Monday, December 21, 2020
Wednesday, December 16, 2020
Tuesday, December 15, 2020
Monday, December 14, 2020
Saturday, December 12, 2020
Sunday, November 29, 2020
Friday, November 27, 2020
Black Friday / Weekend Deals on Amazon for the prepper or Christmas Gifts
Here are some prepper things you might want to stock up on.
These would make great Christmas gifts!
Lifestraw $12.97
Kootek Hammock $17 - $25
Sunday, November 22, 2020
Morakniv 511 review and The One Stick Fire Challenge
Wednesday, September 16, 2020
The Mountain Devil
This is a story I wrote of my series "Growing Up Gunnison" you can find it HERE
The Mountain Devil
It had to be the late 70’s or early 80’s Nix and I got invited up to help scout for elk at one of our rancher friends (who will remain nameless for hopefully obvious reasons) pack in camps.
I think it was late August and we rode in for several hours on horseback. We started right at the ranch and headed into an area I had never been to before.
Good thing we took the dude horses since neither Nix or I were very good with them, but things went nice and smooth.
We got to the camp in early afternoon and our rancher friend’s grandpa was there waiting on us with coffee and beans. We’ll call him Fenster.
Our friend left us in his care and went back down the mountain to the ranch to take care of his usual work load.
Fenster was a crusty old rancher who had spent his entire life on the ranch. “Born in a log cabin and likely die in one too” I remember him saying as we were introduced.
Fenster turned out to be quite the mountain man as well.
He knew the area we were as only someone who had spent their entire lives there could.
He took out for a ride over some of the easier terrain to do some glassing, and it seemed like every break in the trees or ridge top held a story about some dude (that is what they called the hunting clients) or another either shooting a monster deer, elk or bear.
Along with the success stories were peppered stories of great train wrecks that some dude had caused.
He even told us a story of a dude that had shot his guides horse out from under him, when he fell asleep and was startled by the guides return through the trees.
It was great fun for a couple high school punks who had hunted a lot but had never been privy to the closed ranching community. Fenster gave us quite and education traipsing all over those ridges.
The greatest stories came at night around the fire. Fenster would sip on a bottle of Old Quaker and tell us tales of the Gunnison Valley that his granddad had told him growing up.
The last night we were in camp Fenster imbibed a little more than usual. He told us some of the stories we had heard before, but then he just stared into the fire for a while.
After a time he looked at us and asked, “I got somthin to tell you boys but you can’t tell no one else.”
Nix and I looked at each other and naturally we shook our heads in agreement.
“This ain’t for those outside to know about.” he said after a time.
“It happened when I was just a young shaver…5 mebbee 6. We had a hard winter and during spring calving something was coming in and killing our calves.”
“Actually now that I think of it it started a couple weeks earlier with someone breaking into our root cellar out by the barn and stealing food from it.”
“I remembered that because that is how we caught him.”
“Who?” Nix asked.
“The f**kin’ Mountain Devil that’s who!”
Nix and I both sat back as this was the first time in the week we had been with him that we had heard a course word escape Fenster’s lips.
Fenster just stared into the fire and didn’t say anything. Nix elbowed me and nodded towards the old man…”your turn” he mouthed at me.
I swallowed and said “Fenster, What’s a mountain devil?” in as meek and innocent voice as I could muster.
Fenster took a long pull of Old Quaker and cleared his throat. “Well I only seen a youngun, and we only had him for a day, but he was sure a sight to see.”
“Ya see my Granddad didn’t take to someone stealing our food, not to mention our calves, so he kinda rigged up a special latch for our root cellar door and turned it into a trap.”
I’m pretty sure he was expecting to catch one of our theivin’ neighbors, but weren't we surprised at about 4 in the morning when we heard a gawdawful hootin’ and a hollerin’, and a banging and crashing coming from outside.”
“It woke everyone up and granddad and pa run out with guns…they said after that there was a couple somethings big and dark pounding on the roof of the root cellar.”
