Not sure where it really comes from, but the site says “Made in the USA”.

Front opening and rear flap, What better to keep the majority of your body warm while awoken on a frigid winter night?

Probably great for hunting and ice fishing too.

JCPenney($30-$40)

Enjoy and Happy new year.

I was looking around for something to store my magazines (Mainly GrassRootsMotosports). I ran across these magazine racks Made in the USA of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Certified wood.

FSC wood comes from responsibly managed forests.

InModern makes a few other styles  of their magazine rack

I had an “incident” this year that could have resulted in my house burning down. It was a windy day, a dumpster near my home had caught on fire and it spread into my yard and was licking at my home. I only had to replace siding. I was very lucky.

It was time to protect some of my necessary items with a fire proof safe.

In looking around for a safe I really only had one criteria. Save my stuff inside if it’s in a fire. I had looked at Honeywell safes. They were less expensive, but they didn’t have the right wording on the box(Made in xxxxx, and no “FireProof” wording until you get to $80-100). I’m sure they are fine safes, Just not a Fire-Safe in my price range.  I needed to make sure I was getting something that would survive a house fire. Anything else would be pretty much useless.

I ran across this on Sentry Safe’s Blog. It’s an independent test of a Sentry safe and Honeywell safe.

If you are still skeptical, Here is a CNN video.

SentrySafe is Family owned and Operated by the Brush Family out of new york.

I ended up going with the KS2100. It had the right price(under $50), right size, Waterproof seal, and Fire protection for up to an hour for documents and Media.

After opening it, I filled it up with as much gold as would fit (I wish) and started messing around with the lock and lid. I wanted to make sure I could get my documents out once in.  There was a minor problem with the latch on the lid, it was catching on something and not allowing the lid to latch properly. It must have been stuck from the factory or in shipping.  Once I tried it a few more times the latch began functioning properly, so it was only a minor glitch. I have opened and closed it multiple times now without issue.

Best part is, aside from it being made in the US, if you do have a fire they replace your safe for free.

My PSA: If you get anything bigger than the kr2100, Have someone help you lift it. These things are not lite.
SentrySafe on Amazon
SentrySafe website

I recently began geocaching. It’s a lot of fun, keeps me out of the house, and I’ve been places I’d never have seen without it.

To do geocaching, you just need a GPS device and a coordinate. The GPS device I started with was my cell phone but I wanted something durable that I didn’t need to worry about dropping. My phone wouldn’t survive a drop from 4 feet, The Apisphere Geomate.jr sure will.

Over 250,000 caches, 2 aaa batteries last 12-hours. The accuracy is as good (if not better than), my phone. The build quality of the Geomate Jr is impressive. Simple, shock resistant, and very smooth. Best of all, Made in the USA.

Happy Geocaching.

Finally!! I’ve been searching all summer, maybe longer, for a Maul Made in the USA.

Council tool, a 123 year old company manufacturing out of Lake Waccamaw North Carolina, makes a huge selection of axes.

Take a look at this beauty. General purpose, RC 45-55, Natural steel finish. I need one of these for my truck.

Not to mention the rest of the stuff they make:

• Brush Clearing Tools
• Clamping Products
• Forcible Entry Tools
• Forged Bars
• Municipal Firefighting Tools
• Picks/Mattocks/Gardening Tools
• Sledge Hammers
• Tradesmen Hammers
• Wildland Firefighting Tools

Get ready for splitting wood for your fireplace or stove. It’s going to be a cold one this year.

My take on the Cash for Clunkers program is that anything assembled in the US should get the rebate.  Anything else should get minimal funding, maybe 50%.  Though, I must say, I think it’s doing a pretty good job at that already. 7 of the top 10 are assembled here. I have no clue on where the parts are coming from. I’d assume most everything is globally supplied at this point.

Autos made in the USA Has a list of where most of the cars are manufactured.

The Top 5 selling cars backed by CforC:

1. Ford Focus – Wayne, MI
2. Toyota Corolla – Fremont, Calif.
3. Honda Civic – Greensburg, Ind.
4. Toyota Prius -  Currently built in Japan and China, Soon to be Fremont, California due to it’s popularity.
5. Toyota Camry  – Georgetown, Ky.; Lafayette, Ind.
6. Ford Escape – Clayco, MO
7. Hyundai Elantra – ???
8. Dodge Caliber – Belvidere, IL
9. Honda Fit -  ???
10. Chevy Cobalt – Lordstown, Ohio

Now I guess we need to find out where that 1bil is coming from.

It seems there are always options out there. I was buying some fishing tackle this weekend at one of those giant outdoor shops. They had an amazing selection of everything. For example, fishing hooks primarily were made elsewhere.  I happened across some, for the same price, Made in the USA. Bobbers were another example. There were all kinds made in the US, and at very competitive prices (even cheaper than foreign made stuff in some cases).

I am a big stickler for quality. I generally will put Quality over Origin. But 9 out of 10 times I’ve found the USA made products wins in that category, anyway.

∞That’s your mission if you choose to accept it. Let us know what you bought instead of something else.

Leather-Bound National Parks Atlas.

Col. Littleton Personalized IPhone Holder and Notepad.

I actually hit a couple this past weekend. Renyolds Roadhouse is by far my favorite eating establishment. They have the best breakfasts, coffee, people watching, and friendly staff(Not to mention their burgers. wow).

Enjoy.