Tag Archives: amazon item fo the day

Wisdom Panel 3.0 Breed Identification DNA Test Kit – Item of the Day

Posted on April 18, 2018 by Modern Survival| 2 Comments

Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is the Wisdom Panel 3.0 Breed Identification DNA Test Kit.  I used this kit on Charlie and learned that he was a Pitbull (no surprise there) crossed with a Pointer (big surprise there) and that has gone a long way into knowing how to work with and train him on the farm.

I have misplaced Charlie’s results and my old account at Wisdom Panel doesn’t seem to work so I can’t share his report but I just did Lucy’s DNA test and once again I am really surprised at the results, yet now I see the traits in her as I know what to look for.

First up here is our rescued little gal, Lucy Lu Spirko, what do you think she is?

The most common guesses we have heard are Shepard mix and also Kelpie.  Now Kelpie’s are expensive dogs and a truly Australian breed, so I had my doubts but when I looked up the breed, it did seem plausible, look at this Kelpie here, looks a lot like Lucy Lu doesn’t it?

As to Shepard, sure some of the pattern matches but she is so light bodied and so damn fast, I mean the last dog I had that was this fast was Lakota, a Siberian husky, can’t be though right?

Um, well here is a PDF of Lucy’s breed certificate and a more detailed report of the full test.  She is fricken half Husky, in fact here is what Lucy Lu is made of…

  • 50% Siberian Husky
  • 37.5% American Stafford Terrier
  • 12.5% Dalmatian

I just got the results today and have been waiting for them to make this product my item of the day.  I have to say at first I was dumbfounded, but now it makes sense.  The speed this dog has and her agility are fitting with all the breeds but her light body weight really makes sense with husky blood.

Huskies typically look a lot bigger than they are due to all that fluff, but mix in two short hair breeds like Dalmatian and Stafford and you get a short haired Husky dog.  Take another look at my girl there, imagine she has blue eyes and longer hair.  Take that tail she always carries up and fluff it out, you have a dark colored husky.

It all makes sense now!  The stubborn attitude, the vocal objections to not being given a treat, the vocal greetings, the ru rur ru ru rrrrr rr ruh, when ever she wants anything including attention.  It is Lakota all over again.

So what does all this mean?  Well it means I have a stubborn dog when it comes to training her and I need to accept that and use my knowledge of dealing with Huskies in the past in dealing with her training.  It means on some things she is gonna be really smart and others a bit of a dim bulb, that is true of Huskies and Dalmatian’s as well.  It means she is going to be what we already knew about her, absolutely in love with children and protective of them.

Also now that I know she has Stafford in her, I will work harder to bring out more of her courage, it is in there.  She is the beta of the group, she was abandoned, not well cared for when we found her and quite timid but I have seen the courage come out.   She is so docile with everyone but when my bee mentor Jason had his half bee suit on and dared walk through the back yard I saw a different dog in her, I now know what it was.

Now I know what to encourage, what to discourage and what to simply accept.  She is always going to be a digger, she is always going to be vocal and her attention span will always be short.  She is never going to be a dog that I can trust to move birds only one I can train to not attack them.  There is just too much high strung in the Husky breed, you can turn them on or off to something but when it is on, it is on full bore all the way on.

The real thing though is it is just good and fun to know exactly what you have.  The added bonus is the Wisdom Panel 3.0 Breed Identification DNA Test Kit also tests for the MDR1 Gene which makes certain medications potentially deadly to dogs.  Lucy is luckily free of this gene but it should be tested for before dogs go on a variety of medications including heart worm medications containing ivermectin.

This is something no vet ever told me about, it means that I risked every dog’s life I ever owned by just testing them for heat worm and putting them on the medication.  My vet and I are going to discuss this in depth next visit.  It annoys me that they want to annually test for heart worms which is totally unnecessary for a dog that has never been off treatment, yet won’t do this simple test to see if the medication itself may kill your dog.

I checked into it and a test for MDR1 is usually 35-45 dollars, half the price of the Wisdom Panel test that includes MDR1 and a complete breed ancestry.  You can learn more about the MDR1 mutation here.

