Pioneer Living Online Link

Check out http://www.pioneerliving.net/top10survivalmyths.htm for a taste of the online magazine:  http://www.pioneerliving.net/

It has a list of ten survival tips usually thought to be myths, yet in reality are true. Using an ice lens to create a fire, whether to chose high or low ground for shelter building, or wearing shoes when crossing a stream are all part of the list.

http://www.survivalcampingstore.com/How-To-Signal-For-Help_b_12.html was an internal link found in this article, talking about the various, albiet obvious ways to signal for help. They did go into more detail in discussing the various options, like making a triangular fire formation, signaling with a flash light 3 times, then waiting 10 seconds and signaling again. Of course, Dual Survivalists have taught us that both color and motion are important for getting attention.

There are a lot of links on this site to good reading, both for the survivalists in nature and the survivalist post grid down.

I always figure if you can make it in the wilderness, you can make it in a natural catastrophe, if the human population doesn't kill you first.

Survival Themes vs. Grid Collapse

I find many people lump these two ideas together, the survivalist being one who anticipates and end of the world as we know it.

I am a female survivalist who loves just getting out in the wilderness to challenge myself, much like you see on the Dual Survival Series, or Survivor Man with Less Stroud. These dudes are real, nothing faux about it.
The Man Woman Wild series is interesting too. I love how real she is, puking her guts out after her husband encouraged her to drink his pee in the desert. I love my guy. I'd never drink his pee.

Getting out on natural adventures, living out of a minimalist backpack for weeks, a person knows they'd be able to fend for themselves should the Grid actually collapse for any length of time.

The fear from mainstream Americans against the survivalists in the grid collapse camp, I feel, is due to the stock piles of firearms and underground bunkers. These things would be necessary in mass chaos when defending against roving criminals.

One of my favorite saying is : don't be big and small, be hard to find.

Check out my youtube channel to see some of my crazy experiments:

http://www.youtube.com/user/brawny03

Cougar Sighted Near Boise River

A young female cougar was sighted near the Boise River. She was seen feeding on a deer carcas. I went down to a local junction to check out the river. A sign was posted, yet it allowed entrance if you just followed a few rules. No problem.

I imediately understood how a big cat would love the area. I love it.

Sad to say, this cat eventually made its way, following the river, into town where it presented grave worries to the population. It didn't seem afraid of people.

Sad to say, the cougar is now dead. I am sad. Too bad it couldn't have been relocated. These things happen, I guess.

This tree has a ladder installed and rope for swinging into the river. Its good that who ever owns this private property has decided to allow folks to enjoy it during the day light hours. No camping, of course. No problem.

Guest Post on Survivalism-Please Comment and Enjoy

This essay was sent to me by Imogen. I read it with great interest, and believe you will find it worth while.

Survivalism is Becoming Fashionable

In an age of austerity, widespread unstable economic climates and environmental pressures, there is a new trend that is creeping out of the niche and into mainstream culture; that of minimalist survival culture. Attitudes and lifestyles are changing as people respond to the current economic and environmental climate.

People are increasingly throwing out old extravagant items and habits. Things like hot tubs and expensive champagne are being cut out of people's lives in favour of the essentials. People are beginning to really take environmental issues seriously, as they realise the threats to the environment are real, not sensationalism.

Being prepared

Times have drastically changed from the peak of the financial boom in around 2005. Property programmes that encouraged the everyday person to become an investor or developer have now been replaced in popularity by survival programmes such as Ray Mear's Bushcraft and programmes dedicated to world discovery such as Voyage Around the Indian Ocean. Consumers are becoming increasingly fascinated by and interested in nature and survival, rather than on money, profit and material gain. Books such as John 'Lofty' Wiseman's SAS Survival Guide and Neil Strauss' Emergency have recently become best sellers. Each of these books - as well as many other similar titles - are offering consumers something they have not previously seen or been particularly interested in - how to be self sufficient. This is perhaps due to a recognition that there are tough times ahead for everyone and that those that are smart should be making sure they are best perspired to cope and prosper.

However, survival isn't just being seen as a necessity now. It is becoming fashionable, desirable and intelligent to claim to know how to be self sufficient. Books such as Strauss' Emergency are not just teaching the basics, but are doing so in a particularly entertaining way, showing people that learning survival skills can be fun as well as incredibly useful. Strauss shocks his readers by presenting them with the more "extreme" survival skills, such as animal slaughter and foraging. For those that can still afford holidays, poolside breaks have been replaced with adventure or wilderness trips. And before they think about insuring a holiday, they are thinking about what they can learn from their trip, and what value it will have.

