Apocalyptic Reminder

Because of a storm that tore through I just went 18 hours without electricity. That's good though; you need to be reminded occasionally that the world is going to suck after the lights go out.

Book Review - A Failure of Civility

The book's title, A Failure of Civility: How to defend and protect you, your family, friends, neighborhood, and America during a disaster or crisis, describes the subject matter within quite well. I must say that this is one of the more informative books I have read on this topic. The authors (Garand & Lawson) tackle many complicated subjects yet are still able to explain them in simple terms that any layman would understand. They offer many practical solutions to problems we will all have if things go bad. I am giving this book my highest recommendation. If you are concerned about the future of this country and your community, and your own family's survival, buy this book and read it, now.

Things to do ...

Here are some of the things I'm doing with my money in 2013 and I suggest you do too.

What I won't be doing - SAVING - your money will soon be worth much less and eventually will be worth nothing. Don't bother saving it. Yes, have a bit of cash on hand for the short term emergences, but "invest" the rest in real goods. Putting it away in savings is a fool's game.

What I will be using my money for this year ...

1) Paying off debt.

2) Investing in food - you can buy a ten pound bag of rice for $8 right now or the same amount of beans for only a few dollars more. You can easily feed yourself for $40 a month, or less than that if you willing to grind your own wheat. It is boring to live on, no doubt, but will keep you alive and at a low cost. You should also buy other foods as supplements though, flour, pastas, sauces, canned meats, vegetables and fruits, will break up the monotony of your basic diet. There are any number of things that are still relatively inexpensive and can be stored away for a long time. Buy now before prices skyrocket.

3) Investing in lead - ammunition - buy as much as you can when you can. Some might even consider buying ammo for guns they don't have but I advise to just stay with calibers you can use yourself.

4) Investing in silver - I like "junk silver" and when I buy spend most of my money on Mercury dimes or Walking Liberty and/or Franklin half dollars. They are small in size and good for lesser purchases. Unlike newer Washington quarters and Roosevelt dimes the aforementioned coins were only available in silver and are easily recognized as such even by people that know little about the subject.

5) Investing in steel - guns - even now with the current mania it still is possible to find bargains. There are many affordable guns out there that are not the "newest bestest thing," keep your eyes open for quality guns at reasonable prices. Buy now to sell or barter with later, or you might have to give one to a friend in need. Although any gun might do, personally I would concentrate on common calibers, "hunting" or "militia" type rifles and handguns good for self-defense or concealed carry being the best choices. Quality .22LR handguns and long guns will always have a market too. For me I would much rather spend my extra money on this than on the 1% interest (if you're lucky) you're going to get on your savings account.

If I know my regular readers this is all old news to them, or at least I hope it is. For those of you already doing these things, keep them up. For those that haven't really started, get going, time is running short!

Oops ... that Genie is out ...

Stolen from Uncle, but it's so great everyone needs to link to this. How you like your magazine ban now? "Tastes like Dianne Feinstein's lunch."

Here's to a happy 2012!

Who knows what is in store for 2012? Maybe it will be a great year but I'm thinking we're going to have more of the same as 2011, and worse. I'm not clairvoyant, but I don't think I'm going too far out on a limb to predict more inflation robbing us of our money's value, more out of control government spending adding to an already out of control debt, and a presidential election with plenty of republican one liners throughout finally ending in November with one horrific punch line on all of us. But I could be wrong and will be happy if I am. Before we head into 2012 I thought it would be good to leave 2011 with a laugh, so here are a couple videos to help bring in the new year.

Reality hits you hard, bro - This might be the theme song of 2012!

Finally wilsonblog ends 2011 with Charlie Sheen telling us all about winning ...

Good Reading

Well, not "good" but you might want to read THIS if you're worried about the future of this nation. Thanks to SurvivalBlog for the link.

A question for the gunnies

For the last couple of years I have been slowly reorganizing by gun collection with the basic idea of "Two equals one and one equals none." I have been trying to restructure so I have a lot of similar guns, guns that share parts, magazines or accessories. The idea being that if one gun became damaged beyond repair it could still be used as parts for the others. Also the accessories like holsters, mags and the ammunition could still be utilized for other guns that I own.

The question supposes that you are in a situation where you could no longer acquire any more guns, parts or ammunition (or even reloading components) from what we Americans would consider "normal" venues (Gun shops - Gun shows - Mail order etc.). Whatever you might obtain would have to be under the table, there wouldn't be much of a selection available and it would definitely be potluck.

So here's the question - Would you prefer a selection of guns in common calibers that shared ammo and parts? Or would you want a wide variety of weapons in as many calibers as possible so that you could take advantage of anything that might come your way?

