Attending a Gun Show

      

Both our own, and the guns for sale, are well secured.

 



        Welcome to the large numbers of visitors to this blog that have been logging on from Ukraine, Turkey,  and also from Sweden !     Thank you for reading, and best wishes to all of you.  I hope that the information in this blog contributes positively to your preparedness levels.   




           I spent a couple of days last weekend at a gun show.  It was an excellent and interesting experience from a number of standpoints.   Yes, there were sellers of both used and new handguns and rifles. They are required to run an instant background and criminal check in this state, just as they would if I had been interested in buying one of the firearms at a conventional gun shop.  There were also several police officers walking around, as visitors on entering the building must remove their ammo from their weapons, and have a temporary plastic tie placed through their weapon in order to prevent any unexpected discharges while showing their weapon during the event.   It was  great to see so many accessories, such as magazines for rifles and semi-automatic handguns, rails for weapons, scopes, and every conceivable type of holster known to man.  Magazines for semi-automatic handguns do age and do malfunction on occasion, and so it is smart and necessary to have plenty of spare magazines for any weapon you own. You never really know if in the future, that particular type will be hard to locate. Gun shows are great places to pick up lots of magazines, and often, they will be very fair prices.

            One place with an awful lot of stock was:

     Quantico Tactical



                         There were also a number of tables of a variety of Pro Second Amendment organizations.  The NRA is not the only horse in the shed now. Some of these groups are more conservative than the NRA and report that they are continuing to see proposed legislation on the state level that continues to infringe upon the legal right to bear arms (if of course, you are not a  person being treated for a mental illness or a former felon.)  On such organization that was quite impressive was

                The National Association of Gun Rights
                        

                 This year, a number of people whose products fall squarely into the preparedness and survivalism category came to the show.   One couple was selling custom "concealment" furniture.  It was gorgeous furniture with a hidden compartment for either a shotgun or for a handgun.  The work was stellar, and unless you knew the trick to opening the compartment, there was no way in which you were finding it. It is made by Amish craftsmen in Ohio.

              Secret Compartment Furniture

 

Anyone would be proud to have this quality furniture in their home.

 
                
                There were several sellers who sold excellent preparedness medical supplies, fairly reasonably.   Israeli dressings, complete new first aid kits for expeditions, and some EMT supplies were abundant.      There were several vendors selling #10 cans of freeze dried food,  MREs and a variety of other emergency foods.   I love it when the sellers rehydrate and cook their hot foods and them provide samples a la Sam's Club.   I tasted some freeze dried reconstituted barbecued chicken which I thought would likely be horrible, but it was excellent. The chicken was tender and the barbecue sauce was mild.  I also learned through sampling, that Legacy brand freeze dried banana really does taste like banana.  Often, dehydrated or other brands of freeze dried banana are hard and unpleasant and we worry about sugar being added or breaking a tooth.  The Legacy brand was simply bananas, with the slightly crunchy consistency of a marshmallow found in a box of Lucky Charms cereal.   Of course they sold out of that wonderful canned bacon, by Yoders.  With some skill and the correct paper, you really could can your own lean bacon, but I really do love the Yoders.  Our family has had BLTs through power outages during hurricanes, cooked on the gas grill thanks to them.

        One good source for medical supplies for preparedness who attended was:

     The Source Inc.                   Emergency, Medical, Survival Supplies
       434-929-2520



               There was another couple selling beef jerky and jerky with cheese inside that they make themselves and sell online.   I sampled some of their product, and it was delicious.

                There were many sellers of signs and bumper "snickers"   I liked the signs which said

               There was also a couple of book sellers who had a fair number of preparedness books for sale.  He had a couple of copies of my friend Jim Cobb's first preparedness book.    If you have a chance to attend a regional gun show, preparedness expo, etc.  take the drive and spend the time.  I came away with a number of great business cards and some new ideas.

There is also an intangible benefit to attending a gun show.  Sometimes a spouse who was lukewarm about spending money on preparedness, will go to a gun show and will see the large numbers of vendors who are concerned with preparedness, and this will inspire them. Sometimes, seeing so many businesses devoted to different aspects of preparedness and home defense helps them to see that many, many intelligent people are concerned about being, and staying prepared.   
If you get a chance to attend such an event, please try.   It was a very interesting weekend.



 Other great suppliers where I spent time:

              Remora Holsters

The company selling these at the show was Hillman Sales     hillmansales@gmail.com

 and





      Bullseye Holsters        Leather, kydex and hybrid

         




SurvivalFoodPlan.com          and   info@survivalfoodplan.com

This was the man with the Legacy bananas, and other tasty samples.   This food was excellent.

 Greg and Barb Smith
 1.800.406-7040                      Chesapeake, VA     also   757-389-8691

 They specialize in quality long term storage foods
                                                _________________________

  Ash Tactical

Armor,  Gun Accessories, Kydex Holsters, Survival Products, and Class 7 Firearms Manufacture

  www.ashtactical.com

Store address: 4733 Jefferson David Highway, Fredericksburg, VA 22408    540-860-0274

Sales@ashtactical.com

                                               __________________________

    Strong's Camera Services

 This company has a drone which can take fantastic pictures of your farm for video or brochure purposes which can be very useful when it's time to sell.

They do new system design, installation, repair, upgrades, integration for video monitoring of your property or store.  They specialize in offsite viewing, phones, laptops, computers and Ipads integrated into your security.

