Love and kindness are the very basis of society. If we lose these feelings, society will face tremendous difficulties; the survival of humanity will be endangered. - Dalai Lama
I get a kick out of being an outsider constantly. It allows me to be creative. - Bill Hicks
The status quo sucks. - George Carlin
“If the fool would persist in his folly, he would become wise.” – William Blake
Survival Bros drives in dangerous road conditions through Champaign, Illinois. It was 29 degrees. First came an inch of snow, then freezing rain, followed by a hail storm. The worthless rental car, a Kia Soul, was covered in an inch of ice, and struggled to stay on the slippery road! There were accidents all over the place, but it looks like the worst winter weather is behind us now. Stay tuned for additional HD videos. Please enter your email on the top left side of the blog to follow all of our posts. More intense stuff soon. Thanks for visiting! Get prepared.
Would you use an icicle in a survival situation to protect yourself from an attacker? Survival Bros considers packing ice as an EDC item while outside just in case of an emergency. More silly videos shortly. Please like, comment, and subscribe to us on YouTube. Best wishes.
John McClane’s quick thinking saves his life yet again in the movie Die Hard 2
Survival Bros is in Champaign, Illinois with the news. Cameron McKirdy films an HD video in the middle of a huge winter snow storm they are calling Nika. Roads are covered in dangerous ice, with packed snow on top making for bad driving conditions. Don’t try to commute unless you have a 4×4 truck, or something with excellent traction, and considerable weight. This weather is brutal on your skin, so use as much protection as possible, such as ChapStick and hand lotion. Cam is wearing a Hoo-Rag bandana on his face to stay warm, and has epic GOR-TEX gloves from Trekmates out of the UK. Check those brands out, and get prepared. Unfortunately, the worst Winter weather is yet to come. Tomorrow Survival Bros will be enduring temperatures near zero degrees. Cam will have another cold weather update for you soon. Thanks for watching. Please subscribe to us on Youtube, and follow this emergency preparedness blog via email. Be safe. Peace.
How’d you like to drive on this? Road conditions keep getting worse. To be continued…
A delivery bike quipped for an arctic blast in Champaign, IL.
The roads are clear here now, but it got down to -25 last night.
Mother Nature had no mercy this morning. I wore shorts to suffer for fun. I got lots of looks and almost caused a few accidents. Ladies like my calves. It would be a shame not to show them. Seriously though, it was so cold my teeth hurt from breathing. Back in Oregon my friends and family are dealing with tons of unexpected snow. Hopefully they are safe, and have food and supplies stockpiled for events like this. More soon!
Produced by Cameron McKirdy with Tactical Gypsy for Survival Bros
Learn how to tie popular knots using paracord following easy step-by-step instructions from a Marine. These are easy and helpful knots you can create quickly for emergency or whatever. We challenge you to learn them all.
Here’s more knots to play with. Thanks for visiting Survival Bros. Follow this blog using your email up above on the left side of the screen. Peace.
Survival Bros checks out the eroding beach, and efforts to save the sewer plant in Seaside, OR. The city has put up a small rock wall, but that hasn’t seemed to help much. Look at all the trees that have been swept away into the water. A running trail has also been destroyed due to Mother Nature. Thanks for visiting. Please subscribe to our YouTube channel to get all the updates.
This weekend Survival Bros went for a drive up I-5, and then took Spirit Lake Highway to visit majestic Mount St. Helens. Most of the hiking trails were off limits to us because we had a puppy to acclimate to the outdoors for the first time. Therefore, we found ourselves at Seaquest State Park, which while splendid, doesn’t have well-maintained paths like the nearby Hummocks Trail closer to the volcano. So, after breaking a sweat there we continued to climb in elevation, and drove to two breathtaking viewpoints called Elk Rock, and Castle Lake. I shot the HD video above, and snapped a few pictures. Our final stop was Clearwater Lake. It formed after the eruption in 1980. There’s a relatively flat trail circling the body of water, but again no dogs are allowed. I was willing to risk a minimum $50 fine, but we’ll just have to trek it another time. Besides, the sun was setting, and my belly was growling. At Castle Rock we cruised into C and L Burger Bar for a feast. I’m talking peanut butter real ice cream milk shakes, fatty elk cheeseburgers, and scalding crinkle cut french fries. Epic. It was a complete day, and I look forward to returning to Mount St. Helens when it’s warmer, and all the backpacking trails are open to explore.
Former Marine Tactical Gypsy has an exclusive Survival Bros blog and new elk jerky recipe for you. He hunts in Oregon with seven other buddies, and no matter how much they kill, they split the meat evenly so nobody is left out. This season his hunting party terminated five bulls, producing around 225 pounds of meat each. He has used the animal for sausage, country fried steaks, and thick jerky strips. His favorite cut is the back strap, which runs on each side of the spine. It’s the most tender part, and is amazing in a stew of vegetables and spices. Simmer that on a low boil for awhile, and you have a man meal sure to satisfy. Tactical Gypsy also told me he likes to pan sear the meat first, to lock in the juice.
