SurvivalRing

Well, hello again!

Yet another resource has been added to the SurvivalRing network. The PrepGeek daily news is a creation of Rich, using the Paper.li network. It’s an automated process, using the best of cutting edge technology, and targeted information, in a concise, fast, and automatic publishing system. Check it out. Subscribe! It’s good stuff.

Read below…and click through.

Rich

We don’t get 24 hour notice of severe tornado outbreaks very often, but you NEED to be aware of them when they happen. As of this morning, Fox news and the national weather service are forecasting a storm system that will have “large hail, damaging winds, heavy rain, and MANY STRONG TORNADOES that could be long track and potentially life threatening.”

The conditions that are forming the basis for this storm, also have the potential to keep moving east, and affecting Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and nearby states.

If you live in these areas, please take the time now to make sure your weather radio has fresh batteries, your go-bags are ready, and you have shelter to go do if needed.

This is a dangerous situation. Please act accordingly. Your life may depend on it.  Being in west central Wyoming, this frontal system is bringing us a chance of rain and snow for the next several days, courtesy of the moisture coming up from the gulf and even the pacific. While we won’t see tornadoes, the instability that is bring us this change, is going to get worse the farther south and east the frontal boundary moves.

So, don’t take any chances. Be prepared…be ready…and be safe.

Today is the 13th anniversary of an event that changed my life. We came TOO close to an F5 tornado on April 8th, 1998. Because of that, my SuvivalRing website changed direction, and I shifted my research into overdrive on preparedness and survival tools.

Read my report of this deadly and wide ranging disaster…here…

http://www.survivalring.org/awareness/storm-stories/f5-tornado-april-8-98/

My old stomping grounds, the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, where I was born and raised, were hit 5 days ago with massive tornadic storms. Some of the most amazing tornado footage ever taken, of multiple semi trucks and trailers being lifted hundreds of feet in the air, made the international news.

Over a year ago, the worst tornado storms in decades struck the southeast, in what is now called the 2011 Super Outbreak .  The largest tornado outbreak ever recorded passed over country where I spent almost 9 years in Alabama as a federal employee.

Today, on this Easter Sunday, so many years later, I give thanks to the Lord for keeping us safe. Granted, we’ve been through a lot more than this tornado, before, and after, but we’re all still here.

I want to remind all of you that are reading this that as this spring continues, we can expect more and more deadly and unexpected storms at all times of the day or night. If you’re in the areas of this country that have been threatened by tornadoes at any time in the past, NOW is the best time to prepare for how to deal with them, be safe around them, and have protection from them. As mentioned in a post from May 25th last year,

Thankfully, this website, online for 14 years, provides shelter information and actual plans that can be used SPECIFICALLY for storm shelter. Yes, fallout shelters work GREAT for shelter from tornadoes, high wind events, and can also be used for backup shelter for when a home becomes unlivable because of storm damage.

…ANY protective shelter is better than NONE.

When the winds blow, the sky gets dark, and things you don’t normally see flying, are passing by your windows…well, it might be too late. Have a plan, get together 72 hour kits for everyone in the family, and know what to do, if you can’t get out of the way.  My family and I have seen more than our share of tornadic storms in our life, enough that we moved across the country to get away from them.   Still, not everyone can do this. Do the next best thing. Develop a plan to move to a shelter in your yard, in your basement, or in your neighborhood…when tornadoes are forecast, or actually moving on the ground…in your direction.

Study Yesterday…Prepare Today…Live Tomorrow.

It’s in your BEST interest to get ready NOW for the inevitable. See what the rest of the country is doing to deal with what has already happened with this vicious storms in our nation, here… http://www.survivalring.org/feeds/tornado-news-google/

Til next time,

Rich

Ahhhhhh….the greening of the greenery.

Friday Update…The end of the week…the first week of Spring 2012. A long one, with some stress, worry, anxiety, and finally…relief…so, let’s review…

1. After weeks of work, maybe $3,000 in cost, stitches, scrapes on my arms and hands, dents in my head in various places ( I did all the under

Rich making Vroom Vroom sounds...

chassis work, dinging my noggin on the frame, calipers, cross members, floor jack, and yes, the floor)…I got my new engine installed and running in my 2000 Nissan Xterra. Brand new 0 mile full block, new manifolds, new water pump, new timing belt, various tubes, belts, and hoses, and so many other things. It runs like new…so very happy. Saved $$$ by doing what I’ve always done…learned the skills, the tools, and the resources to do the job myself. Took investing in the right tools, too. Engine hoist, 60 gallon air compressor, specialized tools….not the best, but effective and workable. Harbor Freight is my friend.

