Suburban Survivalist Finally Moving West!

That’s right, after several years of looking for the right job east of the Mississippi; I’ve finally found it and am moving from the DC area! We are moving at the beginning of May and if I never see DC again that’d be just fine.

Two major things will be accomplished with this move. First, the probably impossible plan of bugging out 1,300 miles or more won’t be necessary WTSHTF because we’ll be well within a tank of gas of my parent’s farm in Nebraska (which is our family “retreat”). Even if we had to go on foot, the population where we’ll be is a small fraction of what we’d have on the east coast, and the terrain is much less challenging. Second, although we won’t actually be in Nebraska, we’ll be close enough to get home much more often to work on survival projects, go shooting, etc, so I’ll move from theory to practice in many areas.

Getting ready to move is why I haven’t been able to blog as much.

I’ve moved overseas and cross-country many times in my career and such moves often are an opportunity to make a fresh start. For example:

• While in the DC area I probably spoke survivalism/preparedness to one or two people I shouldn’t have, and aside from that am known in my office as a “gun nut.” So one goal is to seriously tighten up my operational security, or OPSEC. I probably will not discuss preparedness co-workers once I move, and will discuss firearms little if at all.
• Related to OPSEC, in the past two years I’ve purchased a substantial amount of survival items including all types of ammunition and firearms supplies, miscellaneous gear, storage food, silver, etc. Most of it was purchased online, leaving an easy to read trail of what caliber of weapons I have and in many cases what type (revealed by items purchases, like a Mini-14 scope mount). The UPS delivery man who goes to my parent’s house even commented on all the ammo he delivered in a short period of time last year. In the future I’ll try to make bulk ammo/gear purchases with cash at gun shows, or little by little at local shops, also with cash. Can’t do anything about the trail I’ve already left, but I can stop highlighting it.
• Following the move I’m not sure how much or even if I will continue to blog. My guess is that blogs like mine are not monitored now, or only loosely. That could change in the future and I may not want to have my thoughts and plans so nicely cataloged for those who might later be more interested. This includes big brother, or even if someone were to discover who or where I am. I’m on the fence abut this for now.

But for now it’s back to getting ready to move this family of five half way across the country! Moving is a always a hassle in general, moving three young children only compounds that, especially with the drive, but knowing we’ll no longer be trapped on the east coast if/when a major problem arises is priceless.

Back in the Saddle Again

Time flies, it’s been nearly two months since my last post. I’ve taken leave and been busier at work than usual, and just enjoyed taking a break. A contributing factor is that awhile back I got a Kindle and I’ve been reading a lot of post-apocalyptic fiction; reviews to follow. Over the past few months I’ve finally had a chance to use some of the gear I’ve been purchasing for awhile, so they’ll be gear reviews as well.

Update on ammo storage: we put it under the house, which was a lot more cramped than I remember it. Its way back behind duct work and pipes, and covered with a tarp. Later we may add larger ammo cans of seed and antibiotics, since the temp is good in the summer. And it is bone dry down there. We thought about splitting it up between there and the barn, but decided to put it all there this time, and the next (smaller) cache will be in the barn.

Update on acorns: I haven’t gotten around to milling mine yet, but I did have a surprise; this year there was a bit of a drought in my neck of the Nebraska woods, and the oaks didn’t product acorns (also no blackberries locally this year). If you’re counting on acorns as a backup food source and have a drought, no acorns could just compound what would already be a rough situation.

The DC Earthquake

I was in my cubicle at work in Washington, DC for the 5.8 magnitude earthquake today. The building started to shake a bit, like it does sometimes with construction on a floor above. Very quickly the shaking got a lot worse and dust started falling from ceiling tiles. A couple of the gals were under their desks just that fast. I work near the center of a massive government building, so seeing what was happening wasn’t an immediate option.

I thought it was either a (1) quake or (2) a nuke attack. I’ve been around mortars and bombs of various types and this lasted too long and was too strong to be anything like that. A nuke attack on the Pentagon or maybe the national mall would have been far enough away from my DC workplace that the concussion and shockwaves might feel like an earthquake, I guess.

Yeah, I’m paranoid like that. Whenever the electricity goes off and it’s not storming, I check electronic devices and look outside for lights/cars to see if it’s an EMP or not.

The shaking passed after about five seconds and a guy from California was saying it was just a quake, no big deal. I knew that was most likely correct, but… Tried calling my wife and got a recording saying service was temporarily interrupted. Not a warm fuzzy (everyone is fine).

About two minutes after, news reporting said it was an earthquake. A bit after that we were told to evacuate the building, so I bailed and headed home (which turned out to be very good timing, not long after that there was gridlock, but I missed it).

When I was almost home I filled up my truck. When I got home I checked for broken gas and water lines (none), and noted the electricity hadn’t gone off (no blinking clocks). I then started charging any rechargeable devices and some batteries, incase large aftershocks took down power.

My firearms, magazine, water, and food were already squared away, and the BoB is ready to go if needed. It’s good to be ready.

Odds & Ends

Time, a lack of it. Been extremely busy lately at work and home, we both have slightly altered schedules and are still getting adjusted. I used to be able to focus on an issue and take care of it in one evening, but lately I’ve had to tackle things incrementally. I’m not really used to this but it’s turning out to be effective and it’s what I’ll have to do until I have a bit more time.

OPSEC, or operational security, the process of denying potential adversaries any information about capabilities/intentions and so on. I mean no offense, but I often ignore requests from those in my current state of Northern Virginia or my home state of Nebraska when questions are asked about my specific location, getting together, hometown, etc. While most of these requests are legitimate, I have decided to remain anonymous so don’t provide that sort of information. That’s also part of the reason I don’t accept advertisers.

Quotable, from The Firearm Blog:

Remember, always check local laws before attempting to build a gun.

Update, on my review of the Truglo Multi-Reticle. In a nutshell, was fine with 5.56mm but went belly up with 7.62x39mm. The lifetime limited warranty came into play and it was replaced, no questions asked.

The Survival Blog List

I spend a good bit time surfing through survival blogs via bookmarks and other sites’ blogrolls. For easy access I’ve consolidated those links on a page here; The Survival Blog List. Please help improve this list by sending links to your survival-themed blog or forum, or those you read. No special requirements on blog rankings. The main requirement is a primary focus on survivalism or prepping (rather than strictly political rants), and no racist or hate sites. New blogs should have at least a couple weeks of content.

Common Courtesy and Honesty

I really don’t mind if ideas are taken from here – please just include a simple linkback. I’m referring to a recent example where I posted on a topic that I tried to verify has not been brought up in survivalist blogs (Where Military Surplus Comes From).

Today I found a post on the same topic at SHTF Plan via a submission. That author posted on the same topic at their own blog within 24 hours of my post. It’s a truly amazing coincidence (they claim it is “pure coincidence”) that the probably previously unreported site among survival blogs (I checked before posting, in order to add linkbacks as needed, nothing showed in several searches) was mentioned twice in two days. In fact it’s an unbelievable coincidence. I really dislike dishonest folks. Things are the same as ever.