Archive for the 'Survival' Category

In dependence upon Him, fasting is one thing Christians do to draw closer to Holy Father God. And fasting can help prepare your body as the potential end of the times of plenty approaches.

Fasting with prayer is a marvelous way to seek God, especially with problems far beyond your scope of ability to accomplish alone. Examples include Ezra 8:22-23 and also Nehemiah chapter 1, the prayer Nehemiah made to God while fasting. Fasting shows God that you’re serious (1 Corinthians 7:5, Joel 2:12).

“19 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.” – Mark 2:19-20

The Bridegroom, having left to be seated at the right hand of Power, we fast.

It won’t always be this way. The amount of food available today is not even close to normal. These are very clearly the good old days. Fasting can help you prepare for lower caloric intake while improving your overall health. When you get hungry or have sugar withdrawals or toxin dumps (explained briefly below), take this time to pray. Fasting is not simply eating less. Fasting is for seeking the Lord while drawing nigh to God, cleansing your hands from sin, and purifying your heart; that He may draw nigh to you (James 4:8).

Several things happen when we fast. Since the ingestion of nutrients means good health, seldom used immune system functions kick on with a lack of food input. In the long run, this makes you healthier to have these immune responses already up and running before times of stress or shortage. Mankind has been accustomed to short periods without food, and some people continue to in many regions. Our bodies are anthropologically tuned not to eat for short periods, so fasting for a day, say 3 or 4 times a month, can cause natural body weight normalization. Also, if you suffer sugar withdrawal during fasting, the most common symptoms are emotional distress or sadness; this condition can mean that you are sugar dependent. Cut the sugars out.

You don’t want sugar withdrawal, and so-called toxin dumps the first couple of days of a stressful event. That’s when you need to be alert and at your best. Other health benefits include clearing and natural maintenance by our bodies, including the lower GI and colon. Fasting gives much-needed rest and relief to major organs, especially the Kidneys and Liver, while not ingesting preservative-laden foods and other poisons. You may experience toxin dumps or, as some call it, detox or cleanse effects as your organs begin to dump toxins into the bloodstream. These can be hard on you if you don’t recognize what’s happening, but your organs will appreciate it as they get cleaned out. Some symptoms might be awareness problems, dizziness, sadness, and general sluggishness. This is pretty normal the first few times you try it. Your gut needs a rest, and your organs need a break from the chemicals; you’re getting healthy; keep going as your body recovers from years of abuse.

There are a couple of ways to do it. You might try going from supper to supper the next day the first time you do it. You can also go from supper to breakfast two days later, 36 hours or so. A 24 hour fast is more manageable because in the morning and during the day, you see the light at the end of the tunnel, which is supper. But, going a whole waking period without eating, which is the 36 hour fast, is very healthy. For most people, Juice Fasting, intake of fruit and vegetable juices, is not preferred. Water is the way to go as you depend entirely upon God and take in no sugars.

Some things to do include; busying yourself with light physical activities especially walking or low impact aerobics. This will simulate the exertion levels of historically food-gathering people. When you eat again, go slow. Eat something light, and don’t overeat. Eat fruit or some vegetables, something healthy and full of water value and electrolytes. Wait a few hours before eating again. They say your stomach shrinks even in one day, so this is a chance to recalibrate your total food intake levels during meals and in general. Speaking of water value, we get more moisture from our food than we realize. Drink plenty of water while fasting; you should drink much more water than you may be accustomed to having.

Some things to avoid include fasting for the first time on a workday, as your alertness may be lacking. But you do get used to it after a time or two. Don’t use laxatives of any kind; this is counterproductive. Make your body work to get used to it. Also, allow your body to recover naturally if you’ve had a poor diet. Don’t fast if you have challenging exercise or labor planned. This could be dangerous the first time or two, which is another reason you should make yourself used to fasting before you have to by no choice of your own. Watch your attitude and anger as low blood sugar could cause you to say some things to loved ones that you might regret.

Don’t tell anybody you’re fasting, which may be hard to do if you have children. In that case, fast with your wife, as the head of her in Christ, you can declare a fast. Your children won’t bother you about not eating if you get them a pizza or something they like. You can also get them involved and used to skipping a meal or two.

“Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.” – Matthew 6:16-18

Your Father, which sees all things even in secret, will reward you openly. While fasting is an excellent time to go tell people about salvation through Jesus Christ.

