OJD's Hero of the Month: Richard (Dick) Proenneke

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OJD's Hero of the Month: Richard (Dick) Proenneke

Dick lived in this handmade cabin in Alaska for 30 years.

Survivalism, preparedness, self sufficiency...it's all over the internet today. There are scores of survival podcasts, youtube channels and blogs available at your fingertips 24 hours a day.

You wanna talk about self sufficiency and survival? Let me introduce you to Dick Proenneke. He was born in 1916 in Lee County Iowa. He served in the United States Navy as a carpenter during World War II and worked as a diesel mechanic most of his first 50 years.

What makes him a hero from my point of view?  Around age 52, he moved to a remote part of Alaska, Twin Lakes, and with only a handful of tools, built everything he needed to survive...for the next 30 years. He built a cabin by hand from local trees. He built his food storage on 20 foot stilts so animals couldn't get to it and used a removeable ladder for access. He either grew or caught everything he ate with  few exceptions. Alaskan winters came and went, but he handled it all by himself.

Alert! Mountain House Easy Meal Combo Kit at Costco Cheap!

Easy Meal® Combo Kit $339.00

302 Total Servings
18 - #10 Cans

Item # 528480

RatedOverall Rating: 

4.9 out of 5

Rating Snapshot (16 reviews)

5 stars 16 of 16(100%)customers would recommend this product to a friend.

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The Easy Meal package contains 18 #10 (gallon size) cans. See below for package contents:

Breakfast Case:

• 1 can of Scrambled Eggs with Ham & Red & Green Peppers (17 servings)
• 1 can of Breakfast Skillet (10 servings)
• 1 can of Granola with Milk & Blueberries (20 servings)
• 1 can of Scrambled Eggs with Bacon (16 servings)
• 1 can of Raw Egg Mix, Butter Flavor (50 servings) – Requires cooking
• 1 can of Sliced Strawberries (16 servings)

Entrée Case:

• 1 can of Lasagna with Meat Sauce (10 servings)
• 1 can of Pasta Primavera, Vegetarian (11 servings)
• 1 can of Beef Teriyaki with Rice (11 servings)
• 1 can of Beef Stroganoff with Noodles (10 servings)
• 1 can of Chicken Teriyaki with Rice (9 servings)
• 1 can of Chili Mac with Beef (10 servings)

Ingredient Case:

• 1 can of Cooked Diced Beef (15 servings)
• 1 can of Cooked Diced Chicken (14 servings)
• 1 can of Cooked Ground Beef (18 servings)
• 1 can of Garden Green Peas (23 servings)
• 1 can of Golden Sweet Whole Kernel Corn (22 servings)
• 1 can of Cut Green Beans (20 servings)

I utilize instant email alerts (which go straight to my droid) on certain survival items. This Mountain House deal came to my droid about an hour ago. I've already purchased this kit (soon after the alert.)

If you are in the market/need for this type of item, please don't hesitate. #10 can from Mountain House are getting VERY hard to find. Not only is it available right now online via Costco but shipping is included AND you don't have to have a membership. My understanding, by reading the reviews on Costco's website for this item, is that they simply charge you a little extra if you don't have a club membership.

It won't last long. These aren't even being sold on MH's website. See for yourself.

Mountain House Easy Meal Combo Kit from Costco $339 + FS

Update: Recieved my box a few days ago. Well packaged and no problems. Thanks CostCo and Mountain House! 18 #10 cans of premium freeze dried food going into storage.

Food Storage Deals Worth Grabbing

Stocking up on emergency meals is always a smart move. A few options worth comparing:

• Mountain House freeze-dried meals
• Emergency food supply buckets
• Bulk food storage containers

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America: Post Nuclear Blast

Started watching the tv series Jericho this weekend with the whole family. I knew very little of the plot other than it was set in a small town and the plot was dealing with life post nuclear explosion. Jericho is actually the name of the small American town where the story plays out.

We're only on episode five but it has been VERY interesting. I have seen it mentioned numerous times on SurvivalBlog as a post catastrophic survival series. Now that I've become interested in watching, I've gone back to SurvivalBlog and done a dedicated search for the word "Jericho."

This search turned up numerous articles referencing the series. Several people mention how their prepping REALLY got kicked into high gear after watching this show. Many people used it to open the eyes of their spouses as to why they need to prep for emergencies. One person went back and re-watched the series to get ideas on how the citizens of the town communicated after all the electronics stopped working.

I was actually asked many good questions from my daughters as the story unfolded. "How long does a nuclear explosion last," "what would we do if that happened to us," etc. This gave me a backdrop to explain the uses of our Bug Out Bags, besides just going hiking, the purpose of a retreat, etc.

