I can hear the teeth gnashing from here. How dare I make such a claim! I know going in that this is likely to be an unpopular installment in this series of essays. But, before you start raking me over the… Continue Reading
Be Hard to Kill One moment you’re minding your own business and enjoying a night on the town, then suddenly you have your face pressed up against a brick wall with one person going through your pockets and another describing… Continue Reading
Reduce Your Footprint One aspect of prepper security after a major collapse is keeping your head down and blending in. For example, if it has been a few weeks since disaster struck and everyone around you is starting to see… Continue Reading
Necessity vs. Luxury In one of the survival FB groups recently, there was a discussion about dealing with high temperatures during a power outage, specifically while residing in an apartment building. The question was – in the absence of A/C,… Continue Reading
For many, pets are just as much part of the family as any member who walks on two legs. We would no sooner leave a dog or cat to fend for itself after a disaster than we would a child.… Continue Reading
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… Continue Reading
Self Care One of the things regular readers of mine know is that I often try to call attention to lesser-discussed topics that fall under the preparedness umbrella. Self-care is one of them. I know, the term can be kind… Continue Reading
Food Storage Basics Putting together a food pantry isn’t difficult, but doing it right involves a bit of planning. You do not need to order a pallet’s worth of specially packaged, and expensive, survival foods. Instead, you can amass a… Continue Reading
Any time the subject comes up about favorite or recommended gear, typically knives, firearms and such, someone inevitably comments, “The best knife [or whatever] is the one you have with you.” While true, that’s really just a cop out of… Continue Reading
Spend more than about 8 seconds in any survival related forum and you’ll hear some variation on this phrase – Skills are better than Stuff. The basic premise at work here is that learning skills is a more valuable investment… Continue Reading
Proximity Negates Skill This is a security and defense concept that is intuitive for some people but needs to be explained to others. The simplest way to think about it is this — the closer an attacker is to you,… Continue Reading
Gear Expense What one person spends on their equipment shouldn’t matter in the least to the next person, not unless they live under the same roof and are responsible for the same household budget. Yet time after time, I see… Continue Reading
Emergency Lighting I don’t know if this is just a Midwest thing or not but when I was growing up, my house as well as the homes of my friends had a junk drawer in the kitchen. All manner of… Continue Reading
With everything that’s been going on in the country the last week or so, more and more people are trying to determine when it might be time to exit stage right and go visit Grandma for a bit. Before… Continue Reading
Disaster Clean-Up Nobody has ever walked into a house after a flood and said, “Wow, I can’t believe how clean everything is!” Disasters are much like small children. They are dirty, smelly, and rarely ever do they clean up after… Continue Reading