Part of prepping is ensuring that our country remains free. Living a live episode of Amerika or a live performance of The Survivalist may seem like fun, but it is much better to just work to keep our country true to its founding principles.
Inviting all real Montanans to show up for one of the two rallies in our state this weekend to network and to feel the real power of real Americans instead of the "astroturfed" mobs of ACORN and some of our state's Party. Media nuanced "demonstrations" cannot compare to true Americans rallying as our Founders did, against incipient tyranny.
The Party wants to ruin our economy with "cap and trade"in order to remake America into a communist state. It wants to centralize power under the guise of "health care reform", while rejecting REAL reform measures such as tort reform, allowing insurers to sell over state lines, and fixing pre-existing condition problems (ok, so the Party is really trying on this one). The Party wants to control the Internet under the guise of Net Neutrality (with government mandates and oversight). Dear Leader wants all news outlets to sing his praises, not like that nasty old FOX counter revolutionary, running dog lackey of the paper tiger Fundamentalist homophobic racist Nazi network.
Who knows? Maybe we, the people, might be able to get this country off the greased rail of socialism our betters in the Party cadre have planned for we peasants. Maybe we can get it across to our US Senate delegation, and to any state representative who works behind the scenes for the Glorious Socialist Revolution, that the real Montanans far outnumber the twisted cadre followers of the Dark Lord Alinsky here. Time for Minas Tirith (Montana and the other still free states) to stand up to these devotees of failed communism and spiritual negation. Time for a new party to arise, God only knows, the Republicans are moribund and probably won't survive until 2012 (assuming Dear Leader allows elections).
Many good people on this tour. Here's the link. One fellow who will be there is Kenneth Gladney, a Black Conservative who was beaten up by SEIU thugs in August of this year at a town hall meeting in St. Lewis. He was called a nigger, by a Black assailant. Racism in my book, no "reclaiming words" none sense. It was meant as an insult to this Black Conservative. I don't want to be called a cracker or an umlungu (White scum). I don't address Blacks ever as nigger or kaffir. But such language comes naturally to Party cadre and sturmabteilungen as everything is allowed that furthers the Glorious Revolution.
Dear Leader's street thugs are out in force to prevent us from retaking our country from the left-over hippies who never got over their love affair with Castro and Pol Pot. Maybe they'll show up at either the Helena or Bozeman rally. Maybe we can stand against them. Maybe we can reason with some of them, assuming they took their meds this week.
I have seen a few of this ilk in Helena over the last year; White Liberals to a "person" with zombie-like faces that remind me of Moonies. I'm sure they'll be at this historic event, let's be there too. They will try to act as if they represent the "oppressed peasants", in true Alinsky fashion. Let's drown out their foul slogans and chitterings with our real voices of everyday Montanans who love this country and support a bright future for our kids. I'll still be too ill to go out but I will try for the sake of my country.
Tea Party Express National Bus Tour will be in Helena on Sunday, November 1st, at 11am, at the Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds, 98 West Custer Avenue.
Tea Party Express National Bus Tour will be in Bozeman on the same day at 5pm at Heritage Christian School Gymnasium, 4310 Durston Road, Bozeman.
Sorry for the hyperbole. But I believe that our country is slipping away rapidly and all the stored MREs and solar panels won't save it. Only we, the people can save it from the "elites" of DC and all too many Starbucks franchises. Keep the faith, keep the nation. Support your local Patriot organizations. Set up samizdat networks against the possible victory of the Party over our people and nation.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Home Defense Drills
Final installment in the Home Invasion series. I am not trying to provide a full home defense and firearm course here, just some quick notes to remind and point the way for further study. And I want to focus this forum more on general survival rather than making it yet another weapon-brandishing Jerry Ahern dream-come-true blog. With all the drills which follow you need to practice enough so that your body will have the instinctive memory needed to react automatically in a crisis. This doesn't mean daily hours of practice, it does mean doing some training every week or so. For example, I practice my moving and aiming a couple times a week for 3 minutes per session using a orange gun to “draw down on” objects in my home.
Have fun with this stuff. The more you rehearse, the better your performance when the real thing comes.
Here in Montana we haven't had a bad home invasion problem per se, but with our vast spaces there can be prolonged delays in getting police to our homes. With a worsening Hopey Changey economy, crime will increase here too. For example, if there was a home invasion burglary going down in Augusta and the resident deputy was off on a call it could take over half an hour or more for a deputy to get there from Helena or Lincoln. Death or rape can happen within seconds. The police will arrive to take a report from any lucky survivors.
Having piles of guns and ammo for after the collapse is great, if you know how to use it. Counting on the much vaunted adrenaline rush, alone, to enable you to carry the day might cost you your life. Using your gun in the event without prior practice might lead to tragedy if you can't hit what you aim at.
Before you start practicing mouse holing, dynamic room entry, and house clearing you need to have a good base of familiarity with your chosen gun or other weapon. You need to know how to quickly and efficiently draw it from your holster rig, be able to fire it with a reasonable balance of speed and accuracy at realistic ranges:handgun: 1-10yd shotgun: 1-50yd (for slugs), rifle: 5 to limit of your need.
