blogs....

But if you aren't, take a look at the chart at the head of this article. That shows you the price increase in some basic foodstuffs along with things like gas and heating oil over the past year, and it's a bit of an eye opener. Consumer prices haven't risen too sharply here in Manitoba to reflect these increases as yet, but I believe that they will. Even if you aren't fully committed to the idea of food storage, perhaps you might want to lay in a few extra nibbles, just in case.

Getting food in our society is a delicate and fragile dance of producer, processor, transporter retailer and consumer. It doesn't take much for this dance to be interrupted, especially at the supply end by Mother Nature.

Here is an article that details 5 threats to different crops:

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/5-dangers-to-global-crops-that-could-dramatically-reduce-the-world-food-supply

The author of the article seems a bit paranoid and the tone of the article is faintly hysterical, but the problems are real, and worth knowing about. Another article, somewhat less end of the world-ish, but perhaps more sobering:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/oct/25/impending-global-food-crisis

Talking more about price volatility than hyperinflation, it nonetheless makes a scary case for food storage. In Britain, the cost of food has risen 22% in just three years. That should make you stop and think!

I urge everyone to think about their food situation. Make sure you've stored as much as you can. Just a few dollars dedicated to this every week will build you a respectable reserve in no time.

The other thing I urge you to do is think about gardening. Yes, I know it is winter in Manitoba, but start planning and practicing the art of producing your own food NOW. Almost any yard or apartment balcony can produce a startling amount of food with the right techniques.

It might not be a matter of life or death. It might just be a matter of enjoying cheap food while everyone else devotes more and more income to purchasing food. Or it might be a matter of enjoying fresh nutritious veg when everyone else is armwrestling over wilted carrots at the grocery store. I don't pretend to know where things are headed, foodwise. I DO know that without the ability to produce at least some of your own food and stores of what you cannot produce, you are a hostage to whatever fate throws your way.

Do something about that now.

Gray Nineties AKA...

2010-10-24T14:53:00.000-07:00

I’ve recently read James Wesley Rawles book Patriots. Or rather, I’ve read the original shareware version that he once published called ‘Gray Nineties’ and has since tried and failed to erase from the web. From what I can gather from other glowing and not so glowing reviews, the present incarnation of the book has at least two problems that are additional to my version. One of the problems is a wonky time line, in part due to attempts to incorporate 9/11 and Mr. Obama. The other is that recent versions apparently are quite the list of ‘recommendations’ for Mr. Rawles various sponsors and advertisers. So that caveat expressed, let’s press on with the review.

As entertainment, it’s so-so. Rawles is not the greatest writer of the 20th century, but to give him his due, he has said so himself. He’s readable, and reasonably interesting, but the story tends to bog down in technical details, which I’m sure fascinate some people, but tend to harm the narrative. Character descriptions and overall characterization is weak, to the point that I had trouble separating the characters from each other without a bit of thought.

Even so, the first three quarters of the book are fairly enjoyable. He loses me when the story turns into the standard paranoid ‘throw off the chains of oppression; defeat the evil UN overlords’ crap. In my view, it would have been a better book had he stuck with the story of his survivors.

There are a few other issues that bother me as well. Mr. Rawles’ über-survivors never seem to face a crisis for which they haven’t prepared, including evacuating their base and forming a resistance movement, which makes the book a bit of a bore to me. Ho-hum, the survivors triumph again using superior preps, firepower, and tactical planning. I suppose there might be people well enough off to be as prepared and trained as the characters are portrayed, but in many, many years of prepping, I’ve never met any.

There seems to be perfect group unity as well, with nary a whisper of internal dissent or disagreement. It’s all very antlike, even somewhat socialist in nature. At any rate, it is unrealistic, as anyone that has seen any kind of small group dynamic in operation under stress can tell you.

Finally, I’m a little troubled by a couple of incidents portrayed in the book where the characters seem to be stopping, searching and dispensing justice to those traveling past their retreat. Perhaps I’ve misread the location where the incidents take place, but it seems to me it is a public road running past the fictional retreat. It seems a little contrary to Mr. Rawles’ views as espoused on his website and elsewhere, but perfectly in line with setting yourself up as a sort of medieval baron.

This book is often promoted by enthusiastic reviewers as a how-to-prepare manual clothed in a novel. Perhaps it is if you have unlimited time, money and personnel it might serve as such, although as many have said, reading about it and having the training to do something are two entirely different things. It reads more as a creepy little personal fantasy to me.

I think if you’re looking for a book to prepare your mind for a serious societal collapse, you might be better off with the recently published ‘One Second After’ by William R. Fortschen, or ‘Lights Out’ a free e-book on the web by an author calling himself ‘Halffast’ on a similar topic. Neither of the protagonists of these stories is well prepared, and I think there are far more lessons to be learned from their mistakes than from the super prepared characters in Rawles’ novel.

Overall, I’d say that if you can borrow a copy of ‘Patriots’, go ahead and read it. On the other hand, if you’re going to lay out some money, you might be better prepared for a crisis by taking the cash and buying a few cans of tuna fish than by buying the book.

"Wilderness" Retreating

2010-10-15T07:56:00.000-07:00

Well, I’ve just returned from my annual retreat in one of Manitoba’s wonderful provincial parks. It was great, once again a time to relax and clear my mind and feed my soul. One night, sitting around the campfire, the discussion turned to the big What If? Once again, someone raised the prospect of retreating to the ‘wilderness’ of a provincial park. Just in case there is someone out there thinking that this might be a good idea, let’s look at why (in my opinion) it is not.

The first ‘pro’ that was raised around the campfire that night was the isolation. While in the event of a major crisis, it might be a very good idea to get out of the cities, thinking that tens of thousands of other Manitobans that regularly visit the parks won’t have the same idea is naïve. You’ll be isolated all right, along with thousands of others with the same idea. Which brings me to part two of that idea: Most of the parks in Manitoba aren’t really isolated. There are good roads or even highways to most of them, as well as communities nearby that service the tourist trade. There are some parks that are hard to get to, but they are mostly in the northern reaches of Manitoba, with fewer resources.

The second problem concerns non- natural resources such as medicines, tools, ammunition and so forth. As discussed in my last post, sooner or later you’ll be looking at running out of something, and the likelihood of being able to buy, trade or make what it is you lack is even slimmer in the provincial parks than in many other locations. So assuming you get the isolation you were looking for (unlikely) you aren’t too liable to find too many others to trade with for resources. And if the more likely scenario of having thousands head for the hills occurs, what resources there are will quickly vanish with no way to replenish them. You’re screwed either way.

Yet another problem is the idea of using natural resources. At least one person around the fire that night was convinced that they could live off the land in the unspoiled wilderness. This is perhaps the most enduring fallacy of survivalist thought. The fact is, it’s not that easy even where game is abundant. It takes a lot of time, skill and physical effort to sustain a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, and even if I wanted to try it, a provincial park is the last place I’d like to attempt it. Generally, the more southern parks tend to be pretty heavily managed and manicured, mostly bare of larger game, and what little there is would be quickly hunted out. The same goes for the smaller creatures.

Even gathering plants would be iffy. While there are many useful plants in Manitoba, most of them don’t produce an appreciable amount of food energy versus the effort and time it takes to obtain and process them. It’s going to take a whole lot of burdock or cattail root to keep you from starving to death, and even then, they are available only during certain seasons.

I can hear some of you say that you plan to garden when you get set up. Even that can be a difficult proposition as many parks contain unique environments that are just not well suited to growing crops. And what will you be eating as you wait for your garden to grow? What if it fails?

I don’t want to discourage anyone from wilderness retreating, but a dose of reality is needed. Provincial parks are what city folk think of as wilderness. Even rural and farm dwellers really have little idea what wilderness is really like. In reality, the paths are few, the resources hard to obtain and the living far from easy in most unspoiled wilderness.

If living in the woods were that easy, humanity would not have invented agriculture and the technologies to go with it. We wouldn’t need communities or social groups. We’d all be a bunch of modern day Jeremiah Johnsons living the good life. Truth is, the mountain men were dependent on society for markets for their goods and as a source of supplies. And they died from accident, disease, starvation and conflict at a far higher per capita rate than many others.

Don’t get the idea that I’m discouraging people from finding isolated areas to which to retreat, or from planning on hunting, fishing and gathering as activities to supplement their food stores. I think it’s a good idea. What isn’t a good idea is to think a provincial park is the place to do so, or that they can rely on resources in the countryside to take the place of proper preparations now, especially the stockpiling of food.

If you must have your woodland fantasy of a cabin by a lake in the deep woods, fine. Just make sure that the cabin is stuffed full of your preps.

The Colony Season 2

2010-10-05T18:36:00.000-07:00

I’ve just watched the final episode of the second season of The Colony on the Discovery Channel. It repeats its format of isolating a group of people (see picture) and asking them to deal with the aftermath of a simulated catastrophic event, in this case a deadly viral outbreak. It is what is termed an immersive experiment, where the ‘reality’ is present 24/7. Almost all of the individuals come to regard the simulation as reality, to a greater or lesser degree.

This season is different than the last one in that the participants have a much larger area to deal with. They are put near the coast of Louisiana in a supposed safe area by a fictional disaster relief agency, and told to cope until further help arrives. The area is largely ruinous, but there are some ‘seeded’ resources and plenty of abandoned buildings in which to poke around.

As in the first series, there are outsiders that attack and harass the group, and I was rather surprised with the level of physical violence allowed. People got thrown around, shot at and entangled by net guns and at least two members of the group were pepper sprayed. There was also an abduction that was very traumatic for the individual captured.

While watching the group build nifty projects like wind generators is fun, the important thing to watch for is the psychology of the cast. You can watch the effect on and the group’s attempt to control a less than stable member. You’ll see a supposedly solid group member abandon the group at the first opportunity. As I said in my review of the first season, the ability to lead and to handle internal conflict might be the single most important skill you possess. The psychological makeup of a group will have much more to do with its survival than equipment or skills.

As a side note, it is interesting that the youngest participant is 22, the oldest in his seventies. I think both extremes of age did very well in the experiment, for the most part.

Other points that get driven home: Starvation is faster than you think. The experiment lasts about fifty days, and almost all of the people involved lose a significant amount of weight, one of them losing 38 pounds! It’s a great reminder that food has to be a priority, and that living off of the land is far harder than it seems, especially in urban and semi-urban environments. Had they not been started off with a certain amount of food, I doubt they would have made it.

It also makes the point that people try to be security minded, but most people in a survival situation cannot spare the time or labour to keep themselves safe. A late comer to the group is an ex-recon marine/sniper. He observes the group for several weeks before joining, living in the same smallish area without being spotted! As a way of introducing himself, he walks unnoticed into the group’s encampment, sticks a knife with a message on it into a board and walks out almost before he is noticed.

One note of unreality is the absence of firearms of any kind. In a real life situation, it is almost certain that there would be firearms present, and most of the confrontations portrayed in the show would have resulted in the death or wounding of many individuals. I think that the viewer has to keep that in mind as they watch the show, and draw lessons accordingly, at least from a security standpoint.

Another point of unreality is the skill mix that the participants have. That said, the show is a useful tool, if only as something to get you started on thinking about your own situation.

An Uncomfortable Subject

2010-09-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

When should you loot? Or more palatably, when should you salvage? It’s a little discussed topic in the preparedness world, though almost all of us think about it. Most of the talk and too much of the thought is confined to shooting down the theoretical Rawlesian Golden Horde as they try to seize supplies from those that have prepared for whatever disaster occurs. That said we all realize that at some point we may find ourselves in an extreme situation, and in the case of a big enough crisis, taking goods that are not legally ours may need to be considered. We might well be part of that horde.

The fact is that in a sustained crisis, where the flow of food and manufactured goods might be interrupted for many months or years rather than days, weeks or a few months, you’re going to run out of something you desperately need. The methods you have to obtain that something are these: make, grow, trade…or loot/salvage.

The problem is that you can’t make some things, such as AA batteries. I very much doubt that there will be any for sale or trade either after a few months. So is it okay to loot the AA batteries out of the smoke detectors in an abandoned office building? Is it dependent on whether you want to keep your cool little flashlight working or if that is what you must have to keep your Steripen functioning to supply safe water for your kids?

Then there are things you can’t grow here in Manitoba. Citrus fruits are a good example. If you’re out of Vitamin C and scurvy is rearing it’s ugly head, is it OK to smash the vending machine in the employee’s lounge in that same office building to get at a few cans of 5-Alive or V8?

One can always hope to trade for what you need. I believe that ad hoc marketplaces will spring up pretty quickly, in fact. The trouble is that these will likely deal in goods that are relatively plentiful, otherwise there would be no surplus to trade. The likelihood of finding Amoxicillin, decent painkillers or ammunition will be pretty slim after a while. Since these sorts of high tech goods cannot be made or grown either, you are left with a choice: Do without or loot (or salvage if you prefer).

