What I/we/you did/bought/built this week/month to improve my/your survivability.

[917601]

Berkey,bayonets,Garand and scout scope,2000 Greek surplus M2 (shot some-then decided the 3" in group was not satisfactory)so went out and bought some IMR 4895 and reloaded M2 spec and found out 2 " still not sat. so ordered 168 gr and other specialty bullets,put some M2 AP through plate steel,ordered up Browning 1919 .308 links,prepped garden soil for planting,a few more Mountain House,filled some sand bags,hiked the surrounding area(one mile all directions)...ran out some wire for the field phones (ops checked OK,those arty phones nice),conducted some family "training', ie rifle stacking drill(the 5 year old dropped the Garand and almost stuck himself on the 16 incher-never had so many problems with the girl) still behind the curve,more to do next break.....is 5 to young to start him on basic bayonet training? He already likes to stick the scarecrow out back.

[GodspeedMetals]

Purchased a Maxpedition Pygmy Falcon II for my EDC / Get Home Bag.

Purchased a small Fenix flashlight.

Printed out and laminated a detailed walking map from the office to home. I commute to work and it's about 20 miles each way. When the lights go out and transit stops, I'm getting home no matter what.

Compiled a list of things for my Get Home Bag.

[CiscoKid]

Another trip to Restaurant Depot. Two more cases of canned plum tomatoes, two more cases of tomato sauce, two more cases of pork and beans, five more gallons of cooking oil, two more gallons of olive oil, a case of Kosher salt, another case of DeCecco pasta (16 oz. boxes), a 2,000 foot roll of heavy duty plastic wrap (18" wide), etc... Going to Home Depot tomorrow to buy some lumber for more shelves to hold all this stuff. Wife initially thought I was nuts when I started prepping - now she's saying she doesn't think we have enough and she went with me to help!

[Nickelless]

This is the only Black Friday shopping I plan to do, but I just saw 9-tray Excalibur dehydrators on sale for $179 with free shipping on the Harvest Essentials website, so I bought one. This is the cheapest I've ever seen Excaliburs--the next-lowest price I can remember seeing was $219.

http://www.harvestessentials.com/exm...Fcx-5QodvxV7pQ

[andybski]

Long time listener first time poster

October:

Smoked salmon that was in feezer for longer shelf life
Picked blue berries
Bought water holding tanks (250 and 125 gal.)
made a new leanto/shed to store firewood

November:

Split and stacked 4 cords of wood, Spruce and Hemlock
Built reloading bench and bought press + dies.
Stocked up on canned canned goods,
Bought silver

December:

New pistol, ammo, dies
Bought silver
Canned goods,
More tubs for bulk storage of flour, sugar, rice

2012 Goals:

Bulid rain water colection and/or snow melt water system
Another shed for firewood, haha
make bug out bags and survial kit

wood shed pic attached

A

[Rcpb2000]

Love this thread for all the information. Thank you all for so many great ideas. Purchased my first package of Go Foods after reading a few of the survival threads. Just finished trying the Creamy Tuscan Pasta. Both the wife and I enjoyed it. I plan on trying a couple of other products before purchasing a much larger package.

This past year I stocked up on silver, lead, FOID items, with the intent to stock up on more!

If it weren't for GIM2 I wouldnt of gained so much knowledge. Thank you all.

[fewferfev]

Just got back from the ranch store with a great big snow blower for my husband for Christmas. Yay! And I got a ramp too! Yay! Merry Christmas Everyone *** Now I have to figure out where to put it.

[Cynical1]

I started the medical stockpile this week. I know, should have started sooner, but I'm not made of money, and I've been concentrating on food and bullets for the last year.

[Hystckndle]

.........
Poli, Poli,
Up the hill slowly....

[Barrettone]

Added 20 gallons of lamp oil, extra wicks, and bought some extra propane mantles for the lanterns. Bought some AG, AU, PT and PD on the dip. Bought a spare "retreat truck", and a new metal detector. Slowly adding more canned goods and "sauces and mixers" as I call them to dress up dem rice and beans...

[Nickelless]

Yesterday I bought an electric blanket to keep in the car, in case of the car breaking down in extremely cold conditions. Extreme cold hasn't been a factor yet this winter, but just in case...

[Usury]

Started going back to the gym to get my fat ass back into shape--3 weeks now! :-) I don't want to be caught by the zombies...


