The Survival Weekly Dispatch - Volume 11, Issue 13
April showers bring May flowers, right?
Hey everyone, thanks for checking out the newsletter this week. We’ve gotten a fair amount of rain over the last few days, with more on the way yet this week. They’re even predicting a few inches of snow to hit around midweek. It’d be nice if we could then be done with the cold weather until fall.
On the work front, I’ve wrapped up the content for Backwoods Survival Guide 30 and moved on to the 2024 Gear Guide special issue. This won’t be out until October, but I’m really looking forward to seeing how it comes together. We’re covering a range of gear categories, including:
Shelter
Medical
Knives
Signaling
Fire
And more!
In each category, we’ll have reviews as well as layouts with other great product recommendations. Coming out in October means you’ll have plenty of time to decide what you want to put on your holiday wish list.
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Prepper Tip -- Something to remember if you or someone else ends up trapped in a room due to a disaster is that the door is just a convenient way to enter or leave a room. If neither door nor window are viable options, you can make your own exit.
Most walls are built on studs that are placed either 16 or 24 inches apart. Look for outlets or light switches, as those are usually attached to studs. Use those locations to estimate where the next studs are, and work on creating an opening between them. If at all possible, find something you can use to break through the wall, such as a chair. As a last resort, use a donkey kick, which means to turn your back to the wall and kick backwards into it. Legs are the largest, strongest muscles in the body.
It’s a wise idea to caution anyone on the other side of the wall that you’re going to try to break through, so that you don’t inadvertently hit someone sitting there.
If you’re in an unfamiliar location, look for insulation in the wall. If you find some, there’s a good chance that it is an exterior wall. If there’s no insulation, then it’s a safe bet that it’s an interior wall. Exterior walls might be difficult or impossible to breach without tools. Some interior walls might be tough as well, depending on the material you’re trying to break. Drywall is pretty easy, as far as such things go. Paneling can be more difficult, but it isn’t impossible with some effort and determination.
Just one more tool in the toolbox, so to speak.
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Last week, I sat down for an interview with The Prepared Wanderer. This is the first in a planned series of interviews he’s doing. I really enjoy his channel a lot, and I was honored to be asked to participate in the project.
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There’s a school of thought that says your Bug Out Bag or whatever you want to call it should not be anything tactical in appearance. The reasoning is that it would call attention to yourself, indicating that you probably have valuable survival gear to steal. The reality is that if things have reached a point to where thieves and ne’er do wells are robbing passersby, any bag will be presumed to contain something of value, whether it’s from 5.11 Tactical or The Disney Store. Invest in a good quality pack that’s comfortable and that will hold what you need to carry. Don’t worry so much about its appearance.
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We've received a couple of messages from people who have had trouble renewing their subscriptions online for Prepper Survival Guide and Backwoods Survival Guide magazines. We're aware that there's a glitch and they are working on it. For the time being, please call 844-262-9419 and they can get you sorted out with renewals as well as new subscriptions. Thanks!
While we’re on the subject of my magazines, here’s a rough schedule of when new issues will be coming out.
Backwoods Survival Guide 27 – out now
Prepper Survival Guide 22 – 5/10/2024
Backwoods Survival Guide 28 – 5/24/2024
Backwoods Survival Guide 29 – 7/26/2024
Prepper Survival Guide 23 – 8/16/2024
Those dates are approximate, not set in stone.
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This is something I saw posted in the rules of a Facebook group I once joined. I thought it was perfectly applicable to social media in general.
1) We have more in common than we differ.
2) Just about everything has value.
3) Sometimes, there can be more than one right answer.
As a corollary to #3, the information contained in a short Facebook post (or YouTube video, for that matter) is likely not the sum total of knowledge the poster has on a given topic, and taking them to task for not mentioning some tidbit of info is unseemly at best. I see this happen rather often, sort of like this:
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For our hike this week, we went to one of our favorite haunts. We wanted to see how high the water level would be in the river, what with all of the rain we had. We weren’t disappointed.
Survival Tip – Home Inventory
If you haven’t done this already, or if it has been a while, take some time soon to do a video inventory of your home. Go through each room and shoot a video of the contents. You don’t need to poke into every nook and cranny, though it’s fine to do so if you want to take the time. The idea here is to have a pretty good record of the “stuff” in each room. In the event of a fire or other disaster that destroys some or all of that stuff, you’ll be able to prove what you had to the insurance company.
I would pay particular attention to things like firearms, electronics, and jewelry. You might take this opportunity to give a call to your insurance agent and revisit your policy limits, so you can ensure you’re actually covered for as much as you truly need.
I recommend saving copies of these videos on at least two separate thumb drives. Keep one in a fireproof safe at home and the other somewhere offsite, such as in a locked desk drawer or toolbox at work.
Prepper Survival Guide and Backwoods Survival Guide
For those new to my little corner of the Internet, I am the Editor in Chief for both Prepper Survival Guide and Backwoods Survival Guide magazines. Here are the covers for the current issues that are available in stores right now.
You can find them just about anywhere magazines are sold, including:
Walmart
Sam's Club
Costco
Publix
Walgreens
Rite Aid
CVS
Tractor Supply
Fleet Farm
Barnes & Noble
Subscriptions to both titles are available here.
Questions, Comments, Complaints, Concerns?
I am always just an email away - jim@survivalweekly.com.