In a previous post, I showed a cobb oven made from mud in the land down under.

Now, I am going at an oven on my own property. It was planned for whilst building the Tuscan camo’d bunker. I set up the base and pured the concrete floor over a year ago. I poured the insulating vermiculite layer earlier this year. This week, I scored some almost 100 year old fire brick from work (tested out as non-hazardous), borrowed a harbor freight tile saw from a friend and started in earnest!

The oven diameter is about 41.5 inches and will have a finished interior height of about 19.5 inches. As one of the readers asked, are you going to cook a whole dear in it? The answer is – maybe

The goal is to get this thing completed by this Thursday/Friday so that I can get a fire in it and have a pizza on Thanksgiving with the family – we will see. I ran into a few problems due to breakage of tools and my anal retentive engineering behavior. Top it of with my slave/child labor rebelling (at first) and you get a union style work stoppage. That came to a quick halt!

As for the mortar recipe – 1 part fire clay, 1 part lime, 1 part Portland cement and 3 parts silica sand (fine/30 grit). Thoroughly mix and the stuff is sticky!

I have finished the first two rows (a soldier course and the first chain.) The soldier course has a 20 degree angle put in it. Each chain will be subsequently steeper. The trick right now is for me to get the opening completed before I get too much higher on the dome.

Keep your eyes peeled and be sure to wear your personal protective equipment – I blew through 4 sets of gloves and still have a few lime burns.

Summer is almost over and I have been spending time with the young folks in the house teaching them survival skills in the mountains of Arizona. Then after that, we went to visit the land of fruits and nuts (Southern California) for some sadly needed R&R at the beach. My daughter loved it and I was able to teach the kids how to ocean fish – my son caught a macarel and daughter caught a juvi crab. Using anchovies was fun as they were not used to seeing bait like that.

So, where were we from my last post.

Oh yeah, the idiot in chief, President Ego, mr blame, Obama has yet to take any responsibility for his lack of action for the past 18 months. Working actively to shut down the gulf coast, he has been effective, which highlights his lack of leadership and talking head status. I cannot wait for November to get rid of the puppets running congress. I personnally believe that congress should be of the opposite party of the president as we are first hand witnesses of the stupidity of this administration. Or should I say – INCOMPETENCE! Yeah, you were on scene from the beginning – recovering bodies, not worrying about oil. Could not make a call for over 80 days to BP.

Again Mr. Obama, you need to resign. Biden would be a better leader – at least he takes responsibility for sticking his wingtip into his pie hole! You on the other hand are truly narcissistic. And yes Mr. President, your shit does stink – just like your friggin community organizing background and buddies from Chicago. You took an oath to protect the constitution, yet you are working to dismantle. You and your weakling administration does not have the guts to protect the borders. The libs protecting you keep saying this is a Human Rights Issue – well, if it is, then deal with it in Mexico and Central America. The illegals are draining the system faster than you can spend money on looser green projects (and I have been doing green longer than you have had your fake degree from college.) Liar

If you are are a regular reader, we will be going back to urban survival topics. This administration makes me nauseous and disrespects everything that my family has fought for since the 1700s!

We will be going into making foods like Cheese and other goodies from raw materials so that you can survive the impending implosion due to financial irresponsibility that this admin keeps ramming down our throats.

We are using a modified Square foot gardening method. You see, the soil here in AZ has a bunch of clay. When mixed right with manure, compost and peet, we have a pretty sweet mix. It also has a tendency to neutralize the acids in the manure quickly. Another thing is that our compost took a while to get to compost quality as I left it for my middle son to manage. Come to find out, if I was not standing over him, the pile did not get turned, so we just had a bunch of lawn clippings sitting in a pile. Argh!

As mentioned, we made a composter out of a drum, 2×4′s and casters. We learned a few valuable lessons, which will only be shared with the SUBSCRIBERS of USS in an upcoming issue. We will also discuss planting and harvesting, along with a few other goodies to make sure that survival planning is a year round event that is really easy on you.

