Gifts that are useful

It's time to start thinking about buying and making gifts for people.  Christmas, Chanukah, birthday, anniversary, whatever the occasion I like giving gifts and although most people won't admit it about themselves, I like receiving gifts.  At least, I like receiving useful gifts.  I know, we are supposed to appreciate the gift because the giver thought enough to give it to us, but sometimes I wonder.  Do people really put a lot of effort into gift giving?  Do they get something that you would like or that you can use?

As I've said before, I think one of the best gifts ever is a fruit tree or plant. That is really a gift that keeps on giving.  Even an apartment dweller can grow vegetable plants indoors instead of non-producing house plants. 

Last year I gave several people pocket chain saws.  They liked them although at first they were a little surprised about the uniqueness of the gift.  I've given batteries, first aid kits, canning jars and cook books.  A couple of months ago Costco had a package of two flashlights for $20 that run on either AA batteries or by solar power.  I bought a couple of packages to use for gifts this year.  I also got a good deal on WD40.  I'm not sure how well that one will go over. 

There are so many things that I would love to have as gifts.  When the younger ones ask what I'd like I always have a list of very inexpensive items, things that you can never have too much of.   Canning lids are around two dollars.  So are sewing needles, both heavy duty and standard types, and thread.  Any type of fishing tackle would be great.  Scoops for the kitchen or animal feed.  Pencils.  Glue.  Superglue.  A Swingaway can opener.  Crayons, packages of computer paper, the list goes on and on.  Gifts that I used to give when I was a child were aluminum foil and tape.  Of course, I'd use most of it, but that's the kind of thing that children do. 

The gifts you give can be useful and help the unsuspecting prepare for the future. 

Thoughts on bugging out into the wilderness

Prior to the Spanish, Russians, or gold miners coming to California the state was filled with approximately 300,000 native people.  This was a huge number compared to other states or regions.  In California there are 37,000,000 people now.  That's over 100 times the number of people.  Back then density was one person for every 350 acres.  Now it's almost one person for every three acres.  People would be covering each and every acre including the year round snow covered glaciated wilderness. 

Our state was as populated as it was because of the number of natural resources that existed.  Most of the population was along the ocean as this offered a huge source of food.  Inland populations were much lower.  Let's assume that half of the population received most of their resources from the ocean.  That would mean the rest of the state was living on more like 640 acres for each and every person.  That's one square mile per person for the carrying capacity, and I think this is a low estimate of area required.  This includes the acreage in all of the wilderness areas. 

That amount of food resources don't exist today.  Of course we do have different resources.  There are groves of fruit trees and vineyards that are available today compared to the oaks and other species.  There's less wildlife available today then there was 300 years ago.    Now there're cattle and chicken farms. Fresno used to get salmon runs.  Now, the river doesn't even make it from Fresno to the ocean.  Dams, farming, overfishing, water contaminants, and natural causes have lowered the fish populations.  (Now, don't get me wrong, I believe we need dams and farming.  They are reasons for lower fish populations although I believe that water contaminants and natural causes (including seals and sea lions - let's see...1,000,000 creatures eating 15 pounds of fish each day...) are the leading causes of lower fish populations.) 

If you look at food eaten by the native people you will note that what they've eaten changed over time.  California used to have a large bear population as well as woolly mammoths, saber-toothed tigers, camels, and miniature horses.  The native people over used many animal species and had to then hunt different, smaller species.  Acorns became the staple food.  If you study native populations, you will know that the native people didn't live year round in the higher elevations.  Much of the areas that are wilderness today in the Sierra's were not used for anything other than tool procurement or trade.   Why?  Because there wasn't enough resource to support people.  If there was enough resource, the populations would have been larger.   

If you plan on bugging out by going into the wilderness, try it first.  If this is the solution for you and your family, the most important thing for you to do is practice your skills.  Go for a hike on a nice summer day.  Then spend a week or two.  Then don't bring any food.  See how well you can survive.  Then bring the family.  Husband, wife, three kids…  Then try it during the winter.  There's a good website that gives lists of trails http://www.americantrails.org/resources/statetrails/CAstate.html.  Have fun.  

Me?  There are too many small people that I wouldn't be able to bug out by taking a hike.  We have other plans...

