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.

Not dead.

I know I left the whole 7 people reading this hanging. but I went through a lot in my life right at the time of my last post. my wife left me, yes after only half a year of marriage. had to move out of the apartment, lost all storage space really, most food stores are go on so on so forth. prepping is down to day one really. I still have a few of my toys with me but had to split most of my things between where I am staying, with a friend paying him for a room, and split where my mother lives right now. I haven't written anything just for fact of not having anything to write. still looking for a possible co author.

Moving

No the wife and I are not moving, yet. This has been the topic of our conversations for months now, where we will go from here. Do we go to the cities to help our chances of finding work that will pay decently for her and I, do we move out to the location where we would like to settle for our life time. We both want to move around some, enjoy life before having children, and currently we have that luxury. We are young, smart enough to stay away from having children, and waiting till we are ready, mind that we do want kids.

I want to move away, and its been much debate to where, I want to move someplace where I can be out in the woods, have lots of land in be smack in the middle of it and go on my relaxing walks when ever I wish, it's something that takes me back to my childhood, being alone, doing what I wanted when I wanted, fishing, swimming, walking in the woods. I never got lost in the woods, I never got hurt out there to the point where I couldn't just walk home. I feel I was lucky. This is something I  want for my son, freedom. I didn't grow up having friends close by or people to talk to really, it was just me and some form of nature.

My wife's childhood was in a suburb, friends all around to play with, not having to walk even a block to find one of her little girlfriends to play with, and during her childhood she moved from that and out into the country, where her and her sister then played in a creek and had miniature horses. Her childhood had two vastly different worlds, and she liked the first better, and she wants the first world for her daughter.

The other big debate is when we have kids, she wants us to be close to where we are now so all the parents, then be grandparents can be close by to witness the birth of our children, I would rather just fly them out to where we are.

The big question still remains, where do we move to? Well in the end the wife has said that when we are settled down I get my big mass of land and woods, so I am happy with that idea, but where? What state should we live in. NC is has a lot of woods, just like the ones I grew up with. Should we do somewhere west, perhaps more north, What is everyone else's ideas, I would like to hear them.

New Month

February already, In my life not much happening that is interesting, I continue working which means little to anyone reading this honestly; However, to me it means continued life stuck in a rut, I am quite curious how someone starting out life in a poor social status can move above it. my parents were poor, my wifes parents were poor, I am 25 years of age, Yep I said something about myself. I think we married young yes. I do not see how a couple wishing to have kids, brought up in distress of money gets out of that distress. This is from countless talks or arguments with the wife about money, and time.

its a condescending idea for her, she wants to move to a city, for work to obtain a better job, but when we have children she wants to be close enough for her mother to be there. the two ideas are impossible for me to grasp. Beyond that moving at all, when one lives only paycheck to paycheck how would one move. This month incredibly annoying with car inspections, registrations, and to have the kicker a higher power bill from heating.

This is the very point where I wish we were off the grid, or in a world where one did not need a job or a car riding horses, trading whats needed, using crafts and skills properly for money, while chopping wood for a fire, or even in modern age, solar heating. Everyone has skills, my wife's is cooking, mine is just about everything.

I have always been a jack of all trades, and quite literally a master of none. My father was a painter, through that he was also a handyman, but painting houses, he was a master at, it took him time, as he did it alone, but never a drip, never a run in the paint, an entirely even coat. I was taught this, I am capable of painting not as he was though. I have held many jobs with him or without, repairing wood work, stone masoning, plumbing, electrician. All the while having my own hobbies, making plate armor, learning to sew with my mother, as that was her main profession, crocheting with my grandmother, Whittling. and as I got older computers and other electronics. All of these skills, Everyone of them is useless to a modern resume. In america you want teams of foreigners painting your houses, doing your sewing, gardening, so on. the servant class of the world, even the factory class of the industrial revolution is now the unemployed class. Those like me who wish for high rank, champagne on a beer budget, we work in customer service now, being paid bottom dollar to those that will still hirer, food service, most companies shipped jobs else where, where more profits can be made by having lower wages.