2. None too soon, as our old set of wheels (older than my oldest child), The Beast, died a painfully wheezing death last week, from a cracked valve. Not having any plans to fix it back to full health (especially after the fateful day last July 30th, when we hit a deer at 60 mph), all my work, time, and efforts, along with my oldest son Rob, got the engine ordered, delivered, installed, and tuned in our own garage. What a relief to see the completion of this long awaited project finally come, after months of worry. Today, around 11am, a driver with a roll-back, from Billings, Montana company, arrived to pay us $100 for the hulk of The Beast.

Upper right. The Beast drivable after the deer hit, but REAL ugly. Took a new radiator and replacing shattered headlights, and it got us thru the rest of last year.

I removed several very recently replaced parts, that will be going on eBay, as well as 12 different custom light fixtures that I have future uses for.  12 volt lighting is a VERY good investment for any long term, holy crap, end of the world scenarios…especially if one is forced off the grid by the power that be. Just a deep cycle battery and a decent set of solar cells…lots of possibilities. Had plans, if we didn’t get rid of it, to cut the front cabin off, enclose it with fiberglass, and make a nifty, balanced, and roomy camper out of it. Would have been too heavy for the Xterra though. Drats.

3. After over a year out of work, son Rob got a job in Casper, Wyoming, with benefits that will cover his wife and 3 kids, who have all been staying with us since last year. Very happy for him.  Now we just need to make a day trip to Rawlins, Wyoming and pick up his motorcycle…and do a bit of work on my Kawasaki ZN1300 (valve shims…which may be a yearly thing now, as it’s a 1984 road bike.

4. Grandson Hudsin, currently in Kindergarten, just learned to read last semester. This past week, they’ve kicked him up to the next level of reading at his elementary. He hates change, but is moving forward with great comprehension. I’m proud of him.  He has worked really, really hard for a 5 year old.

5. Tax Season….OMG. Been doing our own taxes for years, using TaxAct. Haven’t had any problems. Unfortunately, I have to go through ALL our receipts, with Annie’s help, as well as pull records for our business from all affiliate programs, PayPal transactions, offline sales, and more. Hate it, but over the years, I’ve finally comprehended trends, and have plans for this year to upgrade many business models and funnels to the next level.

6. Projects…Finished that CD project for good friend James Stevens, and working on a new HUGE project for another long time business associate. Some urgency in completion, based on world events.

7. Newsletter…I’m fairly deep into my next SurvivalRing Ezine Newsletter, Volume 2, Edition 3. My last newsletter in 2009, pushed 39 pages in length. I’m pretty sure this new edition will push 60 (sounds more like a magazine, eh?). Timely commentary on recent events, societal change, how-to articles, preparedness planning, family safety, frugal living, and so much more. Needless to say, with 15 years online, and thousands of digital ebooks available on my website, I’ve got resources out the proverbial wazoo to share with the world…and you. Read my last newsletter here…

http://www.survivalring.org/community/survivalringezine-newsletter/

Enough for now. Chew on all the above…comment if you like…spend some time and read this most recent newsletter. In this time of economic fear and terror, global terrorism being ever present, and political chaff and untrustworthy leaders and administrators, the act of self preservation and family preparedness become a moral imperative.

Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend.

Over 78 tornadoes across the eastern part of the U.S, as of 6pm MST on March 2, 2012

I shared this link 9 months ago here on SurvivalRing during the historic 2011 tornado outbreak.

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/view/national.php?prodtype=tornado

This is the National Weather Service live feed of all new tornadic storms…as they happen. I’ve got friends all over this part of the US…and I am worried for them.

Have a SAFE place to go, if you’re still in the path of these oncoming storms, and if possible get BELOW ground, or in your bathtub with mattresses over you…

MORE live tornado warning tracking info, right here on the SurvivalRing website, here…

http://www.survivalring.org/feeds/spc-tornado-watches/

http://www.survivalring.org/feeds/breaking-news-tornado/

http://www.survivalring.org/feeds/spc-mesoscale/

http://www.survivalring.org/feeds/tornado-news-google/

Big Problem…it’s nighttime in these areas of the country…the WORST time to try to stay ahead of these storms. If you have a weather alert radio, right now, TURN IT ON. If not, and you’ve got some time til the storm systems move through, go to Walmart or Radio Shack and buy one or several NOW.