Sooner or later, unless you and yours are sitting on an honest-to-god mountain of supplies, you will likely face this choice. What you decide is up to you. For myself, I’ll loot if I absolutely must. It’s not a decision I’ve made easily or lightly. My fervent hope is that I have prepared well enough or that the duration of any crisis is short enough that I will not be forced into it.

The reality is that if a crisis is deep enough or long enough, sooner or later I’ll likely be searching abandoned homes for a few Tylenol or a forgotten can of beans. I’ll eventually find myself in that abandoned gas station looking for a patch kit for a tire, or a battery with a charge left in it. I don’t like to think of myself scavenging on the remnants, but I’ll do it if I have to keep myself and my family going. And you need to decide now whether you will or will not scavenge before you have a need to do it.

If you’ve decide to scavenge rather than, to quote Heinlein: “starve like a gentleman”, you need to think about when it is ‘right’ to do so, and what the parameters are going to be. Is it OK to root through the neighbour’s house after they’ve piled everything they can into the car and headed for the hills? How about the batteries and V8 mentioned earlier? Are the abandoned public buildings or businesses in the pool of potential sites? What about gas and batteries in abandoned vehicles and the contents therein? Will you go so far as to loot corpses?

How long will you wait to begin searching? Leave it too late, you may find nothing left. Start too early, the remnants of the civil powers will most likely execute you on the spot. And in between, you’ll be competing with others every bit as desperate as you are for the ever diminishing amount of resources.

It’s not a comfortable subject, but it’s one you need to think about now, not later. Figure out now what level you’re willing to go to for survival. Better yet, use the idea of having to do this to think about exactly what ‘must have’ would send you out into the streets. Is it little Suzy’s asthma medications? Vitamins to fend off deficiency diseases like scurvy? Or something else entirely? Double or triple stock them from your current levels!

If that isn’t possible, consider stocking something as a barter item. Booze and tobacco are likely safest and easiest, but if you have the ability to stockpile something that others likely cannot, consider doing so as a trade good, even if you feel it is unnecessary for you or your group. It’s not a sure thing, but having something to trade might get you the last of what it is you need.

There’s no foolproof way to avoid what I’ve described, but thorough prepping now will reduce the need to do so later if the situation arises.

Morons and moneymakers

2010-09-10T09:48:00.001-07:00

One of the things I hate about the present surge in the survivalist environment is the huge number of unscrupulous ***holes trying to make a buck off of the worried folk out there trying to do their level best for their families. These folk are scum.

Almost as bad are the morons that see a conspiracy behind every tree. It drives me nuts when I see blog after blog posting about vast government conspiracies to cull the population, or herd them into camps, or confiscate their guns, or make the UN world government overlords or…. well, you get the idea.

Normally, I wouldn’t give a shit what the crazies yapped about. As long as they stay holed up in their remote Idaho retreats fathering more inbred kids on their sisters as they imagine themselves as some sort of neo-feudal baron after TEOTWAWKI.

Oh, and did I mention that they like to talk in acronyms like TEOTWAWKI and say things like: “ When the Schumer hits the fan”. Gosh golly, I bet they’ve even got secret handshakes and Captain Billy Whizz-Bang secret decoder rings as well.

So what is the harm in some extremist ass detailing his fantasies on the Internet? The problem is that these people marginalize what is a serious topic. They make it either laughable or pathetic. Survivalists (or Preppers if you must use the term now that the other word has so much baggage attached.) are regarded as alarmist eccentrics at best and dangerous loonies at worst.

Again, why care? People like me have put up with the flack for years and years, and prepare anyway, regardless of public opinion. It’s not going to change my mind.

I care because I think we’re in a really bad place as a civilization. I think we are seeing the results of some of our choices as a society come home to roost, such as global warming, and peak oil. I think we’re more vulnerable as individuals than ever before, because we are more global than ever before and rely on far away people and places for many of our daily needs.

In short, I think that the likelihood of a serious shift in society, and all the hardship that entails, is closer and more possible than at any time since the end of the Second World War. And I believe more people need to prepare for it than ever before.

The morons make this a lot harder to get across. And we need to get it across to people. Any prepper thinking they’ll survive in splendid isolation is wrong. You might live a long time, but nothing will survive you. No legacy, no great works, no better community, no fresh start. You need people, and lots of them, to rebuild civilization.

We need communities.

Civilization has come a long way in the last 20,000 years. Let’s not lose it all.

Rockin'

2010-09-08T19:44:00.000-07:00

Saw an interesting article on Yahoo News:

(http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20100908/sc_space/2asteroidstozoombetweenearthandthemoonsorbit)

Those two asteroids mentioned in the article zipped close by the Earth today (September 8th, 2010) and may have been visible in telescopes as they zipped closer to our planet than the moon is to us on average (roughly 238,900 miles or 384,402 km). We were missed by both, one passing us by at a distance of 154,000 miles (248,000 km), the other at a range of 49,000 miles (79,000 km). For comparison purposes, it is interesting to note that the Earth’s diameter is around 7,926 miles (12,756 km).

Interestingly enough, they passed by only about 11 hours apart. The first is the larger of the two, at about 33 to 65 feet wide (10 to 20 meters). The smaller of the pair is estimated at 20 to 46 feet wide (6 to 14 meters). Really, this is nothing unusual. To quote the article:
“A 33-foot (10-meter) wide near-Earth object, one of the some 50 million unknown asteroids estimated to exist, would be expected to pass between the Earth and orbit of the moon every day, according to NASA asteroid trackers. Such an asteroid could hit Earth's atmosphere once every 10 years, they added.”

The crater in the picture at the top of the page was created about 50,000 years ago. It is Ballinger Meteor Crater, located in Arizona.
The object that excavated the crater was a nickel/iron meteorite about 162 feet (50 meters) across, somewhere between twice and five times the size of our first visitor. Recent thought is that it had an impact speed of 28,600 mph (12.8 kilometers per second). Of the meteor’s estimated 330,000 tons (300,000 metric tons) about half was vaporized during its descent, the majority of the rest at impact.
The result was a crater 4,000 feet (1200 meters) in diameter, 570 feet (170 meters) deep encircled by a rim that rises 150 feet (45 meters) above the surrounding ground level. The energy released by the impact is estimated as ‘low’ as 15 megatons and as high as 40 megatons. There seems to be no geographical record remaining of whatever devastation it caused or how big of an area was affected. But we can guess from other events.

The last major recorded event approaching this force was the 1908 Tunguska event at 10-15 megatons, thought to be caused by a meteoroid exploding 3 to 6 miles (5 to 10 kilometers) above the earth’s surface. There are various estimates of its size, but at most, it was a few tens of meters across. The shock wave was powerful enough to knock down an estimated 80 million trees over 2,150 square kilometers (830 sq mi). A Tunguska sized event is supposed to happen every 300 years on average.

These meteoric air bursts occur pretty regularly, and are often recorded by satellites. Most are very high up, and the meteorite fairly small. The last one I read of was in the Sudan, and was thought to have strength of not much more than 2 kilotons. Three or four kilograms of it was actually found. Not much you can do to stop this sort of thing, but it’s an interesting exercise to think what the consequences are of one hitting in or even fairly near a major center of population. It would likely make Katrina look like a cakewalk.

It’s a dangerous universe out there, isn’t it, kiddies? I think I’ll take my patented Acme Asteroid Umbrella to work today………

7000+ books to help you survive.

2010-08-31T07:47:00.000-07:00

I recently downloaded a bit torrent of that name. It had engineering, survival, medical, gardening, physics, and chemistry books all in pdf form. I looked through them and for a start; I think the count was far short of 7,000. It was more like 1,000 or so, to be generous. After looking at the titles and reading a bit of a few of them, I dumped all but three or four. The rest of those books were useless to me.

Why they were useless came down to a whole lot of reasons. The first reason was duplication. Of the books in the survival category, I had seen all but one small pamphlet previously. The sad fact is that much of the same information (and often disinformation) churns around endlessly on the internet. Once you’ve done a bit of research, you’ll find the same old stuff popping up over and over.

Many of them were useless because they were military manuals. While the military does produce much good information, knowing how to set up anti-aircraft artillery in the mountains is going to be of very limited use to me here on the prairies. Additionally, many of the manuals refer to equipment and weapons I’ll likely never possess. So the care and feeding of the M1 Abrams tank is not really a relevant subject.

Many others were useless due to their age. While I might someday have time to master early 1800’s level chemistry, I doubt that it will be either quick or easy. Trying to reproduce the equipment mentioned, learning the names of things and ingredients, and master the techniques of an archaic manual will be time consuming, frustrating and likely dangerous. Not to mention that some of the knowledge is just plain wrong or hazardous. We no longer see arsenic as a medical ingredient, for example.

That is not to say that all of the books I looked at were archaic. In the medical section there were dozens of up to date texts, full of excellent information. What good that book on radiology is to me without the X-ray, CAT, or MRI scanners, I don’t know. Perhaps I can develop X-ray vision if I squint hard enough. Even many basic procedures refer to equipment I’ll likely not have.

That was the issue with many of the books in the medical, engineering, chemistry and physics sections. They were useless without modern plants and the equipment they contain. There is no use having the pdf. for a Machinist’s Handbook without the lathe to go along with it.

Finally there was the issue of size. Yes, size does matter, especially when it comes to information. Many of these texts were well over 500 pages long. Some books were even longer. The ability of a person to absorb and retain useful knowledge from even one lengthy book is limited, never mind several hundred. While I believe preppers are smart people, I think most of us have our hands full with the basics, plus trying to develop a bit of expertise in one or two other areas.

Finally, I have issues with electronically stored information. You might be a genius able to build a generator out of an eggbeater and a bit of copper wire if only you could read up on it, but it does you no good if you can’t access the information because EMP has fried your computer or the power grid is down. Sadly, printing out and storing hundreds of books that are each hundreds of pages long isn’t a reasonable option for most of us.

My advice is to not worry about having ALL of the information. Make sure you have good BASIC texts (on paper!) for gardening, cooking and canning, medical, and whatever other areas you feel are really essential. Don’t bother trying to amass a bunch of useless knowledge that is dependent on our present highly complex and interdependent society. DON”T try to become Heinlein’s superman, you just don’t have time enough to learn everything about everything. DO try to develop one or two skills that you can barter for other skills, but don’t go crazy.

Most of all, remember that beyond a certain point, reading and thinking about preparedness is NOT getting you prepared for anything. Get away from the computer and do what you’ve read about. Learn how to use a compass, practice some carpentry, get practical experience in gardening, take a course and store some supplies. You have enough information to do that right now!

Revelations 6: verses 5-6

2010-08-20T20:04:00.000-07:00

I’m not religious, but the imagery is appropriate...

If you read a lot of news, you’ll likely know that Russia is banning the export of wheat for the remainder of 2010. The Russians have lost at least 20% of their crop, and are ensuring that there is no homegrown shortage. As Gwynne Dyer wrote in a recent column about this: “If anybody starves, it won't be Russians.” At least, not yet.

I believe that we are likely at the maximum population that our agricultural capacity can carry. It’s likely that without heavy inputs of fertilizers, water, and pesticides that we are far exceeding what the planet can actually feed. Global warming or not, we’ve seen how vulnerable our food supply is to the weather.
Here in Manitoba, a bumper crop around Portage La Prairie has seen upwards of four inches of rain on it in places. If you get just the wrong breaks, that crop might rot in the fields. Add that to the smallest acreage of wheat seeded on the Prairies this spring since 1971, and you have the potential of another major exporter limiting its exports.

The ‘reserve’ of wheat around the world is now about 50 days, down from three times that not that long ago. It would not take too much more bad weather or failed harvests to shrink that number further. Indeed, it may shrink anyway as the world population continues to increase. So what is the bottom line for you?

Right now, likely nothing at all. Oh, you might wind up paying a bit more (or a lot more) for flour and products made with them. There might be food riots in faraway places like Mexico or Pakistan, but nothing like that here. Life will likely trundle along without much notice of the increasingly thinner margins that are developing between the plenty we still enjoy, and the famine that much of the rest of the world endures periodically.

So as you butter your toast, bite on that bagel, or chow down on that bowl of Chocolate-Frosted Sugar Bombs, give some thought to the future. Maybe an extra bag of flour in the larder isn’t such a bad thing. It might just keep one horseman from your door.

Link to the Dyer article I quoted. A worthwhile read:

http://vueweekly.com/front/story/grain_wars/

Awful August

2010-08-18T20:51:00.000-07:00

A horrid vacation plus a total computer meltdown has kept me offline for a couple of weeks...my apologies, and new posts soon!

Electronic Armageddon

2010-08-02T14:05:00.000-07:00

National Geographic’s Electronic Armageddon is an interesting watch. It is a good starting point for those wanting to learn about EMP, both natural and manmade. There is a lot of good basic science in the program, but nothing that a person of average intelligence can’t handle.

The program covers the likely effects of an EMP event, and does a reasonably good job of explaining the consequences. It gives you a good idea of just how pervasive the microprocessor has become in all areas of our society, and how dependent we are on those tiny circuit boards to keep running. Especially interesting is the brief examination of its use in the food processing industries.