You must practice moving and firing; the bad guys don't hold still like range targets, they move and/or shoot at you. You must practice this until you can again be reasonably accurate even while you move off the enemy's line of fire. Also, it is vital that you be able to immediately and effectively respond to your gun jamming or not going “bang” in a crisis situation, or you are dead. In addition, you must be able to identify your target as friend or foe, even in low light conditions. Code word challenges and responses must be worked out ahead of time so that you can avoid inadvertently shooting a family member.
Some basic principles for setting up your house to prevail in a home invasion. Have weapons pre -positioned, out of sight, throughout the house so you and yours have a good chance of becoming tool using survivor wherever you retreat or are dumped (by robbers). Consider having a Wedge-It by the front door so you can slide it along with the door when you open it a few inches to talk to a stranger. This way, if the stranger(s) try a push-in invasion, the Wedge-It will jam the door within a few inches of travel, startling the robbers and giving the good guys a couple extra seconds to react.
Have a safe room set up and have all family members drill on quickly getting there and securing the room. Impress on your kids that if scary people break in that the kids need to be absolutely quiet sometime even though they are very scared. Know ahead of time what role family pets will have; what to do if the invaders torture your pet to get you to make a mistake, use your dog to delay the invaders, pet goes to safe room also?
Have a plan for getting house keys out to the police if an invasion happens and you are holed up in your safe room. Work out a hostage family member drill out before you need it! See below for some suggestions in this regard.
A vital part of prevailing is practicing with the winning attitude and demeanor. Channel Mel Gibson as Mad Max (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbd9RYZUCPI&feature=related ) , emulate Charles Bronson in Death Wish (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuKeUAavpnU), method act Camille Keaton from I Spit on Your Grave ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKCys3sd8Bw ). This way your commands and responses to the bad guys will demonstrate your determination and courageous spirit.
No: “don't make me shoot” or “don't hurt us, please”. It's: “if you do anything other than what I tell you, I will shoot you. Got it it ,entiende, comprè?” and “Kill, Kill, Kill!” Remember, criminals don't fear your gun, it's just a piece of metal, they fear the person behind the gun if that person appears resolute. Those criminals lost the right to mercy when they invaded your home; you must go down fighting to win. Complying with invaders commands nearly always results in serious harm or death for the good guys. This is not the U.N.; you resist or you die.
Basic home invasion drills:
Good proficiency with your weapons: move and aim, target identification (vital: practice in low light also), weapon malfunction.
“Push in” invasion (door answered, robbers push their way in): Retrieving weapons and aiming, kids retreat to safe room? Close quarter combat evasion drills. Know who has what role (one always answers door, other always covers?)
Hostage drill: Extremely grave situation. Maybe you and the hostage family member live, maybe you die. But at least you try to prevail. Ideas: hostage drops, full force, to the floor when family member gives code word; then other family member takes out bad guy as the hostage moves clear of impact area. Hostage feigns illness, other family member takes action. Hostage taker threatens to kill hostage if you don't hand over/drop your gun. You tell them:” kill them, then I'll kill you slowly, I'll make you last” (Dexter or R. Lee Ermey emulation helps with this one).
Bedroom Invasion Drill: fast access to weapons with team coverage of all openings if possible. Practice accessing weapons from anywhere in the room. First aid drills for gun shot wounds or knife wounds. Practice 911 calls, with disconnected phone, giving full report of what's happening, who good guys are and how they are dressed.
Alarm goes off: If a central system, consider having control panel in sleeping quarters so you can identify breached zone. Otherwise, someone has to go to the display panel to determine where the breach is; very scary prospect and fraught with danger. If you have individual zone alarms, try to vary their alarm sound to give you an idea of where the problem is. Do you lock down if the alarm goes off?
Noises by garage or in back yard: searchlight area? Searchlight then investigate? What to do if it is just rowdy teens? What if you detected incoming invasion and they fire on you?
Post-disaster siege: How to lift siege; sortie? Plan your fields of fire ahead of time to enable you to pick off besiegers. Night sortie to relief? Exfiltrate a family member to get help? Nasty command-fired, BATF no-no devices?
Have fun with this stuff. The more you rehearse, the better your performance when the real thing comes.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Flu: Deadly Lessons Learned
Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I contracted [lab confirmed] swine flu (I have asthma) . Within 22 hours of onset of symptoms, I was unable to stand, moving less than half the air I normally can, high fever with confusion, in shock, and with a low oxygen level. I was brought to the ER by my wife and admitted to hospital. If I had not gotten to the ER that night and had instead gone the next day, I would be in ICU right now instead of writing these words.
I made mistakes in my prepping plan. Some of these mistakes could have cost me my life. I want you to learn from my mistakes. I list what went wrong, what went right, cover home care, and then list some advice I got from the hospital staff to help you all keep from ending up a statistic.
What Went Wrong
Too many trips outside the home. We live about six miles outside of town in a sparsely populated area. So limiting exposure to the "herd" is easy for us. But I did not plan trips to town efficiently, making about 60% more trips than actually needed, thus increasing my exposure to potential infection. Worst of all, I visited a house where a child had been recently ill with a respiratory infection without masking up while I was there. Even though I was there only a few minutes, it would have been enough to expose me to a disease.