“They shot in the air a couple times and whatever they were ran off!”
Nix and I were completely enthralled by this point. We had heard some of the ranch kids mention mountain devils but neither of us had heard of anyone with first hand experience.
“So what did they do?” Nix couldn’t contain himself.
Fenster looked sideways at him but continued on.
“Pa lit some lanterns and they stood guard until first light. The whole time there was whining and screeching coming from the cellar, with similar noises coming off the hillside behind the old log house.”
“You probably saw it at the ranch. It sets up closer to the tree-line than the new house, and we park hay equipment in front of it.”
“Ya I saw that.” I said hurriedly “Then what?”
“They waited until it was light and went out to see what they had caught.”
“By this time the answering sounds on the hillside had gone quiet, and the cellar noises had mellowed as well.”
“I remember looking past my mama in the doorway while she held a shotgun, and granddad and pa walking over to the cellar to see what was in it.”
“They went up to the door and tired to look through the cracks with a flashlight. Finally pa told granddad to watch and undid the lock and opened the door a bit and shined the flashlight in.”
“I remember watchin’ him stumble back while holding his gun on the door, and he was shakin’, I mean down right hands shaking!”
I ain’t never seen my pa scared before or since but he was sore afraid right then!”
“What was it!” one of us asked, I don’t remember who.
“Turns out it was a baby, more like a toddler or kid.”
“What are you talking about !?” Nix sounded annoyed.
“It was a kid mountain devil. It was about five feet tall and covered in hair…Oh and it stunk to high heaven!”
“I guess when pa opened the door it went back into a corner and kind curled up in a ball and just laid there, kinda whining.”
“There was a lot of discussion about what they was gonna do with it. I remember ma wanted to call the sheriff, but granddad would have nothing of that!”
“He was the type that handled his own problems, and he didn’t want no “gubernet” men on our place.”
“So they took turns “guarding” the devil, and by that afternoon all us kids had pestered the adults enough to let us see it.”
“They wouldn’t let us in the cellar but they did let us walk by the door while the pa held a flashlight and his gun on the devil.”
“By that time the devil was sitting leaning with his back against the wall.”
“I will never forget looking into his eyes and seeing…well it’s hard to say… not a person but someone, inside. It was like you know a dog. A dog has a personality, but this was a lot more.”
“I think I should mention that the devils killed our dogs when all the hoopin’ and a hollerin’ was going on.”
“It started getting towards sundown when we heard the first “WHOOPS” up on the hillside. Pa got everyone inside the cabin, and locked up the cellar as best he could.”
“As soon as the sun went down it started.”
“What” I said.
“The attack.”
“They started throwing things on the house and against the walls. Pa had the wooden shutters closed so we couldn’t see what was going on, but I remember huddling in the bathtub and crying with my sister whilst mama sat there with a shotgun.”
“Things crashed against the house all night long. Every once in a while the whole thing would shudder when something big would hit it.”
“By morning the noises stopped. Pa and granddad went out loaded for bear, but we didn’t hear a shot.”
After a while they came back in and told us to “come and see”.”
“Outside was a disaster! Rocks and sticks and even logs were on our roof, the logs on the side of the house were all dented up.”
“We went over to the root cellar, or at least where the root cellar had been and there was just a crater in the ground.”
“The mountain devils had tore the thing completely apart getting their youngster back.”
“After that we didn’t lose anymore calves, and never seen ’em at the home place again.”
“You mean you have seen them?” Nix asked.
Fenster hesitated once again before answering. “Well I think that kid we caught was pretty close to my age, and like I said there was something there when I met its eyes.”
“Pretty near every year since I been coming up to this elk camp, one of them mountain devils will let me see it.”
“I never know when or where but I will usually come around a bend somewhere and there it will be looking at me.”
“Been happening since I was about 15. I’m not sure how long these thing live, but I’m sure feeling my age, and that’s all I got to say about it.”
Fenster just shut up after that and no matter what we said he wouldn’t give us any more details.