I am not foreseeing my way of getting ahead in life. I have an associates degree, so does my wife, mine is in criminal justice, my wife's is in culinary arts. No money and too much shame, I bow to no one, I neither beg nor plea, I just see this world dropping, and to those few with money either wasting it. or those that are in the magical middle class prepping. Those are the ones who I wish to be, to have the money to prepare for a time when our world becomes like the movies News on tv.

Poor Man is Poor

You better believe I am the poor man. Prepping for me consists of food, mostly what I get from a local food bank, the government says I make too much money at my job currently for food stamps, but I was receiving them, and at my job even in a manager position, I make minimum wage, federal minimum wage, seven dollars and twenty-five cents an hour. I work about 36 hours a week, kept from ever getting overtime, and do odd jobs for my bosses, and where ever I can find, including attempting to scrape money out of this blog and other writing ventures.

Perhaps saying I am poor is wrong, I pay all my bills on time, I am not behind on bills, I have a few credit cards between me and my wife, but we eat every night, have food on backlog, and I keep a roof over our head.

I get my food from a place called Christian ministries, do not know if they have them anywhere, being Christian isn't required. In our town, it is near the soup kitchen, I have not been in there. Perhaps it is wrong of me to obtain food from places like this, we consider I do have a job, I live paycheck to paycheck yes, but I also afford myself a few luxuries, like television, cellphones, internet. I will not and do not pay subscription internet games. 

I have many expenses at my house, laundry is one of the big oppressors considering  I do not have a washer and drier, I recall days long past with my mother going to a laundromat when the washer had broken and it being 50 cents or so to wash clothes, not with todays inflation.

The food I get, I keep, powered milk, canned soups, frozen meats, breads, not all are long lasting, but we use it.  

Speaking of the roof over our heads, I live in an apartment, not the first choice of course, I would love living out of this small city, out in the country, I miss my childhood home but I would not move there again because of how close it is to a nuclear power plant, and even closer to a steam power plant.

My apartment is full brick housing, small, one story, the entire complex is one story, and it is on high ground. I would take this apartment over any trailer double or single wide any day, beyond that the double-wide I was living in before was at the bottom of a hill and flooded out constantly. 

What I think I am trying to say is that even as someone on minimum wage, living paycheck to paycheck, if you swallow your pride, much like I had to, and ask for help from places like Christian ministries, or food stamps, you can be a prepper too, and if you get food stamps and use them wisely, they can stretch a long way. Buying pre-made food is quick and costly, buying supplies takes long to fix meals but is always cheaper, also another helpful hint, you can buy seeds, so vegetables, herbs, fruit, anything you can grow small, even in an apartment is more useful than not having any food.

QOTD: do you live paycheck to paycheck?

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

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?

Things go boom

The government has simulated a nuclear blast, and said that it is a survivable event, several problems. they did it where the government isn't, why would someone nuke the american movie industry?

beyond that they have a whole list of things we could do if it happens to attempt to prolong our sorry lives while they hide in a well furnished bunker. like not moving. it would be more harm to go outside into the radiation than remain inside and starve. yay prepping. beyond these thoughts, you could move away from this and think about the nuclear power plants near you, or in fallout range one of which I am in range of McGuire power plant. I have always lived in range of dying by this thing, and have driven by it many times on land and on the lake.

it really doesn't take hate to end the world or our lives, just stupidity, in so many available ways.

two things in life that are certain

Death and Taxes, and we all have experienced both I am sure. apparently we are getting the bush tax cuts extending into this year.

From what I am reading in blogs, all of the bigger survival bloggers are speaking of a shortage of freeze dried food. This is something I can not report on, I do not have the sources they do, I have also never bought at freeze dried food. I do know however with the winter storms going through the country, that eggs, milk, gas, and antifreeze are pretty well out of stock at most stores and gas stations beyond walmart. walmart doesnt stockpile anything, most stores do not anymore, so they get shipments as they run out or low on stock. a flawed system in storms and possible times for the traffic to be at a stand still. more people buying food and other items to stock, and the stores running out unable to restock. now preppers are another story they do not have to worry about these problems, which is why they prep. I suppose its something everyone should try.