The focus of the program in my opinion is with the effects on the power grid, and the consequences of its loss. It is pointed out that many areas we humans inhabit would likely become untenable. The example given is Las Vegas, but Manitobans would do well to think about how they might fare if they lost power during one of the harsh winters we endure. I doubt all million or so of us have alternate heating sources!

For me, the most interesting part of the show was the statement that one in ten vehicles would stop running. Typically, the ‘expert’ survivalists would have you believe that you are back to the horse and buggy once an EMP hits, and this isn’t the case it seems, although the program shows a simulation where almost all cars are out of service. It’s an internal inconsistency that no one seemed to notice.

This information that vehicles seem to be less vulnerable than once thought has been around for a while. In fact, the 2008 report of the EMP commission in the US (link here) detailed the results of its testing on vehicles subjected to a simulated EMP pulse. It seems to indicate that EMP is not necessarily certain vehicular death.

What does that mean for you? Is the family sedan certain to run? Is it still necessary to equip yourself with that pre-microchip pickup truck? I wish I knew for sure. You can’t ignore the fact that your vehicle might be one of the one in ten damaged and unusable. The best thing to do is read the report (follow the link above) and decide what is best for you in your particular situation.

What seems to be certain is this: If there are major infrastructure failures and supply dislocations, the majority of people are quite likely to be more mobile and able to travel far greater distances in search of the necessities of life than previously thought. The isolated retreat is less isolated, and the safe distance from a major urban area is now orders of magnitude greater. This should have a big impact on your survival planning.

But watch the show…you’ll like it.

Basics

2010-07-25T13:31:00.000-07:00

A lot of space on too many blogs is devoted to creating exhaustive lists of absolutely necessary (according to the author of same) gear that you must obtain to have even a slim hope of survival. While it might be nice to be a well-to-do über-prepper sitting in your fortified retreat atop your mountain of supplies, it isn’t going to happen for the vast majority of us. Not ever.

In fact, I’ve come to believe that many of these lists and the survival sites promulgating them have a negative effect on those people that are tentatively finding their way into the world of survival and preparedness. Many people are simply overwhelmed with the items and quantities they are supposed to obtain, and are defeated before they are fairly begun.

What follows is yet another shopping list. The difference is that this one is short, inexpensive to obtain for the most part, and fits in a backpack. It doesn’t guarantee that you’ll survive, but it will shift the odds in your favour.

3 large contractor grade garbage bags (one clear plastic) - you can make everything from shelters to sleeping bags with these. The clear bag is for obtaining water by transpiration.

100’ parachute cord (or – 50’ cord/50’ nylon rope) - for tying stuff up or together…like a shelter.

Emergency space blanket - Get the heavier reusable version if you can.

Metal cup for cooking - Or a small aluminum pot, whatever works for you, plus utensils.

Water bottle(s) - a place to keep water you’ve treated.

Lighter + matches and fire starter/ tinder - multiple lighters, matches in a waterproof case.

2 candles - couple of tea lights, or some pink ladies.

Knife (fixed blade) - a good, sturdy, multipurpose blade. Avoid Rambo knives.

Whistle - a signaling device

Compass and Map - generally only useful if you’ve actually practiced using them.

Flashlight (or Headlamp) - I like the shake & charge flashlights or wind & charge types.

Med kit - Don’t forget your personal meds.

Disposable poncho - generally cheap and one use, but if you can’t afford better, get several. It’s easier to stay dry than to get dry.

Sunglasses - Surprisingly necessary in all seasons.

Sunscreen & insect repellent - Makes life merely miserable instead of unbearable in sunny & buggy locales.

Sewing kit - Take twice what you think you’ll require. You’ll wind up needing it.

Paper money and coins - Surprisingly useful in obtaining necessary goods, even in a crisis. Not infallible.

Multi-tool or Swiss army knife - Both if you can afford the money and weight, but one at least.

Can opener - Get a P-38 style one, nothing simpler or lighter out there.

Snare wire - Essential force multiplier

Flexible / collapsible saw - I like the collapsible saw option. Better all round, but more expensive.

Energy bars / dehydrated food - As much as you can afford and stuff into your pack. Look for high nutritional value and low weight.

Water / Water treatment - lots of options, from filters to chemicals - and you always have boiling as an option. Always carry or store as much water as practical.

There you go. If you’ve got that much in a back pack, and a back pack for each person, you’re likely miles ahead of the neighbours. You can add to it as you see fit, and expand your prepping as you are able to do so and see a need for. Do what you can afford, and don’t let the ‘professional’ preppers intimidate you and keep you from doing what you should do to be a bit more prepared.

Singing in the Rain

2010-07-20T21:56:00.000-07:00

Usually I hesitate to recommend that people lay out a lot of bucks on high tech gear, much as I love the stuff. Generally, there is a cheaper or simpler alternative to cutting edge equipment. But in this case I’m going to make an exception. I’m going to recommend a piece of gear I own and have used quite a bit, given the year we've had with the weather here in Manitoba.

The item in question is the Integral Designs Silponcho Tarp. This nifty bit of kit is a poncho made out of silnylon. Silnylon is a fabric made by impregnating a thinly woven nylon fabric with liquid silicone from both sides. The resulting fabric is lightweight, waterproof, and because of the silicone, the nylon is much strengthened making it more resistant to tearing.

The weight is ridiculously low at 280 grams ( a bit over ½ pound) and when rolled into it’s stuff sack, it is not much bigger than a hiker’s water bottle. The poncho covers you from head to knees, and unlike most ponchos I’ve seen , keeps your arms dry due to its width. It snaps together at waist and thighs, and has a drawstring hood. An added bonus is the shockcord on the bottom edge that allows you to snug the poncho around your pack. Did I mention that the poncho is big enough to cover your pack, allowing you to lose the weight of a pack cover?

The poncho has a second use. There are a dozen nylon loops around the edges of this poncho. Given that it is 1.5 meters by 2.4 meters in size, it is large enough to set up as an awning to cover an eating space, or it can be set up in a variety of ways as a shelter. Just remember to flop the hood face down!!

The only downside is the price, a hefty $73 CDN. I personally think this is worth the money. Shelter is important in a survival situation, and this item allows you to be carrying shelter or at least an important part of a shelter for little weight or space penalty. As a poncho, it will keep you dry, and as many survival experts will tell you, it’s easier to stay dry than get dry.

Further, it takes up so little space it is easy to fit into a bug out bag, or to carry in the car in case of emergencies. It is available from the integral Designs website, or from MEC.

and the winner is...

2010-07-10T19:52:00.000-07:00

Last week we discussed alternatives to the traditional G.O.O.D. vehicle and noted the strengths and weaknesses of each. This week, as promised, we will look at what are likely the most versatile bug-out vehicles of all. In my opinion, such as it is, these are the most flexible options available.

The first of those options is the horse. Humans have used horses nearly as long as we have had anything we can call civilization, and in fact, the horse is largely responsible for our success as a species. The ability to use the horse as personal transportation and for haulage has been pivotal in the success or lack of it in any number of societies.

The horse certainly has its weaknesses as a method of bugging out. It requires accommodation near you, it can fall prey to disease, theft, hunger and thirst. It requires skill to handle, train, ride and care for, and it and its gear can be expensive to acquire and maintain. They are also quite large. Not as large as an SUV, perhaps, but certainly harder to hide than a person. But then there are no perfect bug-out vehicles, are there?

There are quite a few strengths to consider as well. Primary among these is mobility. I strongly feel that having the ability to get off of the roads, both large and small, is paramount to a successful bug-out. The stealthier you can be and the farther you can stay from others will determine how quickly and safely you can get where you’re going. As well, a horse can go where no vehicle could ever hope to be. Rivers, steep slopes, swamp, deep snow, and forest are all navigable by a horse to a far greater extent than any vehicle.

The second advantage of the horse is fuel. All vehicles are limited by the amount of fuel available to run them. A horse is self-fueling on the landscape around it for much of the year. Even in winter, there is vegetation to be found under the snow, and grain can be carried as a supplement.

By the way, your horse will still start after a natural or man-made EMP. Also, you can’t eat an SUV if you’re starving….

Another advantage is load capacity. While the horse is a large and strong animal, it has a smaller load capacity than most people think. Most equine experts recommend that horses not carry a load equivalent to more than 25% of their body weight. This means that a larger riding horse of 500-600 kg (1100-1300 pounds) shouldn’t be required to carry more than about 150kg (330 pounds) for any length of time. That might seem like a small load, but if that load is you and 50 kg (110 pounds) of gear, that’s not bad at all. That is at least as good as a bicycle, and maybe better.

That load can be increased if a cart or wagon is employed. The horse will be able to pull three or four times what it could carry, making for a very respectable payload. The vehicle is relatively simple to maintain and repair, and is nearly as reliable as the horse itself. However, the increased payload comes with a tradeoff in mobility, which might make it a less appealing option.

Horses are a relatively quick mode of travel. While they don’t walk all that much quicker than humans, a trotting or cantering horse is significantly faster, and at a gallop reaching 40 to 50 kph (25 to 30 mph), there is no comparison. And speed, combined with the ability to avoid the more traveled routes might make the difference between making it to your refuge in good time, or not making it at all.

Those are just the high points, and before you jump on this option, do a LOT of research, and ensure you have all the necessary skills required.

The final bug-out vehicle is you. Over the centuries, humans have proved that they can cover amazing distances, navigate the most inhospitable environments and difficult terrains, travel through almost any weather from blizzard to blistering heat, are stealthy, reasonably fast (12 to 20 miles a day is not uncommon among seasoned hikers), and keep going when food, water and hope are all but exhausted.

Our main weakness is that we can’t carry a lot. When you limit it to a sustainable 25% of bodyweight, it means a 90-kilogram (200 pound) man is carrying only about 22 kilograms (fifty pounds) of load. That’s not a lot, especially if you are carrying shelter, weapons, clothing, and medicine besides water and food. And the smaller the person, the lighter the load.

Again, like the horse, you can get around that by pulling or pushing a cart, or pulling a pulk in the winter. And like the horse, it can negate your primary advantage, mobility. The lack of capacity can be negated somewhat by pre-positioning supplies in caches, or by being very careful in what you carry. With a little forethought, a week of food can be carried. Hikers on the West Coast Trail do it all the time.

So there you have a number of alternatives to the traditional SUV bug-out vehicle. Whether you have that and stick to it, or perhaps have or will select one or more of the alternatives I’ve mentioned is up to you. The main thing here is to select, using your best judgment, the method you think has the highest probability of success for you and yours.

Don’t let me or anyone else convince you we know best. Think about your own situation, make a decision, and act. Oh, and have a Plan B to get out. Just in case.

Alternatives

2010-07-01T18:09:00.000-07:00

Let’s continue our discussion of bugging out. Previously, we listed the reasons why the usual bug out vehicle (typically a 4WD SUV or truck) was far from a sure bet to get you to your safe haven. We’ll look at alternatives to the classic bug out vehicle, and you’ll notice everything is smaller than an SUV, as everything that size or bigger has the same problems.

First, we have the motorcycle. For me, this vehicle still possesses most of the disadvantages of its four tired cousins, and sacrifices the major advantage. The motorcycle is still subject to needing fuel and decent roads for the most part, is subject to breakdown, and lacks cargo capacity and inherent stability. That said, it is more maneuverable than a car, can possibly negotiate routes blocked by traffic or debris, and might get you to your haven faster than anything else. Still, it wouldn’t be top of my list.

Next up is the ubiquitous four-wheeler. Made by a variety of manufacturers, they are all touted as off road vehicles that can get you where you need to go. To a certain extent, this is true. The machines tend to be light, agile, and small enough to go where you’d never get to in a car or truck. That said, they are no handier in thick brush than anything else, are as stopped by deep water as easily as a bigger vehicle, and are subject to your range being limited by fuel. They have the advantage of being able to carry a goodly amount of gear, and tow even more on a trailer. This might be my choice if I had a secluded off road route I had reconnoitered beforehand and knew was passable for this type of machine.

These vehicles also come in a light truck style with a small cargo bed. This might be worth looking at as well. Regardless of style, the four-wheeler must give way to the snowmobile in winter.

Snowmobiles are the off road recreational vehicle of choice for many Manitobans and a working vehicle for many more. They are likely the speediest way to bug out in the winter, and have all of the advantages of the four-wheeler. The snowmobile can maneuver across country in conditions that will stop almost every other vehicle dead, or limit them at the very least to maintained roads. The ability to tow cargo sleds is important, as carrying shelter, fuel, food, and other supplies will be of paramount importance in a winter bug-out.

Again, they are limited by terrain to an extent, although less so than most of the fairer weather choices. The main problem I have with these is the distressingly high breakdown rate when used hard.

There are other specialized motorized vehicles that may or may not make a good choice of bug out vehicle. Getting your hands on a Flex-Track might be ideal for some preppers’ purposes, or a railway capable vehicle might be just the ticket for others. These options would be situation specific, and a highly individual choice. So let’s move on to the only non- motorized vehicle worthy of consideration.

