Patriot Express Newsletter Edition #78

Fellow Patriots,

Welcome to the Patriot Express Newsletter (PENL) Edition #78. We appreciate you stopping by to check out the newsletter. What a week we just finished on the road. It's always an honor to spend time out with fellow Patriots building Preparedness plans and bonding. Our great nation is filled with so many honorable Patriots who love this great land we call home. I'm so blessed to know these wonderful Americans. So grab something good to drink and much on and kick back for a few minutes to read this weeks PENL.

If you are a guest or newcomer to the HFS journey, please check out this link for additional information offered through HFS. https://www.hopeforsurvival.com/post/guest-and-newcomers-information-page I have removed the weekly newcomer information and guest guide and the link takes you to an article I just posted for all this information to welcome and help you take advantage of all the HFS information and material provided. I have added this feature to allow PENL regular readers less script to wake through weekly and it shortens the overall PENL product several pages of text.

Thursday Zoom Rallies – HFS continues the Thursday HFS Zoom Virtual rallies weekly. We completed week 26 with a great Zoom meeting. This week we covered the news, continued work on a project I had set up for the Waynesville Rally but ran out of time. That being, building a checklist of top 10 preparedness items and then identifying the top 10 items, per category, as a group. Then we watched a short video on radio communications and different aspects of it. We closed with the best part which is the weekly "chatter about what matters" to the participants. I love spending time with my Patriot family in the zoom rally.

If you have interest in attending a Thursday evening “Hope for Survival” Zoom virtual rally event please email me at preparedness101@protonmail.com to get on the distribution list for attendance information. This is a great group and platform to learn and build friendships. The virtual conference room access information will not be posted in open on the website for OPSEC reasons.

Special Training Event - Hope for Survival will be on the road providing on site preparedness training October 25, 2020 in Calhoun, Georgia. The training starts at 8 am through 5 pm. Lunch will be provided on site. The training will consist of Risk Analysis and Management, Family Communication Planning, Preparedness 101 (self) and 102.(team). This training is indoors. If you are interested and would like to attend this training please send me an email and I will connect you with the host of this event.

Moving along …

We must make this brief public announcement to protect the innocent.

Ding, Ding, Ding...."Attention HFS readers..... Opinions shared in this newsletter are just that, opinions, and nothing more. Read at your own risk. The owner and author of this site are not responsible for hurt feelings or thin-skinned readers. I do my best to show restraint and respect to the best extent possible. I take as many precautions as possible and try to remain as nonpolitical as possible, however, there are times when I just can't help but point certain things out. Sometimes we must pull up our spenders and suck it up. Just saying. Stay the course, read what you want, and avoid the rest. Avoid fear porn as much as possible and the day will be okay.) When all else fails… Keep the faith and always have Hope."

Let’s move along and get to some thoughts...

Thoughts for the week –

The trip south was busy last week. A full slate of things got accomplished in North Georgia supporting a fellow Patriot family. They are moving full speed ahead. I'm very proud of this family for their constant efforts over the past months to get their plans in place and continue building upon them. While I was teaching "canning" chicken to one group, Festus arrived early and taught a handgun safety then assisted a few folks by instructing a basic handgun course. Things went well and the atmosphere was perfect for the training. A great job goes out to Festus. One of the nice things about doing these onsite preparedness training opportunities is it allows everyone the chance to learn. Especially on specific types of handguns and types of ammo. In two specific events we have learned of certain calibers of handguns not firing certain types of ammunition sold for the specific caliber and model of firearm. Oddly, both times it involved the .380. One being a Ruger and the other being a Smith and Wesson, Shield. Without further examination on site we do believe the problem to be the type of ammo.

Next....

After a few days in North Georgia we moved over to Waynesville, NC on Saturday for a Hope for Survival Rally for the folks who participated in the Zoom group the past 25 weeks. It was an amazing time together. Having about six hours with fellow Patriot sisters and brothers was awesome. I don't think it gets any better. Ms. Lucy and Festus also made the trip to hang out and mingle with those who could travel and participate for the afternoon.

Roughly 38 to 40 Patriots traveled from seven states to spend time together, face to face, enjoying the bonding that took place over the summer. Hope for Survival wishes to thank each and everyone of the attendees for their time and effort to make this happen. I do believe a lot of of great things will continue to happen for this group in the weeks and months ahead. Networking will do great things in team building and connecting with others from the same locality. I'm really proud of this group of Patriots for their commitment over the summer, week after week, to participate in the HFS Zoom virtual training and group discussions on preparedness. So many different topics got covered during this period. Medicinal plants, essential oils, essential animals to have, leadership, Bug Out Bags, Bugging Out, food preparations, team building, Intelligence planning, communications, and other topics. If we only had a single location on a large plot of land. You all should be very proud of the time you invested and steps accomplished. I am personally proud of each and everyone one of you.

We couldn't get our two Patriot brothers to sing for the entertainment but we certainly had a lot of laughs in the process. Thanks to everyone for a great day of bonding.

Next...

Late this summer many folks who canned their garden treasures started running out of canning lids and jar rings. Shelves emptied fast, which isn't so abnormal for this time of year. The issue was the resupply of resources. I, personally, keep a resupply in my inventory as part of my "one is none, two is one, and three is better" philosophy. In general folks could not find more or just replacement lids or rings.

So, a few of us turned to Ol' faithful, Amazon.com to check on supplies and reorder if available and affordable. Available, yes. Affordable, yes. Order placed and now just wait on the delivery. What is normally a fairly quick turn around, I noticed the shipment to delivered date lagging behind the normal time line. Hmmm. In the meantime, I was in Waynesville, N.C. and spoke with Ms. Jan at Carolina Readiness Supply on this topic. She shared a warning that had been passed off to her about the Ball products coming from Amazon being made and shipped from China. Not good.

Another Patriot friend ordered the same product the day I ordered mine, so I was curious to what he received in the shipment. I was in North Georgia recently and he showed me his shipment. All was good. Official Ball lids and rings. That made me feel fairly confident all would be good. Silly me. I arrived back to East TN from the four day trip and found my packages from Amazon delivered. I was being cautious to monitor for Ms. Jan's warning and I'm thankful for it.

Check this out. Compare a real Ball lid box and lid to the Chinese version of the same.

Notice the lid on the right to be good. Original. Wide mouth Ball lid. Now look at the box on the left. It also says wide mouth, but is a normal small mouth lid. Also notice the lid on the left is not marked. Additionally, the lid on the left does not have the center popper to indicate the jar sealed. Lastly, notice how damaged the box on the left is. These are Chinese boot leg lids sold as legitimate Ball lids. Be careful fellow Patriots. Next thing you know we will have fake men posing as politicians.

Update: Since drafting this topic in the PENL earlier in the week I have been notified by several other Patriots encountering the same problem ordering Ball jars and lids. The orders came from both Amazon and directly from the Ball company. I would be careful to checking around your local area and if you can't touch it and see it, don't buy it.

Next...

I often tell folks regardless of socio-economic status, it is possible to build a food plan both short and long term. This past week, I went out shopping to one of my favorite stores, the Dollar Store and stocked up on products. I then went by Lowes and grabbed a few good grade buckets to store packed Mylar bagged dry foods in to then store in labeled buckets. I spent part of today splitting out my products in to the Mylar bags and getting t