I won't recommend it as a "must see" show on survival until I watch the whole thing myself. I will say that a quick IMDB search indicates the series was stopped before season two ended and I'm pretty bummed about that. I just hope, as Wifey verbalized, that this show isn't a Hollywood preview of our future...like Oil Storm.

PREP ESSENTIALS INSPIRED BY JERICHO
If watching this show gets your prepper instincts going like it did ours, here's where to start:

• Pre-Packed Bug Out Bag — grab-and-go essentials for the whole family.
• Hand Crank Emergency Radio — stay informed when the grid goes down.
• Water Storage Containers — because you can't prep for long without it.

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Prepping One Step At A Time...At Alternative Cache Locations.

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I was reading through yet another terrific blog post at Rural Revolution regarding how much cash to keep on hand versus utilizing the current value of cash to purchase tangible assets. It all follows the bigger question of how to prepare for your family when it doesn't seem like there is any disposable income left after bills are paid. The answer: do what you CAN do and find some peace knowing that you are working towards a goal.

Save money by eating simple meals at work: soup & water.

How do you know what you CAN do? Write out a plan. Do the math. Figure out what you need for YOUR situtation and write it down. Then break it up into little steps. One source is the LDS food storage calculator. It says a family of four, for a three month supply of basic food, needs 300 pounds of wheat and 60 pounds of beans/legumes. That's $137.40 in wheat and $89 in beans, according to the LDS Family Home Storage Center pdf file. Total is $226.40 and divide by 12 months gives you $18.87 per month that you need for a (very) basic food supply that feeds four people for three months.

Now of course you'll want more than wheat and beans. This simple meal plan was simply to illustrate how to break down something seemingly daunting into smaller, more achievable goals. There are tons of food lists from all kinds of perspectives listed all over the internet. Find one that suits you and break it down into small, manageable chunks.

Food storage: start with a little and keep adding.

I need more space to store food, for example. I realized I had an empty locker at work which would make a great place to store a little canned food. Since I spend a lot of time at work and therefore eat meals at work, it makes perfect sense for me to store food there. It gives me more storage space AND decreases the chances I'll run out for a burger or tacos knowing that I have food already here. I can't afford to just run to the store and buy 30 cans of Campbells Chunky soup to fill my locker so I'll start with a few cans and add from there. Small steps towards a bigger goal of filling the locker.

Make a plan and get started...TODAY!

Building Out Alternative Cache Locations

Spreading supplies across a few alternative cache locations only works if the containers themselves hold up. A sealed waterproof storage container keeps moisture and pests out of a buried or hidden cache, and vacuum sealed mylar bags keep food and supplies fresh for years inside those containers. One step at a time really does add up to a solid, distributed plan.

Totally Secure Homestead Design

Found this over at SurvivalBlog. A house made of concrete that can be completely enclosed and only accessible via second story draw bridge. I have found my perfect retreat design!

Sweet!

Designers' website can be found here.

HOME SECURITY & PREP ESSENTIALS
If secure home designs like this one interest you, here are some more practical options for your own home:

• Door Jamb Security Reinforcement Kit — hardens entry points against forced entry.
• Home Security Camera System — keep an eye on your homestead.

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Going Off Grid: Lessons from Survivorman

I am always looking for more ways to educate myself on self sufficiency. Seems like the more time I spend at work, the more I think about how to stop working. Is that weird?

I was pleasantly shocked tonight to stumble across a mini-series of videos made by Les Stroud from Survivorman fame. The first series called Survivorman Off The Grid Movie documents how Les took his time scouting out wilderness in Canada and ended up claiming his own 150 acres of paradise for "half the price" of a house in the suburbs.

Episode by episode he shows how he uses solar and wind for his hydro (Canadian term for power?). He renovates an old cabin and builds a new one next to it. From what looks to be an almost two year project, he finally ends up with a cozy cabin in the woods where he will live with his wife and two children. They homeschool and are completely free from the grid. Les earns income from his tv work and a music band.

I can't believe I didn't find this 2009 series until today. While he does talk about building a paradise on little money, he does seem to have a little more than the average Joe...considering he used a helicopter in one clip to fly his cabin wood into his remote area. To each his own. At least he's not dependent on anyone else for his electricity, food or childrens' education.

Note: I also found an older series called Snowshoes and Solitude where he and his wife lived "primatively" immediately after being married. They spent one full year in a remote area with primative hand tools.

OFF-GRID LIVING BASICS
If self-sufficient living interests you, a few items to get started:

• Portable Solar Panel Kit — for generating your own power off-grid.
• Hand Crank Emergency Radio — stay informed without relying on the grid.

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Bartering Has Officially Started (For Our Family)

We were officially asked to barter tonight. After a very informative "Date Night" event, we stayed and talked with some neighbors. Turns out they have an abundance of pasta and toothpaste. We mentioned how we were swimming in deoderant and they offered to trade. Great!

