Survival Chronicles of Jim - Chapter 28 (Interviewing for a Survival Partner)

Things have slowed down for me. I'm taking much less software contracts and my home based healthcare business pretty much runs itself and provides the bulk of income so I have much more time now to enjoy life.

I've took a couple of vacations. An NFL game with my son. But as fulfilling as my business and personnel life has been, Survival Prepping has not been far from my mind.

I have had two women in my life these past six months. Each one lasted about 4 weeks before we went our separate ways. In between, I have met several other women but they didn't generate enough interest in me to ask them out.

I can't help but think that I'm interviewing for a survival partner as opposed to just trying to find a good woman who may make it for the long term.

The last woman I dated saw a couple of my guns and asked me why I had them. Now you know who I am, what I look like, and how I present myself. In a group of two people or a group of 100 people, I would be the last one you would pick out to be a survivalist, or a gun guy.

So I was really surprised at this woman's jump to a conclusion that I was a something like a potential school shooter or some right wing militia type. "That's not something (owning guns) that I like about you", was what she actually said. I should have ended it there, but I didn't.

It was over when I received my package from Silver Saver. When I opened it and looked at the silver rounds, she thought I was a coin collector. On retrospect, I should have said that I was an amateur collector, but NO!, I had to say it's not old coins it's new silver bullion in one ounce rounds.

She asked why I was buying those, so I said it's a little protection against a currency collapse. From the look on her face you would have thought I said I collected child pornography!

Most of my preps are in another city. I have moved temporarily to a larger city to pursue contracts and expand my businesses but, I do have a car load of stuff. About 18 food buckets, some gear bags full of necessary gear and more guns and ammunition she did not see. I imagine what she would have thought seeing that - not to mention the security lapse in having someone know about it all.

Anyway, I'm back to looking for dates, or as I think of it now, interviewing for a Survival Partner.

So on an equal footing with decent looks and boobs, I'm looking for someone who is outdoor oriented, not scared of guns, likes to cook and shares my moderate conservative political stance.

I may have to wait until I move again. The big city is starting to drain me. Even the off prime time traffic is bad - stop and go. I'd imagine it would be wall to wall cars if everybody thought they have to leave town.

I know you have taught me to select places off refugees routes. Locations that had no advantage to hungry people. And a temporary home that had escape routes. I intentionally banked on the big collapse not coming until I was finished here. But a recent report of the Chinese and Russians dropping the US dollar brought me back to thinking about moving back to a place that is more sustainable survival wise, plus near my son.

My son, God Bless Him, finished his bachelor’s degree in business and is now the second manager at a pretty nice restaurant. He actually told me, "Dad, if the collapse hits, I'm loading up my car with all those Number 10 cans of food, coffee and stuff from the restaurant!"

One of the first things I'll do when I move back is to get up to the old cabin and emplace a couple more caches. And like the Survival Cadre recommend, start building my survival team of trusted like minded people.

Survival Chronicles of Jim - Chapter 27 (Preparing for a Pandemic)

From Urban Man: I continue to receive e-mails asking about Jim and by now you know that Jim is real, just has a different name for the articles that chronicle his journey into the world of prepping as an OPSEC measure. I'm sure you all understand. 

From Jim: Dear Urban Man, I have instituted your vehicle preps - meaning the additional stored water, rifle, cammo netting's and enhanced get home bag in my vehicle.  And actually outfitted my son's vehicle in an alike manner. But I see my traveling for work, or at least the longer trips, to start falling off significantly. I have reduced advertising for my computer services and have even turned down one contract last week. It won't be too long before I stop doing that work altogether, move back to my original city, and rely on my home based business which more than sufficient income for me to live just fine. And I also have my rental properties. Now, I have to stop my routine vacation trips! Went to Cancun a few months ago. But you know that as you called me an idiot for traveling into Mexico. 

One of my rentals is a duplex. I had lived in one of the units until I moved to a larger city to pursue some database contracts. None of my renters knew I owned the properties as I used a friend of mine's husband, who is a handyman, to be my property management. In fact, he is now fully engaged in prepping himself (his wife is still leery) and with his general handyman skills and mechanical knowledge, he is a key part of my survival group - once I move back to that city. 

We talked about medical supplies and material and I can see that I am deficient in that category. I will start purchasing bandages, gauze, medical tape, hydrogen peroxide, Isopropyl alcohol, stethoscopes, blood pressure cuffs, thermometers, face masks, latex and rubber gloves, 3 mil large black trash bags (for contaminated waste) and some vinyl rain suits for protection against infected people, as well as buying some of the military style trauma packs that you sent me links to. Buying cases of the 4 oz Purell Hand Sanitizer and the 2 Liter pump containers is a good idea too. I will ensure all people in my survival team will carry a 4 oz container of Purell as well as a face mask and latex gloves as a matter of standard procedures. 

I will also start thinking about the security procedures you said I must have when encountering "strap hangers" who will inevitably find me and my group once the collapse hits. I will ensure we can engage these people from protective positions both from firearms but also for infection protection. I will be prepared to rig some kind of decontamination station for me and my people after any contact is made.

I know that with all the recent news about Ebola and the recommended 21 day quarantine process (some say 42 day isolation process) that we will need to implement against any late arising symptoms. I will plan on segregating any people we take in and ensure a separation from new people and my team until we can determine they are disease free. And like you said, this added time will give me a chance to assess these people more closely for their value to potential problems they may create. 