CARDIO! CARDIO! CARDIO!!!

[Nickelless]

I just ordered two 33-round factory magazines for my Glock 26. I want to get at least one 33-rounder for each room of the house. And another G26 for backup.

[gb1980]

expanded my freeze dried food inventory--milk, crackers, meat
bought B&M canned bread
Bought yeast for bread
constantly rotating food stocks--first in first out
Bought and stored more TP
Bought more laundry detergent
bought more batteries
did more research raising chickens and rabbits--food, coops and fencing
bought seeds and planted for sprouting in garden
ran generator for its quarterly test
filled my first 2 of 10-5 gallon containers of yearly storing of gasoline with Stabil mixed in---will fill 2 more this weeken

[Cynical1]

I rotated some of my stored gasoline. Added more canned food and bullets. Doing the best I can paycheck to paycheck, and I'm thankful that I still have a paycheck.

[Ishkabibble]

Compound bow baby! If you can't access firearms, it's the next best thing.

[Ishkabibble]

For those in Canada, the wood stoves at Canadian Tire will be on sale starting Feb 10th. The prices are VERY aggressive. Just got mine. They do 30 day price protection, so you don't lose out by purchasing a few days early.



Also got a couple Zippo hand warmers on their way. They're under $20 on eBay right now, with shipping. They'll run on Coleman stove fuel which is cheaper than lighter fluid. For those in the US, Amazon has the Zippo warmers shipped for under $16.

[Jimfrancisco]

Zippo hand warmers will run on just about anything - a teaspoon of gasoline keeps them good and hot for 8h or so. I have been known to put them down my socks when at my BO place and it's cold! Brilliant little things, their only failing is that once they are lit, they stay lit - so have a non-flammable surface nearby if you are going to bed!

For those in Canada, the wood stoves at Canadian Tire will be on sale starting Feb 10th. The prices are VERY aggressive. Just got mine. They do 30 day price protection, so you don't lose out by purchasing a few days early.



Also got a couple Zippo hand warmers on their way. They're under $20 on eBay right now, with shipping. They'll run on Coleman stove fuel which is cheaper than lighter fluid. For those in the US, Amazon has the Zippo warmers shipped for under $16.

[Rusty Shackelford]

Paid that dead weight truck loan off!!!!

[Rusty Shackelford]

Compound bow baby! If you can't access firearms, it's the next best thing.

What did you get??? I shoot a Hoyt. A wonderful tool and hobby. Have fun with it!!

[Captain Morgan]

Started his and her BOB's thanks to a sale at LA Police Gear. She isn't sold on the idea so I'm doing it stealthy and selling it to her as 'camping gear'.

Go us each a:
- "72 hour" bugout bag with molle systems (on sale)
- Gerber multitools (on clearance)
- Ka Bar folder knives
- 50' paracord

Oooh...I also got myself a "new to me" (used) Cannondale mountain bike. Time to improve my personal health a bit

[Lt Dan]

Put the tiller on the tractor and got the gardens all tilled - first pass. Kinda early to plant, but some things like onions can go in now and peas soon as it warms a bit more.

[JoBob]

It was a big month on the farm. I added a Big Berkey water filter and a water collection system for collecting rainwater from the garage roof into six, 33 gallon containers. Also added 80 more cans of veggies and 25 pounds of jasmine rice to the larder. The big purchases were a new Remington 12 gauge 870 Express with a 16 inch barrel - the black one in the "home defense" section - and a Smith & Wesson M&P 15 rifle and 420 rounds of ammo ( But, Sweetie, ... they were on sale!)

The more I read the financial news, the "behinder" I feel....

[ralleia]

It was a big month on the farm. I added a Big Berkey water filter and a water collection system for collecting rainwater

Which Berkley did you get? I'm eyeing them now and trying to decide.

Do you have livestock, and if so, do you plan on some form of water filtration (maybe not the Berkley) for them, too?

[JoBob]

Which Berkley did you get? I'm eyeing them now and trying to decide.

Do you have livestock, and if so, do you plan on some form of water filtration (maybe not the Berkley) for them, too?

