The Survival Weekly Dispatch - Volume 10, Issue 40
The spooky season is upon us!
Hey everyone, thanks for checking out the newsletter this week. The garage renovation continues, but we’re getting closer to the end. We’re actually just about dead in the water for a bit, as we needed to order more material and it won’t be in until the first week of November. The good news is that this gives me a chance to get caught up on work as well as let my body recover a little, as this has been quite the workout the last couple of weeks. The bad news is that this is vinyl siding, so the colder it is, the greater the chance that it could crack when we’re cutting it to fit. We do have a plan on how to handle cutting the pieces if the temperature is too cold outside. It’ll be a pain in the butt, of course, but we’ll get it done.
* * *
Halloween is my 2nd favorite holiday, just behind Christmas. I’ve always loved monster movies and novels. They’re just a lot of fun. I’m not big on gross-out horror and I can’t stand shaky cam like you see in “found footage” sorts of films. I much prefer creepy over gory. Normally, I’d load up on scary movies all month long. But, between the garage renovation and then keeping up with my work deadlines, I just don’t have the time lately. Hopefully I’ll be able to get to at least a few of them before the month is over.
* * *
Prepper Tip – I catch a fair amount of flak over my stance that financial planning should be a part of the overall preparedness plan, and that this should include reducing debt. There’s a school of thought out there that says it is pointless to worry about debt, because once a collapse happens, it’ll all disappear. My push back to that is – what if that collapse doesn’t happen any time soon? To my way of thinking, it makes very little sense to cause a personal financial disaster because of something that might happen someday.
* * *
On the work front, we put Prepper Survival Guide 21 to bed this past week. It will hit stores in January. Backwoods Survival Guide 26 is also fully complete, and will come out in February. Currently, we’re finalizing the layouts for Backwoods 27, and working on content for Prepper 22 and Backwoods 29.
The publisher and I are also working on plans to add a couple of new one-off magazines to the mix in 2024. More on that when we have things ready to announce.
* * *
Prepper Tip -- With the recent events in Israel and the potential for things to ramp up elsewhere, this might be a good time for you to go through your preps and start filling any holes. I’m not sounding any sort of emergency alert here, so please don’t run to the bank to cash out your 401k or some other nonsense like that.
But there are an awful lot of people who are suggesting that this situation in the Middle East has a strong likelihood of leading to the involvement of several other countries. Even if we don’t see any violence here in the US, there could be supply shortages and/or price increases as the result of war involving those other countries.
Take time in the next few days to make a list of what you might need and work on acquiring those supplies while they’re still available.
* * *
This month marks six years since I gave up the day job and dove headfirst into writing and editing full-time. The lights are on and bellies are full, so we must be doing something right. There’s no way this would have worked out if it weren’t for you folks buying my books and magazines, so thank you! I truly appreciate your support.
* * *
Prepper Tip – Most would agree that mindset is extremely important when it comes to surviving a crisis. You can have all the tools in the world, but if your head’s not in the game, you’re going to struggle. However, there’s a difference between confidence and arrogance and it is important to understand the distinction.
Confidence is knowing you possess the knowledge and abilities needed to overcome the problem you’re facing. It is typically gained from practice, study, and experience.
Arrogance is an inability to consider the chance that you could make a mistake, and thus you may not recognize when your plans or actions are ineffective or going awry. Further, it tends to inhibit learning, particularly learning through trial by error. Quite often, arrogance is the result of not having your skills put to the test in any meaningful way.
Confidence will help you make it through a disaster or emergency. Having faith in your abilities is vital to success. Be convinced, all the way down to a molecular level, that you’re going to prevail in the crisis at hand.
Arrogance…well, that can get you killed. Life, karma, and Mother Nature all take a dim view of arrogance. Get too cocky and one or more of them will smack you upside the head. Never lose sight of the fact that you’re only human and thus you’re not infallible. Tempting fate is often a losing proposition.
* * *
One of the segments in both Prepper Survival Guide and Backwoods Survival Guide that can be tough to fill sometimes is the New Products layout. If you have a specific recommendation of a product or company, feel free to give me a shout. We’re familiar with a lot of the usual suspects, like 5.11 Tactical, CRKT, and WAZOO Survival Gear. I’m particularly interested in working with smaller companies that are doing great work and that deserve some free press.
* * *
For our hike this week, we went to a park we’ve not visited in at least a year. It is a bit further away than many of our usual haunts. This is a fairly new park, as it was just opened in 2016. We first visited there right after it was open for business. It was originally a gravel pit that they’ve reworked into a park, with about five miles of trails and a small boat launch for the 39-acre lake.