I don't want to sound like a bleeding heart that will expose my security willy-nilly to any people needing help. I will be cautious. But until we bug out to our remote site I can't help but think that even though I am off the main refugee routes out of the city, I know I will get approached by people wanting, even demanding help. I will be very selective in accepting strap hangers. Due to their recent Ebola outbreak, and who knows what may crop up in the future, any people that have ANY symptoms of Ebola or other diseases such as nausea and vomiting; diarrhea; red eyes; any rashes; coughing; bleeding; and sores just won't be accepted. Anybody that I have to detain will be detained from a safety zone of at least 10 feet and no one will be handled without basic protective gear. 

I know that people I turn away may/will become enemies and threats. I intend to minimize that through a low profile but ultimately be prepared to defend ourselves.....against all threats.

Survival Chronicles of Jim - Chapter 26 (Practicing The Routine)

From Urban Man: I have received a few e-mails asking about what happened to Jim from the Survival Chronicles of Jim Chapters. Others ask if Jim is real. Oh yeah, Jim is real. Jim is not his real name, but we all have our secrets. Jim was working for friends of mine as a computer tech on contract and as he contract expired he now is working out of his house as a systems developer or some such computer gobbleygook but it requires him to travel 3.5 hours one way a couple days a week with a one or two night stay over in a hotel. I sent Jim the book "Going Home" by A. American, a good read by the way, so he could see some situations for war gaming if he had to make it back home.I asked Jim to send me an e-mail with my intent of publishing it on this site.

Urban Man,

All set up in my routine now. Still have rental houses to manage from afar and my other home based business, but my software and database work for a major company requiring me to travel 3 1/2 hours by car and staying overnight and sometimes several nights during the week. At least my car is a business expense and tax deductible, not to mention a rolling survival platform, or at least I started developing this concept.

I carry the large bag with rollers and backpack straps (Urban Man's note: a FPG deployment bag) that you gave me. This is my Get Home Bag, a la the "Going Home" novel you sent me. I know you told me to think about keeping my SKS in my vehicle with me, and although I keep all my accessories for this rifle in my Get Home bag, I have yet to take the gun on any of my work trips. Maybe it's an idea I have to get used to. At least I have my Walther pistol. In my Get Home bag I have these items:
Load Bearing Molle Vest with Camel-Bak with mag pouches for my SKS ammunition. I have the conversion kit for the SKS to use those banana magazines, with the the metal lip extension so it locks into place, but have not converted it yet.

• Silva Compass 
• Spare Fire Starting Kit 
• Green Fleece 
• Gortex Rain Suit 
• Snugpak Sleeping Bag 
• 8 civilian type versions of military meals 
• Pack of assorted nut snacks and granola bars 
• 6 packets of instant soup and a tube of bullion cubes 
• Trauma Medical Kit 
• 2 camouflage ponchos 
• Hammock net that I can use to thread plants into for a camouflage or an impromptu fishing net 
• Small butane stove with one fuel cartridge with cooking pot 
• 40 feet of green para-cord 
• A Small Fishing Kit* 
• Firearms Cleaning Kit 
• Field cap 
• Aviators gloves 
• Empty five quarter canteen so I have extra water carrying capacity 
• Wire saw 

* The fishing kit was an adventure. Not knowing anything, I went into a Sporting Goods chain store and was looking around, not knowing what to get. One of the sales guys helped me but when he asked what I was looking for, I had to tell him "Basically, an small adventure fishing kit in case I have to survive something like a plane crash in a remote area." He looked at me like I was an idiot, but I ended up buying hooks, lead weight, fishing line, and a couple of small, multi-colored lures. I learned that there is a whole culture behind fishing.

I carry that soft computer case you gave me with the molle webbing attachment as my urban Bug Out Bag. I only really have to carry a laptop, x drives, a couple of software discs, and some cables so I have plenty of room for the three boxes of SKS ammunition and my little Walther .22 pistol. I used the extra ammunition pouches attached to the outside of this case to carry bottled water in. Usually I leave the pistol and the ammunition inside my vehicle when I am in a building. I have my little fire starting kit in a zip lock bag, several bags of nuts and a couple nutrition bars, a folding knife and a "AA" Pelican flashlight and extra batteries. I carry 6 one ounce Silver rounds and a roll of old quarters for their silver melt value. Not to mention I rarely travel without several hundred dollars in cash.

Taking your advice I have driven different routes from my house to my work site. On the route that minimizes the high traffic areas and the interstate segments, it will take me an additional 45- 60 minutes of driving time because of all the slowdowns, speed traps, small communities and single lane roads. Like you said this longer driving route will probably become my primary way to get home in any major collapse event due to the most lower chance of traffic jams and refugees.

I haven't bought a suitable map yet nor have I re-conned the best places to lay up whether I was traveling home by vehicle, bicycle or on foot. I'm dating a woman in my home city. While she has a key to my house, I haven't really briefed her on my preparations. She has seen the water dispenser with ten full 5 gallon bottles of water lined up and she said something to the effect that "Gee, you're not going to run out of water soon!"

Urban Man's Comment: After receiving this from Jim, I advised Jim to ensure he carried water with him, other than his bottled drinking water, during his business trips. A five gallon water jug or the equivalent in one gallon containers can be loaded and unloaded for these weekly trips without too much butt pain to ensure at any point during his transit he has water. If he can stay with his vehicle ad make it home, great. But if he is forced to dump his vehicle, he would have the water to fill his water containers and begin the walk (worst case) home. I also advised Jim to store a camouflage net for his vehicle in case he had to pull off his route and hole up because of traffickability issues of threat.

My last advice for Jim is to take the alternate route a few times and stop in these small communities to get the feeling from the population and perhaps make his face known - may come in handy if that becomes his Going Home route....and Jim, take your rifle with you!