The only thing he told us was to look at the old house and the pit where the root cellar was when we go back down to the ranch.
Nix and I didn’t get much sleep that night, and in the morning Fenster loaded us all up on the dude horses and led us back down the mountain to the camp.
We got to the ranch and immediately Nix and took off to look at the old log house. The side facing the uphill tree line was covered in dents. A couple of the logs were cracked and some looked like big gouges had been taken out of them.
Next we wandered over to the barn and in the side of a small hill you could see where there had once been a dugout, most likely a cellar. The area had been opened up like a crater some time in the past.
Our friend saw what we were doing and came over with a worried expression on his face.
“What exactly did granddad talk about up there in camp?”
“He told us…” Nix started “Not much, just hunting stuff” I interrupted.
He looked at us narrowed his eyes and said in a low tone. “If you ever tell you will never be welcome here again.”
As of this day while Nix and I have discussed it many times, we have never shared this story, until now.
Fenster, and his son, our friend’s dad have both passed, and they don’t take dudes up on the mountain much any more.
I do wonder if Fenster’s mountain devils still live up there, and maybe some day before I pass, I may go and try to find out.
Truth or not? You Decide...
Randy
Saturday, August 22, 2020
The Library for Preppers and Homesteaders
What books should you have in your library?
You have a library right?
I have a couple thousand on just about every topic, but I really don't need all of them.
I am putting this list together of 5 books (plus a bonus) I think are important, that you can get from Amazon, and yes they will be from affiliate links, but well worth your time and investment.
1. The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live it. By John Seymour
I have the previous edition of this book and it is pure gold for those trying to make their way on their own small piece of land.
2. The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery
Thursday, August 6, 2020
Are We Facing Famine in America?
Has our agribusiness model broken?
With a full page ad in the New York Times, Tyson Foods warned, “The food supply chain is breaking.” Tyson doesn’t seem to be alone in this sentiment. Many other large food producers have cut back, or shut down completely in the wake of the current pandemic.
What does the future hold for the agricultural model in this country, and is this something we should have seen coming? What can we do to stop it, or at least to live with the consequences of the choices Big Food has forced on our farms and farmers?
David Beasly the director of the UN food agency recently warned that the world could face a famine of Biblical proportions within a few months.
Facing a possible famine with a possibly broken agribusiness model, where do we go from here?
The Soviet Model
A teenage Ukrainian girl boarded the train to Kiev with her mother. They were a well-to-do family with both parents holding government offices. They lived in a small rural city and were going to Kiev to buy necessities that were not available locally. They carried with them the equivalent of several hundred dollars in order to stock up while they were in the capital.
This teen girl, now a US citizen, told me what she saw when they entered the largest market in Kiev. Bare shelves! Row after row of them. She told me that there were a few loaves of bread, some fish and poultry in the meat section and very few fruits and vegetables.
This family was rich compared to their neighbors, but was unable to buy much with all that cash because it simply wasn’t available.
This was Soviet era Ukraine with all the wonders of collective farming. The Soviets had highly mechanized production but were forced to sell all the food produced to the government. I know that is a very simplified version of how the system worked, but it is fairly accurate.
All across the USSR, the government had its hands in the production of the peoples’ food. Mandated inefficiencies by Stalin were somewhat alleviated by subsequent leaders, but the system was still far from efficient. Add into that a few years of bad crop production, and the usual corruption and you had a recipe for the famines that helped bring down the Soviets.
American Farmers
American farmers aren’t anything like the old Soviets, you say. True. But I will say the system that American farmers are forced into has all the hallmarks of one that will collapse upon itself, given the right (wrong?) set of circumstances.
Instead of selling what they produce to people, the farmers sell to a cooperative (collective?). Most of what farmers grow is then fed to animals. Then these animals are put into a pipeline of processors, and then distributors, and finally to groceries where people can buy the product several times removed.