The venerable bicycle is the obvious choice. The motor is you, the fuel something you consume anyway, and your ability to repair mechanical breakdowns is high. The cargo capacity can be quite amazing all things considered. The Viet Cong moved massive loads by bicycle during the Viet Nam war, and while you might prefer to ride rather than walk pushing a bike loaded with hundreds of pounds of stuff, your cargo capacity is not bad, considering. Panniers front and back, frame and handlebar bags, a backpack for you and a trailer for the bike allow a decent if not overwhelming cargo capacity.

Limitations are the need for at least some sort of trail, lower cargo capacity than other options, and a lack of speed. Crossing water is still a problem, but solvable by either preparation or pre-positioning (I know one person that has an inflatable raft cached at a likely crossing point!). Bicycles are pretty much out of the picture for winter, as well.

You’ll notice I haven’t included aircraft. While the ability, financial and otherwise, to get a pilot’s license is beyond a lot of us and the possibility of owning our own aircraft is an option open to even fewer, it is not my primary reason for discarding it. The likelihood of getting to it, and then being allowed to even take off seems iffy in a major crisis. But again, it may be a solution for a few in specific circumstances. Of course, there is the flying car option (see pic above).

Likewise, I’ve ignored watercraft of all types. I believe you are too restricted in your path, too exposed to hostile intent, and since many cities and towns founded on rivers, too much like having to bug out multiple times. Again, this situation I feel applies to the majority, and may have exceptions. It’s up to you. The purpose of this article is to make you think about what's best for you, not rule anything out.

Next, we’ll look at two of the best bug out vehicles available!

Wheels and Reality

2010-06-22T13:40:00.000-07:00

Almost every other column or article on survival seems to concern the bug-out vehicle. If it’s not what constitutes the perfect bug out vehicle, then the article is about the perfect load for the vehicle, the perfect accessories, or the perfect plan on how to get into it and get out. All good as far as it goes.

The problem is that the chances of a successful vehicular bug-out involving a longish distance from one area to another area are pretty iffy at best. These plans always seem to assume that the writer and his merry band, jaws firmly set, will manage whatever small inconveniences that occur to arrive safely at their destination. Unfortunately for those that will need to leave a major urban center, this isn’t likely. Let’s look at the reasons why:

Vehicle Failure: Whether a blown piston, EMP, or simply one too many flats from broken glass and rubble, the possibility of your bug-out vehicle letting you down is significant. You can reduce the chances of failure by keeping your vehicle well maintained and having a certain amount of spares and tools on board, but you can’t eliminate it.

Lack of Fuel: This to me is a high probability scenario. Fuel shortages might make it impossible to have enough fuel on hand. If you do have fuel, traffic jams that have you crawling along wasting fuel and unplanned detours can conspire to make what seemed like a surplus of fuel into a shortage. Obtaining more along the route will be exorbitantly expensive, if not impossible. Seem unlikely? Just look at the evacuation of New Orleans to see all of the above in action.

Infrastructure Destruction: If the route to your safe haven crosses even one potentially fallen bridge, one underpass that may be flooded, one road along a hillside that might be buried by avalanche or swept away in a mudslide, you can be stopped dead. We forget that our vehicles depend on carefully prepared and maintained roads to function. The next time you drive anywhere, imagine the bridges you cross are down, the underpasses are blocked, the pavement heaved or washed away. Imagine your route blocked bumper to bumper and side to side with abandoned cars. How would you proceed?

Weather: In all of that post-apocalypse fiction did you ever notice how the end of the world is always in the warm, dry summer? How about if it comes during a January blizzard? In Manitoba, the possibility of having to make it from point A to point B in bad weather is pretty good. What happens to you if your vehicle is stuck in the snow and out of gas five miles from your destination in -30C? What happens to your supplies if you have to leave them in your vehicle in sight of a main road because the dirt road to your safe zone is a sea of mud because of rain?

Government Action: In a crisis, governments will do their best to control the situation. Often, this will result in curfews or bans on travel into or out of certain areas. Vehicles, perhaps yours, might be requisitioned by emergency services or police, and items seen as hazardous to the public good, such as firearms, might be confiscated. A vehicle loaded to the max with goods might make you look like a looter to an overworked cop, and there is a possibility that you might be arrested and held until the authorities ‘sort it out’. Perhaps your goods and vehicle might even still be there when they let you out, if it’s not too late by then.

Civil Disorder: While I’m not a ‘Golden Horde’ fantasist, the likelihood of some opportunistic crime and looting taking place in the wake of a really big disaster is almost certain. Being caught in a riot and having your vehicle disabled, or being ambushed and robbed of everything you own are possible scenarios. The greater the scale of the crisis, and the longer it continues, the greater the chance of civil unrest.

So there are just a few ways you might wind up without your carefully prepared and stocked bug-out vehicle. Not that I’m advocating that you should abandon a plan involving a vehicular bug-out. Just that that you are not assured of making it where you need to be by driving. You need to have a plan B. And maybe a Plan C as well. Next we’ll look at Plan B and the alternatives to the bug-out vehicle.

Review: The Alaska Experiment

2010-06-16T18:25:00.000-07:00

I can’t say I’ve seen Season One of this program yet. In fact, if not for a passing reference on another website, I’d never have heard of it at all. The first season is titled The Alaska Experiment; the second season is called Out of the Wild: The Alaska Experiment (obviously an unsubtle but deserved shot at C. McCandles). I have watched Season Two, and I have to say, it is worth a watch for anyone seriously interested in survival and the psychology thereof.

The premise for the second series is this: Nine people are put through a three day survival course, set down in the wilderness of Alaska, given a variety of equipment, and made to walk some 50 miles or so to civilization. None of them are survival experts, and while of course there are camera crews and safety people present, almost no assistance is given to them. They are given maps to take them from point to point, but they are not told exactly how long the journey will take.

The eight hour-long episodes are not a comprehensive guide to the techniques of surviving in the wild, although there are lessons to be drawn. The group makes good and bad choices, and sometimes the bad choices will make you wince, such as back packing a 20 pound Dutch oven and a snow shovel through the bush, or making an unnecessary climb up a steep mountain carrying very heavy packs, just to get a better look at the terrain, although they have a perfectly good map with their route marked on it.

Sometimes, it’s an error of omission, such as not making a handle for an axe head they carry, relying on a small hatchet for chopping firewood. Or not taking the time to change footwear before crossing streams, resulting in cold, wet feet.

But the main thread of the series concerns the search for food. Other than a small amount of food left at various shelters for the group, they have to provide for themselves and by and large, are unable to do so in the amount needed. The program states that in that sort of environment and doing the work that they are, the men need 4500 calories per day, and the women need 3200 calories. Almost all of the time, they are unable to get even close to this amount. The consequence of what becomes weeks of slow starvation, physically, socially, and psychologically, are eye opening.

In fact, the most interesting part of the show has to do with the psychological aspect of this experiment. Of the nine initial participants two drop out very quickly, in my opinion because they cannot integrate into the group. Others drop out later from the psychological effects of hunger and the physical toll of long term survival.

The effects of hunger, especially the lack of carbohydrates, on the participants’ abilities both mental and physical, are startling. At least one of the participants lost a pound per day through the course of their travels, and towards the end, the ability of those remaining to do even the minimum amount work necessary to stay alive is badly eroded. Even worse is the erosion of the mental strength to survive, and it is more the loss of the will to survive than the physical toll that causes the participants to drop out.

This program should be a must-see for anyone that thinks they can survive by hunting in a long term survival situation. More importantly, it should be seen by everyone that does not understand that the will to survive is paramount, and that maintaining that will is harder than you think.

Added: I’m presently watching Season One. The format is different, four stationary groups of two or three, but it looks to be just as instructive in the realm of group psychology, will to live, effects of hunger and so on. I’m going to go out on a limb and recommend this one as well, although I’ve only seen the first three episodes.

Nine Meals from Anarchy

2010-06-11T13:55:00.000-07:00

WINNIPEG - Unprecedented wet weather across the Prairies has dampened the crop forecast.
The Canadian Wheat Board said in its preliminary crop outlook released Friday that about 7.7 million hectares will be seeded to wheat — the smallest area since 1971. The barley crop is looking at its worst seeding since 1965 with about 2.7 million hectares planted.
Three million to five million hectares could go fallow this year in Western Canada because the fields are too wet, said the board.
"The excess rain has washed away the hope of seeding for many farmers," said Bruce Burnett, director of weather and market analysis.
It's been wet from southern Alberta through Saskatchewan and into eastern Manitoba. The board said the region had record wet weather from April 1 until early this week. Burnett said it was "by far and away" the wettest April and May since 1900 for the area around Saskatoon.
"This is an unprecedented event in Western Canada. Certainly in the last 40 years we haven't seen conditions over such a large area this bad," said Burnett.

full article here:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100611/business/wet_crop_outlook_2

Over the years, the world has moved towards less and less food in reserve. A little more than a decade ago, the world was estimated to have 180 days of grain in reserve. In the last few years, levels have fallen to about a third of that. It's not a situation to panic about, but consider what happens if we have a bad year worldwide....

It's food for thought, anyway.

Beyond Sticks and Stones

2010-06-10T10:43:00.000-07:00

A short while back, I posted an article on different types of primitive weapons, and why acquiring skill with at least one is a good thing. This is a continuation of that article, but instead of sticks, stones and slings, we’ll now be looking at the so-called primitive weapons that don’t depend on muscle power alone.

In reality, it is a pretty short list, but these weapons are probably the ones you should consider most seriously. They tend to be more accurate and more lethal in even minimally practiced hands than anything we’ve discussed so far. They also have the greatest probability of putting meat on the table, although there are some drawbacks.

The first weapon up for discussion is the humble slingshot. Yes, Dennis the Menace’s armament of choice is as close as you can come to an ideal ‘primitive‘ weapon, in my opinion. A commercial version is my preferred option, where the power is supplied by surgical tubing and a wrist brace is provided for a steadier shot. Accuracy is fairly easy to achieve in a short time with a reasonable amount of practice. Size and strength of the user are not an issue, unlike some weapons.

The device is light and portable, easily stowed in a pack. Ammunition can be deadly ¼” or 3/8” steel shot, or even .177 sized pellets used to create a shotgun effect. However, even a reasonable amount of practice will allow you to become very good at selecting small stones suitable as ammunition, ensuring that you never run out. If you’re careful enough in your selection, accuracy and range will be nearly as good with ‘primitive’ ammo as with the steel shot.

A decent slingshot is capable of bringing down birds as large as a duck, and animals as large as rabbits, but are pretty much useless against anything larger. They are almost silent in operation, and have an effective range of about 20 meters or so.

Since they are so quiet in operation, a ‘shot’ will not betray your presence in an area. Should it come to a situation where you need to hunt for food, this means you aren’t being advertised to others in the area, whether other game or other hunters.

It is a ridiculously inexpensive weapon, the price of slingshots ranging from ten to forty dollars, with accessories and replacement parts such as spare tubing and steel shot being dirt-cheap. I stock several spare assemblies of tubing and pouch, as well as a supply of steel shot for hunting, but the complete kit including slingshot cost me less than fifty dollars. But you needn’t think that a commercially made slingshot is the only way to go.

While the commercial models are nice, a handmade slingshot is ridiculously easy to make. A bit of surgical tubing, part of a bicycle inner tube or other elastic material supplies the needed power. Add a forked stick and a bit of material to form the pocket and you have yourself a slingshot kit. As with other primitive weapons we’ve discussed, the slingshot allows you to be armed with only basic materials and a little ingenuity. It might not be quite as good as a commercial models (no wrist brace, for example), but a little practice will allow you to make s slingshot fully capable of doing the job.

As handy as it is as a hunting weapon, it is not very worthwhile as a defensive option, despite the use of it by the IRA against the British. While a headshot might indeed stun or even kill an opponent, bringing a slingshot to a gunfight is usually just another way of showing why guns are at the top of the charts in killing people.

That aspect aside, the combination of simplicity, reliability, silence, accuracy,ease of use, lethality for small game, availability of ammunition, ease of repair and the ability of almost anyone to create one out of the simplest of materials make the slingshot a ‘primitive’ weapon everyone should consider having in their preparedness and survival plans.

Just make sure Mr. Wilson doesn’t find out you have one…

Review: Apocalypse Man(ure)

2010-06-06T13:21:00.000-07:00

For some reason, I’m hitting some programming lately of the prepare-for-the-end-of-the-world variety. I’m not sure of the reason for this ‘surge’ in interest (Hey, any wave at all on a flat pond is a surge, right?) but sadly, some of the offerings are pretty much crap. The History Channel’s Apocalypse Man sits right at the top of the heap.

We are treated to yet another ‘expert’ in survival, an ex- military type named Rudy Reyes. Over the course of the program, he proceeds to swing off of bridges, scamper through deserted buildings, and forage for scraps in the guise of teaching us useful skills for survival.