In any event the Wisdom Panel 3.0 Breed Identification DNA Test Kit to me represents a great value at 80 bucks with same day free shipping on Amazon Prime.  The process takes about 3 weeks once you send your sample in.  The test is easy to administer, both when I did Charlie and Lucy I was worried about how they would react.  You take two swabs and put them inside their cheek and turn them back in forth.

I was sure both dogs would go berserk and would have to be held down by one person and swabbed by the other, in both situations they just sat there like what is this all about.  I can’t promise your dog will do the same I am just saying it was easier than I expected.

So if you have a mixed breed dog of unknown origins check out the Wisdom Panel 3.0 Breed Identification DNA Test Kit, I personally feel it will give you a much better handle on dealing with your dog, it will include the important MDR1 test and frankly it is just fun to know your dog’s actual breed make up.

Remember you can always find the TSP Amazon Item of the day by just going to TspAz.com and by shopping at TspAz.com anytime you shop online you help support TSP and the work we do here no matter what you buy.

 

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Frontier Co-op Organic Valerian Root – Item of the Day

Posted on April 17, 2018 by Modern Survival| 5 Comments

Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is Frontier Co-op Organic Valerian Root.  Before we continue due to the content below I have to give a disclaimer, I am not a doctor, I don’t even pretend to be one on TV.  While I am a life time user of herbs, I am also not a certified herbalist, nothing I am about to say should be seen is medical or nutritional advice.  It is just my personal experience.

So about two years ago I set out to create a “bed time tea”, my goal was a tea that would set the mind at ease and get you to sleep fast.  I built this tea on valerian root for many reasons.  You can find a wide range of Valerian’s uses at Web MD, chief among them though are insomnia and relaxing muscle and relieving aches and pains.

Now there are a ton of teas out there with Valerian in it, but I like to mix my own teas, simply put buying herbs in bulk saves money and you can make custom blends.  Last week I mentioned in my interview with herbalist Cat Ellis that I had a “night time tea that tasted like gym socks but would knock you flat out” and that resulted in a ton of requests for the recipe.

So I decided to feature Valerian today and give away that recipe, all but two ingredients can be purchased at Amazon, I’ll give a few sources for them in the P.S. below.  Note that the parts below are by volume, not weight…

I make this tea at about 2 heaping tablespoons to the cup, note that this doesn’t taste good.  Frankly it isn’t that bad, I am setting the expectation bar low however, unlike my other teas you are not drinking this one for the flavor.  I do sweeten this one with honey.

I can’t explain this but if you want this tea to work my best results seem to come from going to bed within 30 minutes or less of consuming it. If you wait much longer the effects seem to change to relaxed but alert.  However, if you go strait to bed you generally crash and sleep solid though the night, at least I do.

It also for me seems to increase the vividness of my dreams.  Note that I am a long time student of lucid dreaming and have trained myself to recognize dreams and awaken within them.  This is beyond the scope of this review but there is lots of info online about doing it.   I will talk just a tiny bit about it in today’s on air IOTD segment.

So if you want to give this a try, you can simply mix it up and give it a go, but I will caution that I take no regular medications and I don’t know what interactions these herbs could have with pharmaceuticals.  So please check with your doctor before using these are any herbs if you have any physical conditions or side effects.  Again I am not a doctor or certified herbalist, I am not giving medial advice, I am just telling you my personal experiences.

So check out Frontier Co-op Organic Valerian Root today.

Remember you can always find the TSP Amazon Item of the day by just going to TspAz.com and by shopping at TspAz.com anytime you shop online you help support TSP and the work we do here no matter what you buy.

P.S. – The herb you can’t get on Amazon for some reason is Damiana Leaf.  You can make the tea without it, it will still work.  That said it is a wonderful herb that in my view really enhances this tea.  If you skip the Damiana increase the Valerian to 4 parts to rebalance the recipe a bit.

