I come from a long line of what folks now call Prep'ers... Going back five Generations, or longer.... When my mother decided to marry, she looked for a Self-Made Fellow, that put himself thru College, by working nights, and weekends, doing anything he could find. He courted her, but had little money, to spend, but she didn't look for his money, but for his prospects as a man.... She graduated before he did, as a Degreed RN, and took a Job as a Public Health Nurse, in Seattle, Wa... When he graduated, with a degree in Banking, he went to work as a Teller, in the local Bank, in Snoqualamy, Wa... They dated long distance, for two years, and saved their money and resources, until the Day of their Marriage. Mother insisted that they ALWAYS put away something every PayCheck, toward the Preps... During WWII, Dad worked for the FDIC, as an Auditor, and after the War, the GIs came back, and got their Jobs back, so he was laid off. They did just fine, with two small childern, as they had enough Preps to hold them over, until an opportunity came along, for him to be the Chief Operating Officer, for a new Federal Bank, in West Seattle, Wa.... After I came along, they had rebuilt their Preps, and saved up enough, to build a house. My Dad was his own Contractor, and designed the House, and built it to his Specs, including a "Bomb Shelter" Pantery in the basement that was cast with 10" Thick walls, and a 12" Roof that doubled as the front porch of the house. The Cement Guy asked him what it was for, and all he said was, " My Wife wants a Pantry/Root Cellar..." This was in 1947.... When he had the Brick Masons build the chimney For the house, he had them install four flues... One for the Main Floor Living Room Fireplace, one for the unfinished Basement FirePlace, one for the Diesel Central Heating Furnace, and the last one for the Sears Wood Burning Cookstove, which they bought when they paid off the Mortgage on the house, with his part of the Profits, when the Bank was sold, to a Big Regional Bank in 1949... It was never installed, but sat in the create in our Basement, along with all the other Preps, like the Civil Defense Cases of canned Water, he scorred when the FEDs decommissioned the Civil Defense Shelters in the late '50s... He scored some Navy Surplus 40USG Rectangular Galvized Water Cans.. we packed one with What is now a Bugout Container... (Knife, Hatchet, Cord, Matches, and a bunch of other Preps that I do not recall. I still have that Can in my Preps, along with a few more with Wheat, Rice, Powdered Milk in Vacumn Packed Sealed Bags, Pasta in Nitogen Flooded Sealed Bags, etc... We take out a bag of each once a year and have a PREP'er Food Weekend, to check the viability of the LONGTERM Preps...It will keep you alive, if not well fed..... Part of my Wedding Present from my Folks, when I married, was my share of these Family Preps... and when my Folks sold the House, I got the Woodstove, still in the crate.. along with 1/4 of the CD Canned Water... When we moved to Alaska, permanently, in '91, it came North in the Conex with all the rest of our Goods & Preps.... As each of the children, married we gave them their share of the Family Preps, so they had a good start, from the beginning... During the winters, my Dad liked his Fireplace Fires, on Saturday evenings, and Sundays, so we always had a cord of firewood, cut in rounds, out back, and all us kids learned to split the rounds for the Fireplaces... we enjoyed Car Camping as a Family, each summer, and we had a complete Camping outfit, that got packed into his Homemade CarTop Carrier, for these trips... (Tent, Colman Stove & Lantern, Family Cooking Kit, Sleeping Bags, Rifle, Ammo, etc). So that is the story of the Sears Wood CookStove in the crate, and the traditions of the Family Gordon....
And yet today, your father would be viewed with both suspicion and distrust..... How far, as a Nation, we have fallen.
The it be, with the Trace 2624SB sitting on top.... This was taken in 2003, when I was building the Kitchen Cabinets and the Inverter & Battery Bank had yet to be installed, in the back corner, on the floor, of the Kitchen Cabinet, with an access Door thru the outside Wall, so I could swap out the Inverter, or Batteries, without tearing the cabinet back apart.... It all worked out pretty slick.... We sure love the King Sized Bed.... You will notice all the AC style outlets on the walls.... One can NEVER have to many AC Outlets...
