Star City Survival

LARGE ALICE PACK BACK PACKS 2 for $50.00

2010-03-25T12:14:00.001-04:00

Back in January I ordered my first Alice Pack, and got a good deal on it for $30.00 which included shipping. It was supposed to be used, but to be honest, it looks brand new to me. The price has gone up to$40.00 for the pack, but currently there's a excellent sale going on pricing them at 2 for $50.00! That's $25.00 a pack and it's too good of a deal not to share with my friends. So check out: http://www.cjlenterprize.com and order yours. The sleeping bags look pretty good too. I might get one to go with my bag.

Rod McGough

Free Documents On Prepping And, Well..., ANYTHING!

2010-03-20T16:00:00.000-04:00

Here's a very useful website where people post original writings and documents of their own, and for the people who believe that the term "copyright" means "the right to copy"..., the writings of others. That may change in the future though as there is currently a copyright infringement lawsuit against them. Regardless, if you have a voracious appetite for reading about prepping, survivalism, homesteading, and all the related subjects that go with it, this is a great site to find those how-to manuals and instructionals.

A word of warning though, one of the books available for download resulted in quite an explosion in a neighbor's back yard when my brother's rocket diverted from its intended trajectory. Oh the things boys do when mommy is at work .

The website is: http://www.scribd.com

One of the members made a nice directory that cuts down on a lot of searching. Check it out at:

http://www.scribd.com/people/documents/7567031-oblivionboyj

You have to sign up to be able to download, but it's free. And it's one more valuable resource to building up your survival or prepping library.

Rod McGough

This Is One Great Book Sale (Roanoke VA)

2010-03-17T20:55:00.000-04:00

As this blog pertains to prepping and surviving in the "Star City" area of Virginia, or at least it's one of my future goals, I just have to mention that the Roanoke County Library is again hosting a Spring Book Sale in April. More than half of my books on gardening, camping, homesteading, country living, etc, all come from this sale hosted about twice a year.

"Friends Of The Library (FOL)" get first pick on Friday, April 9, and as I use the library almost on a daily basis for free high speed Internet, 10 cent black and white copies or 25 cent color copies, free movies, and of course for all the books I read at the daycare, I have no problems with paying a small membership fee each year to help support this wonderful service. Just hurdle past the movie section on your left, if you pause you'll blow a bundle on DVD's. Then step over all the outdated computer books, worm your way past all the home school families digging for children's books, and head straight to the back. On your left is usually hundreds of cook books, gardening, and natural healing books. On your right you'll discover books on camping, country living, etc. Further on down is religion, politics, etc.

It's open season with no limit, so get there early and bag a few books!

Rod McGough

FREE: Youtube Survival Videos

2010-03-16T17:27:00.001-04:00

For a couple years now I've avoided Youtube like the plague. I've always been cursed with owning a used computer with the poor hard drive chugging away like the "little engine that could", so visiting multimedia websites were just bothersome and a waste of time considering the length of time it took to load a sound or video clip. Then too, at age 45, I suppose it's a generational thing as well along with Facebook and texting. I just don't have the time or patience for it. But lately I've made some time for Youtube and it's becoming a valuable resource in both my work with children and in improving my prepping skills.

For instance, go to Youtube.com and type in one of these search words: "foraging" "herbs" "prepping" "survival" "self sufficiency" "homesteading" "food storage" "solar", etc, etc. There's a whole library of videos out there to assist you in your prepping skills! And they're all free to view, and free to download for now at least.

Now I'm not an expert, but I understand that Youtube videos are in the ".FLV format" which stands for Flash Video. And after a few right clicks I discovered that they can't be downloaded with simple right clicking. There's basically only three ways to download a Youtube video and that's by:

1. Using special websites designed to capture & convert Youtube videos
2. Using a commercial software program and do it yourself
3. Capture It With a Firefox extension

I've tried the special websites - the free ones, and while they do work, it's time consuming and usually you can only do one video at at a time unless you want to pay for better features. The commercial software that you pay for works for a while, but every now and then Youtube does something that prevents these programs from downloading unless the software creators find a new way around these blocks.

So I use the free Firefox extension called: Video DownloadHelper

The current version is 4.7.1 and can be downloaded at: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3006

Of course you have to use the Firefox web browser to use it which is what I use ever since I upgraded Internet Explorer and started having problems on my sluggish computer.

Now personally, I just download the videos in their original .FLV format as I have no need to convert them into other formats to burn on a DVD and play on my television set or to upload to an Ipod. I use Irfanview from http://www.irfanview.com to view all my graphics and videos, and with the optional plugin I can view the .FLV videos just fine. I've tried converting the videos in the past, but with my sluggish computer, things just mess up more often. So why bother? And speaking of sluggish computers, when in the Youtube page I simply click on the "stop" button when the video starts to play in my browser as I want to enjoy it later - running full length without pauses after I've downloaded it

I now have over 300 videos that I've collected, and there's still so much more to download. I've got videos on how to store food, how to put together a bug out bag, and even how to skin a rabbit or squirrel. Right now I'm in the middle of collecting videos on wild foods that can be found anywhere in the United states for food and medicine. Reading this information is one thing, but to see someone else actually put it into practice really helps. Sure some of it is a little redundant, there's some arrogance, boasting, and misguided facts, but it sure beats the hell out of watching a video of some guy farting on a cigarette lighter!

So try out that Firefox extension. The creator is pretty good at keeping it updated when the need arises. Build up your survival library with both printed material and video, and take your learning to a new level.

Rod McGough

A Great Essay!

2010-03-15T14:19:00.004-04:00

I have the flu today on top of my allergies, but I was able to spend a half hour on the Internet before having to lay back down. Thank God I had the hindsight to stash away some "original recipe" Theraflu before the government pulled out the Pseudoephedrine. This was posted on a message forum that I subscribe to. If you want to read more essays from Michael Martin, please visit his website at: http://michaelmartinusa.com

Rod McGough

THE COLLAPSE OF THE AMERICAN DOLLAR, by Mike Martin

BRIEF: An educated prediction of what is coming soon

HUMAN CHARACTERISTICS

There are basically three types of characteristics in all individuals; pride, selfishness, and compassion. As children, we start as selfish little rug-rats until we get older and learn to share. If you don’t believe me, watch how a toddler reacts when another kid picks up his toy that he hasn’t touched all day. Some people never grow out of it and constantly demand the world to revolve around them. Most failed marriages are a direct result of selfishness. A lot of us who have more of this trait than others usually end up in our prison system.

Pride is a taught trait and is an excellent motivator for achievement. Without it, people tend to be happy with the status-quo. Those who have an abundance of this become our doctors, lawyers, politicians, and most importantly - our employers.

But compassion is something that seems to come from within most of mankind and requires little training. It is there in just about all of us; some having more than others. We all want to feel warm and tingly inside when we do something to help others. Don’t you?

In America, compassion is not limited to one political party or the other. Liberals want to help the down-trod by removing funds from one group and dispersing it to less fortunate folks. Liberals are wonderful people with big hearts. The only people they do not have enormous compassion for are the people they want to take the money from. Problem is, their effort penalizes those who take the risks and awards those who do not. Still, those who instigate this, “robbing the rich to give to the poor,” end up feeling all warm and tingly inside.

Conservatives demonstrate compassion a different way. Most use their own money to give to the down-trod. They also want to help others by rewarding achievement and prosperity. The philosophy is that if the people with more pride are not hindered by re-distribution of wealth, all will bask in the fruits of the prosperity they create. Some call it the “Trickle Down Effect.”

THE GREAT EXPERIMENT

The original American colonies were a classic experiment in social community productivity. Wealthy investors in Europe saw a chance to recruit farmers and tradesmen, send them to America to work the land, harvest the fruits of their labor, and make high profits for the effort. Communities and the surrounding land were owned by the investors (or company). Families would work the land and bring the harvests to the central storage lockers. They returned to the company farms with enough to get their families through the winter months and to the next spring planting.

But, something didn’t seem to be working properly in the system. Each harvest grew smaller and smaller until the investors found they were losing money. Incentive and lack of pride was the problem. Mr. Jones and his five sons could produce twice the corn as Mr. Smith and his five daughters. Yet, Mr. Jones received no more than Mr. Smith at the end of the harvest. It stood to reason that he would not work so hard the next season for the same reward. It was the classic example of why Socialism has never produced a productive society.

So, The Great Experiment was introduced. The farms were given to the families and a fair price was given for the bounty they produced. The very next harvest proved beyond a shadow of doubt that this experiment in Capitalism was successful and well above expectation. If Mr. Smith and his five daughters didn’t produce as much as Mr. Jones, they simply didn’t receive as much reward. I call this, “Keeping up with the Jones’. “

The Great Experiment continues and the country has grown into the most powerful society on the planet. Socialist nations have never been able to compete with the productivity of the USA. No society has maintained a better way of life for the masses than this country. Foreigners line up every day for the opportunity to immigrate to the place where individuals are rewarded for hard work and ambition. Because of the prosperity created by The Great Experiment, America’s citizens have become fat and spoiled – a good indication that life is good.

ROBINHOOD SYSTEM

But, that has all been rapidly diminishing in recent times. Government stepped in during the 30’s and introduced another social experiment called Social Security. This took money from those working and gave it to those not working. It was a compassionate idea where politicians learned a powerful lesson. They could buy votes from a block of citizens without spending any of their own money. Since then they have been establishing additional entitlement programs, taking money from productive groups to pass on to the non-productive. The political party giving more entitlements gets support from those receiving them. The party restricting the growth of entitlements gets support from those financing the giving. Problem is, the receivers far outnumber the givers.

Because we are a nation full of compassionate people, a large sector of our voters now confuse pride with greed. Having wealth has been vilified by a rapidly growing liberal cult. Those with pride who possessed incentives to better themselves, and took risks to create wealth, are now looked upon as greedy bastards getting rich off the backs of the poor. The majority forgets to thank those greedy bastards for creating our jobs.

We have been progressively electing more liberal politicians that rob the rich to give to the poor. There is an obvious conspiracy within our mainstream media to encourage such elections and to squelch the views of those who support The Great Experiment. Blame gets cast on the wrong shoulders when the system fails. Rather than lay fault on failed policies created by Socialists, the media shifts it on the Capitalists. A good example is the recent failure of the banking system. Liberals like Barney Frank mandated that before banks could receive federal dollars, they had to hand out high risk loans to the poor. When it was realized these people were not repaying these loans in massive numbers, the system failed. But the fault was blamed on George Bush and the Republicans while the truth was, and still is, kept from the public by the Mainstream Media. The result was more liberals being elected to office and more social system legislation created. In other words, the very medicine causing the patient to be sick is being increased by the doctor.

I consider myself a history scholar. There is much to learn from it and those who do not are doomed to repeat it. From what I have learned from history and from what I see unveiling before my eyes, there is an impending economic disaster lurking around the corner for America and the world. And it has nothing to do with Biblical predictions, Nostradamus, or the 2012 Mayan Calendar. I am devoting the rest of this document to discuss what I sincerely believe is coming and how good people should prepare for it. I could care less about the bad people. Though I am confident this will happen, I am hoping like hell I am completely and totally wrong!

THINGS COMING SOON

The majority of American compassionate voters have made their voices heard through the election of a self proclaimed Socialist. It did not happen by accident or from missing chads. The majority spoke loudly saying they want to stray from The Great Experiment and move more toward Socialism. Barack Obama and his Democrat Congress intend to give the American majority what it wants at record speed. At the time of this writing, President Obama has already begun his plan to rid us of Capitalism and to bring in the new era of government controlled Socialism. He calls it “The Great Change”. Those who differ with my assessment are just kidding themselves. You would have to be blind not to see his scheme unfolding.

Little do most of us know is that our currency has been held together by a thread for many years. It started when Congress allowed more money to be printed than we had gold or silver to back its value in the treasury. Countries we do business with, that prosper because of us, control the fate of the American dollar by buying up a lot of the worthless notes and stuffing them away. At any time China, Japan, or Germany could call in the notes they are holding, creating an immediate crash in value. Such a move would make the dollar worthless and devastate an already failing American economy.

When Barack Obama and Congress approved the huge Stimulus package, panic broke out amongst those nations holding dollars. They knew to finance the package, America would have more dollars printed than the Gross National Product could support. They knew the burden would fall on them to buy up all the worthless green-backs created for the Stimulus if they wanted to continue selling goods to the USA. And still, there are more dollars to be printed for Obama’s promised projects in The Great Change.

China holds the most dollars. They have already made comments saying they cannot continue to support the American dollar if we are going to keep printing it like confetti. China has been vocal in Europe about alternatives such as creating a new international currency or the possibility of switching the planet off the dollar and on to the German Mark. If either is done, there will be a sudden dumping of the US dollars held internationally. We won’t even know what hit us until we wake up one morning and find the money in the bank and our 401K’s worthless. I predict this very thing will happen within the first term of Barak Obama.

What happens after the collapse of USA currency? Think about it. Whatever money you have will be worthless. No one will take it in exchange for goods and services out of fear it will never gain value again. Remember Confederate money? There may be a bit of warning in the news with China having meetings with Germany and Japan about world commerce. There will be rumors of the dumping of the dollar, but no one will take it seriously here in America. Here is what to expect once we get the surprising news:

* Day 1 through 7 – The New York Stock Exchange will not open in fear of massive selling of American stocks owned by foreign investors. It will probably remain closed indefinitely, waiting for our government to fix the problem. That fix will come, but not for at least a year.

Americans will hear of the news when they wake up. Some will have received word from friends or relatives who heard about it earlier. Those who didn’t see it coming will spend a good part of the first day trying to assess the situation. Some will still go to work but many will call in sick. By the time the evening news comes on, most will have realized we have become part of the worst economic disaster in world history. There will be a massive run on food stores by people wanting to stock their shelves in anticipation of events to come. Gun shops will be the second priority. Many merchants will lock doors and attempt to keep precious goods secure until the government can do something to restore a feasible currency. All credit cards will be cancelled within minutes of the news. Paper money will only be good for starting fires. Panic will break out with the hordes of people trying to get supplies. Uncontrollable looting will begin late in the first evening. The police will have no choice but to get out of the way until the military can step in and declare Marshall Law. Stores will be laid to ruin and store owners will make no attempts to restock.

* Day 8 through 14 – Most of the work force will have given up on going to work. They will realize that paycheck won’t buy anything. Men will stay home to protect what possessions they have from being stolen by neighbors and hungry friends. Utility companies will continue to provide services with frequent interruptions. Without adequate staff to man the generators and water treatment plants, skeleton crews will have trouble keeping it all going. Eventually the military will take over the operations, but there will not be enough troops trained in the areas needed. Marshall Law will demand key engineers to return to their posts or face arrest. All military personnel will be recalled from overseas assignments to assist in keeping law and order in the major cities. Civilian law enforcement will hardly exist because lawmen will be doing like everyone else; staying home to protect what is theirs.

* Day 15 through 365 – The military will be in total control of what food and supplies gets to the vast population. Since food production will have already come to a halt, supplies will mostly come from stored sources. Rationing will be required and everyone will need more than they are given. Fathers will suffer the agony of hearing their children’s hunger cries and will be tempted to do things beyond belief.

The compassionate majority will become the selfish majority. Men who were once supporting Obama’s plans to rob from the rich will be the first to steal from the poor. Those hording food and fuel will be prime targets. If not prepared to kill in defense of property, these folks will wind up with nothing and probably end up murdered in their sleep.

