Let’s say the the Fed’s pull off a brilliant recovery?

I’m not sure where of how they can do it, But let’s say they do. So your rice and beans you have stored is only good for 5- 10 years. Your whole wheat 5-25 years, flour 5years, sugar and honey seem to be good after thousand of years. skills like baking bread, brewing beer, growing a garden do seem timeless. I want to get off the ‘grid’ and generate my own power not cause Al Gore tells me to. I just want to be independent of utilities.
So I spend a year not shopping for groceries. I’ve yet to hear anyone tell me a downside. Except I’m not supporting the Feds by going into debt. How dare I not spend! don’t I know how cheap Ipads/Iphones are?

 I got another nasty gram from the county that they will revoke my registration. It was pink and said it was the final warning! Fine, cancel my registration for my vehicle. I’ve got bike an RV and access to other vehicles that are outside the zone Of course an aged 1978 RV V-8 running will be much better for the enviroment than my 2003 Kia van. Your rules, state and Feds not mine. I’ll be happy to park my Kia and not register it, or pay for gas or all those taxes. A bit inconvient for me but you win EPA and the state of Idaho. I won’t play your games.
By golly you showed me!

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What will you do?

I know I’m preaching to the choir mostly. But we get some noobs stopping by and are trying to learn. I don’t use the term Noob in a bad sense you are looking, and trying to learn. It wasn’t all that long ago I was you. I’m doing pretty good with my own efforts and a bit of help from my freinds. Getting me focused, trying new stuff and getting creative.
But I want you to think about “Logistics” of food, fuel an energy. Look at your road system. How many overpasses or bridges must be crossed simply for you to go to work? Let’s say they are destroyed, the reason does not matter. They are gone, what will you do? No one can help you as the roads are destroyed. You can’t get out and they can’t get in. Let’s say something simple the city water supply is full of filth. A couple of busted pipes or the processing plant is flooded. Look at water processing plant the are almost always on “low ground”. But you don’t get water at all or at best must be boiled.
The thing I want to get across is trust no one. The government doesn’t care about you. It can’t, they have problems of their own. Your problems don’t matter. They the US gov. will told you to prepare for 3-14 days without gov. help. Longer in Nuke attack or meltdown. Take them at their word you are on your own.
I don’t care what you do to prep. I know what works for me but if you like Ramen noodles, or MRE’s, Growing your own or going to the local “Farmer’s Market”. You are there and it’s your choice to buy or not. I do know you need the basics.
1. Clean air: 3-6 minutes worth is as long as you can last without it.
2. Clean water: 3-6 days. I can store this item. I can’t store air to breathe.
3. Food, depending on your fat deposits. You will feel starvation rations in 3-6 weeks. Your whole life will become about food. Read some history, folks will look at magazines and drool, getting food will be their life.

4. If you can’t deal with basic sanitation you will die. Not my rule, History’s rule.
5. If you can’t deal with a basic broken bone you may die. See above
6. If you can’t isolate sickness and support an ill person. It will spread and you will die.

I’m not trying to scare you it’s that stuff happens fast you must be ready to isolate and be smart.

I believe folks that want a NWO, or want to kill me. I may think they are wrong but I have no doubts that they will do the best they can to bring it about.

Prepping fast, dirty and ugly.

I think the collapse will happen this year in the USA. This post is for you folks that need a plan that is cheap but effective. For under $750.00 you could put in place a good prepper/survival system. No you can’t build a bunker, but you can have your “basics” covered and easily added too or changed. You got to move with the flow of events and not fight them. I wanted to focus on getting silver, but food inflation is a greater threat. So I adjusted, with the volitility in the PM markets,I know it will go up and down. But I know food is going up just based on oil costs. I felt I needed to bit more proactive on securing my food supply.  This was my reply to noob to prepping. Please feel free to troublshoot me in the comment section. I need all the help I can get.

