Our survival blog website provides information on survival gear, links and information for survival preparedness. Learn how to survive a disaster, and should the worst happen our survival preparedness blog can help.
Nothing to do with survival here.... I have gained a great interest in chainsaw carving. I carved this owl out of a pine log. I am Also working on other projects. If anyone is interested in a carving to purchase, let me know as I sell them on the side along with keeping up with my blog. Please note that I am far from an expert! I simply enjoy it and take a little pride into my work.
Being stranded in the wilderness may make for a good movie, but in reality, it's a harrowing experience. Staying alive may require you to build a shelter, start a fire and even eat bugs for nourishment. Do you have what it takes to survive this quiz?
In January 1982, Steven Callahan set sail from the Canary Islands on a small boat he built himself. The boat sank six days into the trip, and Callahan was left adrift on a 5-foot (1.5-meter) life raft.
With only three pounds (1.3 kilograms) of food and eight pints of water, a solar still and a makeshift spear, Callahan managed to survive until his rescue 76 days later. During his two-plus months at sea, Callahan's raft traveled approximately 1,800 miles (2,898 kilometers).
Callahan had to contend with malnourishment, sunburn and repeated shark attacks. When his raft sprung a leak, Callahan was able to keep the raft afloat and managed the leak for 33 more days until his rescue.
Like other survivors before him, Callahan had valuable experience of sailing and shipbuilding to rely upon. However, the most important factor in his survival seems to be his unwavering determination to live.
Okay, you’ve had the flu, or maybe even a bad cold. You’re finally getting over it—actually feeling pretty good—when, boom, the symptoms return. What’s happened? Are you having a relapse?
That’s a typical way many people come down with complications of the flu. It’s not the only way. Some get them while they still have the flu. Either way, complications are what usually put flu sufferers—200,000 or more a year of them—in the hospital. They’re what thousands die from.
Unlike with the flu, bacteria is usually the culprit for complications, so it’s time to get to the doctor ASAP. Ah, but you know where this is leading if you’ve read many of my posts. What if you’re having trouble getting to the doctor or a clinic?
Here are some tips that might pull you through.
First, try to avoid the complications. I know that’s obvious, but many people don’t do this because one of the basic preventers is rest. Your body is busy fighting off a bad-news bug. Don’t add extra stress by being Mr. or Ms. Macho and trying to do physical or even mental labor while you’re running a fever. Even afterwards, ease back into things.
Also try to eat a good, balanced diet. “Feed a cold, starve a fever” is not good advice.
Flu Complications and What You Can Do
I’ll start with the ones most likely to kill you.
1. Pneumonia. This is the most common serious complication. Anyone can get it, but people most at risk include young children; adults over 65; smokers; and anyone with a chronic disease, especially if it includes the lungs (asthma, emphysema, etc.).
Clues are increased shortness of breath; chest discomfort or pain; a sudden shaking chill followed minutes to hours later by sweating; or just being really, really sick. 2. Chronic illness that the flu makes worse. The flu can take a toll on anyone. Your body has to use a lot of energy to fight it off. Your heart rate goes up, and you must pump more blood. You need to be strong enough, and have airways working right enough, to cough up those deep secretions. To fight off the flu efficiently, your immune system must be working well. (It’s not at its best, for example, if you have diabetes or HIV, or you’re taking certain medicines or getting on up there in age.)
If one of your organs—say your heart, lungs, or kidneys—or your immune system is already working at its upper limits of efficiency, a bad case of the flu can add such a load that it can’t keep up with the demand. And if one organ fails, it puts extra stress on other organs. They may fail also. 3. Dehydration. The combination of lack of appetite and fever makes dehydration a risk. Severe dehydration can be deadly.
Two other fairly common complications of the flu are a bacterial sinus or ear infection. Although either can be deadly (think meningitis or encephalitis), usually they can be treated easily (compared to the other three) with antibiotics.
So stay well, folks. If you get sick, take care of yourself (see this post). And don’t ignore warning signs.
Have any of you ever had complications from the flu? What were they? How did you get rid of them? Do you know of anyone who has died from flu complications?
Let’s talk food! One of my many obsessions is miniatures. Sweet, little, adorable, teeny, tiny miniatures. I just can not help but squeal when I see something mini… so, of course, an edible miniature is just the best invention ever… EVER! Any recipe I get my hands on I try to miniaturize it. This my friends, is one of those recipes. It is my mother’s peach cobbler recipe and it is amazing. Easy, amazing, and now… miniature. I hope you enjoy… and listen, if you are not just enamored by mini’s like I am, you can make this recipe in a regular 9×11 casserole dish. But I can’t lie, it’s really cute this way! Really cute!
On your next camping trip forget the petroleum gas and cook your meals and charge your electronics using nothing but collected twigs and the BioLite portable stove. The BioLite is a portable device that features a USB port allowing you to conveniently charge your phone and other electronics, and the best part – it converts heat from the fire into usable electricity, so there is no need to connect to an outlet. Not only is the Biolite great for camping, but it’s also great for emergencies as you can cook and keep electronics charged without the need for fuel or power lines. You can purchase one from the link below.
Doesn’t it seem like these days that there are 100+ different cleaning product available for just the bathroom? Not only that, but products for our drains, floors, toilets, counters, and glass…basically there are countless commercial cleaning products for just about anything you can think of.
