TOTM December '16- Survival Goals, Planning & Training

Man Dart, Your on a roll! Great TOTM. I actually have several goals still yet to be achieved! I have to finish my steam generator system so that I can truly go off grid should the grid go down for good I can keep my Diesel Genset for back up/emergency power! I have yet to fully integrate my lighting to low watt LED for all buildings and the house, and I need to get that done ASAP. I also need to excavate a drain field and build an outhouse! I finally got the state and the county to approve my dam modifications for my pond as required and so this spring I will have to divert the stream and knock out the existing dam and build the new one and get all the inspections done and signed off on! Nice thing is the requirement adds almost one acre extra water area to the existing pond and only adds two feet of depth! I still retain full water rights as well! Finally, I need to get down to the bottom end of my upper fields and get up new extra heavy Bear fence and gate, As we learned this past season, we were not as bear proof as we thought, but our visiting bear was pretty calm and harmless! Problem comes from his new girlfriend and Kiduns! LOL. Later this spring/early summer, it's off to Med school again to re cert as First Responder For the County, and I should have the MK-II set up on the big fire truck finished in time for the fire season to kick off!!! No rest for the weary!!! Looking forward to reading others posts and maybe picking up on things I have yet to think of or worse, Remember what I need to remember! Ugg!!!

 

Apology to all!

#1 - Will be prepping for nuclear war, stocking cave nearby with more supplies, it already has a natural source of fresh water. Bump it up from present 2 weeks to a month of supplies.

#2 - Will not be purchasing anything - if I can't salvage it, or make it from salvaged materials - I don't need it.

#3 - Will be working on better hand drill fire, improving my flint knapping, and building better bows and arrows.

 

@Oltymer If I understand H.R.5732 'Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act', and I freely admit I am not sure I do, it does not authorize or direct a no-fly zone. What it does is require 'the U.S president to report to Congress on the prospects for a no-fly zone in Syria' which is kind of bullshit since they have already had our military leaders answer the question and the answer was 'not without going to war with Russia.' I did see them stating this before congress on the news. So, honestly, I am not sure of the real purpose of this Act besides some new sanctions on Assad and it does give some powers to the President to waive sanctions if the parties are in meaningful negotiations. My guess is this will be brushed to the side come January with the new house, senate and president. Also, understand that it has not been signed into law by the president and I truly doubt Trump will do so.

The Turkey thing is unnerving and I believe there is more there than is stated. I think it must be a bargaining chip with the Russians because the Turks don't give a damn about the Syrians. What they want to ensure is that the damn Kurds stay out of their country which I think the Russians and Assad will give them - one way or another.

And, as far as Putin and the Ukraine...well, Putin is going to take it all and we and NATO will give it to him for the simple reason there is nothing there worth our money and blood. It's a fully corrupt and totally bankrupt state, a textbook failed state, and if we were going to stop it we would have acted long ago. It's not like Russia can perform major troop movements without our satellites knowing every detail about them. So, when they went into Georgia or the Ukraine or even exercise North towards the Baltic states we know exactly what they are doing and decide whether to react or not. And, you can be sure both countries are on the phone to each other.

I believe seceding the Ukraine is a foregone conclusion but the big question remains if he will stop there. Once the Ukraine is firmly in his control and already having political control of Belarus and he made it perfectly clear that his Southern border (Georgia) could be easily militarily annexed (for want of a better word) that leaves only the North as the only weak spot in his defense of everything west of the Urals, which truly is Russia. The Baltic States in the North are the big question and a very big weak spot for they're only a few hundred kilometers from Moscow.

 

I will certainly take my General Radio license exam this year. I passed the first two exams then lost interest for whatever reason probably because I wasn't ready to purchase an HF radio because we sort of put everything on hold until the election and that's a pricy purchase.

I will build a Greenhouse in the Spring, probably around 12' x 20' or bigger, something big enough we can grow enough tomatoes to make it worth the effort.

I need to get CPR recertified as well as get my wife some training so we'll do that and take some emergency First Aid courses. I've located a training facility.

Probably purchase a piston AR as it was another purchase that was put on hold.

Watching Gold very closely and think it will drop below $1000 and if so we'll finally purchase some but how much and what to do with it is still the big question.

Going to restart clearing the final section on the property which will be brutal work for 3 months or so for the next 3 years or more.

Actually, considering all we have done the past two years since we returned, I think 2017 will be a slow one...

 

Well you don't know what sort of a-holes are out there, but I can name a few.

 

Top priorities for next year:
1. Getting a decent garden laid in here at the new place.
2. Sustainable back-up power for the well and cistern pumps.
3. More bicycling...like we used to before we moved here. (Isn't it ironic that we moved into the middle of some of our favorite cycling country and have hardly had time to ride since?)