This is a deadly situation, so practice situational awareness,

From this evening….

Watching “Doomsday Preppers” on NGC this evening, with an as objective as possible viewpoint. I’ve been doing this stuff myself for 20 years, and in my position and experience, with the contacts I’ve made worldwide, and incredible history library of content specific to this lifestyle, I’m going to be sharing my thoughts on the shows as I watch them.

I don’t buy into the doomer, TEOTWAWKI, spikey haired mutant, conspiracy theory crap. And, having done the research I’ve done, having the government and technical background AND training (LEO, CERT, ARC, FEMA, etc) and ORIGINAL hardcopy documents on hand as I do, it all comes down to LIFESTYLE. So far, with DP (Doomsday Preppers), you’re seeing extremes.

For example, this past weekend I watched Armageddon 2012, on CNBC, of all places. Same kind of extremist, end of the world sensationalism that has been broadcast more and more in the last 2 years. Ooooh. Mayan calendar, pole shift, CME’s, …blah blah blah.

It’s like I’m hearing the same thing that Charlie Brown’s teachers sound like in all his cartoons…Waah Waah Waah Waah Waah Waah Waah. Nothing of substance…just irritating, blathering noise.

Back to that lifestyle thing. If you’ve dealt with living through, and dealing with, and recovering from…tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, accidents, fires, accident scenes, etc, etc, etc, well, you have a VERY good idea of what YOUR threat matrix should focus on.

Live in a high crime area? Move…or learn urban defense.

Live a desert area? Have water sources, and stored food that won’t deteriorate in that environment.

Live in the rural southeast? Tornadoes, hurricanes, poisonous snakes and insects, rural crime, drug labs, etc, etc. Your threat matrix gets larger, your prepping needs get bigger.

Health problems? Overweight, diabetic, asthma, etc, etc. Change your health lifestyle, stock up on meds, try some natural remedies, do what it takes.

Having a giant metal bunker, 50,000 lbs of food, bug out school buses, mini off grid power systems, and canning every single day…no time for LIVING. Living in PROACTIVE mode, for what should be POTENTIALS, is not a good psychological or sociological sense. Dressing like you’re on a combat mission into Islamabad, while actually still living in your mom’s basement? Mental health alert.

Doomsday Preppers WILL introduce you to a myriad of potential UNREALISTIC real world threats. Peak oil, EMP, Solar Flares, Zombies…name your poison.

Unless you’re part of the SOLUTION, to help your community (not feeding them, but helping THEM figure out how to do their own basic prepping), is what will get HUMANITY through a small breakdown, to catastrophic EOW disaster.

How you RETAIN your humanity, work the problems, and keep your FAMILY and FRIENDS working WITH you to get to better times, post-potential apocalypse, is what will SAVE your lifestyle.

Oh, and who are these “practical preppers” JUDGES, who are GRADING these NGC participants?

Reality. Life. Peace of mind. THAT is the goal…the dream…the planned reality.

How likely are the threats in THIS episode? NONE of the threats mentioned have actually occurred, in hundreds of years. But, some have happened in the last thousand, or hundred thousand, or millions of years since the last global disaster cycle.

I started my online prepping and research in the mid 90′s, due to direct hits at our former Alabama home, from 2 hurricanes, 8 tornado events, a house fire, a lightning strike, burglary, assault, 100 year storm of the century (March 1993…The Perfect Storm event), 2 disastrous car accidents, and years of walking on the mean streets of southside Birmingham as a federal employee…well, I started paying ATTENTION.

My work since, on SurvivalRing, is the result of deciding to TAKE ACTION, get TRAINING, basic sustenance needs, and skills to make things happen that let my family and I continue our lives and activities like nothing ever happened.

Sharing my research has reached millions worldwide, and the attention of the media hundreds of times. Not being an extreme survivalist, I’ve ALWAYS been a source to them to find others…willing to go on camera to share their COLLECTIONS of survival crap. I haven’t been oh any TV coverage. I do help, but I’m not freaky enough.

