Preparedness Notes for Sunday — June 28, 2020

June 28th, 1703 was the birthday of John Wesley, who died 2 March 1791.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 89 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  4. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  5. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $150 purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Round 89 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Review: Coast FX350, HX5, and FX228 – Part 2, by The Novice

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(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the review)

Opening the Second Box

The second product box was the Coast 100 Year Anniversary Gift Box. This box was less substantial than one containing the FX350, but it was still nothing to sneeze at. A flashlight and a knife were nested in a multi-layered cardboard cutout along with a brochure outlining the 100 year history of the Coast company, along with a couple of packs of rust preventative silica gel.

The flashlight is a special 100-year anniversary version of the HX5 flashlight. It is rated at 130 lumens and 3.75 hours of battery life with the included AA Duracell Coppertop battery. It has a zoom focus lens, and a clever two-way clip that I will talk more about later. The switch is on the bottom cap, and the switch protector has a tiny hole where a lanyard can be inserted (not included).

I initially assigned the HX5 as my “dresser flashlight” for the testing period. The dresser flashlight illuminates my steps when I get up in the middle of the night so that I don’t trip over anything in the dark. Gentlemen of a certain age may know something about getting up in the middle of the night.

I really like AA battery-powered flashlights for a couple of reasons. One reason is that I have a virtually unlimited supply of partly used AA batteries. Why? The cordless microphones at our church are powered by AA batteries. At the point when the batteries are partly discharged and too unreliable to power a microphone for an entire service, they are usually still strong enough to power an LED flashlight for a respectable period of time. The church’s Tech Team is only too happy to send these batteries home with me rather than throwing them in the trash. The second reason that I like AA powered flashlights is that I have a good supply of Eneloop rechargable AA batteries, which also work quite well in most LED flashlights. Both of these types of batteries worked well in the HX5.

The knife in the 100 Year Anniversary Gift Box is a FX228. As the name indicates, it is a frame locking knife with a blade a little over two inches long. It has a black metal frame with some nice engraving set off by brass screws. Although it has a frame lock rather than a liner lock, the frame on this little knife is not much thicker than the liner on many larger knives. The blade has a nail nick for opening, and comes out of the box usefully sharp.Continue reading“Review: Coast FX350, HX5, and FX228 – Part 2, by The Novice”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

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SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at High Honeybee Summer Losses

DHS: How to Decon N95 Masks with an Instant Pot

Reader N.S. sent the link to a video with some useful decontamination info for your PPE: Multicooker Decontamination of N95 Respirators

High Honeybee Summer Losses

Another from Reader C.B.: US beekeepers reported lower winter losses but abnormally high summer losses. This article’s opening paragraph:
“Beekeepers across the United States lost 43.7% of their managed honey bee colonies from April 2019 to April 2020, according to preliminary results of the 14th annual nationwide survey conducted by the nonprofit Bee Informed Partnership (BIP). These losses mark the second highest loss rate the survey has recorded since it began in 2006 (4.7 percentage points higher than the average annual loss rate of 39.0%). The survey results highlight the cyclical nature of honey bee colony turnover. Although the high loss rate was driven by the highest summer losses ever reported by the survey, winter losses were markedly lower than in most years. As researchers learn more about what drives these cycles of loss, this year emphasizes the importance of the summer for beekeeper losses.”

Could Doomsday Bunkers Become the New Normal?

A recent article in The New York Times quotes my #1 Son, who operates SurvivalRealty. It is titled: Could Doomsday Bunkers Become the New Normal?

An Oregon County’s Racist Mask Rule — Now Rescinded

Another from D.S.V., in The New York Post: Oregon county issues face mask order that exempts non-white people. Update: After public outcry, this order was rescinded, a few days later.

Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.

And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.

And he spake this parable unto them, saying,

What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.

I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?

And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.

Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” – Luke 15 1-10 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — June 27, 2020

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June 27th is the birthday of economist Dr. Ravi Batra. (Born 1943.)

