Archive for LIVIN’ THE DREAM
Feb
16
The Weakest Link…
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I want share a story with you today in hopes that we can all take a closer look at the individual items we are trusting in for our security. You will all probably recall the BOL break in post I did a couple weeks ago. Today’s post is a follow up on that situation.
If you recall the cabin had been entered and it appeared that nothing was actually taken. We even have a 99% solid ID on the culprit. During the months after the break in it was determined that there was a police scanner that turned up missing but so far that’s all… Well, inside the cabin was a key ring that had a whole mess of keys on it. Thankfully, when Mrs. Prepper and I discovered the break in the keys were still hanging on the hook right where they always had.
These keys would have been the worst thing to have been discovered missing since used in the right series they could be used to gain access to the whole shooting match. You know if you use the shed key to open the shed then you could find the key for the fuel storage area that also had a hidden key to the conex boxes, etc. Well like I said thankfully they hadn’t been taken. So, I took them and locked them up at my place so my friend could pick them up from me next time he came East…
Pick up the keys he did and then promptly forgot they were in his car and they ended up back inSeattle. Now, this isn’t any big deal but he then forgot to bring them back on his next trip. I didn’t have spares for most of the keys on that ring so that left him with a small problem, which was the main point of this post.
At the cabin all of the windows are covered with wooden shutters and then secured with a hasp and Master Lock padlock. The keys to those locks were on that ring… I had spare keys to the front door and even the secure supply storage area but not those windows. This wouldn’t be any big issue except that its winter time and he would be burning the woodstove to keep the place warm enough to stay in. The bedroom is at the back of the cabin and the woodstove is near the front door at the other end of the place.
I don’t know about you but I’m not about to go to sleep with a fire burning between me and the only exit. Some folks wouldn’t be overly concerned but not this prepper, I’d want at least one of the windows for an escape route in an emergency.
After trying to pick the lock with my junior cat burglar lock picking set and failing, we went for a pair of bolt cutters to see if they would work… The lock was clearly marked as hardened and I knew from experience years ago that a hacksaw wasn’t going to work. As you can see in the photo, these cutters aren’t all that large, I’d been using them to cut rebar and they seemed on the small side for even that chore.
Well I’m happy to say we got that lock off but I’m sorry to report it wasn’t even a difficult feat! That lock cut like it was made of lead… This is not at all what I expected! I had been under the false belief that these locks being well reputed would do a much better job of slowing down a thief, not so! My entire security strategy would have to be rethought!
Let me clarify, I use padlocks but I also do use other forms of security to protect my valuables. In the role of locking down less important items or for shorter periods of time, I thought these locks would be just fine… I’ll be searching for something else to fill this role from now on. I’ve seen metal shields that fit over the lock making it much harder to get a cutting devise on. Also the puck locks that twist on and would also be difficult to cut… Lot’s of locks around my place and I’m not really looking forward to finding a new solution and then trying to be sure they are all keyed alike again… Oh well, better to learn from this small mistake then to have the SHTF and find out the hard way after losing something significant to this lack of security! I’m sure that the common criminal already knows about these locks weakness!
We are all only as secure as our weakest link, do some research of your own and see if there are areas that you too are vulnerable. As I discover the replacements for my own locks I’ll report what I find and hope to help all of you in your pursuits as well!
Prepper
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If the topics we cover here at PREPPERNATION are interesting to you, please take a mintue to subscribe to the email notifications. I will email you each time I add new material… I always like to hear from you, my readers, so let me also encourage you to post your comments on this or any of the other posts in the comments section!
Jan
25
Heat… check!
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Well, as you can see I’m going to talk about the best prep investment that I’ve made to date… The good old wood-stove! The picture above is the stove we installed out at the BOL. The other picture is obviously the stove the way we bought it and before we got it cleaned up and refurbished.