Cansolidator and can storage

A Cansolidator holds cans and will rotate them for you.  The product is made out of plastic and has enough "moving" parts that you can customize your rows to fit the sizes of cans you use.  The Cansolidator can be found at Shelf Reliance, http://www.shelfreliance.com/modern, I've seen products like this advertised on the internet from other companies, only those have been made out of cardboard.  The price is about the same.  I'd rather have the Cansolidator than cardboard! Shelf Reliance has three different sizes of Cansolidators to hold 20-40 or 60 cans. 

In the 80's when home food storage became a craze, we built shelves but had the back a bit higher than the front.  This made the cans roll to the front.  All worked fine except you had to be able to walk around the storage rack to put the cans into the back.  Shelfreliance.com also has free standing units but you load from the front!  Since I already have shelves, the Cansolidator would be the right one for me.  I've also seen examples on the internet where you reframe a wall and start the cans at one end and 10 feet later at the other end of the wall they come out.  This is a great idea for the do it yourselfer. 

ModernSurvivalOnline.com is holding another contest, ModernSurvivalOnline's Cansolidator Giveaway.  I wonder if they have a limit on how many times I can win?  I hope not.  But, I did win their Non-Hybrid seed giveaway which I promise I'm going to plant the seeds and see how things go.  Even if Rourke says I can't win anything else for a while, I like their website and will post information on their contests anyway!  http://modernsurvivalonline.com/ is a good site.  It's in my list of favorites.

Fuel - if it's today, I don't have enough

A couple of days ago I had my propane tank refilled. I get it filled twice a year. It's a 500 gallon tank that I try to only run down to about half before I get a fill-up. I was thinking about getting it filled every couple of months rather than twice a year. I talked to my delivery driver in January and he said that propane was running over $3.50 a gallon. He told me to wait. I filled it up in March and it cost $2.04 a gallon. Since I purchased over 200 gallons I saved about $150. Last September I paid $1.40 a gallon and this year $1.75. I spent about $50 more this fall than last.


Those are things that need to be thought about, of course, since I am on a budget. But more importantly, I need to deal with the amount of propane that I have on hand. I own a 500 gallon tank, which when "full" holds about 450 gallons since they don't like to completely fill it. I have used 480 gallons since last September. I used 250 gallons from September to March and 230 gallons from March to September.


We use propane to heat the water, run the drier, the stovetop, and to heat the house. I figure we average about 1 1/2 gallons of propane a day, each and every day of the year. It doesn't change that much between summer and winter which surprises me.


I'm thinking about having a second tank placed on the property. I figure that it will only be a one time cost to fill it, as I plan on still filling the tanks every six months and I don't expect to use more than 250 gallons per six month period. It would then give me a two year supply on hand rather than a one year supply.


A tank is supposed to last about 20 years. It costs about $50 a year to rent the tank and about $1200 to purchase it outright. The purchase cost for a tank is more than the rental cost for the tank over those 20 years. It's the only thing that I know of that is absolutely a better deal to rent than own.


Whether I rent or buy I have to weigh whether I really want or need it. It will cost about $850 to fill. I'll have to put down a cement pad for this tank and have the two tanks plumbed together. But, do I need it? If life changes we will be making several changes at home which would really reduce the need for the propane. I envision not using the drier and not using the heaters.


If I didn't heat the house at all the house would get into the 40s and 50s during the worst of winter. I know because during a house remodel many years ago in the middle of the winter the house was completely open. No windows and in some cases, no walls. We dressed warm. I'm not saying I don't plan on heating the house. I certainly don’t want to live in a 50° house but I have the ability to heat the house with wood. I could cook on the wood stove, but I don't want to. I can also upgrade the water heater to take advantage of solar water heating. If I invest the money in the water heating, then the only reason I'd need the propane would be for cooking. The 500 gallons I have on hand would really be all I'd need.


Knowing my luck, TEOTWAWKI will happen the week before I'd expect my fall delivery, when I have 250 gallons of propane on hand. For that reason alone, it will be a good idea to get a second tank!


Work provides me a vehicle to drive. It's always a four wheel drive pick-up. The one previous to the one I drive now was fueled by both gas and propane. I loved it. I could go 500 miles on a fill-up, even though I wouldn't. There were days that some of the off-roading I did caused the gas mileage to drop to about 8 mpg from the usual 17 with gas and 16 with propane. Those things need to be taken into account when you think about how much extra fuel you need to carry to get you back home. I'm getting away from my point...One day I was driving from San Diego back home. I was running propane and the valve broke. The truck died on Interstate 5 in Orange County on Friday at 17:00 in bumper to bumper traffic.


