Survival Chronicles of Jim – Chapter 16

Well my vegetable garden is kicking butt. My pomegranate tree, really a bush, is producing some small fruit. My tangerine tree is not producing yet.

I have harvested about 18 large squash fruit and several smaller egg plant fruits. I can see that if I needed to I could grow more produce. If everyone in the neighborhood also grew vegetables and fruit, a local farmer’s market type concern could be established for barter. I guess that’s probably asking for too much. There will be some people who did not prepare or procure in any shape or fashion,….God forbid them to have weapons and demand to be taken care of or given food. So yeah, I can to the conclusion that Bug Out at some point as the only option. Urban Survival is possible, but most likely only for a time, unless you very well planned and have prepared well, and, had a substantial Survival Group for mutually support.

More and more I see that an economic collapse is not only possible but probable. The article about the shrinking Middle Class hit home. I do really well financially and should be in the “haves” group, but worry about the “have nots” and what they may be capable of when the food runs out and the utilities stop. Plus I am not immune from losing my job – I am not a government employee.

I am making plans on heading back to my Safe Location, which is family cabin well North of my city, and emplace another cache. I last emplaced a cache near the cabin in February. This new trip will allow me to check out the first cache and see how it is faring,..if any animals or people uncovered it, or if water running off the hill threatens it.

The February cache has the following items:

Aqua Mira Bottle Water filter unit,

Frontier Pro Water Filter Straw,

Extra water purification tabs,

Pack of three butane lighters,

Six of the Three Day Main Stay bars,

Two small green ponchos spray painted sand color and brown,

Small camp hatchet,

100 foot roll of green parachute line (small diameter rope),

One set of long underwear plus four pair of extra socks,

25 rounds of 12 gauge buckshot,

450 rounds of .22 LR ammunition,

Six small cans of roast beef,

Twelve packs of Ramen noodles

Two large packs of Beef jerky and some freeze dried fruits

I bought the “Vegi-Max” collection of Heirloom seeds that come in a sealed #10 can from EarthWaveLiving. I traded a old computer, that I repaired and upgraded, for a .22 LR revolver as well (can anyone say barter society?). I am going to cache these items plus these additional items:

200 more rounds of .22 LR ammunition,

Sharpening device for my knife and hachet,

Pack of 8 “AA” batteries,

Pack of 8 boxes of wooden matches,

Small gun cleaning kit

Pair of Green 5.11 pants,

Extra t-shirt and Sweatshirt

Two small emergency ponchos

Rather than put this cache in od metal ammunition cans, I'm going to put all the items in a two lengths of PVC pipe, pop in an oxygen absorber then seal up the PVC cache container, using PVC glue, and conceal near the cabin. I'm going to glue some webbing straps from old M16 slings so I can carry these into the cache area. I remember that I need to emplace the cache in a location that I can get to if the cabin is occupied by unfriendly people if/when I Bug Out there.

I don’t know about Neomi anymore. I think I’m going to have to cut her out of my Urban Survival Plans, unless she just plain shows up after the collapse, as she was telling me she has to include her Mother and Sister, who will be a burden and won’t prepare. Hell, I can't stand to be in the same room with her sister. I don’t know if I’m being too hard or lacking humanity here, but to include people I have to care for places me and my son at risk. I just don’t know.

Have not found anymore coins for Silver Melt value, so I went and bought five more Silver one ounce rounds. I’m starting to get a collection of silver here and it makes me feel good to have the Silver rounds and Silver Melt coins on hand.

Oh, and I bought some more re-chargeable AA batteries and another flashlight that runs on AA batteries, as well as another box of 7.62x54mm ammunition for my Mosin-Nagant rifle. Note: I was eating lunch with a couple of shooters that work with UrbanMan and we were talking about Survival prepping and guns. I had to admit that I don't have anything other than a Mosin-Nagant rifle and a shotgun,...not counting my Walther .22 LR handgun. I got alot of jaw dropping stares, then alot of advice on buying AR riles. We'll see.

Haven’t yet order more food, but will do so soon. Planning on ordering a case of #10 of Chili Mac and Beef (60 servings) and a can of Scrambled Eggs with Ham (96 servings) from EarthWaveLiving.

be safe, Jim