horders or preppers

Whats the difference? I would like to think organisation and the lack of a tv show. From what I have seen on the Tv show, I am not a frequent watcher of the show, the people on the show are older, and sit at home normally never leaving the house at all, and have bought too much stuff out of mail order or shopping from tv, obtaining stuff spending money I wish I had for things they don't need, nor possibly even know the use for.  if you buy a bunch of cooking things on QVC leave them in boxes, never leave the house, are filling up your home removing even a walking pathway because of stuff you are a horder, if you have animals in your home and have too much stuff in there to clean up after them, you are a horder, and normally by that tv show, their houses are being condemned from the health department stated as being unfit to live in.
 preppers do probably buy too much stuff, and possibly from QVC however, from what I can tell, at least online the ones who advertise they are preppers do so with order, if you have 20 5 gallon buckets of food, you kinda want to know which bucket has what in it, so labels are your friend, I can't imagine it would be a good day if the health department did get a call on you and they enter your house to find a wall of buckets, or other food storage, and they think you are a horder of buckets. remember to make yourself able to walk through your home.
 honestly the worse thing I see in all of these is having animals in your house, this I am not a fan of, animals have adapted to live outside, if they aren't they are a useless animal to me. so your designer dog might be nice, but has no place with me, sorry wifey, your shih-tzu stays with your parents.


QOTD What are the TV shows you watch, do they relate to your ideas of prepping or survival?

Car Carry

This post is brought on by a question from me to a customer at my day job, me stating, your not really dressed for the weather are you? her answer " Yeah, I don't like wearing a jacket in the car." and she was wearing a light jacket for early spring maybe, and its suppose to be 19 degrees F tonight. I have a thermal suit I brought inside work with me tonight, I've had it in my car since it got cold, with her answer all I could think of was what if her car broke down. her other answer was that she had left her car running so it would be warm still, what if she locked her keys in her car? I know its a lot of 'what ifs' but thats the idea behind preppers, to prepare for any situation that could happen no matter how unlikely.

 I have locked me keys in my car so often that I carry a spare car key in my wallet, and I have a spare to my wifes car, in the first 3 days she locked her keys in her new car and tore up a lot of the rubber seal getting back inside. I knew how to break in my car, and did it a few times, but it wont work for me now, but I have that key, and I locked my keys in my car on my honey moon even, wasn't a problem I had the spare.  thats just one situation.

Where I work we deliver food, I don't always deliver but I have before and keep a lot of things in my car, food, water, first aid kit, roadside kit, normal car stuff for me, I even have a jumper box in the back of my car, its been the best 100 dollars I ever spent, with it having a tire pump, av inverter, and car jumper, it is one all around handy tool. its one of those things I have everyday in my car that I don't think about, like the camp shovel, I left it in my car, do not know why I would ever need it, but I do not know thats why its there.

QOTD whats something that you think is odd, that you carry in your car?

also please dress warm in the winter do not rely on your cars heater.

OK I am Back, married honeymooned and rested? hardly

Ok For the news, 4 stories, quite interesting to me, two of them about wikileaks, I cant say I have read much on this website, but I have watched some of the videos, and they are interesting to say the least. It's a website that is letting out secrets of the US government, however I think, if they were so important secrets we still wouldn't know them, I would still like to know who shot jfk, was 9/11 an inside job, something of that nature. There are long past secrets of the government that could change the views of the world on our own government. but right now, they are just releasing batches of documents the common public is hearing the names of the batches of documents, not what they contain or their importance only that they could damaging to to the government, or cost people jobs, and that last statement is the only one hitting home for people, thats the eye catcher statement because everyone is already out of a job.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/12/04/wikileaks.pay.pal/index.html?hpt=T2

wikileaks looses its paypal account, they cant accept donations from them now, honestly it was coming since all american companies are backing away from them quickly.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/12/03/wikileaks.access.warning/index.html?hpt=T2

and this one is forbidding all federal employees to Not look at wikileaks, at work, at home, on your mobile phone. because you shouldn't know whats there. thats it in a nut shell, I wonder though, will they know? really? will you get fired if you do look?

