Patriot Express News Letter Edition #18

Fellow Patriots,

Good morning, all you happy Patriots. A blessed Saturday to you. Ms. Lucy and I wish you the best of weekends. I hope you are also helping one person at a time equally. Even though the news changes, our focus and preparedness efforts should remain the same. Constant. We learn, prepare, communicate and share. Keep charging.

With that said... Let's get moving...

In House Laundry -

Just a few items to hit before moving ahead...

Please continue bringing new readers aboard the Patriot Express. We must continue our best efforts to bring more minds and souls from the dark side. One prepared soul is one better than when we started, right?

If you or your Patriot friends need a copy of Hope For Survival please guide them to the website where they can purchase a copy and the book will be mailed to them the following day.

Okay, enough of that...

Let's move ahead...

(The author and blog site are not responsible for your chuckles and laughs out loud while reading "Thoughts for the Week." Read at your own risk and remember, avoid fear porn and keep one foot grounded. Take what you want and leave the rest behind.) When life struggles seem to weigh you down and you feel you can't carry the load, look up. He will never give us more than we can handle.

Thoughts for the Week -

Life remains good here in northern Alabama. It has been extremely hot and humid with evening storms. But the weather is to be expected for this time of year in the south. You know what I'm talking about because most of you are in the south. There is something about living in the south that is special. No offense to those of you outside the south. I would like to say it's the pace of life or maybe the trust between people where a hand shake is a deal, in most cases. Ms Lucy and I grew up in West Virginia so the south is not a lot different, but enough to be noticeable. Many would say it's the sweet tea and pecan pie. Any hoot, we have enjoyed life here the past 12 years. Why on earth am I telling you this? If you, or anyone you know, is looking for a new life, new employment, or just a change, Huntsville, AL is booming. The cost of living here is fantastic and wages are solid. It is a nice place for a young family to start a life.

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Thanks for the emails and communication this week. I start my day around 4-4:15 AM during the week and I enjoy reading your emails to start the day. Patriot brothers and sisters surviving in this great country doing like-minded things. One may be starting a new project and another encountering problems on a past project and now problem solving to fix it. Another Patriot brother and his Patriot wife are crushing it in their preparedness steps to be self-reliant. Since HLS back in April this young man has completed numerous plans and built his resources up quickly. He turned off the radio to the outside world and listens to Podcast while mobile. He has also read 15 books. You my Patriot brother are crushing it. Keep charging. I like to point these things out to others because it is very easy to become complacent in day to day Preparedness. Pace yourself and go forward based on your plans. Once it becomes a routine, it becomes a way of life. Once you live outside the box, life is very different. Keep a good balance though. One of our Patriot sisters opens her emails with words of wisdom she has learned in life and then tells me a story about something happening today that relates to the words of wisdom. Keep the emails flowing and thanks for staying in touch.

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One of the things I enjoy (don't laugh) is canning. I don't know if it's the process or the enjoyment of knowing we are putting back a source of food and protein for our food plan. Ms Lucy recently pulled a pint of 2014 canned beef tips and it was fantastic. So a couple of nights ago I got home from work and pulled some fresh chicken we had recently picked up and prepped and canned it. One evening, ten pints of chicken completed, and the positive of it is, I know we now have at least 15 to 20 meals with protein. An investment of about three hours and the result is more meals added to the plan. A week or two ago we canned more beef. So two evenings invested, and basically a month of protein. It is an easy process and now it ensures your resources remains safe when the electricity goes out. It is also nice because we have quality protein available and it's not pre-packaged protein saturated in sodium for safe keeping.

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Ms.. Lucy and I will be hitting the road on Friday evening headed home to east TN for one night and hope to arrive in time to attend a fish fry being hosted by a Patriot family in our neighborhood. Fantastic friends and great grill masters. We look forward to our time together and to meet some other folks attending the event from our TN Church family. On Saturday morning we will hit the road early and head down to Northern GA to meet up with some of our Patriot friends to spend the day and evening sharing thoughts and growing and bonding. We hope to cross paths with another Patriot family in the area so we can spend a few hours together chatting and sharing information and discuss some projects. It will be a busy weekend for sure. But we can't grow if we don't invest time and knowledge with other like-minded Patriots, as well as converted minds growing to the Patriot beliefs. Sometimes we just need to change the curtains to let the light shine brighter to see things for what they are. Amen to that. Sometimes I think Ms. Lucy thinks I need to open or change my curtains. LOL. Have you ever had a brain lock where your brain is so tired you can't think? (Shake your heads yes). So, the other day I was in brain overload mode and I turned and asked her "what year it is" and I got the strangest look from her. She said "are you for real" and I looked around to see if maybe a mouse asked the question. I couldn't retract it so I was standing in the batter's box hearing the umpire yell "strike 3...you're out of here." I felt pretty little at that moment...and I still couldn't remember the year. I am thankful and appreciative to Ms. Lucy for her help and for keeping me on the tracks when I sometimes seem to start derailing.