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 89 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  4. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  5. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $150 purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Round 89 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Review: Coast FX350, HX5, and FX228 – Part 1, by The Novice

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The State where I live does not allow concealed carry of a sheath knife unless you are hunting. Since even a simple thing like putting on a jacket may inadvertently “conceal” your knife, it is usually the better part of wisdom if not valor to avoid carrying a sheath knife at all unless you are involved in outdoor pursuits.

Since the laws involving folding knives are much less stringent, and since knives are such handy tools, I usually carry a folder. For several decades, a Victorinox MiniChamp has been my constant companion.

A couple of years ago, a friend complicated things by giving me an inexpensive TG Raptor knife. I carried it for a while to express my appreciation, and discovered that it often came in handy. In many instances the larger blade of the Raptor was more useful than the smaller blade of the MiniChamp.

One problem with the TG Raptor is that it looks aggressive enough to attract some attention. I started receiving questions about it. In the interests of lowering my profile, I decided to look for something a little less conspicuous.

I eventually settled on the Outdoor Edge Onyx EDC. It has replaceable blades, is easy to keep sharp, and did not attract any attention. I has been my primary every day carry (EDC) knife for about a year. But the thinness of replaceable blade made me a little uneasy. I was concerned that it might fail under heavy use. So I kept my eye out for something more substantial.Continue reading“Review: Coast FX350, HX5, and FX228 – Part 1, by The Novice”

Editors’ Prepping Progress

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To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year. Note that as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in the Comments. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

I had a very quiet week helping an elderly relative, so I’ll be leaving most of this week’s Editors’ Prepping Progress column up to my lovely wife, Avalanche Lily.

Other than some gardening work and exercising (mainly bicycling) on most mornings, I didn’t do much that was preparedness-related. But I did succeed in finding eight antique guns for my inventory at Elk Creek Company. These include: A couple of very early Marlin pump action 12 gauge shotguns, a .38 S&W top-break revolver, two Stevens top break .22 single-shot pistols, another 1895-dated Swedish Mauser sporter, a Colt Model 1878 Double Action Frontier revolver in .44-40, and a Winchester Model 1890 pump action rifle chambered in .22 Short.  I should have all of those listed by the third week of July.

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“Make haste, o God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O Lord.

Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul: let them be turned backward, and put to confusion, that desire my hurt.

Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame that say, Aha, aha.

Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified.

But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O Lord, make no tarrying. – Psalm 70 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday — June 26, 2020

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June 26th is the birthday of Marine Corps Lt. General Chesty Puller (born 1898, died October 11, 1971). Perhaps America’s finest-ever maverick officer, Puller was part of what I call the Even Greater Generation.

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I just heard that Palmetto State Armory (one of our affiliate advertisers) is running a short term sale on a combo offering: a SIG-Sauer Whiskey 3 (3-9×40) rifle scope along with one of their Kilo 1400 laser rangefinders.  They are offering this combo at just $249.99. These would have normal retail prices of $199 and $249, respectively. So you are essentially getting the scope for free. To find this combo deal, just type 516550047 into their search box.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 89 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  4. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  5. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $150 purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Round 89 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

I’m Unarmed — What Gun Do I Buy?, by Frog

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You’re sitting at home with your family in a suburb at what is normally a comfortable distance of 30 to 60 minutes from your nearest major city. Life feels as normal as it can — quarantine being considered — and your dinner is interrupted by the news that there is is rioting in the adjoining city. Then, the country is rioting; finally, international cities are rioting. You’ve been aware of the need preparedness for some time, but you find yourself without a firearm. What do you do?

This article will be intended for survival-minded folks living in the ‘burbs who either have no experience with firearms, or very limited experience. As a blanket statement to get out of the way right now: ANY safe, functional firearm is better than none. Doubly so, any firearm you are comfortable and confident with is (generally) better than one you don’t know how to use. I do not claim any kind of authority over the knowledge being presented, and even if this only prompts people to buy firearms I’m not recommending, I can sleep soundly knowing it helped somebody take the plunge to protect their family and property.

