Shopping Local and I Have Had a Tough Week

0:00The following is a Thunderbolt West media production. Shopping local and I've had one hard week. You are listening to the Living Off-Grid Power and Information Show, which Jim Calhoun. The sky was coming, the sky was on fire, it was in their eyes. It's my opinion that we should be prepared to lean on our faith and be able to step out on the sea. Just have faith in me, be sick, step out on the sea.

1:09You can walk with me. Thanks for tuning in to the Living Off-Grid Power and Information Show. I'm your host, Jim Calhoun. This show features Off-Grid topics as well as current events that may impact you and your family. I talk about Off-Grid topics such as gardening, creating your own power, home-steading and other issues related to Off-Grid Living. I also am a watchman on the wall and will report and comment on world events. I seek to educate my audience about surviving in this crazy world. I talk about everything from government corruption to chemtrails. Also, I feel that our constitutional republic is worth saving, so I never miss an opportunity to do my part in helping to save our republic. I have two main goals for this program. Number one is to help you build your faith in God.

2:12And number two is to help each listener become as self-sufficient as possible. This show originates at the Harmony Barn Studios located near Hershey, Nebraska, in the United States of America. The Living Off-Grid Power and Information Show airs on global high-frequency shortwave stations, WBCQ, Monticello Main, frequency 7.490, and WRMI, radio and Miami International, on frequency 58.50. I'm also on key radio, 89.3 FM in Osage Beach, Missouri. The show is available on demand as a podcast on speaker, Red Circle, Pod Point and Zeno FM. And my email address is livingoff-gridshow at protonmail.com. Thanks for tuning in everyone. I do appreciate it.

3:12Well, this episode is going to be detailing some things that happened to me this last week that were not good. I'm also going to tell you how the community has came together, especially some small retailers. And I really think that you need to shop small. Years ago, I walked away from all of the big box stores. And I have many reasons for that. I want to keep my local community strong. But also, there's some selfishness in it. When you deal with the owners, you're always going to get the best bargain. You're going to get the best customer service. And if there's a problem, it's going to be resolved instantly. No being on hold for hours with computers and bad elevator music. You just walk up and talk to the headman himself. And you get everything cleared up.

4:13And I'll expound on that later in the second half of the show. I want to thank everyone who's written me. I've had a disaster with my letters. And my pile got destroyed. And so there's some letters I'm not going to be able to answer on the air. I read them. I appreciate every letter. But I had a mishap here that almost destroyed the whole program. Those of you who have been through hurricanes, I can really feel for you. Just the utter sheer force of wind and rain coming in sideways in torrents is devastating. What happened here a week ago is hard to describe for Nebraska weather. But I was outside doing chores and I looked up at the sky.

5:14And the sky looked really strange from Nebraska. It didn't necessarily look like a threatening storm. It just looked very odd. Well, I finished the chores and went inside the house. And my feet were hurting. So I thought I'd lay down on the bed for a few minutes. And as soon as I settled in, wind hit. And I'm not talking about a gentle breeze. I estimated the wind at 100 miles an hour. And later it was confirmed that the winds were steady at 92 with gusts up to 20 miles an hour more than that. And that wind lasted for 20 minutes. 20 minutes of 100 mile an hour wind. And Nebraska's not built for hurricanes. I saw the trees bending over at right at right degree angles. I heard a lot of snapping and cracking. I heard a lot of breakage.

6:16But I stayed right there in my room feeling I was safe where I was at. It was raining sideways. And it was raining hard. And I thought, well, I'm just going to stay in tonight because after it got through with the wind, it continued to rain almost all night. Well, I got up in the morning to look at whatever damage my trees sustained. And a tree lamb had come down and knocked my internet. I have wireless internet and knocked my internet right off the house. And then I started seeing insulation. And I thought, what in the world? Where did that come from? Then I saw the first piece of plywood that had shingles on it. And I said, oh, no. And I walked back behind the house and over my studio, plus some damage to other rooms.