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To produce scrumptious elk jerky he cut slabs 1/4th of an inch thick, because they shrink. His recipe calls for six or seven pounds of flesh, so he ends up with big nuggets to feast on. Each hunk is approximately 4″ x 1″ wide. The marinade calls for 4 1/2 cups of soy sauce, with plenty of Worcestershire depending on personal preference. Mix in 1 pound of brown sugar, then a 8 oz. bottle of hickory liquid smoke flavoring. Soak the elk in a bowl, or deep pan, and refrigerate for 12 hours.. After that, use a colander to run off the marinade. Next, lay out the strips on the dehydrator trays evenly, with bigger pieces going on the bottom. Sprinkle on coarse black pepper, turn the machine on high, and let her rip. Check back every few hours, and rotate the racks as needed. In 12 additional hours you’ll have a stash of jerky to devour, and give out to your friends. Tactical Gypsy, if you are reading this, please save me a nug or two. Survival Bros will have more blogs soon. Check back often. Likes, shares, and comments are appreciated.
Learn all about the NEW contest from Survival Bros, and Cougar Ridge Knives! Visit, or ship your Altoids Survival Tin Kit to the shop for review at: 3348 Hwy 101 N. Seaside OR 97138 USA Call Rick Smith at (503) 738-9812 for additional details on this giveaway. There’s incredible prizes on the line. Lots more soon, so keep checking back on this blog post. Good luck preppers.
*Good news:
This contest has been extended, and is now running until May 1, 2014. So get those entries in. If you are shipping them, please include money for return postage. Thank you.
Here’s the official rules:
1. All contents must be legal commercially available products. All contents must fit inside an Altoids tin and close. Paracord can be used to wrap the tin.
2. Entry submissions can be returned with provided postage, or pickup within 30 days after the contest end.
3. Contest will run from 3/15/14 – 5/1/14. Entries will be judged on practical use and creativity.
Prizes:
1st Prize – Gerber emergency survival pack valued at $60
2nd Prize – Coast emergency lantern valued at $40
3rd Prize – CRKT Eat’N Tool valued at $8
Survival Bros visits a fine knife shop on the Oregon Coast. Stop by the store when you take a trip to the beach.
Owner Rick Smith tell you how you can create a knife with expert guidance at his shop Cougar Ridge Knives in Gearhart, Oregon.
There’s many freebie sites online that link to forms where you can request free samples from companies. In this video I show you all the stuff I’ve received in the mail, plus items I have taken from stores myself. You can also complain about product you don’t like to a company’s hotline, and they will send you a replacement, or a voucher redeemable at a shop near you.
New video of freebies I received this week including a $10 Starbucks gift card
First, I want to discuss how to get free samples by mail. It’s easiest to find a website like http://www.freebieshark.com which links to the latest promotions around the web. Generally, you just have to fill out a short form with your name and address to get a complementary trial size of whatever. Sometimes, you have to like a company’s Facebook page, Tweet about their business, or something like that before you can request a free sample. It takes a few seconds to complete most forms, especially if you allow your internet browser to auto fill in your information. As you can see in the Survival Bros video above, I’ve scored tons of things by quickly filling out forms online. I think my favorite gift was the four Keurig coffees in a sampler box. It’s not much, but freebies add up, and save you lots of cash in the long run.
In the video I also mention how I complain about items I’m not satisfied with to the company over the phone. These comment lines are always grateful I call, because my input helps make their product better. They apologize for my inconvenience, and send me vouchers good for a replacement item, and valuable coupons for the future. I said Planters sent me $15 to get a new item of my choosing, and here’s what the manufacturer coupons looked like before I spent them at UnSafeway.
The final and simplest way to get free stuff is to take it. Go to a business, such as a convenience store, and get packets of sugar, salt and pepper, honey, sauce, etc. Or if you’re eating at a fast food restaurant, politely ask for extra sauces. You can take home additional ranches, mustard and ketchup, or crackers. They won’t mind, and you rarely have to pay for these, so have fun, and use your imagination. Soon you’ll have a huge stockpile of goodies like me. This is what I had on hand to show today.
Now you know three ways to get free stuff. You can find an offer and fill out a form online to request a free sample, call the company directly if you are not satisfied with a product, or take a few extras from restaurants and stores. You have to embrace being a hoarder, and become a scavenger. I believe this is the essence of being a prepper. It’s good to have extra just in case. It’s free, why not take it? If I can get all these items in a few weeks, so can you. You just have to do some urban, and online hunting. Please comment if you have any questions and I will get back to you.
In this HD video I drop my new LG G2 and Ballistic SG phone cover on gravel, then concrete from 6 ft high! I just got this smartphone, so I was terrified it would break. However, I know there’s fellow geeks out there that want to see Survival Bros stress test all kinds of gear, so I went for it. The Ballistic case worked well, but after taking off the cover I did notice a tiny dent on the rim of my LG G2. It’s purely cosmetic, and I can live with it, because my screen did not crack. Of course I would have preferred no damage, which I expected since it’s rated to six feet according to the manufacturer. The minuscule chip isn’t worth taking a picture of, and I’m pleased with my purchase overall. Therefore, I give it 4 out of 5 Stars. It’s still probably the best case out there for this recently released Android device, so until better cases are produced it’s staying on me as one of my everyday carry items. Have you had any experience with Ballistic Cases? Let us know. Thanks.
On a side note: I dropped this phone with the case on a few weeks back from about four feet up, and after all of my contacts had been erased! It was the strangest thing. My emails, and phone numbers never returned, and I didn’t delete them. Please comment on this blog post if something similar has happened to you.
Survival Bros by Cameron McKirdy 