The Survival Weekly Dispatch - Volume 10, Issue 22
Welcome to Summer!
Hey everyone, thanks for checking out this week’s newsletter. Memorial Day weekend is sort of the traditional start to the summer season, and we’ve been dealing with unseasonably high temperatures the last several days, with the mercury hitting the upper 80s. It’ll get hotter as the season goes on, of course, but it is a bit warmer than usual for our area at the moment. It’s also been very dry, which means we have tons of plants that need to be watered every day. I can’t wait for the rain that’s coming later this week.
This coming weekend, our youngest will be graduating high school. Well, technically speaking, he graduated back in January, but this weekend is the actual graduation ceremony. All three of our sons graduated early, and it appears that this is far more common today than it was back in my day. He hasn’t decided yet if he’s going to pursue college or a tech school. For now, he’s making decent money where he’s working and he’s weighing his options. He’s a great kid, with a good head on his shoulders.
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Not a lot that’s new to report on the work front. Between the holiday weekend and dealing with this kidney stone, I’ve haven’t gotten a whole lot done in the last week. I did manage to get through a couple of articles for Prepper and Backwoods, but I’ve been spending a fair amount of time doing research and making plans for later this year.
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Craig Caudill is a colleague and friend of mine. I’ve learned a ton from him over the years. Here’s a great interview that he did recently with OFFGRID Magazine.
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A Facebook friend of mine named Jon mentioned this tip earlier today. There are a number of countertop ice makers on the market today. They don’t use a ton of power to run and many can make ice within just several minutes. This could be a great option for emergencies in the summer, if you can provide the power, such as through a solar generator. It isn’t a workable solution for everyone, but it is definitely worth looking into further.
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I can’t say how long this price will last, as I’m not in charge of such things, but at the time of this writing, Amazon has my URBAN PREPPER’S GUIDE on sale at 25% off cover price. I do recommend getting the hard copy as many people have found the Kindle formatting to be less than ideal. Again, not my call on that.
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If you're curious about what Patreon is like and what you get when you subscribe to my page there, you can sign up for a free 7-day trial and check it out.
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Reminder: I’ll be appearing at the Minnesota Prepper Expo. The event runs June 30 – July 2, but I’ll only be there Saturday and Sunday. I won’t have any books to sell, but I plan to have some back issues of Prepper Survival Guide and Backwoods Survival Guide available. I’m leading four classes during the expo:
Financial Preparedness
Prepping with Kids
Conflict Resolution
Realistic Bug Out Planning
See their website for the schedule.
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We took our hike this week over at a small park near our town. Parts of it were pretty heavily wooded, but thankfully we didn’t find any ticks on us or the dogs later that day.
Survival Tip – Hot Weather Preps
With summer comes high temperatures and sticky humidity in much of the country. Hyperthermia, which is the medical term for when your body temperature gets too high and won’t come down, can be quite dangerous. Fortunately, there are a few common-sense things you can do to help prevent it.
First, avoid doing physical work during the hottest part of the day. Typically, it is the time frame from around 2PM-5PM that is the worst, though that will vary from location to location. Get up early and get as many outside chores done as possible before the heat gets unbearable. Use the afternoon hours to rest or work inside if your home is air conditioned or at least cooler than the outside. Finish up the outdoor stuff after the sun goes down.
If you’re working outside, take advantage of shaded areas. If nothing else, consider rigging up an umbrella where you’re working. The idea here is to keep the sun from shining directly on you. Wearing a wide brimmed hat will help quite a bit, too.
Wear sunscreen. I can’t stress that enough. Sunburn is not only painful; it can lead to serious skin damage.
It is important to stay hydrated. Drink lots of water, more than you think you need. Avoid coffee, tea, and soda when working outside as all of them are diuretics, meaning they’ll just make you pee more often and thus you’ll lose hydration. Pay attention to the color of your urine. The darker it is, the more dehydrated you are. You want it to be as clear as possible.
Remember that evaporation is a cooling process. That’s why we sweat. The moisture on our skin evaporates and cools us down. That’s the plan, anyway. You can help this along by wearing loose fitting clothing made of a breathable material like cotton. Light colors are best as they will reflect some of the sun’s energy, rather than soaking it in like dark colors.
A bandana soaked in water and draped around your neck will help cool you off. As the water evaporates, it cools the blood flowing through your neck, which circulates through your body. You can get a similar effect by dampening your inner wrists and letting the water evaporate.
Watch for warning signs of hyperthermia. These include:
Dark urine
Headache
Cramps or aching muscles
Nausea or vomiting
Confusion
Seizures
If you see these symptoms, act quickly. Move the person into a cooler area, even if the best you can do is putting them in the shade. If possible, have them sip water. Don’t let them just down the whole water bottle in a single gulp as that will just make them sick. Slow and easy is best. Dampen their head, neck, and wrists to help cool them down. Don’t use ice, just cool water will work fine.
Pay attention to your body. It will tell you when something is amiss. Keep cool this summer and enjoy the nice weather when you can.
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
At this time, there are no subscriptions available. Both magazines are newsstand only and print only, no electronic editions.
Questions, Comments, Complaints, Concerns?
I am always just an email away - jim@survivalweekly.com.