I know that hunting season is upon many areas and some of our lucky friends will have some venison. If you can talk them into parting with a couple pound backstrap, you could really make a fine meal. On the Next Iron Chef, venison was used by both of the chefs. Check the recipes out on the food network dot com.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program – Food Storage.

With all of the food festivities coming up, you may want to take advantage of the food sales, especially canned goods. Plenty of stuff like pumpkin, beans and what not. The trick here is to store it properly and have a date clearly written on the label. Be sure to rotate your stock and use it however you can. Last but not least, only buy stuff that you will eat. As a friend once told me, yeah, I could eat grubs to survive, but why if there is other things that are more appetizing? Point well taken.

Lastly, with your cooked food – especially meats, be sure to practice good hygiene. Nothing like getting food poisoning from a piece of meat which had set out for more than a few hours. But hey, we are Urban survivalists – we know better. Maybe tell your enemies that doing that ages the meat and tenderizes it! Thats it, thats the ticket!

1. Obama has no spine in world politics – a VERY WEAK LEADER IN OFFICE

2. More concerned about himself in the world view than here!

3. He is listening to that Socialist crackpot president from Brazil (interesting interview on CNN March 29th)

4. He calls the greatest country in the world arrogant.  Funny thing that we bail out everyone else in the friggin world!

5 Of the Trillion dollars committed, we (the US) are paying 80% <- and no one has said a thing about it

6. We (the US) pay the lions share of UNs Operating funds.

7. Given the above, Although we are the wealthiest country(though China is a close second), everyone wants us to be at their level and we need to stoop to their level of POVERTY.

8. Tax the rich until they are poor, reset the tax limits, tax the rich………

This is leadign us to the new world order mentioned so eloquently by Gordie Brown – YUK.  What does this mean to us?  We will need to live by international law and not US law, the Constitution will be gutted to get to International Law, and we will be a bunch of underemployed, gunless, hungry masses.  This fool of a President is allowing George Soros to pull the strings of Him, Comrad Pelosi and Gutless Harry (Ried).  This administration is so corrupt, it makes me sick.

Last week I was in a car with two left wing Dems.  One states, I am disappointed in Obama for not keeping his promises.  Which of the many.  Gitmo she responds – and goes on for a 10 minute diatribe.  I reminded her of the lack of transparency, the ongoing bail outs and his problem with finding appointees without tax issues (Who wants to work for a Tax Cheat??)  Then I listen how Bush is a war criminal…

The most interesting comment I heard was this ->  I mentioned that I Obama is our president and when push comes to shove, I will uphold and defend the Constitution and our president, the libs stated that they would not have done the same for Bush.

Then I discuss O’Riely and a few other conservative commentators – Oh, they are a bunch of blow hards…  I asked when was the last time you watched them – Never.  Ever listen to Rush – No Hannity, Levine, Savage?  No.  But the Liberal media is sooooo good.  I submit that the majority of liberals are lemmings, no matter how educated they are.  Cannot bother to read the issues, vote for feeling.  BARF!

OK, off to a new topic!

Food Storage for your Urban Survival Food Cache this week.  If you have a membership to Costco, Sam’s or a similar warehouse store, do your shopping there as it is the best bulk prices. You can also shop for some bulk items through a natural foods store as well.

What to buy:

get a large chicken bullion – 2 lb ($7.00), a bag of rice (20 pounds) not sure of price and Salt (4- 1 lb containers).  This should put you in the 20 dollar range.  Why the bullion?  It really dresses up plain flavors and lasts a long time.  Yum.

You should already have a couple of big bags of beans – 2-10 pounders.Water – lots o water (I am dumping my drums of water today and refilling. At least the garden will be happy!)

If you do not already have a propane camp stove and a few bottles, you really need to get one.  The bottles filled at a welding store or a Luv’s truck stop should be in the neighborhood of $2.50/gallon (what I saw on the Luvs sing yesterday).  The quick exchange places are pricey and are only good if you need to change your tank out due to corrosion (rust.)

Question for this week:  Do you have  a water treatment system on your house?  Reverse Osmosis or straight filtration?

Lock and Load!

At about 2 a.m I wake up with my intestines churning.  Great indigestion.  Then it happened – the mad rush to el bano.  Over the next bit of time I was attached to the toilet feeling like my guts were being ripped out. When I was done, I went and laid on the bed only to repeat the prior act.  Great I am thinking,  Food Poisoning while on the road.  But it bypassed my stomach – weird.  It must have been only slightly tainted.?!  Needless to say, On my next break I went to my kit and grabbed the Anti-diarrhea tabs I have and took them with plenty of water to start to rehydrate.  Thanks goodness that I bring my kit for things like this.  I was bale to get some sleep that night and the next day I was wiped out.  I drank alot of water along that morning to help the recovery process.

During the ordeal, I thought to myself, I do not want to have to go to the hospital, and then figured that if I needed to, I would.  I knew where it was from a quick search I did prior to heading up there (being a good scout!)

