Letters To The EditorFrom Issue #110 |
Free subscription for military family membersThanks so much for this magazine offer to our service folks! My nephew, Jordy, is a young man who does dangerous work. He boards suspicious vessels and searches them for the Navy. He also trains others to do the same, searching for contraband or terrorists.
Our Grandson, Shane, was in Iraq from 2005 to part of 2007. He’s stationed in Alaska til Sept. 2008 when he has to go back to Iraq. He has 2 more years. He got married in 2004 & is expecting a baby in May 2008. . . . His younger brother, Cory, is home now. He was in Iraq too. He is doing EODs around the US & World. He’s getting married in March 2008. We don’t get much sleep when they are over there. . . We LOVE Backwoods Home"you make us laugh & nice to know others think like we do. . .
Devices for rat controlFor years I have been reading your articles on mouse and rat control and I have some that you haven’t mentioned. My favorite is a 50/50 mix of plaster of paris and corn meal dry mixed put in a pie tin. This will kill all of them if you don’t mind the dead mouse smell. If you want to kill them and keep them where you can dispose of them, use a bucket. Fill up with water to within about 3 or 4 inches of top. Fill the rest of way with styrofoam peanuts. Put a board for them to climb on the bucket and hang a bait over the bucket. The mice and rats will try to walk on the peanuts and fall through and drown. Also on your article on traps, another way to make them work better is to wrap kite string around the trigger and mash peanut butter into the string. They will always pull the string and spring the trap. Some of us don’t like cats but snakes are also a good way to control mice.
(Editor’s note: Buckets with water are drowning hazards for young children.) “Stupid people” bookMy daughter and son were here at my home over Thanksgiving. Each were much interested in my copy of your excellent book, “Can America be Saved from Stupid People.” (On page 35 of this issue. " Editor) Please send a copy to each of them. Enclosed is my check.
Value of a deer whistleYour article, “Avoiding deer on the roadway” in the Issue 108, Nov./Dec. 2007, has an opinion with which I must disagree on the basis of my experience in several states of the western U.S. That passage is “There is no published research that supports the effectiveness of deer whistles on vehicles.” Since 1986 my wife and I have traveled highways, forest service roads and cross country routes across the U.S. mainly west of the 97th parallel. We have found the deer whistle is an aid, not a panacea, to deer. To be effective the vehicle must be moving at a speed greater than 25 miles per hour. A driver can recognize when the deer hears the deer whistle by the fact that the deer will ALMOST always stop, raise its head and stare at your vehicle. We drive at least 7000 miles a year cross country and have RARELY found an exception to this behavior. The deer whistle must be positioned fairly close together and facing perfectly straight ahead. The closer to the ground the better. Deer are a major menace. On the state highway between Glenwood Springs and Aspen, Colorado, there are more than 2400 deer accidents a year. The cost of a crash is great. A deer grill guard could save your life.
Great chicken articleEach issue of BHM is better than the previous issue. Please take time during this holiday season to congratulate yourself and everyone who works on BHM for the high quality magazine you produce and the very needed service you provide. The article by Jackie Clay on chickens was the best overview and most helpful article on chickens that I have ever read. I hope it is the introductory chapter in your new anthology “Chickens.”
As a subscriber of a few years, and a forever subscriber…continued kudos to all of you for your great articles. The best one EVER written is in the Jan/Feb edition by Jackie Clay (my hero) about chickens. I have read many of the popular books but the information seems more to be geared to the larger chicken producers, not the backyard farmer. Jackie’s article was clear, written for Jane Average and fun to read. It put forth my feelings about all my girls and my handsome little man. Thank you so much for such an easy to understand article. I learned a lot. It is so funny that the day we get a new issue, my husband impatiently waits for me to finish so he can have it. And if I set it down for a moment and leave the room, he grabs it. Needless to say you are very popular in our home.
EPSG a priceless bookI am a recent subscriber to your Backwoods Home Magazine and I thoroughly enjoy it. It is the only magazine that I subscribe to that I read from cover to cover. I want to thank you for putting together the wonderful Emergency Preparedness and Survival Guide (see page 88 of this issue " Editor) which I received with my subscription. This book is priceless. I’m so impressed with this book that I ordered more for family. My husband and I aren’t hard core homesteaders, just ranchers living quite a ways from the nearest town, but we’ve always had at least a 6 month supply of supplies on hand. With the world situation being so unstable, we decided that we needed to expand our supply and this book has been very helpful.
ApplauseI picked up a rival magazine at a “Borders” recently and there was an article on how to stack fire wood in it. All of the illustrations were computer generated. Very disappointing, unlike your magazine. I appreciate your authenticity and the character of your contributing writers, and look forward to every issue. Where else could I find out how to use all of the stinging nettle that grows here?