P.S.S.  – Here is a simplified recipe if you just want to give it a try without all the other herbs.  Go with 2 parts of Valerian to 1 part of mint.  This will be a quite sedative tea and aid in falling asleep for many people.  Again I recommend hitting the pillow no more than 30 minutes after consuming it.

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Nebo 6350 Larry Work Light – Item of the Day

Posted on March 30, 2018 by Modern Survival| 13 Comments

Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is the Nebo 6350 Larry Work Light.  I have to say this is one of  the most unique ways I have ever come to learn about a product.

I received an email from a guy that said he found one of these up in a drop ceiling doing some work at a customers building.  Given it was long abandoned with dead batteries he took it home.  Found that it took 3 AAA batteries and popped a set in, his first thought were “man this thing is bright”, his second thought was I wonder how much they cost.  A simple web search led him to find this amazing little light is only about 8 bucks.  He then emailed me about it.

I ordered two, and now I will be ordering more.  This little thing is just slick, super light weight and fits in a shirt pocket easily enough.  The base is flat so it will stand up on any flat surface and the clip has a magnet so it will both stick to metal or you can hang it on anything convenient in the area.

Many years ago (like in the mid 90s) I did a lot of cabling work in buildings for computer systems, I can tell you exactly why this thing was up in a ceiling, it would be GOLDEN for work like that!

How bright is this thing, try 170 lumens with only three measly AAA batteries.  To really get how bright that is see the video below.

One note, for some reason the description of this light says it is made with aluminum and that the base is magnetic.  There are definitely errors there.  The body is a good quality plastic and the magnet is in the clip not the base.  I checked and there are other colors of this light on Amazon, there are also like 4 packs of various colors.  None of those listings have these errors.

So why am I linking to the one with errors?  First because I do believe it is an error not a deception.  I have learned that this light is very well known in the electronics and computer world so I doubt they are trying to trick anyone.

The bigger reason is because this one is the BEST PRICE I can find, that is why.  The price on this is 8.53 with free shipping.  All the other single listings are over 9 bucks.  So this is simply the best deal.

Well unless you want 4?  Pretty close to the same price but you can get a 4 pack in 4 different colors 32.99 with free shipping, which is 8.24  piece.  So the 4 pack would save you $1.13 on four.  Not huge but a buck is a buck and likely you are going to want 4 of these things, I think they should be in every tool box, tackle box, range box and glove box personally.

So whether you just want to pick up 1 or 2 for 8.53 a piece, or you want to get a 4 Pack for 32.99 check out the Nebo 6350 Larry Work Light, it deserves a place in your kit and on your homestead.

Remember you can always find the TSP Amazon Item of the day by just going to TspAz.com and by shopping at TspAz.com anytime you shop online you help support TSP and the work we do here no matter what you buy.

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Komelon Tape Measures – Item of the Day

Posted on March 15, 2018 by Modern Survival| 8 Comments

Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is the Komelon USA Tape Measure.  These are available in 12-Foot, 16-Foot and 25-Foot lengths.  I had three requests in the past month to do a tape measure for item of the day so I guess it is about time I give up the goods on the one I like best.

Let me start off with something, I have had very expensive tape measures break and by break I mean come unraveled and once that happens, just accept your fate and throw it away.  It usually happens when someone is “helping” and jerks the thing hard past the end of its reach (for which there is no good reason) and blammo it is toast.

So I stopped in my quest for a tape that would never break, because additionally I don’t know what it is but there are three things I lose more than anything else. They are in order sharpie markers, tape measures and nail clippers. I just don’t get it, I am talking not leaving a room or a garage, having just had it in my hand and fing GONE LIKE A FART IN THE WIND. Sometimes they show up, a day, week or month later, sometimes they are gone forever.

I tend not to believe in the super natural but if their are gnomes or some such shit that steals things, they must adore pens, tape measures and nail clippers.

So I set out a couple years ago to find a tape I could buy 2-4 of at a time, keep some in a drawer so when I lost one I just had another one.  Funny thing though, I have misplaced these but I have yet to break one.  I am going to call it luck but when I got sick of losing tapes and tried to find a low cost reliable one this was the first one I tried.

