Happy Birthday William Tell

Happy Birthday William Tell
Happy Birthday William Tell

Two years ago today, I was full of excitement and more than a little scared as I waited on the birth of my son William Tell.

In the past two years, my perspective has changed, I have matured, and how I feel about the role of parents in society is no longer theoretical.

Without a doubt in my mind, my son has made me a better person – I am not as selfish, I think before I act (more often).
All children are gifts, and each one has some unique talent or special gift, and as a parent I feel that it is my sacred duty to prepare my child to use his gifts in a way that not only make the world a better place, but also to train him to become a better person for the world.

The world my son will navigate is unrecognizable from the world I grew up in. The concepts of personal responsibility, self-reliance, and rugged individualism are dying.
The products of our schools are more confident, yet less competent that at any time in our Nation’s history.

I am deeply concerned about the future of our Republic, and am concerned that there may not be any strong leaders in the wings to step up and defend our inalienable rights.
There has never been a time in our country that a parent teaching their child the ideals that our country was founded on was more at odds with the society and systems in place in this country.

Soon, it may be considered abuse for a parent to raise a child to believe in conservative, Christian values.

I struggle with how to teach my child how to survive in the socialist system that is being created in this country with the help of a well-intentioned, but naïve and selfish citizenry.

How do I, as a father – teach my child how to navigate that system, and yet stay true to my firmly held beliefs in God and the Republic?
How do I teach him how to respect the law, any yet deal with a system where laws are used as tools to subjugate the lawful and protect the lawless?
Where education is considered worthless and common sense is dead, but the common man cannot figure out how to do anything for themselves.

I don’t know the answer, but I do know that I cannot fail at this.
My son is too precious, too valuable, and too special to allow him to grow into the type of adult that decayed civilization produces.

By doing the research that allows me to post the information I do, by practicing all the varied and seemingly unconnected skills I try to acquire, and by networking with the types of people that read posts like this, I am doing my best to become the kind of person that has a solution for these problems.

I know that today, on the start of my son’s second year of life, – as well as every other day of his life I am doing something toward that goal.  No matter what happens, I will always love my son, and work to both model the right behaviors, provide the right guidance, and teach the right knowledge, skills, and attitudes, so that he can grow up to become a Man someday.
Happy Birthday William Tell…. (and remember to thank your momma – she loves you too!)

Hydropack Water Purifier Review

Gear Review: Hydropack Water Purifier
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While at the National Prepper and Survialist Expo I saw a really cool product, and the vendor (Deployed Logix) was nice enough to give me this Hydropack Water Purifier to review and test out.  I have read about this technology before, but I have not had the opportunity to review it before.

According to the manufacturer:

The HydroPack was designed for its ease of use, simply put the filter into virtually any dirty water and the filter goes to work making a clean drink.

The self hydrating pouch produces 12-17 fl. Oz. of sports drink.

The filter uses a passive osmotic process so it never clogs, requires no pumping and filters down to the atomic level (3-5 angstroms – which is .3-.5 billionths of a meter) so the filter removes even the smallest viruses to the same purity of a complicated reverse osmosis machine.

  • Forward osmosis filter requires no pumping, works in any virtually and water, even muddy water. Produces a sports drink for improved hydration.
  • Meets or surpasses reductions for bacteria, viruses and cysts as specified by the EPA for water purifiers
  • Easiest of our filters to use, simply put the HydroPack into the dirty water and it starts producing a clean drink.
  • The highest purity level of any personal filter, non-clogging filter produces a sports drink for improved hydration.
I simply dumped the pack in a bowl of dirty water and went to bed, when I got up, I just stabbed the included straw into the inflated package and drank the contents.
It tasted like a sports drink, and I did not have any negative views on the taste – my wife even drank some.
I would probably keep some alcohol wipes in my kit to wipe off the location your going to insert the straw to reduce cross contamination, but other than that, I think this has a place in a bug out bag.  I would not keep these in bulk for bugging in due to cost, but I think they are very useful for on the go kits.
PRN Episode #32 Interview Andrew Morrison

PRN Episode #32 Interview Andrew Morrison

We have been doing a lot of podcasts dealing with alternative construction, and today we continue this trend by hosting one of the leaders in the strawbale building community.  The Shepherd School is proud to get to talk to Andrew Morrison of strawbale.com.

Andrew Morrison has been a strawbale builder for more than a decade and has hands on experience building hundreds of homes using strawbales as the main building material.

Strawbale is cheap, provides awesome insulation, has great sound-deadening properties, and amazing fire and insect resistant properties – I know that sounds counter-intuitive – but listen to the show and here Andrew Morrison explain why.

You can learn more by visiting his blog and store at the links below:

Strawbale Blog
Strawbale Products

We have also embedded a video below from Andrew Morrison talking about his workshops – it is a very good way to get manpower to build as well as help learning about the process.

I have long been interested in strawbale construction, I am very excited to talk to Andrew.

The show is scheduled for Monday at 10pm central time at this link.

If you cannot listen on Monday, you can always download the podcast for listening at your own leisure.

Be Flexible

Prepper Precepts #13 Be Flexible

 

27 Prepper Precepts #13
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Be flexible. Things can be used outside of their intended usage. Things change. You should be able to think outside the box once you understand the reasons for the box.

This is a skill that has to be practiced – you need to learn to break things down into component parts and possible uses.  Can a wheel be a pulley?  Can this wire act as a rope?  You have to practice Macgyverisms in order to Macgyver when needed.

(This is probably my greatest strength, I have spent so much time filling my mental filling cabinet I can pretty much mix and match my way to solving problems.  Maybe that’s because I spent so much time watching MacGyver as a kid – take out all the political indoctrination from that show and its a pretty good teaching aid…)

Be Flexible, Its the Key to Resilience

Rules of Civility: The 110 Precepts that Guided Our First President in War and Peace

These precepts are my creed, and having prepper precepts guides me when I face tough choices.  A wise man once told me that when facing a moral problem, the right choice is usually the action you don’t want to take.
I am not a pollyanna person that is wishy-washy or blindly follows rules, heck I have a little rebellious streak and love to know the WHY of rules, but I do respect and understand the need for law and know how vital it is for a society to have a moral code.

By knowing what I believe in you can know how I will act. This is very important in times of stress.  If you don’t want to read these precepts one by one, the completed list can be found here: Completed 27 Prepper Precepts.

 

The Complete Guide to Sharpening

The Complete Guide to Sharpening
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In The Complete Guide to Sharpening, a well known tool maker shows how to sharpen different types of tools.  Being able to create and maintain an edge on cutting tools is a base skill for any homesteader, prepper, or DIY’erPresident Lincoln is credited with saying that if you have 2 hours to cut a tree, spend an hour sharpening the axe.  From personal experience having sharp tools is the difference between a pleasure to work and an injury.

Dull cutting tools are hard to work with and are dangerous.

Unfortunately, there is some knowledge you need to have in order to properly sharpen your tools.

The Complete Guide to Sharpening gives you that knowledge.  Every DIY library needs this book on the shelf.  Sharpening tools is a skill that all homesteaders need to posses.

Sharpening tools is not hard to do, just follow the instructions in this book and take your time to do it right.  Soon you will find yourself proud of the edge of your axe and you can cut down that tree in no time.

Right now I am trying to learn how to sharpen and reset the teeth on my band sawmill.