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I had a great discussion with a Huntsville Patriot on the topic of the article I posted earlier this week on Urban Riots. A great chat took place on being outside the box and continually recognizing threats and changes to the environment. How to adjust on the fly while you are putting distance and separation between yourself and the threat. Remember, all threats may not be stationery and they may be in multiple locations and moving while you try to move and adjust.

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One of our Patriot sisters in Huntsville who is also a business owner took steps recently to bring a professional with a great resume in to her business to conduct an assessment and offer suggestions to her and her employees on further hardening the business location as well as personal advice on self-protection. She is very prepared and self capable to defend herself so to continue making efforts to improve and cross-check her plans is fantastic. Risk Analysis and Vulnerability Identification and Mitigation. I have known this great Patriot for several years now and I'm proud of her for continuing her steps. In the world live today, there is really no safe place remaining where one can let their guard down. Good job, ma'am. Always here to support you.

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I owe a big shout out to my ol buddy Festus. My plate has been and is really full these days with multiple things being worked. Now I have no complaints because these are things I have agreed to do or started on my own. No complaints. He was already doing much of the research and analysis in the background on his own and sharing it with me to cross-check with my own information. Festus has been working overtime providing additional research to me and I appreciate it very much. His plate is full as well. Maybe blueberry season is over now. Thank you, sir.

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So what else has been on my mind this week. Do you have about a month to hear my thoughts? LOL Really, I don't talk that much to fill a week. However.... I don't mind sharing my thoughts in the newsletter. Can't you tell? Thanks for reading along.

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I want to discuss something here and try my best to clear something up. Anyone who knows me would tell you I am a straight shooter and will tell you what is on my mind, if you ask. I do not try or purposely attempt to demean or hurt other people.

I offended a reader this week by my article titled " Once a Democrat, Now a Patriot" and my reference to the title again in a group email. The title was specific to the author of the story. I have clearly stated on numerous occasions I believe both the Democrats and Republicans are failing the American people who believe in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and freedom of religion. The person I offended took my title to mean I don't believe a Democrat can be a Patriot. We all bleed red. Regardless of our skin color, political party of choice, believer or not, male, female, young or old, the choice to be a Patriot is a personal choice. Just like on a battle field where we stand in the same uniform fighting and dying for our country, all walks of life have defended and died for the cause of freedom. I If say "the Democratic Party supports abortion and you are a Democrat who does not support abortion, does that mean I should never point out the Democrats for their support to kill babies? I vote mostly Republican but I am a Conservative first. The Republicans spend like drunk Sailors and they are running up the Federal debt. Should a Democrat not point this out regardless of my political identity? I would probably agree with the Democrat. Lastly, I always remark to avoid fear porn, keep a foot grounded and take what you want and leave the rest. I promise, I do not come here and spend 25 to 30 hours per week to focus on making another mad or unhappy. Okay, enough of this topic I hope.

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I have commented many times previously about the problems in America's inner cities. I never really knew much about the problems or paid it much mind while growing up in WV. We grew up poor and I really didn't notice until I was old enough. During my Air Force career I had a tour of duty just outside St Louis, MO and lived about 20 miles east of the city in Illinois. It was then I started to learn about East St Louis. When the city decided to pass gambling laws and then place a casino on the river it was decided East St Louis would be the location. You could visit the Casino boat and look across the river to downtown St Louis. In order to have the casino, East St Louis had to be cleaned up. This meant forcing many of the poor out of the city to another location. My subdivision had four apartment buildings on the border of the neighborhood that was turned in to Section 8 housing. Guess who inherited the problem? This is when I started to pay attention. Money that wasn't previously invested in East St Louis was now flowing in quickly. More police officers, many local business owners received tax incentives to clean up the cosmetics of their store fr