Urban Man

Survival Chronicles of Jim - Chapter 26

From UrbanMan: I have received a few e-mail asking about what happended to Jim from the Survival Chronicles of Jim Chapters. Others ask if Jim is real. Oh yeah, Jim is really. Jim is not his real name, but we all have our secrets. Jim was working for friends of mine as a computer tech on contract and as he contract expired he now is working out of his house as a systems developer or some such computer gobbleygook but it requires him to travel 3.5 hours one way a couple days a week with a one or two night stayover in a hotel. I sent Jim the book "Going Home" by A. American, a good read by the way, so he could see some situations for wargamming if he had to make it back home.I asked Jim to send me an e-mail with my intent of publishing it on this site.

UrbanMan,

All set up in my routine now. Still have rental houses to manage from afar and my other home based business, but my software and database work for a major company requiring me to travel 3 1/2 hours by car and staying overnight and sometimes several nights during the week. At least my car is a business expense and tax deductible!.....not to mention a rolling survival platform, or at least I started developing this concept.

I carry the large bag with rollers and backpack straps (UrbanMan's note: a FPG deployment bag) that you gave me. This is my Get Home Bag, a la the "Going Home" novel you sent me. I know you told me to think about keeping my SKS in my vehicle with me, and although I keep all my accessories for this rifle in my Get Home bag, I have yet to take the gun on any of my work trips. Maybe it's an idea I have to get used to. At least I have my Walther pistol. In my Get Home bag I have these items:

• Load Bearing Molle Vest with Camel-Bak with mag pouches for my SKS ammunition. I have the conversion kit for the SKS to use those banana magazines, with the the metal lip extension so it locks into place, but have not converted it yet.

• Silva Compass

• Spare Fire Starting Kit

• Green Fleece

• Gortex Rain Suit

• Snugpak Sleeping Bag

• 8 civilian type versions of military meals

• Pack of assorted nut snacks and granola bars

• 6 packets of instant soup and a tube of bullion cubes

• Trauma Medical Kit

• 2 camouflage ponchos

• Hammock net that I can use to thread plants into for a camoufalge or an impromtu fishing net

• Small butane stove with one fuel cartridge with cooking pot

• 40 feet of green para-cord

• A Small Fishing Kit*

• Firearms Cleaning Kit

• Field cap

• Aviators gloves

• Empty five quarter canteen so I have extra water carrying capacity

• Wire saw

* The fishing kit was an adventure. Not knowing anything, I went into a Sporting Goods chain store and was looking around, not knowing what to get. One of the sales guys helped me but when he asked what I was looking for, I had to tell him "Basically, an small adventure fishing kit in case I have to survive something like a plane crash in a remote area." He looked at me like I was an idiot, but I ended up buying hooks, lead weight, fishing line, and a couple of small, multi-colored lures. I learned that there is a whole culture behind fishing.

I carry that soft computer case you gave me with the molle webbing attachment as my urban Bug Out Bag. I only really have to carry a laptop, x drives, a couple of software discs, and some cables so I have plenty of room for the three boxes of SKS ammunition and my little Walther .22 pistol. I used the extra ammunition pouches attached to the outside of this case to carry bottled water in. Usually I leave the pistol and the ammunition inside my vehicle when I am in a building. I have my little fire starting kit in a zip lock bag, several bags of nuts and a couple nutrition bars, a folding knife and a "AA" Pelican flashlight and extra batteries. I carry 6 one ounce Silver rounds and a roll of old quarters for their silver melt value. Not to mention I rarely travel without several hundred dollars in cash.

Taking your advice I have driven different routes from my house to my work site. On the route that minimizes the high traffic areas and the interstate segments, it will take me an additional 45- 60 minutes of driving time because of all the slowdowns, speed traps, small communities and single lane roads. Like you said this longer driving route will probably become my primary way to get home in any major collapse event due to the most lower chance of traffic jams and refugees.

I haven't bought a suitable map yet nor have I reconned the best places to lay up whether I was traveling home by vehicle, bicycle or on foot. I'm dating a woman in my home city. While she has a key to my house, I haven't really briefed her on my preparations. She has seen the water dispenser with ten full 5 gallon bottles of water lined up and she said something to the effect that "Gee, you're not going to run out of water soon!"  

UrbanMan's Comment:  After recieving this from Jim, I advised Jim to ensure he carried water with him, other than his bottled drinking water, during his business trips.  A five gallon water jug or the equivilent in one gallon containers can be loaded and un-loaded for these weekly trips without too much butt pain to ensure at any point during his transit he has water.  If he can stay with his vehicle ad make it home, great.  But if he is forced to dump his vehicle, he would have the water to fill his water containers and begin the walk (worst case) home.  I also advised Jim to store a camouflage net for his vehicle in case he had to pull off his route and hole up because of traffickability issues of threat.  

My last advice for Jim is to take the alternate route a few times and stop in these small communities to get the feeling from the population and perhaps make his face known - may come in handy if that becomes his Going Home route....and Jim, take your rifle with you!  

  

Chapter 26 Survival Chronicles of Jim – SHTF Consultant

I called urbanman the last Saturday although I’m not sure when he’ll edit this and post it. UrbanMan’s note: Jim sent this to me on 20 October and for the record I do not edit his content much.
I have been through three seasons since I last wrote about my journey becoming prepared. Since then I have re-planted and taken those vegetables – not really expanding my garden with the exception of a couple pots of herbs which did not amount to much. I continue to use Silver Saver as a means to purchase a little bit of Silver each much and once my monthly allotment to them reaches the required minimum amount (22 ounces), they send me the silver bullion.