It’s hard to know where to start with reviewing this, as so much of it is contrary either to my personal philosophy (such as going into a city after a major disaster), or simply unrealistic (no bodies, no survivors). I’ll try, though.

The majority of the show features Reyes alternately sneaking about and climbing up or over something while dropping gems like: “Try not to let obstacles like this stop you…”.

Wow, there’s a revelation.

There is very little in the way of hard information in the show, and some curious omissions. One of which is that the program never shows him obtaining or purifying water that I recall. However, there is some laugh value in places. His comment about finding some cans of food in a basement (“That’s sustainability!”) had me rolling on the floor, howling with laughter.

Much of the airtime is taken up with him rigging a radio beacon, and finding diesel for an emergency generator at a hospital. The last was quite amusing, as he advises you to turn of the breakers so as to not light up the building and advertise your presence to potential hostiles. Apparently the roar of a running diesel generator or the smell of its exhaust fumes is untraceable.

The list of silliness goes on, and if you’re willing to waste an hour, there is lots more advice to make you shake your head.

My problem is that this sort of 'catch the wave' programming is at best useless and at worst, downright harmful. It perpetuates the backpack survivor myth in the worst way. It offers almost no practical advice to someone that wants to begin prepping. Unfortunately, I think as things get a little worse, we’ll see a lot more of this kind of opportunistic programming.

Pesonally, I'm sorry I wasted 42 minutes on this.

Mr. Blogger's Neighbourhood, Part Deux

2010-06-02T15:42:00.000-07:00

In the first installment of Mr. Blogger’s Neighbourhood, we discussed being aware of the potential threats in your region. Today I want to talk to you about another side of being well acquainted with your locality, whether in a small town, a large city, or the middle of the wilderness. I want to ask you if you know, really know, your neighbourhood, whatever form it might take?

The reason I’m thinking about this is because recently I was very surprised to find a route in my local area of which I was completely unaware. This surprised the hell out of me, because I’ve always felt that I’ve thoroughly explored and knew the lay of the land wherever I’ve lived. I’ve made a point of ensuring I knew every way in or out of the area, what resources might exist nearby and so on.

When I first moved into the area, I conscientiously walked every point of the compass, noted all of the significant features and out of the way trails I could travel, and the places where I might hole up if the need arose. I checked the availability of resources, animal and vegetable, as well as making sure I knew where I might find useable water. I even mapped (using google) those areas that were off limits for one reason or another to fill in any blank spots in my knowledge.

These are all steps I feel that any reasonable person should take in becoming prepared, and I was fairly confident that I had covered all the bases. (Confidence is the state of mind where things are most likely to rear up and bite you in the backside, by the way...) Over the next few years, I wound up travelling most of my immediate area regularly in the course of recreation and the travel necessitated by my daily routine. And routine is what got me.

Although I kept up with changes in most places, there was one area that I never got back to, for a variety of reasons. I was aware of and noted changes in most of my neighbourhood, but got into a rut and failed to make regular checks of the area I had not regularly travelled. Thus, it came as a shock when an errand took me through the neglected sector and I found a footpath had been cut through some very dense brush down to an area of the riverbank I had considered inaccessible to all but the most determined. The wide new path (which took quite a bit of work for someone to create) led along the bank for quite a distance until it was only a short and easy push through some grass and up to a hill that overlooks one of my usual rambles. As I stood atop the hill, I realized that I had gotten over confident, and resolved to make sure I recheck all parts my area at least quarterly.

I realize it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but awareness of your physical surrounding is at least as important as situational awareness regarding people. A change in geography might be minor and of no consequence, or it might mean that an escape route you planned on is cut off when you need it, a resource you had counted on has disappeared, or that you are less secure and safe than you think.

Changes can occur for a variety of reasons. Shortly after I resolved to recheck my local area, we had quite a bit of weather here in Manitoba. We had lots of rain and lots of strong winds. I went for a walk the next day and found that several of the trails I frequent, while passable with work, were partly blocked by fallen trees. Some low lying areas were flooded, and a lot of detouring ensued. The flooding will cure itself, but some hours of quiet cutting with my collapsible saw will be required to restore some of my routes. On the up side, I can use the firewood.

I’m not advocating that you play Rambo Hood and spend all your free time traipsing through the countryside here. I am saying that it is worth your while to get off of your couch and/or usual path, out of the rut, and see what’s new in your area. Heck, it’s even fun. Grab your bike or your hikers, your favourite dragoness and a picnic lunch and make an afternoon of it. It will relax you, entertain you, and perhaps make you a little fitter. It will certainly make you much more cognizant of what’s going on around you, and thus better prepared. And being prepared is what it’s all about.
Welcome to the neighbourhood.

The odd one out

2010-05-28T08:07:00.000-07:00

The other day, I was walking along a local stream where people often fish. As I strolled along, the discarded bait boxes, beer cans, broken camp chairs and general litter got me thinking about survival. Is litter a strange thing to inspire me? Maybe not.

Survival and preparedness require one very important trait: The ability to look at the possible consequences of your actions and the actions of others. The ability to look toward the future and think: what if? The fishermen on the shore of that stream don’t understand this.

The section of stream bank accessed by so many locals is on private property. Sooner or later, the landowner will tire of the mess and close access to the area. All that the fishermen have to do to prevent this is give some thoughts to the consequences of what they do there. Sadly, they will likely not do this, and they will be barred from the land.

As a species, we also seem to be unable to think about the consequences of our actions. The last few years are full of examples, from financial meltdowns to blown out oil wells. That inability to foresee the likely end of actions seems to hold true for the majority of individuals as well. Very few people think beyond instant gratification.

The fact that you’re reading this blog indicates that you are one of those few people. There are always a few atypical individuals that can think beyond the next meal, the next day or the next month. Those are the people that survive tornadoes, do not need to be rescued from floodwaters, and do have the spare capacity to help the less fortunate and less prepared.

I could wish that more people in our society are like that, but it just isn’t the case. The general rule seems to be live for today, get what you can and to hell with the other guy. It is a worrisome trend that portends serious consequences.

As a society, we seem to be unable to turn aside from courses that seem destined to bring about, if not catastrophe, then very hard times indeed. Reliance on diminishing oil supplies, lack of concern for climate change, and a general reliance on an ever more fragile economy seem to concern the average person no more than a rain shower on the other side of the world.

So. Are we doomed? It’s hard to say. As much as this article is about seeing the future, no one can. It’s really about possible futures and being prepared to prosper, whatever that future brings. So keep being that one in a thousand that has some food and water set by, or an alternate heat source, or skills that others have lost.

Keep being the odd one out.

Sticks and Stones...

2010-05-23T20:53:00.000-07:00

What is the most controversial topic in preparedness? What subject can you deliver an opinion on that will almost certainly start a passionate discussion? It can be nothing other than the subject of weapons.

No one denies that weapons have their place. Whether for defense or for hunting, weapons should be part of everyone’s preparations. The difference in this discussion is that the focus will be on everything but firearms. Gunpowder weapons have their place, but because for several reasons, non-gunpowder weapons are an important long-term choice in your preparations.

Why not just guns?
For a start, they depend on availability, which can be an issue in Canada. Permits are required for the purchase of firearms and ammunition.

Secondly, they require an ongoing supply of ammunition, which means you need an assured source. Even if reloading, you need a supply of components. Either way, the supply is finite. A large, expensive stockpile of ammunition with thousands of rounds, while possible, is far beyond the reach of most preppers.

Third, you can’t make a gun or its parts, as that sort of manufacturing tends to be very complex. Most of the options we’ll discuss can be made with limited tools or no tools at all in some cases.

Fourth, they are noisy. A gunshot can be heard a long, long way off. I can envision quite a few survival situations where I’d rather not advertise my presence to animals or people.

Finally, firearms are often a remarkably inefficient way to use manpower. Yes, that’s right, I did say that. As a method of obtaining food, trapping and fishing are the best bang for the buck, if you’ll pardon the pun. You can set multiple snares, traps, lines or nets, effectively magnifying your efforts many times. You just can’t do that with a rifle.

Still, whether for hunting or defense, weapons are necessary, so let’s look at the non-firearm options. These weapons break down into two general classes: Those that derive their effect solely from human muscles and those with some sort of stored mechanical advantage. The first group consists of stones, throwing sticks, knives, spears, slings and so on. The second group is mostly populated with bows of various types and slingshots.

I personally feel most of the first group are unlikely to be effective as a defense if facing an opponent armed with any sort of firearm. Either the lethality or range is not sufficient for that task. That said, let’s look at how they shape up as hunting weapons.

The first thing to note is that all of these weapons require practice. Whether you’re trying to throw a knife ten feet, or sling a stone 100 feet, you’re going to need practice to hit what you aim at. But for the rest of the article, I’ll assume you’re willing to spend 15 minutes a day practicing. It’s a tiny commitment of time that pays big dividends in skill. Now on to the primitive weapons:

Stones: Seems silly, but I have seen a well thrown stone knock down squirrels, rabbits and birds. I hasten to add that the skill was not mine, but a skill certainly achievable by most people. While not the best choice (after all, humans invented better weapons!), the humble rock is almost always available, takes no construction, and requires no more practice than anything else.

Throwing sticks: a weapon used successfully as a hunting tool for millennia. Probably the best-known example is the boomerang, once used to hunt animals as large as kangaroos. I’ve personally knocked down turkey with a throwing stick, and it’s surprisingly effective. It can be as simple as a hardwood stick or as elaborate as an Apache throwing star.

Knives: Whether a stainless steel Bowie knife designed to turn 1and 1/2 revolutions in 22 feet, or a chipped flint knife, I think knives are the trickiest of the thrown weapons to use. Due to the necessity of hitting the target point first, unlike a stone or stick, they require more practice. As they generally are ineffective beyond ten to thirty feet (depending on knife type and style of throw), I’d rather throw a rock or stick, which have just as good of a range. Also, the thought of scrambling around in the brush looking for what might be my only knife after throwing it at a bunny and missing is a daunting thought.

Spears: While watching Brad Pitt as Achilles spit some unfortunate at a distance seems to indicate that the spear is a throwing weapon, it has been used far oftener through its history for stabbing. As a throwing weapon, it is not that long ranged (the world javelin record is under 100 meters, and javelin throwers are going for distance, not accuracy), but somewhat superior to the knife in that it is generally more stable in the ballistic sense. The pointy end almost always gets there first.

Atlatl:. A longer ranged, (and with practice) more accurate version of the spear. Basically a carved stick giving you more leverage to launch what are essentially oversized arrows or miniature spears. It takes time and lots of patience to get good with this.

Finally, we have the sling. Arguably the simplest to make, and can be made from a huge variety of materials. It is essentially just a pouch for holding a rock and a string on each end. While requiring some skill to use, it is potentially the longest ranged, most accurate and most lethal of this class of primitive weapons.

It comes in two varieties, the ordinary hand type and the larger staff sling. Again, it requires some time and patience to get good with this, but can be a valuable addition to your hunting arsenal.

With a little practice every day, any one of the weapons mentioned can become a valuable addition to your ability to survive. You may not be equipped with the latest and greatest firearm, but if you’ve a proper survival attitude, and just a little time to practice, you need never be unarmed.

Dollar Store Survival

2010-05-19T20:08:00.000-07:00

Prepping can be expensive. Very, very few people can even begin to approach the preparedness levels advocated by some of the more celebrated survival writers. Multi-year food stores, stacks of guns and ammunition, a large hoard of medical supplies and so on are well beyond the reach of the great majority of people and will remain so. Even modest prepping can be beyond the reach of many families in the present economy, yet some level of preparedness is more necessary now than ever.

So what to do? How to prep when funds are very limited? Is there a way to lay in preps when (almost) every dollar is spent? I believe there is, and to do so all you need is the local dollar store and a keen eye.

I know, it seems unlikely that you can make yourself disaster ready by shopping at the local dollar store, but it’s not as outlandish as you might think. Think about the basics: Shelter, Warmth, Water, Food and so on. Some equipment or supplies can be found in every category at your local dollar store. Let me give you some examples from today’s casual stroll through my local establishment.

Shelter: I found Space blankets and utility tarps were on offer, as well as rope, string, and duct tape.

Warmth/Cooking: There were collapsable stoves with 12 fuel tablets, and matches.

Water: Collapsible water jugs (2 liter capacity) were for sale

Food: lots of noodles, canned goods, spices, condiments and so on, many of them name brands. Oh, and salt! Laying up my food supplies from this source is not the most enticing prospect, and I have reservations about things shipped from China, but better than nothing. Not to mention Ziplocs for food storage.

There were other things I saw that would be useful and serviceable for the cash strapped prepper. Flashlights, first aid supplies, mosquito head nets, compasses were all to be found. Hand tools were also available, many of them as good as ones from Canadian Tire or Wal-Mart for which you’ll pay far more, and hardware of every description as well.

