Ultimate survival tools

These days I've had without a car have been a big learning experiance for me, relying on walking to get to the stores and bank making me realise how important a good pair of shoes are and how much mine have been hurting my feet recently.

You may realise it isn't in good prepper sence to not have food stocked up for situations even like this however its been nearly two months. And I've known that I had a limited supply of food after the wife and I splitting when she took most of the food also the difference is my lack of cooking now. Where I live and who I live with here the kitchen is nasty and I do not cook in it and I do not clean it. So I stay hidden in my room with easily microwaveable things with just my microwave and minifridge in my room. With that I've had limited things to eat. So tonight I stocked up a bit on dry easy to microwave foods though they are not entirely healthy.

So ultimate survival tools back to this, my car broke down so I'm relying on my feet, I rely on most of all my body and mind and you should do the same, you may have a bug out vehicle but it too could also break down, or you could run out of fuel even with your stores of it. The main problem with prepping is time. Unless your stores outlive you, Then you will run out.

2012

A new year, with it brings new beginnings, I continue to be tested in my life, have it all taken from me, and I will always rise up from it and continue on. You can have one or one hundred things go wrong in your life somehow going through those things will make your life better in the end. my wife leaving put me on medications, true this now gives me a reliance on something that might become in short supply. but I have about 3 months supply now. This medication levels out my mood a lot which was apparently needed with my relationship with her. I am not mad at her for leaving and I understand why she did, I just wish it could have been resolved in a way where she could have stayed.

Beyond her leaving around the same time I lost my job, moved to another job, and then someone threw a rock through the window of my car, then a month or so later the car just broke down. I am currently having to drive my mothers car delivering food. I never have claimed I had a good job, but I wasn't killing vehicles doing the job. 

I have looked towards getting other jobs, or pursuing other options, I have not yet found one suited for me. The medication I am not on also seems to limit me on options because now people see me as diagnosed crazy. 

The good things I can say, I still have a job, I am still making money ( root of all evil in this society) and living the only way I can at this point in time. later on I will start  writing about actual survival stuff again. Also even being as I am I will always plan a camping trip this year, and it has been a truly mild winter. I hope spring will be a good time to go out to the mountains and throw up my hammock and relax some.

hurricane and earthquake, ask and ye shall receive

Well apparently there is now a hurricane slightly heading towards me. hurricane Irene, I have been watching the weather channel regularly, and not but a few minutes ago an earthquake happened in Virginia. Do not know any damage reports yet, also it was apparently felt south of me in Charlotte coming north of me in Virginia, and of course I felt nothing. from the reports they are shutting down some am-track trains on the east coast.

Your First Shelter. Clothes.

If you are ever outdoors you should realize that the only thing between you and the elements is your clothing, and your clothing counts, so what you wear is everything. In any climate hot or cold layering is always key, wearing light layers in the summer, and thicker layers in the winter. The types of fabric you layer with also factor greatly, such as light cotton in t-shirts versus heavyweight cotton as in flannel, in the winter the main fabric you want to focus on for warmth is wool, if you need to keep warm in any situation wool is the way to go. wool keeps its warming ability when it wet, which if you are outdoors, camping, hiking, at some point you will get wet.

Even if you plan on going camping or prepare for a shtf in the summer time, and you are updating your BOB for the summer, remember that it does still get cold and chilly at night. My main camping style is in a hammock going light weight, and in a hammock you always get a breeze running up the bottom.

my information here is expanded on in many books, from writers who had editors and threw much more into their work. I am having a hard time as of late staying focused on this blog. this tidbit of information was pulled from but not word for word or any lack of knowledge of my own, from Les Stroud in his survivor man shows and his book Survive.

Glued to the News

Literally I have been, working or not, this has me stressed out, I do not know anyone in japan, but just watching the news I see how much they are not telling us, you compare the information coming out of cnn, to bbc, the information is different in leaps and bounds, then compare it to the videos in youtube or the messages all over twitter, stark differences, its easy to see that this era, the news is all on the internet, and not even on old news media sources, if you want the news, you have to know where to look. The best way to know where, twitter, people broadcast their lives, their stories, and their problems. 