The military will do its best to protect the people. Problem is, there will be a lot more hungry and desperate people than there will be soldiers. Orders will be given to disarm the society with the excuse of protecting everyone. The man trying to fortify his home against the bad guy will lose his weapons first and become defenseless. Those hiding weapons and staying mobile will take what they want with little resistance. The military will be completely incapable of stopping them.

During this time, the President and Congress will have their hands full trying to keep the military functioning and comfort for themselves maintained. There will be periodic news reports that the government is working on ways to restore an acceptable currency. The President will ask the public to be patient with the promise government will save us all.

Those who thought owning gold would protect them in a failed economy will quickly discover gold is not a currency. If you think I am wrong, try to buy something with gold now. The system requires you to go trade it for paper money first. Establishing an item as currency requires a system that has been in place for centuries. Few have any idea of the worth of gold or even how to identify its purity. It is a precious metal with nothing in place to trade it for goods. Private efforts will be made to establish a way to measure and price pieces of gold coins and jewelry for trade, but it will fail. People trading for it will quickly learn that no one else will take it for what they need. A person will be lucky to get a can of beans for a $900 gold piece.

A barter system will automatically fall into place in a very short time. Smart and good people will ban together out of survival instincts. Sections of neighborhoods will be blockaded and guarded around the clock by the inhabitants. Canned goods, ammo, and fuel will be used like cash. People will be holding signs up everywhere saying, “Will work for food.” For once, they will mean it.

Some will seek rural areas to grow food. They will quickly learn that it takes a long time to harvest food from the time of planting. And finding seeds will be no easy task. While waiting on the crops to mature, they will be inclined to arm themselves and forage through the neighbor’s belongings. Once crops are easily seen by hungry on-lookers, these new farmers will become the new targets.

The once compassionate and fat American will reduce into a lean and hungry hard-core hater of his fellow man. He will trust no one and will do anything to protect what little he has left. Racial prejudice will be abundant. People will be killed for color regardless of what supplies was gathered from the effort. All black, all Hispanic, all Asian, and all white gangs will organize and be at war with each other. Men will join these gangs because of the sheer safety in numbers. The military will be afraid to interfere in gang activities.

All politicians in office will receive fair blame for the problems faced by the constituency. Though they will try to put blame elsewhere, the Mainstream Media will finally be ignored by the masses. If the military allows elections to continue, all incumbents up for re-election will be voted out of office. A new president will be expected to clean up the aftermath of Obama’s Great Change.

America will not be alone in this. Even the countries that dumped the American dollar and started this world-wide Depression will not be spared from the havoc of its once content hungry citizens. Countries that are already controlled by the military will see little change. Those people were already hungry and disarmed with little concern what’s happening elsewhere.

* Day 366 – The government will announce that a new currency has been accepted by Congress and all major nations. More than likely, it will replace all currencies. American citizens will be given 1000 credits in this new currency to purchase immediate needs, only if they return to work. The military will remain at their posts for one additional year to insure civilian law enforcers are back in place.

It will take years for America to recover from the economic disaster caused by our desire to embrace Socialism. And even then the best we could hope for is a very uncomfortable lifestyle like what the Soviet Union had at its peak. There won’t be a middle class; only an Upper and a Lower. Those folks who once had the pride characteristic will have lost it. Few would be brave enough to risk bettering themselves because someone might want to take it away again. More than likely the new order of things will be under a military dictator who emerged at the worst of the crisis.

__________________________________________________________________ __

HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE ECONOMIC COLLAPSE, by Mike Martin

BRIEF: Things to have ready when the day of accountability comes

The science of human nature is a fun thing to study. There are hungry people all over the world who are meek and do not go around stealing from others in the society they live in. So what makes me think hungry Americans will do anything differently? The difference is, the first bunch have had several generations living with poverty. Americans have had it good for many generations. Even during the Great Depression, few went hungry and we only experienced eighteen percent unemployment at its worst. We are a society that takes our very food system for granted. Most of us have no earthly idea how food gets from its source to the market. We just know when we want it we go down the block and buy it with a credit card. When that supply comes to an abrupt halt there will be a lot of fat, selfish, ignorant, spoiled, and hungry individuals out foraging for something to eat. It won't take long for the liberals to learn that the government they had so much faith in will not provide for them. Since most have never been hungry their entire lives, a new breed of human will emerge on the street taking what he can get.

The first thing to get ready for the economic collapse is to start forgetting about saving money or paying off debt. Spend what you have available now preparing. Drop all unnecessary expenses for the time being such as life insurance, retirement contributions, or collision insurance. When the collapse comes, you won't have any of that anyway. Streamline your expenses and use the money to buy things now that you will need in the bad times. Take out an equity loan on your house. If I am wrong and the country avoids the obvious within the next five years, then go back and spend your money like before. Believe me, you will thank me every day if what I predict comes true. If I am wrong, you can always use up what you have accumulated or sell it. If you didn’t take my advice and I was right, you will be sitting on a lot of worthless money and little to eat.

If you do not believe something is going to happen soon, just try to buy guns and ammunition these days. The shelves stay empty since Barack Obama and his Socialist Congress were elected. People inherently know what to stock up on first if disaster is inevitable. But, just having guns is not enough. You must know how to use them and be prepared to kill to keep what is yours.

The day is coming when we will all be tested. It is not just your neighbor you will worry about. Officials wearing badges and guns will be coming to your home to take your things in the name of the law. You may be forced to kill one coming around claiming he is just doing his job. Your wife and children will have to be taught also. Someone has to remain awake and on guard at all times when this disaster hits our economy.

I also recommend getting bullet-proof vests for all the family. I suggest acquiring several twelve gauge shotguns and double ought buckshot ammo. A high power rifle with scope will be needed for picking off those besieging your castle. Pistols are only good when you are already too close to your enemy. Automatics with multiple extended clips will save you in an out-in-the-open fight if you are a good shot. I prefer a sawed-off automatic shotgun for such events with belts modified to strap multiple reloads to your body.

Food, without saying, is the second priority. Many will just do the first thing, because with guns you can take food from those without guns. There is no such thing as storing too much food; however, what you horde must have a shelf-life of at least a year or more. You should keep in mind that you are not just hording things for your family to eat during the bad times, but also accumulating assets for barter. At the worst time, a can of Hormel Chile could trade for shotgun shells or gas for your generator. Small canned goods are your best bet. Beans, chili, stews, Ravioli, etc, have long shelf lives and turn into easy to carry barter items. Flour, sugar, powder milk, yeasts, etc. are good things to have, but will have to be kept in air-tight containers to prolong shelf life. Pancake mixes are a waste of space and could end up deadly. The premixed yeasts can turn into mold and cause some severe effects. Frozen foods are out of the question because you will not have reliable electricity to keep the freezer on. Cheap bottled wines, liquor, and canned beer, will make for excellent barter. You will not want to drink any yourself because you will need all your wits to survive. Cheap canned dog food can be eaten also by humans. You may not want to eat it yourself, but your starving neighbor may trade you a canister of propane for a case of dog food.

Some differ with me on this next priority. I say a secure dry cool storage area is a top need. You must be able to protect your horde at all times and it should be large enough to keep a bunch of stuff on hand. If you have other properties, it would be a good idea to bury or hide smaller quantities of supplies around. If your main stash gets taken, you will have others to fall back on. Family members should all know where each stash is hidden in case one needs to bargain for his/her freedom. Hiding extra weapons and ammunition off-site is probably a good idea too. If your castle is invaded and you are fortunate enough to survive, it will be nice to know you can start over.

Fuel comes next. Gasoline breaks down with age. It eventually becomes varnish and is useless. Diesel can be stored indefinitely and can also be used in place of coal oil. Either will be in extreme demand. The more you have, the more you can use for barter. Twenty pound propane tanks are easy to store and have a long shelf life. People will be doing all their cooking on yard gas grills and propane will be in short supply.

If you can afford a diesel generator it is better to have than one running on gasoline. Extra spark plugs, oil, oil filters, etc… should be kept also. You will need a generator to power security lighting outside your home. The bad guys are not going to attempt to rob you in broad daylight, especially if they know you are armed. They will try to invade at the cover of darkness and slit your throat while sleeping.

Installing a safe room in your home will be a tremendous safety net for your family if you are invaded. It should be impenetrable with the means to defend from within. With luck, either you kill the invader or he may give up and leave. With bad luck, he may burn your house down around you.

Battery operated radios, walky-talkies, and anything to keep you in touch with the outside world will be needed. Cell phones will be useless. TV may remain on the air, but probably not through cable or satellite. A small battery operated TV may keep you better informed with what’s going on in Washington DC.

Lots of long-life batteries and flashlights will keep you out of the dark. Such items will be in hot demand in a barter system. Duracell has the longest shelf-life in the market. Be sure to purchase those manufactured most recently.

I recommend keeping a lot of emergency medical supplies on hand. Having access to doctors is not going to be as common as it is now. How-To medical pamphlets on sewing a wound, sterilizing equipment, removing slugs, etc will be a big help along with the instruments to do those things. From now own, do not throw out old medicines, especially pain killers. Over-the-counter drugs like Excedrin PM and Ibuprofen work for pain relief. Pills exposed to air should be vacuumed sealed and labeled before you store them. They will last almost forever if not exposed to the elements.

You will be surprised how easy it is to raise vegetables in five gallon containers. If you have a lot of money you can start collecting Earth Boxes. They are self watering containers that use the minimum amount of water to produce the maximum yield. If you intend to grow food, it needs to remain portable so all can be drug into the garage at night. Otherwise, nothing will be left to harvest when you wake up the next morning. Stock high yielding seeds like tomatoes, lettuce, and spinach. Try to stay away from hybrids because they have poor shelf-life and the seeds from their fruit tend to be impotent.

The time may come when you will have to relocate yourself and family to a more secure place. As time progresses in the chaos, people like yourself will organize and set up fortified communes. If you are lucky, you may be invited to join one. Problem is getting there. The military will be watching the roads and disarming everyone they find carrying weapons. You won’t want to lose yours. Traveling by foot while dragging your belongings will make you easy prey. Possessing off-road dirt motorcycles or 4-wheelers will make things a bit easier. They will require little precious fuel and will take you through paths other vehicles can’t travel. You will also need containers that will strap to the motorcycles for transporting your stash. It wouldn’t be a bad idea either to have a Garmin to help you find alternate routes to your destination.

Remember these tips if nothing else: You will have to trade for items you need. No one will want your Rolex or Mercedes. If you don’t prepare anything else, stock plenty of food so it can be traded later for things you didn’t get. Start seeking others you can trust who believe as you do. Hopefully, this can be someone with property away from the big cities. Work out a plan to join forces when the time comes. Expect a lot of hungry relatives to attempt to join you once they get desperate. Even though they didn’t take your warnings seriously, they will remember you prepared and have food. You will have to make a decision to send them away or take in some extra mouths.

CONSLUSION:

Many Americans, like my sweet wife, have trouble believing the comfortable and safe life we have been enjoying for generations will come to a sudden delay. She, like many others, has been taught to trust in government and believes politicians will protect us from bad times. People like her have never understood that the prosperity we have been enjoying for over two hundred years has never been a result of something the government did. We’ve enjoyed prosperity despite government attempts to alter The Great Experiment. Our comfortable life is strictly due to the abundance of successful citizens with pride who create wealth that passes on to us through jobs. Mess with that as Obama is doing now, dump gazillions of worthless dollars on a fragile market, and watch what little the politicians can do to stop economic collapse. Face it, an economy revolves around currency. Without value, it is just paper. Without currency, an economy cannot function.

If my predictions come true, please do not come knocking on my door asking that I show compassion to your starving family. My compassion stops here with this friendly advice to prepare yourself. Ignore it at your own risk. That is the best thing about choice in this great country.

__________________________________________

2010-03-14T16:17:00.000-04:00

Shuttering, shedding, and slashing seems to be the new buzz phrase for 2010, with businesses and certainly now in our school system. The Roanoke Valley here in Virginia certainly is no exception as we continuously read about job cutbacks, unemployment, consolidating schools and cutting back on the teaching staff. Thank God that we're not closing down 28 schools like Kansas City is at the end of the school year. But I fear this may be the norm in years to come - in any state and city of the US.

I don't understand the politics of it all, nor all the economic reasons behind it. I do read about the anger and the fears of the average American citizen, and I can relate to that. But when government officials, experts, or the common guy on the streets talk of mistakes and answers, it all makes little sense to me. It's not that I don't care, but my mind wasn't made or trained to comprehend such matters. I'm kind of like Charlie Brown - wishy washy and seeing a valid point in every argument.

But I do understand enough to know that while hoping for the best, we must also prepare for the worst.

I've not posted for a year, instead I've visited numerous other survival related blogs and have joined many message boards all related to survivalism, prepping, self sufficiency, etc. I've downloaded gigabytes of .pdf files and youtube videos on the above subjects. I enjoy the thrill of the hunt and watching my hard drive overflow with material that could help me in years to come. But does that make me a survivalist ? No. Does it make me book smart? Not at all as I haven't even read most of it. And that I believe, is the first step in being a survivalist or prepper. It's in realizing that no matter how much knowledge I obtain, there will always be more that I don't understand. With my food preps or other preps useful if times get tough - all gathered around me, it doesn't make me fully prepared if the shit hits the fan. There will always be something I missed. There are skills I don't have and plans never made. All I can do is prepare - one step at a time, and one day at a time, and be honest about myself, my abilities, and my goals.

I'm a Prepper - doing the best I can with what money and time I have got. And though I don't understand what's happening in the world around me, I at least have a little comfort in knowing that I have some preparations ready should things go bad. I may not be as well off as some, but I will be in a far better position than others. I can provide a little better for myself, and for those around me.

I still want to keep Star City Survival up and running and to be able to provide information to others who are just starting out - especially those in my area. But what I don't ever want to be is an arrogant bigot, a hypocrite, or a keyboard commando. They're all over the place in the survivalist and prepper community. That's what I encountered throughout my explorations this last year on the Internet. It's not the pretending that bothers me, or the arrogant boasting. I work with children - 30 years now, and I'm used to such child-like behavior. If you want to pretend that you trained with the special forces, that you have a bunker filled with weapons and food when you don't, it doesn't matter to me at all. If you want to boast that you're a black belt and have trained in ways of a ninja warrior, that's fine with me. But it's those who preach that it's God's will that we head for the hills and hunker down while the world goes to Hell in a hand basket - leaving the rest of humanity to fight each other off into extinction..., that's where I personally have a problem.

Preppers in my book, share information like through many of the forums on the Internet that you can log on to and ask questions or learn some skills that you didn't posses. Preppers don't fear the future, but instead, simply take responsibility for themselves instead of waiting for someone to take care of them. They buy a little extra out of each paycheck and set it aside for a rainy day. They learn from each other, enjoy each other's company and advice, and are not extremists or racists. Preppers are producers, not hoarders - understanding that we cannot save, borrow, or buy enough to get us out of a mess. And the kind of prepper I am provides for myself and my loved ones, and if possible, for those around me - my "neighbors" as Jesus Christ commanded in Matthew Chapter 22:

Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

There's much that can be learned through the Internet, more though by practicing what you preach and learning from your mistakes. I'm at the point now where it's time to start working on my preps, using them, and surely learning from my mistakes. And I'd love to hear from others who are of the same thought that I am.

Rod McGough

Hey! I'm Working On It!