I could go on, but you get the idea. You won’t find everything you need, of course, but I believe you’ll be surprised at how much you do find.

There is the issue of quality, and it is an important one. Dollar stores are not known for the high quality and longevity of their products. I’ve had good luck purchasing items from dollar stores, but I’m careful about checking things over before I buy(This is were the keen eye is required.). Though all in all, if it were a choice between a cheap compass and none at all, I would go with the cheap compass.

It’s not ideal, but how many of us are achieving a Rawlesian über-prep? Some preps are better than none at all, and a bug-out bag stocked from the dollar store is far better than no bag at all.
Anyway, that’s my dollar’s worth.

Electricity to Go

2010-05-13T05:40:00.000-07:00

I’d like you to consider a purchase. That purchase would be a mobile booster pack. These are essentially a 12-volt battery sealed in a case, with integral booster cables provided. I got one of these last winter after my car battery decided to play dead. I found it did the job very well, and I believe it is a very valuable thing to have as part of your automotive preparations.

But as they say in the infommercials: WAIT! There’s More!

Mobile power packs come in various configurations with different combinations of features. Some models, such as the one pictured above, come with an integral air compressor. I’ll describe the one that I know, but be aware that there are a lot of options out there

The model I bought has a nifty little 6 LED rechargeable flashlight that can be turned on as it sits on the charger or detached and carried with you. Given the power draw of LEDs, and that it is sitting on a fully charged battery, you’re likely to get a lot of hours of illumination.

The unit also provides a USB receptacle for charging electronic devices. It is not meant as a direct power source for running electronics, and the manufacturer warns against it in the manual.

More useful for me is the provision of two 12-volt lighter style power sockets. This gives you the capability of powering some very handy things in case of a power outage. At the moment, I have only some DC lights and a cooler that I can plug into it, but I’m researching other devices.

These include but are not limited to lights, coffee makers, fans, heaters, sandwich makers, heated blankets, portable stoves, food processor, portable oven, crock pots and popcorn poppers. Likely I’ll stay away from the high power options such as the stove and ovens. I’m seriously considering a coffee maker and a heated blanket, though.

As to recharging, you can use the wall mounted adapter or (surprise!) it can be charged from a vehicle with it’s own cigarette lighter adapter.

Is this the best option for backup power? Absolutely not. It is however, away of having at least lights in a power failure, and perhaps providing a little warmth or a warm beverage. I see it as one more tool in the prepper’s toolkit.

And of course, you can always use it for its intended purpose of boosting a car!
Thanks to Frazer for sparking the idea for this article!

preparedness week for creatures great and small

2010-05-07T21:09:00.000-07:00

A lot gets written about preparedness for humans but very little for animals. I remember watching the coverage of Hurricane Katrina, and what affected me most was the death of so many pets. Perhaps my viewpoint is somewhat warped, but I felt worse about the animals than the people.

I’ve always felt that when you take an animal in as part of your family, you have in essence created a contract binding on you regarding the welfare of the animal. A human supposedly has the ability to reason, foresee the future, and act to avoid harm. Animals cannot do this, and I believe that it is your duty to do this for them.

At my house there is a cat and a dog, and I have done my best to ensure that they come through a crisis with us and not become casualties or refugees. It takes only a little forethought to make their chances look a lot better. Here are a few simple things to do to prepare your critters.

First of all, food and water storage. For our dog, it consists of extra bags of dog food gotten pretty much for free. For example, there is currently a coupon offer available for a 3-kilogram bag of dog food for FREE. The coupon is good until December 31st, and I have several of them, each valued at $13.99! These sort of offers come up all of the time, and the sharp eyed dog owner can not only lay up enough dog food to see Rover through a crisis, he can substantially reduce the costs of daily feeding! The same is true of cat food. It may not be the best quality food, but it’s far better than watching your pet starve to death.

Water is just as easy. Two liter pop bottles of water changed every month or so will make your pet’s life far more pleasant. A few pennies of water now saves you from having to make hard choices later.

Second, make sure your animal’s vaccinations are up to date. Likely incidents of animal specific diseases will increase following a crisis, and keeping the basic vaccinations up to date is simple. Consider whether other vaccinations might be worthwhile (For example, my dog is vaccinated against Lyme disease, only sensible in tic infested Manitoba.).

Further, you may want to consider laying in a stock of medications that might be specific for a pre-existing condition, or as a prophylactic for things like heartworm.

Third, take a pet first aid course. I know that these are available through organizations like St. Johns Ambulance. Seems silly, I know, but it is worthwhile. I don’t think you can ever get too much training, especially in first aid. And lay in a few supplies like self-adhering gauze ('cause tape don't stick to fur!).

And last, make sure your pet is prepared to bug out with you. This might range from having a carrying cage for your cat to making sure your dog has his own pack for food and water. Most dogs can carry 25% of their body weight without difficulty. That’s about eighteen pounds for the dog pictured at the top of the article.

How elaborate you want to get with pet preparedness is up to you. As I said earlier, I believe I have a moral obligation to ensure that the animals I have are cared for, not killed, and not forced to become feral and thus pose a hazard to others. I also believe that this can be done with a minimum of cost and just a little thought.

It’s about preparedness, dawg!

A Preparedness Week test...

2010-05-04T09:07:00.000-07:00

As I sat with my morning coffee, watching the news , my tv and a lights disappeared. A power outage it was, a rarish thing here in Manitoba where the provincial utility is among the most reliable in North America. But it being Preparedness Week, I thought it was a nice opportunity to try out a few things.

First off, I got a fire going in the wood stove before the house cooled off. With cheerful flames casting a warming glow, I decided that the next step was to get a pot of coffee on the boil, as my caffeine levels were not yet up to snuff. Heading to the basement for my percolator, I realized that the basement was a black pit. I retreated upstairs to where my LED flashlight sat on its charger. Grabbed that and ventured back downstairs, grabbed perc and got that going.

I realized that a bit more light was called for, so away I went in search of my new fangled, high-tech, lightweight, rechargeable/and or hand cranked lantern. Flicked the switch and watched in dismay as it came away in my hand. Restraining curses, I made yet another trip downstairs to get lantern number two, my old, heavy, bulky camping lantern that runs on 4 'D' cells. As always, it came through.

As I settled in to read a book by lantern light and sip a hot cup of coffee in front of the wood stove to await the return of power, I was left to reflect on this:

Technology is great. I own many pieces of equipment that incorporate the cutting edge of modern science. I love new fangled toys. That said, as I have always known, the more complex a device is, the more pieces that it contains, the greater the number of possible failure points that device also contains. Backups are neccessary, not just redundancy.

If I'd had two of the same lantern, that might have been ok. But the identical fault may exist in identical equipment. Far better to have a backup that is variant to the primary technology, IMO. And a backup to that, if at all affordable. Had my second (and other) lanterns failed, I had two more options for light, each increasingly simple (oil lamps and candles). I'm pretty sure those would have worked no matter what.

So the lesson for me? Keep it simple. Stick with proven technology. And leave the perc upstairs!

Emergency Preparedness Week

2010-05-03T18:13:00.000-07:00

'Tis not often that the political types are 100% right about anything (or anywhere close to that number ;), but ya gotta love the yearly nod to what we do daily. Still, if it gets even one person thinking, it's worth it.

Happy Preparedness Week!

May 1, 2009
EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS WEEK DECLARED IN MANITOBA
Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Steve Ashton, minister responsible for emergency measures, today announced the launch of Emergency Preparedness Week, May 3 to 9, and encouraged Manitobans to take a number of simple steps to be ready for emergencies.

“Knowing the risks, making emergency plans and getting emergency kits can help Manitobans prepare for emergency situations,” said Ashton. “Flood waters remain an issue for many areas of Manitoba this spring and we know there are more potential summer challenges yet to come. Being prepared for anything nature sends our way is a part of life in our province. Emergencies can strike at any time and anywhere, often with little or no notice. Preparedness starts at home and whether you’re eight or 80, everyone has a role to play in becoming better prepared.”

Learning how to prepare for tornadoes and other disasters is an important part of Scouts Canada’s new Emergency Preparedness (EP) Program. Launched earlier this year, the program features two new badges, one for Cubs and one for Scouts, supporting material developed by federal and provincial emergency preparedness experts. To celebrate this program’s introduction, Scouts Canada encouraged its members to take up the Emergency Preparedness Challenge by sampling any part of the new program, for example, making a 72-hour survival kit, preparing their families and pets for emergencies, or practising first aid.

“We’ve been excited by the response from thousands of Scouting members across the country who’ve taken up this challenge,” said Rob Stewart, CEO, Scouts Canada. “The response to our EP contest, which culminated with a draw on April 22, highlighted our commitment to help the communities we live in be prepared for just about any environmental disaster that comes their way.”

Information about the program can be found at www.scouts.ca/ep/.

Emergency Preparedness Week is a national campaign co-ordinated by Public Safety Canada together with all provinces and territories. First responders (police officers, firefighters, paramedics and others), industry and non-governmental organizations all plan activities for EP Week. It is a collaborative event undertaken by many and supports activities at the local level.

More information is available at http://www.manitobaemo.ca/ or http://www.getprepared.ca/.

Review: One Second After

2010-04-30T11:23:00.000-07:00

I’ve just finished reading William R. Forstchen’s One Second After. It’s one of the newer entries in the post-apocalypse genre, and one whose basic premise is very much in fashion among the survivalistas.

As a work of literature and of science fiction of the post-apocalypse genre, it gets a pass if only a grudging one. The characterization is very spotty in places, some characters mere sketches with out much to make you care what happens to them. The plotting and pace are utterly unsurprising, without much to keep you on the edge of your seat. The predictable human dramas unfold in a somewhat plodding manner, and of course the de rigueur cannibal horde makes its appearance toward the end of the book complete with climactic battle (For my money, that was done far better in Lucifer’s Hammer)

The book also suffers from interminable inner monologues wherein the main character reminisces about how much better everything used to be before the disaster, when he’s not reminiscing about how wonderful America was before it got all soft and complacent. Heart clutching patriotic moments are interspersed liberally throughout the book, and one begins to suspect that the author secretly longs for his disaster so that Americans can ‘rediscover’ themselves and their pioneer spirit. Pretty standard right-ish writing, but what did you expect from someone that authors books with Newt Gingrich?

All in all, if you’re looking for a great work of literature, this definitely isn’t it. But it’s readable for a bit of entertainment on a rainy afternoon, if nothing else. It does have other value that should put it on most prepper’s reading list, though.

The apocalyptic event envisioned by the author is an EMP attack on the continental US. Very rightly, he feels the consequences of such an attack (or for those that don’t see terrorists under the bed, a coronal mass ejection the size of the Carrington Event) would be utterly devastating. Absolutely everything would grind to a halt, and the human suffering as portrayed in the book is likely on the mark, or very close to it.

To Forstchen’s credit, he has not written a cozy catastrophe of the Alas, Babylon type. There is no deus ex machina that pops up and solves the problems of the main character and his town. Characters you might have come to like, regardless of how badly written, are mown down nearly indiscriminately throughout the book, and (spoiler!) even the main character’s pet dogs are not spared.

In fact, the book’s tone is relentlessly downbeat. For most of the book, things go from bad to worse, people surviving one event only to be crushed by the next. It is only at the end of the book that there is an upbeat moment of sorts, if only a very qualified one.

Are things ever going to be as bad as this book portrays? I hope not, but it still makes sense to read this book, just to get us to think about the worst case scenarios we might face. After all, a big chunk of preparedness is mental preparation, and this book should help us understand that should we get a catastrophe even remotely the scale of the one described, there will be nothing cozy about it.

Mr. Blogger's Neighbourhood

2010-04-28T04:49:00.000-07:00

“It’s a beautiful day in the neighbourhood
For transportation of dangerous goods…”

Eh, I can’t think of any more lyrics, and it was a dopey song anyway. So onwards to today’s topic. And that is: Just what is in your neighbourhood?

Here in Manitoba, we tend to think we live in an almost rural fashion, despite the fact that most of our population is concentrated in a few large centers and a plethora of smaller ones. Our towns tend to cluster around major highways and are dotted along rail lines for the most part. Along those rail lines and roads run trains and trucks filled with deadly goodies like acid, anhydrous ammonia, and propane. Often, these cargos pass through heavily populated areas, often right through the middle of town. Derailments and accidents are not common, but do happen.

Then there is the question of industry. Even the smaller towns have some sort of large business providing employment and keeping the town alive. In most cases, these are pretty much innocuous, but there are exceptions. The bulk fuel dealer, the fertilizer depot with an anhydrous ammonia storage tank or large amounts of nitrate fertilizer on site, perhaps an industry where the product is not inherently dangerous, but the components are (There are an infinite variety of things that give off toxic fumes when burned or even better, go boom).

Then too there are the infrastructure items that pose a hazard, such as natural gas pipelines. One blew up in the western part of Manitoba a number of years ago. Luckily, it was some distance from the nearest town, but I’m told that the explosion and subsequent fire were heard and seen at a distance of many miles and it was sheer luck no one was killed.