I’d go for fast, dirty and cheap on the basics. Seeds are cheap and even if you don’t start a garden this year $20.00 spent on heirloom seeds is a great investment. If you like them rice, pasta, beans, flour and wheat will get you the most calories for your buck.
Weapons: I recommend 1st a 12ga. shotgun for home defense and at least 100 rounds of #2 or greater shot,  and a 22. Long rifle and 500 rounds for hunting. Pistols is a matter of preference but a 9mm to start and couple of magazines and at least 250 rounds. Most gun stores will let you trade up so to speak if you start with a Hi-point you can trade it toward the pistol you want in the future but at least you have something to protect yourself.  I’d look for a .30 caliber long range rifle for hunting larger animals.
Water: Soda bottles can be washed and are great for water and free. I do like the 5 gallon camp jugs and about as much weight as I’d want to try and move any distance. A little bleach, a good filter and some coffee filters should keep you going for a bit of time. I’d recommend getting some “Rain Barrels” if you can for the garden and flushing toilets. Some extra tarps and buckets will let you harvest more rain water.
First aid: Have plenty of bandages, aspirin, cough medicine on hand. If you have had the flu or a cold you know to treat the symptoms. I like the the chemical  Ice packs and heat wraps and lotions I get at the dollar stores. But they have all kinds of cortisone creams and topical formulas for treating minor ailments. Gatorade or Tang for supporting a sick person.
Sanitation: You got to keep yourself clean that means soap, Toilet Paper, a little camper potty or even a bucket. Get those sanitary napkins or tampons. Toothpaste and brushes. Construction grade trash bags and learn to dispose of your waste safely.  I got sponges for when the TP runs out but I just got another delivery of back up TP in the form of a Phone book.
Heat and shelter: Get a  tent or 2 that will fit the whole family and 0 degree sleeping bags. You can bug out with them plus most of the popup tents now a days are great for setting up even indoors and can conserve heat. Extra robes, jammies, sweats that can be layered to keep warm. T-shirts, and extra undies to keep clean and change out. Clean clothes are warm clothes. Wool and cotton as your basic fabrics. Cotton breathes and is great in summer time. Wool because it retains heat even when wet. Good shoes when you get a shoe you like buy at least 2 preferably 3 pairs and switch daily. It will make them last 3-6x longer than a single pair.
Money: have at least enough to pay cash for a tank of gas or a grocery trip. Not enough to be a target. I think about $50.00 to $100.00 dollars always on hand. Don’t put your life at risk depending on an ATM.
This is quick and dirty list of what you need. You could and should do more and as you learn this is easy to add to and refine. I think it should get you started at being a prepper or survivalist. I’m sure the orchard will chime in on the stuff I missed. Gosh I love em always more to learn and stuff I didn’t consider.

Getting the gardens going.

I finally got the idea for the “Bucket Garden” locked in. I’ll be doing an Asian Garden with some baby bok choy, Chinese radishes, Diakon, ginger, peppers and green onion, a Salad garden of cherry tomatoes, lettuce, romaine, carrots and an herb garden. That’s for indoors and I hope I can make produce year round.
I’m getting 1 of those 4 ft.x 4 ft. raised beds at Big Lots this week and some more soil. I’ll be doubling my outside garden space this year and trying several new plants. I got an Ice cream maker so I’m very excited to see how the watermelon and cantaloupe do this year as I try my hand at sorbets. Mom ordered the dwarf citrus trees and I think they will do okay. We will have to see if they are happy and produce fruit. If it works that will be an awesome bonus of vitamin C and a great addition to food storage.
Finally topped off my little chest freezer. I cheated a bit and bought 15 # of frozen veggies on sale along with some meat. I figure that will cover me a bit even if the garden doesn’t work out. I’ll be picking up another 10# of chicken thighs and legs at Paul’s Market at .65 cents per pound in a 10 pound bag. I focused on the bulk dry goods but you need to have balance in your diet and now I’m grabbing what I can to “top off” my food supplies so to speak. I don’t think sales like that will last much longer as everything will get more expensive because of fuel costs and the declining dollar.

Sales

Fred Meyers: 20-26 Mar 2011
Whole chicken .88 cents per pound
Speedstick Deoderant .79 cents each
18 pack eggs 2 for $3.00
Walgreens 20-26 Mar 2011
Canned pink salmon $1.49 each with coupon.
Cash & CarryTill 27 Mar 2011
Sausage Roll 6# for $7.74 or $1.29 per pound
Boneless pork sirloins $1.68 per pound 9 # average


Nuke update:
Looks like we are not seeing any radiation from Japan today. But we have what appears to be a new oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico about 20 miles from the Deep Horizon Rig.


Some good news I found another prepper and she’s gardening, canning and raising chickens.

Really good PDF from UCBS with a good explanations

Understanding the radioactivity at Fukushima (pdf)

I’m impressed with some of the things average folks have put together

I never would have thought about setting up a radiation monitoring network  or that folks would have radio scanner hooked to the internet and give us “real time updates”, folks on the ground in disaster updating via the Internet. We seem to be getting better data from the Amateurs than the Professionals.
One thing is for certain we are finding out how governments and the Media are going to deal with any “crisis” or disaster. I personally think the US media and government are making things worse and contributing to the uncertainty and panic. I hope more folks will realize that they must depend on themselves and will put in the effort to educate and protect themselves. It takes some work and sacrifice but I think it’s worth the effort.