7:16Not only was the roof gone, but the ceiling was gone. My lighting fixtures were gone. I was standing in my studio when two inches of water, staring straight up into blue sky. The only thing that survived is the rafters. And then I looked at my studio. Fortunately for me, I power everything down with a power strip. And the power strip was off. So I had no ghost currents going anywhere into my computers. But my computers were literally dripping water. My guitars I had hanging on the wall, my acoustics, had two or three cups of water in each acoustic guitar. So I had to shake the guitars and drain it out the sound holes. My violins, mandalins, and electric guitars were dripping. I sustained major damage. All of my letters I had carefully laid out.

8:18As I answer them, I can't find most of the letters. But the ones I did find are down in the two inches of water. And the ink is totally illegible now. As a matter of fact, as I tried to salvage the letters, I just disintegrated in my hands. I had two electronic pianos in this room, and also one of the old-school organs that were common in living rooms back in the 1970s. I had right at 20 sound systems, stored away in this room. And it took me two days to carry things out and dry them out. Because all told I had probably half of a semi-truck load of gear, all of it extremely wet. I had about 300 albums that the album covers were in good shape, and I had quite a few collectors.

9:18Well, of course, the wind knocked them into the water. And so I had 200 albums that are totally ruined as collectors. I don't know whether they'll play right again. All of my laptops were full of water, so I just turned them upside down and let them drip. I had no idea that the wind had tore my roof off. And as I tried to sleep in the other room, my gear was getting ruined. I heard so much breakage going on that I didn't even hear my own roof coming off. So anyone who's been in a bad windstorm or hurricane or tornado knows exactly what I went through, but there was no tornado. I think that the jet stream must have came down and touched the earth. Because I've never seen winds sustained at 92 miles an hour for 20 minutes in the center of the United States with gusts well over 100 miles an hour.

10:21And I talk about the little town of Stapleton, Nebraska once in a while on this show. And Stapleton got hit extremely hard. They lost a lot of buildings and outbuildings, grain bins, trees, limbs. Stapleton got smashed. And as far as being here in my county, I'm the only one I know of that sustained such bad damage on their house. And of course, I've been busy surviving and paying medical bills and just going from one day to the next that I did not have insurance on my house. You might say, well, that's dumb. I agree. It's not the best policy at all. But if you can't afford it, you simply can't afford it. But if I had been paying for insurance for 10 or 15 or 20 years,

11:21I'd have the money to rebuild the entire roof of my house in savings. And after I tell you what is unfolding, you'll understand. But I've decided not to have anyone help me. I've had dozens of people want to rush out and help. But I can't afford the material to do the roof in one big sweep. I have to do it as I can afford it. And as I can afford it, is barely enough to keep me busy. So there's no use to anyone comes to help me because I don't have enough material for two people to even break a sweat. Yesterday, I put OSB Particle Board 716s, it's one of the most common roofing materials. And I cheated my whole roof. And so I'm actually inside my studio recording.

12:21It's not rainproof, but the rays of the sun can no longer come in and do you v-damage on anything. I've got my roof ordered, I'm going with the metal roof, and I've done many roof jobs, and so I'm up to the task. And it's going to be coming in Tuesday of next week, and that's pretty much when this show is going to be airing, it's airs on Mondays. And so by the time you hear this, I will be roofing this tomorrow. If you listen to this on Monday, because I'm going to get my material on Tuesday, and I'm going to go ahead and finish this part of the roof, the roof that's totally gone, and then I'm going to incorporate it into the existing roof to where it won't leak, and then I'm going to pay as I go and finish the rest of the house with the same metal material. And I don't know how much damage dollar-wise happened,

13:23but I do know that I'm pretty handy-fixing things, and I know I'm not going to get the record albums back, but I might be able to salvage the guitars, and the computer I'm using was dripping with water several days ago, and it's an old metal-cased XP built sometime around 2000 to 2003. And it's a good old computer, and it does me a great job. And so that's functional. And I did some research, and I have a crew come in, and patched this hole that was 30 feet by 30 feet, if you can imagine losing 30 by 30 off the top of your roof than you know what I'm going through. That the cost would have been including labor and the $20,000 range, and I'm going to be able to get it done for pennies compared to that, doing it myself.