Simplify.
If you’ve been following my blog. You know I mostly use these few ingredients to make all of my homemade cleaners:
1. Borax
2. Baking Soda
3. Super Washing Soda
4. White Vinegar
5. Castile Soap
6. Anti-Septic Essential Oils (i.e. tea tree oil, cinnamon leaf, lavender, eucalyptus, lemongrass, sweet orange and clove)
My journey into homemade cleaners began when I would read labels that said CAUTION, POISON, DANGER, or WARNING. Thank goodness there are simple and safe products that can be made for use in most cleaning situations that will dramatically lessen my family’s exposure to toxins and chemicals.
For example, castile soap, vinegar, and baking soda can work wonders with even the toughest grime that may be lurking in my bathrooms. Plus, there’s always the added benefit of saving money when making your own simple and quick homemade recipes, as well as knowing your creative efforts are free from toxins for you, your family, and the environment. Here are a couple of my recipes for cleaning the toilets:
Homemade Soft Scrub
-¾ cup baking soda
-Enough liquid castile soap to form a paste
-5 drops tea tree oil
-5 drops of lemon, lemongrass, or sweet orange oil (optional)
Directions: Add liquid castile soap to baking soda slowly until paste is formed. Then proceed to add antiseptic essential oils. Apply scrub to sponge for use on surface to be cleaned. Toilet Bowl Cleaner
-3/4 cup baking soda
-3/4 cup white vinegar
-10 drops of tea tree oil
-10 drops of lavender essential oils
Directions: Combine baking soda and essential oils in a mixing bowl. When ready to clean toilet bowl add vinegar and pour mixture into the toilet. Then scrub with toilet brush. Note: This is a single use recipe. There is no method of storage due to the fizzing action.
Often times the toilet bowl cleaner recipe is enough to clean the stains in my toilets. However, there is the occasional instance when I’ve gone too long in between cleanings and tougher stains require the use of the homemade soft scrub in addition to the toilet bowl cleaner.
Anonymous Calls for Civil War to Overthrow the US Government
In the latest video from Anonymous, they have called for the most aggressive action yet. They’re asking the American people to join them in a “call to arms” for the destruction and overthrow of the US Government.
In the statement, Anonymous says the government is calling them “terrorists” because they truly fear a people’s uprising.
“The United States Government insists on labeling us as terrorists. The question is, “who do we terrorize?” Is it probable that the United States government is truly afraid of we, the people?”
They are not calling for denial of service attacks on government websites or protests as is their normal modus operandi, but for freedom activists to join them in full blown war to overthrow the US Government and return it to the control of the people.
“We are not calling upon the collective to deface or use a distributed denial of service attack on a United States government agency website, or affiliate. We are not calling upon the people to once again occupy a city or protest in front of a local building, This has not brought on us any legislative change or alternate law. It has only brought us bloodshed and false criticism. For the last 12 years, voting has been useless. Corporations and lobbyists are the true leaders of this country and are the ones with the power to control our lives, To rebuild our government, we must first destroy it.Our time for democracy is here, Our time for resolution is here, This is America’s time for revolution, To restore our constitutional rights, to once again, be free therefore, Anonymous along with the American people have decided to openly declare war on the United States government. This is a call to arms.”
The hacktivist collective lists a long train of abuses that can no longer be allowed:
We refuse to be a police state
We refuse to be brutalized and dehumanized by the very people our tax dollars fund to protect our cities and streets
We will not allow the government to control our destiny, our right to build a life for ourselves
We demand freedom from government control, taxation, repossession and death
You will not come to our doors and take our guns, our property, you will not force the citizens of this great country to participate in the unlawful act of government mandated healthcare.
We the people refuse to put in your control our health, our bodies, our minds, our lives.
We will not grant permission for the government to deploy drones over our homes and communities.
We must end the federal reserve. A private central bank should not issue our currency, set interest rates and run our economy. Rather, we need to return control over the currency to the American people where it belongs.
They claim that all peaceful attempts to affect change within the system have failed and the time for action is now.
“Our peaceful actions, patience and restraint have been demonstrated as we watched and waited for our Congress and Representatives to speak for the American citizens and protect us from the tyrant that sits in the oval office and happily strips the American people of our rights, one by one, executive order by executive order. We have waited long enough.”
Disaster Prep and Emergency Preparedness in 7 Simple Steps
I can’t tell you how many people I talk to who say they just can’t wrap their heads around disaster prep and emergency preparedness. It all seems so overwhelming – there’s so much to do… I mean really, where do you even start?
Let me start by saying ‘I totally get it’. It took me til just this past spring to finally get serious about emergency readiness. Now I’m confident we can look after ourselves for an extended period, but it definitely wasn’t always that way. I found it overwhelming, too.
But with all the natural disasters in the news, I got to thinking about all those people who haven’t done any prepping. Maybe that’s you? So I thought I’d put together a few simple ways we can make our families more secure in case of emergency. These are easy, low-effort and often low-cost ways to secure access to clean water and safe food for at least a few days.
If you haven’t put together your emergency kit yet, I invite you to get at least these 7 simple things done. You’ll feel good knowing you’ve begun preparing your family, and you’ll be inspired to go further once you see how easy it really is.
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