From the many stories I've read or watched about japan, there was a 9.0 earthquake, for japan they had minor damage from this because of how many earthquakes they apparently have over there, (not a piece of news we hear everyday) they have most of their building codes to withstand a 7.5 quake. the tsunami went 6 miles inland, now that the tide has drawn from the tsunami the island is 12 wider, the tsunami also hit Hawaii and California, doing some damage to California' coast, mostly to boats. 

A nuclear power plant was in the path of the tsunami, the tsunami knocked out power from the area causing this power plant to be unable to cool its 6 ( I believe) reactors, one by one these have been heating up, during this time the USS ronald Regan was approaching to aid japan, yet stopped and moved further from the coast after a helicopter detected radiation. that was about 2 days ago. 

between then and now I have heard back and forth of reactors and buildings exploded or didn't explode, or did explode but didn't cause a meltdown. This is all depending on which network, or news source you are reading or listening to. 

What I understand is, Japan hasn't had any help in cooling the reactors, from anyone, they have been trying to cool them with water which has cause hydrogen explosions,( thats quoted from cnn) they have gone back and forth saying there is no meltdowns or there is, BUT I know they are evacuating people for "possible" radiation leaks( and even CNN is saying that this company that owns the plant hasn't been completely forth coming with information.)  There have been explosions, between the reports and a US aircraft carrier not getting closer to help, beyond that some people have already been tested positive for radiation, I state that one or more of those reactors is leaking radiation. they have been telling people to keep their skin covered if they must go out, or just to stay inside. Honestly full chemical suit would be handy at this point for those people. 

I was dumbfounded at the first reports telling people to cover their mouths with a wet washcloth, I was thinking what could that accomplish. 

Now What news you may not have heard! there has also been a volcano eruption in japan, right like there were not enough problems, it was north of most of this from what I recall. New Jersey is flooded, still, and the Ohio river is close to flooding, so there are some problems close to home that I have not seen even hitting the news, which is why my segment on them is also rather small. 

sorry I've been missing for almost a week, work has had me stressed, my car broke down, which didn't put me in a happy place, now tomorrow I get to attempt to fix it.

Jobs

What do you do for a living? Is it something you really want to be doing? Well probably not, but it can be useful, lets take me, I drive and make food. I despise cooking, but it is useful to know. It is also good for me to know how to drive in all conditions. My wife also works in food currently, has a degree in culinary. I have a degree in criminal justice. I have had a lot of odd jobs, plumping, painting, masonry, different factory jobs. all of which has taught me a little more about the work force of the world and what it takes to make it even in this economy.

What have your jobs taught you? The big question with these skills is if they are useful in a shit hits the fan scenario. Remember that any skill you have will become a barter tool for you once money has no value.
If you do not have a job that is promoting you some real world skills beyond the obtainment of money, what are some hobbies you could start that would? fishing, hunting, target shooting, building models, geocaching would even be useful at times. come up with your own ideas. comment them to me lets make this a long list.

Work, Product Fail, and News Disappears

Today was a busy day for me, I went to work, did a job interview, then went home and promptly passed out, there for getting nothing else done for the day accept to wake up at about midnight unable to sleep again. now its nearly 3 am. 

previously I reviewed the power dome, http://sdsurvival.blogspot.com/2011/01/review-power-dome.html

now the thing seems to not be holding a charge, I have had it about a year now, my mother got more use  out of it than me, and at its current state, it does not hold at charge long enough to pump up my tire. I do not know what other reviewers would  say towards this, however it seems to be a failing product. Considering I enjoyed the concept of this device I will eventually have to obtain another one, though at this point I do not know what brand I will go with next. 