Everyday, we walk, drive by, or live close to potentially dangerous goods. Our tendency is to dismiss these, because most of the time they are not a danger to us, although there are a variety of situations that can change them from potential to actual hazard.

The immediate concern in day-to-day life is an accident, of course. Trucks crash, trains derail, and fires or other events happen despite everyone’s best effort to minimize the risks. The root cause in these sorts of incidents can range from human neglect or equipment failure, to the occasional act of god in the form of tornados or earthquakes.

Additionally, one should look at the longer term. In an economic or larger societal collapse, simple abandonment or deliberate vandalism can transform a usually safe resource into a deadly hazard. The serious prepper should take this into consideration, and as always, knowing what you might face is the first step.

The thing to do is find out what exactly is located in or moving through your area that can affect you. There may be none, one or multiple things to worry about in your immediate vicinity. A quick drive around town, a look through the phone book, and an open eye on what goes through town by road and rail are a good start. Your local emergency measures organization may be a source for this information, and most fire departments have a good grip on hazardous materials in their area of response, so ask around.

Once you know what you’re dealing with, you can take steps to minimize the risk. You might need to devise an evacuation plan, purchase a respirator, take steps to safeguard your water supply from leaked chemicals, or a dozen other things. Your exact plan will depend on the particular risks in your area, if any.

The important thing is to find out what the threats are in your neighbourhood now, so you can prepare and plan for if or when.

2010-04-24T15:11:00.000-07:00

So, I’ve been making my way around this site and the others in the CPN, reading the older posts, and something struck me about what I was reading. It was how open and friendly everyone was, how typically Canadian, the epitome of ‘Friendly Manitoba’, as it were. It was quite frightening, actually.

Why frightening? It was frightening because of the amount of personal information I could glean from this site alone. For example, if I were so minded, I could track down one poster just from the info posted on their profile and a casual mention of a politician in one of their posts. With the various tools available on the Internet, it gets easier to find you every day.

Which brings us to the topic of this post: prudent prepping, identity wise. Or, for the camo-clad among us: Operational security, or OpSec. Sounds sexy, no? Sadly, it’s not that sexy, but it is pretty simple.

First, let’s discuss the point of this post. Why be all secretive and hush-hush about being a preparedness type? Why should I be paranoid about what I post and who knows an odd fact or two about me?

The short answer: It is just another form of preparedness. We as a community have a belief that the world can be a dangerous and unpredictable place. In general, we try to prepare for that, but the majority of most people’s preps are for natural disaster or civil turmoil caused by something like the collapse of the banking system (came close, didn’t we?). Sadly, individuals can also be a factor in a dangerous and unpredictable world, so preparedness should account for that fact as well.

Here are a few things you can do to increase the security of your person and property without needing to hunker down behind a .50 cal machine gun and a minefield.

Don’t use your real name or give out personal information. Seems basic, but few of us realize how much we give away. It’s a basic safety precaution, but people fail to observe it for the most part. True, the odds are that nothing will happen because of what you post on the net, but then I still practice preparedness although the odds are that a major disaster will not strike my locality in my lifetime, either. Preparedness is about reducing risk.

Facebook is the model of Internet social networking, and one that has caused people problems in the past, every thing from being harassed to employers using it to snoop on present and potential employees. Other companies such as Google and Yahoo are attempting to follow suit, asking you to post more and more info, and in one recent case, posting info about folk without their permission. Use these media with extreme caution.

Likewise, be careful of Internet purchasing. Not that you’re likely to be ripped off, but you are putting credit/personal info out there with every purchase, and who knows where that information goes or who sees it. Be stingy with your personal information wherever and whenever you can. If you’d like a salutary lesson, download a British BBC documentary called Finding David.

The documentary is about a British filmmaker. He was sent a letter, along with 25,000,000 other Britons after their government lost computer discs containing some of their personal information. He got curious, and started looking at how much information was out there on himself and his family. He found information about his family in no less than 80 government and commercial databases. The scary part is that people who were supposed to safeguard that info were easily tricked out of it.

So the next time that cute checker at Mark’s Work Warehouse asks for your postal code, tell her you don’t have one…

The Internet is about physical security as well. Take Google maps for example. If I type in my friend’s address, I can get not only an overhead view of his house, but photographic walking directions that will give me a great view of his back yard, showing me that sheltered door where I can force an entry. It also shows me his brand new snowmobile sitting on a trailer in his unfenced backyard. It’s not for nothing that this has been described as a burglar’s dream tool!

I could go on and on, but you get the idea. The main thing here is to think before you type. Try to keep information private, and try to remove it where possible (You can have yourself removed from the walking directions on Google maps, for instance.). Take a moment and Google yourself on the net, and find out who knows what.

Oh, and to the poster I mentioned that I could find from your Internet info? Don’t worry; I’m a sane, safe, and solid citizen. The trench-coated figure following you home is just in your imagination.

Isn’t he?

On Edge

2010-04-21T18:02:00.000-07:00

There have been volumes and volumes written about survival knives. Long boring discourses on point types, metallurgy, folding versus fixed, stamped versus hand forged, on and on until it would cross your eyes. Some survival experts would have you carrying a monster blade capable of butchering a moose; others recommend a bewildering array of knives for every purpose that leaves you wondering where you could possibly carry them all.

There is indeed a place in preparedness for large fixed blade knives and full suites of specialist knives, but the average person is unlikely to be carrying either on a day to day basis. In fact, in some places in Manitoba you will contravene bylaws and leave yourself open to large fines if you carry a blade longer than 7 cm (2.5 inches), and to carry a blade in a manner where it is obvious that your intent was to conceal a weapon can result in a charge under the Criminal Code.

So what is the one best survival knife? The answer is simple: The knife you always have with you. It doesn’t matter if you own blades that would make Rambo weep in envy if they are in one place and you in another.

For me, that means an everyday carry knife that will not contravene laws, that will be useful for a variety of situations and that I will carry all the time. In my draconic opinion, that comes down to just two choices for most people: The multi-tool or the venerable Swiss Army Knife. And while I own a multi-tool, the SAK is my personal preference, and I believe it should be the preference of most people. Why do I say that?

I thought you’d never ask...
The multi-tool does have one striking advantage in that it consists of a strong pair of folding pliers (with additional tools in the handles) that offer a gripping strength that Swiss Army Knives can’t match. That said, the multi-tool is often quite heavy (weights of well over half a pound are not uncommon), offers a smaller range of implements, and is generally more expensive than a SAK with comparable functions if pliers are excluded. Additionally, the greater weight and size of the multi-tool makes it harder to manipulate the handle-carried tools, especially for individuals with smaller hands or limited strength. Most importantly, that greater weight also means it is far more likely to be left on the bedroom dresser at home than would a pocket knife.

To give manufacturers their due, there have been efforts to make the multi-tool lighter and more compact, but this has resulted in tools that either offer far fewer accessories, are more fragile, or are more expensive (Titanium ain’t cheap!). Unfortunately, a simultaneous move has been to go the other way, adding more to it in the form of bit sets, turning an already bulky tool into a bulkier one.

In contrast, the SAK is lighter than a multi-tool in most of its incarnations (my Huntsman model, pictured at the start of this article, is ~ 80g), although the flagship model, the ‘Champ’ weighs in at a silly 221 grams. On the whole however, there is such a large variety of knives in so many sizes and degrees of complexity that you're sure to find one to fit your exact requirements.

The usual suspects are present: blades, screwdrivers, can and bottle openers, wood saw, tweezers and scissors to name just a few, but it doesn’t end there. For example, there are knives designed with activity specific tools (e.g., the Equestrian which has a hoof cleaning tool, or the Hunter, with gut hook). There are Swiss Army Knives with integral LED flashlights, a feature I have yet to see on a multi-tool. There are even knives that have removable USB flash drives!

Further items such as magnifying lenses and pens are available, and if you really must have it, there are knives with pliers as part of the tool set, although far from as robust as those of a multi-tool.

In closing, let me make clear that I think multi-tools are great for what they are. The same is true of the SAK. In all honesty, both are far inferior to a purpose built tool intended for a single specific task. Both are far, far better than having nothing at all.

So you need to ask yourself two questions before you choose either:

What combination of features are the most useful to you?

Which of the two is more likely to be in your pocket or purse when you need it?
Personally, I think that most of the time the honest answers to those questions will lead you to some version of the Swiss Army Knife.

Cache and Carry

2010-04-18T18:57:00.000-07:00

No matter how carefully you prepare, how nifty and comprehensive your everyday carry gear might be, there may come a time when you cannot get to your primary supplies, or are separated from your EDC equipment. You may find yourself in a situation in which you are left with nothing more than the clothes on your back. What then?

I’m a big fan of small emergency caches as a solution. Generally you needn’t spend a lot to create them, they are relatively easy to make, and have ancillary benefits to making and emplacing them. They shouldn’t be your primary preparations, or plan B or even C, but they can have their place.

Myself, I have several caches located on the routes leading away from where I live. I also have caches emplaced in areas I often frequent, such as some of the provincial parks in Manitoba. They are small, well hidden but easily found by me (WITHOUT a GPS!!!), and contain materials that I feel will benefit me should I be without gear.

My favorite container for caching is a large metal coffee can with plastic lid. It has a generous amount of room, but is still easily prepped and buried. The materials in the cache can vary, but it should be noted that most of them are every day things from around the house, or dollar store or garage sale finds.

Here are the contents (so far) of my next cache:

Large zip-loc bag
Large field dressing (free from a military friend)
Tape, gauze, band-aids, triangular dressing (rotated out of old first aid kit, but still good)
2 ‘space’ blankets (yard sale, .25 cents each)
Small folding knife (promo item, free)
Matches, cotton balls (I’ve got lots of both)
2 compressed camp towels (3/$1.00)
2 emergency ponchos ($1.00 each)
Hooks, baits, weights and a float (All from a HUGE box of fishing gear I got at a yard sale, for $5!)
2 small candles (Yard sale, I think .05 each?)
Pencil with a LOT of fishing line wrapped around it

There is more to add, such a food in the form of a small amount of beans and/or rice and some other things, as the can is far from full. No two of my caches are exactly the same, although there are commonalities such as fire making materials and first aid supplies.

To get it ready for emplacement, I line the can with the large Zip-loc. This will protect the contents somewhat if the outer coverings are breached, and will serve as an expedient water carrier, among other things. The contents are placed in the Ziploc, and closed up then the plastic lid is put on. The can then goes into a heavy duty-garbage bag, which is tied shut then another of the same except that the opening is opposite to the first. It’s a little tricky folding the bags around the cans, but with a little practice, you can make a pretty neat package, and you will have enough plastic to make shelter building easier. I then do two more bags (small kitchen sized ones this time) in the same manner as the first, and it is ready to go.

The contents are now protected by four outer layers of plastic (two of which can be used as shelter material if they survive) a layer of metal, and an inner layer of plastic. I’ve used this method for many years, and have only seen one cache fail, and part of that was due to a tree root growing through it.

The benefits to this are several: You are thinking about preparedness, you are doing something about preparedness, and you’re having fun. That’s right. You’ll have a blast, putting these together, scouting locations, and secretly emplacing your caches.

Now of course there are many other ways to create caches, and I urge you to explore the possibilities. They can be larger, include more gear, or use a different method of weather proofing. Think about how caching might fit in to your overall preparedness scheme, and create a few if you feel it might make surviving a crisis a bit more comfortable.

Me, I’m off to scout locations!!

Regards,
A. Dragon.

Turtle or Tiger?

2010-04-16T21:13:00.000-07:00

Here's a little something for thought:
A number of years ago, I read a science fiction novel called Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin. It concerned a group of people who lived permanently in space, but sent their young people down to survive on a planet for a few weeks as their ‘rite of passage’ into adulthood. There were two philosophies espoused by those about to undergo this trial: Going ‘turtle’, meaning to hole up, stay as low key as possible, and ride it out. The other was ’Tiger’, meaning to go around, see things, meet people and generally take a few more chances.

Which brings us to today’s topic. Which is your philosophy?
You can turtle up in almost any kind of crisis, from a snowstorm knocking your power out for a day or two all the way up to the good old end of the world scenario. Being a turtle has its advantages. If you withdraw, you can conserve resources, minimize risk to yourself, and let others take chances that might benefit you in the long run. Your exposure to almost every kind of risk is minimized

The downside is that you won’t see other turtles rushing to the aid of one that is attacked. Turtles just don’t have much of a support network.

Being a tiger can also be advantageous. If you’re out in the world helping your community, you will make friends that will come to your aid, make contacts to barter skills and materials, and be far more aware of the overall situation than the turtle next door, which can be of decisive importance.

You’ll be taking far more risks, however. Giving a little help, in the form of food, water or labour can arouse bad feelings or make you the target of the envious or merely larcenous. It shouldn’t, but people in a crisis are not rational beings. Any kind of exposure in a crisis can be bad, although not always.

