The Survival Weekly Dispatch - Volume 12, Issue 28
Hey folks, thanks for checking out the newsletter this week. I’m writing this Sunday morning, as we’re headed out on a camping trip this afternoon and we’ll be gone when this newsletter normally sends. I didn’t want to miss a week, so I’m setting it up well in advance.
We just got back from spending a couple of days at Devil’s Lake State Park near Baraboo, Wisconsin. Our next trip is to Kohler-Andrae State Park, which is near Sheboygan, Wisconsin and sits next to Lake Michigan.
The only real work I’ve done in the last several days is trying to keep up on email and field questions from the layout designer working on Backwoods Survival Guide 35. I’ll have a huge pile of work waiting for me when I’m back to my regular schedule, though.
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Charlie Richie, Jr. announced a few days ago that he’s closing up Backwoodsman magazine. It’s been a staple in the industry for decades, so this is truly heartbreaking. The brand isn’t entirely going away, though. He’s shared with me a few of the plans he has for moving forward. It’s just the magazine itself that’s being cut. I’ve been a fan of Backwoodsman for ages and I’m sorry to see it go.
Here's the letter he sent out to everyone.
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I and many others have talked at length about why you shouldn’t put decals on your vehicle. Here’s one story illustrating why. This was posted on Facebook.
Also, your vehicle isn’t a holster, don’t treat it like one.
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Reviews for the new edition of Countdown to Preparedness are starting to pop up. Here’s one from PNWBUSHCRAFT.
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From time to time, I receive inquiries from people asking for tips and tricks for disabled folks who want to get outdoors more often and do so safely. My friend Wendell Adams at The Prepared Wanderer is recovering from hip surgery and put together this great video showcasing what he’s done to be better prepared for emergencies outdoors.
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As I tend to do every year around this time, I'd like to take a moment to thank each of you who have bought my books and magazines, and supported me in many other ways. I truly, deeply appreciate it. If it weren't for my readers, I'd have to go out and get a real job. Thank you!
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I mentioned our recent trip to Devil’s Lake. It’s a gorgeous park with a lot of great scenery.
And it almost killed me.
Well, okay, maybe that’s a little dramatic. I didn’t officially have a near death experience or anything like that. But, damn, it sure felt touch and go there for a bit.
We had a few different hikes planned during our stay, and we figured we’d do the toughest ones first to get them out of the way. The East Bluff Trail has about 500 feet of elevation gain and if you start at the north end of the trail, it terminates at a couple of smaller trails as you descend that are really dicey in terms of footing if you’re not part mountain goat.
The last time we were here was about 10-12 years ago and I don’t remember struggling like I did this time around. It was rough right from the start. By the time we were descending, my legs were trembling. Which isn’t great when you’re dealing with rocky terrain. At one point about halfway down, my left leg said Nope and buckled. Thankfully I had a hiking stick and used that to prevent face-planting.
When we got back to ground level, we found a picnic table near the beach to sit and catch our breath. My wife later told me that she was certain I was going to have a heart attack on that trail. I looked that rough. While my heart was pounding through much of the hike, it was my legs and knees that were troubling me the most. Even a couple of days later, my right thigh was still bugging me a little.
We go hiking every week. I did not think I was this out of shape. And that’s the moral here, boys and girls. Be as objective and realistic as you can be about your own physical condition and limitations. If part of your prep plans involves a lengthy trek on foot, pick a day off to do it for real and see how it goes.
A bit of humor to wrap things up on this. I was chatting with one of my sons via text the evening after we’d done that hike.
Me: I think your mother is trying to kill me to get at all of my millions.
Son: If you don’t almost meet God during a hike, it wasn’t long enough.
Me: Oh, He and I met today. We had words.
Survival Tip – Community Priorities
I’ve known Todd for well over 20 years. He was a patrol officer in our police department when I was working at one of the local retailers as a Loss Prevention Manager. In that position, I got to know a lot of the LEOs in town. Among other things, today Todd is one of the owners of a security consulting business. We got together a while back to catch up and I also met his business partner Brandon. Great guys, both of ‘em, and very knowledgeable in a wide range of areas.
At one point in the conversation, we were talking about community preparedness. Brandon brought up a tabletop exercise he’d been involved with some years back. It was sort of a roleplaying exercise involving several emergency management types, including law enforcement. The fictional threat was a terrorist attack involving the release of anthrax just outside a metropolitan area.
The assumption is that the general public will be instructed to shelter in place at home until the danger has passed, which could take days or even weeks. It isn’t that the anthrax itself would be sticking around all that time, but there’s the risk of additional attacks and what not.
There is a vaccine for anthrax. But there’s not enough to just give it to everyone, so you need to prioritize. Who gets the meds first? Should they go to law enforcement and other first responders? Medical personnel?
The correct answer, according to those running the exercise – the employees in the water department, followed by sanitation workers. If the water supply isn’t kept clean, everything else gets a whole lot worse, and does so with a quickness. And you need sanitation crews to deal with the trash before it piles up and causes more issues.
It’s an interesting thought exercise for sure. If you were in charge, how would you handle it?
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
Subscriptions are available here.
Questions, Comments, Complaints, Concerns?
I am always just an email away - jim@survivalweekly.com.