I have not yet found a 1970’s truck or jeep type yet, but I am still looking.

Last year, I had befriended an older couple on my street with some vegetables (cucumber and squash) that I grew in back yard garden. The lady gave me a couple of jars of canned tomatoes and a suckatash (?), which I haven’t ate yet, even though I need to get the mason jars back to her. She promised to show me how to can vegetables. So my near term project is to try her canned vegetables, but a 12 piece canning set from Amazon, return her mason jars and ask her when she can teach me the “how to’s” of canning.

Her husband, the gentleman, is a Korean War vet, and has an M1 garand. After I gave him some .30-06 ammunition (still waiting on those clips Urbanman) he seemed to open up to me and showed me his other guns: a 12 gauge double barrel shotgun and a .45 cal pistol. We haven’t been out shooting again since the old guy has to be near or just past 80 years old, but he seems spry enough to use it when the time comes. Trying to see where his mind is on survival preparation as I think it took him some time to accept me in my goatee and occasional earring and I did not want to come across as a nut, so I asked him if he keeps his guns for memories or for a practical purpose. He said words to the effect that “you never know when you are going to need a gun”…..fair enough in my mind.

I did drop off a printed copy of a book called “Gone Before You Get There” highlighted 77 items that are in short supply during emergencies. I told the old man that I had bought this booklet so I can get an idea on how to be prepared in case of a natural disaster and was now finished with it. The old man just asked what kind of things I bought so I told him that stockpiled a little extra food, water and medical items. He just grunted and said something like “that’s sounds like a good idea, I’ll have a look at this”. Fair enough.

So the next thing that happens is that another neighbor, an older than me gent knocked on my door to ask about the old Ford Taurus with two flat tires parked in my car port. He was asking if I was looking to sell it. I had previous purchased it for $2,200 so my son could have a car to get back and forth to college, but my son never obtained the insurance on it before he left to college and ended up buying a different car. Anyway, to make a long story short, I asked the gent into my house so I could find and show him the title. In the living room he saw my shotgun laying on top of a short duffel I use as my range bag and my web belt with holster and asked if I was going out shooting. I told him I was until he stopped to talk about the Taurus. This neighbor, I’ll call him Bill, asked me about shooting and hunting. I told him, “I am not involved in any shooting sport nor do I hunt. I just like to go out and shoot my guns for practice because it makes me feel better prepared as an individual.”

Apparently Bill has a 7mm Magnum hunting rifle, but has been wanting to get a handgun for him defense. In short order I helped Bill pick out a S&W M&P 9mm handgun, a belt holster and mag pouches (this came in some type of kit offered by the factory) and 3 boxes of ammunition for $675 at a franchise sporting goods store. Since then, I saw him one morning and he told me he has bought a 12 gauge pump shotgun (I haven’t seen it yet) and he told me he wants to pickup a .22 rifle. Bill also told me he was kinda amazed that I was a single guy because I’m a neat freak and my house is pretty spotless, but saw that I had a water cooler with many 5 gallon jugs lined up next to it along the wall. I took that as an implied question so I told Bill “it’s just like why I own guns. In case there is an interruption of the water supply, I have enough to get by for a few weeks until things get restored.”

UrbanMan’s note: The pistol Jim’s friend bought is probably the Smith and Wesson M&P 9mm Range and Carry Kit. Kind of a one stop shop if you are not too specific on what holsters you really like and a good choice.

Bill just said “that’s a good idea.” We made some vague pans to go to the range together, which we have yet to do. But Bill did send me an e-mail asking me if I had any recommendations for stocking some “survival type” (his words) food.

Urbanman is now teasing me that I am a survival consultant, but in a more serious way we talked about how I am getting to know the neighbors, build some credibility with them, and have a basis for what may turn-out to be a neighborhood survival group. I will take Bill out shooting. This will be a good time to feel him out and see where he is at mentally to absorb what I started two years ago. I have the last of this year’s cucumbers which I will deliver to the old lady with her mason jars and make a plan for her to teach me canning. I understand there is a new Rawles survival novel out which I’ll order when I make my Canning Set order through Amazon…and start looking for that old 1970 pickup truck or jeep.

I have come to terms with not living Survival Prepping every day like I did in the beginning. Life gets in the way. But I still need to get better, not just measure it on an hour by hour or day by day basis. Wishing everyone a fruitful week.

Survival Chronicles of Jim - Chapter 25 Don't Lose Focus

This is Jim here. Long time since I sent Urban Man sometime to post. These last few months had me a funk. I had spent a lot of money and effort getting prepared, and not like I was hoping an event would happen, but I started to lose focus on why I was preparing until it became apparent, again, that the Government may just be driving this country into a financial Armageddon. Then I realized that basically what I am doing is giving myself some insurance.

A chance of survival in a post SHTF world. All my food preparations, firearms procurements, equipment acquisitions, silver bullion buys and even my recon and cache prep of the family cabin were the foundation of why I lost focus because I was actually moderately prepared for many terrible events, again which I hope not to experience, but there was some part of me that wanted it to happen. I had a phone conversation with Urbanman and he said I was an “asshole” for wanting the collapse to occur.

With the stock market on a roller coaster; Gold at $1,877 an ounce (this morning as I write this) representing a 21% increase PER YEAR since 2002; seemingly spontaneous riots in some of the major cities that are associated in some cases with racial tensions, but are really linked to the failing economy. Just too many reasons to be concerned.

From UrbanMan: Jim sent this to me last week. Today's Gold price was at $1,859.