Next story ! Land up for sale, nice secluded, out in perfect prepper country, one hitch it belonged to the uni-bomber
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/12/04/montana.unabomber.property/index.html?hpt=T2

and a stranded boat off the coast of alaska.. ok I am jumping bail off this one for thinking it was interesting, but it was for a second. stranded crew, no one can get out to them yet. What would you do? QOTD
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/12/04/alaska.stranded.freighter/index.html?hpt=T1

first aid kit, and a reason to have one in your car

Well I said I was going to post my first aid kit and I did, I posted a video of it a few minutes ago, and now heres the list, but I also wanted to say, I was playing while at work, being stupid showing off the knife I made to my boss and cut my thumb, cut it rather deep, I should have had stitches, however I am cheap so its super glued shut which will work fine, ill also post a picture, but needless to say there wasn't a proper first aid kit at my work, my boss needs to restock, I had him go get my car kit, which I knew had proper things in my first aid kit. clean pads and such. so I stopped the bleeding, cleaned it out and my boss and I glued my skin together, then he went home for me to be closing manager like normal. just another day.

aspirin
antacid
clean wipes/ wet wipes
hand lotion
safety pins
buttons
band aids
sterile saline solution
toilet paper
hair band/ rubber band
small ink pen
nail file
mirror
latex gloves
sterile unopened syringe
stretch bandaging
non stick bandage pads
wire
hand sanitizer
small swiss army knife
anti itch cream
medications- benadryl, claritin, immodium

Packing list

I have a few different lists here of things, we are taking between three people, the main thing we are leaving behind is a tent, thats all the luxury we are forfeiting right now
 General stuff-
toilet paper
canteens
cups, one per person metal for boiling ability if needed
camp knife, general purpose fixed blade knife, knight and I are taking the ones we made.
sleeping bags
5 gallon water container, it collapses, we aren't taking water, I know there is a stream out there we will be boiling water.
trash bags, really large ones
camp shovel, or as we have been saying a shit digger.
cooking pots, all modded to where I can use them with a tripod over a fire, were made for a camp stove.
flash lights, one of them being one with a radio/ weather radio/ cellphone charger.
rope, lots of rope.
first aid kit. ill go over this kit tomorrow
tarps, this is gonna be the main water proofing of the shelter we are making, just a general one I've seen on ray mear's shows, I do know I should practice before use, but I live in an apartment and my mother lives in a rental area too.

bleach, more water purification
peroxide, good for any possible wounds
alcohol
lighter
matches
magnesium fire lighting stick
machetes
hatchet, people have differnt preferences which is more useful, I like them both, hatchet is a lot better as a hammer too.
 jute twine
a simple .22 rifle
canvas- this is from where my mother worked making boat covers and this will be good ground cloth
bandannas
hand sanitizer


Clothes-  we are going over thanksgiving in the foothills of NC so 40 degrees F is what the average is.
long underware, thermals,
thermal socks
blue jeans
t shirt, for me at least
belt
boots with laces, always with laces
insulated suit
ear muffs
toboggan
face mask, for the cold and my identity hidden from the camera  Hah
gloves, I have two pair one fingerless and one thicket and full gloves
and a change of socks and underwear.

for Our food its mainly gonna be soups and canned food while out there.

  this is the shelter we are going to use Ray mears video we are just adding tarps for more rain proofing.
 

just starting

one of the things I want people to realize when reading this blog, I am learning as I go, I am not an intense blogger, nor am I prepper, I like to think of myself as a person with a large mass of common sense, education wise, I have an associates in applied science, criminal justice degree. this does not mean that I am a cop, because I am not, I am probably just slightly more educated in laws than the average Joe.  I also do not think I could be a prepper, beyond that I do like planning and working on my own skills, I like to think that I could thrive in any situation, but unless you test that front it with routine, it isn't like to be the case.

so ever since I was a kid I liked to put myself in situations that set me at a disadvantage, walk around for a day.. without walking, like my legs were paralyzed, without an arm working, so on so forth, for that I can write with both hands, shoot guns and bows with both hands, and eat with my feet( nimble toes ) that was a lot of me just playing as a kid but they have improved my life in ways. like when I broke my hand, I found the two hardest things to do was brushing my hair and teeth with the other hand, so give it a try, use the hand that you ignore, for everything for a day.