We could say that this isn’t medical advice, but we don’t care if you consult your health care provider first or not.

The “Head and Shoulders” stock market pattern usually indicates a reversal of the prior trend in (a) stocks.

Charts are read from left to right. Here is an example illustration:

“The Head and Shoulders pattern is one of the most widely recognized reversal patterns and one of the most reliable bearish signals when found in uptrends, thus signaling the end of its [Bull Market] run.”

“The reason why it’s called a Head and Shoulders is because the first high (left Shoulder) and third or last high (right Shoulder) are both lower than the second or middle high (Head), making the pattern look vaguely like a silhouette of a person’s head and shoulders. A trendline can then be drawn connecting the lows after the first two peaks and extending it out to the right. This trendline is called the ‘Neckline’.” – Quote from a Zacks technical paper on stock market patterns.

Here we are in the S&P broad market index:

The pattern is circled, and a thin red line indicates the top of each shoulder. April 2020 was the Trump lockdown bottom. The market went up until September of last year; that’s when the pattern started to form. The second “right” shoulder appears to be developing now. It could break the second shoulder to the upside, continuing the bull market run. But things don’t look good; you know the macro; inflation, war, money printing, dollar losing global confidence, potential food shortages, etc. The market doesn’t always break down when this chart pattern prevails, but we just thought you might need to know that it usually does.

Edit: Read this SitRep on Europe over the weekend. WRSA laments; “Where Are The American-Sourced Discussions On These Issues?” Yep, reading Americans about the situation over there is a total waste of time.

“And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.” – Amos 4:6

In Amos, God is pronouncing curses in judgment for disobedience. In Chapter 4, verse 6, He explains that He has withheld food that the people might hunger and cry out to God for sustenance only to realize that they had forsaken the Lord their God. God is calling them back. Warning after warning. Famines, plagues, pestilences, and wars; it is the judgment of God.

We’re just making applications from the Bible, but these two facts exist; America has forsaken the God of her fathers, and hard times are coming. Make of it what you will.

In verse 12, He says; “prepare to meet thy God” and goes on: “For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name.” Amos 4:13

The Ukraine “conflict” reminded me why I preferred to stick to the Pac Theater when I worked for the Navy and DoD. The history in Europe, especially East Europe, is complex. There’s no point in listening to Americans about the Ukraine conflict because they are detached from the history, and almost all of the political analysis is ignorant prattling.

But this war will affect you and not by some phony “I Stand With Ukraine” or “Support the Troops” sloganeering tripe.

Problem:

It’s even worse than you might think. We have a global economy. That means this war will have a global impact. Expect food prices to rise seriously this year. Both Ukraine and Russia have other things on their minds than harvesting. Next year, there won’t be a harvest. Simply because there won’t be enough men and material available for seeding, let alone harvesting.

Oil and gas prices are rising sky-high. That makes your daily commute unaffordable. Not only that, it will affect food prices, too. Next year we will also have a severe shortage of fertilizer. Much of it is produced with oil and gas, and potash normally comes from Belarus.

Solution Primer

Both Via WRSA.

I wouldn’t embed this video except that I have actually talked to people like this.  Yes, to someone who told me he was arming himself (and even minimizing ammunition purchases) but planned to take what ammunition he had and steal ammo and food from other people.

I’m not kidding.

He did everything wrong.

A hiker was so determined to reach the top of Arizona’s highest peak that one rescue wouldn’t stop him from returning the next day to try again.

The 28-year-old Brooklyn, New York, man set out to hike Humphreys Trail to reach the state’s highest peak on Wednesday, March 2.

He did all the research on YouTube and AllTrails, a popular hiking website, before starting the hike, The Daily Sun reported. The information the hiker found said it was possible to reach the summit in two or three hours, so he started his hike at about 2:30 p.m., according to the news outlet.

However, on the way up the hiker became lost. He had to call 911 for help, Coconino County Sheriff’s deputies told The Associated Press.

“It was very easy to get off the trail and fall into the snow,” the hiker, identified by The Daily Sun as Phillip Vasto, told the news outlet.

As rescuers set out to help the man, he found the trail and began hiking downhill, FOX 10 reported. However, a search and rescue crew found the man and took him to a lodge parking lot to make sure he didn’t need medical care.