I've read for a while how helpful bartering would become in our coming "great recession" but I guess I just wasn't quite thinking about putting it into action yet. We were stocking up on just about ANYTHING we could get for free for a while but recently we've only been going after the things we KNOW we'll use.

Date Night Topic: Top 5 Reasons for Divorce

We were blessed tonight with the invitation of a Date Night event at our church. I've never been to one so I had no idea what to expect. With six daughters, a "date night" is somewhat of a unicorn concept: I've heard of it but can't remember the last time I saw one :-)

After our teen/preteen aged children were set up with dinner and chores, we headed to our church. Upon arrival we found about ten tables set up with about four couples per table. We helped ourselves to a generous amount of homemade lasagna and salad. Someone snuck in Papa John's cheese breadsticks and they were wonderful too.

Towards the end of our dinner, our Bishop stood up and announced that he had a topic of discussion he wanted to share with us. As a divorce lawyer, he admitted that he never dreamed as a child that his field of expertise would end up being prenuptual agreements and he wondered how all this divorce experience would ever serve him and those around him.

For the next 45 minutes, he shared with us the top five reasons that he has personally seen destroy marriages. He hoped that by sharing his experience with us regarding what he has seen ruin so many other marriages would enable us to make our marriages more successful and avoid the many pitfalls in our society today.

He estimates he has mediated around 1000 divorces and these five problems are the majority of the causes for marriage failures.

#5 - Unmedicated mental illness. This is regarding people who have known mental issues but choose NOT to medicate properly. Some medicate improperly with alcohol or other drugs which causes problems. Some refuse to follow their presciption medication for whatever reason and it leads to problems. When asked which mental illness he saw most, he stated Depression.

#4 - "Hen-pecking" is what he called it. He also verbalized a disclaimer that he was not solely singling out women as the perpetrators. This is a catch phrase more popularly called "nagging." He said it leads to diminished self esteem and that can certainly lead to an unhappy marriage. He sees it in both men and women, where one spouse constantly "rides" the other about not doing things the "right" way. After years of trying to please the spouse, some people choose to give up and divorce.

Water Use Reality Check

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Water Use Reality Check

I've read we can go weeks without food but not very many days without water. With that being said, water should be the number one priority for preparedness and survival during hard economic times. Adequate preparedness requires studying what is available in YOUR immediate area. If what YOU need isn't available within a reasonable distance, you might want to consider moving. This is something I am currently pondering given that I live in the desert and our water supply can be very limited in the event of a disaster.

A recent news story revealed that a local city wastewater treatment employee, angered that he didn't get a raise among other issues, was attempting to blow up a quarter city block along with the water treatment plant. The explosion wouldn't have reached my neighborhood but it would have surely affected our water supply.

Survival Mindset Surfaces at Disneyland

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It is interesting how perspectives can change as life moves along. It has been less than two years since I started learning about preparedness and survival. I've been somewhat of an empath long before attaining my bachelors degree in psychology but the barrage of people and varying circumstances this past weekend at Disneyland brought out a heightened sense of survivalism in my mind. Things I probably wouldn't have thought about had I not been studying preparedness and survivalism.

It started on the road trip to California. Some 200 miles west of Phoenix, we stopped for gas. I found myself waiting at a gas pump which could not reach my tank due to the limited length of the pump rope, the long length of my suburban, and the fact that the jackass in front of me pumping gas was too self-absorbed to pull-through to the farthest pump allowing someone to successfully follow behind him.

After securing my gas, I entered the gas station. Typical interstate gas station hustling with passersby. One lady, I noticed however, was only looking at the floor as she walked up and down the isles. She caught my puzzled look and asked if I had seen any car keys on the floor. Long story short, her keys were misplaced. Outside the store, frantically searching her car, was the woman's 30-something daughter (I'm guessing) and three toddlers.

Without going into all the details, turns out the keys were in the daughter's purse the entire time. My brain played out the survival lesson: always have spare keys. I thought to myself "What if that'd been me, with lost keys, 200 miles from home, and a suburban full of family?" I rationalized that with my wife's set of keys, we have a backup...if we are traveling together AND we don't lock BOTH of them in the car (six kids, it can happen).

So to be more prepared, I will put a hide-a-key box somewhere under the vehicle. It should be placed somewhere that isn't easily detected or jarred loose and checked frequently. Alternatives include a credit-card key for wallets, AAA membership for lock-outs, and checking with my car insurance company for lock-out coverage.

Next came parking in a stacked parking garage (on the third level) in order to get to our hotel room on the 9th floor. My survival brain quickly conjured up an earthquake scenario (have you seen how many small earthquakes Cali is having daily?) I'm pretty much screwed on this one. If the suburban gets pancaked in the garage, or the hotel for that matter, I have NO backup to that. I tried to focus on other things. Survival lesson: you can't control or prepare for everything.