I didn't pay attention to good hydration. When the disease manifested,, it came on with bad nausea and severe coughing. Initially, I could replace the fluid lost by drinking some water. But as the severity of the coughing itself induced vomiting, I stopped drinking water completely. Within a few short hours I began to show the symptoms of dehydration as I lost ever more water through coughing, sweating, tears, and vomiting. With the high fever, my falling oxygen saturation, and confusion I was soon beyond being able to save myself by drinking water. My wife should have forced me to take small sips of water as often as possible, but her concern for not causing me further suffering won out. In the event, the ER staff had to run 3l of IV fluids into me before the shock lifted. Dehydration can be a killer, get water into the patient as often as you can, even if it is only a tablespoon at a time.
No oxygen available in my house. I have asthma and used to have a home oxygen unit. But I never replaced it when we moved to Montana. I required oxygen in hospital for about 20 hours off and on. If I had oxygen available in my home, I would not have arrived at the ER in such desperate shape. Maybe it might have even given me the edge to be able to realize that I was getting shocky from fluid loss and got me drinking water again. Having a pulse oximeter available would have allowed us to monitor how well the bronchodialators and oxygen were working for me.
A decent oxygen rig can be assembled for about $220 that will allow about 2 hours+ at 3l/minute flow rate, enough to help a flu patient. Aviation oxygen is "OTC", medical oxygen (100% rather than 99%+) is by prescription.
What Went Right
Our IC plan works. We have a good supply of earloop medical masks and some N95 "rubber banded" masks available as well as ample supplies of gloves, disinfectants, paper towels, etc. So my wife was able to disinfect the house after I was admitted to hospital and I was masked when I was taken to the ER, thus cutting the chances of me infecting others.
I am in strict quarantine for 10 days; it was an easy matter for us to turn the master bedroom suite into our "prepper quarantine ward". I only need to leave it to eat, having masked, washed my hands, and gloved up. I spend only the minimum time outside the isolation room and wipe down everything I touched/handled with disinfectant before I return to my room. My wife is masked when she is in our home and we keep the CDC recommended distance of six feet apart at all times.
Could This Have Been Handled at Home?
I have a rescue inhaler with a spacer. In hospital, and for the next week or so, I require frequent nebulizer "breathing treatments". Using the puffer inhaler instead of a nebulizer would be less efficient and deliver much less medication than the nebulizer would. So it might have taken two days to even start to improve my breathing capacity. Plus, my puffers would have run out within a day and a half at the heroic dosing levels that would have been necessary. I might have been able to do it if my wife could have gotten more inhalers.
Without an oxygen tank, the shock would have worsened some more , I would have been unable to help myself for a longer period of time, and the risk of death would have increased. If I had just a little D cylinder with a nasal cannula, I would have improved some and the real risk of death would have been lower.
I had some prednisone on hand, though at a lower dose than used at hospital, so I was covered on this. I have a penicillin and a macrolide antibiotic on hand so I might have been able to treat the bacterial pneumonia that started up, though the hospital used a quinilone antibiotic. So I had a chance of treating the incipient, potentially deadly complication of bacterial pneumonia. I had a small supply of antiemetics to treat the nausea so I had a chance to slow the deadly fluid loss that would have killed me.
If my wife had forced fluids on me, an ounce or so at a time, I would have had a small chance of recovering from the developing shock. I was down nearly three quarts of water so it would have required round the clock intensive nursing care on her part and a lot of luck to correct the deadly fluid deficit. Between the shock, the low blood oxygen/seriously impaired respiration, and incipient bacterial pneumonia, I probably had about a 65% chance of surviving this flu with home care only.
Notes on the Disease
First, in our area of SouthWest Montana, there have been no cases of the seasonal flu at all, only H1N1 (swine flu) to date. Silver Bow and Lewis and Clark Counties lead the state in case reports, for week ending 17oct09, (1,501-3,000 cases each), with Galatin County close behind (751-1,500 cases). Generally, Eastern and Western Montana counties are reporting between 1-250 cases. Central Montana counties and Broadwater County are reporting 0-0.9 cases.
Montana's Department of Public Health has received the first shipment of H1N1 vaccine, they are deciding which groups to offer it to first. Watch your local newspaper and TV for further news. So get your regular flu shot but exercise meticulous infection control behavior in your family to avoid H1N1 infection. I had had the regular flu shot 8 days before I came down with the swine flu, maybe I became lax in my precautions? Here is the flu information page for our State.
The doctor told me that the H1N1 virus is transmissible by indirect means (infected person touches object, you touch object with germ and then touch your eyes or nose) also, not just by the infected person coughing or sneezing droplets that you inhale. As an added note, pets should be excluded from the infected person's room as their fur can serve as a "fomite" to carry the virus between people. The infected person could pet the cat or dog if the person washes their hands thoroughly before hand or wears gloves. But no nuzzling by the animal or kissing by the human. Imagine trying to sanitize a cat after the patient coughed and then pet it!