14:25Broadcasting from the United States of America, you are listening to the Living Off-Grid Power and Information Show. Things have been really rough around here, plus I'm in the middle of planting my winter wheat, and since I pay as I go buying my wheat seeds, now I'm buying wheat seeds, fuel, and roofing material, I'm stretched really thin. And so please say a prayer for me, for me to be able to afford everything I need to get done within the next two weeks. But I do know that I'm a child of God. I do know that God watches out for me. I know He's watching over me during this ordeal, and so I'm not going to get too worried about it,

15:27because God is in control. But I'm going to kind of take today off. I have a concert I have to do tonight. And it's a three hour concert without a break, and I was up in 100 degree temperatures on the roof yesterday, most of the day, with absolutely no wind and high humidity. And so I'm pretty well-draggy today. You might hear it in my voice. So I'm just going to sit here in the fan, in the shade, inside a still very devastated studio, but at least I have it functional. Now fortunately, the letters from the last two weeks were not among the ones that got ruined. And so if you've mailed to me within the last 18 days, I possibly still have your letter that I can respond to on the air. I'm not going to respond to any letters this week.

16:28It's just been devastating here. And it hurt my financial records, because I had them all in file cases and in file cabinets, and water got everywhere. With 100 mile an hour wind and rain swirling around in this room, water got everywhere. Got inside all of my file in cabinets, and all of my papers are pretty well ruined. And I had a catalog for Harmony guitars from 1955 that I really liked that catalog, and I had it in a very safe spot in my studio. Well, yesterday walking through the front yard, and one of the pages of that beautiful catalog. And so I don't know how many pieces of paper I lost out of this room, but my tax records and my financial records all gone. And so I've got an awful lot of work I have to do both mentally and physically,

17:29and to be honest with you, I'm tired. But I will catch up. I will survive. And when I get done, I will have a brand new roof. And since I'm going back with metal, I'll never have to do this roof again as long as I live. And who knows how long that's going to be with the catastrophes that seem to follow me around lately. But I am in a positive mood. And I am very confident that I'm going to come out okay. But word got around really quick about my roof coming off. And I had several people offer me 100% funding. Not even have me sign a note, just write me a check. And these are dear friends, so I turned them down. I told them their friendship was worth more than any amount of money.

18:31And that's where friendships really start to deteriorate as when money gets involved. That said, I am going to do a fundraiser. But I'm not going to have to raise near the funds that you think I'm going to have to raise. I shop small. And several of the area business owners that I do business with found out about my roof. And Kip from Home Lumber in Hershey, Nebraska. And Kip is a wonderful man. He's going to turn 80. And he's showing signs of being 80 and he's slowing down. He did music for their float in the fall festival parade the day after my roof came off. He was very impressed that I did not cancel on him.

19:31He was very grateful. And he told me not to worry, he was going to help take care of me. And I've done business with Kip for years. And Kip is like that. He takes care of his people. And that matter of fact, I was in one day. And I heard him talking to his secretary about someone that needed to order something. That the person didn't have that much money. And Kip asked his secretary, what's the price that we normally charge on that? And she said 138. He said, well, that sounded a bit high to him. And he said, well, what's our cost? She said 75 dollars. And she said, what do you want me to do? He said, match the online price and sell it to him. And then he went on to the next customer. And he said, well, what's our cost?

20:32She said 75 dollars. And she said, what do you want me to do? And then he went on to the next customer. So the customer called up to order something. And instead of selling it to him at the regular price, Kip went online, not the customer. Kip had a secretary go online to see if he could buy it cheaper somewhere else. And whether they could match the price. And he didn't charge him shipping. And so this gentleman got his merchandise very discounted. And so Kip is a type of person. He'd rather take care of a customer than make money. You might say, well, he won't be in business long. Well, the store has been in business since 1894. And he's owned it for about 50 of those years. And so I don't think he has to worry about going out of business.

21:34But that's why I think we should chop small. Kip said, come on in Monday. And let's have a talk. So I showed up. I told Kip exactly what my plans were. He disagreed with my plan until I told him I couldn't afford to do it. The optimum way I was going to have to work around finances. And so I had to do it piecemeal instead of all at once. And once he understood that he decided I had come up with the right plan. And the first thing he mentioned was, you know, if you go to the big box store, you're likely to get really good prices. And I said, yeah, but the quality isn't there. And I know you sell quality. And I guess I want to do business with you. I don't want to go to the box store. And he shook his head. We tallied up all of the OSB particle board for the roof.