The Government makes sure it stays involved with the whole process by passing laws that make it illegal for a farmer to sell milk, eggs, meat, cheese, along with several other products directly to the consumer. For sure there are small communities of people who ignore these laws and buy directly from those willing to take the chance and sell directly to them.
The American farmer is now, for the most part, just a cog in the American agribusiness corporate model. And similar to how the Soviet model came apart, we are seeing something that could break down agribusiness in the coming months.
Meat Producers
I mentioned Tyson at the beginning of this piece. However, there are more, many more who are following suit. The animals have been raised and are ready to be processed (butchered and moved on), but the meat packing plants are closed, so many of these animals are just being killed so that they no longer have to be fed.
If the pipeline of animals has been stopped, then there is no reason to start raising new replacement animals. Tyson holds contracts with poultry growers all around, near their processing plants. These contracts stipulate how many and how fast the birds must be raised. If no birds are being processed, then no new birds are being started. No grain is being purchased for food, and everything grinds to a halt.
Many of these producers live contract to contract and carry a mountain of debt. A stoppage in the pipeline of animals has the possibility of finishing many of them.
Egg Producers
Egg producers are in a similar boat. Eggs are being given away all across the country. Thousands of dozens, all because there is no restaurant market for them at this time. At least these birds don’t have to be killed to produce. But food still needs to be purchased in order to keep them alive during this time.
Eggs might be the go-to source of protein for many who are not able to locate meat for sale. Government restriction on selling eggs is less restrictive than on selling meat, so some egg producers may survive an agribusiness crash.
Milk Producers
Milk producers have been living on government subsidies for years. Recent milk prices have just stayed at rock bottom, far less than the cost to produce. Many dairy farmers across the country are being forced to dump part of each day’s production of milk since school and restaurant orders have dried up.
Grain Farmers
As I said earlier, most of the grain grown in this country goes into feeding animals. Grain farmers are going to plant this spring no matter what happens, so there will be a fall crop. What that crop is worth when harvest comes is a matter of speculation.
Grain farmers can sell to the public, but why should they, and who would buy it? Monocrop farming relies on a system like we have in place, where all the surpluses can be shipped around and used far away from where it was produced.
What do we do?
That is the big question begging for an answer. If the system fails, cities may end up like Kiev, with no food on the shelves. Do you remember what happened to the toilet paper?
American agribusiness is not set up for a disruption in the flow of goods like we have shaping up. It teeters, facing a collapse that, if we don’t prepare for it, we may see far worse things than we have seen from this pandemic.
There is a way people can take charge of their own food security, and face this possible crisis head-on with confidence. It started back in the 60’s, and is enjoying a modern renaissance of sorts.
Back to the Land
The Back to the Land movement had people leaving the cities, buying a plot of land, and growing their own food so that they knew what was in it and that it was humanely produced. There are many excellent books in publication that tell you just how to do this, and most of the information is still accurate. A person can buy a plot of land and humanely produce most of their own food without buying into the agribusiness model.
If that is not an option for you, the current iterations of this movement are homesteaders and off-gridders. There is much overlap in these movements, but the main thing seems to be self-sufficiency.
Homesteaders
Modern homesteading looks much like regular farming did 100+ years ago. A small family farm that has a biodiverse selection of crops and animals provides a well balanced land usage along with increased fertility and production. This allows the homesteader to produce a healthy food supply, and in many cases a marketable crop.
Government Reform
If American agribusiness is truly broken, the best thing the government can do is to loosen the restrictions it has placed on small producers like homesteaders. You should be able to go to your local farmer and buy milk. You should be able to buy meat right from the farmer. Lifting these restrictions will help Americans.
The current trend of trying to eat locally will expand many times, with the result being Americans having access to more locally grown, healthy food than ever before. We will have to be willing to spend more of our budget on food, realizing the artificially low prices we enjoy now is a construct of a greedy middleman system with very little to do with supply and demand.
The current news keeps saying things will be different when we emerge from this pandemic. Let’s hope that we can take our current agricultural system and turn it into a healthy one that will help small American farmers and homesteaders instead of rich middlemen.