I’m sure that I had mentioned in previous posts how much I thought that having a back up heat source was critical for anyone but especially for anyone that wants to call themselves a prepper! There are more then a few options when it comes to getting setup with a back up for heat but the only one that made good long term sense for us was a wood-stove. We are located on 10 acres and it’s mostly treed, this means that I have more wood to cut then I currently have time for. Importantly too is that since I have trees and thus fuel on my own land the outlying areas around us have what on them… that’s right more wood and thus an almost endless supply of wood to be cut and or gleaned off of the surrounding land. As long as everyone doesn’t start using the woods as there only heat source, we should be in good shape as our fuel source is renewing at a great rate…
The plan had been to install a wood-stove right out of the gate but shortly after moving the house onto the property I hit my financial snag. Money was tight and even an expense like the wood-stove had to wait. During this period of time my father, old man prepper, decided to start watching craigslist for me and came up with this little gem. He found this “LOPI” brand, “PATRIOT” model stove for a few hundred bucks not to far from our city place in Seattle. Knowing that I had been holding off on the expenditure, he purchased and gifted the stove to me – “Thanks Dad!” He actually did some horse trading and came up with a long length of insulated stove pipe and cap from another source for us too! I guess I can’t say he never did anything for me anymore – my being a complete angel all those years growing up in his house I’m sure were more of a blessing to him then me… I never did get a thank you for all of the teenage enlightening I provided, hmm, he must have forgotten?
Seriously though, When we picked up the stove it had been sitting outside in the raion and was well rusted. It had garbage inside and broken firebricks under the trash… Not exactly a charmer but it was the perfect sized unit from a mainstream manufacture. What I mean by “perfect size” is that since the mobile home is roughly a thousand square feet, a larger stove would cook us all out and not serve as well as a stove on the smaller end of the spectrum.
So, we used the condition of the stove to get an even better bargain from the seller, got her loaded up and we were off! All that needed to be done was spend a few hours with the wire brush and a new coat of black stove paint for us to have her looking much better. While still a long way from looking show room condition the little stove came out real well! The picture above doesn’t really do it justice, I should have spent more time to be sure I had a good shot before leaving last time… Anyway, we got the unit moved over to the BOL and waited for some additional money and the dry season to roll around before cutting into the roof for the install.
During the lag time the hearth went in. As you can see it’s a slightly raised platform and topped with ceramic tile to match the color scheme we have in the house. I think it came out really good. My wife on the other hand has determined that she is unhappy with the size. I designed the hearth to be wider then was necessary so there would be a warm spot to sit or stack a little extra firewood next to the stove. While she does like the project overall she would have preferred that I stole less floor space.
We are now in our second winter using the stove and other then kicking the furnace on for a short time when we first arrive, this stove provides all of the heat we could need. If you’ll notice also that there’s enough of a top surface for a tea kettle or even a frying pan. The ability to serve multiple rolls is always good when it comes to prepper investments. I’m sure you noticed the glass in the door, this allows the fire to light the room to some degree in the evenings as well. It provides more then enough light to move around by but not really enough to do any reading… The ambiance it provides is really wasted on reading anyway, if catch my drift… the benefits to a wood stove are many!
As an investment this stove shines as well. The total costs of purchasing, fixing up and installing the unit (to county code) came to less then $1500. I know that there are always better deals out there and that the right person might have done this job for as little as several hundred bucks. I believe the money spent was well worth the return we get. We now have a primary heat source, at least when we’re there, that is fueled off the land we already have. A back up cooking surface and a great place to heat water, for any number of reasons, if the need were to arise. All of these uses are things that we will need weather times get tougher or even if they end up getting better by some miracle. We are far better positioned as preppers with this stove and it will have paid for itself in only a few years of full time use in electric bill savings alone during the winter months.
Keep on prepping cause – “Prepping is the answer”
Prepper
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If the topics we cover here at PREPPERNATION are interesting to you, please take a mintue to subscribe to the email notifications. I will email you each time I add new material… I always like to hear from you, my readers, so let me also encourage you to post your comments on this or any of the other posts in the comments section!
Jan
23
BOL Break in again!
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As most of you have read previously, our BOL had been broken into about a year and half ago. What had slipped my mind until now was that our old or original bug out location was forcibly entered a few months back as well.
