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Sensible shoes makes sense

hhShoes, ladies I know you think about them a lot, and some of you guys too, but how many of you wear shoes that would let you down in an emergency situation? Ladies I talking about running around in high heels, or little flip flop sandals…

Now I’m not saying you can’t wear these kinds of shoes, but perhaps you should seriously consider stashing a more suitable pair of shoes that could be quickly accessed in an emergency.

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Gleaning information from the older generation

Look around you, how many grey and white heads are nearby? If you are lucky, you will have at least one, if you are very lucky you will have multiple to choose from. Why is it so fortunate to have older folk around? Simple, beneath all that gray and white hair is a plethora of knowledge and experience. This is a valuable resource, and one that is dwindling each and every day. Often the biggest feat is to find those who lived through the great depression and still have their mental faculties and are willing to sit down and talk about their lives, that’s the trifecta!

These folk grew up during a time when most things were done by hand, black and white TV was something for the wealthy, that’s if they had electricity. Lighting was often candles and kerosene lanterns. Some lived on farms and had to get up before dawn to take care of farm animals before eating breakfast and heading off to school. These folks grew up in circumstances that most of us can’t even imagine.

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Stops Along the Way: Part 2

Five o’clock quickly arrived at my desk on my first night as a full-time RVer.  I left my office and walked into the dark parking lot knowing I would be home in less than 30 seconds.  No one from work knew it.  Since I land acting and print gigs on occasion, they believe my camper is to go on jobs out of town.  Half-truths go a long way.  I also made it a point for them to know that owning an RV has always been a dream of mine.  I considered letting my co-workers know of my new lifestyle, but I’ve grown less trusting with age.  My managers may feel less compelled to give me higher raises since I have fewer expenses.  My supervisor may look at me with scorn if I come in late on a snowy day. Co-workers may think I’m just plain kooky… and they would be right!  Yes, none of these things would be fair, but life isn’t fair and neither are people’s judgments and actions.  If the folks at work ever did find out (and some may already suspect), I guess it wouldn’t be a big deal.  However, why put myself out there if I don’t have to?

As I approached close to my camper, I visually took it all in.  “This is my home!”.  Realizing this felt odd, good… and a little scary.  I got in the van and drove to my RV friendly parking spot.  Like a dog, I instinctively circled the lot twice before parking.  There were two big rig trucks settled in for the night, so I parked next to them under a light post.

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An overview of the last 4 years living off-grid

This December will be 4 years for us living 100% off-grid, I can tell you it’s been quite the adventure, my only regret is that we didn’t do this earlier. Let me recap what we have been doing these 4 years…

 

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How to go off-grid in Canada

One of our readers, called Craig, posted these tips as a comment on LandBuddy but they deserve a wider audience.

Some simple hints if you are going to come here to Canada.

1) The cheapest land is in northwestern Ontario or maritimes. Forget about BC unless you really want to get way off the beaten path like on the Cassiar highway.

2) Be prepared for winter. Yes it is cold here half the year except for areas in the okanogan of BC on on the coast. You might like the constant rain though being from England. Kamloops is a neat deserty place but the ecomony kind of sucks. Okanogan nice but expensive.

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Urban Bushcraft

A new book, How to predict the weather with a cup of coffee: And other techniques for surviving the 9-5 jungle, takes the survival tips of Tom Brown and Bear Grylls and adapts them for where most of us live – the urban environment.
You’ll never look at a hotel trouser press in the same way again . .

COOK A MEAL IN YOUR DISHWASHER
If your oven is broken, you can cook a meal in your dishwasher. For a tasty dinner which will be ready in just over an hour, season four salmon steaks and wrap them with dill and lemon in a foil parcel with tightly crimped edges.
Place on the dishwasher’s top shelf and set it to its longest, highest setting. A 2-3cm thick steak will cook perfectly on a 70-minute hot cycle.
BE A HOTEL ROOM CHEF

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Tough Times Survival Guide vol 1 – book review

1192_1459_largeReading, learning, it’s what I enjoy doing. Before the internet, I would go to the three local libraries in my hometown, I would check out as many books as each on would allow, take them all home, read-read-read until I had gotten through all of them, then I return the books to their respective homes and start all over again. I tended to read non-fiction, I preferred them over fiction most of the time. With the exception of a few notable authors such as Stephen King, Jean M. Auel, and such…

With the advent of the internet and ebooks, I mostly read what I can get in digital format, including audiobooks. So these last couple of books I’ve read, I have held in my hand, turned pages, it was quite old-school for me. J I love it. Now, on to the book review.

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Makeshift Workshop Skills for Survival and Self-Reliance book review

61naptestel-_sl160_-9729446 I typically do reviews on eBooks, but a while back I was contacted by James Ballou to do a review of a hard copy, Makeshift Workshop Skills for Survival and Self-Reliance, published by Paladin Press. Of course I was thrilled to review his book; honestly I had seen it previously and had been interested in reading it, so I jumped at the chance. It turns out that my instincts were correct, this is a great and useful book!

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Community

Doom and Gloom…

…it’s coming to a station near you.

I’m not one for doom and gloom, though anyone starting a sentence with “I’m not one for doom and gloom…” probably has a bit of it on the brain. I don’t have a TV therefore I get very little in the way of news and such. A good thing as far as I’m concerned, who needs it! It’s generally full of D&G, dozens or more channels telling us how we evil humans are destroying the planet, global warming, bovine flatulence and such, while bombarding us with commercials and infomercials on the latest fashions, diet adverts and penile enhancements…

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