I know, I know – You all were starting to think that I had shut up once and for all… No such luck! I will begin my semi regular posts again and I have several committed guest writers that have promised content as well. I want to encourage everyone to start up the “Readers Questions” emails again. I have a bunch of older ones that I will answer if some new ones don’t come in but I would rather get a fresh start. Everyone is welcome to send their question a second time and then I’ll know that it should be moved up the priority list to getting an answer out to you!

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Back from the BOL

 

     So, I finally was able to make a trip to the BOL over the long weekend. Unfortunately, I had been restricted over the last couple months and was unable to make my typical bi-monthly visits. With much trouble and schedule coordinating, we (The Preppers) had determined that the stars would align and Memorial Day would work for all of us to make the trip. Needless to say, that plan didn’t survive contact with the enemy and I ended up making the trip by myself or I should say without my wife and daughter. My very good friend and nearly life long partner in mischief agreed to ride shotgun at the last minute.

 

   Good times! What could be better than just getting to the BOL…? Getting there with a good friend, meeting my brother there to help with a project, bringing a newly acquired firearm to test out and oh yeah – 3 freekin days off work!! Let’s just say, it was a much needed breath of fresh air and I actually got a lot done to boot!

 

   Besides the catalyst of a rare three day weekend, the main purpose of the trip was to drop off a lot of business materials that are currently going to be stored on the property. Mrs Prepper and I have made a few changes in our business and once again made a further downsizing to attempt to stay competitive in this tough Real Estate market. This left me with less office space to store old files and a whole bunch of various file cabinets that weren’t going to be needed any longer. Initially I was going to run an ad to try to sell the used cabinets but then it dawned on me that these could be used at the BOL inside the cargo containers to organize my ever growing piles of supplies. I took a few photos but they didn’t come out real well? The idea was to make a MAN sized version of those plastic organizer drawer units that many of us use to store nuts and bolts, etc. in, I think the fuzzy picture will at least give you the idea of what I’m trying for… I didn’t end up having time to do any real work in getting stuff organized this trip but I can see that once complete this will be a big help!

 

   Now for the real achievement though… I think I’ve mentioned before that I have a brother that owns a landscape irrigation company? Anyway, he generously installed the first stage of our irrigation system a year ago, so we could get those first fruit trees planted last summer. We had been planning on him making a second trip over to finish laying out the infrastructure for a much larger area. Well, this weekend happened to work in his schedule as well and I now have a 10 zone irrigation system that will cover us for nearly any future expansion we might conclude to be necessary. As usual when you bring in a professional they can make short work of a big project. Fully automated irrigation for at minimum several of our 10 acres, big improvement! We could even realistically keep a garden going all through the summer, as long as we can stay on track to be on site every other weekend.

 

   The irrigation system was the BIG project for the weekend but the thing I’m the most excited about is the addition of 8 more fruit trees. This brings us to 16, along with a couple of raspberry bushes and a blueberry bush. As if the family rate on the irrigation work wasn’t gift enough, the bro shows up with the blueberry bush as a late birthday present? If you can’t tell, I have a GREAT brother! Truth is I have been excessively blessed in the family department! Just for clarification the family rate is usually something close to a loss for the giver as they tend to not want anything in return for their generosity? Crazy people – if your reading this, thanks again brother!

 

   I feel like a first grader coming back from summer break and giving the “What I did on my vacation” speech… With the single exception of not having the family with me, this was an exceptional holiday weekend. A great way to kick off the summer projects that have to be done at the BOL, actually a big jump ahead on a couple! Lot’s more to do and you guessed it, I will be reporting on all progress. No, not to brag but hopefully to get a dose of motivation into some reader that has been putting off their own projects. A freedom lifestyle is available to all of us, if we are willing to take the steps to provide it to ourselves. Get off the couch and get moving, don’t forget to take a few pictures while your at it… Then just fire off your own motivational “Guest Article” and you too can become a highly paid internet writer… Just teasin but do consider documenting the stuff you’re working on, I know we all would like to see your projects and progress!

 

 

Prepper

  

 

 

   As you know I get all kinds of emails and I can’t seem to keep up with getting back to people the same day or even the very next day, I apologize but I will get back to you ASAP.