I think the USA will soon be facing a severe financial crisis. Kicked off by what is happening in Japan, but brought about about by the recklessness of the TBTF banks, Corporations, the federal reserve and the Government. I think it will be hyper-inflationary like Weimar Republic or Zimbabwe. In most of those events there has always been a strong currency to move too. But the Euro is screwed cause they are printing like mad as well. The Yen won’t hold for long and they will sell off US Debt if they are smart. That leaves China and Russia with strongest relative currencies or gold and silver.

We are seeing the inflation happening right now! Get your supplies of the basics and know how to use them. Have some cash on hand so if the ATM’s and electronic banking go down you can still pay for grocery and gas and your bills. Top off your car’s gas tank and get an extra can if possible to have on hand. I think when the economy start’s to meltdown it will happen very quickly.

Got some good items on sale to post up Sunday. Keep the faith and keep working on your supplies. This to shall pass.

Nuke Update II (Saturday update)

Animated Radioactive Fallout Forecast

TEPCO Director Weeps After Disclosing Truth About Fukushima Disaster

Halflife decay times
http://www.newcastle-schools.org.uk/nsn/chemistry/radioactivity/halflife page.htm
Iodine 131 decays in about 8 days, about the same amount of time for the winds to carry anything from Japan to the mainland USA.

Added in the Radiationetwork on my Blog roll.
So far it looks like anything we may be getting from Japan is getting lost in background/normal radiation. I’ll keep monitoring to see if we get any spikes over the weekend.
So far it seems Zerohedge is doing about the best job on getting out the best data. Remember this is the 3rd largest economy in the world. We are starting to see impacts across all financial markets and supply chains and it will get worse.

 Update:

Everything seems about the same background radiation on the West Coast!  I’m following a couple of folks in different parts of Japan on the forums of  www.themodernsurvivalist.com/  

 

  

Don’t spend your money foolishly, Educate yourself!

In the last couple of months I have read about about folks spending absurd amounts of money on tampons and Iodine tablets on auction sites. I understand fear and panic can make people do foolish things but this is ridiculous. Potassium Iodine (KI) tablets themselves are somewhat dangerous to take, only protects the thyroid not the rest of your body and is effective against specific radiation.
I understand you don’t trust the Feds or the media so you must educate yourself. If we have a nuclear hazard you would be better off sealing off your home getting some good N95 or bettter particle masks, Storing water and have a little Decon cleaning station so you don’t track radioactive particles into your house.Use rain gear that you rinse off, leave outside your house then have another washing station insde can keep you fairly safe. Even if dealing with a dirty bomb or fallout.  
I’m a little concerned reading about Hospital workers in Japan and passengers on planes tracking in radiation. To me that says Japan has very lax decon standards.While you can’t spread radiation sickness you can spread radioactive dust. Which is why washing is one of the first do if exposed.
I’m not worried I’m prepared. I don’t expect to need it but I’ve got masks, Plastic sheeting to close off doors and windows, Cleaning supplies and buckets all the things you may need in a “Worst case scenario”. This is not it!

I think that a financial meltdown is much more likely to hit the USA and the EU, and is a greater threat than radiation. Getting food, topping off your car,  water, a way of protecting yourself , a way to stay warm and some ready cash is much more important than some pills that you probably won’t need.

Will someone in DC buy a fricking vowel?

Damn, Do these folks do anything beside watch ” American Idol”? Obama is filling out NCAA basketball picks and the Surgeon General is unaware of a run on Potassium Iodine?  but think it’s good idea? Has she talked to a nuke engineer? A particle physicist? We employ a lot of them at INEL and OAK RIDGE.
If the does not prove beyond a shadow  of a doubt that you are on your own I don’t know what will. These folks in charge are morons.
The Mideast and N. Africa are on fire with revolution, Japan had an earthquake, tsunami and 4-6 plants in stages of melt down. All markets closed lower. Japan is closed for the week and Egypt’s markets are still not open.
Bernanke thinks it may drive the markets lower. Hey, you think the 3rd largest world market is melting down, All major producers can’t get power. Japan has bodies washing up on shore and have been told to get under shelter and there is no shelter only rubble piles or not breathe.
This might be a problem, I’m not sure about others but breathing is high on my survival skills. Blows that whole saving water bit all to hell if I’m not allowed to breathe.