The virus is shed for up to 10 days after the patient's fever breaks. This means the patient is still highly infectious even after they feel fine again. So wearing a mask when out in public and using hand sanitizer or gloves frequently is not only common courtesy for the recovering H1N1 patient, it is sound public health policy. All door handles, light switches, etc. need to be disinfected regularly during the course of the patient's illness and the whole area given a thorough cleaning and disinfection after the disease has passed.
This strain of flu is highly infectious; consider it as infectious as measles or tularemia if that helps give you the mental image that this is not a trivial disease. Pregnant women, young adults, and those with chronic diseases (diabetes, heart disease, chronic respiratory disease) are at real risk of death from this flu strain.
Use masks! Sure it looks funny in the USA but in Asia it is a social custom to wear a mask when you are ill with the cold or flu as a courtesy to others and as a good public health practice.
N95 masks tend to have higher breathing resistance and be less comfortable to wear than procedure masks. But they offer a slight edge in risk reduction. Earloop masks are the easiest masks to wear for long periods of time, just remember to form it to your face carefully. Traditional string-tied masks tend to have more "breathing room" so they would be a good choice for the patient as they have low breathing resistance. There downside is that they take more time to don and doff and tend to shift position easily.
That's all for today. I'm glad I'm still alive and I hope you can learn from my mistakes so you don't end up in serious crisis due to the H1N1 flu.
I made mistakes in my prepping plan. Some of these mistakes could have cost me my life. I want you to learn from my mistakes. I list what went wrong, what went right, cover home care, and then list some advice I got from the hospital staff to help you all keep from ending up a statistic.
What Went Wrong
Too many trips outside the home. We live about six miles outside of town in a sparsely populated area. So limiting exposure to the "herd" is easy for us. But I did not plan trips to town efficiently, making about 60% more trips than actually needed, thus increasing my exposure to potential infection. Worst of all, I visited a house where a child had been recently ill with a respiratory infection without masking up while I was there. Even though I was there only a few minutes, it would have been enough to expose me to a disease.
I didn't pay attention to good hydration. When the disease manifested,, it came on with bad nausea and severe coughing. Initially, I could replace the fluid lost by drinking some water. But as the severity of the coughing itself induced vomiting, I stopped drinking water completely. Within a few short hours I began to show the symptoms of dehydration as I lost ever more water through coughing, sweating, tears, and vomiting. With the high fever, my falling oxygen saturation, and confusion I was soon beyond being able to save myself by drinking water. My wife should have forced me to take small sips of water as often as possible, but her concern for not causing me further suffering won out. In the event, the ER staff had to run 3l of IV fluids into me before the shock lifted. Dehydration can be a killer, get water into the patient as often as you can, even if it is only a tablespoon at a time.
No oxygen available in my house. I have asthma and used to have a home oxygen unit. But I never replaced it when we moved to Montana. I required oxygen in hospital for about 20 hours off and on. If I had oxygen available in my home, I would not have arrived at the ER in such desperate shape. Maybe it might have even given me the edge to be able to realize that I was getting shocky from fluid loss and got me drinking water again. Having a pulse oximeter available would have allowed us to monitor how well the bronchodialators and oxygen were working for me.
A decent oxygen rig can be assembled for about $220 that will allow about 2 hours+ at 3l/minute flow rate, enough to help a flu patient. Aviation oxygen is "OTC", medical oxygen (100% rather than 99%+) is by prescription.
What Went Right
Our IC plan works. We have a good supply of earloop medical masks and some N95 "rubber banded" masks available as well as ample supplies of gloves, disinfectants, paper towels, etc. So my wife was able to disinfect the house after I was admitted to hospital and I was masked when I was taken to the ER, thus cutting the chances of me infecting others.
I am in strict quarantine for 10 days; it was an easy matter for us to turn the master bedroom suite into our "prepper quarantine ward". I only need to leave it to eat, having masked, washed my hands, and gloved up. I spend only the minimum time outside the isolation room and wipe down everything I touched/handled with disinfectant before I return to my room. My wife is masked when she is in our home and we keep the CDC recommended distance of six feet apart at all times.
Could This Have Been Handled at Home?
I have a rescue inhaler with a spacer. In hospital, and for the next week or so, I require frequent nebulizer "breathing treatments". Using the puffer inhaler instead of a nebulizer would be less efficient and deliver much less medication than the nebulizer would. So it might have taken two days to even start to improve my breathing capacity. Plus, my puffers would have run out within a day and a half at the heroic dosing levels that would have been necessary. I might have been able to do it if my wife could have gotten more inhalers.
Without an oxygen tank, the shock would have worsened some more , I would have been unable to help myself for a longer period of time, and the risk of death would have increased. If I had just a little D cylinder with a nasal cannula, I would have improved some and the real risk of death would have been lower.
I had some prednisone on hand, though at a lower dose than used at hospital, so I was covered on this. I have a penicillin and a macrolide antibiotic on hand so I might have been able to treat the bacterial pneumonia that started up, though the hospital used a quinilone antibiotic. So I had a chance of treating the incipient, potentially deadly complication of bacterial pneumonia. I had a small supply of antiemetics to treat the nausea so I had a chance to slow the deadly fluid loss that would have killed me.
