Monday, July 29, 2013

Water purification, how to find, and how to make water.

Not everyone can have a mountain spring in their zombie survival setup. The Hatchery Compound members have it easy with a spring fed creek and well setup, but not everyone has it that easy during the apocalypse. Some people need to seriously consider how they will get fresh water. Most people can only survive 3 days without water. Three days isn't exactly a long time to devise a homemade water filtration device, and that only works if you have a water source.

I can't exactly show you how to squeeze water from a rock, but if you do have water here's a couple sweet items to help you make sure that water is clean.

Lifestraw - This cool little gadget only weighs a few ounces and filters water down to 0.2 microns. You just pop off the end caps, stick it in any kind of water and drink straight from it. It's super cheap at less than $20 and should be a staple for any survivalist!

MSR Miniworks EX - This filter is more about volume. It would be good if you need to clean up water and transport it somewhere. Not everyone can have a readily available water source, so this sucker can clean up some water for the road.

Aquamira - Lastly, these chlorine dioxide drops are designed to be used on any water to get rid of bacteria and improve the taste of the water. Some people have used these drops in conjunction with another filtering device and said it was amazing.

So you can't squeeze water from a rock, but apparently you can pull it out of a tree! I found this very informational article about using the transpiration cycle of a tree to collect water. Making water in the desert is possible. This article is all about finding water in the desert. They point out some very helpful tips about where to look, and some useful things like "be careful looking under rocks, scorpions live there!" I thought that was a given...but some people need to be shown the light apparently.

If all else fails in the deserts of Arizona, head north! Northern Arizona is full of lakes, streams, and springs. If you can't hack it in the desert, head north like Vintago and his family. Without air conditioning and running water even Arizonans can't handle the desert!

I hope you found some interesting information this time around, thanks for checking in.

Chris Blake

Sunday, July 28, 2013

(What I think is) important gear in a survival situation

(What I think is) important gear in a survival situation

This post is inspired by a show my wife and I watched on Discovery Channel called Naked and Afraid. The premise of the show is that they drop off a woman and a man in a horrible environment with only one survival item and make them strip naked. Then they kick them out into the wilderness and say "See you in three weeks!" Well supposedly they do...but I digress.

The thing that caught my attention, as well as most of the people watching the show on one particular episode was one man's choice of survival item. Since they were going to be on an island in the middle of the ocean, he choose to bring...wait for it...goggles. Then to make matters worse, he was too scared to go swimming in the ocean for fear of sharks!

All laughs aside, it got me thinking. If I could only bring one item with me to survive in the wilderness, what would I bring?

Most people bring a knife, machete, pot/pan, or something along those lines.

I got to looking on Amazon, and I think I found the perfect match. Now, granted people might think it is cheating because it is TWO items, but technically since both items fit in the sheath, I'm counting it as one!


Having any kind of knife in a survival situation is absolutely quintessential, but watching some of these "survival experts" try to start a fire it is clear to me that fire starters are just as important.

If you don't have fire you can't sanitize water, cook food, keep bugs or predators away, or keep the morale up.

I'm sure there are 101 better items out there, but the theory is still the same. Let me know in the comments if you have a better idea for a single survival item, or even a better knife/fire starter combo. I'm interested to see what everyone else has to say!

Until next time,

Chris Blake

Friday, July 26, 2013

Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse

Let's talk weaponry and survival gear. I think it is absolutely essential for everyone to have a setup in place just incase things get a little...undead... I want to talk about some of the weapons I have around our house, and would love some feedback from you guys! Later on I will check out some other gear and see where that goes.

First things first, I don't know how you feel about guns, but I think they are definitely a must for every home. With the state of affairs our world is in right now, I think everyone should be able to defend themselves and not rely on the government and local authorities to protect us. That being said, here's just a few of my favorites.

My daily carry handgun is a Taurus 24/7 G2 .45ACP Compact. It comes with a 10 round magazine and a 12 round magazine. I usually carry the 10 round magazine because it is easier to conceal. People will go back and forth all day about caliber sizes, but in the end my choice is a .45ACP hollow point. It's got to be the go to defense round for dangers of all kind, even the undead kind...

My secondary handgun is a Taurus 24/7 G2 9mm. It comes with two 17 round magazines. I have a tactical light as well. I think when it comes to protecting yourself against the undead horde having more ammunition probably counts for more than caliber size.

Lastly, I have a little Ruger LCP .380. People always discount the 6 rounds of .380, but it's a sweet little gun that you can hide just about anywhere.

All of these guns make their debut in my novel Apocalyptic Empire: The Hatchery Compound, and they definitely get used. Of course in the book, Vintago goes to the gun store while the Outbreak is unfolding. He spends quite a bit of money on some other awesome firearms.

One gun that I do not have, but definitely would buy is an AK-74. The AK-74 is the same form factor and ruggedness of an AK-47, but fires a smaller faster bullet, much like an AR-15. These guns are like mixing the reliability and robustness of an AK platform with the accuracy of an AR platform. The only downfall to a weapon like this would be ammunition shortages in the zombie apocalypse. It fires a 5.45x39mm round which will definitely be hard to come by when it hits the fan. That being said though, they are a solid gun I believe.

Well I think that's enough gun talk for one post. Let me know what kind of firearms you use, prefer, or carry. Next time I will talk about something else. Leave me a comment if you have any useful topics you would like more info on, or would like to discuss.

Thanks for reading!

Chris Blake