So, when traveling, don’t forget your first aid kit (stocked for things like intestinal issues) and a map to where the hospital is.  Better safe than sorry.  Thank goodness no disasters happend!

The Husky LED flashlight is a compact unit made of Aluminum and is thicker than a comparable Mag Light. Mags like to keep the tube a little larger than the batteries. This one is thick with the battery caddie holding the three AAA cells in parallel. Makes for easy holding, though you would be pressed if you needed to hold it in your mouth to keep your hands free. Overall the light is well made and is gasketed for moisture resistance. When I got the lights at Home Depot, it was for christmas stocking stuffers and the lights came in a 3 pack for like $10 or near there. Each of the kids have a mag light for their kits, these were for bedside use if the power went out.

I had to re-solder the little wires that connect the battery compartment to the light housing – cheap design. The mags have contacts where soldered wires are not needed. The wires are 18 gauge multi strand and get wound up as the bezel is spun onto the houseing. Each wire is approx 2 inches long – right on the ragged edge of breaking to being tensioned. I realize that adding another inch would have increased the cost per light about 1 cent, oh well. The LED lights are bright and have a slight bluish tint. Lastly, the batteries in all units are still original. Got to watch for leaking by checking monthly. They all are good Duracells!

Overall, the lights are worth the $. On a scale of 1 to 10, I give it a 7 because of the soldered wires. It has nice mass and is comfortable, but to obsess on the wire issues, it bothers me.

Back to the Altoids boxes. My boys are looking on the instructbles website constantly for things to do – better than video games constantly. My Middle Boy, taught himself Sweet Home Alabama the other day on the guitar. Mind you, he has never taken lessens and is borrowing the guitar from his brother.

Anyhow, how this all works together is that he decided to disassemble the flashlight (above) and use it for an Altoids unit. After stopping this, I referred him to a Popular Mechanics article from last year on making an LED candle light with a 9 volt source. So, he is drawing up the plans and I will be helping him assemble (if asked) in the next couple of days.

I also will be puttting together an Altoids Box personal emergency kit as well in the next week or so as time allows. I figure that these little boxes are tight sealing, metal and durable. Not bad for a free leftover. I will post some pics on what I have in it when I have a chance, along with the LED light and other things my family comes up with. In the mean time, Please feel free to leave comments and suggestions on what you might have in a compact kit!

Carpe Diem

Try it out with your family.  I’ll bet you will come up with situations that you may or may not be ready for!

My first reaction was to tell him to not move in a very stern voice – he was standing and mentioned he was bleeding! Why not move? I did not want him to step in any other glass. So, I grabbed my slippers and went over and scraped the glass out of the way (my floors are acid stained concrete.) He was bleeding all over the place. I inspected his foot and removed a large piece of glass and dressed his wounds.

In most situations, you do not want to remove something sticking in someone, but in this case, the blood was flowing pretty well, and a pressure bandage on top of glass would have done more damage than not. My family doctor (lives four doors down) agreed that my choice was correct in removing the glass since the damage would be greater due to bleeding/shock than not. If this was a stick or something, I would have left it in!

We got out of the emergency room at midnight last night and the Staff was great. Poor kid has multiple shots which hurt greatly!

He should have grabbed the pizza!

1. Water and Food

Lets face facts. The body can last only 3 days without water and several weeks without food. But when dehydration kicks in, you make mistakes due to confusion. Having plenty of clean water is crucial. A case of bottled water will do. Add some high energy bars for 3 days worth of eating, you can keep the mind fueled right and hopefully not making mistakes due to hunger/thirst.

2. A Multi-tool.

A multi tool is crucial since you never know what situation you will come across where a pair of pliers or a knife is needed. When you are tired and the food bars wrappers are hard to open, guess what – a multi tool comes in handy. Plus you never know when a screwdriver or other attachment is needed!

3. A Space Blanket.

At night, keeping warm is important. A space blanket is light weight and waterproof. Wrapping yourself in the blanket at night will ward off hypothermia which is dangerous in cold climates. If you have a couple of them, you can use one as a cover and a second as a blanket.

4. A flashlight:

Traveling at night if hazardous without a light. Tripping over debris can be hazardous to you! Be sure to have additional batteries is also recommended. If you want to have a multi purpose light, get a combo light and radio (make sure it can get NOAA weather stations!)

5. A First Aide Kit

Having a proper first aide kit with supplies can be a life saver. Ensuring it is properly stocked with supplies which are not EXPIRED is also very important. The best way to ensure the kit is up to date is to have an annual kit check date where you dump the old/expired stuff and replace it.

5 1/2. An Inventory List

Having a method to check what should be in the kit and when it was last replaced is all too important. What good are expired supplies or spoiled food in your kit at a time of disaster? The easiest way to store your list is to type it up and place it in a zip lock style badge. Make sure you have a date written on the list as well for a quick view for the last time you checked your kit.