It's coming

I can't help but feel something bad is coming to this nation. Maybe you think because I've been writing a TEOTWAWKI novel for a few months now that is causing me to believe this, that it is affecting my judgment, but it's not. I have had this feeling long before that and if anything it might be the reason I started writing Joshua in the first place. I am not the only one that feels this way either, I know a lot of you do too whether you will admit it or not. Roberta X has written a very good post on it recently, short and to the point, and it sums up my feelings on it too. I know that some of this is simply the 2012ENDOFTHEWORLD! BS that is going around but it goes deeper than that. Our nation's economic and financial problems, a government out of control at all levels, innumerable natural and manmade threats, any thinking person should be concerned for our future right now. Maybe that's my problem, maybe I should just stop thinking about it so much. Maybe all you can do is prepare the best you can and leave the rest up to God, and try not to give yourself a stroke before doomsday gets here.

Too much paranoid, or not enough?

One of my regular website reads is SurvivalBlog.com, I try to visit the site at least a couple times a week because there is a lot of good info to be had and I find Mr. Rawles' site (on the most part) entertaining and informative. On my last visit I noticed that he is now posting his actual IP address on the site, and he's not the only one that started doing this. Apparently he (and many others) are concerned that hackers or unnamed government entities will take control of his site. Frankly I am not sure if he and the others doing this are too paranoid or not enough. In general I am in favor of paranoia, it tends to help keep you alive, but I'm wondering if this isn't going too far. Am I just being naive? What do you say readers, do I need to do this too? Is wilsonblog in danger of being taken over by some nebulous "Gubment" agency or some pimply-faced teen hacker?

My gun bag

At the first of the year I made myself this "grab and go" bag for my handgun. Same concept as a bug out bag but only for a gun and related items. The idea behind it was that if I had to leave the house at a moments notice and only had the time to grab one gun this would be the one that I took. Before I go any further let me also state that I consider taking off to be a very last option in an emergency situation. If something bad does happen I intend to stay put where I am if at all possible. Intentionally becoming a refugee is never a smart idea. But I do accept that there are times, no matter how well you plan, that you won't have a choice in the matter.

I set this kit up only using items that I already owned. Not one additional dime was spent to make this. Everything that I included here was collecting dust on a shelf or sitting in my safe or in a box somewhere. The bag is an old nylon range bag that I have had for years and is still in great shape and very tough. On the inside it has 1 large pocket that will hold any full sized handgun. On the opposite side it has 5 smaller pockets designed for magazines but also perfect for many small items. On the outside of the bag there is 1 extra large zippered compartment that will hold a lot. The contents of the bag include: 1 loaded Colt Government Model .45 pistol, 3 additional loaded 8 round magazines, 200 rounds of 230 gr hardball ammo, 40 rounds of hollow point ammo, 1 folding "tactical" type knife, 1 regular pocket knife, and (not shown) 1 suede Bianchi inside the waistband holster, 1 belt magazine holder, and a small assortment of cleaning supplies (oil, grease, bore brush etc.) wrapped into a small bundle with a cotton rag. I thought this was a very good start especially considering that I didn't put any money into it. It is good but it needs refining, I'm currently looking at getting some type multi-tool for the bag (among other things) to improve it.

I picked the 1911 pattern .45 automatic because it is a full size pistol and yet is still (relatively) easy to conceal, has more than sufficient firepower, and parts and ammunition are widely available. In most of the situations that I considered a powerful, concealable handgun would be what one needed most. And since the thought behind this little kit was about if you could take only "one" with you I felt the 1911 was the best compromise. Of course if I knew in advance that I was going (and had the time) I would take every gun that I own and every single round of ammo to...

Books - How To Survive The End Of The World As We Know It

After reading How To Survive The End Of The World As We Know It by author and founder of survivalblog.com James Wesley, Rawles I must say that this book is very informative and scary. Scary when you realize just how under prepared you are if something really bad does happen...

More buying...

Went to wallyworld® early this Easter morning and continued my ammunition buying program. Beginning last year I started purchasing ammo every time I was down there, if only a box or two. Since the first of this year I have been tapering off though, but still have tried to buy some at least every other visit. Today I bought some more .22lr, which leads me to another dilemma. I am running out of room to properly store it. You know that you really start to look like a "gun nut", even to your gun nut friends, when you have boxes and boxes of ammo just lying around, on top of your gun safe, book cases, on the floor, etc. I need to get myself down to the Army surplus store and buy some more .50 Cal ammo cans. At least then the ammunition would be better protected...

Cheap Glock

You probably didn't think I owned a Glock did you? Well I've owned several over the years and this is my current one. I wouldn't have bought this one except it was so cheap that I couldn't turn it down. Used Glocks are likely the best bargain on the handgun market right now. Great quality pistol at a low price. If you are not really a "gun person" you could get a used Glock cheap and it would be all you ever need, it certainly would last you a lifetime. I got this 17 very lightly used, in fact if I had to bet I would say that the original owner put 1 box of ammo thru it and never touched it again. It was a little dirty but there isn't a mark or wear on it anywhere. I got it so cheap that I could buy a few factory hi-cap magazines and a nice holster for it and still not have $500 invested. I didn't really want another Glock and I didn't really need another 9mm pistol but I would have to been a fool to turn down such a deal. And who knows in a few years this might prove to be a better investment than gold.