If my wife had forced fluids on me, an ounce or so at a time, I would have had a small chance of recovering from the developing shock. I was down nearly three quarts of water so it would have required round the clock intensive nursing care on her part and a lot of luck to correct the deadly fluid deficit. Between the shock, the low blood oxygen/seriously impaired respiration, and incipient bacterial pneumonia, I probably had about a 65% chance of surviving this flu with home care only.
Notes on the Disease
First, in our area of SouthWest Montana, there have been no cases of the seasonal flu at all, only H1N1 (swine flu) to date. Silver Bow and Lewis and Clark Counties lead the state in case reports, for week ending 17oct09, (1,501-3,000 cases each), with Galatin County close behind (751-1,500 cases). Generally, Eastern and Western Montana counties are reporting between 1-250 cases. Central Montana counties and Broadwater County are reporting 0-0.9 cases.
Montana's Department of Public Health has received the first shipment of H1N1 vaccine, they are deciding which groups to offer it to first. Watch your local newspaper and TV for further news. So get your regular flu shot but exercise meticulous infection control behavior in your family to avoid H1N1 infection. I had had the regular flu shot 8 days before I came down with the swine flu, maybe I became lax in my precautions? Here is the flu information page for our State.
The doctor told me that the H1N1 virus is transmissible by indirect means (infected person touches object, you touch object with germ and then touch your eyes or nose) also, not just by the infected person coughing or sneezing droplets that you inhale. As an added note, pets should be excluded from the infected person's room as their fur can serve as a "fomite" to carry the virus between people. The infected person could pet the cat or dog if the person washes their hands thoroughly before hand or wears gloves. But no nuzzling by the animal or kissing by the human. Imagine trying to sanitize a cat after the patient coughed and then pet it!
The virus is shed for up to 10 days after the patient's fever breaks. This means the patient is still highly infectious even after they feel fine again. So wearing a mask when out in public and using hand sanitizer or gloves frequently is not only common courtesy for the recovering H1N1 patient, it is sound public health policy. All door handles, light switches, etc. need to be disinfected regularly during the course of the patient's illness and the whole area given a thorough cleaning and disinfection after the disease has passed.
This strain of flu is highly infectious; consider it as infectious as measles or tularemia if that helps give you the mental image that this is not a trivial disease. Pregnant women, young adults, and those with chronic diseases (diabetes, heart disease, chronic respiratory disease) are at real risk of death from this flu strain.
Use masks! Sure it looks funny in the USA but in Asia it is a social custom to wear a mask when you are ill with the cold or flu as a courtesy to others and as a good public health practice.
N95 masks tend to have higher breathing resistance and be less comfortable to wear than procedure masks. But they offer a slight edge in risk reduction. Earloop masks are the easiest masks to wear for long periods of time, just remember to form it to your face carefully. Traditional string-tied masks tend to have more "breathing room" so they would be a good choice for the patient as they have low breathing resistance. There downside is that they take more time to don and doff and tend to shift position easily.
That's all for today. I'm glad I'm still alive and I hope you can learn from my mistakes so you don't end up in serious crisis due to the H1N1 flu.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Next Posts
Off to MT Crime Prevention Convention, in Bozeman, through Friday. Posts will pick up again Saturday, the 17th.
In the meantime, here is a site for prepping your computers. The Technibble site is a good resource for computer repair software, much of it free, and has very useful forums where you can get help with computer problems. Prepper tools for our computer tools.
http://www.technibble.com/categories/computer-repair-tools/
In the meantime, here is a site for prepping your computers. The Technibble site is a good resource for computer repair software, much of it free, and has very useful forums where you can get help with computer problems. Prepper tools for our computer tools.
http://www.technibble.com/categories/computer-repair-tools/
Thursday, October 8, 2009
(Home Security) Home Invasion #2
Notes for hardening your house, and retreat, so the bad guys pass you by in favor of soft targets. In part #1 of Home Invasion, I mentioned the need to use strong, long screws for your hinges, locks, and frames. Consider also installing metal clad industrial doors for your exterior doors and the door to your safe room. These will provide superior resistance to kick-ins and fire.
If possible, eliminate windows in doors. Or install double deadbolt locks (key needed for each side) in said doors to eliminate the criminal's easy access. Another alternative is to install a sheet of lexan over the interior side of the door window to hopefully give the burglar a broken hand when they try to bash in the door window.
Everyone has heard about the latest trend in burglary; lock bumping. This is a quick way to jar many locks open with a minimum of effort. Bump proof locks are widely available, expect to pay about twice the cost or more for them. In Montana, our burglars are behind the times so bumping is not a real problem here now. But with all the people moving here??
Good visibility is vital to home and retreat security. Make it hard for bad guys to skulk near your doors by eliminating concealing bushes, etc. near your exterior doors. At entrances to your property, be aware of possible vantage points for wrong doers spying on your retreat/compound. Be especially aware of places enemies can lie in wait near where you must dismount to work your gates or doors. Rehearse what you would do if some person accosted you as you got out to open your gate.