Not a huge goal to get international recognition by going on one of these shows. I’ve got a message…but as you’re seen above, it’s very simple.

James and I at the Salt Lake City Self Reliance Expo Nov. 2010

James Talmage Stevens, one of my VERY good friends, and mentor, says it best. “Make The Best Of Basics”. Learn that, and EVERYTHING becomes basic.

So, episode 1 of DP? Scale of one to five?

Three stars…

Actually useful information?

Two stars…

Purely sensationalist money grubbing, preying on the easily misled, and easily scared populace, and taking their chunk of the End of the World 2012 Hysteria, with this series?

Six stars. (One extra for allowing the volunteers to really make a bit of a fool of themselves.)

Will I watch the rest of the series?

Yes….If you understand prepping….you should too.

Now, before signing off on this review, you’ll note I have NOT mentioned a THING about guns, self defense, field of fire, or firepower. That doesn’t mean I don’t believe in them, don’t have them, or would not use them. Au contraire, mon ami….

ALL shows on these topics, for the last 15 years, have MADE SURE that guns are PART and PARCEL of PREPPING and survival.

Nope. Just like a screw driver, a race car, or a computer, a weapon in the hands of a skilled user of that tool, can get a lot more done for whatever reason that may need be. All I’ll say is I’ve got a 100 yard range in my front yard. I’m aware of my limitations… skills… and concerns. I have no need to advertise all that I can do.

That’s it. Life can get tough, but So Can You. Rolling over and letting the disaster of the day have its way with you, is no way to survive, thrive, and prosper. It is a good way to remove yourself from the gene pool.

Did you watch it? Do you care? Are YOU a Doomsday Prepper? Share your thoughts.

Rich

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Fleetwood Family. To all my friends, family, coworkers, and compradres…thank you for your friendship, fun, laughter, tears, and smiles. I hope the holidays bring you joy, laughter, and peace. Remember those who aren’t here anymore, those who can be here but won’t, those who may be away fighting for our right to exist, or those who don’t know they are missed. Remember yourself as well…YOU are important to more people than you know.

Pray for justice, righteousness, and strength to persevere. Lift those who need it to a higher place. Remind those in higher places that they need to lift *us* up. Never give up, never surrender, never waver in a fight for the good. Lead those who will listen to that place where we all can succeed and support one another in good times and bad.

It’s never been about being the last man standing…it’s always been about getting to the finish line together. REMEMBER THAT.

The year of 2011 has been one of major global natural disasters…economic distress…world political upheaval…and personal tragedy for many people. Quakes and tsunamis in Japan, massive quakes around the world, record tornadic outbursts across the southeast USA, record flooding in several states, only a couple of hurricanes of note, record Santa Ana winds, record droughts in Texas and Oklahoma, “Arab Spring” killing thousands, and injuring tens of thousands, in riots across the Middle East, war ending in Iraq, continuing in Afghanistan, and brewing around Iran. I won’t mention Obama, his “destruction” of America, or the evil he brings.

That’s a lot to be going on…all at once. Just ONE event is catastrophic to the affected populace having to deal with the resultant destruction, death, and disease.

Reality TV continues to spread into all areas of awareness, survival, upheaval, potentials, and fears. Dual Survival, Survivorman, Bear Grylls, the Survivor series, end of the world history, 2012 mumbo jumbo , science, pseudo-science, and other documentaries on The History Channel, National Geographic, H2, Discovery Channel, and so many other television infotainment series bring to the masses the Real World of staying alive…or not…when the wind blows, the prairie rolls, or the sun boils.

The news still leads the tops stories of the day with these same kinds of  “human interest” topics. We’ve seen 2011 through the eyes of the few…affecting the lives of millions…almost every day.

Just so you know…there are some major updates coming to the SurvivalRing project after the first of the year. New downloads, daily blogging, sharper focus, and family & community involvement. We’re entering our 15th year on the World Wide Web.  We’re not the oldest survival website, the best, or the most famous…but we’re doing something right…to still be here. We’re very social, too. We’re on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and LinkedIn. We offer live feeds on nearly every potential threat, directly from the news. We have feeds from some of our favorite sites, and offer feeds of our own site.