Now here is what got me to give them a look, other than a lot of positive reviews it was a feature called “power lock”.  Now most tapes work like this, you run the tape out and then engage the lock.  You disengage the lock to retract it.  “Power Lock” is the reverse, it is sort of always on, when you run out the tape it locks so it will not retract but you can just keep running it out until you have enough to measure what you are working on.

When I thought about this, my first thought was, “why the hell would you make a tape the old way in the first place”?  Seriously have you ever run out a tape and thought, man I am so happy that it didn’t self lock?  Have you ever run out a tape and not needed to lock it, or at least hold it with finger tension so you could use it to well, measure something?  Or have you ever thought, man when I lock that thing I am so glad you have to unlock it to pull more tape out of the holder?  I mean a bird or a frog or something might just grab it and pull it out and mess me up!

In the end it seems completely backwards to have tapes lock the way they always have.  If you have used tapes your entire life it does take a day or two to stop reaching for the lock and inadvertently unlocking it, but once you get used to it you will never and I mean never want anything else.

Once again these are available in 12-Foot, 16-Foot and 25-Foot lengths.  Personally I see little utility for 16 foot tape measures and I instead have standardized on keeping a 12 foot and 25 foot tapes around.

My rational is as follows.  The 12 foot tape is compact and caries easily on a belt or in a pocket.  Because it is so small I tend to put it in my pocket when working and hence the gnomes that steal my stuff are less likely to find it.  I find that a 12 foot tape with be enough for 90% of my daily project work, cutting lumber, measuring pipes, doing estimates etc.

For everything else I go grab my 25 footer that lives in a place in my pantry that the gnomes have yet to find, I use it and I put it back.  Take that you thieving little gnomes!

In all seriousness I have never had a 25 foot tape in my hand and said man I wish this was 9 feet shorter!  So here is what I recommend, pick up two pack of the 12-Foot, tapes for only 15.71, that way you will have a spare if the gnomes get one of them!  Then pick up at least one 25-Foot one and keep it in your tool box or some other gnome safe location.

Remember you can always find the TSP Amazon Item of the day by just going to TspAz.com and by shopping at TspAz.com anytime you shop online you help support TSP and the work we do here no matter what you buy.

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Gilmour PRO Commercial Hose – Item of the Day

Posted on March 9, 2018 by Modern Survival| 17 Comments

Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is the Gilmour PRO Commercial Hose.  As you may know I always say with somethings always buy the best you can afford.  When I do I often use a garden hose as an example, because when you cheap out on a hose, you always regret it.

Up till now I have always said just go to Home Depot and get the red contractor grade hoses.  Well that was until I recently took my own advice and did that.  In a hurry I simply grabbed the hose that looked right, instead of a Gilmour it was made by a company called “Contractor Farm”. (this POS here)  It sure looked good and it damn sure was expensive enough, it also sucks.

Unrolling it alone I knew I had been had, stiff, not pliable and kinks like mad!  Great over built fittings but the hose just sucks.  So I went and looked at the three I had that I loved, all were Gilmour.  Frankly they are now the only thing I will buy.

What makes them so great?  First diameter, the flow you get though them is impressive, given I fill 8 kiddie pools or more a day that is important to me.  Next is the rubber, it is thick and very pliable, what that means is it simply doesn’t kink.  I mean you can kink it if you try hard enough but with normal use I never kink mine.

Lastly the hardware is just top notch, very sturdy and no spray by at the connections.  I personally like the 75 length, but when I got mine initially they didn’t make a 100 footer.  They are now available in lengths of…

It is a bit strange to me that the 25 and 50 are almost the same price and the 100 is so much more than the 75, but in the end pick what works best for you needs.

That said to me a few things are clear.  One the 75 is the best value, and two 75s would cost only 2.70 more than the 100, so I can’t see buying a 100 footer.  Get 2 75s, now you can go 150 feet or have two hoses for less than 3 bucks more.