Fortunately it was the work truck and not my own. Work sent two people over in two vehicles. They gave me one of the vehicles to continue with my drive home and then they got to deal with my truck. They complained a bit when I said that I wasn't leaving my gear in the back of the truck. Even the work truck has a two week supply of food, water, clothes, medical kit, boots, tools, etc. It was coming with me, not staying in the broken vehicle that they were towing away. They had to wait for me to transfer the load before I let them take the truck.


There are a couple of points to this story. First is the need to be prepared and have some sort of back up plan. The other point is to know your vehicle. The valve breaking wasn’t something that I could have foreseen. The problem is it’s something that I couldn’t easily repair. The vehicle was towed to a Ford dealer. Then they said they couldn’t repair it and said it would need to be towed to another Ford dealer. Instead our company mechanics went back to get the truck and brought it to their shop. The valve itself cost over $1000 to purchase. The mechanics weren’t authorized to put it in and bringing it to a dealer was going to cost $1500 for the repair, plus the part. Instead our mechanics disconnected the propane completely and I ran the truck on gas only for the next year. The truck has since been replaced.


Why am I discussing this? It’s because I’ve read on a lot of sites that people should pick one main fuel that can run equipment and vehicles. Many sites have been suggesting propane since gas doesn’t last too long, diesel is next, and propane I’ve been told is the longest lasting. Because of this experience, I wouldn’t run out and get a duel fuel propane vehicle and intend to rely on the propane. You are much better off with a gas or diesel vehicle that can be repaired.

September 11 in Afganistan

Got an email from my brother today.  He's at ISAF Headquarters in Kabul.  He provided a couple of tidbits plus photos.  You get the tidbits, I get the photos.   

A Remembrance service was held in the chapel at noon. Their first USO goods arrived yesterday (this was arranged by my sister!) and today they received two of each -Playstation 3, Wii, and XBox, plus many games and movies!  In all, the USO is sending over 100 boxes of things for the soldiers and American civilians.  Items include the games, phones, clothes, food, perfume, coffee and tea, and just about anything that you can think of.

I spoke to some of the younger grandkids today about September 11, 2001.    They didn't know what I was talking about.  They need to know about this in order to understand the world we live in.  There was no discussion in the local elementary school about us being attacked in 2001.  These kids have lived their entire life knowing that we have soldiers in a far off land fighting in a war but they don't know why.  We had a good discussion.

Scars fade, wounds heal, but WE WILL NEVER FORGET.

Gas Explosion By The Bay

Many things went through my mind when I heard about and read about the gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno yesterday.   There are lessons that can be learned from this just going over some of the quotes and statements.

"I don't know where my father is, I don't know where my husband is, I don't know where to go,"  Have a plan, practice the plan.  Make sure you have a backup system to check on each other.  At our house the number one meeting place is at the garden fence.  (I expect the reasons we'd need to meet is a fire in the house!) We are required to stay at the house and property if the situation is not in our area.  Besides meeting at the garden fence, there is a sign-in board if you aren't staying.  The sign-in board is located on a metal post in a metal box.  You put in your name and information where you are going if you are leaving.  You are supposed to go to the safe place on the property, which is Place 2.  If the entire property is unsafe then we go to a certain relatives house which is Place 3.  If that isn't possible then it's Place 4.  Place 4 is our mountain property.  We hope it never gets to Place 4.  As you can see, this is in a code so others who don't need to know where we are won't know where we are!  We also have phone numbers to call to check in.  There are two numbers we have memorized.  One is an out of state relative, the other an in state relative.  In the gas explosion yesterday about one-half square mile was affected.  That's it.  Nobody should be making a statement that they don't know where to go or they don't know where their relative is, unless the relative died.

He said the blast took out the entire water system, forcing firefighters to pump water from more than two miles away. It takes a while to put in a two mile hose lay.  Fire engines and trucks can empty their stored water in 30 seconds if their hoses are fully charged.  Even bringing in water tankers won't help.  There aren't enough to go around.  During several of the Santa Barbara fires I had my brother's family put up a big sign in the front and back of their house…"40,000 gallon swimming pool available for drafting."   That's a guarantee that they'll have an engine available at their home.