2010-03-14T08:43:00.001-04:00

My interest is peaking again in getting this blog up and running for the Roanoke area of Virginia. Just give me a week or two and I think I'll have it ready.

Rod McGough

Finally A Post After Two Months!

2009-03-22T15:07:00.005-04:00

Have you ever got to the point where you don't want to do something you like because you can't do it the way you want to? Doing things "half-assed" just doesn't sit right with me, so I often put things aside, hoping for a better day. Is it a trademark of a perfectionist? I don't know. I don't consider myself as being one though I'm given that label at work all the time. But when it comes to blogging, I think I'll have to accept the label. My blog looks like a piece of crap, and performs crappy due to all the junk I've added to it that calls out to other websites and slows down the loading. When I try to type something offline and transfer it later to the blog, the print comes out all messed up. It's a little discouraging. I've even got a couple domain names that I've had registered for over 10 years now, yet no website up for them. I know how to build websites, but I just can't concentrate on anything anymore. Every idea, inspiration, every valuable piece of information that I could use to be a better preschool and daycare teacher, a better blogger, or to help me start my own business, it's all in boxes scattered around the house. I don't know how to organize or file anything for future use.

It's all very frustrating.

Then too, pertaining to this blog and my quest to become better prepared for whatever disaster this country is in for, it's all becoming too real and too fast. Last year's temporary gasoline shortage was a wakeup call. I panicked just like many others did. But I could later laugh at myself when the fuel supplies returned to normal, and later, dropped in price. But the laughing was short-lived when I stopped in a Sportsman's Warehouse to buy some .22 ammunition just a week or two ago. They were sold out of everything save for some odd calibers and duck shot for hunting. I scooped up 2 boxes of 12 guage, number 4 steel shot shotgun shells as they were going fast. And I don't even own a shotgun! Will sales return to normal someday? Is this just a temporary run on ammunition just like last year's temporary run on fuel?

There's talk of taxing our gasoline up to $4.00 a gallon to help pay for the ongoing enconomic rescue. There's constant news about world-wide droughts or floods that will drastically cut into our food supply. We're living on the last of our surplus here in America, and by 2010 I have a feeling prices are going to go way up due to shortages. And it's not just natural disasters cutting into the food supply. American farmers are being told to scale back by the government if not already due to lack of funds to raise their crops. And if there's war in the Middle East, the consequences will be felt world-wide, even if we're not directly involved.
Ok, I can handle that. "A wise man hopes for the best and prepares for the worst". I can just keep on with my food storage, buying tangibles for future trade or use should the stores be empty. But what's frustrating is that it takes time and money. Oh I'm doing a little here and a little there, but the perfectionist in me wants a handgun, a couple rifles, a shotgun, and a thousand rounds of ammunition for each. I want land and a defensible home. I want a garden that produces all of my vegetable needs, and a nearby forest for hunting.
You see, the survival fantasy was fun as a child. Catching my first fish on a hook made from twigs was a Robinson Crusoe dream come true. But now it's for real and it's not so fun any more. There's that panic like what I felt when waiting in line for my fuel last year. Will I get my share in time?

And then you read of some things our government is doing. I've often laughed when the term "Big Brother" or "Police State" is used to describe the government, but after reading this, I'm not laughing any more.

Missouri State Police Label Honest Americans TerroristsPolice Told Which Political Beliefs to Consider "Dangerous." A secret police report targets millions of Americans as potential "domestic terrorists" if they support the Constitution, oppose unlawful taxation, supported 2008 presidential candidates Republican Ron Paul, Libertarian Bob Barr or Constitution Party candidate Chuck Baldwin, if they are opposed to abortion, are against unconstitutional gun control, if they display pro- Constitution bumper stickers or own copies of certain books and documentaries.......http://www.newswithviews.com/Mary/starrett197.htm
by Mary Starrett

It's not fantasy any more. It's not paronoia, it's not some doomsday hype. And a couple cans of Mountain House freeze dried food and a solar battery charger just doesn't make a person feel more prepared anymore. It's all becoming too real.

I think the bottom line is, I'm spending way too much time reading about what other people are doing to prepare for civil unrest or natural disasters. Granted, all these website, blogs, and free resources out there are great. In the last few months I've copied off a couple survival websites and saved all the information in .pdf files. I've downloaded every free ebook or text file on canning, trapping, first aide, and the like. I'm studying food preservation techniques on Youtube, and my food pantry recipes are accumulating into a book. But now it's time to do it. My favorite motto is" "I will do today what others will not do, so I can do tomorrow what others cannot do". It's now time to live it. I have much going against me - my truck is over-heating, my intense work with the children at daycare, and now a weekend job to occupy more of my free time. I even found a crowbar behind my back door a week ago. What's going on with that? That's one of my greatest fears - to do all this work and then come home one day to find it all stolen from you. But that's all part of being being survival minded I guess. I'll tell you one thing, it's going to take more than a crowbar to get through my back door now.

It's hard though when you're doing it all yourself. I'm single, and I pay the rent, utilities, for the food, gas, etc, all by myself. I leave for work at 7am and don't get back until 6pm. Oh I'm not complaining. I've always been single and know no other way, and I wouldn't give up my work with the children for anything. But it's just harder when you don't have someone to share the load. I'm a big believer in "doubling up" these days, families uniting under one roof to ride out the storm. I have a room waiting for me with my parents out by Bedford, but my job is in Roanoke. I've been urging my parents to sell and to go with me on a home in Roanoke so we can help each other out. No dice. And my truck won't make the long drive back forth each day.
Like I said, it's all frustrating. And that's why I've not touched this blog for two months now. And now I've got an intense summer daycare program coming up which will take up all my time and effort, not to mention my weekend park job which I'm very thankful to get back for the summer. But blogging isn't just a priority right now. I'd still like to meet up with other survival minded people in our area though. And as for my blog, to maybe turn it solely into a resource center with news and files pertaining to emergency preparedness and such. But as for my ramblings or "ruminating", I'm just finding it too hard to think positively much less show it in my writing. But check back later and...., well, we'll see.

Rod McGough

Thanks For The Comment

2009-01-11T18:29:00.004-05:00

"Good stuff. I agree, in fact you may want to look at book recently published looking at the teaching lessons of other toys. It is called Toy Box Leadership - Leadership Lessons from the Toys You Loved as a Child. My coauthor and I worked hard to make write a simple book about leadership with lessons that stick. It also covers the history of the toys."

http://toyboxleadership.com

Posted by Ron Hunter Jr. to Star City Survival at January 11, 2009 3:56 PM

I just wanted to publicly thank Mr. Hunter for his comment and kind words. It's an honor to have the Executive Director & CEO of Randall House Publications read my little blog. You can be sure that I bookmarked your blog: http://www.writeideaonleadership.com and your website that advertises your new book: "Toy Box Leadership" at: http://toyboxleadership.com

Your book does look very interesting and I'll be ordering a copy soon. Apparently there's more to learning from our toys than I ever imagined.

Again, thank you.

Rod McGough

2009-01-10T20:35:00.005-05:00

Sometimes I think that maybe it’s a good thing that I only have a couple readers of my blog. My entries are made sporadically – sometimes it’s weeks before I post something. I don’t know how the professional webmasters or bloggers do it with something new up every day. I know that readers sometimes provide most of the content such as at Survivalblog.Com, but still, it takes a lot of time at the computer to put it all together and present it. TheSurvivalPodcast.Com has reader input, but it’s mostly in the way of posts on the message board. The owner spends a half hour each day recording his message for his .mp3 podcasts, but that’s after hours and hours of research for each post. All I can say is wow!

Me, I’m just rambling on. I’m a man of passion, but it’s not my interests in emergency preparedness and survivalism. My passion is for working with children, and right now I’m giving all my free time towards that. And when I come home after a day of working with 3 year olds, I’m brain dead and tired.

By the way, I’m returning my 3 year old class back to the former teacher and am going to be “floating around” the daycare for a while helping out where needed or not. With a possible 25% unemployment rate in store for this country in 2009, this doesn’t provide me with a very secure standing with the company. If anyone in the Roanoke Valley (Roanoke City, Roanoke County, or Salem) hears of a need for a lead teacher position in a preschool or daycare, or for an Assistant Director, please let me know. I specialize in Pre-K Kindergarten readiness, and the care of and entertainment of children ages 4 – 10. This is year 29 for me and I’m going on as strong as ever. I really enjoy my present childcare center, but my heart lies with a class that I gave away a few months ago when the economy took a nose dive and I panicked. It’s a great class, but the teacher that I gave the class to is about as passionate about her work as I am. I can’t justify sitting around waiting to get my class back in a couple years from now. I’m not getting any younger.

Anyway, back to the topic of emergency preparedness and survivalism,

What I’m going to attempt to do here is to list every book, cartoon, movie and toy that I feel has shaped my thoughts and have helped made me to be more survival-minded. It’s not been an easy task as just when I feel that my list is complete, I’ll wake up in the middle of the night to add another title. I’m doing this as because of my 29 years of working with children, I really believe that the books and movies you show to your children can have a positive impact on their lives. They can of course have a negative impact as well, and your choices depend on your set of values of course. I’m working on another website for this purpose exclusively, but that’s for later.

And I just want to point out before I begin, that this is just my view. I hold no college degree whatsoever. I’ve attended the school of LIFE and HARD KNOCKS, and have tons of LIFE EXPERIENCE credits on my transcript. I do look at things from a Christian standpoint, but even that sometimes could be debatable and I’ll change my mind later on. I remember reading a Christian book back in the 80’s called: “Turmoil In The Toybox” by Phil Phillips and came away completely convinced that movie and toys such as “My Little Pony” and “The Smurfs” were Satanic and evil. I laugh now and wonder what the author would say about my SpongeBob movie collection and toys. So take my collection as you wish, but I firmly believe that they’ve done me a world of good. This will be a 3 part blog series.

*** Clicking on any of these titles will bring you to my Amazon.Com page where you can purchase these items. All money earned gives me survival related products from my Amazon.Com wish list.

Part 1 Toys That Shaped My Life

Fisher Price People

I of course grew up with the wooden and plastic ones which are no longer produced due to choking hazards. They’re collectables now by the way. If you have some, you can sell them on Ebay.

Now I’ll have to go with the surmise from that book I mentioned: “Turmoil In The Toybox”, that children “project” themselves into their toys. These little people are amoral. They do not come with a gun glued to their hands. They are essentially the child themselves in miniature form. Now I grew up very low income. Toys were hard to come by and usually only at Christmas time, and were few. So accessories for these toys had to be hand made. Usually, it was either the Sears or JC Penneys catalog that was cut up and mounted on cardboard for accessories. I can still remember the pleasure and magic of creating things for my people. And as of that time I was watching Gilligan’s Island on TV on a daily basis, so my favorite fantasy was of course “survival”. I’d cut out guns, fishing rods, tents, etc, and set up my little survivalist community. Cutting out curtains, televisions, and fireplaces were of course just extras. I’m sure Gilligan wouldn’t have minded having a TV set in his hut anyway. Just a note, I find now that Lego figurines or people would be a better substitute.

Lincoln Logs

The next step upwards from shoe box houses was a genuine Lincoln Log cabin. Nowadays most children sword fight with the longer pieces so it’s rare to see a complete cabin with roof. I don’t think I watched Little House On The Prairie until my teen years, so it must have been shows like “Daniel Boone” that gave me an interest in log cabins. I sure wish I lived in one now. I have a ton of stuff I’d like to hang from the wall. Ever try hanging shelves from plaster or drywall?

Tinker Toys

I asked the boys and girls at daycare this week if anyone had any Tinker Toys. Only those In the ages 8 – 12 classroom knew what they were. Aside from the choking hazard, they were wonderful toys to play with. Nothing was made that you didn’t have to see it in your mind first. Back then they were made out of wood and I could make anything with them. Add a rubber band and you could make motorized paddle boats or helicopters. Add string and it’s a fishing pull. So the professor made a radio from coconuts? I made mine from Tinker Toys! What was really fun is when you add a rubber band, they made a nifty little dart gun to shoot your brother and sister with. Of course my mother had alternative uses for the belt around my pants, so I didn’t do that too often.

Little Green Army Men

Some parents object to war toys. Mine never did, but then the only “war” I played was with my little green plastic army men. Again, in reference to “Turmoil In The Toybox”, children project themselves into the toy. But…., unlike the modern super fighter toys where you only own a couple of them, army men were a large handful per bag. When one soldier was “killed” he was gone to the big army camp in the sky. There was no need to rejuvenate him and bring him back to the game. Dead was dead. Your larger army man figurines are special. They are usually immune from death in child's play which make the art of war play seem more innocent and exciting. You never die. There is no pain or sorrow. And as they are usually connected with a cartoon, they take on the personality of that cartoon character which unfortunately sometimes isn’t a suitable role model for our children. I do believe that. But harm from the little green army men…, no.

I think that’s what the book was trying to get across, and yes, I do believe some toys are inappropriate based on my values. But it’s been 20 some years since I’ve read the book so I can't really say just which toys exactly were supposedly bad to buy. Someday when I clean house I’ll find it and re-read it. But that’s my view anyway for the most part. I just won’t ever go overboard with it when I put toys out for the children. Sometimes a toy is just a toy.

GI Joes

Oh but I did have GI Joes. That was my all time favorite toy. They were almost a foot in length, moveable plastic body parts, and clothes. I never played war though. Come to think of it, in the 60’s and early 70’s, I can’t recall ever watching a war cartoon. Again, they had to survive in the great outdoors and in taking them outside; I’d build them stick houses. From there I’d build them ponds and gardens. They were far too precious to play rough with, so they lasted quite a few years. I had a couple Joes with “Kungfu Grips”, a Geronimo doll, some weird looking doll that looked German, Captain Maddox which I believe came with Geronimo as part of a western set, and then I had some Star Trek figures which being smaller in size, became children. Oh, and I had Steve Scout too. He had a crush on Lieutenant Uhura from my Star Trek collection. They never did anything inappropriate though as I didn’t learn about the Birds and the Bees until Junior High. Even then it wasn’t until 8^th. Grade, as what was depicted on the bathroom wall in 7^th. Grade was a little off course if you know what I mean. When I finally outgrew my GI Joes, I couldn’t stand the thought of throwing or giving them away, so they went out in a blaze of glory along with my sister’s Barbie dolls. That was in my pyrotechnic days which I don’t wish to discuss. I’m not certain if I could be still be charged for the explosion in my neighbor’s back yard even though it was some 28 years ago. A word of warning: don’t let your children ever download an ebook called “The Poor Man’s James Bond” or “The Anarchist’s Cookbook”.

Well that’s it for toys. Stuffed animals, toys cars & trucks, or craft kits didn’t hold my interest very long. My Easy Bake Oven was fun, but after you cook desert for the entire family, your cooking supplies are exhausted. But again, these toys played hand-in-hand with my early interests in camping or “survivalism” fantasies such I had after watching TV shows like Gilligan’s Island or reading books like “Robinson Crusoe” and “The Swiss Family Robinson”. Along with other books and television shows, I firmly believe that it imprinted in my brain a desire to get back to nature, to survive whatever comes your way, or to prepare for the future. I wasn’t into sports, I rarely got to go fishing and camping though I loved it immensely, and I had no video games. What I had was pretty much “make something from nothing” type toys and play. Discarded batteries, little motors from broken tape recorders, etc, provided me with science and electronic play. Sticks, rocks and dirt, collecting insects, and what little fishing I could do, gave me a love for nature. Dramatic play in my friend’s attic above their garage helped me work on social skills I guess. I always played the professor, my friends: Gilligan and the Skipper. We didn’t play with girls so we never had a Ginger or Maryann. They were “The good old days” from what I can still remember.