Also if you need 25 foot hoses for some reason there is no way I’d personally buy one.  I would buy one 50, then get some hose end repair parts like these made by Nelson, and make 2 hoses both 25 feet long with them.  now you have a 50 footer or 2 25s.  I just ordered a 50 footer to do this with as I need a 25 inside my aviary and given it is 50 feet long and the hose bib is in the center anything longer is just bulk in the way.

So consider this I bought the 50 foot hose for 27.83, the two fittings cost me a total of $11.43.  So my total cost was $39.26 making the cost per hose $19.63 vs $29.39.  Just an example of thinking smart about total cost of things.  By the way every homesteader should have a few of those Nelson repair fittings on hand at all times anyway.

You know for like when your wife be running over one of your good hoses with a lawn tractor and what not. (true story)

Again I have to say that until I find something better I won’t buy anything but these in the future.  So check out the Gilmour PRO Commercial Hose and stop dealing with crappy garden hoses, life is too short to deal with a kink in your hose!

Remember you can always find the TSP Amazon Item of the day by just going to TspAz.com and by shopping at TspAz.com anytime you shop on online you help support TSP and the work we do here no matter what you buy.

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Premium Gochujang Hot Pepper Paste – Item of the Day

Posted on February 14, 2018 by Modern Survival| 5 Comments

Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Item of the day is Premium Gochujang Hot Pepper Paste.  I first discovered Gochujang (pronounced “go che jang”) when I found a TV show called Korean Food Made Simple by a chef named Judy Joo. While I didn’t become a massive fan of the chef or the show it did expose me to some unique ingredients and methods of cooking.  Likely the biggest win from this show was finding Gochujang, or simply fermented Korean chili paste.

I went with this brand because most commercial products have corn syrup in them.  Traditional Gochujang is made with rice, chilis and fermented soy beans and salt.  That is what is in this version, it costs a bit more but it is worth it.  Besides while not blow you brains out hot, this stuff is hot and brings a ton of flavor to the party, so a 1.1 pound tub lasts a long time.

So how do you use this stuff, man there are a ton of ways but let me give you one example of how we use it.  We make fried Japanese sweet potatoes.  They have purple skin and snow white flesh.  They are about half way between a typical potato and a orange sweet potato in taste.  We twice fry them, into a wok with peanut oil, fry until almost done, remove and drain, let cool 10 minutes and return to the oil for another few minutes to puff and crisp up.

Next mix the gochujang at a ratio of 1 part gochujang to 3 parts mayo, (commercial is fine home made is better), let it sit for about 10 minutes to bind and blend, then serve the potatoes with this on the side.  It is sort of like a suracha may many are familiar with but on a whole new level.

I also made some burgers with this stuff, just a table spoon of this into a pound of venison and feral hog mixed ground, a bit of salt and pepper, bit of dehydrated garlic, table spoon of black bean paste and let sit for about 15 minutes to bind and blend, grill as normal.  Of course a bit of that gouchang mayo on it is sublime.  We also process fish skin and head on, slit the skin and rub this stuff on the outside and inside of the fish and grill whole on the grill, it is amazing.

So check this stuff out, add it to your pantry and start experimenting.  Oh and since it is a fermented paste product it stores very well long term, so it is an awesome pantry staple for preppers.  One way or another give Premium Gochujang Hot Pepper Paste a shot and I don’t think you will be disappointed.

Lastly I do want to say I do consider this product fine for people on any sort of low carb diet.  Yes it includes rice syrup and some soy paste, but the amount used is so low relative to the entire meal that I can’t see it effecting blood sugar in any meaningful way.   I am also opposed to large amount of soy in the diet, least you become a soy boy, but again the amount used here is tiny and all the ingredients are fermented as well.

Remember you can always find the TSP Item of the day by just going to TspAz.com and by shopping at TspAz.com anytime you shop online you help support TSP and the work we do here no matter what you buy.