   One of the popular email questions is about what’s happening over at the BOL, plans for spring, upcoming projects, etc. – I’m going to do a quick update today that will bring everyone up to speed on what I’ve been doing and plan to get done this spring and summer…

   This past weekend we had the opportunity to get over and spend a couple of days. The weekends are getting filled quicker and quicker as my daughter gets older. We’d been able to go over just about every other weekend but once the weather got bad we cut back to about once a month. It’s nice to just go and relax but there are so many things that need to be done that I always feel guilty just kicking back.

   The winter months have seen slow progress as far as the projects. Last Fall we added the second shipping container. Over the winter I made several trips with the truck and trailer to move alot of business related files to be stored. Unfortunately the business related materials have all but filled the thing and so I’m still limited to the first container for workshop and preps related activities. The 40 foot by 8 foot containers look big and do hold a lot but fill up quickly so do be deceived in their holding capacity.

   We have been getting prepared to install a woodstove and have nearly all the needed parts to get the install complete. The stove and hearth are at the BOL waiting and I mainly need to decide if I will do the labor or hire it out to a professional to save the $500… What to do, what to do? I’ll probably do the work myself as fund-age is hard to come by right now.

   We did make it through the winter without any issues coming up with the old roof still on the place. This is good news but I don’t really want to push my luck so I’ll go ahead and get the roofing material purchased and have it waiting for the right weekend to get started. I know I can do this myself and kind of look forward to the job – call me crazy… I had jokingly asked for volunteers to help with the labor and still have only received the offer of guard duty from Ranger. Thanks again Ranger but I’m hoping to get the job done before the world ends and your skills will be a required element of most outside activities.

   It appears that the 8 fruit trees that we put in last spring have made it through their first year. I plan to add at least another 12 in the next month or so. Yes, I know that some of the readers here have literally 100′s of fruit and nut trees but I’m just glad to get these. I’ll try to add more of everything as the time and money allow. I have the trees ringed in wire fencing, secured to t-posts but another project for this summer is to get a 6 foot high deer fence all the way around the tree area. Yes, I also am aware that many deer can jump a 6 foot fence, I’m going to do my best to discourage them and then add another layer of defence if they become to much of a nuisance.

   All of the trees need to be watered over the hot months and I have a small irrigation system in now but will be adding to this at the end of April. My brother is a landscape and irrigation guy by trade, so I’ll get him to bring his equipment up. With a little horse trading between bro’s, he’ll get me all squared away and hopefully expand the system to be ready to put in a garden area this year too! We’ll see how that weekend goes, the trees will be the priority but an easily watered garden would be a nice addition.

   So, what does this all add up to… A new roof, woodstove installation, plant more fruit trees, erect a deer fence and expand the irrigation… Not enough? How about we install railings on the decks and stairs to the front one. The county is after me to get my “Project” through the final inspection process. We’re almost done with their punch list but just need to wrap the thing up and be done with them once and for all.

   Since all of these jobs will need to be completed on weekends, this will be more than enough to keep me busy. We’ll talk again at the end of the summer and see how much we actually are able to get done!

   I mentioned that I had spoken to some of the neighbors and got brought up to speed on the latest. Thankfully there wasn’t to much for them to report… The most exciting story I got was in regards to a cougar that was spotted crossing my land. I can’t remember if I mentioned this in another post as I got the first part of this story a few weeks back from the neighbor on one side of me. It seems that he, the first neighbor, had been out doing what he does best… helping other neighbors with their chores. See in this neck of the country, the neighbors are great! Anyway, he was going down the road between his place and mine, when a cougar comes running out in front of him. He was riding his 4×4 quad at the time and the cougar must have been spooked when he came down the road? The cat stops and stares at him but runs off as soon as he yelled at it. Since he has animals and small dogs, grandchildren, etc. he felt that if he could find it that he would remove it from the area… wink, wink! So anyhow, he goes for a rifle and then spends a half hour looking for it but eventually gives up and just wanted to warn me that he had confirmed what we all had suspected… Several cows and other animals had been killed in the area over the last couple years.