The original BOL is on a parcel of land that is almost adjoining our current 10 acres. It was the original 7 acre parcel that my best friend and I purchased back in our early 20’s to use as our “Plan B” or bug out location. We were very actively working on that property right up until Y2K and even for a short time after. The only thing that’s prevented me from adding photo’s of the place we built back then is the fact that I’ve since had my interest bought out by my friend. He owns the property on his own now and as a courtesy to him, I haven’t done much of a review on the details of what was or is currently going on over there.
I’m fairly certain that he’d allow me to do whatever I wanted as far as his place is concerned but he does have a right to his privacy, even if I’m more willing to breach mine for the sake of my Preppernation readers! I do think that it’s alright to describe the original cabin structure for illustrations sake.
We built a 3 room cabin on our land almost 20 years ago. At that time the land was more remote in the sense that very few people were out in that area of the rural subdivision we had chosen to purchase into. There are more neighbors now but while each lot is between 5-10 acres in size, we aren’t exactly tripping over other folks even now. Anyway, back in the days we were deciding on where to locate the cabin and with security via staying hidden in plain sight we built it in a thick stand of trees several hundred feet from the end of the driveway.
It’s of stick built construction and painted a perfect shade of green that allows you to be nearly on top of the thing before you even realize its there! Over the years different groups of friends and family have visited the property been amazed at how good the simple camouflage of flat green paint worked. So, we had no defined trails going a few hundred feet off into the trees and a well disguised cabin on admittedly rural property going for us in the way of security. However, we wanted to leave as little to chance as we could when it came to the possibility of a passerby discovering our little spot. We designed shutters to drop into place over all of the windows. These were simple and made of wood like the rest of the building but we believed that we would help the casual opportunist stay honest by locking the place up in such a way as to be sure they would have to be at least moderately motivated if they wanted to get in. Each shutter was secured in place with a sturdy hasp and Masterlock brand keyed padlock.
This is really where our story today begins… For close to 20 years these shutters and padlocks have kept curious hunters and various neighbors from gaining entry. At different times the neighbors would let slip that they were impressed at how well the cabin was disguised which tipped us off that they had indeed been trespassing on the property. It really isn’t the neighbors I was concerned about finding the joint but the wayward hunter or partying teenagers! At any rate we had a real long track record of success, all the way up until last summer when I discovered the break in!
I’d like to again tell everyone just how upsetting finding that someone has broken into your property can be. I was surprised to find this out when the year before our main BOL was pilfered but those same feeling came right back when Mrs. Prepper and myself discovered the second violation. Thankfully, this second break in was discovered and handled better by me then the first one was… Remember when I just waltz on into my place after discovering the door was unlocked and the place had obviously been robbed? No thought being given to the idea the burglar might still be present at the scene of the crime… Well, this time I had the Glock out and covered my entry as I searched the place for any remaining invaders… I say searched but that really is more dramatic then necessary since there are only three rooms and VERY few hiding places a person could hide! Either way, I’m happy that no one was present because I’m not looking for the legal trouble and expense that could ensue from even a justifiable self defense shooting!
Now don’t get your panties in a bunch, I’m not looking for trouble or really wanting to see anyone shot over a few household valuables but I’m not exactly going to be friendly or accommodating of anyone found trespassing, especially after they have forcibly entered any property I own or is trusted to be in my care! I’ve not always been an angel when it comes to honoring others posted private property but I have seen the error of my ways and now do my best to keep my feet on the straight and narrow or at least off others land unless I’m invited to be there!