Thank you all for such a great magazine. Sometimes I think I’m all alone in my thinking but you help me realize this is not true with each issue. I’m about half way through “Stupid People.” Keep up the great work Dave.
. . . I am too old and disabled to do any of the activities your magazine describes, but it helps to bring back some very fond and vivid memories. And hopes for that shining city on a hill.
Enclosed is my first order. I can’t express how wonderful your magazine is. I found it at a magazine store called Newsbreak, Swansea, MA, near the school where I teach 8th grade English. I’ve bought hit or miss issues, but after the Sept./Oct. and Nov./Dec. issues, I’m hooked. I’m hoping to send in another order this month for the anthology special. For now, please start the new subscription with the Jan. 2008 issue"I look forward to reading the Emergency Preparedness and Survival Guide along with Backwoods Home Cooking. I live on 3 acres, have a small garden and hope to have chickens eventually. Your information is inspirational. Your magazine is a treasure.
I just wanted to say that I found your mag. by accident. Maybe Divine intervention, who knows. I love it. It’s exactly what I’ve been looking for. (Answers!)
“Starting the hurricane”Your “Starting the Hurricane” article (Issue 109, Jan/Feb 2008 editorial on page 7) reminded me of “me” many years ago. I too voted for a third party person. George Wallace, then later Ross Perot. What a waste of a vote. . . . . . . I respect and agree with most of what you say but feel voting for a third party is the worst thing one can do. Yes, Bush has been a disappointment in the $$$$ department. However, he has had to deal with Sept. 11 at the start of his administration and Democrats in both houses now. . . . . . . I am 64 and thanks to the U.S. Navy and an aircraft carrier, I got to see a large part of the world. The USA is still as good as it gets for free people. But keep showing those who do not pay attention what is happening. You are a writer so keep telling it as you see it. I will keep reading, even when I don’t totally agree. This country is too precious to just sit and do nothing.
I was a bit surprised, and disheartened, to see you state in your “My view” column in Issue 109 that you would not be supporting either the Democrat or Republican candidate for President. While I would normally agree with you, this election is different in that there is a real choice on the ballot, Dr. Ron Paul. I first learned about Congressman Paul in your magazine, so I find it somewhat surprising that, after having expressed support for Dr. Paul in the past, you suddenly have chosen to ignore him when he actually has a chance of taking the nomination on the Republican ticket. I, and several hundred thousand other grassroot supporters are working our fingers to the bone"independent of the official campaign"to make a Ron Paul presidency a reality. We’ve broken both the one-day online donation total in U.S. election history, then came back a month later and took the overall one-day fundraising total record. We’ve raised money to fly a blimp around the country, take out full-page ads in national newspapers, and have staged massive rallies on a moment’s notice. We’ve remained vigilant against smear campaigns in the mainstream media, and we’ve been more than happy to correct those who spread misinformation. There are plenty of folks who oppose us. People who leap at every opportunity to undermine our hard work, and vehemently oppose a strict Constitutionalist like Dr. Paul in the White House. So we certainly don’t need one of our own"you"doing the same thing. If you hadn’t written about Dr. Paul some time ago, I would have eventually learned about Dr. Paul and his message of freedom, peace, and prosperity. Yet, I would likely have been deprived of the experience of being actively involved in a new freedom movement"American Revolution 2.0, if you will. You are doing your readers a great disservice by advocating a refusal to vote at a time when we have the opportunity to make a drastic change in the direction of our nation.
Enjoyed your editorial in the recent issue. It’s gratifying to know that others like you have joined the rest of us who have been spitting in the wind of the American political scene for years. I have never registered with the Demopublicans in my 40 years of voting and always voted for the man, not the party, in spite of the pessimists who told me I was throwing my vote away. We can only hope that this hurricane will wash away the corruption in our government and bring us back to the aspirations of our Founding Fathers. Because, if it doesn’t, the rising discontent amongst us will most likely ignite another American revolution.
Hot bidding on eBayHi – don’t need to order anthologies"because I’ve purchased every one of your old magazines off eBay. There was some hot & furious bidding on some"you’re pretty popular!
What is a Libertarian?I enjoyed meeting you at Custer, Wisconsin this past summer at the Energy Fair. My friends are curious about my Tee-shirt. I also enjoyed your “Stupid People” book and I am ordering two more to give as Christmas Gifts. . . . . . . Could you recommend books to read regarding what it means to be “Libertarian?” . . . Keep up the good work"I really appreciate you and the information that comes from your corner of the world.
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