   Well, this trip I get another recounting of the activities of the same afternoon the first neighbor had told me about. This time it’s from the neighbors on the other side of me, who interestingly enough, don’t get along very good with the first neighbor? I stopped in to buy some of their free range eggs that they sell as a way to off set the small amount of cost that the birds do incur them. They proceeded to tell me about this wonderful encounter with a cougar that they had… bing, bing, bing – the sirens are going off in my head at this point! When did you see this cougar I asked? Oh, it has been a few weeks… Alright, where did you see it? Oh, it came right up to our back door and meowed at us to let it in, how cool is that… Well, I would have liked to see that myself, I have yet to see a cougar in the wild! They said that the cat stuck around for a while and then they decided to see what it was going to do if they did open the door… Thankfully, it did run off when the man went out side. They were completely thrilled to have the cat in the neighborhood, even as owners of a large flock of chickens? I relayed the story the other neighbor had told me and as it turns out they had heard someone riding around on a 4-wheeler at that same time??? I told them that the cat was going to end up getting shot and being the good hippies they are, they were appalled. I did my best to explain that if the thing didn’t fear humans than it was only a matter of time before someone was going to get hurt. Since my daughter likes to go and sit on her favorite stump to work on her homework when we’re there, I kind of like the idea of it going away…

   Who knows, maybe the first neighbor is over reacting but I guess I’d rather error on the side of caution myself. Oh well, that was the news for this trip. Spring has begun but the ground is still freezing over night a lot of the time. This gives me a bit more time to get the area I want to plant the trees in ready but the season promises to be a whirlwind of activities. I’ll be able to start taking more pictures and hope to have more interesting posts again about what’s getting marked off the list. That’s all for today, see ya tomorrow!

Prepper

   I’m back… As I was saying I have come to a couple conclusions as to the trigger events that would put me and mine on the road to our BOL… First, some sort of military or terror attack. Obviously, this would be something unforeseen and the extent of damage would also contribute to our required reaction. Second, the potential for a politically motivated bug out is real in my mind. This could be something like persecution or the highly unlikely tyrannical gun grabs of survivalist lore. My personal feeling surrounding this trigger would be something more like the sheeple finally waking up to the fact our nation is bankrupt. The ensuing economic and political backlash could easily throw society into a very unfriendly place. My main reason for staying in the Seattle area currently would be gone… That reason being my business and thus my families income, seconded by my daughter’s educational needs. With these two cards off the table, we’re gone!

   No matter how we got here, we’re on the road now… Lets see what we might run into that would hinder our progress to the BOL. Starting with the scenario of a physical attack against our nation. My biggest concerns would be that the National Guard would have the main roads shut down. This may very well be the best thing for the .gov to do but it would prevent my progress either way. Another potential issue would be all of my like minded brethren also fleeing the chaos. In addition to either of these potential deal killers, we could add in the element of winter weather to potential driving conditions.

   Let me explain again that I do not have all the answers but I have tried to mitigate these problems as much as possible. First, both of our rigs are capable off road vehicles. Strong 4 wheel drive vehicles aren’t going to get you there all by themselves of course but they will expand the potential number of secondary roads I might choose to take. In that same vein, I have taken a lot of time to travel on multiple alternative routes to my destination. What may look like a dead end to one man may very well be the best choice to another. Not only should good, up to date maps be kept for all potential roads to be traveled but first hand information about each should also be gained, whenever possible.

   As fun as it is to have a real off road capable vehicle, you know, all jacked up, armored underbelly, etc. I’ve elected to keep our vehicles very plain. Both are basically stock but of strong, good quality manufacture. The Jeep has a small lift kit but it doesn’t look intimidating. The reason for this is more than just economic. I don’t want to look threatening to anyone, I actually would prefer to go un-noticed if at all possible. If you don’t notice me, you will probably not think to worry about what I might have for you to steal. I also won’t come across as a fringe “Foil Hat” survivalist running for the hills. We are fully capable of inflicting some sting to anyone that decided to start trouble but when bullets are flying they don’t seem to care if you’re the good guy or not! I plan to be very co-operative with my fellow travelers as well as any government payrolled individuals I meet!

   I attempt to keep my rigs in good running order and never have less than half a tank of fuel. In addition we have extra fuel that will be loaded into the vehicles prior to departure. I keep a box of gear handy that has added equipment that will help us stay moving in the right direction… Tow straps, quality link tire chains for all 4 wheels, fluids and repair materials and of course the shovels and other equipment that I keep in the Jeep on a day to day basis.