Now I’m not advocating taking away your child’s playstation, nor do I think a parent should mold their children into a younger version of themselves – living out their youth through their children. But in the variety of toys and learning experiences that you provide for your children, I really believe that some thought should be given to purchasing toys that encourages a little brain growth in areas that video games or toys that do it all doesn’t seem to support. Maybe a child should be encouraged to get a little dirty outside, or to bring in a bug bottled up in a jar into your spotless and sterile environment that you call home. And instead of paying out $40 -$50 at the movie theater, take the family out in the forest for a little nature walk. Climb some trees and catch tadpoles. There’s plenty of homeschool websites on the Internet that can help you and your children grow closer together as a family, and develop self-help and resourceful living skills that will do your child a world of good – now, and in their future.

I can’t remember my first movie at the theaters, nor my first video game. I do remember my little world I made for myself with my simple toys. We didn’t have much, but the toys that I was presented with gave me hours of satisfaction – entertainment, and the knowledge that by using my mind with my toys, I could probably do anything if someday the toys became tools for living. I guess in some ways, they already were.

Stay tuned for my next installment on: Books That Shaped My Life.

As always, just a little conversation between me, myself, and I.....,
And anyone who happens to drop by.

Rod McGough
Email Me

Anyone Want To Stroll Down Memory Lane?

2008-12-26T19:50:00.003-05:00

I'm making sort of a journal/scrapbook of my life in 2008, you know, something that takes you hours to compile but then you find that you can't afford the ink to print out 200 - 300 pages all at once. Anyway, here's two websites that I finally found, that you may be interested in reading through yourself for your own stroll down memory lane. Either that or wait till Time Magazine prints one out in color for you in a week or two:

2008 Current Events — Infoplease.com
http://www.infoplease.com/world/events/2008/

2008 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008

There's a lot of debate over whether it's good to look back at the past, but I think that as long as you're not adding the poison of "regret" into your life by doing so, you can make it a positive experience. And isn't that what we tell our children when they question the reasoning of learning about history when it's all over and done with. I believe the quote is: "Those who refuse to learn from history are condemned to repeat it". When I teach children, I like to use the "FDR" approach: Focus, Discover, and Respond. You focus on an issue - a certain truth, discover what the impact it has on your life - the applications or consequences even, and then you respond to it in a positive way. Many times for children they respond with "I'm not going to do that anymore", and that's usually something we hope will happen if it pertains to behavior and the negative consequence that it received. But for us adults, response is the key as well. We need to ask ourselves what we should have done differently, how we can do it a better way in the future, or..., how we can lessen the consequence if it's bound to happen again the same way. I believe that's part of being survival-minded. Yes we're Americans, and we didn't get to be Americans by letting people kick sand in our faces. But sometimes things are just going to happen despite lessons learned from the past, and we need to be prepared with anything we can do to lessen the impact on ourselves, friends, family, and loved ones. And we call that "emergency preparedness", not paranoia.

“Let us not look back to the past with anger, nor towards the future with fear, but look around with awareness” James Thurber

Here's hoping for a better year, or at least for a year where we can sleep easy in our beds at night knowing that come-what-may, we've done our best to maintain a lifestyle that we enjoy and can provide for our family, loved ones, and friends with the skills and resources that God has made available to each one of us.

"I will do today what others will not do,
so I can do tomorrow what others cannot do"

As always, just a little talk between me, myself, and I,
And anyone stopping in to listen.

Rod McGough
MisterDaycare@Gmail.Com

O Come All Ye Faithful

2008-12-25T19:09:00.002-05:00

It's just the first verse, but beautiful just the same.

Merry Christmas From Mister Daycare & Star City Survival!

2008-12-25T10:17:00.003-05:00

Well I'm all dressed up and ready for Christmas dinner with the family. Unfortunately I'm a little early in my preparations, so I'm sitting at the computer trying to keep my clothes clean. My neighbors in the apartments across from my house are lucky. All the single men there will be having their mothers or ex-wives stop by and drop off their Christmas dinners. I have to do a little traveling to get mine :)

Being single at age 44 doesn't necessarily mean that I'm anti-social. I'm not a reclusive hermit. My life is a little different in that because I am single and have no children of my own, I spend way-way too much time at the daycare where I work. I'm very active. Especially at Christmas time my work in INTENSE! I get all the classes singing their Christmas songs and ready them for the big program. I do a big Christmas parent's night out with usually around 30 children in attendance for an evening of video games, crafts, movies, etc. Then comes the class party and..., well, I'm just exhausted! Christmas day comes and I could really do with a full day of rest. Tomorrow I'm back to work and then comes cleaning up from the holiday. But I love every minute of it. It was a little different this year as I had 3 year olds instead of working with ages 5-7. I have to admit that I've been a little disappointed with the change, but hopefully come holiday time next year, I'll either have my old class back or will have found a new daycare center to work for, with the ages that I love the most. I'm all for surviving by maintaining steady employment, especially with so many losing their jobs, but when you're passionate about your work, you need to be in your area of expertise.

In an effort to cut down my living expenses, I stopped my subscription to the Roanoke Times recently. I do miss the articles, but I have to admit that I rarely had time to read the paper. Most of my news comes from the Internet for free, but I do miss the local news. Today while waiting to leave for my dinner with the family, I was customizing some online news pages that I try to browse through - if they load fast enough. http://news.google.com/news is a fast loader and besides, it's my start page. From there I can access my email, news, and do searches. Anyway, I clicked the edit button and found that I could see up to 9 articles from the Roanoke Times, so I saved it as one of my many news searches. And lo and behold, here was an article from last week on something that happened just minutes from my house, and I am not too pleased!

Novozymes pleads guilty to dumping waste
http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/188225

No big deal I suppose, it happens all the time, but in this case reality hit. This was being dumped in Mason's Creek - the creek just a block away from my house. And in my emergency preparedness plans, this was where I'd be getting my drinking water and water for washing if things kind of disintegrated for a while and we loose our piped in water that we Americans take so much for granted.

I learned two things here: for one thing, industrial waste is always a big deal to someone, and no one should take it too lightly. You never know when it's going to happen to you. Second of all, there ain't no such thing as a clean and safe water source. No matter where you are, somewhere upstream someone is putting something in your water that you don't want to be drinking.

This happened a couple years ago though, but yuck! I'm telling you, a good high quality water filter needs to be made a priority in our emergency preparedness stockpile. I just wonder why I never heard anything about it until now?

Survivalist businesses surge in uncertain times
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1224/p02s02-ussc.html

The Christian Science Monitor did a nice news story on the emergency preparedness business. I wish I could be in the business but there's not much out there yet in the way of being an emergency preparedness product dealer or distributor. There's a couple online promoting a program but apparently they haven't started up yet. They're still advertising though, but they refuse to answer my emails. I won't mention who they are just yet as I'm still hoping to sign on. Another, probably the biggest that let's you join as a dealer, signed me on before Y2K. I'm still a dealer, but they refuse to let me sell for some reason. They too have refused to answer my emails for about two years now. I need to get on the ball and call them I guess. I'm giving them a month to get their act straight before I reserve some blog space to talk about their company if you know what I mean.

Well I just saw one of my neighbors staggering up the stairs to his apartment with a six pack under his arms. Apparently the convenience market down the street is open. I think I'll go get me one of those Sobe energy drinks and maybe a quart of eggnog. No candy though. I just downed a whole box of Andes Creame De Menthe Thins last night. We may be heading towards economic chaos, but with a bit of chocolate mints on hand, life is still good.

In closing I'd like to leave you with this special Christmas link that just came in my email. I couldn't have said it any better:

More Than a Baby in a Manger
There is a part of me that doesn’t like the Christmas season. I hate what it has done to Christianity. The birth of the Savior has been hi-jacked. The arrival of Emmanuel has been relegated to a secular celebration highlighted by a trip to the local mall. What a way to celebrate the ultimate spiritual-bailout. I’m sure our family is no different than yours. Our.....
http://www.newswithviews.com/Daubenmire/dave138.htm
by Coach Dave Daubenmire

Merrry Christmas Everyone!

As always, just a little conversation between me, myself, and I.....,
And anyone who happens to drop by.

Rod McGough
Email Me

2008-12-21T19:24:00.003-05:00

I just thought I'd mention a terrific buy that I found today. These radios are going for $10.00 each at Dollar General. Online they're anywhere from $15.00 - $19.00 plus shipping. No, they don't have the fancy little flashlight or emergency siren, nor do they have the hand crank that will probably break off after a couple uses. For $10.00 you get a nice radio to store away for future emergency use. I've included information on them below, plus a review I found online. I think they'd make a nice gift for someone you care about. Just don't bother going to Dollar General on the 460 in Roanoke to get them. I bought the last two. Got to have some little "extras" stashed away to help out others in need, or they could be useful for bartering as well. Oh, they take 4 AA batteries if you don't use the power cord. AA rechargeable batteries are very popular batteries along with type C as well.

Anyway, just thought I'd mention it. Some dollar or discount store stuff is crap, but Emerson is a good brand.

Rod McGough
MisterDaycare@Gmail.Com

Emerson RP6250 AM/FM/TV Portable Radio With Instant Weather

AM/FM/TV Portable Radio With Instant Weather

1-touch instant weather band reception

Receives continuous US GOV. weather reports and audio from VHF stations 2-13

Weather band fine-tuning control

Slide rule tuning dial with rotary tuning and volume controls

Wide range 3" dynamic speaker

Emerson Instant Weather Radio
http://www.reviewstream.com/reviews/?p=24501
by suthernsmooth

I am of the opinion that everyone should have a weather radio for their home. Let’s face it, the weather is anything but predictable; no matter what the weather guys tell you. My family and I have had several different weather radios throughout the years, but the Emerson Instant Weather Radio has been one of the best.

What makes it so great is the fact that it’s not just a weather radio. It can pull in AM or FM radio stations and even your local television stations; which is great when you need to know what’s going on in your neighborhood. It can either run on electricity or batteries depending upon how the weather is affecting your utility service.

Another thing that I really like about the Emerson Weather Radio is that the buttons on it are made in such a way that they are easy to find and use. The on/off/volume button, tuning buttons, and even the antenna are large and cone-shaped, making them easy to locate and use. If you know of someone who has trouble with holding or turning a regular radio dial knob, perhaps because of arthritis or other health condition, this weather radio would make a great gift idea.

There is also a digital clock display with a backlight so that you can easily keep track of the time. This is important because if you have to take shelter from severe weather, you don’t always have the opportunity to grab your watch. And if you’ve ever heard a severe weather bulletin then you know that they always let you know what time you can expect the storms to be in your area.

If you are looking for a weather radio to keep your family safe, please consider purchasing the Emerson Instant Weather Radio. I’m glad that I have it, and I know that I can depend on it when severe weather is in our area to help me keep my family safe. It gives you more than just weather reports, it gives peace of mind.

More On Water Filters And The Flu

2008-12-20T20:32:00.002-05:00

Here's a link to making your own homemade Berkey Water Filter. The author states that he made his for $122.00 and that they sell for $300. http://www.alpharubicon.com/kids/homemadeberkeydaire.htm

I thought this was a great idea until I went to
http://www.readymaderesources.com/cart/index.php?act=viewCat&catId=145

Now I'm not good at reasoning things out, but the above author only made his with 2 elements. Ready Made Resources sells them with 4, 6, or 8 elements. The one with 4 sells for $234..95 This would be about the same price as the homemade one if the author had inserted 4 elements as well. And my way of thinking is that the store bought one probably is better built. I just thought I'd mention it. Homemade isn't always a savings. But maybe the one with 2 elements is good enough to filter tap water.

I've actually mentioned it all in the first place as these filters were reccomended by someone who read my blog and my reccomendation for Berkey products. I liked the pump one as it was portable, but so is this gravity fed one as well. Either way, my point is that if the water stops flowing through the city's water lines, these are going to be very valuable once your stored water supplies run out. Many have filters hooked up directly to their water lines or faucet, but without water flowing under pressure into the filters, they can't do their job. Berkey filters - pump or gravity fed can. And there's many others brands out there too.

Another water resource in an emergency like my rainwater catcher would be a "solar still". I made one of these in Arizona and they do work. Here's a diagram on how to make one: http://www.alpharubicon.com/primitive/highcapstill.htm

Being in Virginia, we have a lot more greenery to put under the black plastic, so I believe we could get a lot more water than in Arizona. What's nice about this primitive device is that it can extract clean(er) water from dirty water. If you have a couple buckets of muddy water, you don't want to gum up your water filters. The drinkeable water you obtain from 6 gallons of dirty water could come to about a gallon according to the above website. Then you filter that out, boil, or add your bleach or water purification tablets. But really, out here in Virginia I don't think it would ever be needful to make one of these unless you had to bug out to the forest or something and didn't have access to a stream or water run-off after a rain.

Boy I've been seriously thinking about the upcoming flu pandemic. Not "if" it's going to happen, but "when". And after that horrible flu I had, my mind has been going over what I should do to help others. I used to be a nurses aide and there are some pictures in my mind that will never go away. The thought of an elderly person dying in their bed from the flu - thousands all over the city, it's very troublesome. My first priority is to my family, but I really feel that I should make a mental note on who in my neighborhood might need help in a situation such as this. Plastic gloves and a package of good disposeable face masks would be my first goal in helping others. Not the little dust masks at the hardware store, but the better (and more expensive) ones like the N95 Particulate Masks at: http://www.fluarmour.com/products.php?cat=13

Oh, here's a recent disturbing article on Flu Pandemics:

Nov. 12, 2008 In a Pandemic, Who Gets to Live?

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/ColdandFlu/Story?id=6233508&page=2

As I've mentioned many times, I work in daycare, and the flu is going around. My assistant has it and has been out for most of the week. One little boy in my class was so hot..., well I would have done anything to have taken the fever away from him He was a very brave little 3 year old and never even cried. But his face was hot to the touch. But just think what it would be like in a flu pandemic. After staying home for a couple weeks or longer in a city-wide quarantine..., to go back to daycare and find out that some of your little friends or their grandparents didn't make it. What a horrible thought. But we all need to think of it to jolt us into a proper perspective. We need to be prepared to help ourselves and others. I think the above standard package at $69.00 is money well spent.

Here's a good website with info on flu. I subscribe to their newsletter on all health issues: http://www.health24.com/medical/Condition_centres/777-792-811.asp

For National Flu Information:

Centers For Disease Control And Prevention 2008 - 2009 Flu Season Info & Downloadables
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/season/index.htm

For Local Flu Information:

Virginia Department Of Health - Flu Pandemic Page
http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/pandemicflu/index.htm
Has a free 15 minute movie download on Pandemic Flu issues

Google has started something new, or at least it's new to me. Check out: http://www.google.org/flutrends/ It's a little too complicated for me, I've never been good at charts and graphs, plus the site is intereactive with Flash and I don't have enough system resources in my computer to cope with it. But Google bases their information on anything typed into their popular search engine that has been related to the flu, and based on all this information, can offer a pretty good prediction on upcoming flu outbreaks.