Sources:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-famines-united-nations-warning/
https://www.businessinsider.com/tyson-millions-of-pounds-of-meat-will-disappear-coronavirus-2020-4
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dairy-farmers-hit-hard-by-coronavirus-are-spilling-a-lot-of-milk/
5G Technology; Harmless or Harbinger of Apocalypse?
Conspiracies vs Concerns
The 5G rollout is coming, and while many are looking forward to all the advantages offered by this new technology, there are those who fear this rollout as the beginning of the end for mankind.
Is there any validity to these fears, or is it just fear mongering that comes with anything new?
How will we know before it is too late?
Researching the facts of 5G will help you decide for yourself. Facts are available from reliable sources and they, not the conspiracies, can tell the story you need to hear to make up your own mind.
Follow the Money
Any time there is a new controversial technology introduced, it pays to follow the money and see who will benefit, and who will make the most money.
The benefits are supposed to be to the end user. 5G offers 50 to 100 times faster speed than current 4G technology. With its dense arrays, 5G will be able to be used to integrate homes, vehicles, manufacturing and even farm equipment into a true global network.
China seems to be the biggest mover behind 5G. It is hard to track down the exact players involved but it seems several Chinese companies are trying to consolidate control of 5G technology.
President Trump blocked one such move in 2018 when Broadcom, a Singapore chip maker, tried taking over rival Qualcomm in an effort to block China from building an advantage in the market.
Business has become the new battlefield in our age. We don’t need to kill each other when we can control each other’s technology.
The Blame Game
Some of the fun facts I have seen being pushed on-line (I remember some of these with every new G roll out)
· 5G was rolled out to break up the Hong Kong protests.
· 5G is why people are getting sick and the coronavirus is made up
· 5G will melt your cells
· 5G causes cancer in a matter of days
· 5G gives people radiation burns
· 5G is a cover operation to increase the saturation of HAARP
· 5G is an advanced form of mind control (think the movie “They Live”)
· 5G is being rolled out as most countries are being quarantined
· 5G will be a bigger disaster than Chernobyl
· 5G is one of the final steps into a one world government
· 5G with its many more towers is a power grab by increasing government surveillance capabilities
· 5G is China’s attempt to rule the world
This is the merest fraction of the fun “facts” being bandied about by 5G conspiracy theorists.
5G Real Fun Facts
These are some of the facts that could help you decide.
· 5G uses millimeter waves vs microwaves of 2G-4G technology
· 5G uses new technology such as active antennas, phased arrays, and MIMO (Massive multiple inputs and outputs), all of which have been only lightly studied for safety
· 5G will run concurrently with 4G technology and there has been no study to measure the effect of the combined millimeter and microwaves.
5G Appeal is a group of over 300 scientists and doctors who want a moratorium on 5G rollout until the proper funding and research into health effects has been conducted
· With the density of 5G towers, almost no one will be able to avoid continual exposure to the 5G signal
· China is a world leader in 5G technology
At this time we do have studies that show an increase in head and neck tumors due to cell phone radiation. We have no studies showing what happens while running 4G and 5G together.
Also at this time China is slated for almost one third of the initial 5G roll out. So regardless of the conspiracies, this will give China a distinct advantage in communication and data over the rest of the world.
You Decide
Weighing the advantages and disadvantages of the 5G rollout is something you need to consider for yourself.
With the required density of the towers you will need to retreat to the country, the northwoods, or possibly the wilderness to avoid it completely. This may appeal to some of us, but others may be required to be near a population center and by default the 5G signal 24/7.
Is your lifestyle one that can accept this technology or will you retreat to uncovered areas in order to distance yourself from the effects?
The choice is yours to make. Get the best information you can, and make the best decision for you and your family.
Sources:
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/we-have-no-reason-to-believe-5g-is-safe/
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
Water Purification with Ozone
I was tasked with writing an article a couple months ago about water filters, and water purification, and in my research I came across information and products that use electrolytic Ozone to kill off germs and help purify your water.