   The second scenario of an economic or politically motivated bug out could possibly find the roads blocked intentionally and or require additional documentation to get through. As I write this I have yet to move forward with this plan but it’s on my to-do list. In news stories and certainly popular fiction we see National Guard road blocks to restrict movement in to or out of areas that require it. I could see the time when America may be placed under martial law, curfews and travel restrictions. In my limited experience I would expect that a person would be allowed to travel for the purposes of getting to their home. While our BOL is several hundred miles away, it is reasonable to expect that we could get their even under these potential restrictions. I plan to be living there on a semi-full time basis in the next few years so why not just go ahead and get my drivers hse issued with that address? Possibly we would leave my wife’s license with the city house address. It would seem easy enough to explain why my wife would need to accompany me to our residence, regardless of what address showed on her ID.

   In addition to the potential legitimate road blocks, I believe that under the right conditions we could see local areas blocked of to “Protect” their towns people… Alright, I can respect that but I still need to get through to go on my way to my home, right? As long as I have a reasonable story and the ID to back it up, I’m betting on getting my group through. All of this is assuming we are making this trip shortly after the trigger event happens at the latest.

   What else would be good to have on hand for passage? I have a copy of the Deed to my land in my BOB, bug out bag. This might help with my story if it came down to that… How about a copy of a power bill or bank statement from a local bank in the nearest town? Each of us would have a slightly different set of paperwork but anything that would show a legitimate right to be traveling to such and such, would be a good idea. Especially if it is a home or land that you actually own.

   What if you were going to be trying to reach a friend or family members place? This  might be a little harder but still not impossible. Maybe have that friend give you the old fashion, “Letter of Introduction”… Sounds silly  but anything that will offer the people manning the road block an excuse to let you pass would be worth a try. I would also do a little research on the area your going to be traveling to ahead of time… Knowing the local roads by name and even the local greasy spoon cafe can add credibility to a skeptical Guardsman or farmer, whichever the case might be.

   As preppers we are usually more in tune to the news and stay ahead of the pack when we smell something funny on the wind… It is exactly this behavior that will be our greatest asset when it comes time to “Bug Out”. If at all possible we will want to be the first one’s getting on the road! The ability to stay ahead of the sheeple and or even the government responce is going to be critical to our success. Even a few hours time could change the situation drastically! We have all seen how quickly the roads get plugged on holiday weekends, imagine this except 100 times as bad. We’ve all seen the disaster movies with all the cars that ran out of gas on the highway, we do not want to be in that mess! Yes, we will still have a shot at getting out even if we are late to the party but I’d rather leave early and have to come back a couple days later with egg on my face than to leave a few hours to late and be the guy trying to get around a guard rail or fighting my way over a freeway median.

   I guess to some up what we’ve covered on this topic is… In almost all cases, I’d plan on buggin in! Short term stuff just doesn’t justify leaving home. We should all plan for the worst and have the bug out bags ready to go but don’t neglect the preps to your primary residence. Get to know the neighbors and be prepared to provide for your self on your home ground. I think we all would like to have a BOL and I am fortunate to have gotten mine but there isn’t any rush. Make plans or even a pact with a trusted friend to keep your options open if you need to bail out but be prepared to host another family if that’s the cards that get dealt instead.

   Most likely I haven’t brought attention to anything “new” per se but I hope to always challenge your mind to consider a slightly different perspective. If anyone wants to share their take on this subject, I’m always willing to take guest articles.

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   Speaking of guest articles, we will have an article submitted by JeSter tomorrow. I’ve mentioned before that I get some great emails from readers and I know many of you have a lot to say on these subjects – find your voices and send me something to post! I will gladly share the spotlight with my brothers!!

Prepper

   Hi everyone, I want to start today with an encouragement to all the readers to keep the emails coming! I want to know what you’re thinking and especially what kinds of things you’re facing… Maybe you’re about to start on a project and we could spend the day discussing it or if you have thick enough skin – poke some holes in your idea or just add something you’ve forgotten to consider? I do appreciate all the feed back I’ve been getting but I also want your personal perspectives, I DO NOT have it all figured out and if I give the impression that I do? Just let me say that I am on the same journey that my readers are on and I’m far behind some of you, please share your perspectives and we can all glean from your experiences too!