For your retreat, plan now for how you will dominate your approaches and interior lines whether with firepower, obstacles, fences, light or use of animals. Consider setting up motion detector floodlights around your house and barn. Solar powered ones are available that are easy to set up without the need for an electrician. If you can afford it, have all of your exterior floodlights tied into a single switch in your sleeping area. This way you can light up your whole compound if you suspect a burglary of your house or barn is in progress.
Making the house look occupied by using lights that turn on at dusk and off at dawn is nice. For added security, and a nasty scare for home invaders utilize remote controlled light sockets, available from Sportsmans Guide among others. Imagine the thieves surprise as lights come on in widely separated rooms and a radio comes on. Probably send them running or at least give you a few seconds of surprise to run your plan on them.
Key control is vital. Change locks as soon as you move to a new home. Be very careful who you give keys to. Impress on them the need to maintain control of your keys at all times.
A quick way to control access to your property is to use tanglefoot. This slows down those approaching, it will not stop them. Traditionally, you make it by driving in a number of posts in the area, of varying height. You then string wire between the posts, usually barbed wire. This will force any bad person to slowly pick their way through, giving you plenty of time to sound the alarm, etc. But this is an inflexible system that is highly visible and tends to make your property, in peacetime, look like a little piece of Kosovo.
A more flexible way to use tanglefoot is to just make loops of baling wire, about 2.5 feet around, and scatter them around the area to be protected. For added force, scatter broken cinder block or broken glass around the area. The booby steps on the front of a loop, or gets an ankle in it, and steps on the trailing edge of the loop=trip time from the trap for the booby. This "trap field" is easily cleared as needed with just a sturdy metal rake and a good pair of gloves.
Deploying inexpensive IR and contact alarms that have built in sirens is a good move for outbuildings, and can be used for the house to provide uninterruptible alarm coverage.
Your home is your castle. fortify it like one. In TEOTWAWKI conditions, be prepared to dominate the space around your home. Make plans for how to respond to threats from "dead spaces" (i.e. you cannot directly see them) around your area. Fill such spaces with barbed wire? CCTV Camera system? Sonic "crowd control" devices set up to turn on by remote control?
Have safe holidays in your secure home. Next up; drills for home invasion/intruder on your land. Until then, enjoy our coming Montana Winter. Hope you got your vegetables in in time, I did.
If possible, eliminate windows in doors. Or install double deadbolt locks (key needed for each side) in said doors to eliminate the criminal's easy access. Another alternative is to install a sheet of lexan over the interior side of the door window to hopefully give the burglar a broken hand when they try to bash in the door window.
Everyone has heard about the latest trend in burglary; lock bumping. This is a quick way to jar many locks open with a minimum of effort. Bump proof locks are widely available, expect to pay about twice the cost or more for them. In Montana, our burglars are behind the times so bumping is not a real problem here now. But with all the people moving here??
Good visibility is vital to home and retreat security. Make it hard for bad guys to skulk near your doors by eliminating concealing bushes, etc. near your exterior doors. At entrances to your property, be aware of possible vantage points for wrong doers spying on your retreat/compound. Be especially aware of places enemies can lie in wait near where you must dismount to work your gates or doors. Rehearse what you would do if some person accosted you as you got out to open your gate.
For your retreat, plan now for how you will dominate your approaches and interior lines whether with firepower, obstacles, fences, light or use of animals. Consider setting up motion detector floodlights around your house and barn. Solar powered ones are available that are easy to set up without the need for an electrician. If you can afford it, have all of your exterior floodlights tied into a single switch in your sleeping area. This way you can light up your whole compound if you suspect a burglary of your house or barn is in progress.
Making the house look occupied by using lights that turn on at dusk and off at dawn is nice. For added security, and a nasty scare for home invaders utilize remote controlled light sockets, available from Sportsmans Guide among others. Imagine the thieves surprise as lights come on in widely separated rooms and a radio comes on. Probably send them running or at least give you a few seconds of surprise to run your plan on them.
Key control is vital. Change locks as soon as you move to a new home. Be very careful who you give keys to. Impress on them the need to maintain control of your keys at all times.
A quick way to control access to your property is to use tanglefoot. This slows down those approaching, it will not stop them. Traditionally, you make it by driving in a number of posts in the area, of varying height. You then string wire between the posts, usually barbed wire. This will force any bad person to slowly pick their way through, giving you plenty of time to sound the alarm, etc. But this is an inflexible system that is highly visible and tends to make your property, in peacetime, look like a little piece of Kosovo.
A more flexible way to use tanglefoot is to just make loops of baling wire, about 2.5 feet around, and scatter them around the area to be protected. For added force, scatter broken cinder block or broken glass around the area. The booby steps on the front of a loop, or gets an ankle in it, and steps on the trailing edge of the loop=trip time from the trap for the booby. This "trap field" is easily cleared as needed with just a sturdy metal rake and a good pair of gloves.
Deploying inexpensive IR and contact alarms that have built in sirens is a good move for outbuildings, and can be used for the house to provide uninterruptible alarm coverage.