22:39And also a hammer and all the nails that I needed. Everything to get me going. And he helped me load up. We went in to settle up. And he came up with the price, which he gave me a heavily discounted price on my wood. He looked up at me and said, no charge today, Jim. You've had a hard enough time. Go home and fix your house. And I just about fainted. He gave me $400 worth of merchandise. For free. Go get your roof covered up. And then today I went in to verify my metal order. And the original company we ordered from back ordered. And I wasn't going to get my roof to the end of September. I said, oh, no, no, not that ain't going to work. He said, no, it's not. He said, I got one other company. He called them up and put them on speaker phone. And we placed the order and they gave him his cost on speaker phone.

23:44And he had other customers in the store that heard his cost on the metal. And then we went ahead and ordered the metal in. He hung up the phone and he told me how much he was going to charge me. And it was exactly his cost. So Kip is selling me all of my roofing materials at cost. Plus he gave me $400 worth of roofing material. Just because I'm a good customer. I drive to Hershey and buy all of my hardware. And I do a lot of business here. I've even bought Christmas gifts there in the past. And Kip is just a good guy. That's why I'm telling you it's Kip it, home lumber, and Hershey Nebraska. He is a salt to the earth. He's the type of American that keeps America wonderful and thriving. He's a very good man. And I know he's looking out for his community.

24:46Now would a big box store do that? Not on your life. And on the second half of the program, I'm going to be talking about ways that you can get relationships with your local business people. To where you can have a true, almost family-like experience dealing with them. That plus more on the second half of the program. I would ask that you please consider donating to this program to keep it on the air. And the only way this program can stay on the air is from generous donations from listeners such as you.

25:47It's easy to do. Go to the website which is livingoffgridshow.com. Livingoffgridshow.com. Hit the donate tab and follow instructions. And that way you can donate electronically. Or if you want to do it old school. I take checks, money orders or cash. You write the checks out to Thunderbolt West Media. You would mail to Thunderbolt West Media. PO Box 163. PO Box 163. Hershey. Nebraska. And Nizip Kodas 6. 9. 1. 4. 3. And all donations are greatly appreciated.

27:03I want to thank each and every one of you for writing to me whether it be a postcard, a letter or an email. Your correspondence means a great deal to me. Your correspondence really does make a difference and I appreciate it so much. Send all cards or letters to Thunderbolt West Media. PO Box 163. PO Box 163. Hershey. Nebraska. Zip code 6.9.143. 6.9.143. And my email address is living off-grid show at protonmail.com. And I want to assure each and every one of you that I do not keep any lists. I will not store any information, your name, your address or your email address. I want you to know that I value your privacy as much as I value my own.

28:05And I do appreciate all correspondence so I wait to hear from you. One thing that I think is vital for you to consider is going into training of being off-grid and train yourself to do without. I know that sounds like it might be kind of strange but think about it. If you were going to be in a sporting event and if you wanted to win the gold medal, wouldn't you train? And at your job, if you want to succeed, if you want to be promoted, wouldn't you study and learn all there is to know about your job? And so why shouldn't you use that same mentality in trying to get your mind ready and your body and your spirit ready to survive?

29:14Is it surviving? A crisis isn't that worth more than being promoted in a job or winning a sporting event? Well of course it is. And so I think that you need to train as much as you possibly can. I'm not saying be obsessive about it, I'm saying to train for it. And one of the easiest ways to train for being off-grid is for as many days as possible per week, simply turn off your main breaker on your house and live totally without electricity. Now of course you will have to turn your power breaker back on to keep your food frozen and keep your refrigerator from having things spoiled. I would recommend the exercise and you walk, get used to doing things on foot. I would recommend that you come up with your own unique system to where you can keep functioning at a high level. And when you turn off the breaker, I'm not insinuating that you need to just stop doing what you do.