A funny thing while at Home Depot today. Looks like everyone is getting in on the Square Foot Gardening. HD even had the SFG bagged dirt mix for $12.95! About 3 x more expensive than what it costs me to make. Anyhow, when looking at the planter they built, it was well constructed. At first, I noticed the color of the wood and did a double take. One of the vendors in the gardening section said that they Homer who built it used pressure treated lumber! PT lumber is a no-no as it will kill the vegetation and will poison the harvest! The vendor also mentioned that they have had some problems with plant survival. I will be back next week to get a good laugh.

If you are wondering what to plant for your garden, get a hold of your local land grant university and ask them for a planting guide. Here in AZ. the University of Arizona (my school) publishes for each county and region. It is a nice guide which tells you when to plant and whether you should be planting transplants, seeds or cuttings. NICE!

Well enough for now.

As we are all aware, Port au Prince, Haiti was flattened by an earthquake. The problem over there is a lack of infrastructure and poor building codes which made the destruction all the worse!

Look, we all need to do our part! I am asking that everyone take a few minutes and donate a few sheckles to the RED CROSS. They have a very low overhead and will get the greatest bang for the buck of your donation!

If I can make a suggestion, donate either $5 or $10 or $20 or whatever you can afford.

Once Again, I am asking everyone to take a couple of minutes and click on RED CROSS HAITI and make a donation.

Lets show the world that us Urban Survivalists are ready not only for ourselves, but can do the same for others who may not have the resources or wherewithall to do it for themselves!

Just to give all my subscribers at urbansurvivalsecrets a heads up, I have migrated to a new email sending program which will probably have you confirm your subscription. If you have any problems, please let me know – I do have a download for all that resubscribe and you will be automatically put into the next drawing for goodies – coming up in late January/early February. For those who have migrated before with me – I apologize for the headaches.

So, what is in the goodie bag for the next drawing – only my subscribers will get the heads up prior to the announcement. I will say this I have sweetened the pot, that is for sure!

Now that is out, on to the next thing – I have caught another killer bug – OK a cold. What gives? After taking a week off for a relaxing vacation where I did nada, I am back to work less than a week and wammo!

Mind you, I live in Arizona, where it was 70F today! Give me a friggin break. So, I am off to bed again. Yup, just me and my headache!

Keep it safe

• An Eton FR300 Emergency Radio – Melaine in California
• An Eton FR150 Emergency Radio – Bob in Texas
• A Leatherman Micro – Caleb M in Colorado
• A Mini-Maglite with the LED conversion. – Joel in Arizona
• 6 light sticks – Frank in North Carolina
• Leatherman Kick – Cal in Washington

I want to thank everyone for signing up.  I am working on an ebook for quick survival readiness in an urbansurvival setting.  Please be sure to sign up and I will get it out to you.

Also, I am working on a few other Freebies to assist everyone in this crappy economy.  I will get these posted as well since economic freedom is critical in an urban survival situation.

Disclaimer:  This is not investment advice

As a note:  I recieved a note from one of my readers asking me about gold. I consult for various mining companies (Gold and copper primarily, worldwide) With Gold still in outrageous territory, investing in gold companies (e.g. stock) is much more palitable.  Also, Silver is a very economical alternative and usually tracks gold pretty well!Another metal to invest in is copper when it gets down below $2/lb.  I was talking with a buddy of mine and he mentioned that a lot of chinese farmers are buying copper cathode and holding while prices fluctate.  That way, they can make 50 to 100% depending on their timing.

My two cents worth.

Disclaimer:  This is not investment advice

And what better way to do with the stuff than to give it away? Since it is Christmas, you do not even need to pay for postage, I will cover it!  How can you sign up for the give away? Simple – you see the newsletter sign up over to the right? —>     Well just sign up.  You will be added to the give away.  Pretty Simple, eh? Hey, while you are at it, check out the folks in the Adsense column under the sign-up for, go ahead and click on them – I dare ya!  You just may find something you want to get for your stash!

If you are receiving this via an RSS feed or other method, click on this link UrbanSurvivalSecrets and you can sign up for the contest.

Rules of the contest

1.  Only 1 entry per email address.

2. Gifts must be able to be sent via 2 day priority mail or DHL 3 day mail (for you non-US Citizens.)

3.  All items will be shipped – no pick-ups at the compound

4. All results are final – no whining, I hear enough of it from my liberal friends when discussing health care and the Republicans lack of interest since it is a tax increase!
So, what is in the give away?