Your home is your castle. fortify it like one. In TEOTWAWKI conditions, be prepared to dominate the space around your home. Make plans for how to respond to threats from "dead spaces" (i.e. you cannot directly see them) around your area. Fill such spaces with barbed wire? CCTV Camera system? Sonic "crowd control" devices set up to turn on by remote control?
Have safe holidays in your secure home. Next up; drills for home invasion/intruder on your land. Until then, enjoy our coming Montana Winter. Hope you got your vegetables in in time, I did.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Survival Mindset and Personal/Social Survival
Fast one here on a stirring article I read yesterday on a South African blog. It really hits the fastener on the broad spot in its exegesis of the survival mindset for self, family, and society. I also include a link below to a worthy organization here that works to promote more support for our hard working "sheepdogs", the police in their often lonely jobs.
Note that the South African blog does contain some profanity, little in this article though, and it does contain some unkind epithets in re: historically disadvantaged groups. But keep in mind, South Africa made our 2008 mistake in 1994 (believing "Progressive", dialectical materialism trumped common sense) so they are, in a way, our future if we don't remind ourselves as a nation of the words of MLK: that we should all be judged by our abilities and individually rather than discriminated against [or for] merely on the basis of our "paint job". And if we also let the Party balkanize us further in order to rule us completely. Ally with decent people, support appropriate interventions for those of whatever ethnic group who ravage rather than contribute.
If you explore this South African blog further, remember, unlike in the USA and Australia, they did not attempt to exterminate the peoples they found in the lands they settled. Rather, they worked with them, sure sometimes exploiting them but much more often helping improve those peoples' standard of living and education.
Their apartheid system produced some injustices but it also produced much more benefit for the Liberal's "pet- causes-peoples" than the American and British Liberal installed government has done with its system of kleptocracy in the last 14 years there. For example, health care and housing starts were drastically better under the "evil" apartheid regime than under the "rainbow nation" regime that was elected, in a manner similar to Dear Leader's election, in 1994.
Like any society, they took a reasonable idea, separate development of ethnic groups according to their capacity and current values/mores, and implemented it with all the human capacity for good and evil that we all possess. If they had just implemented a political apartheid, which could have helped the various groups develop into the Liberal ideal of citizens, then there might have been less international condemnation than did occur because of the South Africans' social apartheid policies. But in any event, the "Progressives" would have opposed them as part of their Gramscian strategy to destroy the West and set up a Workers Paradise worldwide.
Most of the writers on that blog are people like us who feel cheated by the lies of Hopey Changey that is planned to destroy our very culture in the name of some over grown adolescent "ideal" of "social justice" Party cadre and their dupes heard from their college professor back when the students could still squeeze into their tie dyed bell bottoms.
I write today's post as someone who grew up in a mixed race neighborhood; few Whites with many Chinese, Guamanians and Filipinos. So I know what I am about. I will fight anyone who calls a decent person of whatever race, ethnic group or religion a demeaning name in prejudice. Again, every American deserves to be treated with dignity, even the criminal as they are gunned down by their victim in self defense or the ACORN apparatchik who schemes against our very culture and is caught.
Ends the disclaimer. Enjoy the blog article, it is PG for mild profanity.
http://www.zasucks.com/?p=5738
Support these people, and our police. One of the best days of my life was when a motorcycle cop was t-boned by a speeder and I was part of a group of neighbors who detained the speeder and watched over the cop until the ambulance arrived. When the cop told us thanks, we told him that we were paying him back in a small way for all he and his lot had done for us.
http://www.adoptacop.com/
Note that the South African blog does contain some profanity, little in this article though, and it does contain some unkind epithets in re: historically disadvantaged groups. But keep in mind, South Africa made our 2008 mistake in 1994 (believing "Progressive", dialectical materialism trumped common sense) so they are, in a way, our future if we don't remind ourselves as a nation of the words of MLK: that we should all be judged by our abilities and individually rather than discriminated against [or for] merely on the basis of our "paint job". And if we also let the Party balkanize us further in order to rule us completely. Ally with decent people, support appropriate interventions for those of whatever ethnic group who ravage rather than contribute.
If you explore this South African blog further, remember, unlike in the USA and Australia, they did not attempt to exterminate the peoples they found in the lands they settled. Rather, they worked with them, sure sometimes exploiting them but much more often helping improve those peoples' standard of living and education.
Their apartheid system produced some injustices but it also produced much more benefit for the Liberal's "pet- causes-peoples" than the American and British Liberal installed government has done with its system of kleptocracy in the last 14 years there. For example, health care and housing starts were drastically better under the "evil" apartheid regime than under the "rainbow nation" regime that was elected, in a manner similar to Dear Leader's election, in 1994.
Like any society, they took a reasonable idea, separate development of ethnic groups according to their capacity and current values/mores, and implemented it with all the human capacity for good and evil that we all possess. If they had just implemented a political apartheid, which could have helped the various groups develop into the Liberal ideal of citizens, then there might have been less international condemnation than did occur because of the South Africans' social apartheid policies. But in any event, the "Progressives" would have opposed them as part of their Gramscian strategy to destroy the West and set up a Workers Paradise worldwide.