Ozone is used in many industries including bottled water as a purification method.
Electrolytic Ozone is where the Ozone is actually created using the water itself, instead of just pumping the Ozone through it. This according to the company Roving Blue means a more thorough saturation, thus a better job of making the water safe.
Since the Ozone dissipates from the water there is no chemical aftertaste.
Ozone is a substance allowed in the production of organic products.
The Ozone producing products while not inexpensive may have uses for preppers who want to make the investment in this type of water purification.
Ozone is effective against this partial listing of microbes:
First up we have:
The O-Pen
Tuesday, July 21, 2020
To Mask or Not to Mask? That is the Question.
I have friends and family who are working on the front lines of this crisis and I have other friends and family who have watched a youtube video or two.
So what is a Christian supposed to do?
Do we demand our rights to not wear a mask or do we feebly submit to an overreaching bureaucracy?
My friend Jeremiah J. Wright wrote what I think is a very accurate blog post about what our attitude as Christians should be toward wearing masks.
Jeremiah J. Wright Untitled Post About Masks
I hope you find it an interesting read.
Still clinging to my God and my guns
Randy
Wednesday, June 17, 2020
Monday, April 6, 2020
Saturday, April 4, 2020
Friday, April 3, 2020
Wednesday, April 1, 2020
How to Make it Through a Quarantine
How to Get Through a Quarantine
In the world we live in today, quarantines are not unheard of.
Populations are susceptible to quarantines for various reasons, but actually going through one is usually pretty standard.
You will be stuck in a room with no interaction and boring food.
If you are quarantined in your home at least you have the resources you wisely put back for just such an occasion...right?
Boredom will be your enemy in all of this. It will sneak in and try to make you depressed, anxious, or even neurotic. Managing your boredom will be the key to emerging on the other side with your mental health intact.
Write
Here is your chance to write the Great American Novel.
We all have something going on the back burner that we would love the time to work on. Well here is your chance.
If you don’t want to do that, take the time to churn out articles for online or print publications. I know I never have enough time to write what I want to, but a quarantine gives you plenty of time to get lost in your craft.
Card Games
I remember my great grandmother playing endless hours of solitaire. A regular deck of cards will keep your brain occupied while the boredom slips past you.
If you are not alone in your quarantine there are any number of games to be played with a regular deck of cards.
There are also several card games with specialized decks such as Uno to take up your time and keep your mind off of the skull numbing boredom.
Online Games
If you have the luxury of internet access you had before the quarantine, the world of online gaming can keep you occupied for hours, days, or even weeks on end.
Playing simple flash or unity games until you win or get bored and move on the next one is one way to manage your time, or you can immerse yourself into the world of one of the free multiplayer online universe games and be whisked away into a world of make believe.
Read a Book
Or several. If you have an e-reader available you can read the whole series, since you will have the time. Don’t forget that with a library card you can access many e-resources at no additional cost to you.
If you are in your own home, re-read a favorite series or that one you just haven’t gotten to yet.
Eat Well
This may be a time to eat comfort food if it is available. It can help reduce your stress and anxiety.
Break out that cookbook and make a new recipe with what you have in the house.
Practice a Musical Instrument
Many people I know have a musical instrument laying around the house that they have not messed with in years.
Now is the perfect time to get some practice and learn to be proficient with it.
Sing or practice whistling. Whistling is such a lost art. It would be good to have more proficient melodic whistlers in the world.
YouTube a New Skill
You can learn just about anything on Youtube.
From underwater basket weaving to blacksmithing, from Mongolian throat singing to learning to speak Klingon. YouTube is the platform to keep you occupied instead of bored.
Don’t Forget Exercise
Finally, get up and move around.
Even mild exercise of pacing in a small space can help your mental health. If possible you can do some calisthenics to get your blood pumping.
You don’t want to be in bad shape when they finally let you out of quarantine.
There are many more things you can do if you are cooped up. You are only limited by your imagination.