Here's some background information on it from their blog: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/tracking-flu-trends.html

What it shows recently however is this that I copied off of the welovedc.com website:

According to Google’s new toy, Google Flu Trends, which claims to know about flu activity across the US according to how many times people are searching for flu-related terms, Virginia and Maryland have higher flu activity than the rest of the nation.
I’m not sure this is something to really get alarmed about, as VA and MD are still only at “moderate” and DC is safely at “low,” but this is definitely still prime time for sicknesses. Wash your hands, please don’t cough on me, and stay healthy, DC.

Here's the most recent news post on the flu as of December 20th.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/20/AR2008122000808.html
Saturday, December 20, 2008; 12:00 AM
Anti-Flu Drug May Not Work Against This Year's Strain, CDC Says

This year's version of the flu just threw a monkey wrench into the effectiveness of a leading flu medicine, the Associated Press reports.
At a news conference Friday, Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that the prescription drug Tamiflu isn't working against the virus strain that is causing this year's influenza in the United States.
The good news, Gerberding added, was that this year's vaccine is proving effective against the flu. The 2007 vaccine was only partially effective.
Because it's early in the flu season, the A.P. reports, and health experts aren't certain the Tamiflu-resistant strain will continue to dominate the influenza cycle. There is also the anti-viral drug marketed under the name Relenza that could be prescribed.
Only about 30 percent of the U.S. population has received a flu vaccine this year, the wire service reports. About 36,000 Americans die from the flu annually, and more than 200,000 are hospitalized. The vaccine is especially recommended for children between 6 and 18 months and adults over age 50.

Speaking of news stories, I heard from a school nurse this week who said there was a flu quarantine at a Roanoke nursing home. Now why didn't this hit the papers or tv news? Not everone is as paronoid as I am. They can handle the news.

Anyone interested in a Food Saver Vacuum Packer? Mine is on the way! They were being advertised on Survivalblog.com and..., well, here's the post:

Just a few days left! More than 400 SurvivalBlog readers have bought Foodsaver vacuum packers at the special December sale price. We get a little "piece of the action" for each one that is sold. So this a is a great way to save money and to support SurvivalBlog! Don't miss out on this sale! You can buy a FoodSaver v2830 for $59.99 (originally $169.99) with free Standard Shipping for orders over $100, directly from FoodSaver.com.Use code L8FAV28 at checkout. This offer is valid during the month of December, or while supplies last. By buying foods in bulk and re-packaging them in more handy (single meal size) vacuum bags, you can save a lot of money on your grocery bill. Buy a FoodSaver. You'll be glad that you did!

Mr. Rawles gets a little tiny commission but he rightfully deserves it. His website and book changed my life. As always, I highly reccomend his website: http://www.survivalblog.com and http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com run by Jack Spirko.
Well that's all I had to ramble on about today. And besides, I have Cheese Puff crumbs all over my keyboard :)

As always,

Just a little talk between me, myself, and I....,
And anyone stopping in to listen.

Rod McGough
MisterDaycare@Gmail.Com

Score One For The Flu Bug

2008-12-13T13:43:00.002-05:00

Everyone talks about a B.O.B. (Bug Out Bag), but this last week I had a greater need for a B.I.B. (Bug In Bag). Yes, I had the Flu Bug, and boy was it a bad one!
I work in daycare so of course I'm probably exposed to a lot more illness-causing germs than others, and of course I've never gotten around to getting that flu shot either. It was on my list of things to do, but just not a priority. Well some survivalist I am.

I ignored some warning signs - I had indigestion all Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday night I was aching all over and dragging my left leg. It kind of goes limp when I'm under stress or am sick - something that started years ago and without a primary care physician and medical insurance, we've just gave it the label of "pinched nerve". Wednesday morning came and I had a migraine headache and was on the verge of throwing up. I felt hot all day and it probably was hot in my classroom full of three year olds stuck inside all day with no recess due to the rain. But all that was on my mind was the taking charge of this room this week, getting ready for the Christmas program this week, and getting ready for a "Parent's Night Out" with almost 30 kids for childcare till 11pm. I had big events such as Christmas crafts, movies, and video games planned for the children. Clearly much was on my mind with three big happenings all in one week, and I was stressed and physically worn out. Any sweating was due to my labors I thought.

Then it hit me Wednesday night halfway through the Christmas program at the Mall. First the sweats, then some nausea. I led the children under my direction through their songs, and then when my duties were over I immediately high-tailed it to J.C. Penneys where I spent a miserable 15 minutes in the restroom throwing up and having diarrhea.

I managed to get home just in time before the non-stop action occurred. All into the night I was vomiting and had diarrhea. It was a miserable night that went on into Thursday with no lessening up. Basically, it was your typical flu though I don't recall having a fever. But what really made a difference this time was that I had to tough it out all alone. Worst yet, everything that I needed was not by my bedside.

I have many emergency preparations covered - either in equipment or in plans, and I could probably tough it out for a month or two alone during a flu pandemic or time of civil unrest. But when it came down to my getting sick, flat on my back, with no one to help me, this could have been the end for me - all because of not being prepared as much as I thought.

First of all, when you have the flu, you're in a certain state of mind. Sometimes out of your mind as I have been sometimes. My previous big flu was fortunately dealt with at my mother's house when I first moved out here to Virginia. Apparently for an hour or two I was laying in bed and yelling at imaginary daycare kids to behave, leave me alone, and let me have some rest. Only after I called for a mop bucket to mop my classroom floor so I could go home, did I actually in my mind leave the daycare. After that I slept more peacefully. Many times when laying in bed and feeling thirsty, you imagine things such as getting up to get a drink, when in reality you're spending hour after hour dehydrating and getting sicker by the minute. You know you want a cold compress, but no matter how many times you run to the toilet, you forget to get one on your way back to your bed. And as always, where is that damn bucket at! You don't always make it to the bathroom in time do you?

What I needed was a flu kit - something right next to my bed and available to me. In it I would have had my cell phone, bottles of water, various anti-acids, paper towels, a bucket, a thermometer, pre-soaked wash rages, Tylenol, the TV remote, bottles of Gatorade, some cans of Sprite, Ginger ale, or 7-Up, and some crackers. With some tea bags and one of those little coffee cup warmers I could have made some hot tea as well. Ginger & Green Tea works well on my stomach. But in my state of mind, all I care about after coming home was immediately laying down. If I could have just spent 5 minutes preparing my kit, I would have been so much better off for it later.

Second of all, when you have the flu, you need a friend. You know, I would have done anything for a can of Sprite this week while stuck in bed. The day after I managed to poke my head out my front door looking for anyone out and about, but due to the rain, the apartment driveway below me was empty. Someone could have made an easy $10.00 if they would have walked down the street to the convenience market for me. I knew I wasn't going to dehydrate. I was able to grab a couple bottles of water and carry them to my bedroom on Thursday, but it just wasn't the same. Oh I wouldn't want my friend to stay around much to be exposed to my germs, but in 5 or 10 minutes time I could have had them rummage through my kitchen and find everything that I needed.

Thirdly, always expect your flu to take you down during the worst of times. I'm now missing one day of work and pay, and I've lost out on at least a hundred dollars more by not being able to do the "Parent's Night Out" childcare on Friday night at my daycare. I kind of already spent that money, so I now have to postpone some dental work. Most of your emergency preparedness and survival websites and blogs try to impress on people the urgent need to have money saved up for future income losses. Boy they got that right!

I've been able to sit up for longer periods of time this weekend, and I'm doing a lot of reading about the flu on the Internet. Everyone's got their ideas on what to do to safeguard yourself from the flu bug. So do I, but unless you put it in practice religiously, it's going to find you. And besides, it's an occupational hazard in my case. I would like to know however, why school teachers get excellent healthcare for caring for ages 5-18 who can take care of their own hygiene when preschool teachers wiping the noses and butts of children birth - 5 years who can't, get..., well excuse the pun..., shit! You'd think our government could at least give us free flu shots like the school employees get. And I'm reading a lot on what to do when you get the flu. Most of it is common sense, but again, if you live alone and come directly home from work and flop out on the bed ready to die, all your preparations are in vain until you hopefully get the strength to get up and get to it.

All I can suggest is to do what I'm going to start doing from now on. Next to my bed will be a "B.I.B." (Bug In Bag) with everything mentioned above. I'm also going to throw in a box of Theraflu which really helped ease my pain and helped me to sleep when I finally had the strength to go looking for it. I didn't have coughing or sneezing, but 1,000 mg of Acetaminophen, 4 mg of Chlorpheniramine, and 60mg of Psuedoephedrine HCI really helped me to sleep after a fitful night. Due to the Psuedoephedrine you'll have to sign for it at the pharmacy, but it is still OTC legal.

You know, in one of my favorite survival movies: "Tremors" there's a quote by Burt Gummer that really applies here.
[Burt Gummer looks at his bomb shelter for perhaps the last time]
"Food for five years, a thousand gallons of gas, air filtration, water filtration, Geiger counter. Bomb shelter! Underground... *** damn monsters.
Sometimes the worst monsters wrecking the most havoc are the little ones that you can't see without a microscope. Well score one for the flu bug this week.

As always,

Just a little talk between me, myself, and I....,
And anyone stopping in to listen.

Rod McGough
MisterDaycare@Gmail.Com

Chewing My Cud

2008-12-08T18:38:00.007-05:00

Hey! Star City Surival got critiqued this month. Someone read my blog and put a link to it under the heading of "Ruminations On Survival" in a Yahoo Group Page called: "Last Days Survivalist" http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lastdayssurvivalist/

It's always an honor to have someone read my blog - especially since I've never really told anyone about it. Google just posts some info on it and people just drop in on their own. But I did have a concern though. Just what the heck was a "rumination"? Come to find out, it means either two of these things:

The act of pondering; meditation.
The act or process of chewing cud.

Now "chewing the fat" would be more like it in my case - just a friendly conversation with someone, in my case, anyone who happens upon my blog and reads a little of my ramblings. But upon further study of the word "ruminations", I came across this disturbing Wikipedia definition"

Rumination is contemplation or reflection on a particular topic. If very persistent or repetitively focused on problems, it is thought to play a role in the development of clinical depression. In particular, individuals who tend to ruminate on negative themes (perhaps as an attempt to solve perceived problems), including potentially their own feelings of sadness or distress, may prolong negative emotions. This may in turn lead to a greater likelihood of developing depression. Conversely, individuals who become depressed also appear to engage in more rumination. This has led to some discussion in the academic community whether rumination leads to depression, depression to rumination or both.

A depressive disorder?

I know, I know, I'm reading too much into the little label that my blog was placed into. But I just want to say, for the record, that emergency preparedness and survivalism is in no way depressing to me despite the thought of civil unrest, a flu pandemic, natural disasters, or a total world melt-down being a little sad and distressing. In fact, if you read many of the survival message boards, being "being prepared" is just a little fun and exciting for most of the people who are really into it. It's kind of like living out a survival fantasy, playing Robinson Crusoe or the Swiss Family Robinson. Some go a little overboard with preparing to battle Zombies, or space aliens who are supposedly monitoring our every move, but again, it's all part of the fantasy. And some of the surival goodies stashed away are like collectables in a way too. But then if people ponder and meditate on it a little more, they find that it's more than just fun, it really could mean the difference between life or death for themselves and their loved ones. It's a duty of a good husband, a father, a member of the community, an American, to be prepared and to be able to provide. What harm is a little rumination in that?

Nope, Star City Surival is just a bit of rambling, just chewing the fat, maybe a little humor or even stupidity in my writings. Survival and emergeny preparedness education can be found in the better blogs and websites. Here I'm just killing time, ignoring the dirty dishes, and musing on a favorite topic and fantasy. But through it all, there's just a little bit of hope that maybe something said along the way would prompt you to take a closer look at current world events and news headlines.

Is ignoring valid problems, negative forcasts, and seeing the world through rose-colored glasses the healthy and psychologically sound way to deal with things? Or is a little healthy pondering and ruminating on these things, then taking logical and defensive actions to protect yourself and your loved ones the way to go?

"I will do today what others will not do, so I can do tomorrow what others cannot do."

As always,

Just a little talk between me, myself, and I....,
And anyone stopping in to listen, chew the fat with me (or cud if you prefer), psychoanalyze me, or to critique my writing or blogging skills.

And if you stopped by and don't know what to do, feel free to leave money :)

More Spam In The News

2008-12-06T20:15:00.003-05:00

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/article5295544.ece?Submitted=true

Just thought I'd bring you a second article on the recent comeback of Spam. Of course you know I don't eat it as it's around $2.40 a can. Family Dollar in Roanoke sells Armour Treet for $1.00 a can still and my last purchase to stock up gave me cans with a 9-23-2011 expiration date. For around $.25 more or so, they sell Pampa Corned Beef with, get this...., an expiration date of 4/02/2013! How's that for planning ahead? Mountain House "Food In Pouches" costing anywhere from $5.00 - $7.00at our local camping and sports stores last only a year longer.

Tomorrow night I'm trying out Teryiaki $1.00 Treet with my $1.50 or so white rice. That's around 5 meals or so for me in my little wall of storage containers in my freezer. For breakfast I have my flavored oatmeal packs - 6 packs for $1.00 at Family Dollar as well. One pack with a $$.40 cent bannana and I'm full. Bulk containers of oats might be cheaper, but I still feel like I'm saving money. And living below your means now just might give you the $$$ to save for when you need to live by your wits.

By the way, does everyone save their plastic grocery bags? I use an old Ann Lander's trick and stuff them up inside my empty toilet paper tubes. They store quite nicely then. Some I store with my portable toilet kit, some for general use, and some I donate to my daycare for the 10 - 20 daily "potty accidents" when you need to bag up wet clothing.

Well that's a record - two posts in one day. Actually it was just an excuse to stop working on lesson plans for my new daycare class I'm taking charge of. "Mr. Rod" as I'm called, is now in charge of the 3 & 4 year old class. If I survive this, I'm a true survivalist!

As always,

Just a little talk between me, myself, and I....,
And anyone stopping in to listen.

Rod McGough
MisterDaycare@Gmail.Com

ps..., thanks to all who have written to me. I appreciate the comments. I'd thank you in person but Blogger doesn't let me see the return email address when you use the comment box.

By the way, if anyone in the Roanoke area wants to get together on an emergency preparedness product order, let me know. We can save on shipping by combining our orders. I also want to get our forum up and running so we can greet & meet as well. So much to do, so little time, and I'm using a sluggish computer with a very low Internet speed. But I can't complain as writing this blog is both fun, and it helps to put my own emergency preparedness & survival thoughts more into focus. And if I write about it, I have to practice what I preach too. But do write, say hi, and give me a virtual kick in the butt now and then to get me going :)

2008-12-06T15:41:00.007-05:00

I was out looking at teenage girls this morning. Not quite the thing a 43 year old single male should be admitting on a blog posted for the world to see, so maybe I should explain. I had to pass by a Christmas festival in downtown Salem this morning on the way to do some shopping at my favorite survival store: Walmart. Families were out shopping in the historic district, and even more were vistiting the parks to browse through various holiday merchandise. I would like to have stopped for a look but didn't see any parking spaces. But what really stood out were all these young girls in lightweight sweaters and jackets. Just what were they thinking, and what the heck was wrong with their parents? They were obviously freezing and uncomfortable as it was probably a little under 40 degrees! There, I'm not a pervert, I'm an old fogey wandering what is wrong with this generation. Why back in my day......