One of my friends, a civil service computer guy with the Army, told me that the Government is downsizing Defense civil service jobs. We wondered what these displaced workers and the tens of thousands of service members separated from the military during the end of the war(s) obligatory downsizing will do to the economic outlook and especially the unemployment rate.

I hope most of you are NOT doing the same thing - starting to lose focus. Arguing with the wife about the $130 you spent this month to buy three silver bullion rounds or the bucket of Wise prepared meals; or, looking at your monetary expenditures on canned or dehydrated food and start to think it's a waste. Because it's not. And if you get to the point where you think you need to slow down on your preps you face the real time danger of quitting altogether, albeit much better off than you are now, but not totally prepared as you can be.

I am now looking for a second vehicle. Something like an 1970’s era Jeep or Pickup so I can buy some spare parts, tires and wheels for it and store it at my family cabin. I’ll be looking soon to emplace (cache) some of the prepared food buckets I bought through Costco.

I just planted some “winter” squash in my backyard. It is AMAZING how fast squash grow when you give it adequate water. I have been harvesting the cucumbers and other squash I planted in late April and being pretty creative in making dinners out of it. My son, visiting from College, even likes it.

I took some of my produce to the house on the corner where a old couple live. Now I’m friends with them and found out the lady has been canning for years and the Husband is an old Korean War Veteran, who owns an M1 Garand. In a week or two I will take him some a couple boxes of .30-06 ammunition. Urbanman also gave me a couple clips to give him. Since I am stuck in this neighborhood until I Bug Out, I thought I would work to build a team, first by building rapport. Urbanman calls it "the heart and minds things".

So after a couple of months of losing focus, I am back at more prepared than ever. I just now know that, in fact, there isn't anything such as being "fully prepared", it really is a continuous process. Don't be like me - I lost two months getting ready.

Survival Chronicles of Jim - Chapter 23 Evaluation of My Survival Preparations

I haven't written an article for UrbanSurvivalSkills.com for some time. Been too busy both with my contractor job with the government and my business, as well as contining to prep.

By far my biggest preparation is in the area of developing a source list of financial blogs, web sites, newsletters and such to keep on track of the, what I believe, it an impending economic collapse.

In fact, this past week I got pretty scared with the clamity in Japan, the news of Chinese inflation, oil prices rising as well as Gold and Silver, so concerned in fact that I went to Costco and bought a bunch more food. I think I have at least a years worth now for me and my son. Of course, I am expecting the straphangers (family and friends) that UrbanMan always warns us to expect.

Speaking of UrbanMan, I had him stop by my house to talk to me and look around so I could get an honest evaluation of my preps to date. This is what he told me:

Handgun, shotgun and Mosin-Nagant rifle are better than nothing, but I need a better long gun. UrbanMan recommended an SKS is I wanted to go cheap, or an M-4 or M-16 type rifle if I wanted to spend near $1000. When UrbanMan saw my ammo supply, he said "That's all?!,...that's all you have on hand?" I was advised to buy more .22 LR, 12 gauge and Mosin-Nagant ammunition.

I have a good supply of water. But I need to buy some 5 gallon plastic cans and store water in my garage or basement as well as continue the water delivery to maintain my purified drinking water supply.

I also have a big supply of food, but mostly pantry items. I was advised to buy some more cases of dehydrated food as well as some MainStay granola bars for emergency food when I can't cook or otherwise need something to eat during travel.

UrbanMan told me to pickup another good set of boots. He recommends a quality similar to the Danners he wears. He also told me to organize my hot weather and cold weather clothing better (I have them basically handing up in the closet. He recommended putting some in space saver bags then into military style kit bags or duffle bags,..which I don't have.

I am lacking in first aid supplies, so I am to procure more bandages, alchohol, hydrogen peroxide, bacitracin ointment, sterile eyewash, self sticking ace wraps, as well as some common medications (asprin, cold meds and such). UrbanMan actually wrote out a list which I don't have in front of me at this moment.

I have been avidly buying silver. But since I can afford more, UrbanMan told me to buy more

The last things UrbanMan told me was to get my outside basement door replaced and with better locks as well as get a battery powered radio shack anti-intrusion device for it; buy a solar powered motion detector light for the part of the house; buy some more re-chargeable batteries; and, get ready to plant my spring garden.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with what I've done so far. UrbanMan said "Go ahead and pat yourself on the back,...one time,....then get back to work prepping - he believes it only a short matter of time before the collapse as well.

Survival Chronicles of Jim - Chapter 21, Preparing for a Possible End of the Year Collapse

UrbanMan's comments: I have been speaking to Jim about the possibility of a Stock Market collapse before the end of this year,...that's right, within the next three weeks. Not that I think it is probable, just possible. Since Congress has not extended the current tax rates (the so-called Bush Tax Cuts) which will expire December 31st, there is the possibility of many people consolidating their assets and cash resources.

If Congress does extend the current tax rates, everyone's tax rates will go up including capital gains. I read somewhere that if a person has an annual income of $75,000 than they will be taking home $200 per pay period (every 2 weeks) less next year. If the tax rates are set to go up, this should cause many investors to sell off stocks in order to realize the much lesser current tax rates and capital gains rate. If too many investors do this, it will cause a panic, developing a selling run and collapse the market which would drive this country into an immediate depression.

I told Jim that it would be a good idea to start "leaning forward" and fine tune not only his Survival plans for Bugging In and Bugging Out, but for material procurement that he may have been putting off. But I'll let Jim tell what he is doing.

Jim here. UrbanMan asked me to write a short story on what I am doing in case the a Stock Market crash precipitates a collapse.