I digress, Mrs Prepper and I always make sure to check in on the old cabin when we are at the BOL. My friend appreciates the courtesy since he isn’t able to get over to the place as often as we’re able to get to ours… We’d been just walking along discussing something and found ourselves on the front porch… I was fumbling for my key when I noticed the door handle was a bit mangled? Hmm, that’s strange? I check to see if again I would find something out of place and the door already unlocked too… Yep, turning the door handle revealed that sure enough it was open? At about that time my wife pointed out that the shutter over the kitchen window was swinging freely and there was a portion of the window screen hanging out from behind the shutter…
I pulled my handgun out and swung the front door open not entirely sure what I hoped to see when I did? Since, like I already told you the windows all had shutters over them, the interior was dim at best from the small amount of light coming in from around the shutters… I checked behind the door and then proceeded warily into bedroom and kitchen to see if anyone was still inside. Finding no one inside we set out trying to get some lights going. The cabin is entirely off grid and when we were using it regularly there would have been fully charged flashlights next to the door but those had been moved elsewhere and the only available appliances were the oil lamps in the living room. Getting those going didn’t take long and then we could start to figure out exactly what had happened…
Now the exact details would be impossible to know but the crime scene sort of speaks for itself! The door handle had been damaged when the burglar tried to pry the front door pen but was unsuccessful… There was also damage to the door frame when I took a better look at it after clearing the interior. It looks like after the door attempt failed, the guy went for the kitchen shutter as a second attempt. This window was positioned at ground level and provided some shelter from anyone that might have happened by, which would have been highly unlikely. I suppose that the criminal mind would still seek the least exposed point of entry at least that made sense from what I was looking at.
The destroyed hasp and padlock were on the ground under the window. I’d built that window myself years earlier to fit the custom framed opening when we added the kitchen on to the main cabin. Since the window was made of wooden framed Plexiglas, it didn’t get broken and was forcibly pushed in to allow for entry. Just as easy as that, squeeze through the window opening and over the kitchen counter and he was in…
So, I knew how the “sonofamonkeysuncle” got in but let’s see what was missing. Now that the lamps were glowing brightly I could take a quick inventory… Sadly, we had stored MANY ammo cans in the cabin over the years as well as some unused solar panels and even a few firearms were often kept hanging in the gun rack by the woodstove! I took a good look around and while there were lots of drawers open and some things strewn about in what could have only been a search of the place, I didn’t see anything obviously missing? It was quite a relief to find that even though the ammo cans had been opened they were all still there! Old VHS movies were dumped on the floor and a stack was made of some that appeared to be intended stolen…Rubbermaid totes were upended and the contents rummaged through but even the small odds and ends were apparently still all there. The solar panels in their original boxes that were stored under the beds where still there and didn’t appear to be touched at all…
This was puzzling but I was indeed thankful! The gun rack was empty but upon further consideration, I recalled that all of the guns that were normally there had been displaced and never returned to there normal perches on that rack… So, no guns lost and even the considerable ammo supplies where intact? A large plastic container was still sitting on the nightstand by my friend’s bed that he had been tossing pocket change into for years! Must have been at least fifty bucks in there; it had been moved but not taken… The entertainment center with TV and stereo equipment wasn’t bothered and even the rechargeable flashlights were inside… They weren’t where they should have been but they worked dimly and hadn’t been taken either?
While I finished my inspection and inventory, I had my wife keeping her eyes open for anyone that might be coming back… It appeared that since everything was seemingly still inside that either we had interrupted the crime or that the sucker was going to be coming back at a later opportunity to pick up the loot. Other then the movies being piled up suspiciously, nothing else looked like it had been positioned for quick removal though? We quickly got a wheel barrel and started loading all of the valuables to be stored elsewhere. The fact was we had much more secure storage available now and only sheer laziness had kept these items from being better secured before that day…
Once the valuables were moved to a better position and the cabin re-secured. I discussed the situation with my wife to determine if we should bother with a police report this time? While you might recall we did call the sheriff last time we had our break in, it didn’t end up being of much good and none of the items taken from us ever materialized in the local community. We decided against the report but decided on my alerting the neighbors in our immediate vicinity that there was obviously a prowler about and they should keep an eye open!