Also please note that, of course, firearm choice for somebody in a deep-urban versus rural setting would of course have different priorities. As someone who grew up and remains a suburbanite (though, thankfully living farther out than I used to be), this is simply the area I feel I know best.

YOUR FIRST GUN

In general, if somebody can only purchase one firearm and lives in the suburbs, my first recommendation would be for them to acquire a high-capacity semi-automatic handgun of their preferred flavor. Before anybody shouts through the keyboard, I wholeheartedly agree that it would be preferable to start with a .22; however, if somebody has a small budget and truly can only afford a single weapon while the country is in or on the edge of true unrest, I believe a centerfire option is permissible. That being said, if you can afford multiple guns, then GET a .22 FIRST!

In absolute no particular order, here are a few brands that you may wish to consider: Smith and Wesson M&P Series, Glock (19, 17, 22, 23, etc), Springfield Armory XDm, FN, CZ, HK, the list goes on. Most of these will be approximately $400-to-$550 depending on what level of dealer markup is occurring at the time you buy. Less expensive options of reasonable quality certainly exist, but if you’re only going to have one firearm, I suggest doing all you can to purchase a mainline brand to have the best parts and magazine availability possible.

Why a handgun? Succinctly: I’m a family man. If I’m called upon to defend my home, there’s a very high probability I will need to move or direct my wife and children, open doors, issue commands, or otherwise make use of my hands. A pistol with modern ammunition will offer relatively high capacity, adequate terminal ballistics, and an acceptably low risk of over-penetration through drywall. While becoming skilled with a handgun takes more practice than some other firearms, at home-defense distances, my experience lends me to believe it is intuitive enough to use for novices to achieve acceptable results – though this is, obviously, no excuse not to train! Practice every aspect of loading, unloading, pointing, drawing, reholstering, andsafely dry firing the gun.Continue reading“I’m Unarmed — What Gun Do I Buy?, by Frog”

Economics & Investing For Preppers

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Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, a link to an essay by former congressman Dr. Ron Paul. (See the Economy & Finance section.)

Precious Metals:

Von Greyerz: History Tells Us To Own Gold When Central Banks Run Out Of Control

o  o  o

Gold price surges to 7.5-year high as coronavirus concerns mount

Economy & Finance:

The Wall Street Journal reports: Americans Skip Millions of Loan Payments as Coronavirus Takes Economic Toll

o  o  o

Dr. Ron Paul: The Federal Reserve is Getting Desperate. The article begins:

“In a sign that the Federal Reserve is growing increasingly desperate to jump-start the economy, the Fed’s Secondary Market Credit Facility has begun purchasing individual corporate bonds. The Secondary Market Credit Facility was created by Congress as part of a coronavirus stimulus bill to purchase as much as 750 billion dollars of corporate credit. Until last week, the Secondary Market Credit Facility had limited its purchases to exchange-traded funds, which are bundled groups of stocks or bonds.”

o  o  o

At Wolf Street: Plot Thickens on End of QE & Start of Shedding Assets

o  o  o

And another from Wolf Street: Alitalia, Lufthansa, Condor, Norwegian, Other European Airlines Try to Survive, But it Gets Complicated

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — June 25, 2020

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On June 25th, 1876, Native American forces led by Chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull defeated the U.S. Army troops of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer in a bloody battle near southern Montana’s Little Bighorn River. The Battle of Little Bighorn–also called Custer’s Last Stand – marked the most decisive Native American victory and the worst U.S. Army defeat in the long Plains Indian War. While complicated, the generally accepted reason for the battle is that the discovery of gold in South Dakota’s Black Hills in 1875 led to the U.S. government disregarding previous treaty agreements. The gruesome fate of Custer and his men outraged many white Americans and confirmed their image of the Indians as wild and bloodthirsty. Meanwhile, the U.S. government increased its efforts to subdue the tribes. Within five years, almost all of the Sioux and Cheyenne would be confined to reservations.