Even though it a pain in the ass, I will keep my vehicle fuel tank no less than 5/8ths full. I picked up another 5 gallon plastic fuel can at Wal-Mart, and had that one, plus the two other cans filled, so now I have 15 gallons of gasoline in my garage.

My water service won't deliver again until near the end of the month, but I added two additional 2.5 gallon water jugs to my monthly order. I also bought three cases of water at the grocery store.

I also bought: one case each of green beans, peas and corn; one gallon of corn oil (which is getting really expensive); twelve cans each of canned roast beef and Spam. Plus six boxes each of Kashi cereal. And of course my normal grocery load.

My son will soon be out on Christmas break from college, so he'll be with me if the collapse hit's before the end of the year. We'll use the time to do some shooting and I'll tell him about my plans and beliefs on Survival Preparation. As it stands now when he is at school, we do have a contingency plan if a collapse hits.

Hopefully, we'll have cell phone or regular phone contact just before or right after when the SHTF. If I have to Bug Out, we have three linkup points: His apartment, the south end of one of the buildings on campus, and, the back end of a truck stop. We are planning to use the phrase "Ford Truck", "Chevy Tahoe" and "Dodge Charger" to denote the location we will meet and one of those is a designated no communications site as well so in case we don't have any way to communicate that will be the emergency linkup location, before we Bug Out to the Cabin.

I am also heading down to the Sporting Goods store to pickup a few more boxes of 12 gauge shotshells and a box or two of ammunition for my Mosin-Nagant. I can't buy it right now, but I know if the SHTF, I'll regret not picking up an M-4 that UrbanMan has advised me to on many different occasions.

I also took $1,000 out of my bank account and will hold onto to it through the new year. I can always re-deposit it if noting happens. I already have the previous silver I have bought, plus $800 in cash on hand.

I asked UrbanMan flat out if he thinks the Stock Market will crash or otherwise a collapse to hit before New Year. He said no, not really, but it pays just to "take a step forward" (his words) in case it does.

It pretty scary to me thinking that me and my son would have to survive a SHTF collapse. Hopefully nothing happens. I need to get a couple of my relatives into the plan and be better prepared to receive the stragglers. UrbanMan constantly tells me that "Survival is a Team Sport" and now I have a better sense of what he means. Take Care.

Survival Chronicles of Jim - Chapter 20 Buying More Silver

It's been about 10 months since I started my Survival Preparation and honestly several days will go by without me thinking about Survival.....I guess just life gets in the way. I don't know if it the Ostrich syndrome where you bury your head and if you don't see it, then it isn't real.......or me just hoping for the best. Then I realized that I really am not planning for a worse case scenario. I did get some caches emplaced close to my family's cabin but to tell you the truth, I have a hard time spending the money that UrbanMan urges me to spend to get prepared.

But, I have been buying more groceries and ensuring they I have about a two month supply in my pantry and I do have some long term storage food. But I don't think I'll ever get to the recommended 12 months of stored, long term food.

But some things are changing now that things are happening that are, frankly, scaring me: the Fed printing more money; inflation and probably hyper-inflation to hit; gas prices on the rise (19 cents higher since last week where I live); and the noticeable increase in staples at the grocery store have got me concerned. UrbanMan is telling me to ensure I buy enough ammunition and if I want an AR type rifle I better get it now, as the prices will most surely rise but my pay check won't.

The least dangerous thing for me to do is to purchase more Silver. I found this Silver site and asked UrbanMan to post it so those of you who cannot get to a Silver Market or save enough for a order and shipment can actually buy Silver through debits as low as $50 a month, or $25 a week.

The deal is you have your account or card debited for a certain amount on a automatic period, say every week, twice a month or just monthly. The money goes to this company (Silver Saver) who buys the Silver until you reach a minimum amount, in this case 20 ounces, then you can elect to have them ship it to you - this is what I am doing.

Watch the video below and you'' understand it better and maybe see a greater need to have some silver on hand.




If you are interested in learning more than go to Silver Saver.

Survival Chronicles of Jim - Chapter 19

Just wanted to drop a note and tell all of my latest purchase, a Eton FR600B Survival Radio. I long wanted to buy a self powered radio for when the collapse hits in case there are operational radio stations or short wave transmitters still going strong.

Eton makes several good multi-powered radios, using a hand crank, rechargeable battery or a built in solar panel. I'm kinda a gadget man, so I bought the FR600B model is one of the more expensive radios (at $80), but it also gives shortwave frequencies in the 5800 to 12200 Khz band as well as the standard AM 520-1700 Khz and FM 88-108 Mhz and all 7 NOAA Weather Alert Channels.

This model also has the a four white LED internal flashlight. At less than 8x9x3 inches, it is fairly compact and weighs less than 2 lbs.

The Solar/Hand Crank power feature generates enough energy to power this radio by simply setting it under the sun or with a few turns of the hand crank.

You can also plug in a iPOD or MP3 player and listen to your music if that's a priority to you when you may be scrambling to stay alive, post collapse.

There are cheaper Eton models, and I looked at the FR360R and the FR160B but settled on the FR600B because of the shortwave channels.

Survival Chronicles of Jim – Chapter 14

It's been almost three weeks since I last gave Urban Man an update on my Urban Survival preparations to post to this site.

Since I finished watching the After Armageddon video series I have spent much more time thinking about my survival preparations. The 3 months or so it took the character in After Armageddon to finally pack up and leave the city was giving me a false sense of time. Then I watched the two part Economic Collapse series and it kinda put time in perspective - a collapse can hit any day!