Also, What happed to the birds and fish? The news reports stopped, is this a government hush now? In our lives rush we forget about events so quickly, we also ignore the trials that other countries are going through and events that do not revolve around our country. How about you find out how many major earth quakes happened last year? Compare it to the year before, and the year before that? Is there a trend of escalation? 

I also am waiting for the new Zeitgeist movie, the 29th is when the download begins, I would pay to see it, if I were closer to a showing, if not for the movie, but to see how many other people would be interested in watching it, how many other people know the movement.  

Zombie Survival Guide

I read the back of the book first, humor was the section it claimed to be in. honestly I found the book amusing and hard to put down until I got to the last part referring to " real life zombie events " then the book just became boring.
Honestly I thought the book held some decent tips for an end of the world scenario for zombies or any other mass chemical spread infecting many people, basically stating to stay home hold up in your house as long as you have supplies for. This goes hand in hand with prepper mentality, so I liked it, also stating where zombies can not climb I thought was amusing so destroying your stairwells and running to the second floor seemed to me like a good idea.
In many places in the book it relates to the fact that it does not contain all the knowledge needed to survive for long periods of time and that the person should own many survival guides, I think this is sound advice.

For a comedy book, after watching the walking dead series, zombie land, dawn of the dead, or 28 days later I think it is a needed read to put your mind at ease, and give you some ideas for your own post apocalyptic zombie prepping.
http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/zombiesurvivalguide/index2.html

Library

I was bored today after having to go pick up my check at work, realizing I was right beside the library, even though I pass the building all the time, I hardly go in anymore. I went in and figured I would try to see what books they had on prepping or survival, being a county system library I would have thought it would have more books, of course I used the computer's " card catalog" I think that is a joke really, I remember card catalogs and they were not that easy  to use as I remember them.
There were a few sections and even fewer books. from the books I saw I got two  Wright's Complete disaster survival Manual, by Ted Wright, and Come back Alive by Robert Young Pelton. I apparently have two weeks to read the books, I know I wont get to, I am still reading the zombie survival guide, I just do not take much time to read, I have this blog to write, the day job, a wife, and just other general things I do to relax and reading just takes second string.
 I will probably keep checking out the books so I have time to read them, see how much I like them or they compare to Les Stroud, Survive or Sas Survival guide.  

Winter time

I never have understood why holiday poems involve snow, it never happens here, and as far as I am aware you have to be rather far north to see snow early in winter, also in the north you see people with two sets of tires, winter and summer, and even owning chains on tires, if I ever move north I will have to deal with this. In the south I have all season tires and everything this winter has thrown at me so far has been drivable, at least for me. I have a few pictures or snippets of video where I saw trucks on the side of the road from crashing, and I was driving in a small 4 cylinder front wheel drive car.

Speaking of cars, trucks and other. I want something other, an Suv, I have access to a truck, a Ford F 150 that was my father's. It doesn't fun to well at this point, I have never been that great at car upkeep, and money is also a requirement of that, not something I have much of.
Regardless, I would like a Jeep or a Subaru beyond that I do not know, I want some luxury in a vehicle, but I do  want it to have the capability to go off road and have 4 wheel drive. I also want something 4 door so I can carry people, things and future family easier, and most of all I am tired of sitting on the ground while I am driving.
Any suggestions on an SUV please comment and tell me what you think?

Panic

This is the post I wanted to post last night, however all I got was a nice loading screen where the typing needed to be done.

Have you ever Experienced panic? the mind numbing constantly running emotion that exists in the human body that is suppose to be there to help a person cope with stress, with a dire situation, the adrenalin flows, the skin reddens, the mind focuses on the one thing at hand, the stressor. Every time something happens in your life that causes this influx of emotion, a car accident, operation, general fear of the unknown that places you in the state at that time. This emotion can be overtaken with time.