We don’t make the news…but we do watch it, study it, and think on it every single day. We connect…we consider…and we plan. We prepare for what always happens. Change…hoping for the good…dealing with the bad…but always change. We offer the tools and real information to lead you up or down different paths…from where you are…to where you can be…on high ground. We’re literally offering over a million printable pages of documentation, in thousands and thousands of downloadable PDF files.

We haven’t created many new PDF downloads over the last few years, but we still have bookshelves of never before digitized public domain data in books, manuals, flyers, and training material to get online. We have, however, increased the number of CD or DVD titles that SurvivalRing/SurvivalCD offers to 11 disks, as of 2011. I foresee (meaning they’re getting ready to be finished) as least 6 more disks in 2012. I’m also producing special CD/DVD products for others, most notably James Talmage Stevens of Making The Best Of Basics, and Shane Connor of Ki4u.com.

This website…the key to it all. We’re still here, and still expanding. We educate.  We endure. We persevere. And, we’re looking for guest authors, bloggers, and individuals to share with our readers. Why? Search Google for SURVIVAL WEBSITE. Out of 249,000,000 websites…we’re number TWO (as of 12/16/11). 8 hours later this evening, we’re number FOUR of 253,000,000.  Our traffic fluctuates with the news some days, and our search engine page listing fluctuates as well, but hitting the front page of Google out of that many hits, with regularity, means we’re a leader in content, tools, and resources for learning how to prepare…for anything.

We’ve got great SEO, web longevity, and more downloadable content than ANY other known personal survival/preparedness website. We’d like you to take an active part in making a difference. Join us in helping our friends and neighbors learn new skills, find new solutions and survive all those regular disasters we all deal with every year.

I’ve got new equipment to put to good use this coming year. My Canon HD video camera, my 16 megapixel Panasonic Lumix digital camera, my new Snowball USB microphone, and other gadgetry that I will USE to create content like you’ve never seen. Unlike some preparedness fashionistas, I do like to get my hands dirty. Not just in simple survival techniques, but home repairs and upgrades, vehicle maintenance and repair, frugal living and recycling, emergency and accident response. I get recertified in certain skills each year…to help others, including CPR (adult, child, infant), and AED use.

Thankfully, I haven’t had to use them specifically lately…but in September, I was one of the first on site of a motorcycle/pickup truck collision on the highway on my way home, seeing the collision and cloud of dust from a quarter mile away. I helped keep a man alive who was laying in the middle of the road broken and bleeding. I’ve not been able to find any more info about him since that day, other than he was life-flighted from our local hospital to Casper, Wyoming, and then Denver…still alive two days later. His name is Kenneth Babb, from Alberta, Canada…and I won’t forget him.  I’ll keep trying to learn more about his recovery as possible. The pickup driver? Drunk. Reminds me of September 15th, 1975, when it was me laying in the road, for the same reason.

Another passion…spreading awareness of DUIs and DWI, and how to identify, report them , and get them off the road. This truly is a daily life and death struggle which I feel strongly about…for that very obvious reason of nearly being a fatality because of it 37 years ago.

I’ve got other skills as well, besides the obvious geeky web stuff you see here. I swap engines, I weld, I even do paint and body work. I tear down and rebuild laptops. I adopt pets. I even build furniture. In all these things, are opportunities to learn a skill that can be applied to some life saving, life extending, or life renewing area. And, in each of these, I can show you how, why, and where to do these yourself, and so many other things. It’s just good common sense…something that took me a little longer to get right (according to my dear wife Annie).

Like everybody else, we’re broke. Like everybody else, we often do without. This website makes me a little bit of money, but never enough to live on. It just covers the cost of hosting, domains, hardware, and the like. I work a real full time job, in the middle of nowhere, and live in an extremely rural area. All this facts just add to the need to plan, to prep, to keep plugging along.  After eleven years in the least populated state of the USA, 150 miles from the nearest interstate, I’ve got a lot of good, workable thoughts, facts, and how-t0′s to share. It’s a life style…a choice…a passion…for living.

Finally, thanks to ALL of you for your long time support of my passion for making a difference. It’s why I keep doing it, year after year. Please get involved in taking care of yourself, in planning for your preparedness needs, and in having the basics to survive a weekend without power, and flat tire in the middle of nowhere, or a severe storm that damages your home. Have alternatives, tools, and solutions…before you need them. THAT is common sense.

Rich Fleetwood
Founder / Director of SurvivalRing