The man wasn’t injured and declined medical attention, AP reported. Rescuers encouraged the hiker to wait for clearer weather and revisit the trail when the conditions are better, according to The Daily Sun.

The next day, however, the hiker set out to try again. He started his hike earlier at 9:30 a.m. and made it far into the hike, FOX 10 reported.

“I was thinking if I start early in the morning, I’ll have all the time in the world to reach the summit,” Vasto told The Daily Sun.

Then he was hit with high wind gusts and less than ideal weather.

“On his descent he got off trail and fell, causing an injury,” the sheriff’s office told FOX 10.

The man called 911 again at 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 3, AP reported. The Arizona Department of Public Safety sent a rescue helicopter to pick him up.

Apparently, it takes longer to reach the summit than three hours.  But let’s assume three for the sake of argument.

It was supposed to take him three hours.  So he set out at 2:30, which would have put him at the summit at 5:30, which is nearly dark.

What was he planning to do then?

He didn’t know how to navigate, he didn’t leave early enough, he got panicked and stumbled around and got injured.  He didn’t come prepared to stay overnight in the bush.  Apparently he didn’t have the equipment (maps, compass, GPS) to find his way there and back.  He had little if any food or water I would suppose, he had no cover.

Don’t do any of those things.

Always prepare for “less than ideal” weather or other conditions.  Always prepare like you intend to spend the night in the bush.  Or one or two more nights than you had planned.

More news about the couple who perished in Northern California.

MARIPOSA COUNTY, Calif. — Nearly six months after a Northern California family and their dog died of extreme heat exhaustion and dehydration while hiking, phone data was released on Thursday that shows a text message and several phone calls did not go through due to poor cellphone reception.

John Gerrish, his wife, Ellen Chung, their 1-year-old daughter, Miju, and their dog were walking in extreme heat in a remote area close to the Merced River in the Sierra National Forest last August before they died.

Jonathan Gerrish’s phone showed the family took multiple photos throughout their hike from 7:44 to 10:29 a.m., according to the release. At 12:25 p.m, they took a screenshot of their location on the trail map.

A single text message at 11:56 a.m. saying, “Can you help us. On savage lundy trail heading back to Hites cove trail. No water or ver (over) heating with baby” did not go through due to not having cell service in the area, the release said.

Five calls were also found to have been attempted but were not successful due to the same reason. The first was at 12:09 p.m. and the last four were attempted within one minute of each other at 12:36 p.m.

I know we’ve covered this before, but the last sentence struck me.  Recall when I said this?

First of all, remember the necessary life-saving kit that MUST be carried in the bush: Rubberized poncho, parka, redundant fire start, large bore handgun, food energy, cordage, tactical light, knife, water and means of water filtration.  This might have saved their lives.

Beyond this, I was commenting to my oldest son not too many days ago that the biggest enemy of survival in the bush is panic.  If you carry the right kit, you can be in the position where you say to yourself or loved ones, “I don’t know where we are, but it’s getting dark and we need warmth, shelter, water and rest.  We have the right kit for it, so we camp here for the night and get a safe, good night sleep, and carry on at first light.”

If you panic, adrenalin rushes into your system, you expend way too much energy, your judgment is clouded and you’re more likely to do stupid things, you get exhausted, the exhaustion makes you cold, and you risk hypothermia.

In the bush, panic is your enemy.  It sounds as if they didn’t have the right kit, and they panicked.

My suspicion was right.  In the bush, panic is your enemy and will kill you.  Always be prepared for things not to go as expected.  That’s the only way to avoid panic.  Even if he had not carried the proper kit, they could have always stopped and gotten out of the sun until dusk, and he could have hunted for water (or found a muddy spot and dug a hole) that evening and the next morning.

If it’s over 100 degrees and you have no water, walking in the noon sun to find your way out isn’t a good idea, and rather than deal with the situation and stopping in favor of a primitive shelter, he panicked which made matters worse.

Panic is always your enemy.

News from the North.

THE BOUNDARY WATERS— A young woman from Duluth is pitting her tenacity and desire for outdoor adventure against whatever Mother Nature serves up over the next month here, along the U.S.-Canadian border. With the help of her canine companion, named Diggins, Emily Ford left Crane Lake last Friday at the start of a 210-mile trek through the wilderness to Grand Portage.

