The Survival Weekly Dispatch - Volume 13, Issue 18
Hey folks, thanks for checking out the newsletter this week.
I recently bought a smart watch and I’m kind of struggling with it. I mean, I know how it works and all that. It’s the actual wearing of the watch that I’m not fond of. I wore a watch daily for well over 20 years. When I quit the day job to work from home in 2016, I didn’t have need to wear one. I’ve gotten quite used to having a bare wrist. So now, having a watch on again feels…weird. I’ll get used to it, but for the time being it’s messing up my groove.
I’m also in urgent need of a new desk chair. There used to be at least a few brick-and-mortar stores in my area where I could have gone to sit in various chairs to find one that feels comfortable. These days, not so much. After spending several hours reading reviews and surfing options on Amazon, I pulled the trigger on one. While it looked great on paper, I hated it, so boxed it up and returned it. The hunt continues.
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Work this week is focused on various knife reviews as well as exploring a couple of fiction projects I’d started but abandoned some time back. I’m also meeting with Brian Keene and Dacia Arnold this week to record a couple of new episodes of our old podcast, How to Survive 2025. For those new to that program, you can find previous episodes wherever you normally get your podcasts. It was a limited run project, but we’ve decided to do a couple of bonus episodes. I’m looking forward to it.
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Coming up next week is the Pet First Aid presentation we’ve put together. It can be attended in person or virtually. It begins at 5:30PM Central.
To be clear, I am not the one leading this class. It will be taught by instructors from the Veterinary program at Gateway Technical College.
Here’s the link for virtual attendees.
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I’m sure some of you know this already, but for those who don’t, just a heads up. The term “military grade” is nothing more than a marketing thing. It’s truly meaningless. In fact, if a gear item were truly military grade, you can absolutely do better for your money. Military gear supply contracts generally go to the lowest bidder.
The term “tactical” is also worthless when it comes to product descriptions and such. It’s a descriptor that generally refers to gear that looks like it could be used by the military or some law enforcement units. It doesn’t mean the gear is actually up to snuff. In my experience, it often means just the opposite. The more a vendor clamors on about their tactical gear being military grade, the less trust you can put in it.
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A word of warning. I’d be cautious about ordering anything from Jones Peak Trading Post. I ordered a New York Insane Asylum Guard Key and Whistle to use as a photo prop. It arrived today and it looks awful. The chain is incredibly rusty, the whistle looks terrible, and the latch on the whistle is broken. This whole thing looks like it’s been sitting in an old coffee can in someone’s utility shed for the last 60 years. The first pic is what it shown on their website, where everything has a nice patina. The other pic is what I actually received, with rust flakes actually falling off of the chain. I contacted the company and provided photos of the chain. I was told that is how the chain is supposed to look. Personally, I feel like it’s very much a bait and switch.
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I was recently invited to be a Fellow with the Collapse Survival Institute, which is headed up by Dr. Drew Miller. Very eager to see where this leads.
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Over the weekend, my wife and I visited two different hiking spots. We started at Highland Woods in Mequon, then drove over to Sauk Creek Nature Preserve in Port Washington. Both are in Wisconsin, for those new to the newsletter. While both had some great views, I liked Sauk Creek a little more than Highland Woods, if only due to the creek itself. I’m always happy to see a water feature in our travels.
Survival Tip — Snakebites
If you are bitten by a venomous snake, or one that you suspect may have been venomous, the priority is to get to a proper medical care facility.
For years, the advice was to use a knife or razor blade to cut an X over each fang strike, then suck out the venom. It doesn’t work. It’s never worked. And it ain’t ever gonna work. The injected venom doesn’t just sit under the skin in a handy pool to be easily removed. It seeps into the limb or other body part and you can’t just suck it out.
As soon as you realize you’ve been bit, remove any constrictive clothing or jewelry near the bite, such as rings or watches. Envenomation causes swelling. If you have a marker handy, circle the bite and jot the time. This will help determine how much the wound swells and how quickly.
Then, get thee to a hospital ASAP.
If you’re out in the field on a hike or camp trip, call 911 if you’re able to do so. If you can’t get a signal, get moving and work your way back to your vehicle, and make that call as soon as you do have a signal. This is not a situation where you should be left at camp while someone runs for help. Walk, don’t run, but keep moving forward. If you have someone else with you, they can certainly run ahead until they get a cell signal. But do everything you can to keep moving toward safety while they do so.
If you have injuries or other ailments that prevent you from moving, lay in the recovery position and do what you can to signal for help, using a whistle to alert rescuers. Remember, three blasts in quick succession is the universal signal for help.
Backwoods Survival Guide Magazine
For those new to my little corner of the Internet, I am the Editor in Chief for Backwoods Survival Guide magazine. Here is the cover for the current issue available in stores right now.
You can find Backwoods Survival Guide just about anywhere magazines are sold, including:
Walmart
Publix
Walgreens
Rite Aid
CVS
Tractor Supply
Fleet Farm
Barnes & Noble
Questions, Comments, Complaints, Concerns?
I am always just an email away - jim@survivalweekly.com.