P.S. – Do you want to see me cook some of the dishes in this post and a lot of other really cool stuff.  Well my buddy David and I have started up a new site called Biltong For Breakfast.  It will be a cooking show online with four episodes a month.  We will focus on meat centric cooking, lots of fresh veggies and occasional starches as a treat (like the fries above).  Basically we want to make a cooking show that doesn’t suck!  And one with a heavy focus on home food production, fish and game, bartered good, homestead livestock and all that sort of thing.  To learn more and subscribe visit Biltong For Breakfast today.

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Century 24 Hour Mechanical Timer – Item of the Day

Posted on February 12, 2018 by Modern Survival| 3 Comments

Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day Century 24 Hour Mechanical Timer.  I am bringing this slick little timer around again because we are hitting the peak of seed starting season.  I know many of you have purchased grow lights this year and more than a few of the 45 Watt Kingbos I am so found of are among them.  Of course with grow lights you really want to have them run about 12-14 hours a day, so this is where a simple timer fits in.

Let me tell you something though, I HATE timers.  It amazes me how something that should be so simple is often so damn confusing and unreliable.  So I went on Amazon and found the Century 24 Hour Mechanical Timer. Wow, where has this thing been all my life?

Look when I say I hate timers let me be clear, my hatred of timers is only over shadowed by my hatred of network printers.  (NOTE THAT LINK IS NOT WORKPLACE SAFE) Well, that has changed I love this timer, so simple there are two steps to using it and it is pretty fool proof and very easy to see how you have it set.

Step one each hour has 4 small pins you can push down, simply push down the pins for each 15 minutes you want the power to be on.  So say you wanted your timer to run from 8AM to 10AM every morning and 7PM to 9PM every night.  Okay just push all the pins down for 8, 9 and 10AM and 7, 8 and 9PM.  Step two turn the dial so the arrow points to the current time.  That is it!

You then simply plug it in and plug the device you want to control with it, done.  There are no other steps, no holding a button and waiting for a light to blink three times or say moving stupid little pins around.

I love this timer and its simplicity so much I am constantly trying to figure out what to automate with it.  About the only complaint I read in reviews (from thinking humans anyway) was that it is a large device and it takes up so much space as to block the second outlet.

There is a simple solution to such things, I have covered it before and it applies to any large plugs, just get some of these one foot extension cords and it keeps all outlets open.  Or is my case I am using what Jon Dowie calls, “a fricken orange, three way, fricken Steven Harris fricken thing“.

Anyway I absolutely love the Century 24 Hour Mechanical Timer and think you will too. So check it out for any of your power automation needs.

Remember you can always find the TSP Amazon Item of the day by just going to TspAz.com and by shopping at TspAz.com anytime you shop online you help support TSP and the work we do here no matter what you buy.

P.S. – Check out this quick video of how I have used this product on my homestead for a very unique need.  I don’t think any other time could do this, without having a degree in Computer Programming anyway.

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STX-3000 Turboforce Meat Grinder – Item of the Day

Posted on January 9, 2018 by Modern Survival| 5 Comments

Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is the STX-3000 Turboforce Meat Grinder.  I spent a lot of time in 2017 deciding on what meat grinder I wanted to buy.  I was pretty much in love with the Cabela’s Carnivore but had a real hard time paying 400-500 dollars for a grinder.  Specifically since I use on heavily 2-3 times a year during hunting season, then only about 1-2 times a month for small amounts throughout the year.

So I looked at a lot of options but came down on the STX-3000 Turboforce Meat Grinder because I firmly believe it is the best value under 300 dollars on the market.  First it is a size 12, in other words big, it has great capacity.  It also has two speeds and a reverse setting, which at times can be important.

It comes with three blades, most only come with one and while such blades are a standard product in all grinders they usually cost 12-20 bucks a piece to replace.  It is powerful, I put 20lbs of deer and pork though it in about 15 minutes and it worked flawlessly.  This weekend I had a beef roast that I wasn’t thrilled with as a roast, so I picked up some pork an ground both with the wagon wheel for chili meat.  It took longer to take it out than it did to put 6 lbs of meat though it.

