Instructor Joni sent me these photos of our Appleseed Shoot in Brookings, Oregon. Much better quality photos than mine.

Share or Bookmark

Here are some more photos from the Appleseed Shoot held in Brookings, Oregon. This was a very informative affair, well organized, extremely safe with eleven instructors. It was well worth the $70 to participate. Appleseed makes no money on these events. I learned a lot about rifle marksmanship.

Share or Bookmark

We just finished a two-day Appleseed shoot in Brookings, Oregon, about 20 miles from Backwoods Home Magazine. Here are a few photos from the shoot:

Share or Bookmark

Greek voters voted to keep working within the European Union.  That’s a big step in the right direction. Now they’ll have to slowly undo decades of  socialism with its easy government jobs and overly generous perks. Working 40 hours a week until a reasonable retirement age, like age 65, would be a good start.

Share or Bookmark

The Greeks vote today to determine whether or not they want to work for a living. I see Greece as one giant Public Employees union. They are the result of what can happen when the public sector gets too big. I’m glad that in the U.S. a few cities in California (San Jose and San Diego) and the state of Wisconsin are trying to reign that crowd in. They are the biggest drain on any economy. Reign them in and you have a fighting chance to survive economically. Failure to reign them in spells economic doom.

Share or Bookmark

Jackie Clay has been talking to her fans at the self-reliance show.

We’ve posted eight more photos in an album on our Facebook page.

You do not have to be a Facebook member to view them.

Click Here to view the album.

Share or Bookmark

We’re having a great time in Colorado. Last night, we got together for drinks with the BHM writers who will be at the show.

If you’re in the area, please stop by the show and say hello.

Left to Right: Lisa Bedford, Patrice Lewis, Jeff Yago, Jackie Clay, Dave Duffy,
Annie Tuttle, Amy Alton (Nurse Amy), Joe Alton (Dr. Bones).

Share or Bookmark

Molly is our 13-year-old black Lab. She’s been sick for quite a while. We’ve been putting off the decision to put her down. She can move only one leg properly, limping along when she has to walk. Some of her medicine no longer works, or we’ve had to stop it because the vet said it’s destroying other vital organs. But her mind is as sharp as ever. We even have to protect her from our new kitten, who likes to play with Molly’s tail and legs and realizes the big dog will do it no harm.

This is the problem with dogs: they wiggle their way into your heart and mind, becoming indispensable to your view of the world, then they die long before you’re ready to give them up. Molly has become part of our family. She is a superb animal — calm with kids but fiercely protective against those who she perceived as outsiders. She’s never bitten anyone, and she’ll take a treat from your hand like you offered it on a silk handkerchief. We’ve all got our stories about her.  How do you put a member of your family down? How do you deal with the memories. It seems barbaric, even after rationalizing in the suffering you’re trying to alleviate.

Lenie and I told our kids we’d consult with them before any decision is made. I’m still searching for a way out of this.

Share or Bookmark

The TMEN Fair in Puyallup, Washington was terrific. It was better than the old preparedness shows and even better than the MREA fair in Wisconsin, which had been the best fair in the country. It is almost exactly the type of show I have envisioned for many years since the preparedness shows ended, but I didn’t have the deep pockets to take the financial risk of putting on such an event. Every aspect of self-reliance, from sawing big logs into boards to classes in canning food. My hat is off to Bryan Welch, publisher of TMEN, for putting this fair together.

I hadn’t planned on attending TMEN’s next two fairs in San Rafael, California in September and in Seven Springs, Pennsylvania, also in September, but after this experience I’ll probably attend both. Mother Earth News has come a log way back to her roots under Bryan Welch; John Shuttleworth would have been pleased. I’ll help Mother promote their fairs however I can.

By the way, she’s slender and tall, and damn good looking. No photo here though. I didn’t even ask. We had a very enjoyable two-day conversation.

Share or Bookmark

Want to see a very effective ad against government overspending? Click here. It’s made  by Citizens Against Government Waste.

Here’s another ad, called “The Deficit Trials,” which was rejected by all three TV Networks in 1986. The debt was only about $2 trillion back then; today it is more than $14 trillion.

Share or Bookmark