The Big Berkey w/2 Black Berkey filters, from Amazon. The filters will process over 3 gallons per hour and two of the carbon filters are enough. You can add four of the filters but at $50 each, that just speeds up the filtering volume; not the quality of the water. The rainwater from the roof is pretty clean and any visible particulates settle out in the collection barrels. Filling the Berkey with buckets of water from the top of the last barrel in the chain gives extremely clean, drinkable water. The Berkey is a really good investment, IMHO.

The farm critters have two, 200 gallon containers that are filled from a similar rainwater catchment system from the barn's metal roof. Their water is very clean and much better than from an open pond. A one-inch rain will fill both containers to overflowing.

[Nickelless]

In the past three days, I've picked up about 70 more books for my post-SHTF anti-boredom library for less than $50 at a book sale at the local library, added a few more cases of canned potatoes to my pantry and bought $10 face value in pre-1965 quarters.

[GodspeedMetals]

75lbs of brown rice
75lbs of sweet brown rice
15lbs of wild rice
transferred them into mylar bags and placed in food grade buckets with oxygen absorbers and tucked away.

Also bought some boxes of curry mix and a case of spicy ramen (something we eat once a month but hadn't stored before).

A case of sardines in olive oil.

A box of chamomile tea to calm us down.

Countertop water filters for kitchen and bathroom sinks... and shower filter.

a new ipad... WHAT?! Yea, wifey demanded one in order to stay in the marriage (Apple hoor)

She loves it!!

[CiscoKid]

Bought a slightly used John Deere 4210 compact tractor. My main tractor is a much larger 55 horse New Holland (4630) but I can't get it in a couple of my barns because of clearance issues and sometimes I just don't need that much tractor to do the job at hand. This JD is the right size for my wife and should make for a handy backup to my New Holland. It has a Yanmar diesel, front end loader, and a 5 foot belly mower. I figure all I did was convert FRNs that weren't earning much in a savings account into a tangible asset. Made wifey happy too.

[horseman1]

Bought a slightly used John Deere 4210 compact tractor. My main tractor is a much larger 55 horse New Holland (4630) but I can't get it in a couple of my barns because of clearance issues and sometimes I just don't need that much tractor to do the job at hand. This JD is the right size for my wife and should make for a handy backup to my New Holland. It has a Yanmar diesel, front end loader, and a 5 foot belly mower. I figure all I did was convert FRNs that weren't earning much in a savings account into a tangible asset. Made wifey happy too.

Sweet! I use my smaller 2210 for the same purpose.

[ralleia]

After a lot of angst, I finally placed the order for an Imperial Berkey with a spare pair of black filters. It wasn't cheap.

It's not something that I plan to be using unless something serious happens, because we currently have a RO system to clean our city water.

I plan to seal up the filters well, store them in a food-grade bucket, and hope that they will work well should they be needed.

[CiscoKid]

Just finished packing away 400 pounds of fresh pork into a freezer. Poor Jake and Elwood. However, they did not die in vain. They died so that we may have pork chops and bacon. Not to mention pulled pork BBQ.

[letsbuildasnowman]

Picked up a few silver eagles at the local coin shop today and ordered a 500rd can of ammunition for my rifle.

[Jimfrancisco]

Went to the Scottish Highlands for the final fitting of my hand-made, custom fitted Sinclair-based 7.62 rifle. Should be ready within a month, and I just cannot wait. Hello to the need for a couple of new freezers, goodbye to a couple of walking venisons!

[Sampson]

I finally got myself a good large one man saw. I have been looking for a saw of this style for a couple years and over the easter holidays i met a guy who had this particular saw given to him and when it came up in conversation that i was looking for one he went out to the garage and showed it to me. It was covered in rust, fairly dull teeth, and the handle and back 8 inches of blade were covered in bright orange marking paint. He said he didn't really have a use for it and ended up giving it to me. I spent about 8 hours and pulled it apart, sanded off the worst of the rust, cleaned off the paint, removed and sanded the handle, oiled the handle well and reinstalled it, sharpened and set the teeth, then oiled the whole thing and hung it in the shop till needed.

There are no markings except the brass handle bolt which is stamped "Warranted Superior". The blade is straight and measures just over 36 inches in length and with the handle measueres just under 42 inches total length. The tooth pattern is a perforated lance peg and raker style and now that it is sharp it cuts through softwood lumber like a hot knife through butter. I don't have any serious cutting to do around here right now but i will sure put it to good use on the claims this summer.

[Nickelless]

Bump.