30:19That's when you need to develop ideas to adapt and overcome. And that way if the grid did go down, you will already be prepared. If you're tuned to Frequency 7.490, you're listening to WBCQ. If you're on 5850, you're listening to WRMI Radio My Emmy International. And if you're listening on 89.3 FM, you're in tune with Key Radio, Osage Beach, Missouri. Welcome to the second half of the Living Off-Grid Power and Information Show. I really appreciate you tuning in. As I put together my episodes, I try to do one thing that is consistent between all the episodes to kind of tie it all together.

31:24And it's to fulfill my mission of having this show in the first place. All boils down to me wanting to help you be the best that you can be. We live in a world of mediocrity. We live in a world of deceit, chaos, corruption. And the world needs more people of honor and a vision. The world needs more people using their God-given abilities. And so if you can get only one thing for my shows, I want it to be this. Is that you are worth it. You do have the ability. Everything is up to you as far as how your life is going to play out. And I know that people that listen to shows like this are people that truly care and truly want to make a difference. And so I want to simply encourage you to follow your dreams.

32:24And you need to follow your gut hunches. Don't be lazy in making your decisions. Use your intelligence, use your common sense. Make wise decisions and then stick by them. My mission will be complete if I can instill in my audience. A spirit of self-reliance. A spirit of self-love. Because let's face it. We're the only person we have to spend 24 hours a day with. Our entire lives. And so you need to be at peace with yourself. That's one of the most important things that you can establish. Is sometimes knowing when to be your best friend. But I want to encourage you to live your life as God intended you to live your life. I want to encourage you to follow your dreams. And if you dream of going off-grid, I want to help you as much as I can. fulfill your desire to go off-grid.

33:26Well, I'm trying to put as much energy into the show as I possibly can, but I gotta be honest with you. I feel weak as a cat right now. I'm not used to climbing ladders and hauling sheets of plywood across roofs. It's not that I haven't done it. It's that I haven't done it in a while. I'm a few years older and I really feel it. I'll tell you that. But it's really nice sitting in the studio looking up, not seeing sparrows flying in between my raft groups. That's one thing I was in here trying to clean up and add birds flying around inside my studio. It seems like they thought it was funny, so they had to come in and chirp at me. Luckily it's a poured floor, a concrete floor, and so I didn't lose any flooring. And I'm gonna modify the room. And I'm gonna modify the roof. And I'm gonna put in two panels that are skylight panels that will let some light inside this room that I didn't realize was so dreary

34:31and dungeon-like until the roof came off. Then I saw this room bright and cheery. I thought, wow, I like it bright and cheery, but it needs to have a roof. And electric lights don't cut it. This room seems to swallow light. And so I'm gonna add those panels for a skylight, which I think are really gonna help. Well, this is just my opinion. But prices are going totally crazy. Not just grocery stores everywhere. And I think many things are out of control. I think a lot of it is out of control on purpose, but that's another story. But the way we're gonna be able to survive this as communities is if we go in and only support our local business people. Everyone I know is hooked on stores like Walmart.

35:35I automatically go there. I personally haven't been in one of those stores in close to 10 years. And I don't plan on ever going back. People get trained to do certain things and shop certain places. And they just simply do. That's what they do. They show up, same place, they buy, and they go home. And they pass dozens if not hundreds of small businesses on their way to the big box store. Not supporting the small business, going to the business that does not need your support, by the way. They manipulate suppliers, they manipulate truckers, they manipulate everything to make the all-mighty dollar. And you're passing by businesses owned by your friends and neighbors, businesses that need your business to stay afloat, businesses that would bend over backwards to keep you happy,

36:39while you go spend your money at places that don't care if you're happy or not. And if you're unhappy, you can go stand in line with 20 or 30 people ahead of you in what I call customer no service, just to get an employee that says, I don't know, I guess I'll call a manager. Then you wait for the manager, the manager shows up and says, I don't know, that's really out of my scope, is my management skills. Then you might get a phone number, put you on hold and let you talk to a robot. But yet, there you go. You drive past dozens if not hundreds of small businesses, going to give every dime you can to the big box stores that don't need it and they don't deserve it. But they sell to me cheap. Do they sell to you at cost? No, they can't do that. Well, I just had a gentleman sell me an entire roof at cost.

