I'm reading The Death of Albert Johnson-Mad Trapper of Rat River , by Heritage House Publishing Co.

Albert Johnson was a sketchy individual who built himself an 8 x 12 fortress up near the Klondike in Canada. He dug 3 feet deep, built 5 foot walls, sloping roof, and covered it all with 2 feet of dirt. This structure was chinked with dirt, too, with a stout door, actually underwent a dynamite invasion and the man survived.

But, back to the story. The guy wasn't so much big as an endurance expert. Able to single handedly paddle upstream to the Rat River, accomplishing feats the mounted Police wondered at.

Trouble was, he wouldn't answer the door when they came knocking. Frustrated, the visiting police report him, obtain a search warrant and reinforcements. Johnson fires through his own front door, hitting a man and that is the end of life as he knew it.

This drama played out in the Northwest Territories in 1931-1932. His house was small enough he could shoot from inside in all four directions after knocking out some chinks. Then the dyanimte bundle was launched, hit the roof, exploded. No one thought he could survive, but he did and proceeded to lead his enemies on a chase through out the region.

The guy should have probably answered the door.
I was impressed by his endurance, able to lay 2 miles of false trail for every one mile of true. He would wear his snowshoes backwards, then retrace again. He'd cross rivers and mountains said to be impossible.

This leads to the conclusion, to survive a shit hits the fan scenario, we need to be in Shape!

Eventually they do catch the guy and a shoot out occurs on a frozen lake, resulting in17 bullets taking out Johnson. One of his sins is that he was a "hermit", taciturn and independent to the point of rudeness.  

There's always two sides to a story. The guy wanted to be left alone in the frozen wilderness to trap and smoke his pipe. He didn't fit in, he did have skills.

This book is 94 pages with a lot of photos. An interesting read.

It's been pretty warm here in North East Georgia, so no snow to play in so far. I'm from the north, and snow, ice and sub zero temps were the norm. I saw this really good clip about Extreme Survival on the Weather Channel. Several people gave their stories, among them a neat Japanese dude who says its way better than a round of golf. He loves it out there, near Mt. Rainier, bring it baby.

http://www.weather.com/weather/videos/news-41/top-stories-169/chaser-describes-birmingham-storm-damage-25791#loc=62/436/25739
He used his socks to start his fire, then burned $6 in cash to start it.

The weather channel has a great site, though:
http://www.weather.com/weather/videos/news-41/top-stories-169/chaser-describes-birmingham-storm-damage-25791

This link tells the importance of layers, keeping those layers clean for maximum warmth:

http://dsc.discovery.com/adventure/extreme-cold-weather-survival-tips-2.html

This goes right along with keeping your sleeping bag clean. If you find its not doing the job anymore, try washing it before throwing it out.

I washed my Marmot 800 goose down bag after literally hundreds of nights/ thousands of trail miles. Its good as new...well, taking into account the tiny hole that's been stitched up, and some abrasion from AT shelter floors.

Anyways, my whole take away from this was: in a survival situation, what are the things, or thing I would want, most of all.
My list:

Fire tools, first and foremost, redundancy is fine, preferred, actually: matches, lighter, flint, cotton and petroleum firestarters. A candle would be nice. Take plenty and double bag for water protection. In a survival situation, those extra baggies can collect water or food.

A vapor barrier, large plastic bags, silnylon tarp, rain suit, plastic sheeting all fit in this category. Perfect for holding body warmth in, protection from the elements, allowing to sleep on dry surface, able to walk out.

Cutting tool, preferably a decent knife, razor blade, emergency saw.  I don't go for these multipurpose tools, but that would fit here too. These would be useful in many ways, cutting limbs for shelter, firewood, cordage. Really, its the last on the list cause a person can make due without a cutting implement.

Most importantly, this list does me no good unless its with me. I've got this stuff in my car. I need to carry it on my trails. Day hikers get lost, adventurers get turned around. Add some food, and its amazing.  One story told of a lady surviving 7 weeks on jerky and gorp when their vehicle became stranded in Nevada.

This is a must see movie for any survivalist.

Heartrending shit, too.

I'm surfing through channels and see this 2006 suspense movie with Mary McCormack and Rory Cochrane: Lovers must remain apart after dirty boms explode in Los Angeles.

My only complaint is the IFC channel has started doing commercial breaks. See this movie without commercials if you can.