This new trend is about being prepared, rather than paranoid. It is about the mainstream everyday person realising that the things they held so important before the global financial crisis are worthless. Designer gear, excessive clothing shopping and pointless gadgets and technology are - although still desirable to many - not as high on ordinary people's agendas as they once were.

Extreme behaviour or shifting values?

There is the negative viewpoint that one could take in that people are only prepared to learn these survival skills because they are becoming desirable and fashionable - would they really be behaving this way if survivalism was not "in fashion"? Traits of survivalism can now be seen all over mainstream popular culture - from top fashion designers exhibiting raw materials and tribal / bohemian designs to home furniture stores exhibiting more "shabby chic" and "distressed" pieces. If these trends weren't part of mainstream culture, would people be so keen to learn methods of survivalism? This trend for survivalism can easily be seen as extreme behaviour, fuelled by negativity and reflective of an individualist culture. However, the reasons behind driving this mindset indicate that people are gradually rethinking the fundamentals of the ways they live.

How far does this trend go; could people really survive completely independently without any help from the modern society? Most probably not; there are very few people in a civilised society that could make this claim. However, what this trend does show is that people are keen to "reconnect" with nature and give it the respect it deserves, by learning how it works and not taking anything for granted. This new trend is about reassessing our values and the meaning of life, following the fact that many people lived very differently - comfortably - before this economic crisis hit. The things people took for granted have now gone, or at least become harder to achieve. It is ultimately due to the fact that, for many, the meaning of life has changed.

The Art of Small Pieces

Every night I read the Idaho Statesman. I love turning the newsprint, an old fashioned way perhaps of catching up on world news, local news, sports, ads. As the summer approaches, so many activities are available for the outdoors person. I definitely will be getting a road bike with long distance bike trips in mind. Hey, Flo! Come on out here and join me!

I'm not seeing many actual jobs listed in this great newspaper, but that's ok, cause I got a plan.

I've learned over the course of time when things look overwhelming, you just gotta break it into small pieces.

Like, looking for a new job.

First, I'm getting the resume in order, and making sure the e-mail addresses of my references and phone numbers are up to date.

Then, I'll ask someone to proof read that, making sure the cover sheet is concise, yet speaks to the potential employer. A lot of times this resume can and should be done as a word document, able to be sent via attachment, or down loaded to the online application site.

We live in a very modern world.

Next, I'll start applying to the jobs you want, online. I'm finding many websites have such opportunities. Taking my time to do a great job, not trying to do too many on any given day, gives me a chance to enjoy a cup of coffee now and the fresh air later.

I'm well on the way to a full recovery from the recent surgery I  went through.

Ok, back to the job hunt prospect.

I plan to follow up with a phone call to the employer, the HR department, at an appropriate interval.

By breaking this pending task into segments,  the entire thing gets done.


Of course, this is real world stuff. I miss the woods and mountain jaunts, playing freely by the crazy bubbling streams hunting gold. But I'm an optimist, and I Shall Return to my play soon!

Entering the E-Mail Era

Shout out to my dear friend, Matt, who has learned to e-mail. I look forward to his daily musings, and chuckle at past references to Saffron robes and such.

We worked together in Yellowstone a couple years back. Both of us cooks, we had lots of common ground. I do miss it.

Part of the deal with e-mails is the necessity of remembering all words can be read a couple different ways, like tone of voice.

How many times have you ever told your friend, "You're Brilliant!"

That could sound so many different ways in real life. Practice saying it out loud. It could leave a person feeling stupid, smart, or confused.
I try to be careful writing an e-mail. My friend seems to have a knack for it. I'm so glad, cause a person can go back and enjoy the same message a couple times over.

The choice of words, tone of voice, and punctuation of electronic communications is something to consider before hitting the send. I've made those oopseys before, and try harder to take the moments necessary to think, if I send this message to my mom, might she think I'm complaining? Humm

Love reading all your comments, readers. Please keep following these survivalist posts as we work our way through the life changes brought on by my lastest adventures. Looks like I'll be living near a bigger town, working full time in Food and Beverage, grabbing Sawtooth wilderness escapades, fishing in the Samon River as needed.

There's five chickens running loose in the yard, five young Angus being raised next door, a great breeze turning my bouquets into dried flowers. One thing about Idaho, its windy and dry.

The saying is life happens when you're making other plans.

The Down and Dirty of Wood Stoves as Survival Heat-Cooking

I just received this e-mail and thought it very worthy of an indepth answer, having learned much. If you would like to read and see more photos of the wood stove project, please enter it in the search tool to the right of the blog.