37:41Think about that. Think of the thousands of dollars that Kip could have made. Thousands. He sold it to me at cost, plus he gave me $400 with the material for free. Oh, that's just Kip, he's just one guy. Okay, also, Hershey Nebraska population, 550 people, 550 people in the entire town. And Kip was able to do that for me from home lumber and Hershey. Then I go to Hershey superfoods, and I went to Jared. And Jared's not in any position to help me with roofing. But I looked around his store. He had about a dozen things in his store that he had a huge $10 for $10 sale. So a dollar a piece. He had $10 for $10 on sliced cheese.

38:44Slice cheese packages. $10 for $10 on all of the type of noodles, American beauty, and there's several other brands. One pound package for a dollar. $10 for $10. And he had the Hunts spaghetti sauce, which is in a can. It's marginal. You have to dress it up for it to be really good. But there again, $10 for $10. I went down the frozen food aisle. Those in vegetables that are normally $3 a bag. $10 for $10. And he had red tag specials all throughout the store. And he does every week he has specials. And Jared is extremely trained in the grocery business. He was born into it. His father owned the grocery store. He worked for his father. Then he went on to work for Frito Lay. And Lay's potato chips.

39:44And then he came back and repurchased his father's store. And he's thinking of opening another store, if he can financially swing it. And you say, well, grocery prices are really high. Well, yes, they are. But if you have a Jared, this looking out for his community. And he can because people shop with him. You scratch his back. He scratches the community's back. Everyone wins. When was the last time you saw a spaghetti sauce for a dollar a can? Now you might go to Costco or a Sam's Club or something and see those kind of prices. But there's not a Costco or a Sam's Club within probably 200 miles a year. And plus Jared will order in any amount of anything you want, whether he stocks it or not. When I was there last, there was a farm tractor with a great big loader. And they were loading pallets of water,

40:46gallon sized drinking water. There were so many pallets they went and got one of their tractors from their farm. And a flatbed trailer, and they were loading the flatbed trailer with all this water. And Jared doesn't even stock one gallon sized bottle of water. He's got the normal sizes, but not the large size. And so a local farmer needed to have this much water for some reason. I don't know why he needed it, but he did. And instead of going to the big box store, he just went to Jared and said, Jared, get it in for me. And Jared said, yes sir, and had it in in a day or two. And that's one thing about people that go through a small town grocery store and they see something and they're looking for something specific. And so they can say to themselves, see this store doesn't have everything. I can't shop here. And they keep silent, they walk out the door, smirking about.

41:47Such a poor grocery store doesn't have what you need. And Jared can order anything in. He's got a huge warehouse. And if you want to order it, just go place your order. And the next truck that comes in will have your product on it. So he's got millions of items that he does not stock that he can order. And he will order. And he doesn't charge any extra as a matter of fact since he doesn't have to label it or handle it or price it. He'll sell it till you're really cheap. Sometimes at a 10% markup is all. And people don't realize the type of service and the type of loyalty and the dedication of all of these small business owners. Why do people just turn their nose up at their friends and neighbors that have businesses?

42:48And drive past their store and they don't even look at the store. Don't even think about stopping. Don't consider it. Wouldn't consider it for the rest of their life. Because I got to go Walmart, get my stuff. That's all well and good if you want to spend all your money at a place that is just going to ship your money right out of the county. Right back to corporate if that's what you want. And you can complain about, yes, small businesses are going away. Our downtown is so empty. Look at all the empty spaces. No one's starting the store. That's because people aren't supporting the ones that are there. People complain. There's nothing to do in my town. I don't have any shopping choices in my town. Guess I'll just go back to Walmart. I could be picking on Costco or Target or anywhere else. But it seems like that we have monopolies

43:49that are taking the majority of Americans spending money. And if you want to have those empty spaces in your downtown or your shopping areas, to be vibrant, and make it profitable for the owners, and in turn those owners are going to spend their profits inside your own hometown, possibly giving you your job. Can't you see that we have a little ecosystem? Instead of an ecology system, we have an economy system. And I was talking with Bob Beerman on the phone the other night. And he said something that makes total sense, but I never thought about it. Is that AMN FM radio is on decline. And the stations aren't making much money because they can't sell ads. And they can't sell ads because the people that normally would buy the ads