After months of research, using several different grinders and finally buying and using this one I have found THE GRINDER I recommend.  I can promise you that you will not be disappointed with this one.

On another note we made about 20 lbs of sausage with this grinder using the sausage stuffer attachment.  Dorothy and I ended up getting pretty good at it, but it will be the last time I use a grinder, any grinder to stuff sausage.  I will be adding a LEM 5 pound stuffer to our pantry soon.  The grinder worked fine but likely it took 2-4 times as long as using a dedicated stuffer.

But for grinding you just can’t beat the STX-3000 Turboforce Meat Grinder unless you spend hundreds of dollars more, and then, you don’t beat it by that much.  So if you need a grinder in your kitchen, I can’t recommend this highly neough.

Remember you can always see the TSP Amazon Item of the day by just going to TspAz.com and by shopping at TspAz.com anytime you shop online you help support TSP and the work we do here.

 P.S.  – Here are a few videos I posted to facebook using this grinder.

Even though these videos are on facebook, you should be able to see them even if you don’t have a facebook account as they are publicly posted.

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The FURminator deShedding Tool for Dogs – Item of the Day

Posted on November 16, 2017 by Modern Survival| 6 Comments

Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is the The FURminator deShedding Tool for Dogs.  We first learned of this tool from our vet back when we had our Siberian Husky named Lakota.  Let me tell you there is shedding and then there is Husky Shedding.  It is like living with two Chows, a Sheep Dog and a German Shepard at one time!  How one relatively small animal can make so much hair is beyond me.

So our vet proceeded to brush him and we were sold, enough fluffy undercoat to make a small pillow came off in a few minutes.  We bought one, of course the mark up was very high.  When we later found them in pet stores they were still very expensive.  We started using some off brand versions, and most were good, not as good but good enough.

Now this is why I love the free market.  FURminator was able to keep its hold on some of its really unique stuff with patents but the basic concept is pretty simple.  So a bunch of Chinese hack shops and creative American entrepreneurs emulated it and sold a good product for a much lower price.  Instead of acting like a child and suing over an “idea” FURminator understood they were no longer alone in the market, adjusted pricing, still charges a bit more but now their price is fair for the product.  Well in almost every instance.

For some reason they are still charging 45 dollars for the “Giant Size Short Hair” version the good news is you don’t need it, and it isn’t that much bigger than the Large Size anyway.  For some odd reason the long hair giant one is no where nears as expensive.

So how much is the large sized one now that I scared you with 45 bucks for a freaking dog brush?  Try this, $14.89 while similar knock offs like the Brandismo Groomer sell for just a couple dollars less at $12.97.  It is almost like the free market works or something crazy like that.

So why not just save the buck ninety two and buy the knock off, I mean a buck is a buck right?  Yes but the FURminator is better and more that two dollars so.  The first reason is unlike the knock offs the FURminator can be bought for short or long hair dogs.  You make that call this way, if your dogs majority of hair (specifically undercoat) is 2 inches or longer buy the long.

If it is shorter on average buy the short version. In my experience if you are borderline buy the long.  What you don’t want to do is use the long version on a truly short haired dog or it can irritate the skin.  Personally we have the giant long hair model (17 bucks) for Lucy and Max (she is only 50 pounds and he is about 150) and it works fine for both of them.  We have a large short hair model (like 10 bucks) for Charlie.  Unless your dog is really small the large size seems best all around to me.

The amount of hair this thing removes is unbelievable.  The image below is from a Amazon Customer’s Review.  It is not an exaggeration, trust me we find dog hair in birds nests around our farm when Dorothy bushes Max during his spring blow outs.

There are a variety of sizes you can select from Extra Small to Giant.  The price changes with options of short and long as size but everything is in the 10-17 dollar range except the short hair giant one which again is 45 bucks.  I think the people at FURminator still haven’t gotten the memo on that one!  The rest are just great and very good values for the price.

The other big advantage of FURminator over knock offs is the hair removal button.  You push it with your thumb and a mechanism pushes the hair out of the fine comb.  You still need to pull it out by hand but it makes getting the comb fully clear a lot easier.   And that is the key to getting the most out of brushing your pups with the FURminator, clean it out as you go often.