I ordered another six cans of Mountain House meals from EarthWaveLiving, two each Peas, Granola with Blueberries and Milk, and, Eggs with Ham. That gives me about what I figure is approximately 70 days of two servings per two people (my son and me) not counting Neomi, if she ends up co-locating with us either in the City or to our safe location.

I also have about an easy ten days of food in the house not counting if I rationed it. Urban Man told me I need about a minimum of six months food per person to get through non-growing seasons then I can hunt, fish and grow crops for food...never hunted, fished quite a bit so that would be a challenge for sure.

I also bought six 5 gallon water containers so I can rapidly fillup water, along with all my other containers, when I get even a jingle of something bad coming.

I bought four more packs of rechargeable AA batteries for my flashlights and lanterns. One of the things on my short list to buy right before a collapse hits, if I get the warning or even a tingle, is another car battery so I can use it with my DC/AC converter.

My biggest purchase in the last three weeks has been a Mosin-Nagant rifle I bought at a local discount sporting goods store for $169. Urban Man looked it over and said it was in good shape and even gave me 60 rounds of 7.62x54mm ammunition for it to go with the 40 cartridges I bought from the store. So now I have amy .22 pistol, a 12 gauge shotgun and this Mosin-Nagant rifle.

Urban Man told me the history on Mosin-Nagants with the Soviet Army and told me it was roughly the equivilent of Neomi's .30-06 rifle, and would serve well for hunting and can be used in a defense purposes. Urban Man has advised me on buying an M-4 carbine, but I just ain't there yet. I just not a gun guy.

I have also started growing some squash and cucumbers in my back yard and hope to have some vegetables in the summer as well as gain some valuable experience in growing things.

Well thats my report for now. To many I am way behind, but I suspect to most Americans I would seem a kook for even doing what little I have done. Stay safe - be prepared.

Survival Chronicles of Jim – Chapter 13

It seems to me that Urban Man and his associates have picked up speed on this site. I can see why they started slow with me as well as the information on this site starting with the basics. I now believe that you can’t do Survival Preparation for all likely events (economic collapse, Pandemic, or nuclear attack scenario) in your spare time. It has to be at least a part time effort. Part time is a dedicated effort whereas spare time is when you can fit it in.

Man, look at me! I have went from someone not even owning a gun to now someone planning to survive any number of likely catastrophic, society collapsing events. Since I wrote last, I bought another case of dehydrated food (Sliced Strawberries, Green Beans and Diced Beef) from EarthWaveLiving.

I recently bought an 12 Volt DC to 110 Volt AC power inverter that produces 900 watts continuous, 1800 watts peak power for use with a vehicle battery, although I realize that re-charging the vehicle battery will be problematic without fuel. I did look at Solar re-charging panels from a previous UrbanSurvivalSkill.com post on Portable Solar Power, but felt those panels were too expensive for my Survival Gear and Equipment budget. Reminds me to ask Urban Man to see if he can write post on more affordable solar panels.

The History Channel segments on After Armageddon and the commentary that Urban Man has recently been posting are outstanding. I had Neomi watch the first three and it must have spooked her as she asked me to explain in great detail what I have done so far to prepare for Urban Survival in the event of a collapse. She asked for the address of the Survival food companies, so I told her to go to this web site to access EarthWaveLiving.

I bought five more boxes (25) cartridges total of 12 gauge 00 Buckshot, and another 25 round box of #8 Birdshot, and, another 550 round box of .22 LR. Urban Man and his associates have been telling me I probably need a decent rifle so I’ll look at that purchase for the near future, especially since the scenario theat “After Armageddon” depicts are pretty scary.

I added ten (10) more one ounce Silver rounds to my collection Silver rounds and coins for Silver melt value. I have taken to keeping $400 in cash at my house just in case a collapse is sudden and I have a use for buying something, probably fuel, before paper money becomes worthless.

Well that’s about it for what I have accomplished in the past three weeks since I wrote last. What have you done?

Survival Chronicles of Jim - Chapter 12

It's been awhile since I wrote last about my Urban Survival Preparations and Survival Gear and Equipment procurement plan. Just as well as I needed the time to order some of the essential Survival Gear I was missing.

I finally bought some Silver bullion in the form of 1 ounce Silver Rounds from Northwest Territorial Mint. I bought ten (10) of them and it costs me a total of $194.10

Bought two of the Suisee Sport Alpine Adult Mummy (Sleeping) bags from the Survival Store (link to the right). This purchase cost a total of approximately $100.00 (can't remember exactly). When they arrived I realized I made a good buy on this item of Survival Gear. The Suisse Sport Alpine Mummy bags are green and sage in color, have a lot of room, are good for comfort to zero degrees and compress into a small package in the compression-stuff sack.

My Urban Survival Preparation in the Survival Foods area was weak, not counting some Mainstay Food Bars I have in my Survival Bug Out Bag and in my initial cache near my Safe Location, so I bought a case of dehydrated food, from EarthWaveLiving. This case consisted of six #10 cans (large coffee cans) so I bought one can each of powdered eggs, hash brown potatoes, carrots, peas, blueberries and peaches. Oh by the way, this case of food cost approximately $110.00, not too bad for what I figure would be around 30 days of food for two people if rationed correctly. I'm going to have to talk to Neomi about buying, storing and caching food.

I also went to the grocery store and bought three 50 pound bags of dog food and will replace each one as I use it to ensure that when I do bug out I have at least 100 pounds of dog food to take with me to the safe location. I will probably cache some more near the cabin but have to figure out how to package it.