Survival Tip – The First 24 Hours
The first 24 hours after a disaster hits is a critical time frame. How you handle those first few hours can mean success or failure. There are several objectives that must be met in order for you and your family to not just survive, but hopefully thrive.
The order in which you tackle these areas will be at least somewhat contingent upon the situation at hand. First and foremost in any emergency or crisis is the safety of you and your family. It only after that is at least reasonably assured that you should look toward completing any sort of “to do” list.
Gather Information
By definition, you can only make an informed decision if you have information to act upon. Use every resource available, including radio, TV, and the Internet. The NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric) broadcasts, often referred to as “weather radio,” may be used to transmit official emergency announcements. The National Weather Radio service partners with the Emergency Alert System to broadcast information that is critical in a crisis. For this reason, one of your first investments should be a weather radio.
Look into amateur (ham) radio as well. The licensing process isn’t difficult and the benefits are tremendous. Ham operators are often the backbone of emergency communication in a disaster. On top of that, many operators will do everything they can to help someone who is genuinely interested in obtaining their license. Most counties have a ham operator club of some sort and that would be a great place to start.
Bear in mind that news outlets often get as much information wrong as they do correct in the initial stages of a disaster. They are all in a rush to be the first to announce the smallest bit of information and in their haste sometimes run stories without properly vetting the information. Rumors get reported as fact and stories can snowball from there. Social media is even worse. But, social media can still connect survivors to one another and allow eyewitness information to be shared.
Consult a variety of sources, if possible, and cobble together the facts presented in order to get a true picture of what’s happened. Use that information to determine your best course of action.
While you’re at it, do what you can to let others know about your individual situation. Utilize telephone, texting, and social media so people know if you’re safe or if you need assistance.
Assess Resources
Just as you take stock of the crisis and gather information about what’s going on around you, you need to take stock of your individual situation. Determine what resources are available to you and whether there are any gaping holes that could hinder your survival.
· Is your home safe or has it been damaged in the disaster?
· How much food and water do you have on hand?
· If any family members take prescription medications, how long will the current supply last?
While some of that seems like it would be information you should know ahead of time, bear in mind that we cannot accurately predict the nature of the disaster that might be coming someday. It is not unheard of for a truly well-stocked prepper to lose some or all of their supplies due to flooding, for example, or another type of damage directly related to the crisis at hand. Despite our best efforts, we’re not infallible.
Deal with Perishables
Assuming the grid is down, the food in the refrigerator and freezer isn’t going to last. A full refrigerator will stay cold for about four hours. A full freezer will keep food frozen for a day or two. If the freezer is half full, figure 24 hours or so. Of course, the more often you open the door to the fridge or freezer, the quicker it will warm up inside.
If your freezer isn’t usually full, it is a good practice to fill 2L bottles with water and put them in the freezer. A full freezer doesn’t have to work as hard, thus this will save energy. Plus, the bottles will help food stay frozen longer during a power outage. On top of that, the bottles are a source of clean water in an emergency. When filling the bottles, leave a couple of inches of head space to allow for expansion as the water freezes.
Keep in mind that food doesn’t go from good to bad in an instant. You have a little time to decide what to do with the perishables. There are a couple of options to consider.
If you have the means to preserve food, such as pressure canning or dehydrating, get to work. Put as much of it up as you can so it doesn’t go to waste. This will also augment whatever shelf stable foods you already have stockpiled.
The other approach is to consume as much of it as possible before it goes bad. Drink the milk and eat the yogurt. Warm up the leftovers from last night’s dinner and have them for breakfast or lunch. Cook up the hamburger or steaks. Invite the neighbors over if you have enough to share. It is far better for that food to go into someone’s belly than the trash.
Documentation
You’ll want to start documenting what happened. Photograph and video any damage to the home or possessions. Take photos from multiple angles and when shooting video feel free to narrate what the viewer is seeing. Upload those files to some sort of cloud storage right away, just in case your phone is later lost or damaged. One easy way to do this is to simply email the files to an account you can access remotely.
Notify your insurance agent as soon as is feasible. You might be able to get the claim process started online, if you still have access to the Internet. Either way, it is a good idea to have the phone number for reporting a claim saved in your contact list on your phone.
Clean Up
As soon as is practical, begin the cleanup process. While you might not be able to deal with everything, at least not initially, do what you can to put things back in order. In some cases, there might not be a whole lot that needs to be straightened up, of course. But in the aftermath of severe storms and such, there may well be downed branches or trees, debris strewn about, that sort of thing. These can be safety hazards so the sooner they are dealt with, the better. Be very careful about possible downed power lines and such.
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.