Hello,

This is a shot in the dark if this email will even get to you after the blog being done in 2011. I was happy to see your photo of the wood stove pipe going through the window and having such a short run outside. I have a couple of questions. Have you had any issues with this set up? Also is that single wall pipe on the outside or double wall? The reason I ask is because (and please don't think I'm insane) I was planning on doing the same type set up for an emergency stove. I was told I had to use double wall pipe on the outside because it would be cold and build up creosote and cause a fire (which is why I was asking if you had any issues). I don't plan on having to run this small stove I bought and stored, but with the way the world is going I wanted to provide a source of heat if our natural gas service fails, or electricity as well. I have a generator (fuel dependent) and manual way to get water but realized living in the North East I had no back up to keep my family warm. I decided to be crazy and buy a small wood stove on clearance and store it on a dolly in the basement. If needed I can pull it up, connect all my pipe through the window just like you did and start it up.

Thanks for any info if you do get this !

M

 

Installing my wood burning stove in a north east Georgia cabin proved very interesting and more expensive than I thought. I ended up using single wall pipes, both inside and out, numerous elbows, spark arresters at the top and multiple tubes of fire-proof silicone and masonry connections.

 

It drew fine at first. Seemingly, though, the thing got worse, and although it heated the tiny 12 x 15 insulated studio, I found a black soot building up, a layer that needed wiping off inside furniture. This is never a good sign. If the furniture is getting coated, what about my lungs? I was working with perfectly dry wood, scavenging all around the nearby forest.

 

Turns out the spark arrester screen, so necessary to keep the sparks from starting the forest on fire, would catch the least little pine sap rising in the pipes.

I raised the pipes via an extension, so it would draw better. I learned to take the bottom joint apart, on the outside, scrape out all the tiny mounds of creosote that formed.

If I had to use this as an emergency heat system, I would make this a weekly chore, including getting on the ladder, and Cleaning this screen is vital as well. It will seem to draw, yet the tiniest back flow sends a toxic dust into your housing.

 

I was able to cook on top. I know minimal heat is needed during severe cold. I learned that windows must be cracked, and fresh air enjoyed every so often. I actually think some carbon dioxide buildup is possible. I would never fire this set up over night and let it go unattended, even the smouldering coals take vital oxygen from the air.

 

Of course, all things are done at your own risk, and there are many much more experienced woods people than I who use wood stoves regularly.

 

I got by with the single wall pipes because I used very little heat and they were far enough from the metal building.

 

All in all, as a very last ditch thing, and much better arrangement would have been to install a double wall pipe straight up through the roof. Still cleaning the screening and spark arrest er would be a mandatory experience.

 

 

 

 

Grasping At Straws

I am sorry for the lengthy intervals between postings here at the female survivalist. Presently I am going through one of the hardest battles of my life. The many doctors can't seem to find out what is wrong, why my body seems to have deserted me.

I have learned so much going through this painful process, among them that a person without health insurance will lose everything they have worked for, saved and scrimped their entire lives just to make it to retirement.

Medicaid or medicare, (I get them mixed up),  for adults requires total poverty. Anyone my age, having worked hard all their lives and has lived a minimalist lifestyle, is usually not poor enough to qualify. Then, insurance premiums are sky high, especially for those of us who work in the Food and Beverage industry.

Why am I writing this post now? Just a heads up to all of you without any health insurance in place. My oldest daughter has proven to be my angel, my other children as well, offering all kinds of assistance if I simply call.

Its so strange to be in this kind of situation having been healthy as a horse all my life, installing wood stoves myself, panning for gold, doing crazy bushwhacks, hiking thousands of miles alone, living out of a back pack, enjoying adventures of the wilderness kind. When I get well, I will be working in Yellowstone.

Stuff happens. No one is immune. My arsenal of pain killers, all lined up neatly, sits on the desk in my rented motel room, with a dosing chart. We learn to live one day at a time. That's a great lesson too.

OK, so the good news. We never give up hope. The body wants to be well. It wants so bad to get back to work, to play and to be of service to others. I am living in Livingston, Montana under the care of some skilled physicians. They say they will solve this, and I will be well again.

If you could send good thoughts my way, pray, whatever strings you can pull or contact God, please do so. Some have suggested I offended God in some way and hence I suffer so He can get my attention. I'm listening. I repent here and now for any offense. I don't know or understand the Powers that Be. I don't think we poor little mortals can understand the being that created universes so magnificent, yet designed the tiny amoeba.

At this point I am willing to do anything.