Most of the writers on that blog are people like us who feel cheated by the lies of Hopey Changey that is planned to destroy our very culture in the name of some over grown adolescent "ideal" of "social justice" Party cadre and their dupes heard from their college professor back when the students could still squeeze into their tie dyed bell bottoms.
I write today's post as someone who grew up in a mixed race neighborhood; few Whites with many Chinese, Guamanians and Filipinos. So I know what I am about. I will fight anyone who calls a decent person of whatever race, ethnic group or religion a demeaning name in prejudice. Again, every American deserves to be treated with dignity, even the criminal as they are gunned down by their victim in self defense or the ACORN apparatchik who schemes against our very culture and is caught.
Ends the disclaimer. Enjoy the blog article, it is PG for mild profanity.
http://www.zasucks.com/?p=5738
Support these people, and our police. One of the best days of my life was when a motorcycle cop was t-boned by a speeder and I was part of a group of neighbors who detained the speeder and watched over the cop until the ambulance arrived. When the cop told us thanks, we told him that we were paying him back in a small way for all he and his lot had done for us.
http://www.adoptacop.com/
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Survival Movie Review
Just got back from watching a good survival movie at the local cineplex. This one would be good for those of you with friends, coworkers, and family who just don't seem to "get" prepping. This one teaches even while it evokes gales of laughter. As I wrote back in June, humor is a great way to get past the scary aspect of thinking about prepping. Survivalist advice in this one is packaged in scenes and narration straight out of a wild Joe Lansdale story.
The movie is Zombieland. This is TEOTWAWKI at [Matheson's original book] I am Legend level. A food-borne virus has turned the USA, at minimum, into a still moving charnel house. Across this chaotic world, a college nerd, Columbus; a redneck ultimate-survivalist, Tallahassee; and two grifter sisters, Wichita and Little Rock, travel to a place rumored to be free of the zombie plague. The acting is great, the gore is less than that in Shaun of the Dead and is only enough to advance the plot, the survival lessons are presented in an easy to remember form as rules.
The film opens with the viewpoint character, a nerdy college student going over the rules which enabled him, the unlikeliest person to survive, to endure. Rule 1 is telling: "Cardio" (be in good physical condition). The prepper who is not in good tune will have much less chance in a crisis situation. Rule 23, "Enjoy the Little Things", is a lifesaver for the characters' sanity and is vital to keep in mind in real world survival scenarios. Rule 2, "Double Tap", is applied in such varied and hilarious manners that even dedicated anti gunners will feel a glimmer of the survival spirit.
The characters' foraging is handled in a so so manner. The personal dynamics of making common cause with strangers in a horrific disaster is handled very well.
The college student starts out as the prepper who relies on "bugging out" to stay alive. The redneck seems at first glance to be the ultimate macho survivalist until you find out what he is fleeing, in a tragic scene. The two grifter sisters of course rely on their wits and their Rule: "Trust no One but Me". This group finally comes together as a post-apocalyptic "family" when the dysfunction of their individual survival strategies results in a near massacre of them. Unfortunately, the movie ends there, but it is clear that this "family" will pull through anything now.
Give this one a look see with family and friends. It certainly has the potential to evoke prepper discussions after leaving the theater. Rated R for gore (about 2qts of blood, entrails told once, multiple zombies shot), language (but much less than the typical, current, Hollywood excreta), brief drug use, and [brief] nudity.
The movie is Zombieland. This is TEOTWAWKI at [Matheson's original book] I am Legend level. A food-borne virus has turned the USA, at minimum, into a still moving charnel house. Across this chaotic world, a college nerd, Columbus; a redneck ultimate-survivalist, Tallahassee; and two grifter sisters, Wichita and Little Rock, travel to a place rumored to be free of the zombie plague. The acting is great, the gore is less than that in Shaun of the Dead and is only enough to advance the plot, the survival lessons are presented in an easy to remember form as rules.
The film opens with the viewpoint character, a nerdy college student going over the rules which enabled him, the unlikeliest person to survive, to endure. Rule 1 is telling: "Cardio" (be in good physical condition). The prepper who is not in good tune will have much less chance in a crisis situation. Rule 23, "Enjoy the Little Things", is a lifesaver for the characters' sanity and is vital to keep in mind in real world survival scenarios. Rule 2, "Double Tap", is applied in such varied and hilarious manners that even dedicated anti gunners will feel a glimmer of the survival spirit.
The characters' foraging is handled in a so so manner. The personal dynamics of making common cause with strangers in a horrific disaster is handled very well.
The college student starts out as the prepper who relies on "bugging out" to stay alive. The redneck seems at first glance to be the ultimate macho survivalist until you find out what he is fleeing, in a tragic scene. The two grifter sisters of course rely on their wits and their Rule: "Trust no One but Me". This group finally comes together as a post-apocalyptic "family" when the dysfunction of their individual survival strategies results in a near massacre of them. Unfortunately, the movie ends there, but it is clear that this "family" will pull through anything now.
Give this one a look see with family and friends. It certainly has the potential to evoke prepper discussions after leaving the theater. Rated R for gore (about 2qts of blood, entrails told once, multiple zombies shot), language (but much less than the typical, current, Hollywood excreta), brief drug use, and [brief] nudity.
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