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  Back on track with the topic at hand. So your rig is all loaded and you just pulled out of the driveway… What now? Where are you going? Are you hooking up with another party to caravan? Did you remember to get those short range radios off the charger or were you going to count on the cell towers? Alright CB radio, hmm – I wouldn’t bet those frequencies will be available in an emergency. Not to mention that you don’t need every other vehicle for miles to literally hear you coming. I’m not going to get bogged down in the communication arena right now but it is something you should be thinking about…

   For the sake of argument and keeping this topic progressing, I’ll use my BOL as a destination. I’m going to trust all of you with some of my personal bug out plans. Some of you already know me and I know I’ll be meeting more of you as the months go on. These plans though are my personal plans and as thus are only an example. Like most all of this prepping we do, each of us will have customized plans to our exact situations. What we discuss here today is a fair generalization of some things that the road could throw at us just when we are in need of no more surprises.

   Since we are using me as an example, I’ll be driving my 3/4 ton pickup w/ canopy and I’ll be followed by my wife in the Jeep. We will each have a 2 way radio as well as a cell phone for back up if they are still working. The radios are kept on chargers all the time and would be grabbed on the way out the door. For the sake of brevity our vehicles will be loaded with the remaining self sufficiency gear from the house along with our Bug Out bags and all the food from the house. Lets just leave it at that so we don’t get to far off track!

   Our journey will take us from our current home to our stocked and fairly secure BOL. Our primary route would take us over a mountain pass and could very well be in the middle of winter… What should we expect to find during the time we travel “The Road”? Sounds dramatic but I think we might be surprised to find the highways and byways we all travel everyday to be a much different place during an emergency.

   First off, when did we finally hit the road and get this 2 car caravan underway? Did we beat the disasters worst or are we trying to make up for some lost time, putting us out in the thick of evacuation traffic? Is the road going to even be open? Could we be facing a political disaster that would make the likelihood of road blocks higher than blocked roads? Like I said I haven’t got it all figured out but I have spent a good deal of time pondering the possibilities and used these pondering to develop my plans…

   As preppers we should always deal with the most likely scenario’s first and work our way out from there. As you know we live our day to day life in the Seattle WA. area and so we need to take a moment to assess the possible troubles our area might face. We have the full range of weather and natural disater possibilities. We are surrounded by military bases of every shape and size. We are blessed to have a variety of large corporations in our region as well. The Boeing Company, Microsoft to name a couple but there are many companies big and small that are contributors to the military and related fields. We have 2 large ports as well as a slew of smaller regional air fields. As you can see we have no shortage of potential targets for legitimate enemy nations or terror attacks.

   As I was saying about the idea of a true long term bug out, weather related and or regional disaster would most likely not trigger a reaction as drastic as pulling up stakes to make a run for it. The military strike possibilities have potential and of course the very real possibility we all face of society finally pulling the plug and causing a breakdown on a scale that I would throw in the towel and get moving. What I have come down to when deciding what would put me and the family on the road is most likely a military attack or political breakdown of large proportion. The only other potential for leaving would be financial… If I could no longer support myself and or find gainful employment in the area, I would head for the BOL as a way of preserving my ability to provide for my family long term. This last option would however be more of a matter of just moving away as opposed to “Bugging Out”…

   Having identified the reasons that would cause me, personally to be out on the road, I can come to a few conclusions. Nothing can be ruled out but we are going to deal with the more likely challenges first and then go back to figure out some of the long shots.

   I’m going to pick this up again tomorrow but I will say that the conclusions I have arrived at for potential issues are relatively few. No one could prepare for every eventuality but I believe I have covered the most likely but I will again encourage you to knock some holes in m plans… I’d rather it was you doing me the favor than deal with that Guardsman one dark night… Oh well, see you tomorrow!

Prepper

   OK then, what were we discussing? Oh that’s right, you still think that hitting the road for points beyond the pavement is a better solution to TEOTWAWKI – The End Of The World As We Know It? Maybe your right? If we truly do see a life changing event, I’m with you or should I say I’ll be seeing you because I’m outa here too!

