The Survival Weekly Dispatch - Volume 12, Issue 15
Hey folks, thanks for checking out the newsletter this week. I think Spring has finally sprung locally. The grass is turning green and there’s been nary a snowflake for several days. While I’m dreading the humid 90F that’s surely right around the corner, for now I’m enjoying the hoodie weather.
We finally got our taxes sent off Monday night. This is the latest we’ve ever submitted them. Normally, we’re done by about mid-March. But a variety of things, including illness and unexpected time spent with our granddaughter, caused some delays. My wife is our brilliant bookkeeper and she’s been working her tail off the last several days to get things done. As a thank you, I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies yesterday. It was a new recipe and they turned out great! So much so that I can’t wait until the next achievement I can reward with them.
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It isn’t the worst idea to pick up a set of blackout curtains for each of your windows. Assuming you can’t afford to just plunk down enough money for all of them at once, start with the kitchen and living room.
There are a few uses for blackout curtains.
1) During a power outage or similar event, they’ll prevent people outside your home knowing you have power or other resources.
2) In the winter, they will help prevent heat loss through the windows.
3) In the summer, they will help prevent sunlight causing rooms to heat up.
While you can get a similar effect in many cases by hanging blankets or comforters over windows, purpose-made curtains tend to look a little nicer.
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I saw this posted in a FB group the other day. "Never let the internet form your opinion for you. Make informed decisions for yourself."
That should be on a “click to proceed” pop up that appears every single time anyone goes online.
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Good Lord, do I hate fear mongering bullshit. I ran into a guy engaging in this a couple of days ago on Facebook. His post was filled all manner of dire warnings about how bad things could be someday. When I challenged him to share some strategies or suggestions on how to mitigate the threats he was hollering about, he said, “the real world doesn’t provide answers, neither do I.”
Trying to terrify people without offering advice for how to avoid or minimize the risks is just stupid. It accomplishes exactly nothing. Take your depressed Yoda nonsense elsewhere.
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From time to time, I hear complaints from people who say they’ve ordered subscriptions or single issues of my magazine, but nothing ever arrived. The vast majority of the time, it turns out that they were dealing with a third-party vendor. Unfortunately, there’s not much I can do to help in those situations.
The only online portal we endorse for ordering single issues or subscriptions is this one.
There are dozens of other places online that advertise subscriptions or back issues, but we have no connection with any of them.
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My first article with GearJunkie went live this week. It’s a review of the Trailhead Trapper from White River Knives. I’m very excited about working with GJ, as their site is very popular.
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For our hike over the weekend, we went to the Rice Lake Nature Trail, which is part of the Kettle Moraine system outside Whitewater, Wisconsin. It’s a short trail that circles what I’d consider a large pond but they call a lake. We saw lots of small turtles sunning themselves on logs, and there was plenty of activity in the forest. Nature is definitely waking up.
Survival Tip – Establishing Routines
As a general rule, we humans like routines. They make us comfortable. And we develop them for so many things, from what we do upon waking in the morning to how we relax in the evening.
Children in particular thrive on routine. One of the wisest things a new parent can do is establish an easy-to-follow bedtime routine. Every night, it’s pajamas, brush teeth, then a story. It helps the child’s brain and body understand that sleep is coming soon. But if that routine is thrown off-track, things often don’t go well. The child can’t seem to settle down, and they often become agitated or whiny.
I tell you all of that to tell you this. In the wake of some sort of event, normal routines may not be possible. Power outages, relocation, or other factors might result in life being in a state of disarray. That’s to be expected, right?
In that situation, it benefits everyone if you can establish new routines, as temporary as they may be. Modify existing ones, if possible, retaining as many of the familiar elements as you can. Maybe you don’t have pajamas for the kiddo to wear at the moment, but you can at least change their shirt and take off their socks and shoes. You might not be able to read them a story, but I’m sure you can remember most of one of their favorites after having read it aloud several dozen times or more.
The takeaway here is understanding that most of us are accustomed to living our lives with some degree of routine. When that routine is disrupted, we feel discombobulated, adding anxiety to an already stressful situation. Expect this to happen, understand why it happens, and work toward resolving it as soon as is reasonable.
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
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Walgreens
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CVS
Tractor Supply
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Subscriptions are available here.
Questions, Comments, Complaints, Concerns?
I am always just an email away - jim@survivalweekly.com.