I setout on one of the four wheelers to see what really was only 3-4 neighbors that were the closest to our property. I maintain good relations with all of my neighbors, actually the truth be told, I maintain good relations with just about everyone but these neighbors for sure! We have neighbors that run the gamut from just plain good ol’ boys to an avowed pagan, self proclaimed witch. While I personally am a Christian, I hold no ill will toward my pagan neighbor and show her the respect that I would want and expect to get from her in return. We’ve always been on friendly terms and I hope to always keep it that way… On a side note, I was actually even able to share the gospel with her on one occasion, I don’t wear my religious beliefs on my sleeve so to speak but she initiated the subject and it was an interesting talk to say the least…
It’s this pagan witch neighbor that I went to see last… She met me at her door and we exchanged a few pleasantries before I brought up the burglary topic that I had come to alert her too! She listened with interest and when I had finished she ask me a few questions of her own… She asked if the forced entry could have been accomplished by some one the size of an 11 year old boy? While I thought that odd, I knew she had a step son of that approximate age that visited fro time to time. I told her that if they had access to tools like a pry bar, it could have been done by a smaller person like that… She explained that the boy in question had been up visiting her recently and had been taking to disappearing into the woods for hours at a time… I questioned her about his where about currently and she explained that he had left only that morning to go back to his mothers and wouldn’t be back anytime soon.
We had our culprit! She asked about anything actually being missing and I explained that it didn’t appear that anything was and she thought that was consistent with him just being a curious kid! I told her that I hadn’t planned to make a police report but to be sure that he knew I suspected him in the break in. She also could see my pistol conspicuously displayed on my belt. She isn’t antigun and has known me long enough to know I’m one of those gun toting survivalists. I reminded her about the dangers facing curious kids that were found trespassing. Things that go bump in the night are responded to with the same force weather they are curious minors or home invading adults! I suggested she keep a good eye on him and that the other neighbors had been alerted to the break in as well. She was understanding but didn’t offer to pay for any damages or even say she was sorry for what she all but declared to be her relations actions?
People always eave me wondering… It was a small relief to know almost certainly what had actually happened there but still not confidence inspiring that an 11 year old kid could have the capacity to walk off with so much hard earned preparedness.
The lesson for today is that laziness could have cost my friend and me a lot of valuable materials. Security should never be allowed to become slack. Always use the best and most secure locations for your valuable preparations. While many items can be replaced when or if they were lost, stuff that you are betting your life on might become worth their weight in gold in the event of an emergency…
Food for thought!
Prepper
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If the topics we cover here at PREPPERNATION are interesting to you, please take a mintue to subscribe to the email notifications. I will email you each time I add new material… I always like to hear from you, my readers, so let me also encourage you to post your comments on this or any of the other posts in the comments section!
Jan
02
Happy New Year!
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Welcome to 2012, I trust everyone celebrated in a safe and sane manner? Hmm, I didn’t think so… Safe and sane isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when I ponder all us doomers and an excuse to shoot guns in the middle of the night!
I was finally able to get over to the BOL for the long weekend. It’d been over a month since our last trip, December was busy at our house as I’m sure it was at most of yours. It was a weekend filled with exactly what I needed, a whole lot of nothing… I spent the better part of the time sitting next to the fire and just keep everything mellow. Smoked a few nice cigars and welcomed in a New Year, another year that promises to be interesting!
One of the neighbors at the BOL had alerted us to the sale of a singlewide mobile home in the area and we went to take a look at that. The purchase price was $19,900, while not a bad price, not the price point that us at preppernation.com are looking for… It’s a model year 2000 Guerdon 14×63, 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. This unit would work for our second house out at the BOL but it’s way over priced and we’ll have to see how motivated the seller actually is! The biggest selling point this home has going for it and makes it a potential deal in my mind is that it’s in the town nearest to our place. This would really reduce the moving expenses but we’ll have to see?
I’m excited to see what we’ll get from 2012, maybe nothing much more then more of the same but then again? Who knows maybe the Mayan’s were right and the world as we know it will come to an end? I seriously doubt it but like every other year of my life, I’ll be paying attention! With another presidential election on the horizon, I guess I’ll be forced to listen to all the politics with both ears again too. With the current line up of political hopefuls, I’m NOT hopeful of any major changes coming down the pike ant time soon… We will soon see!
Well hold on folks we’re about to go around one more time… Happy New Year!
Prepper
Dec
28
R.I.P… B.O.D…
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