Or you might decide on a third strategy, perhaps a blend of the two, or an entirely different approach altogether. (Though at the moment I can’t think of one…)
It might seem trivial, but knowing how you plan to conduct yourself in a variety of crises has a bearing not only on what you acquire, but how you plan to employ it. So do me a favour: On your bus ride home tonight, give some thought to which approach better suits you, and plan accordingly.

different driver, same direction

2010-04-14T20:31:00.000-07:00

Well, here is my first blog post as a regular as opposed to a guest contributor. I guess a few words about what you might see here over the next weeks and months are appropriate. I'm hoping MPN will be every bit as useful to people under my moderation as it was when Frazer was at the helm. But you'll notice some changes.

To start with, I'm not much of a Utube guy, so there will be less of that kind of content, though it won't be entirely absent. There will be a bit more directly related Manitoba content, and some province specific what-ifs. Gear reviews, some thought exercises, and hopefully lots of user generated discussion!!

Anyway, I hope to post a minimum of three times a week, but I want the content to be useful, not just ego driven blathering. Therefore it might be a little more or a little less depending on circumstances and inspiration.

Well, that's enough. It's late here in Manitoba, time to climb into the ol' cave for a bit of a snooze. I hope I don't have that nightmare about that St. George guy again....

Regards,
A. Dragon

Farewell my love, never forget the life we had together

2010-04-14T05:36:00.001-07:00

Just a quick good by to my MPN fans, if you want to keep up with my goings on head over the SPN

http://www.saskatchewanpreppersnetwork.com/

The MPN Welcomes Ancient Dragon!

2010-04-14T04:29:00.000-07:00

The MPN would like to welcome Ancient Dragon as our newest regularly-contributing author! Frazer has done such an amazing job here and we are sure that AD will do so too! Frazer will be moving on to work his magic at the Saskatchewan Preppers Network so be sure to stay on top of the SPN!!!

And now - another great post by AD:

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The Colony

Lately, I’ve been watching ‘The Colony’ television series. I’ve read the criticisms on several survival websites about how unrealistic the show is in its portrayal of an end of the world disaster. The criticisms range from the ‘lucky’ presence of everything from food and power tools at the survival site to the mix of skills supposedly representing an ‘average’ cross section of society.

In the main, these comments are quite valid. However, there is one aspect of the show that I believe may well represent the actuality of a survival situation, be it the end of the world disaster portrayed on the show to the more mundane (if you can call it that) natural disasters such as the recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chile. That aspect is the area of human relations.

What strikes you as you watch the show is the seriousness with which the people involved with the experiment treat their situation. Indeed, a psychologist explains that people involved in this sort of immersion experiment come to accept the imposed conditions as real, and their reactions are much the same as they would be in an actual disaster.

It was quickly apparent that the biggest challenge the participants faced was working together effectively. Ten different personalities are unlikely to mesh perfectly, or to always share a common view of how to accomplish things, or even what things needed to be accomplished. And on this show they did not. In fact, there was a LOT of conflict within the group.

All of which got me thinking about how this might apply to a real situation. Unless you are a loner holed up in your deep woods cabin, or already a charismatic cult leader with iron control over your minions, you’re likely to wind up dealing with other people’s viewpoints. Perhaps you might even decide to take on some sort of leadership role in a small group and be faced with trying to get people to work together effectively in a high stress crisis environment.

As always, the best tool for this situation, like so many others, is between your ears. If at all possible you need to have the mental tools that will keep you and your group functioning at optimum levels. The question is where to learn how to do this. Surprisingly, there are courses and opportunities all over the place.

Look first at your workplace. One company here in Manitoba has available to its employees courses in communication, conflict resolution, negotiation, leadership, team building and mentoring. In all, over a dozen and a half courses that would give you tools you will sorely need if the worst comes to pass. Many companies have either internal courses or will send their employees out to get training at no cost to the trainee.

Many private organizations (i.e. Red Cross) also train volunteers or the public in various aspects of the above areas, and you might also be able to obtain some skills by serving with your local volunteer fire or ambulance department. Often, members are sent on various courses at the expense of the municipality. Additionally, there are many volunteer activities such as volunteering at a crisis hotline or working at a food bank which will improve your skills.

If you have the time and money, look to your local community college. A quick perusal of the Manitoba community colleges websites show me courses from ‘Being an Emotional Survivor’ (a course primarily for personnel in stress occupations) to a wide variety of counseling courses.

There is even a certificate program in applied disaster and emergency studies at one of the universities. While not all the courses might be worthwhile to everyone, a course like ‘Sociology of Disaster’ might well have useful information. It might even be possible to audit a course at the Manitoba Emergency Services College such as ‘Critical Incident Stress Management’, if there is space available.

Regardless of the source, improving your ability to deal with others will be a plus. As is often said, the one thing you have with you at all times is knowledge and training. In a crisis, your ‘people skills’ might be the one thing that determines whether you and others survive and thrive.

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Excellent advice! Thanks Ancient Dragon!

1st car, what's next? plus an update.

2010-04-13T04:45:00.000-07:00

Hey gang, just a quick update and also I have a question I'd like your input on.

First the update.

I'll soon be leaving the MPN and probably go to the Saskatchewan Preppers Network. From my understanding Ancient Dragon has agreed to take over the MPN, since he lives in Manitoba I think it is best to have him moderate the network since he will know more about Manitoba and what is going on than I do from living there for 10 years and then visiting now and then.

Secondly, I received my first vehicle. It's a 2000 Pontiac Montana V6 with the regular (non-extended wheel base). What I'd like you guys to chime in the comments about is stuff I should do to prep with my new vehicle? I've got plans for down the road to attach two locking 5 gallon gerry can mounts to the back so I can store extra gasoline since I live in an apartment and don't have a garage or outdoor space to store extra fuel. What I'll do is whenever I need a fill up I'd take out of these cans then fill them up so I always have extra gas with me in the vehicle. Also I plan on adding the aftermarket grill guard and probably take it to a shop and beef it up to add some strength for extra protection when driving. I want to add some 1 million Candle power fog lights to the front for if the grid is down or I'm driving down a pitch black road. I also plan on installing an inverter along with CB and HAM radio equipment. HAM will come after I get my license. Being without a car of my own for a while hasn't allowed me to install equipment and since my parent's car that I was using died about 5 years ago I haven't had a vehicle to get to the HAM club in the area (it was way to far to catch a ride) so I didn't get licensed so I don't have the gear. I think this will be a great way to extend my comms in a disaster. I even have some ideas to rig a HAM radio up in my apartment.

So thinking outside the box, understanding that I'll have an emergency kit, roadside emergency kit, and a get home bag. Along with the standard flashlight in the glove box, tools, tow rope, jumper cables and common emergency tools/supplies in the vehicle, what would you suggest? I'm really trying to think outside the box, outside the normal realm of things everybody has thought of. Oh and I'm buying CAA today!!!

[Something to think about, what is your preparedness plan for 2010?]

Thanks for reading!

Frazer

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The Renters Curse

2010-04-07T06:14:00.000-07:00

I've known I don't want to rent forever for a long time, however moving into my new place has made me want my own home even more! This really woke me up to the slavery of renting, the laundry room has machines that require High Efficiency soap. I recently through a guy on youtube called yankee prepper about a great way to save money on laundry soap by making your own. However I can't use this recipe to save money because I need to use that special soap as to not ruin the machines. You can find the recipe at soapsgonebuy.com. Also I plan on using a local community garden, while it is a blessing to be able to grow some of my own food, it relies on people not going into the lot in the middle of the city and stealing and also it requires more time since I have to drive 10 minutes each way just to tend my garden. I'm sure I'll figure something out between my morning work outs and going to work but it is a pain not to be able to just go out the back door and water the vegetable garden. I also have no control over what flowers are planted that may help cross pollinate the vegetables I grow. And finally since it's not on my own property I can't protect the garden and I can't really rely on it in a SHTF situation for food since it will probably be looted immediately unless someone like myself stations myself outside the garden gate with a mossberg!

So I'm putting myself into high gear with prayer and faith for a different job that will allow me the blessing of owning my own suburban homestead.

Here are a few reasons renting is slavery.

1) You pay rent but earn no equity.
2) You have no real control over the property
3) You must follow your landlords rules (gardening, laundry times, no firearms etc.)
4) as a renter you have no asset in your living quarters.
5) You lose out on tax benefits

There is sure a lot more but these are just a few, so I hope you (if you live in an apartment or rented house) that you don't plan on that as a long term solution. Even if you rent a house and the landlord gives you free reign over the place you still can't prep to the same extent. For example you might lose some of your work if you have to move, Opsec upgrades can't be done easily without losing the work/equipment if you don't want to lose the deposit.

In Ontario the landlord can raise the rent up to 3% annually I think it is even without making improvements so your rent goes up, whereas if you own your home from what I understand interest rates on your mortgage may change but the payment stays the same for the most part. This illimitable the need of moving every couple years to find a place that is more in line with what you are willing to pay. I know it happened to me, my old place had good rent but over 3 or 4 years the rent just got a bit to tight, so I had to move.

[Something to think about, what is your preparedness plan for 2010?]

Thanks for reading!

Frazer

P.S. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter and subscribe on youtube! and "fan" us on Facebook

Terrorists Hit Moscow's Metro

2010-03-29T04:21:00.000-07:00

I woke up around 6am this Monday morning, did my normal routine which is to read my Bible, pray and then go online to check my google reader for all my newsfeeds. Well that took longer than normal as I had to figure out my Dad's computer. I'm staying at my parents place God bless them while my place is being dismantled since I am moving Wednesday. So once I figured out my dad's old laptop and brushed up on windows 2000 I started doing my morning news cap. So the first thing I noticed was that a couple female terrorists in Moscow blew themselves up in a morning commute suicide bombing attack on the metro system.

This compelled me to write a blog for the urban dweller who might need to take a transit system to and from work for your commute. As preppers we know we always need to be prepared at home but what about on the move during the day? Well I think the first line of defense is a good solid survivalists EDC (Everyday Carry) to include either your pocket contents or a waist pack of some kind to hold some potentially life saving tools. I like Leatherman's S2 Juice model, it's similar to a SAK (Swiss Army Knife) but it has good pliers while not being to bulky. Then I add a good folding knife (look into your local laws first, it might be that all you need knife wise is a Leatherman or SAK due to legalities) then I add a large cotton bandanna. This could be used as a bandage, triangular bandage or even a crude face shield if need be to protect from smoke. Add the usual cell phone and keys, wallet etc etc. I actually keep a couple One Step (Wet ones work too) single wrapped hand sanitizer wipes and a couple Wet Naps in my wallet. (The wet naps are great for wiping blood off your hand and face like I saw a guy on the news doing in Moscow. I also keep a N-95 mask I "borrowed" from my doctors office during flu season when they wanted everyone with a cough to wear one. Then maybe a small penlight. I think the best penlight for the money is the Streamlight Stlylus Pro. It's bright and compact while it runs on AAA batteries which are like mice in a large city, easy to find.

These items can get your pretty far in a day. I carry a few other items like a rite in the rain notepad and a pen but that's not 100% necessary. However I'd add a few more items to my EDC bag/briefcase. I'd carry a GuyotDesigns backpacker, a couple water purification tablets or even a aquamira frontier pro water filter straw that is pretty compact. The good thing about the Guyotdesigns backpacker is that it can be used to boil water in during an extreme circumstance. I like options! I'd keep some high calorie food that doesn't need cooking like a power bar, some extra N-95 masks, a small first aid kit, maybe a small pry bar and a multi tip screwdriver for some added utility. I'd carry an Adventure medical kits heatsheets bivy sack and maybe if I have room some extra shoes that might make running easier than my work shoes. Extra socks are nice for if your feet get wet and some foot powder. Any soldier will tell you that unhappy feet make you unhappy, the last thing you need when TSHTF like it would have if you were in Moscow's metro...

Items may differ for you depending on where you live and the most possible disasters that could hit you. You need to be ready on some level for something like this happening and maybe even being forced into helping out your fellow man in an emergency like this. You need to customize your kit for your laws and knowledge. You don't need a full trauma bag if you don't even have EMT-B training. (something I suggest every prepper get as a minimum First Aid qualification)

I'm linking to a series of videos made by a guy called Nutnfancy on youtube who calls this kit an USK (or Urban Survival Kit) he goes over many of the items you might want to consider in an urban emergency and goes in depth about an urban emergency kit. Keep in mind these are a series of 40+ minute videos You just need to keep in mind if you can't leave your USK at your office and just carry essentials on your daily commute you'll need to build a smaller kit that can sustain you and give you options that you can carry everyday. I personally fit mine into the Janus Extension pocket on my Maxpedition Jumbo that I carry everyday since I can't leave stuff at the office. It might cost you a bit more to get your hands on extra light extra compact items but when TSHTF in the city you'll be glad you had it.

USK Video #1

USK Video #2

USK Video #3

Thanks for reading,

Frazer

[something to ponder: What is your 2010 preparedness plan?]

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