"Survival Planning for Democrats"
Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.
Posted on 12/21/2010 5:00:48 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
It's been a crazy past few years. We've seen gas prices hit all-time highs, been hit by major and catastrophic weather disasters, and watched as banks and major financial institutions disappear overnight in the midst of what appears to be an actual, real-life economic depression. Our stable, comfortable lives suddenly don't seem so stable any more.
Here are 10 things you can do to improve your chances of riding out a major disaster without looking like a total lunatic. If you get all 10 of these items checked off, let me know so I can come crash at your place when aliens attack.
Time for a “back to the land” movement in America, if not....then do it in your back yard.
Hence the new food safety bill. Sorry, you can no longer grow in your backyard. Suggestion, goats, chickens and pigs make excellent pets, wink wink.
"Survival Planning for Democrats"
10 ways? Well #1-4 all have to do with firearms and ammunition.
Ping
For those who would like you can download a copy of my Preparedness Manual at:
http://www.mediafire.com/?zx5772aa15x6xga
PING!!!!
It seems that going solar on a smaller scale is more practical.
PV solar is foolproof for pumping water from a source that does not involve high head. Dig a hand well, pump it out grid free. I believe water is one of the essentials for survival.
Electric bikes springing up all over. Keep it charged, ten to twenty miles of ready transportation.
Battery powered tools available anywhere, keep'em charged, DIY paradise.
As some other poster mentioned elsewhere the key to PV solar is distributed purveyance.
There are of course those who, like freedom, hate such.
I have a friend who owns cabins by a remote lake. On the property is a working gas-well, dug by his grandfather for $200 back in the 50’s, which still supplies each cabin. I’ve put dibs on one for TEOTWAWKI!
I’ll just need to get there somehow....
First pass:
None of the items noted are mobile except the stored food.
As a side. Yesterday I was in the local grocery store. They had several cases of off brand rum in the clearance section for a ridiculous price. I swept it all up. When I got to the check out the clerk said “Wow you must like rum!” I said “Not really it is going into my barter pile for when things get bad.” She had no clue what I was talking about and decided to help the next customer immediately. Funny stuff. I am sure she thinks I am crazy.
solar power is a money wasting greendoggle
Made the point yesterday upon reading that our local AF base is leaping ahead with a 7 million dollar solar project to reduce their energy consumption. That in itself is a premise that needs work. By my figures, the 185 panel project is spending perhaps 400 thousand dollars on panels, and a ton of money on labor and the associated electronics, to make a silk purse out of a sows ear.
In the event of societal breakdown those neighbors will become thieving brain eating zombies!
That is what most folks are going to do, so you better have a plan to defend your hard work.
“Dig a hand well, pump it out grid free. I believe water is one of the essentials for survival.”
Yep, sure is. Excellent point. Plus the wood burning stove for those in northern climes.
Of course, that might also get you a bit too well acquainted with their armory!
Yeah, I’ve been thinking of putting together a good bug out bag for when I have to flee for any reason. I live way too close to DC btw.
Buy yourself a $10 boat winch.
Several very useful appliances if you live out in a rural area, and want to be more self-sufficient. And have some money.
1) Heat your home with an oven-stove. One of the coolest low tech, energy saving inventions Europeans and Americans never really embraced.
http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2008/12/tile-stoves.html
2) If you’re going to make your own biodiesel (I would prefer algae based), you’ll need ethyl alcohol to add to it. And ethyl alcohol has lots of other uses as well. Fortunately, you can buy a good quality columnar still and make your own. One example:
3) If you’re going to make your own biodiesel, get a stripped down diesel powered motorcycle with trailer, modified for biodiesel. It works for short, medium and long range transportation with minimal fuel. Be sure to have plenty spare parts. Diesel has a lot more energy than alcohol, so makes a more potent fuel.
4) There are three different ways you can use solar power: passive, for electricity generation, and for very high temperatures.
Passive mostly means heating water in a tank for future use. Heating water this way means that it takes less fuel to heat it up for other reasons. It also can be used for heating a water solar still, to recycle water.
Using solar panels for electricity is good, and a top notch panel will charge a car batter in 4-5 days. But it also means that every appliance you use has to be powered by car batteries.
Very high temperature solar power is somewhat dangerous, but can be obtained through the use of a “Fresnel lens”, taken from a wide screen TV. These can create extremely high temperatures over a small area. A “linear lens” can heat a 55 gallon drum of water fairly quickly, whereas a more focused lens can be used to melt some metals. Like lead (hint, hint).
http://www.wikihow.com/Heat-Hot-Water-Using-a-Large-Fresnel-Lens
5) Water purification the easy way can be done as simply as obtaining a large block of limestone. Hollow out the top as a water reservoir, then carve the bottom to a point. Limestone strains out the metals, arsenic, other contaminants and pathogens, and raises the pH of the water to help keep it clean.
6) A below ground ice house, and an above ground smoke house, can do a lot to keep food from spoiling. And any extra vegetable matter can be turned into alcohol. Herbs can be turned into essential oils, which have all sorts of practical uses.
7) Learn how to make your own lye soap. It is an art form.
http://farmgal.tripod.com/lyesoapconcoctions.html
Really? I've been powering my cabin in the mountains for a decade with solar cells and batteries. It's been a lot cheaper than connecting to the grid. We don't have a lot of load but it's worked pretty well.
I also have nice fields of fire from my ridge top. Any starving libs who come looking for some loot are going to fertilize the garden.
I already have a few of those in the area.lol
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