Well, teens did it then too I believe - in fact, they probably always will. Maybe it forces the parents to visit every single store to warm up as they walk through town. There's more of a chance of gettting something from mom & dad if you do more than just window shop.
With older girls it's sometimes a ploy to get the boy to wrap their arms around them. But in my way of thinking, I'm guessing that it's all about looks. Dressing in layers and in an over-sized comfy coats with big pockets to hold tissues and cough drops just isn't cool. It wasn't cool when the word "cool" was in style, and today it's still not. What is the up-to-date word for cool anyway?

Well I like my big comfy coat. I bought it for $3.00 at Goodwill just recently. It's the right length in the sleeves, but was obviously made for a bigger bellied man than I am, which actually gives me comfort by making me feel smaller. And it does have big pockets to hold my tissues and cough drops. Actually I use paper towels as there ain't no tissue on the planet strong enough to withstand the force of my nose blowing. But you really didn't need to know that did you? It also holds my cell phone, my keys, my ipod, and in each pocket I also have a tire plug tool. You remember those don't you? Everytime grandpa would get a flat he'd pull out a sticky-waxy-gooey piece of rope called a "plug" and cram it into the hole in his tire. Once inflated, it pretty much always kept the air in somehow. I bought mine at a dollar store in Cloverdale, but when I saw the palm-sized handles and long metal spike sticking out of it, I thought they work better for me in a self defense situation. As for plugging tires, I'm more of a patch man myself.

But anyway, I had a nice time at Walmart. I met a fellow survivalist or survival-minded individual while looking at portable water filters. I bought a Brita pitcher filter with spare filter cartridges to store up along with some coffee filters and a plastic tarp. My thinking is that with water being so neccessay to life (without it you did in a couple days), along with my stored water supplies I want some equipment to catch rain water, and to clean it for drinking purposes. No, NOT the rain gutter water from your dirty roof, but from a large clean plastic tarp catching the drops and channeling it down to a clean bucket. After slowly filtering it through a coffee filter, it's ready to be poured into the Brita pitcher. As for the shelf-life of the cartridges, the activated charcoal has an indefinate shelf life and each cartridge is good for 40 gallons.

Now here's the good part. Take a look at the filter from inside as shown at:

http://www.takebackthefilter.org/2008/04/anatomy-of-brita-filter-cartridge.html

Not much to it, is there. Again, it's a simple filter really designed for improving your tap water, nothing else, but but using pure rain water which is pretty much already clean, filtering it out even more, boiling it or adding Chlorox to it to kill pathogens, this filter, if replaced regularly, could take care of your drinking water needs if you live in a climate where it rains often. I believe that here in Virginia it could provide clean drinkable water for 1 - 2 people regularly. The above website makes a big fuss though over not being able to recyle the filter, but that brings me to my next point - "yes you can"! In fact, you can use it over and over again.

This website has excellent instructions on taking the cartridge apart, refilling it with activated charcoal, and using it again. That's what I'm planning on doing:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-refill-a-disposable-Brita-brand-water-pit/

There's also a link to an instructional page on making your own charcoal, but I'm not going that far. The man I just met at Walmart said he recently bought a 5 gallon bucket of activated charcoal online from some factory going out of business. Stupid me I forgot to have him tell me more about the website. I even had a pen and paper in those big coat pockets of mine.
So that's ONE of the things I'm going to do for emergency drinking water. Of course that's way after my bottled water supply runs out and my stored tap water with Chlorox bleach in it runs out. Hopefully by then whatever emergency situation we're in will be over and the water starts flowing from the faucets again.

It's just one more piece of equipment to have on hand to make life more comfortable during uncomfortable times. I've got water purification tablets (short shelf life though), and am thinking about the Katadyne Vario drinking water system on sale at Amazon.Com. It's the cheapest price I've seen yet! The included cartridge filters out 500 gallons before before needing replaced. There's also a ceramic disc that pre-filters out murky water before entering the cartridge. With the piston pump handle, drawing out water is easy! You can use it at home or on the road - your choice. During times of civil unrest, if house-by-house looting is taking place by hungry and thirsty thugs, you're going to want to take your water filtration devices with you. Besides, an under-the-sink water filter isn't going to do much good if there's no water flowing through the pipe, is it?

Hey, it's snowing outside! Maybe I'll head down to that park and find some 20 - 40 year old single lady who isn't wearing a warm coat.

Just a little talk between me, myself, and I,

And anyone stopping in to listen.

Rod McGough

MisterDaycare@Gmail.Com

I Got My First Gun

2008-11-29T14:58:00.002-05:00

I figured that out of the 200 or so people writing about survival & emergency preparedness on websites and blogs, I was probably the only one without a gun. The .22 rifles was a recent topic on my favorite survival website: thesurvivalpodcast.com so after listening to the podcast a second time, I was convinced. For around $130.00 I bought a Savage Model 64 .22 Caliber Autoloader Rimfire Rifle from the Sportsman's Warehouse in North Roanoke County.

Oh, you can listen to the podcast yourself by the way, by clicking below:

Episode-88- A Survivalists View of the 22 Long Rifle

The guy behind the counter was probably amused as I have absolutely no knowledge about guns. I just wanted a cheap starter rifle to play with and this was the cheapest. It looks pretty cool - all in black, and has a 10 round clip. The one with the bolt cost around $20.00 more, but what did I know about the difference?

Anyway, I need some place to practice at now. I'm sure as heck won't be going to a shooting range to be laughed at, so any advice would be appreciated. I'll just be shooting at paper targets and soda cans. Please email me if you have any suggestions: MisterDaycare@Gmail.Com

I found a YouTube video on how to take it apart, I guess for cleaning. It's at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rscEBXWUKj4

Now if I can only find my glasses to read the manual.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

As always, just a little talk between me, myself, and I,
And anyone stopping in to listen.

Rod McGough
http://starcitysurvival.blogspot.com
MisterDaycare@Gmail.Com

I Could Have Had A V8!

2008-11-22T15:51:00.006-05:00

Denial

What images does your mind conjure up when confronted with this word? Do you picture an alchoholic - maybe someone that you even know, outright denying that they have an alchohol problem? Maybe for those who keep up with the news have read a story or two about the growing movement to deny that the genocide of the Jews during World War 2 actually happened, or that it didn't happen the way that or history books tell us? Or closer to home, is anyone planning on a triple portion of holiday cheer this Thanksgiving and Christmas, not to mention all the pre-cooking snacking and after holiday leftovers? Maybe we're all in denial that it's going to add to our waistline as after all, it's only once a year :)

I've given much thought to the concept of denial lately. In fact, I have to say that denial was one of the major causes of an extreme life change for me this past month. In my case, dental care is my greatest denial, that, and the actual lack of proper in-home-care of course. I knew there were cavities, I could see a gradual darkening of parts of my teeth, yet I ignored the problem in remembrance of previous pain and major expense. Because of this, when the intense tooth pain began in multiple areas of my mouth, I panicked! This all happened at the same time the economy took a nose dive early October by the way. So in my panicked state, I quit my beloved daycare job and began manual labor as a high school custodian in order to get health and dental insurance. The result: I now possibly have an abdominal hernia from 8 hours of daily mopping, vacuuming, floor stripping, etc. When a child hugs me too hard, I have a hard time keeping myself from throwing up. I've now quit the high school, returned to the daycare, and have to watch someone else teach in my old classroom with my children that I've cared so much for a couple years now. I'm working with younger ones now as a teacher's assistant in someone elses room, and am teaching from a cardboard box instead of a once spacious room with shelves & cabinets for my supplies. Worst yet, the situation hasn't changed. I'm putting away money like crazy, but I'm afraid I'll be losing most of my teeth at the Free Clinic real soon. So because of denial, I'm worse off now than before.

I'm sure there's also a fine line somewhere between denial and laziness as well, but I'll psychoanalyze myself later to affirm that diagnosis. But my point is, denial is not some psycho-babble, but is real. And it can have disasterous results in your life if not identified and dealt with.
By the way, here's some defenitions that my little mind was actually able to comprehend after a long long day with a room full of 4 and 5 year olds:

Denial is a defense mechanism postulated by Sigmund Freud, in which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming evidence. The subject may deny the reality of the unpleasant fact altogether (simple denial), admit the fact but deny its seriousness (minimisation) or admit both the fact and seriousness but deny responsibility.
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial

Denial is the psychological process by which human beings protect themselves from things which threaten them by blocking knowledge of those things from their awareness. It is a defense which distorts reality; it keeps us from feeling the pain and uncomfortable truth about things we do not want to face. If we cannot feel or see the consequences of our actions, then everything is fine and we can continue to live without making any changes
From: http://www.nh-dwi.com/caip-202.htm

Don't you just love Wikipedia?

My reason for writing about denial is because:

1. It was being discussed on Radio IQ here in Roanoke this last Friday. Check out:

http://www.theworld.org/taxonomy_by_date/1/20081121 and either listen live

or download the podcast called: "Denial near and far" (9:45) November 21, 2008 download

About one in five Americans still doubt that the Earth is warming. Is this healthy skepticism or denial? The World's Jason Margolis reports on cultural denial around the globe.

In this article it was said that "1 in 5 people Americans did not believe that the earth is warming, and that a majoritity of Americans believe that the rising global temperatures had nothing to do with human activity." Now I have to admit that I personally haven't made a decision on what to believe as far as the impact of global warming will be. Like Charlie Brown, I'm a little "wishy washy" and can easily be swayed from one side to the other. Many scientists and experts of the Christian faith are going on the air and are being reported in print that it's not as bad as what we're being told. There could be some conspiracy behind it all I hear, maybe it's political, but again, I haven't looked into it and taken sides as my little brain can only handle so much :) I'm just now becoming interested in Bible Prophecy as well as having interests in emergency preparedness and survivalism. But it's just alarming to me when I hear things like this because people are not choosing sides because of decisions based on research and study, it looks to me like denial - ignoring the issues so as not to feel the pain. But again, I don't believe that it's all a hoax, and I am concerned. But it's just not a priority for me right now.
It was an interesting podcast though, and it gave me a better understanding of what denial is, not to mention the fuel to get off my butt and write something in my blog.

2. My second reason for writing about denial is that I think it applies to emergency preparedness as well. I aint no Charlie Brown on this issue - I KNOW THAT IT DOES! A year ago I bought a website name called: ConsiderTheAnt.Net It's because I firmly believe that a metaphoric "winter" is coming upon us, and like the proverbial (And Biblical) ant, we must gather our harvest and prepare for the bleak months ahead of us. Unfortunately I haven't done anything with it yet. But we shouldn't be like the grasshopper frittering his time away with amusements and childish things when there's work to be done. The Bible calls this laziness or in the old King James way of talking: slothfulness.

For the Biblical reference go to: http://www.cssm.ca/bbc/bn1/lesson3/teless3.htm
For a more colorful and modern take on it go to: http://www.gospelweb.net/CultureWar/antstory.htm

One of my favorite survival blogs: http://thesurvivalpodcast.com/ speaks a lot on this subject as well.

People are in for a rude awakening someday and I just hope that there's enough of us ants around to offer them a little bit of support when times get tough and their survival is at stake. Of course in the original version of the Ant and the Grasshopper story, the grasshopper died, but part of being prepared for emergencies is that you have a little extra for those who didn't prepare. The question is, how much can you spare before you begin to deny yourself and your family the basic necessities of life?

It's our human nature I guess to not want to look at things when there's dispair, uncertainity, and no way out. Recently my newspaper reported a major drop in subscribers and they attributed it to the fact that print is dead and that more and more people are getting their news online. I say it's more than that. People don't want to see page after page of bad news. Because they don't care? No, it's because of denial.

Here's something I found from the Internet recently:

Four Stages of Preparedness Denial

#1 is, it won't happen.

#2 is, if it does happen, it won't happen to me.

#3: if it does happen to me, it won't be that bad.

#4: if it happens to me and it's bad, there's nothing I can do to stop it anyway.

Eric Holdeman, Director of King County Emergency Managementrecently used the above in TIME Magazine's "Why We Don't Prepare"

I have to wonder though if there's more to what's going on than just denial. I came across this website: http://drsanity.blogspot.com/2006/04/strategies-for-dealing-with-denial.html
A quote that really got to me was: "Denial is a break from reality itself; and as such, it can have serious--even deadly consequences." The owner of the blog goes on to compare denial as a filter, but in the end, you'd better clean house and come to grips with things, and get back to the real world. Take a look at just the 5 news items in all the rss news feeds at the bottom of my blog. What is the reality? What is the real world today?

Here's a disturbing link on our oil running out. "But prices have gone down" you may say. Well check this out:
https://www.web-purchases.com/OST_EDay/EOSTJB49/landing.html

Are we in the "End Times"?
Take a look here: https://www.web-purchases.com/OST_EDay/EOSTJB49/landing.html

All-in-all, there's a lot of gloom and doom out there, and it's so easy to cover your ears and shut your eyes. But all I'm saying (more like rambling on and on about), is: "Don't wait for a wake-up call. Organize, plan, prepare, do some little things now to help make your life more bearable for the upcoming future. Don't freak out like the guy I saw outside of a grocery store this week. He saw the Christmas trees and said: "Oh shit, it's Christmas time already!" Now I don't think he was swearing because he hated Christmas or the Christ of Christmas. It was more likely because he's waited till the last minute to prepare for it. Maybe he had no money saved up. Maybe it's because he has to get off his butt, turn off the tv, and get proactive. I don't know. But why does it take a 911 type catastrophe or a major hurricane or earthquake to get people thinking about preparing? And why do we wait till after and then slap our forhead saying "man, I could have had a V8". "If only I had stocked up!" "I should have saw that one coming!"

Let's get out of denial, let's get our friends and family out of denial, stop worrying if people will look at you as a fanatic, and let's do as the Boy Scouts do and Be Prepared. Be an ant, not a grasshopper.

"I will do today what others will not do,

so I can do tomorrow whatothers cannot do.

Just a little talk between me, myself, and I,

And anyone stopping in to listen.

Rod McGough

MisterDaycare@Gmail.Com

Local Places To Buy, Sell, Or Trade

2008-11-16T18:04:00.008-05:00

(The Turkey Fling Game Was Deleted As The Music Went On And On And On And On!!!!)

Anyway, to maintain my present lifestyle of barely keeping my head above the water, I've shared about my favorite discount stores - Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Dollar General Market, and Big Lots. Sometimes their merchandise is a bargain and is good for stashing away for the upcoming times of uncertainity, and sometimes it's not. In one post I mentioned buying bars of soap in large quantities from Dollar Tree when it fact I could have saved more by buying it in bulk packages at Kroger. I'm sure there's even better deals at Walmart or Sam's Club. I guess you have to plan your trip, check your ads, and do your math. One thing I'm lousy at is coupons, and to be honest, with coupons you seem to get more of the unhealthy foods anyway. But deals are to be found such as $1.00 bags of white and brown rice a month ago at Dollar General (Now $1.75) and the just recent $1.00 cans of Armour Treet at Dollar Tree this week which is basically the same as canned Spam. The expiration date was September 2011! You can't beat that

By the way, check out this article on Spam at: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/15/business/15spam.html?_r=1&oref=slogin%20

Anyway, I also wanted to share my favorite websites for LOCAL buying, selling, and trading, and my most favorite flea market in Roanoke since moving here from Arizona. Apache Park & Swap: I really miss you!

