This week’s featured blog is ‘Total Survivalist Libertarian Rantfest‘ and is a team effort from two guys named Ryan and a third guy named Chad.  This site has a bunch of interesting information and commentary and is a daily read for me.  Go check it out!

Here’s the ‘About Blurb’ for TSLRF:

We are three friends who started a blog. We write about survivalism, libertarianism, guns, politics and the world. We also tend to talk about whatever we feel like. One of us talks about preparedness, guns and precious metals a lot. Another conspirator talks about all sorts of complicated legal stuff because he is in law school. The third co conspirator is mostly silent but has evil intentions and designs. We like what we like, enjoy what we enjoy and don’t take **** off of anybody.

Today’s Featured Blog Post

For today’s featured post I want to highlight a recent post titled A Man’s Got To Know His Limitations. I don’t want to spoil it too much, but it really targets something I feel fairly strongly about: Being realistic about your preparations and what you can achieve.

This is really a key concept everyone should grasp. You do what you can with what you have. You should absolutely challenge yourself to do more than what you think you can and to expand your skills, abilities, and knowledge. This is where more people come into things.

Chances are if you read my site you have a family and a spouse, and your spouse and children are great ‘force multipliers’ to leverage. If you can link up with like minded family or friends so much the better. Besides, if the zombies ever show up you and your wife won’t be able to keep watch, keep up the house, and sleep at the same time. More is better!

Rudy’s Confession: Ryan’s struggle with video rentals rings home with me. I can’t even count how many RedBox rentals we’ve gotten for ‘just one night’ and have turned into a rather expensive DVD purchase of a movie we didn’t really want. Yikes!

Today as the final featured post from The Survival Mom, I want you to go read Is Your Spouse Survival Minded or a Skeptic? and share your thoughts.  She approaches the topic in a clear fashion, though of course from a woman’s point of view.  She has a number of good suggestions on how to coax a reluctant spouse along which I found to be pretty valuable.

I’m grateful that while my wife may not necessarily be as hardcore about preparedness as I am she certainly puts up with me and is supportive.  She recognizes that there is a necessity and while she depends on my interpretation of events to an extent, she certainly doesn’t have her head in the sand.  She DOES have her hands full staying home with all of our kids though!

I don’t know what I’d do if my wife and I weren’t in such a lockstep partnership and as well aligned as we are.  I can see how that would be pretty darn difficult to deal with.  We’re certainly two different people who have dramatically different styles but at the end of the day we are husband and wife who have the same major goals in life.  I wouldn’t have it any other way!  I am truly blessed.

Try to avoid being like this guy!

Sorry that today’s featured article is running late … it’s been a busy day at work and I didn’t have time to kick back and write this up!  Anyhow, today I’m featuring a post called Are Preppers Crazy or is it Crazy Not to Prep?

In this post the Survival Mom talks a bit about the oh so common reaction we get nowadays when we approach preparedness topics with friends, relatives, and people we come into contact with.

What I think this post touches on is the fact that it is natural for us to get that sort of reaction from those around us any time we do anything that is out of the ordinary.  If you don’t fit the mold that people expect you to fit in it seriously messes with their percieved reality.  It sounds hokey but it’s true!  We tend to lock onto one way of thinking and any time that dogma is challenged we go into porcupine mode.

It’s important to avoid locking yourself into this kind of mentality.  I know it’s not exactly what The Survival Mom was talking about, but I think that we as preppers are just as likely to fall into the dogma trap as anyone else.

It’s important to recognize that, avoid if possible, and fix it if you find yourself back in that mind set.  It isn’t healthy and it will give you tunnel vision.  You’ll miss things that are important and while it may not be lethal it’s definitely not for the better.

What could POSSIBLY go wrong?

Today’s featured post is called Oblivion, the 51st State.  This post is a good look into the mindset of your average person who doesn’t see any reason to prepare.  The Survival Mom talks about an interview she recently did with Newsweek, in particular a question that uncovered the fact that she doesn’t share her prepper focus with anyone.

She then shares some ways to gently encourage people to get prepared and some common sense baby steps to begin prepping without coming across as nuts.  Never a good thing!

I felt this post really hit home as I see day in and day out a mindset that nothing can happen to me and if it does, Uncle Sam or God will take care of me.  That mindset is baffling to me and I have a hard time taking people seriously that believe that way.  That said, this mentality is so prevalent that even in my extended family there are a few folks that feel this way

Go read the post and share your thoughts on it!

Today’s featured post is from the Survival Mom and is called Divide and Conquer Your Clutter. It has some great tips on dealing with the clutter and detritus of life.

We occasionally suffer from excess clutter as well!  With as many kids as we have things quickly pile up between little rinky dink toys, school papers and projects, and the like.  Add to that a bit of a natural accumulation tendency I have and we’re lucky to have a clean garage at all!  Thanks to my wife’s hard work, we manage to stay above ground though.

Go read the post and tell Survival Mom what you think!  And remember, you don’t want to be a hoarder.  If in doubt, watch one of the A&E shows and it’ll cure you for life!