Nearly the whole thing takes place around the couples home. The man tries to get his wife, but is turned back by armed gas wearing cops, who shoot another trying to flee. He goes back home, listening to the radio. We recieve so much information on the crisis, genius way of making it so real without running us all over the city.
A maintanence man joins him, and they are instructed to tape up the house, seal everything. The phones, electric, water all still work.

I ask myself, do we have enough plastic and tape to do this should it come to that? He has alot, because eventually his wife, who escapes from the ground zero red zone, coughing and totally contaminated, gets some space inside their home, sectioned off and completely sealed from him.

Its both a love story and survival story. Not  a sugary thing, not a chick flick. They both realize he's not going to tear down the barriers so they can die together.
One thing leads to another and the feds and public service announcements try to control crowds, most of which are unarmed.

Without giving the very disturbing and totally realistic ending away, I'll say there's an unexpected twist that leaves you wanting an arsenol of home defense weapondry for escaping your own home.

The grid plays an important part of this scenario. Without the radio and phones, our story would go untold and people might chose to flee rather than wait for the help that is promised and comes in a very unexpected way.

The bottom line: people don't really matter, governments do.

This is a movie I plan to watch with my partner when he returns from his dive trip.
wow

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006ZRGWBI
All books can stand alone, there's plenty of back story in book 5, if you haven't read the first 4 yet.

An excerpt from book 5:

20. All Hell Breaks Loose

This whole cruise ship fiasco near an island off the coast of Italy is scary, on so many levels.
http://news.yahoo.com/coast-guard-ordered-ship-captain-back-board-124134509.html

At one time, my partner and I thought we should, just to say we did, book a cruise and check it out. I mean, rumors had it there was fantastic food, 24-7 intertainment, fresh air, sights of a life time.

Then we had that fiasco near the Baja and watched the news, hoping the poor people stuck on a crippled cruise ship being fed Spam without power or toilets would make it another day.

Interviews with the survivors of this current crisis tell about every man for himself, not enough life jackets, and a "its just the generator" warning when the ship struck the rocks and began taking on fatal water.
What is up with this customer service?

After a little research and YouTube-ing, my partner and I put our cruise on hold. One guy said he'd rather suck a hospital mop than go through another cruise.

I took notice. I've worked in a hospital.

This 2009 movie is incredibly depressing. I imagine it's supposed to be. We get survival lessons all along the way, namely know who is your guide and that they can actually pull off what they promise.

The rich dude, Mr. Foster, is about useless, and I guess we're not supposed to like him. The women are the survivors, and we do carry a lot more body fat then men, a reason, plus we need fewer calories to maintain our energy. Just nature's way of keeping the species going.

The movie shows them drawing sticks, the short end got murdered, and eaten. I thought they ate the ones that died of starvation. Reports vary. I looked it up in Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Party

Now, I'd never fault a person for eating another if they had already died. Shooting someone to eat them is a whole nother thing.

I went through Donner Pass on the Pacific Crest Trail. It would be a very difficult place if a person was snowed in. Seriously cold and rugged.

There were days hiking in the Northern Cascades when the weather turned bad. We hiked over the pass and into the valley with the admonition: Remember the Donner Party.

Do I recommend the movie, humm. Not unless its sunny and cheery. I'm depressed now.

"A diet of meat is good for you, despite some stubborn superstition to the contrary. Vilhjalmur Stefansson lived for a full year on meat alone to prove this point. If you are forced to live solely on the products of the chase, you must east flesh, fat, liver and every edible part to ensure that you don't suffer from dietetic deficiencies."-- page 77 Never Say Die

I've read that meat alone would kill a person, especially lean meat like rabbits. I believe the above quote. Most animals have some kind of fat on them, and I'd eat that just to be sure.

Eating a lot of meat would be hard on the kidneys. Water would be critical at this juncture. Hopefully we won't come to those dire straights.

I don't think the end of the world is coming in December. It might feel like it for those struggling with house payments. For some reason, the economic figures are improving, yet no one I meet is feeling it.

Here in Georgia it's really warm. Hunting season is over, people are target practicing as I type.
It's like we're in the eye of the storm, and the other side of hell is about to break loose.

I'm currently testing a new sealant for my wood stove pipes. I think, in retrospect many of the issues comes from the bend, the elbow. But by doing it this way, my roof stays in tact, with no leaking issues.

Still, the window option is working, but a little more fanaggling.

If the heat on these pipes is a little intense, then I let it cool a bit before adding more wood. Its pretty fast.