Roanoke VA Freecycle

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RoanokeVAFreecycle/

The Roanoke VA Freecycle (TM) Group serves Roanoke Valley and is open to all in its area who want to "recycle" that special something rather than throw it away. Whether it's a chair, a fax machine, piano or an old door, feel free to post it. Maybe you're looking to acquire something yourself! Nonprofit groups are also welcome to participate too! One constraint: everything posted must be free. This group is part of The Freecycle™ Network, a nonprofit organization and a movement of people interested in keeping good stuff out of landfills. Check out freecycle.org for other cities and info on the movement! E-mail roanokevafreecycle-owner@yahoogroups.com for questions or improvement ideas!

***I'm kind of new to this list, but I just came home today with some free pots of cactus that was growing in someone's yard. Being from Arizona, it was a real treat to be able to plant some Prickly Pear and Aloe Vera. One bad thing though is that this list is touted by some as a great way to earn money. You get as much free stuff as you can from people, and then re-sell it. I think this ruins the whole purpose of the group and makes it hard for those who really have a pressing need for an item.

Roanoke's Craigslist

http://roanoke.craigslist.org/

Factsheet
Q: What is craigslist?A: Local classifieds and forums for more than 550 cities in over 50 countries worldwide - community moderated, and largely free.
Q: What can I find there?A: Jobs, housing, goods, services, romance, local activities, advice - just about anything really.

***You may have heard some negative remarks about this website due to the personal ads and those who subscribe to the "alternative lifestyle". Just browse the for sale catagories and you have nothing to worry about. I've gotten some toys and games for my daycare kids from the "For Free" catagory link, and one of my computers came from the "computer" catagory. Just be careful, don't pay for anything until it's right in front of you and you can check it out first. And when meeting someone, be sure to meet in a public place for safety. No one needs to know your address either.

Happy's Flea Market

http://www.happysfleamarket.com/

Happy's Flea Market5411 Williamson RoadRoanoke, Virginia 24012Telephone: (540) 563-4473 Fax: (540) 563-5124

***I do want to mention one thing about flea markets. Basically you get what you pay for, so beware. The army surplus store there is great. I bought some really nice black canvas duffle bags that should pretty much last my life time. Those nylon "going to the gym" bags just don't cut it when holding your survival or emergency preparedness gear. But what I want to warn everyone about is the cheap "survival knives" that you can buy at quite a few shops. They may look cool, and make you feel like Rambo, but the blades almost all end at the handle. As you can image, they're going to snap off at the worst time - probably when you need it the most. The coin shop is a monthly stop for me. I can't afford much - just one silver eagle coin per month going for around $21.00 - $22.00 per coin right now. For me, I feel it's a much safer investment than stocks or a 401k account right now. Plus I can re-sell them in an emergency. May I make a suggestion? Buy them with cash. Uncle Sam doesn't need to know what you have. I also buy the silver dimes made before 1964. They're silver as well and both the silver eagles and dimes might be good for bartering some day if the economy collapses and our paper money becomes worthless. You never know, and you really don't lose anything by investing in silver or gold. Of course if a million ton asteroid made out of pure silver or gold crashes here in Virginia, the value would go down of course :)

Oh, I almost forgot. Now I can't remember the name of this store, but at Happys there's a man who sells outdated OTC medications, toiletries, and cosmetics. His inside shop is located next to a side door leading out to the parking lot. There's some real good bargains there if you are a firm believer that expiration dates are misleading and the products are actually still good. I'm one of those believers. Just ask him though when he plans on opening new boxes so you can be there for the good stuff - vitamins, herbal supplements, anti-acids, etc.

I don't know anything about the private sales tables out back. There's a hundred or so set up on good weather days. Just have cash in hand and brush up on your bartering or price haggling skills.

Well I've rambled on enough. I just wanted to post something before I start back to daycare full time again. I'll be a little pre-occupied with the children for a while as it is the holiday season. I'm through with the custodial work at the high school and am back to being good old "Mr. Rod" as I have been for 28 years now with the children in Mesa Arizona and here in Roanoke Virginia.
I really did want and need the retirement plan and health benefits - especially the dental, but I'll just have to find another way. That's what surviving is all about.

Rod McGough
Roanoke, VA

Holding On

2008-11-09T18:18:00.007-05:00

Walrond Park November 9, 2008

It's amazing how quickly Fall came this year, and how quickly it's going away. I don't think it's a weather thing, but more likely it's just that my mind was occupied with other matters. First the economy took a nose dive, then it was an employment change. Instead of seeing the beautiful changes of nature that one sees in the Fall, I only saw the man-made ugliness. And now, like the last leaf handing onto a branch, all I can do is to hold on just a little bit longer, and hope that things will change for the good.

As I cleaned the Roanoke County parks one last time before my seasonal job ends, I felt cold, lonely, and depressed. The parks were mostly empt and I only had the cold breeze, trash, and leaves swirling around at my feet. As the leaves fell from the trees above me, my mind was once again consumed with the falling of the market, and how the stocks and even homes are losing value. As I looked at the bare branches I thought about the people with bare bank accounts and almost barefood cupboards. We're in for a long Winter here in America, Springtime seems so far away and I have to wonder if it too will come and go away without my seeing the beauty of nature. What does next year hold?

I seem to have a nickname at one of the parks that I clean. There a gentlemen refers to me as "NPR Man" referring to the fact that I always have either National Public Radio booming from the truck cab, or the BBC. Most of my news broadcasts come from Radio IQ which is 89.7 FM here in Roanoke. It's all news, interviews, and commentaries, but I'm afraid that the content isn't very positive and uplifting. Many choose not to read their newspaper or listen to the news as it's all to sad and depressing. I understand their viewpoint, but on purpose I try to keep myself up to date with current events and world news. And it is indeed sad and depressing. People in other countries are going through so much pain and suffering. For many there are no bank accounts whatsoever, and the food cupboards are bare. We have so much to be thankful for here in America despite some unpleasantnesses that may be in store for us in the upcoming years. It's just so hard to focus on the good right now.

To be honest, there's only one thing that gives me hope. It's not Obama, and it's not the wheeling and dealings of our government do-gooders playing roulette with our hard earned money. It's a special kind of hope: not wishful thinking, dreaming, or positive thinking. My hope is an expectation - as the Biblical word "hope" means in Greek. My hope is in a person: Jesus Christ...., AND His finished work which we will see come to pass in the future - prophecy fulfilled. Titus 2:13 says that we should be: "Looking for that Blessed Hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ". Until the day He returns, and I believe it to be very very soon, I am surviving day by day to serve Him. I am seeking to maintain my present lifestyle should times get tough, or even if they don't, and am trying to be wise and a good steward with all that the Lord has given me. Coming out my hidey-hole after the big one, prepared to help reconstruct society into some utopian paradise is not my goal or even concern. I won't be here.

I can't help but to feel sad for the times as they are, but I find it so exciting that everything taking place has already been written down in the Bible over 2000 years ago! I have no need to panic as not only does Bible prophecy say what is going to happen in our future, it also goes on to tell us what the result of our faith in Jesus Christ will be. It's all there, every bit. And it has a happy ending!

I urge everyone to view the television show: "Jack Van Impe Presents" You can watch it from one of the stations listed below, or download the show in .MP3 sound format for your Ipod, or with video to watch on your computer screen. The link is: http://www.jvim.com Just click on "tv program". It may be on some cable television channels as well.

We all need some Good News to go with the bad, and when you come to discover that all that is happening is part of God's plan, and that He's fully in control to the very end, it's Good News indeed.

Rod McGough

Jack Van Impe Presents
United States TV Schedule listings

VIRGINIA
City Station Day Time
Bristol/Kingsport/Johnson City WKPT/19 SUN 7:30 AM
Danville W18BG/18 SUN 8:00 PM
Front Royal WAZF/ 28 SAT 10:00 PM
Harrisonburg WWAZ/ 24 SAT 10:00 PM
Luray W16AZ/16 SAT 10:00 PM
Norfolk WTVZ/33 SUN 8:30 AM
Richmond WRID/48 TUE 10:00 AM
Richmond WRID /48 FRI 10:00 PM
Richmond WTVR/6 SUN 12:05 AM
Roanoke/Lynchburg WSLS/10 SUN 11:30 PM
Stanton WAZM/25 SAT 10:00 PM
Virginia Beach WHRE/21 MON 1:00 AM
Virginia Beach WHRE/21 WED 9:30 PM
Winchester WAZW/48 SAT 10:00 PM
Woodstock WAZT/10 SAT 10:00 PM

I Went Ahead And Did It.

2008-11-05T09:27:00.003-05:00

Well I just quit my school custodian job. There goes my benefits and retirement, but with the way my body was coping with the work, I wouldn't have lived long enough to have used any retirement - if in fact it would have still been there 30 years from now. I'm returning to the daycare center, but not to my class that I care so much about. It will be a long long wait before I ever get it back. But life goes on - how well under Obama I don't know, but at least I still have employment. I'm surviving, but with the loss of the dental plan, I'm afraid my teeth won't. Guess I'd better add a lot of cans of soup and applesauce to my food stores.

Rod McGough

Surviving A Job Change

2008-11-03T14:09:00.003-05:00

I haven't updated my blog for a little over 20 days now as I've been going through a few changes concerning employment, handling stress, and coping with loss of sleep. As a previous post mentioned, I gave up my teaching job at my daycare in trade for a job that had health insurance, dental insurance, and retirement with the Virginia Retirement System. At first I assumed that my only regret would be in leaving the children that I've worked with for two and a half years now, but it's been more than that - a lot more! Working at a High School as a custodian has left me sore and aching in practically every muscle - many of which I never new I had! I'm not new to manual labor, I clean parks for the Roanoke County Parks & Recreation each weekend as a warm weather seasonal job, and of course you can't work with children unless you're out there playing ball with them, but this is five days of lifting and scrubbing, and it's left me stiff, in pain, and feeling misereable. I'm trying to hold on to my daycare job as much as possible, so a few days a week I work a morning shift there to help out with the younger children before heading on over to the High School for another shift. At times I get only 4 - 5 hours of sleep. I know for many this is probably their day-to-day daily grind, but I'm just not handling it well. Then like most jobs, there's the daily employer or co-worker stress which I won't get into, and to top it all off, I do traffic cop duty at a 3-way intersection with hundreds of teens barreling down on me, trying to get home ASAP! So it's been a rough couple weeks, but I'm starting to get a better handle on things. I was out job hunting once, but I kept looking at daycare again. I don't know, we'll see what happens. I do know that there's no longer a full time spot for me at my former daycare. Have I messed up big time? I really can't say, but all I can do is survive the present, and keep on making plans on surviving the future.

Hey! I found a new store, well it's new to me. It's called Dollar General Market over in Troutville. Apparently it's been there for over a year now, is part of the Dollar General family, and is very unique considering how Dollar General is usually run. Here's a link to an article on it from a year ago. Again, it's in Troutville and I found it while heading North on Williamson Road to where it turns into Lee Highway. I mention it as it has a larger food section - many refrigerated, and can offer quite a few bargains. I stocked up on a large quantity of canned beef stew and chicken & dumplings - $1.00 a can and with an expiration date somewhere in 2011! This is not hoarding, this is not freaking out over fear of economic collapse, but is investing! I'm buying now what I already eat, and will be eating it at $1.00 a can when others will be paying more for it. One plus is that the cans are half size and when cleaned, are perfect for my homemade buddy burner heaters. I was very surprised with the expiration dates considering that it was a dollar store. Plus I love chicken and dumplings! Not as good as mom's though.
Here's the link:

Dollar General Market opens its doors in the old Winn-Dixie building at Mtn. View PlazaDollar General Market opened last week in Mountain View Plaza in Troutville in part of the space that once housed the Winn-Dixie grocery store. The new enterprise opened Thursday, June 7. The parking lot stayed filled most of the weekend with the curious and the dedicated bargain shoppers.Cathy Benson / Published Tuesday, June 12, 2007 3:45 pm

Well, time to go to work. Tomorrow is another double shift day with no break in between. I'll be arriving at the polling place at 5:30am and hopefully will be allowed to vote before having to get out of line at 6:30am to go to work. If not, well at least I tried. I bet Joe The Plumber, being self employed, will be able to make time to vote. Rod The Daycare Bus Driver has to get those daycare kids off to school on time, and Rod The Janitor has to get the school ready for the kids the next day.

Rod McGough

A Personal Survival Decision

2008-10-11T20:36:00.005-04:00

I've been a little busy this last week with a personal survival decision - one that could affect my life for years to come. This last Monday I turned in my resignation at my daycare center. I've always been proud to tell people how long I've been working with children. To date, it's been 28 years since I first started caring for children as a teen. But if you do the math, this 43 year old made the decision to work with children when he himself was still a child at age 15. Now, in light of the financial crisis that our country is in, this adult has been forced to make an adult decision based on the need for health insurance, dental insurance, and a reliable (I hope...,) retirement plan. I chose to work as a custodian at a Highschool here in Roanoke. It's not a bad job - lots of repetition, and I get to listen to my favorite survival podcast on my .mp3 player . I'll be listening to a lot of podcasts - sermons, instructional broadcasts, news, etc. In a sense, I'll be in school..., literally.

I've not given up on working with children though. A day later I was invited to stay on with with the daycare and work 3 days a week with the preschoolers. I just won't have my own group of children to be in charge of anymore, and I won't have my own room to call my home away from home. But though I'll miss my little "Blue Buddies" age 5, 6, and 7, at least I can still be "Mr. Daycare". That's important to me. It's important to do something that gives us our identity, but when times get tough, it's even more important to have a secure foundation to stand on. When we can stand firmly, knowing that we can provide for ourselves and our family, then we can reach out to others. Unfortunately in my case, it makes for a 16 1/2 hour day, threee days a week. This is going to take some getting used too. And then of course my third job with the Roanoke County Parks & Recreation is still on the weekends.

"Yawn", oh well, at least I can't spend any of my money as I don't have time to go shopping.

Rod McGough
misterdaycare@gmail.com

My "Survivalist" Beliefs

2008-09-28T19:26:00.005-04:00

I'm sure everyone has heard of at least one person who has gone a little over-board with emergency preparedness. I don't feel that I have, in fact, I'm way way behind in my preparations if I heeded the advice of many of my favorite survival websites and blogs. But if you type in the word "survivalist" in Google's news story search engine, you'll always read some news article about some survivalist anti-government wacko out there, shooting up the countryside and hiding out from the law. I think there's a big difference between being a survivalist and being emergency prepared in those terms. But still, in the eyes of some, I'm paronoid and stupid. That's ok, I am paranoid and stupid, but it just wasn't until this survival craze that I'm going through, do people actually tell me so to my face. (Bad thing about Blogger is that you can't add a silly faced smiley emoticon here to show that I'm joking). Oh wait, here's one in text form :)

I guess when you talk about buying silver coins, stocking up on food, or making Buddy Burners (wax soaked cardboard in tuna cans to use as an emergency cooking stove), people tend to label you along those lines. My boss gave me one of those looks last Friday before I went home - too nice to say anything negative, but that look said it all. All I said was that I save my dryer lint. Placed in sections of egg cartons and covered with wax, they make great fire starters. Doesn't everyone save their dryer lint? :) I gotta get me an emoticon collection!