• An Eton FR300 Emergency Radio
• An Eton FR150 Emergency Radio
• A Leatherman Micro
• A Mini-Maglite with the LED conversion.
• maybe more if I can get a few vendor types to kick in!

The last day for entry is December 15, 2009. I will notify the winners via email that I will send them the items.  I will request a valid physical address to send the goodies to!

Thanks much and keep your sanity!

An idoit reporter from the Huffington Post took credit for an article run by the New York Times (slimes).

Regardless of the shameless plagiarism from one liberal piece of crap to another, the article is what was important.

You see, the EPA found out that a commercial herbicide was found in the drinking water in four mid-western states.  And get this, the EPA said in effect – So What!  Isn’t that peachy.  The EPA doesn’t give a crap about the population they are supposed to protect.  I guess they cannot kill off enough people with the end of life pamphlet being published by the VA!  I smell a rat – do you?

So, what can you do?  Give a call to your (more than likely puppet) congressman/senator and tell them to do something.  You see, this is not the first time that crap has been found in the water.  Last week a study was published about the active ingredient of anti-bacterial soap passing through the wastewater treatment plant (well duh – most wastewater plant treat sewage using bacteria!)  And last year another study was published where pharmaceuticals were found in the drinking water in low doses.

Now do you see a pattern!  Our drinking water is not safe for long term consumption.  All you need to ask the brainiacs at the EPA is – “What are the long term toxicological effects of the low doses of the pharmaceuticals in our drinking water?”  If they say nothing or that there is no effect, they are LYING!  These guys have not done any studies about it.  They do not know the cumulative effects of multiple drugs getting introduced to the population.  They do not have a clue!

Let me explain – I am a Chemical Engineer who does environmental work.  Most of the toxicologists I know would say that they do not know what is the long term effects.

What they would recommend is to drink water that is properly treated.  If yo think that distillation is the proper treatment, you are wrong.  The drugs will volatilize with the water and get carried over.  UV alone will not do it either.  Sediment filtration will not do enough either.

At a minimum, you should have a carbon filter and optimally a reverse osmosis.  An RO will reduce the contaminants by at least 95%, if not more.  If you want to really have a good treatment system, change your filters more frequently.  As someone who is paranoid, I change filters much more frequently than what is recommended by the “pros” who treat water ( the big names)  Why?  because I did my research project in the treatment of water for the semiconductor industry while in college.  Their water requirements are much more stringent than that of the medical insutry or cities.  I know what works and UV is only good for bacterial destruction (another story!)

My filter change outs are every three months (half of the proper maintenance I mentioned earlier)  But that is me.  If you have a filter unit, change the filters more often that what the high school educated folks running the water companies.  Ask them their credentials!  Ask them hard questions.

Remember, replacement filters can be got for cheap – go to www.newROfilters.com and they will go out quick.  If you need a RO unit or three stage water filter, drop a line and I can get you one ordered for a great price and it is NSF certified.

I will post links to the various articles in the next few days!

CW

Look for screaming deals in the near future and there is a coupon code on the page for new customers – $5.00 off.

I do not know about you, but I for one am sick of the news outlets (most newspapers, ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, CNN)

They continue to perpetuate an unbalanced approach to reporting on the President and his pack of lies.  I for one cannot believe that Obama is that stupid or ignorant about the folks who are out protesting the excessive taxes coming down the pipe due to Cap and Trade and Universal Health Care. The Dems are not endearing themselves to America and the Republicans are sitting on their thumbs. All the while, Benedict Soros is raking in the dough from this.  Please do not take this sitting down.  We do need to fix some things, but not at the expense of our liberty.

What can you do?  Simple! 1. Send a letter to the Puppets in Washington who do not care much about you and let them know you want the government the way the founding fathers intended it to be – LIMITED!

2.  Look at some of the alternative parties.  I for one am seriously considering changing to the Constitution Party – much more in line with my beliefs.  And go figure, it adheres to the principles of the founding fathers.

3.  Make a donation of $5.00 or $10 to your favorite political cause, I recommend the Constitution Party so Click  HERE so we can get a truly conservative, non-corrupt political party in place!

4.  Say a prayer.  Ask Heavenly father to help get us out of this mess.

May God be with us all!