 

Totally my fault @Yard Dart . I apologize. I hadn't had my tea yet when I started my response and wasn't thinking clearly, sort of thinking out loud. Anyway, my bad and I will keep a watch on it more closely... This is one of the few places that I can have an intelligent conversation so I started blabbing without consideration. Sorry!

 

Name my three goals for 2017. I am going to name one goal that I had for 2016 but never completed. Getting my HAM license is a goal. I had a goal to get my license by August 2016. I went to the HAM radio field days, met great local HAM’ers; charged up my phone, printed off material and nothing. I know of internet sites that are great at helping one get a license, I know I can take practice tests but I still have not done it. Bottom-line: it does not interest me enough. I tried and occasionally have enthusiasm for it but that is usually brief. I know that I do need to get my HAM license because if there is a disaster and I do need to make a call, I do not want to put up with someone reporting me for calling without an operator license.

The other two goals…….. I just do not know. I am juggling balls, trying to get situated. I look at my preps and think there is no way I can fit all my stuff in an apartment/townhouse setting. I think just storing all the water that I feel I would need for apartment living would take up a large amount of space. I realized I had been looking at places and visualizing if I can store my preps but not if it would be a good place for my dog. Goals- I say prioritizing and learning live first, this prepper thing second. Our lives have changed so much since I started down this road, it is all really different. We are different people and the kids and I look at the world in a different way. We see things that most people do not notice. We talk about how to act and “what if’s. My kids think like survivalists. We do not know everything but I know that we have learned, we continue to learn and prepping is a way of life. But where I am at now in life, prepping does not fit so I need to stand back and figure out how to make it work.

I have read many comments over the years when a person mentions city or apartments, they get responses of move. Well, for some we choose to fit prepping into our life. Living life where and how you want with a prepper mind is interesting. People can survive anywhere, it all rests on the person not the place.

 

Thus last year I started looking at having year around green vegetables. So this year I am
1) retooling for worm composting kitchen scraps.
2) sprouting (I will look at new recipes as well because eating only veggies is not my idea of a good time)
3) growing peppers, tomatoes and other greens in pots or buckets. I really want a mini lemon tree and or mini lime because Vitamin C is so essential to good health

I will post as I up grade things. This dove tails with the sprouting post I made awhile back.

Sprouting Seeds for Food | Survival Monkey Forums

Sprouting- Using Stored Grain, Nuts, Seeds to Optimize Health | Survival Monkey Forums

No garden can be hidden so indoor gardening, for me, is a nice secondary option.

 

My recent inner reflections have led me to work on stopping making excuses for not getting things done. Reasons are okay, like not buying that castle in Germany because I haven't won the lottery. Excuses, like not getting out of bed in the morning to start fire cause it's cold out of bed, that's not okay. So in no particular order:

Goal #1
Getting all my teeth pulled since they're rotting anyways, and getting dentures. Wanna be able to eat properly again.

Goal #2
Finish digging the root cellar and get it built, so I can have a place to store food that the cats can't get into.

Goal #3
Slowly change to off-grid lifestyle. That doesn't mean no electricity, not at all, it just means not dependent on someone else for it.

 

Goal #1 Hold a one week dress rehearsal where I turn off the main breaker to the house and practice using my supplies.
Goal #2 Prioritize the holes in my plan that I identify after goal #1 is done.
Goal #3 Take my wife on more date nights.

 

Goal #1 - Continue to develop the BOL until it is habitable and then retire there - project that will ultimately take several years along with lifestyle changes - put in more preps. Sell the house I'm living in now.

Goal #2 - Already have the HAM license - purchase a decent (not necessarily new) all mode HF rig w / antenna tuner and learn to use it

Goal #3 - Study more bushcraft skills and begin to try them out. Bushcraft is intriguing. Last trip to the BOL included building a Dakota fire pit. Purchased one of those Mora knives and a halfway decent machete also. I have a long way to go when it comes to this.

2017 is going to be an extremely busy year! I may not get to all of this.

 

Well now, GOALS!
#1 Get out of Kalifornia..................................In process now
#2 Put up antennas for ham station..............Items purchased. Install next trip
#3 Green house............................................. Set for spring
#4 Move Kalifornia unfriendly items..............Boxed and ready to move this week
#5 Safe for goal #4 items............................. Location set and will install January
#6 Water storage...........................................950 gal tank needs to be moved and reinstalled
#7 Cold beer and set new goals..................Pencil and beer in hand.... Check!

 

Hey @BTPost what are your goals for the year?

 

That's a Great new beginning!