Owner:  Jeff Strong         804-539-0101     jeffbstrong05@gmail.com

 7436 Southwind Drive, Chesterfield, VA 23832

                                             ___________________________

  Patriot Services, Inc.

     Purchase and liquidation of estates, firearms, military items, fast free appraisals, small and large quantities.

 Jim Jarrett    804-272-6748    patriotservices@comcast.net

8949 Brucewood Drive, North Chesterfield, VA, 23235

                                           _____________________________

 And this I will mention because the quality was superb.

This seller manufactures custom vehicle emblems primarily for military and former military.

USCG,  USAF,  NAVY,  ARMY,  USMA,  USMC  ,          540-582-2227
 and Firefighter


CarCoolEmblems.com


                                     _____________________________

Another Look at Emergency Freeze Dried Food Stores for Diabetics

          

You can buy this book, and others on amazon. com or on www.half.com  Keep in mind that you should always have hard copies of recipe books for emergencies, and not exclusively internet or kindle editions.

    Pre-packaged food stores, many of which are freeze dried, often have an abundance of carbohydrates, calories and often entirely too much salt.   MREs and camping foods were originally constructed for soldiers and hiking campers where 2800 calories a day or more and abundant carbohydrates were really important to fueling the kind of activity that was necessary.  Abundant salt was added not only to enhance palatability but to prevent too much water loss through perspiration.

               However, when we are talking about stockpiling freeze dried emergency foods for families, or for family members who are women, or for someone who is Type I or Type II diabetic, then excessive carbohydrate is pre-packaged packets is unwise, and we might need to consider other freeze dried alternatives.  (Keep in mind that Type I autoimmune/juvenile diabetes mellitus is a different illness than Type II diabetes mellitus. However both have the same "rash" in terms of glucose regulation difficulties. Although the control strategies for each do differ, there are commonalities in that the regulation of carbohydrate intake needs to be organized,  planned and mindful.)

               For example, if you, a non-diabetic or active male, are looking for high calorie food, then look to

             Expedition Foods  which sells a macaroni and cheese freeze dried, reconstituted with water, entree which is 800 plus calories per serving.

              However, if you have a family member who must conserve carbohydrates and perhaps enhance protein and vegetables as in diabetics, then perhaps your best bet is not to purchase much of the pre-made entree ready meals, and do what I do.

 

Most of the time our chickens keep us blessed with plenty of eggs. However, there are times when whole eggs which are freeze dried can be very useful.

               I purchase #10 (industrial cans) of Augason Farms freeze dried food which has the calorie counts and grams of protein etc. for each measured serving clearly on the can. This way I can custom construct exactly what my diabetic daughter needs even in emergencies.   I can reconstitute chicken, beef, potatoes, vegetables and a variety of fruits and provide exactly the correct diet for her fairly easily.  The freeze dried eggs work well and one can make a crustless quiche which works well.  There are recipes on the Augason Farm website which you can make using their broad range of meats, vegetables, potatoes, rice, and grains, etc.    She can also eat servings of the prepared entrees, but we often need to provide only 3/4 of the adult serving.

              Another important strategy is to buy a modern diabetic cookbook which has the calorie counts broken down for each serving, and then to substitute the plain Augason Farms freeze dried origin foods (reconstituted)  

             Remember if you have diabetic family members after planning their basic meals,  to stock nice-to-haves like sugarless chocolate, vanilla, butterscotch, and cheesecake flavored puddings.  These are not freeze dried but will last a couple of years in a clean dry cabinet.  There are some excellent and very low calorie and carbohydrate controlled hot chocolate mixes.  In addition, stock some freeze dried fruits ( I use the large cans Augason farm strawberries or apples)  These can be reconstituted as fruit or measured out so you know how many carbs and calories you are ingesting, and eaten as a snack. If you are even moderately creative, you can provide interesting meals with variety which do fit within the confines of even a restricted weight reduction diabetic diet. It's certainly possible to structure interesting meals for diabetics without a need for weight reduction.

           
           In addition to stocking certain emergency freeze dried foods for diabetics, it is important to make use of growing your own sprouts and growing some lettuces when possible in anything from a window or porch garden, where you can not only attend to these items and water them often, but where you can harvest from them, often daily.  (The easier your access is, the more likely you will use them in your daily diet.)

          If you do grow  kiwi, blueberries, blackberries, apples, tomatoes etc., make sure that you use this when fresh especially in diabetic diets, and find some ways to save this bounty for later in the year through either canning or dehydratiing these yourself.


These are some interesting recipes which can be used for diabetics:

Vegan cheese

Gluten free vegan cookies



These are some of our earlier posts which are beneficial in providing emergency food for diabetics:

http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2011/12/growing-sprouts-at-home.html


This is an earlier post on exactly this subject:

http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2013/07/assembling-freeze-dried-and-emergency.html


Other Rational Preparedness posts on the subject of preparedness which may well be of interest to
diabetics:

http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2011/10/for-type-i-diabetics-and-amended-for.html

http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2012/01/updated-information-on-diabetic-ecase.html

http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2014/03/strategies-to-keeping-clean-and.html


These  are also  interesting links:

State of N.J. Disaster Preparedness Pages for Diabetics

Diabetic diet plans for 1200, 1500, or 1800 calories