I'm switching gears on allocation of prep money until Election Day and I'm spending about 60 percent of it on ammo and the other 40 percent on storage food items and--as a barter item and for my own personal use--coffee.

On the ammo front, I picked up another 200 rounds of 7.62x39, two boxes of .45 and two boxes of .22LR over the weekend.

[Mozer!]

Noticed a lot of people mentioning they were buying Mountain House. Is it even good? Seems expensive for the amount you get, I'm just going with plain canned foods right now.

This month.
-Built crude rain water collection w/ two 32 gallon trash cans from Home Depot. (Cut off runoffs a couple feet so trash cans will fit right under them.)
-Bought 25 lb bag of white rice, 6 lb container of honey, giant can of chili, three 1 gallon water jugs.
-Planted squash, carrots, and peppers. (Hopefully the AZ sun doesn't destroy them this time, I'm keeping them inside until the grow bigger.)

There's a lot left to do, seems like the prepping list is endless.

[newmisty]

Today I told myself to ignore the distractions around me and keep on keeping on.

Sometimes that's not as easy as it would seem.

[Jimfrancisco]

Going to my BO place for a week, to make sure everything is in order - genny running, insulation to be added, check on deer numbers, build a big fence round my veggies to stop the aforementioned deer getting at them, finish off my still - woo, moonshine!
Oh, and add an "observation" tower in the forest w/ gun mount - though the place is hidden, you never know when people might swim half a mile across a lake. Or, you might need a deer from 200yds away.

[TylerDurden]

Noticed a lot of people mentioning they were buying Mountain House. Is it even good? Seems expensive for the amount you get, I'm just going with plain canned foods right now.

Any place that sells camping supplies should have small pouches of Mountain House products that you can buy and sample. The only item of their's that I didn't really care for was the bacon and eggs. I only buy Mountain House cans when they are on sale and they are for long term storage 10+ years out whereas my canned goods supply is constantly being used and replenished.

[mnmom]

Well we looked for nearly 18months and finally we own a new home! We found a place well off the beaten path (read about 3 miles worth of gravel), inexpensive, and has everything we need.

We close in a few weeks, but already visions of remodeling dance through my head. It needs cosmetics and a septic but overall for under a 100K I really can't complain.

A view of the hog house and corn crib along with the pasture which is about 2 acres in size. Most the trees you see in these pictures are 100 year old oaks.



This is the chicken coop which is a perfect size for the flock I want.



The house is an old farmhouse with 5 acres and nearly 50 oak trees. I fell in love with this place the first time I saw it.

[Lt Dan]

Love it MN-Mom.

[searcher]

mnmom...............good luck with your new place.

[fewferfev]

This post might be okay on this thread...

http://imperialtwilight.wordpress.co...-the-internet/

[CopperSilverGold]

Bought a few boxes of ammo today...no biggie there but always enjoy doing this. My precious...lol.

More importantly, have started a pretty intense workout program over the past 2 months. I decided that getting into shape and getting stronger was important both for my physical and mental health.

Still on my to do list:
Add more food preps
Maybe purchase an assault rifle
Get a generator

I have a long ways to go to feel comfortable but each time I buy a little ammo or food preps, I am one step closer to my goals.

[Nickelless]

I noticed on BulkFoods.com that they have a special price on banana chips right now, $28.99 for 14 pounds, so I placed an order for 70 pounds. Probably going to order more later in the week if they're still available at that price.

[mnmom]

Broke out the canning equipment this last weekend. After picking apples and meeting with the amish farmer down the lane I managed to put up;

32-Pints Applesauce
22-Half Pints Pickled Jalapenos
27-Quarts Pasta Sauce

[horseman1]

Fixed the generator

Pressure canned 2 bushels of Pueblo green chiles. I used this document from New Mexico State University as a reference: http://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/_e/E-308.pdf

[Treasure Searcher]

Went to the Commissary at the Air Force Base and loaded up with over $400.00 on groceries and preps. You can never have enough sardines.

[Argentium]

Four 16 oz jars of instant coffee, an AquaPod for the upstairs bathtub, some Yoders canned meat, 7.62x39, .22 LR, 12 Ga 4 shot and various types .38 spl.

[Lt Dan]

Visited real survival life style folks in the mountains of Thailand and saw there stash, nope no TP in use there, not by the locals anyway. Lots of rice.