Now to some people unlucky as they are, experience this feeling when it isn't needed, labeled a panic attack, brought on by any amount of the world being seen as it is coming down upon them, everything out to get them This is a feeling that these people and I am sure everyone else in the world wants to avoid, so medication normally is involved, a problem is stated, and all is right with the world. right? Normally wrong, medication becomes a dependent and it only hurts those in a long run making them further unable to cope in society and having more problems coming to terms with reality when something bad actually happens to them.

Now think about normal people, all Six billion of them, in a constant state of panic, think about all those already seeking mental help. The people that are in mental institutions. The worse happens, the world goes to shit, and we have six billion people panicking because they have lost control over the simple things that keeps them complacent in their happy little world.

Would you be able to overcome your body's natural reflex to panic?

Book review Survive!

Okay, I have said I will do product reviews, know hows, and such. Time to review a book I read before starting this blog. Survive! Essential Skills and Tactics to get you out of anywhere alive. by Les Stroud.

Now First I will say, I like this guy, to me he is smart on his survivor man shows, and I like his filming, as in being alone, that said, I don't like Canada speak in book form. Sorry Canadians. Most of this book related back to things you can learn just by watching his show, it did finally show how to make a figure 4 dead fall with some detail that he always speaks about in his shows. It is a good travel copy of 3 seasons of survivorman, and his one episode of urban disasters. Plus the stranded series he did to start up survivorman for the networks.

The book does have good tips, he is worth the read, but always do not just listen to one guide for all information, he also makes many references for everyplace he goes he consults local survival experts, something we all wont have if we were to get stranded in remote locations. it would mainly be book research like we would try to be doing with this book. I wouldn't call it an all knowing guide to survival, but it does have some tips tricks and opinions, like much hate for the the lean to shelter, why the hate Les?

I give it a 3 out of 5, I need to read more survival books honestly, this one didn't keep me that interested that I couldn't put the book down, but I did finish it.

Reading more books and reviewing more will come with time but money is tight like always for those with dead end jobs making it through life.

Also note, the leaving pages in the back of the book for tender was creative.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061373516?ie=UTF8%20&tag=harpercollinsusbuypage-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0061373516

 I was attempting to not be bias on this review because I do like Les and his show, I like that even with having a show he is slow going, he is alone out there and takes care of himself, unlike Bear Grills who runs in headlong with no rhyme or reason to us the viewers, and he just works to make a good show rather than show someone how to survive, he shows ya just how to die faster.

to Survive

What would you be willing to do?

Now I am not referring to the end of the world, Perhaps just the end of your world. You find yourself homeless your family dead, what do you do now? Do you live on the streets clam-mering on clinging to what you may still own squandered away from what is left of your own life? Will you sell those last possessions to get a bit further a grain of food in your stomach? What job would you be willing to do, what would be beyond what your pride would allow?

I know in my own mind, my capabilities I can and would do anything to promote my wellbeing, and in my slight heartless nature no longer having anyone would lead me to the point of no worries in my own actions. If you have no one to look down on you that you know, there is nothing to low for you to stoop to. This is probably too drastic for someone who living comfortably to think about, you have a home, internet service Television most likely, a family pet you pay to take care of, children, these are all luxuries that most do not find as such. Television seems to be thought as a god given right anymore, and I find it to be the least necessary thing I pay for, it only adds to the time I waste spending it retaining information that has no suiting to my everyday lifestyle.

would you turn a trick as my mother says to obtain money? meaning towards prostitution, be a servant of some other sort, clean what others will not. anymore these are not even jobs that lower class people seem to be able to obtain, they go to foreigns that are now in the country, yet thought to be good job in england, working for noble being given room and food for service, but that is an era far past.
Now what most people stoop to is food service jobs, fast food, Mc Donald's is a low job for most, Walmart mostly unthinkable, just yet, obtainable if you look and ask.
so why I ask are there so many homeless? because if you do not try before the world falls out from under you, if you do not lie just slightly while you are already damned. If you say you do not have a home, no job will hire you anywhere. so what would you do to obtain a home? or would you lie.