She headed into the wilderness just ahead of some of the coldest temperatures of the winter. Thermometers around the area dropped to the mid-40s below zero on Sunday, with daytime highs struggling to reach above zero. But Ford, who spoke to the Timberjay just hours before embarking on her adventure, was confident she had the ability to meet the challenge.

Ford has spent much of the winter working at the Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge, near Ely, where she started as an intern. “But she was so competent, we just put her on staff,” said Wintergreen owner and operator Paul Schurke. She helped lead dogsled trips into the wilderness, where she learned winter survival methods from some of the most experienced polar explorers anywhere.

“It was awesome,” said Ford of the experience.

She’s road-tested her gear in the weeks leading up to her adventure and she’ll get some assistance from Diggins, who has learned to skijor, so he’ll be providing an assist as Ford propels herself and about 145 pounds of gear she’ll pull in a sled, known as a pulk, behind her. Ford couldn’t really predict what the trail conditions will be like over the next month. She expects to be able to follow snowmobile tracks for a portion of the route that’s outside the Boundary Waters wilderness boundary. She also expects to find trails broken by mushers in other locations. But she’ll likely be breaking trail at points along the way. On large lakes, where the wind helps to pack the snow, the going may be relatively smooth. But with about two feet of snow on the ground, the going is likely to be challenging on untracked portages or smaller lakes. She expects to average about seven miles a day.
Ford will be traveling without a heated tent. Her new four-season tent includes a vestibule, where she’ll be able to cook meals, which is likely to provide a least a little break from the winter’s chill. Overnight, she’ll rely on a zero-degree-rated sleeping bag, a heavy quilt and the warmth provided by Diggins, who will sleep under the quilt, to stay warm.

I predict a difficult go of it.  That dog is going to be taking a heavy load during the trek, or she is.  Or both.  That’s a heavy sled too.

She may need to drop some of that weight, but the question is, what?  She needs the food, she will need the lights she’s carrying, she needs to bring a Garmin with her, she needs to carry a large bore handgun, and she needs medical supplies.  She needs the tent, she needs the quilt (I’d carry more than one), and she’ll need food for the dog too.  She’ll need a stove to thaw her water and water for the dog.  She’ll need fuel for the stove.  Isobutane doesn’t work very well in such cold temperatures or at high elevations.

News from N.C.

A hiker who impaled their foot with a tent stake was rescued from the top of a mountain in North Carolina.

Crews were called at 11:50 p.m. Thursday about an injured hiker at the top of Shortoff Mountain in the western part of the state, according to Burke County Search and Rescue.

Two rescuers reached the hiker around 2 a.m. Friday and found the person was “immobile due to an impalement of the foot by a tent stake,” Burke SAR wrote on Facebook.

Rescuers and EMS crews “slowly and safely” helped the hiker down the mountain and got the person out of the woods by 10:30 a.m., officials said.

How on earth does one impale their foot by a tent stake when camping?  Anyway, don’t do that.

Backpacker.com.

A survey of more than 700 John Muir trail thru-hikers gave researchers insight into what makes a hiker more likely to get injured or ill while backpacking.

[ … ]

The study singles out three factors that were correlated with injury and illness. The first was age, and not in the way you might think: Older hikers reported fewer adverse events on the JMT. One explanation for this might be that they have more years of experience on the trail and are better equipped to identify and avoid risky situations. A study on search and rescue missions in the Polish Tatra mountains also revealed that younger tourists were more likely to need help due to inexperience and lack of equipment.

So to begin with, don’t be stupid on the trail and engage in proper planning and execution.

Given that the majority of reported injuries were to the feet and legs, Spano suggests that because older backpackers tend to use trekking poles—which are correlated with a reduced rate of lower extremity injuries—they might be more protected.

“Hiking pole use is good for preventing strain and reducing injury to lower extremities,” Spano says. “And I don’t know a lot of younger people out there hiking with poles; they just don’t feel they need them.”

I, too, see very few younger hikers or backpackers using trekking poles.  I think that’s very unwise and arrogant.  It takes a mushy brain full of hubris to believe your youth will save you from mechanical injuries.

You can’t control everything in the bush.  But you can minimize the chances of mechanical injury with the use of good trekking poles.

Just go buy some and be diligent about using them.  I do even on days hikes, and miss them if I happen to forget.