My next task is to buy and store some rice and beans and prepare a cache of rice and beans near the safe location as well. And I'm going to see about buying another gun so my son can use it. Being new and clueless to guns I'll talk to the boys (the Survival Cadre who write this blog) and see what they think.
You all be safe and get prepared.

Survival Chronicles of Jim – Chapter 10

Just when I think I’m well on my way to be being set, the Survival Cadre thought another set of Survival Circumstances to think about. The first one being Radios for Survival Group Communications after the collapse. I know they talked about it before, but it really didn’t hit me until after their last post of Survival Radios and Communications.

I can see now that even in an Urban Survival situation radio communications between members of the Survival Group, only if there are two, will be huge. They talked me through scenarios such as one person on security watch and needing to alert the others in the group without leaving his/her security post.

Another situation they talked about was when I executed my Survival Bug Out plan from my urban location to my safe location and was established at the family cabin, that I would need to be able to leave the cabin to conduct food procurement, security patrols, wood gathering, etc., and that radios were instrumental in letting others know at the cabin that I was returning so I wouldn’t get accidentally shot! Now I’m certainly for not getting accidentally shot.

They also mentioned “brevity codes”. Since the FRS/GMRS radios that I will be buying are not encrypted, anybody with another radio on the same frequency or which a scanner could pickup our radio conversations. The Survival Cadre said the shorter the communications the better, AND, that what we say over the radio had to structured so that anybody listening could not exploit it to our disadvantage.

They said not to “militarize” the communications with terms like “patrol one”, “conducting a recon”, arrived at the “LP/OP”, etc., but to use fake names and common terms like “This is Mike, Refrigerator”, which could mean “patrol one, entering immediate vicinity of the cabin”.

This is going to take some thought. I already know that I’ll need a minimum of four radios. I already have two people (my son and Neomi) that I’m planning on taking to safe location. Maybe my son’s on again – off again girlfriend as well.

I’m almost finished reading “One Second After”. Wow, what a depressing book. Well, it’s written about a depressing subject, EMP taking out electronics and putting us back into the semi-stone ages. What struck me in particular was the medical condition of one of the book’s subjects. I also have a need for day to day medications, but I’ll write about that later, once I absorb what the Survival Cadre have written about stockpiling medications as part of a general Urban Survival Preparation Plan and figure out what I am going to do about it.

Survival Chronicles of Jim – Chapter 5

Last night I went over to Neomi’s to show her the latest on the web site I am developing for her home based business which is, no kidding, Wedding Planning. Her day job is an Office Manager for a Physical Therapy Doctor. It’s hard to keep my mind on work when she’s walking around looking 100% gorgeous, but I have a story to tell.

Anyway our discussion turned to General Survival topics, with a lot of “what if’s”. I told her my general plan, was if the city or my house became untenable to live and survive at, would be to head to a old cabin in the mountains that remains belonging to someone (I’m not quite sure) in my family. It’s about 220 miles to the cabin, but I would have to plan on 50 mile detour to pickup my son from college where he is studying Computer Added Design so let’s say 275 miles. My vehicle is a ’04 Toyota RAV 4 which averages 22 mpg (city and highway) so that means I would have to have a full tank, 14 gallons, in order to get from my house to the cabin. I figure if I can get half way there, I could always walk 100 miles in about 5 to 6 days.

Neomi said, only half jokingly, ‘So, you’re just going to leave me?” I said “No, I would offer to take you, but if we have no telephones, cell or computer communications how are we going to talk and coordinate anything?” I then told her, “Look, if something gets really bad you can always come to my house. You’ll probably need to skirt the foothills of the mountain and come in the back way to avoid the heavy population. You need to have durable clothing suitable for hiking and camping, good boots, and only pack essentials – you don’t need makeup and that crap.”

Neomi looked like she thought about it for a few seconds, and then said, “Fair enough, what about guns? I have a couple of guns that my Dad left me.” She went into her bedroom and came out with a rifle and a handgun. Looking at both I figured out she had a Bolt Action Springfield rifle in .30-06 and a Revolver in .38 Special. I asked her is she had any ammunition for each, and she said no, so I told her she would have to pickup some at Wal-Mart, the local Sporting Goods store or a Gun Store and I wrote down what she needed to buy.

Neomi further surprised me by saying “she had a hand held Global Positioning System (GPS) that she had bought when she was dating a guy doing the geo caching sport.” She went and found it, so I wrote down the name “Garmin Etrex” and noticed that it used “AA” batteries. I told her to make sure she brings it with her. She said the only thing she knew what to do with it was figure out her location, input another location and use the device to walk to the cache. So I made a mental note to finds out more about GPS’s.

I finished my time last night with Neomi giving her an idea on what else she will need to bring with her, concentrating on some bottled water, granola bars, lightweight foods, matches/lighters, blanket, any medications, a toothbrush, etc. She exclaimed “Holy Cow, I’m going to need a big back pack”. I replied “that’s right Sweetie, it’s called a Survival Bug Out Bag, and I’m going to send you an e-mail with some more things to pack and keep it prepared to grab and immediately go – that’s the point”. And as much as I hated to say it, I said “…and those short pants you’re wearing aren’t going to be practical,…..so nothing but long pants.”

So now I have a possible survival partner. The boys warned me about taking on “strays” as each stray person absorbed by me will impact negatively on any survival stocks I have and may impact worse on my own survivability. They told me “to realize you can’t save everyone” as well as advised me to be careful on who I tell about my Survival Plans, and to choose my “strays” or Survival partners carefully. Their final advice on the subject was to base those choices on not only the skills sets other people would bring but how they would fit into a group.