"I have nothing. Everything is gone. We're homeless." In times like these you need to have copies of important papers someplace else.  I have copies of my sister's important papers and she has copies of mine.  We live six hours apart.  If the entire state fell apart it would be difficult to get to each other quickly but if it's a small area disaster then this works.  Another thing to do with important papers is scan them and put them on a little thumb drive.  Keep that in your pack!  Then you will just need someone's computer to download what you need.  My sister and I also have copies of our computer files.  So many things like pictures and such are stored this way now.  People pay for electronic backup at some offsite company.  Call me old-fashioned but I have a problem with paying a stranger to keep a copy of my computer files.  Sure they say they are safe...Most likely you will lose everything in a local disaster such as this rather than in a TEOTWAWKI situation.  Have insurance on your main place of residence.  Even if you can't get insurance on the structure get it on your stuff.  It's cheap peace of mind if you can't afford to just go out and replace things.  Always have a pack with you or at your house by the door so you can get it on the way out.  Include cash!

"Everybody grabbed their children and ran and put their children in their cars," "It was very clear something awful had happened." Several minutes later, ### (person's name removed) was near the fire scene.  Lady, you are an idiot!  You had your family with you and you went back to the scene to do what?  Become a statistic?  If it was me, we'd be somewhere else for the night.  If the kids were home, that would be a different story if they weren't able to reach me by phone and I knew they were home.  I certainly wouldn't bring any other kids back into that scene.  On the other hand, I wouldn't want to be like the family from the movie Blast from the Past where the family built a bomb shelter in their backyard.  During the Cuban missile crisis they were loading things into the shelter when a plane crashed on top of their home.  They stayed in the shelter for 20 years without realizing they didn't need to!  


### (names removed) were walking down a hill away from the flames with a makeshift wagon carrying important documents, medication and three cats.  Good move!

The Home Library

   We have a well stocked library at home.  Actually, we have two libraries.  The first is the adult library.  The second is the childrens library.  These are real books, not books on a Kindle or downloaded into a computer.  I do have those as well, but I can't imagine sitting on the recliner with a good Kindle… 

   The library is split into several sections.  First is the religious section.  I have all my religious school books from when I was a child.  I've been adding to the collection for over 40 years.  Some are very difficult reading and others are easy and informative including several "Idiot's Guides" such as The Middle East Conflict, Hebrew Scriptures, and New Testament.   The next one will be on Islam.  It's not my religion but I think it's important to understand the mindset of others.   

   The next section is medical books.  These range from free downloads that I've printed up to medical encyclopedias.  Where There is No Doctor and Where There is no Dentist can be found at http://www.hesperian.org/   They are free.  Please donate money to them.  No I don't know anyone from their organization.  I also have medical training guides for firefighters and paramedics.  This includes flash cards that the kids love to use.  We have a body chart on the wall that names bones, arteries, etc.   

   My favorite section is the cookbooks.  I started collecting cookbooks in college.  There are about 30 feet of shelves with food preparation books.  Right now my eight year old grandson just pours over the cookbooks.  He loves cooking and baking.  Some of my favorite books include Eat Well on a Dollar a Day, The Best of Amish Cooking, Preserving the Fruits of the Earth, the Ball and Kerr canning guides, and so many more that I just can't continue!

   I have shelves of gardening books and magazines.  One of my favorites is Sunset New Western Garden Book and 10,000 Garden Questions.  The Department of Agriculture yearbooks are very informative.

   I also have rows of how-to books.  They range from Carla Emery's Old Fashioned Recipe Book to Mrs. Beetons Book of Household Management to Reader's  Digest Household Repair book. 
   Animal husbandry books are big in the library as well although after many years of raising animals I don't know if I really need all of them.  A good vet medical book is a must if you have animals.
   I have a lot of history books on the lifeways of Native Americans and pioneers.  We all love Little House on the Prairie books.  Pick up books of the Native Americans in your local area.  What did they eat?  How did they gather and process the foods?
   There are lots of geography and history books including biographies of the founders, movers, and shakers in the building of America. 

   Build up the library for the kids, even if you don't have any kids with you now.  I have all my books from when I was young.  I'll buy scholastic books from school.  Each month they have several books that are marked down to one dollar.  Series books are good.  These include old Nancy Drew, Three Investigator, Hardy Boys, and more modern series including Harry Potter and Warrior Cats.  Make sure you have all reading levels from beginner to advanced. 

   We have shelves of fiction and nonfiction.  Make sure you have a good variety.  Romances, westerns, murder mysteries, and one of my favorites, Patriots.   

   I could go on and on but you get the idea.  Lots of books, lots of subjects.  Not just for information about surviving but also for escaping and fun.  We all need some fun.