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I just noticed that we’ve passed the 33,000 mark, for posted SurvivalBlog articles, columns, and quotes. And even though we added our Comments feature just a couple of years ago, there are now more than 55,500 posted comments. Thank you for your support, folks, in making SurvivalBlog such a success in these past 14 years! We will strive to continue to keep SurvivalBlog an “Old School” blog, with original content and genuine ethics. Unlike many other blogs, we refuse to sell out to the “paid placement” SEO mongers.

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An Observation: Have you noticed how the the American News Cycle has turned into an enormous whipsaw? First, it was 24-hour a day shouting from the rooftops: “Pandemic! Social Distancing is crucial! The sky is falling!”  Then, just as the case numbers started to fall, the mainstream media turned on a dime to: “Mass protests! No need for Social Distancing, because, well, because, well just because we said so.” Then, the protests and riots died down. So they pivoted back to: “Pandemic! Social Distancing is crucial! The sky is falling!”  I think I know what might be the next stroke of the whipsaw…  Memorize this phrase: “Never get involved in a land war in Asia.” Do they really think that the American can’t see through their smokescreen? – JWR

Oral History: A Child of the Great Depression – Part 3

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(Continued, from Part 2. This concludes the series.)

We also raised rabbits, in a row of three backyard hutches, that my father built. These were wire mesh hutches on wooden frames that were elevated and protected by a roof. We raised white rabbits with black ears, noses, and paws, as well as some gray rabbits. I was in charge of gathering the rabbit feed. Since Dinuba was a farm town, all of the vacant lots had weeds that were mostly hay grass, or alfalfa. Once every two or three days, I would ride my bicycle around town and use hand shears to cut the grass and alfalfa. We preferred alfalfa. The lot owners never objected because I was cutting their weeds, for free. I would stuff as much as I could into the big basket on my bike. We never paid for any rabbit feed–only salt. Since we knew they’d be butchered, we never named our rabbits.

War Bonds and Scrap Drives

WWII War Bonds PosterIn 1940, with the war in Europe already in progress and American involvement looking likely, a series of Defense Bonds were issued, to help cover the enormous expenditures, as the military ramped up. After Pearl Harbor, these were re-named War Bonds. There were plenty of patriotic exhortations in newspaper and magazine ads, radio commercials, parade floats, and special events like concerts. Movie stars got involved, in the Bond Drive campaigns to sell these war bonds. There was tons of publicity, and they even pushed them on us school kids. Basically, this is how they worked: You would pay $18.50, and then at maturity the bond could be redeemed for $25.00. To make the bonds affordable to working-class people and to children, 10 cent savings stamps could be purchased and pasted in special stamp albums. Once you had saved $18.50 worth of stamps, then you’d have a full bond. Each week, a man from the local bank would come to our grammar school, to sell the War Bond stamps. I can still picture his kindly face.

One of the other ways that the citizenry got involved in the war effort was in scrap metal drives and other civic drives to collect all sorts of things: rubber bands, string,  aluminum foil, paper, and even left-over cooking fat. The kids in Dinuba all got involved, pestering adults for donations, but the kids did most of the work.  Everyone thought it was part of “Doing Our Bit” for the war effort.

Over X-Rayed

One of my father’s many weekend and summer jobs was as a salesman at the shoe store down the street– Don’s Shoes. Surprisingly, it is still in operation in 2020, at the same location! Anita and I, and sometimes accompanied by our neighbor Ruthie Gapen would walk and visit the shoe store. We got a big kick out of being there with Daddy. As little girls, we felt like we were part-owners of the store. While Daddy was waiting on customers, we were standing on the scale, or standing on the X-Ray fluoroscope machine that was used for fitting shoes. We could look at the bones in our feet, and even see our toe bones wiggle, when the machine was turned on. We thought that was fascinating, so we’d take turns doing that, over and over. Daddy would say:  “Hey girls, why don’t you let someone else use that.” This was not because it was considered hazardous, but rather because he didn’t want us distracting the genuine customers, or keeping them away from the machine.Continue reading“Oral History: A Child of the Great Depression – Part 3”