44:54can no longer afford to advertise because they don't have the customer base, or they've been put out of business by a big box store. And big box stores don't go to your local radio station and buy airtime. They don't. They don't sponsor the local events whatsoever. They don't do any business with their local radio stations whatsoever. All their advertising is done nationally through syndication, and it's only for the big players. But your small town radio station, you might laugh at it and say, oh, it's a poor station. They don't have good programming. Well, they can't afford good programming because they don't have the advertisers. Because the advertisers are no longer in business because everyone started shopping at the big box stores. We have two huge lies that we're being told.

45:56Number one is always cheaper to box store. And number two, the quality is just the same at the box store. And that is absolutely wrong on both counts. The quality in the big box stores is definitely secondary to the premium shop that sell good brand names that don't sell factory seconds. That aren't selling cheaper models made especially for them. They're selling the good stuff. Now, if you're looking for a small inverter for your car, you can go to a big box store and spend about 25 to 35 dollars and have a little inverter that plugs into your cigarette lighter. And you can say, hey, I have 110 power in my car. And then about two weeks later, you plug it in and nothing happens. It's ruined. It's burned out. Whereas if you would have bought a similar product from one of your local merchants that owns the store,

46:58first of all, you're going to buy something that's going to be more expensive, but it's going to be much higher in quality. And if it would burn out within two weeks, you go back to the owner and you say, hey, I bought this here two weeks ago. It doesn't work anymore. Chances are that owner is going to go, well, go to the shelf and grab you another one. No charge. You have no idea what you're missing out on. If you're not supporting your local businesses, as you get a report, you're going to start getting discounts because they like you and they like how much business you're doing. And so they can instantly reward you. It doesn't have to go through corporate. You don't have to get it through a refund or a rebate check. You don't have to cut coupons. All you have to do is be a good loyal customer to a good businessman.

47:58And that person will reciprocate your kindness and your choice of choosing to do business with them. They will reward you. That's their way of patting you on the back saying, thank you. I really appreciate your business. You might have a businessman like Kip in your hometown. You might drive past his store to and from your trips to your box store. And this person could be giving you personal discounts and friendship, loyalty, and higher quality products, better customer service, more peace of mind, lower stress, don't have to talk to a computer on the phone. But yet you're driving past this. If we're going to save our great nation, we're going to have to save it one community at a time.

48:59I've mentioned the town of Stapleton, Nebraska many times. And they also got smashed hard with the wind storm. I haven't been up there since it happened. I need to drive up and do some business up there anyway. But each and every one of their businesses are just the same. They will bend over backwards to have a happy customer. And I'll never forget the first time I went into Fry's hardware in Stapleton. I bought about $50 worth of items and Steve said, you want that on account or you want to pay for it today? I said, well, I'm going to pay for it on account. I don't have an account with you. He says, oh, I'll start an account. And he said, I'll go ahead and put this down if you want. I said, no, I'll pay for it. And he said, well, I'll set you up an account. And so he did. And the next time I went in, he said, well, you have an account here now. So let's just stick this on account. And they did no credit check.

50:00They really didn't know who I was. But they were so nice and wanting to set me up as a permanent customer. They rolled out the red carpet. They have an awful lot in that hardware store. I don't do near the business with them as I do with home lumber and Hershey. But I still do quite a bit of business with Fry's store there in Stapleton. But when I go into Fry's, they give me discounts. When I go next door to the creative print shop, Marsha will give me good prices on everything. I'll bring things up to the counter. Something that's $10, she'll charge me eight. Because I'm a loyal customer. These are places I do business with. And I do business with them on a cash basis. But if you're a good customer, business people will bend over backwards to keep you.

