Why Guns are Important .

    The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gangbanger, and a single gay guy on equal footing with a carload of drunk guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.

why guns are civilized   this is well worth the time to read and its from 2007.

    Be not afraid of any man,
No matter what his size.
If danger threatens, call on me,
And I will equalize.     

Prepper barter items for frugal preppers.

    Ok I am trying to relax between loads of BBQ so a change of pace this post Last week I saw a couple of posts on survival sites on barter goods. Some Items listed were kind of pricey to toss in a box for someday . So I got to thinking what I had multiples of and what I need to add that are frugal and will have bang for the buck.
   Before I go  on AMMO in my opinion is not a barter item. The other thing that is not a barter item is Toilet paper. I have yet to meet a man that would face his wife and say use a leaf I traded butt wipe for __________ .They will not understand I don't give a damn what you barter for!!!

     Most items I have are dollar items or a little more or can be broke down from bulk for trade. I advise a small kitchen scale or a hanging farm scale to make honest trades both ways.
 
Salt its cheap and will be needed in large quantity's .
Sugar, cheap cant be grown and last forever.( honey is pricy)
Coffee any way (green, ground, instant) worth the cost.
Tea individual size qt.size
Spices all kinds in different sizes unground if you can find.
Over the counter meds and pain meds bulk to be broke down
LED Flashlights from dollar tree
Solar path lights, light and battery for a buck at dollar tree.
Bleach
Vinegar
Coco  powder, chocolate syrup. Pricy but bang for the buck
Hot chocolate packs just add water 6.99 for 72 at Sam's
Alcohol or more sugar if you make your own :).like me
Liquid soap in bulk or make your own
Canning lids lots and lots
Fishing hooks bobbers, lead weighs and spools of line
Plastic sheeting ,  2.98 for 20x50 Walmart.
     
    This isn't a complete list but  it is a cheap list of items that should trade high compared to cost . Yes some pricy items and fuel will be in demand  but I cant afford the inventory cost.

     If you have bulk items be sure to have zip lock bags for the dry goods and save empty 1/2 liter water bottles for liquids.

     You may have some personal preps that you may barter if long term but that wasn't what this list is. I also left out gold silver due to it isn't frugal :).

What is a cache?

     A cache is a place to hide and position items of use and value for future needs.But is that all it needs to be?Can it be a shelter can it be a safe place hidden to?
      I think we have all thought about a survival retreat in the woods.Usually our mind goes to a cabin with a wood stove a well right out of a Danial Boone book.Now in today's world if we had this it would be broke into looted used as a meth lab or a dozen other things if we didn't live there.

     Now we have all read about PVC caches Bucket cache and others.I have several of these myself but due to size they are limited in what can be stored and provide little shelter.The PVC cache is usually for 3 or 4 days food some ammo and a few other items. A Bucket cache will hold a weeks food for 2,ammo other items to help for a short period.Here are a few pics of typical tube and bucket caches

   These are useful but are limited in scope.The good thing about them is they are away from our houses and hidden.As preppers most of what we have is in our homes and at risk if SHTF happens.
      Most preppers will refuse to leave their homes the idea of "bugging out" isn't an option.For some it due to age others its health.For most its "This is my castle" i have all my prep's in the basement,garage,shed.I feel the same way but if the  Feds or a zombie hoard comes you will die.At best you will flee and lose most of your supplies.Then you are down to what you hid in buckets and PVC caches.
     I want something safer with more options.I want it for the house or on other property.I don't want to have it found and robbed to crackheads or government flunkies (little difference both are parasites).I want capacity to have a chance.

I stole it from Mike

     This was posted on http://livingprepared.blogspot.com/ It reminded me i had  the other one.

   

SUMS IT UP !!!

Well they voted for war.

     Our brain dead leaders on capital hill gave our brain dead president their blessing on a new war front.It looks like we get to send our soldiers into a civil war.What right do we have getting involved in an internal conflict?Yea i know WE say the Syrian government used gas,WE also said Saddam had WMD how did that turn out?Any excuse to stay in a fight.Is there a national interest at stake in this war for the USA.In a civil war as long as it stays within their own borders all other country's should stay out.

    If there was a civil war here should other countries intervene?Or should we be able to settle it ourselves.Now i am not saying no trading France,Great Brittan,and other countries profited of the revolutionary and civil war.Munitions and Loans are the Bank masters profit centers has always been and still are today.My opinion is sell them arms but keep our military out of it.
    Maybe our bankers want us involved because whoever wins in Syria wont have the ability to repay the bankers.So they want us directly involved so their profit is guarantied.
     There is nothing in this for the American people except cost and deaths and future acts against us from the Muslim world.

Foxfire books a must read

      If you have never heard of the foxfire books please look them up online and read 1-5.What they are is a collection of stories wrote in the sixties by high school kids talking to their grandparents great aunts and uncles about life in the Appalachian Mt's.Most of the books are first hand accounts of things that had to be done to just live a lot of how to a lot descriptions of there daily life.If you do read the books remember they had no electricity no cars few stores and little money.
      I have a lot of respect for the abilities of the people in these books .When i read books of this type i look at modern things that we have available for off grid living today vs back then.Our modern mountain families even if they are off grid and living off the land have it so much easier than the folks in the 1800s had.By the same token people from back then knew more about what it took to live that kinda life.If i had to live off the land with only 1 modern item i think i would pick a chainsaw.The amount of time they took with falling trees and making lumber and usable items was huge.A chainsaw would free up a lot of time for other things.You may wonder why not a truck? No roads .Solar panels ?Why a lantern was available and candles.Guns yea modern ones would be nice but black powder was OK and it wouldn't  save time.A fridge? No i have waded a mt stream its plenty cold for milk and most food .So i am back to the chainsaw.Even with a good chainsaw falling cutting and splitting a cord of firewood is a lot of work.Could you do  it using a 2 man saw bucking horse saw then split it?
     If something happens and we devolve back to this level read these books and choose what you could do to make it as manageable as possible.For me a chainsaw is my pick i have 3 and 10 gallons of Coleman fuel for long term.I also have a 10 gallon ethanol generator (a still) that i have used for many years.What do you think your 1 item would be for you.

I found AMMO !!!!

      Sunday me and the wife went to a local flea market .MT Top is an every Sunday event but  you have to get there early.We got there about 8.30 and it was already full.The place is laid out rows A-K up the hillside and each row is 500 ft long so it is a workout to see it all.The lower part is the regulars and the upper rows are for irregular vendors.The wife decided we would work our way up the hill a row at a time.I prefer to go to the top and work my way down.Even the wife said we should have gone top down when we finished.
     
      WE looked at this and that but i didn't see anything that i wanted till we hit the upper rows.As i hit row H a man was sitting at a table with boxes of ammo 38s .223 and .40 .He had 20 round and 50 rounds a box.  I could not believe the prices over a buck a round on the 20 counts and just under a buck on the 50 boxes.Asked him if he had any 22s he said a guy down the row did so i moved on hoping to pick up a 500 brick of 22s.What i found was shocking to say the least.A box of 50 thunderbolts was 8$ a brick was 68$ he had about 10 ammo boxes of them in his truck and they looked to be pre Y2K.  I PASSED !!!!  Saw a total of 5 men selling ammo and 3 selling silver coins.cheapest ammo was 7$ for 50 22s and silver was going for 32$ on silver dollars.

     Who says prepping is crazy? I think a normal person getting 1.50% on a CD is crazier.Have you been to a flea market and seen what your area prices are?