   Bugging Out is by far the more talked about solution that I see survivalists come to. Unfortunately, I don’t hear a lot about the details that will be involved if and or when that fateful day did arrive… 99% of any disasters we are likely to be involved in would not be best handled by “Bugging Out”. Think this through for a moment… What are the most likely emergency situations that any one of us is likely to find ourselves facing? Earthquakes, a hurricane or even the meltdown of our economy… With the exception of damage that could be sustained to your shelter by that weather event, bugging out would be only for a short time to stay out of harms way while the winds were actually blowing. Even economic upheaval would often find you required to show up for work or looking for a position to show up for…

   I know what you’re thinking… Prepper was going to talk up the “Bugging Out” option today? Be patient, I am going to talk about that but I have to be clear, bugging in is the better choice up until we hit a real meltdown… Short of an event that allows you to truly say screw it and walk away from your J-O-B with no intention of be able to come back to it after whatever is happening quites down again, bugging out isn’t the right choice. Also for clarity, bugging out to the next town down the highway while the flood waters recede isn’t the “BUG OUT” were talking about today. When I say “Bug Out”, I mean you have one shot at loading the family and leaving… You can take one load with you and that’s it, whatever you can’t get loaded or don’t have room for gets left behind for the scavengers. By scavengers I mean your neighbors that had no choice but to “bug in”…

   Have all of you “Bug Outers”, really thought about what it means to really bug out? There would be no way you could take everything you might need or even half of that pile of stuff you thought we didn’t know you had under the house. Face it as prepperswe have a lot of stuff. That stuff represents a huge amount of time and money. Often we have spent years acquiring the items we feel necessary to protect ourselves and our loved ones from the uncertain future. Just leave it behind, I doubt it! I bet your like me and have assumed that the back of the truck would hold more gear than it actually will.. How about weight, be honest – you and I both know those cases of ammo weigh a lot more than we wanted to admit when we were carrying them out to the car after the gun show…

   Planning to take the family dog with you when you leave for good? You better be if you know whats good for ya, those kids are going to pitch a fit if you try to leave the mut behind. How much space will the dog and its “stuff” be taking up? What are the kids going to have to bring if they can’t be convinced that you’re just leaving for the weekend? You and I both know the kids have a way of getting the better of us because we don’t want to see them unhappy for long! If you haven’t got a quick answer to these questions than you are NOT ready to choose a “Bug Out” for your primary disaster plan! Yes, if pressed we will all bug out if the need was desperate but again I’m talking about this being our desired solution…

   So when would I agree with you that a bug out is the best choice? If you have a real poor chance of surviving where you are now. Inner city neighborhood or even an apartment in the suburbs would probably have me convinced that leaving would be better. That situation would have me asking myself what am I doing in an inner city neighborhood or this crappy apartment long before the disaster was at hand though. Either of these type of current dwellings is perfectly acceptable but should be for a reason and recognised as a less than optimal survival retreat and thus a bug out plan would be appropriate. It may still not require that you make the BIG jump to heading for the hills, possibly just a short jump to a relatives place that is better situated for a bug in. If these options are all contemplated before hand that short trip to your brother in laws place could be putting both families in a better position. Just think it through now while the fires are still small and the truck isn’t being repacked for the 6th time trying to find a place for all 3 of your kids, you did remember that they are accustomed to riding INSIDE the vehicle, right?

   OK, enough of the pessimism about your short sighted “Bug Out” plan. You’re leaving your driveway witheverything in place just as you planned. The truck is fully fueled and both spare tires for the bug out trailer are in place so you can change one in record time while the oldest boy keeps a close watch for approaching MZB’s. With the exception of the sadness you feel for having to leave the house you’ve lived in since the kids were little, everything is going just as you had drilled for it to go…

   Are we getting anywhere, I didn’t think so… The next thing we’ll get into is the – WHERE? As in where are you going now that you are loaded and ready to head down the road. Are you really as prepared for what that road may bring to the equation? What about when the National Guardsman is standing at your window asking you to produce -what? Let’s spend a little time on these issues tomorrow… Just so you don’t think I’m against the whole “Bug Out”, remember I have the BOL. I’ll be Buggin Out for sure and I’ll share all of the things I’ve come up with to get that plan to where it is today…

See ya tomorrow!

Prepper