perhaps one day ill seriously have the cash to make a bug out bag, or a car kit, right now all thats in my car is normal car stuff, first-aid kit and some clothes, others would probably say I'm lacking some stuff, and I'm probably forgetting to mention some super important thing I actually have. and I do know in winter my list of things in my car becomes large in ways of clothes, and I like the cold mind you, summer sucks to me you can only take so many clothes off, if your colder you can always put on another layer. and ill go through all the things ill be wearing on this upcoming camping trip, later, on video, perhaps i'll do a face reveal... that didn't last long but I didn't like being referred to as looking like a terrorist.

cold weather

well to those all around the united states, we are entering winter, this next weekend we will be turning our clocks back, the fall back, and the cold snap has hit, and I have a camping trip planned over thanksgiving, I know its gonna be cold and im prepared for that, I do hope those coming with me are as prepared, it will be an interesting one when taking others with me who I have not gone camping with before, along with the shelter building and keeping a fire going during the night. I had to drive home tonight at 1 am, so thats why I kinda skipped a day in posting, but there was ice on my windshield, and on my car even after getting home, and I state this to the preppers, if you keep fluids in your car in case you run out, I would switch out that 50/50 antifreeze with straight antifreeze, I know I need to, because I have been putting straight water in the tank for a few months, beyond that my car has an antifreeze leak and I know this, but no money to deal with the problem anymore, ive replaced everything and I need to redo the seal on the water pump. so also to those preppers make sure you have warm clothes put in your car kits and bug out bags, it would be assumed that you switch out clothes for seasons. I remember a year ago, I was doing a job that required me to drive up into the mountains every night delivering meds to nursing homes easy job, but when my mothers car broke down and my mother and I were stranded on the top of a mountain pretty much, not in the clothes needed for that weather, I was only wearing my lighter leather coat and long pants, no gloves no hat, nothing. my mother wasn't wearing much better, but here we were stuck no triple A, and no idea who to call on our phones. beyond that, we didn't have any cash on us to even pay the tow truck so limited to only giving him 200 dollars, my mother was the only one who had money in her account, and it cost us that whole 200 to get down the mountain and back home in that car, it was the timing belt and that as a long ordeal to get that fixed. but after that I quickly figured out that at least the winter elements are not something to toy with so from then on during that job i kept my thermals, and thats what im planning on taking with me camping, I hope the others are that prepared.

knife making

well today besides working, I spent my entire day shaping a piece of scrap steel into a knife, I have not finished mind you, but I got a good chunk of the work done. since I had a partner on making this, we were making him one too, and filmed it, so me and knight are on video showing off the ease of making a knife simply with a 20 dollar grinder, now be it I have a lot of tools from my father and my grandfathers collecting, and they are all mine now, but it doesn't mean that they are all needed.  the video should be posted in a few minutes from this post, we are both covered up in it, keeping with the hiding of my appearance as an experiment, and it was interesting in the filming I called knight by his real name a few times and had to re-shoot the video for that section. beyond this I do hope to teach you something in this, and that is, that everything can be made, its a lot cheaper to buy a grinder/ grinding disks, than to buy a knife. same can be said for many things.

survival, preping, and skills

in the end of the day, the deal with survival, or surviving any out come deals with preparation, now many people will stock up on food, and that is good, water is even better, but beyond that, for the impulsive person like me, who jumps into everything head on no looking back, skills are the best prep. learn to make something, it doesn't matter if its decoration for now, like hemp necklesses, my fiancée loves making these and sells them but beyond that she is learning how to make really strong rope out of anything. its a simple skill, and I had her teach me, it was fun.

lets start with whittling, and I will say that this is a completely free to learn skill, now you'll say wait, no you need a knife, why? why do you need a knife, it is easier to have one yes, but you do not need one, metal did not exist for many thousands of years yet people still made tools using stone, stone is easy in concept, harder in practice to work with, but once you learn it, a dry river bed is your haven for cutlery. you can easily look up on google for flint napping, stone napping so on and then get out and try it, cause you'll never learn if you do not try it.
beyond that. later on I will show ya how to make a simple knife without having anything to help me, by then perhaps I wont feel like hiding myself? maybe.