Lastly, I'll briefly mention being somewhere underground on the Indiana Jones ride when the announcement could barely be heard that the ride was stopped for an indefinite period of time. I stood in that narrow stairwell with my daughters (age 12, 10 and 5) wondering what I would do if the power went out (thanks to the flickering, dimly lit lamps overhead). My darn droid battery was hovering around 5%, as usual. So much for the flashlight app. One daughter had her phone and it was low battery as well. I have no doubts I could have navigated back out of that underground catacomb but not without a light source. My backup source (to my cell phone flash light app) would be my LED lit house key. After that would be my very dimly lit wrist watch light. I have used both to navigate my house in the middle of the night to avoid stepping on Barbie dolls and hair clips (again, six daughters.) Perhaps a mini mag lite on my keychain wouldn't hurt.

Gone are the days of just walking blindly around Disneyland without a care in the world. Survival favors the prepared and this is one dad dedicated to family survival.

What do YOU carry when you go to a publicly crowded place like Disneyland?

Staying Prepared Even on Vacation

Noticing a survival mindset kick in at a place like Disneyland is a good sign that the habit has really stuck. A compact travel first aid kit fits easily in a park bag without weighing anyone down, and a portable phone power bank keeps everyone reachable through a long day away from an outlet. Preparedness does not take a day off just because you are on vacation.

Being Prepared is Going Mainstream

My wife and I have been getting prepared for over a year now. We've managed to store bugout bags and almost a year's worth of food. I've read JWR's Survival Blog almost daily and Lisa has kept track of Lisa over at The Survival Mom's blog.

Here is a recent entry on SurvivalBlog whereby an LDS Cannery worker describes how the mainstream public is starting to wake up to preparedness and beginning to panic.

His cannery location began to run out of food.

PREPAREDNESS BASICS
If you're just getting started with preparedness, these are a great foundation:

• Prepacked Bugout Bag — a solid starting point for emergency readiness.
• Long-Term Emergency Food Supply — helps build up your food storage.

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Two is One, One is None...Be Redundant.

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Two is One, One is None...Be Redundant.

Redundancy is key to serenity. Its when you have only one important item and it gets damaged, lost, etc that you find out how important redundancy is. Here's a short list of important items and how I've built in redundancy.

Income- (1) My main job (Sonography, Radiography). (2) My part-time job (See #1, different hospital). (3) My wife is nationally certified in Radiology and can work if necessary.

Income skills- (1) Trained in Sonography. (2) Trained in Computed Tomography. (3) Trained in Radiography.

Transportation- (1) The family Suburban. (2) The family Jeep. (3) My auto insurance includes rental car coverage should one of my cars becomes disabled.

Food- (1) Our biweekly grocery run. (2) Our garden and short term food storage. (3) Our long term (25+ years) food storage.

Water- (1) House/city water. (2) 55-gallon drums x 12 in the backyard. (3) Bottled water in the garage.

Shelter- (1) Our house. (2) Our family retreat 2+ hours north of town (3) a retreat property with no shelter but we have tents, sleeping bags, etc for now.

Entertainment- (1) Electronic games. (2) A ton of movies/cartoons stored on a hard drive. (3)MacBook with solar panel recharger.

Water filtration- (1) Berkey water filter with 2 black Berkey ceramic filters + pf2 x 2 filters. Filters 3 gallons per hour. (2) Sand filter. (3) Boiling/plastic bottle in the sun sterilizing.

Cooking- (1) Indoor stove & microwave. (2) Outdoor propane bbq grill x 2. (3) Dutch ovens to cook on charcoal/wood fires.

Areas I need to work on:

Communication- (1) Five cell phones in our immediate family. (2) I want to purchase a mobile ham radio for the Jeep and a home ham radio for the house. (3) Garmin Nuvi handheld sets.

Food caches- I only have food stores at our main house. A majority of our meat is stored in a standup freezer ($10 freezer alarm on Amazon). If we lose power, there goes the meat! (searching for propane freezer). Can also store food in a locker at work for secondary cache or at our retreat property up north. (Update: filled work locker with cans of Campbell's soup. Headed up North this weekend to begin stocking BugOut location.)

Firearms- One lonely shotgun :-(

Excretion- Two bathrooms in the house. Need porta-potty ($22 on Amazon) just in case there are plumbing issues. Last resort would be to dig a latrine. (Update: have added the bucket porta-potty above)

Power- Totally dependent on the grid with the exception of my little solar charger (made for cell phones and laptops). Would like a gas generator (several on Amazon) and maybe, just maybe, a solar-powered portable system.

Washing Clothes- Aside from our indoor washer/dryer, that's it. I'd like to add a WonderWash. Last option would be a washtub. (Update: have added WonderWash x 2)

What did I forget?