But you know, it doesn't really bother me at all. In some ways, it's like re-visiting my childhood. I grew up with shows like Gilligan's Island, The Swiss Family Robinson, Planet OF The Apes, and Ark 2. My favorite books were again, the Swiss Family Robinson and Robinson Crusoe. Not too long ago I got hooked on that Survivor TV series. This is all exciting stuff. Where once I came home from my 10 hours at daycare and vegetated in front of the TV watching Spongebob, I now listen to the BBC world news or the Survival Podcast through the Internet while writing down expiration dates of newly purchased cans of food or making paper logs out of my old newspapers. It doesn't get any beter than this.

You know Mom, if you had just let me borrow the car when I wanted to take a girl to the movies some 24 years ago, you might have had grandkids and a son with a normal life :)

But seriously, all this is interesting - like being in the Boy Scouts all over again. And it's a good feeling when you know that you won't have to be a burden to someone else during a one or two month flu pandemic or should the power go out for a couple weeks. And should society go to pot for a while, it's nice to know that I can immediately pack up and double up at my parent's house - providing them with extra food, heating fuel, medical supplies, etc.

1st. Timothy 5:8 says:

"If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." (NIV)

I am not a doomsdayer. I do not believe in the "end of the world" scenario, nor am I preparing for such. I believe both to be unscriptural. I'm not going to get into eschatology and will leave that for those much more knowledgeable than myself. What I will say is that as a Christian, my first priority is to God - to honor, obey, and to share his Gospel Plan of Salvation. My second priority is to my family. All in all, I'd say my preparedness belief is that we are to engage ourselves in the process of building a Godly future for generations to come. That includes providing food, shelter, clothing, medicines to those in need, and..., the proclaiming the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ to all who are willing to listen.

That's what this blog is all about.

Rod McGough

Just A Reminder

2008-09-24T12:27:00.006-04:00

I just want to remind everyone that I am still playing around with this blog. Yes, I am packing the feeds & widgets in, and it is slowing down the loading of the pages, but that's how my mind works. Disturbing isn't it? I pack it all in, then one by one in my spare time, I either consolidate or remove what I don't need. Maybe I should have labeled the blog: "Packrat Survivalism" or something like that. Anyway, please be patient. Google has already picked up the content, and I've already heard from viewers, so I'm hurrying as fast as I can. Same excuse that I use to give to my mother, but then it always fell on deaf ears. She'd either take away what wasn't cleaned up, or gave me a backside incentive to do it myself. I hope my viewers are nicer than that.

Hey, is anyone stocking up on those Hormel Compleats meals? I just bought a couple Turkey & Stuffing meals from Dollar General today for much less than what the major grocery stores sell them for. The expiration date was December, 2009 so I think it was both a frugal purchase, and a great one for emergency preparedness. I have about 20 of them at home that I'm rotating in and out of - some with better expiration dates than that . Add a little plastic one serving size pack of applesauce and you've pretty much got yourself an MRE for half of the price. Lasting for one to two years isn't bad either. You can either microwave them, or if the power is out, warm them up in a pan over a flame, or just eat them as they are. There are a lot of varieties but it seems like no one store carries them all. It's a nice change from the canned pastas at least

Someday if this site ever gets popular, let's all share where we can get foods with the best expiration date. Until then, keep reaching into the back of the shelf for the newer products.

When The Batteries Go Dead

2008-09-21T17:03:00.006-04:00

I didn't put this in my profile, but besides working in daycare during the week, on the weekends I work for the Roanoke County Parks & Recreation department. I couldn't survive the here and now without extra income, so each weekend I give up my much needed rest and household chores time to clean up and monitor the parks on the north side of town. A little manual labor is good for me, and I love being outdoors - especially in the fall. Living most of my live in Arizona, it's been a real treat to work outside and see the colored leaves and acorns begin to fall to the ground.

With fall of course comes football and soccer season, and my biggest park has children of all ages playing throughout the day. I'm not really big on sports, but as I make my rounds, I'll pause for a few minutes to watch the children play. As a daycare teacher though, I still can't get over how the parents come out to cheer for the children and teams. I'm used to seeing children while their parents are at work. So at times, I'm not sure what's more exciting to watch - a child making a touchdown or scoring a goal, or their mother jumping up and down, and cheering at the top of their lungs.

This week though, I directed most of my attention to one family in particular. While big brother was out playing for his team, little brother sat in the grass playing with his Gameboy. Suddenly the batteries went dead. That's when all..., you know what broke out. I don't put swear words in my blog, so just use your imagination. This child suddenly became very vocal about not being able to use his Gameboy, and about there not being anything to do. Mom and dad became very vocal about wanting to watch the game. The boy was told to go play, but nothing at the park held his interest. There were trees, squirrels, rocks, insects, geese, a playground, and other kids to play with - not to mention the game, but this boy could find nothing to occupy his time. I had to move on, so I never found out if dad gave him something else to cry about, but it did give me something to think about.

I won't go into the spiel about how "back in my day we didn't have video games". I'm kind of hoping to leave this kind of talk for when I reach my 60's at least. But you do have to wonder just how a family with young children would survive a couple weeks without electricity. Many like to romanticize an evening without power, and how it would bring the family closer together with reading from a book, playing a board game, or roasting chestnuts on an open fire. Folks, take it from a daycare teacher, that's going to get old real fast! In my classroom, half of the children gather around my computers, and the other half break off into groups to play cars or to play house. An individual child's attention can be taken up by computers and video games, but without that, the children need other children for some sort of dramatic or role play. Not every child is like that, but for a majority, it is.

Again, my site is not about surviving nuclear war or a total economic collapse. What I am concerned about is suriving a couple weeks at home without power due to acts of nature, a flu pandemic, or a couple weeks of civil unrest. And the question I'd like to pose for those with children is: "Are you prepared for when the batteries go dead?" These days, many of our better batteries have a shelf life of around three years at least. I know as I have several packs stored away. Chances are that when the power goes out, there's going to be a panic, and the stores will all be out of batteries within hours. It happened just recently as shown in a previous post. So any batteries that you do have will probably be reserved for more important things like flashlights, radios, etc. Poor Mario will have to sit this one out for a few weeks. But can your children last that long?

I just want to suggest that extra batteries for your children's toys be stored away now - in advance. Keep track of them and rotate fresh ones in now and then. You don't lose anything as you're going to use them anyway. Then invest in a solar battery charger and some rechargeable batteries. I bought mine for $29.00 and plan on buying a few more to give out to friends and family should the need ever arise. They truly are amazing! You just pop the batteries in and set the box out in the sunlight. These are just for the handheld games of course.

It is a shame though that children have lost interest in board games. Then too, maybe they haven't. Maybe all it will take is just mom and dad to sit down with them for some good old fashioned family time. So be sure to have some popular board games on hand, and don't forget to brush up on the instructions. Anyone still remember "Monopoly", "Clue", "Life", etc. ? You can even spice up the game a bit by having the loser wash the dishes. Hmm, anyone want to come over to my house and play?

My Favorite Survival Website

2008-09-18T19:07:00.000-04:00

I think it will become apparent very fast that my most favorite numeral uno survival website is SurvivalBlog.com. And one of today's articles kind of answered a question I posted yesterday about just what "hoarding" really was. Here's the link to the article with a response from the website's owner: Mr. James Wesely Rawles.
http://www.survivalblog.com/2008/09/letter_re_a_recent_gasoline_sh.html

I must also add that I think everyone should read a copy of his book: "Patriots: Suriving The Coming Collapse". It was his website and book that inspired me to create a local blog on survival in the Roanoke area of Virginia. Be sure to get yourself a copy from Amazon.com. The Roanoke County Library has a copy that you can reserve. There's quite a waiting list for it.

Just Kicking The Tires

2008-09-17T19:07:00.003-04:00

I'm really glad that no one is reading my blog yet. I'm just playing around with it, sort of kicking the tires and looking under the hood. There are many websites offering instruction on how to use Blogger, but I've just never been one to read the manual. It's more fun this way, although very time consuming. I don't think this will ever be a daily post thing. It's become just one more reason not to wash the dishes.

I'm experimenting with Google's Adsense, and I've put up a link to the Star City Survival Message Board. There's one more thing now that I have to set up and tweak. But when it's all ready, I'll be advertising it at MeetUp.Com as I've read that there are quite a few people in the Roanoke area who would like to meet others interested in emergency preparedness and survival topics.

Hopefully when my blog does get read, gas prices will have gone down more. On my drive home today, it was $3.89 a gallon at BP, $3.87 at Hess Wilco, and $3.79 at Sheets. But it's much better than the over $4.00 prices that popped up in the Roanoke area the last few days. And at least we have fuel instead of those white plastic bags wrapped around the pump handles at almost every gas station this last weekend. I have to wonder though if I went overboard last Friday when panic spread and everyone was lined up down the street trying to get into a station for fuel. I fueled up both tanks in my Ford F150 and then went down to a hardware store, bought a 5 gallon gas can, and got back in line to fuel that up too. Was that hoarding? Were I and the thousands like me part of the problem that caused fuel to run out? I'm certain that the answer is yes to both questions and it leaves me feeling a little guilty. Note to self: "top off the tanks weekly so as not to need so much during another crisis such as that". That's not hoarding is it?

That's a good ethical question for the message board when I get it set up. That, and a good discussion over purchasing supplies at Dollar Tree. Last night I bought a couple packs of Dial bar soap - 2 bars for a dollar. I felt pretty good about that purchase until stopping at Krogers today for my daily bachelor tv dinner meal. Safeguard bar soap was packaged at 10 bars for $3.50 each. Clearly the Kroger's purchase was the better deal. I think another topic for discussion on the message board should be local deals on things that we should all stock up on. Maybe a coupon swap could be formed. Why let all these ladies with toting 4 kids and a shoebox full of coupons have all the fun.

Well I'm off to go do those dishes. I couldn't hold the pack of paper plates with my tv dinners and all the packs of bar soap in my hands. Real men don't use shopping carts .

It's A Start

2008-09-16T19:17:00.006-04:00

I've become very impressed with Blogger this last day or so. I'm a big fan of FrontPage from the 90's for my web page creations, and Microsoft Publisher which I've always used for both word processing and for making brochures. This simple wysiwyg editor is like an old friend. The only complaint that I've had so far is that I can't center my Star City Survival logo picture above. Anyone have any advice on this subject? Oh well, it's a start.

Speaking of "a start", I think my emergency preparedness preparations are coming along quite nice. Oh, it's nothing like what the survival gurus have and talk about on their blogs and websites. But I'm quite proud of my accomplishments. I'm most definately not ready for a nuclear war or even a total economic collapse, but that's ok. In my way of thinking, and understanding world events as they are now, I have more reason to be prepared for a flu pandemic or a temporary dissruption in the food supply to the grocery stores due to acts of nature, strikes, or temporary civil unrest. In the last 6 months I've been able to stock up and create a food rotation plan that will last me at least 4 months. To some, that's pitiful, but with my daycare salary I think I've done quite well. Along with the food, I have a couple goodies from various emergency preparedness catalogs, and then I've begun stockpiling up medications, batteries, etc. Nothing spectacular, but it's a comfort to know that I can take care of myself or my nearby family should we need to double up for a while to ride out the storm.

You know to some, any such planning is pure stupidity. Yet did anyone see the look on people's faces last week when the gas stations here in Virginia suddenly begun raising their prices, setting limits on fuel purchases, and then begun to run out of fuel due to the recent hurricane on the Texas coast? I saw the look of panic on many faces - unbelief that such a thing could happen in America. Let's face it, this is not the first time that this has happened, and it won't be the last. As for food and other neccesities, I'm posting the following news story to prove my point. I can only pray, and offer this weblog as motivation to take extra effort to provide for yourself and your loved ones.

Residents storm stores in search of supplies
Tuesday, September 16, 2008 3:11 AM
By Tracy Turner and Monique Curet
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

A hopeful Sarah Welsh stood outside the doors of the Andersons store near Sawmill Road and asked the question of the day:
"Do you have any 'D' batteries left?" the Worthington resident said, hoping to revive a flashlight.
"Sorry, all sold out," an employee responded.
The Worthington resident headed back to her car, complaining, "This is the sixth store that I've gone to. No one has anything left!"
Welsh expressed the frustration that many central Ohioans felt throughout the day yesterday as numerous stores across the area ran out of basic emergency supplies as many people contended with power outages and storm damage.
They also flocked to stores for help. Ice, batteries, flashlights, chain saws, tarps, rakes, coolers, ice, lawn bags and generators were among the items in highest demand.
Most area grocery stores are open, although they were selling out of must-have items such as ice as soon as deliveries arrived yesterday.
"We're trying to stay in the best shape we can," said Kroger spokeswoman Beth Wilkin.
Twenty-three of Kroger's 77 central Ohio stores were without power as of yesterday afternoon, but most are operating on backup generators and selling dry groceries only, Wilkin said. Stores using generators were going to close when it became dark outside, she said.
Between three and five Kroger stores were not open at all, as well as six of 22 Giant Eagle stores in the area.
Kroger stores were replenishing their supply of ice throughout the day yesterday and had requested shipments of batteries from suppliers, but the batteries weren't expected to arrive in stores until later in the week.
Other retailers reported brisk sales of needed items.
"We sold out our entire stock of generators in 15 minutes before our store officially opened this morning," said a store manager at the Pickerington Tractor Supply Company store who declined to give his last name. "We've seen a significant increase in our customer traffic count."
He said the generators' $300 to $1,200 price tags weren't a hindrance to any of the shoppers.
The Home Depot's 14 central Ohio stores also had increased traffic from people looking for relief. The stores, some running on backup generators, ran low on many of their storm-related supplies early and had to place orders for more goods, spokeswoman Jen King said. She said the stores would replenish their stock "as quickly as we can."
Lowes, which had already enacted its emergency-response plan for Hurricane Ike, had numerous employees working its "command center" to get more supplies to hard-hit stores, spokeswoman Chris Ahearn said.
Andersons also sold out of its generators but said its central Ohio stores would have more in stock as early as this morning. The store had two shipments scheduled to come in yesterday, said Gail Thompson, who manages the Sawmill location.
The store, which was running on a limited emergency generator, had its employees walk customers throughout the building with flashlights to help them find the items they needed.
For Upper Arlington resident Paul Krivak, a $300 Weber gas grill was the must-have item of the day. He said he and his family didn't want the food they had to go to waste.
"At least with this grill we can still eat and feed some of our neighbors," Krivak said.
David Mazzola of the West Side also bought one of the grills, with similar intentions.
"We sat out a day thinking the power would come back on, but eventually decided that it'll likely take longer than we thought," he said, as employees loaded the grill into his car.
Restaurants also got a boost from people still without power seeking meals. For those restaurants with electricity, business was booming.
"What's happening is that the ones that are operating are just getting so much business" that distribution routes were working hard to keep up, said Mary Cusick, a Bob Evans Restaurants spokeswoman. Ten of the chain's 50 central Ohio restaurants were closed yesterday.

Copyright © 2008, The Columbus Dispatch

My First Blog

2008-09-15T22:22:00.000-04:00

Well I've spent 4 hours now working on this blog, and I think I have the hang of it now. My main intention for this site is to create a means for survival minded folk in the Roanoke Valley area of Virginia to meet, greet, and talk about emergency preparedness and survival issues. Unfortunately, it's now time for bed. But it's a good start considering that I haven't put anything online since the days of Windows 95 and Front Page. But until my next post, feel free to drop me a line and let me know how I can make this website more useful to the people of "Star City" Virginia - Roanoke, and all the adjoining towns and cities that are part of this area.