51:00You don't have to ask for a discount. Don't go in there and say, boy, I wish you'd sell it to me cheaper. That kind of takes the magic out of it. Just be a good customer and see what starts to happen. And ultimately, if more people did this, our downtown businesses would be full and thriving. We are malls would have been come back to some extent. The strip malls would have people in the parking lot shopping at the stores. Coffee shops and restaurants would have more customers. Because there'd be more people out visiting more areas and just one big box store. I know I'm not going to convince very many people to shop like I shop. Because they'd rather go and be a zombie at a box store, than be a true individual and be seen as a valued customer every time they walk into any business they walk into. I'm on a first name basis with all of the employees as well as the owners

52:04and managers of every store I do business with. When I go up to fries during the spring of the year, they always have a big garden and they have different bulbs and root crops such as onions. That when the customers come in, they give them bundles of onions or they give away bulbs of flowers that they grow. They don't charge anybody for it. You just walk in and take what you want. And each and every one of these stores I've talked about are struggling because you have the big box stores, believe it or not, are even doing free delivery inside Hershey a town of 550 people. And so the grocery store has to compete with, I mentioned them before, Walmart. As Walmart has delivery vans going right into Hershey to deliver groceries. And you might say, well, that's really convenient having them deliver.

53:08It costs you money. People seem to not realize that door to action, all these other type of delivery services you have to pay. And also they expect a tip. I just wish people would wake up and see the America that we can make it. We could make this America so wonderful. But it has to be done one business at a time, one community at a time. We just have to change our buying habits and revert back to how we used to buy before the big box stores came in and created a monopoly. People have short memories. Well, I can't remember just having a landline. I can't remember when I didn't have a cell phone. I can't remember when I didn't do all my business at a box store. Well, it's time to wake up and remember all of the different businesses that used to give you a calendar or maybe a thermometer or a coffee mug every year at Christmas.

54:14You'd get some sort of a small gift from every business that you spent money with. Everyone knew the name of every owner of every store that they did business with. Sometimes they went out to dinner together or played golf together. Because they're all part of the same community. In that community spirit has to be revitalized. It has to be brought back. And it has to start with you. And don't just buy local for a week or two, then go back to your big box store. You've accomplished nothing. I'm talking about establishing long-term relationships with your local businesses and trying them out first. And if they don't stock it, you ask them if they can order it. Don't give up so easy. And you will find a few local businesses that you don't like the owner or don't like the store.

55:14That doesn't mean go back to the big box store. I tried, but I'm going to go back to Walmart. Go find another local business that is doing the same service or selling the same goods. And if you don't have any businesses, if your community has already been totally closed down because of the big box stores and online shopping. You may not have any choice, but to go to one of these box stores. And I feel sorry for you if your community is that far gone. But I'm urging you to do everything in your power. To support yourself by supporting your own hometown. If you really consider my words today, then I hope you see the wisdom in supporting your own. Because of things really start to get bad. The only people you're going to have that are close to you that you can count on are your local friends and neighbors and local business.

56:20And don't wait for the box store to be totally sold out of an item. Before you run into the store that you never do business with, just to come in and buy that item and leave. There are so many people that do that. They're just looking out for themselves. Well, in the long run, if you're looking at the big picture, you are looking out for yourself if you're looking out for your community. Think about it. Heavenly Father, I thank you for this day. I thank you for sparing my house from total destruction. Father, I thank you for people who you have risen up and put it on their hearts to help me. I appreciate your angels. I appreciate your plans. You're caring, your love, Father, I appreciate it all. Father, we give you all the praise and glory.

57:21And I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. I would ask that you please consider donating to this program to keep it on the air. And the only way this program can stay on the air is from generous donations from listeners such as you. It's easy to do. Go to the website which is livingoffgridshow.com. Hit the Donate tab and follow instructions. And that way you can donate electronically. Or if you want to do it old school, I tick checks, money orders or cash. You'd write the checks out to Thunderbolt West Media. You would mail to Thunderbolt West Media. P.O. Box 163. P.O. Box 163. Hershey. Nebraska. And Nizip Kota 6.

58:219. 1. 4. 3. And all donations are greatly appreciated. Again, thanks for listening. And until next time, everyone's shop small. Really think about what I told you today. Stay strong. Stay positive. Keep your powder dry. And never ever forget. Replace fear with faith. This is Jim Calhoun with the Living Off Grid Power and Information Show. The song Step Out on the Sea is performed by Brit Small and Festival. Thank you for listening to Thunderbolt West Media.