So if you have had enough of dog hair or cat hair, yes they work on cats too and even have a cat specific model (though I think it is just the small dog one in a different color, marketing and all you know), check out the FURminator today.  Keep in mind this is a product with 4.5 out of 5 stars with over 10,000 yea, 10 fricken thousand reviews on Amazon.  Add to that it has a A grade on Fakespot and it is hard to find a product more well loved by its customers.  Try it and you will understand why.

Remember you can always find the TSP Amazon Item of the day by just going to TspAz.com and by shopping at TspAz.com anytime you shop online you help support TSP and the work we do here no matter what you buy.

P.S. – This is a great video showing this product work.  The resolution is poor and the music is like really bad 70s porn or something but this is the best video with the most variety of dogs being brushed I could find, yea it really and I mean really is the best thing on the market.

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Gaia Herbs Echinacea Goldenseal Propolis Throat Spray

Posted on November 2, 2017 by Modern Survival| 1 Comment

Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.

Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is Gaia Herbs Echinacea Goldenseal Propolis Throat Spray.  I just used this product for the past week and I am more than a little impressed.

This spray is made of three main ingredients and all are immune boosting power houses.  Of course due to the dot gov I have to say the following.  First I am not a Doctor, I don’t even pretend to be one on TV, like say Dr. Oz does.  So anything I say in this review or at any time is only my personal opinion, not a prescription for the use of any products.  Any claims about what they do are based on credible sources with citations of said sources.  The claims are not my own.

DON’T YOU JUST LOVE THE GOVERNMENT’S CONCERN FOR YOU?

Anyway here are the three ingredients…

    • Echinacea – Has been shown in some studies to boost immune response, reduce the occurrence of the common cold and increase white blood cell count.  Source – The Lancet
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    • Goldenseal – Has been shown to have a number of immune enhancing effects in clinical studies. However, in relation to this product the most important component is likely that goldenseal contains, “phytochemical alkaloids that produce a powerful astringent effect on mucous membranes, reduce disease-causing inflammation and have antiseptic effects.”  Source – DrAxe.com
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    • Propolis – Propolis does has proven antibiotic and antiseptic properties and may also have antiviral and anti-inflammatory – Source DrWeil.com

I personally feel this product is best used as a preventative or at the very first signs of a head cold, throat problems etc.  My personal results were quite good, but my use was delayed far more than it should have been.  I had been dealing with symptoms for about four days before beginning using it, laryngitis as you know if you listen to the show had set in pretty hard, I was having trouble sleeping due to sinus drainage etc.

I had used a spray in the past that was mostly just echinacea which had worked well but I realized I was out of it and that it is no longer made.  So I found this option gave it a shot.  Echinacea is well known in the herbal world as an immune booster, as is goldenseal. Both are used often by herbalists and are well thought of.

What I really loved though was the addition of propolis, propolis is basically “bee glue”.  Bees make propolis to seal up any unwanted holes in their hives.  This is one reason it is an anti viral and anti biotic, it is simply evolution that bees came up with this as it helps protect their hives.

Here is what even WebMD has to say about propolis…

Propolis has a long history of medicinal use, dating back to 350 B.C., the time of Aristotle. Greeks have used propolis for abscesses; Assyrians have used it for healing wounds and tumors; and Egyptians have used it for mummification….

Propolis is used for canker sores and infections caused by bacteria (including tuberculosis), by viruses (including flu, H1N1 “swine” flu, and the common cold), by fungus, and by single-celled organisms called protozoans. Propolis is also used for cancer of the nose and throat; for boosting the immune system; and for treating gastrointestinal (GI) problems including Helicobacter pylori infection in peptic ulcer disease. Propolis is also used as an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent.

In short if it is good enough for Aristotle I figure it is good enough for me.  Anyway my results again were quite good, I got my voice back sooner than expected.  The bottle advises three sprays to the back of the throat each hour when you have a cold or throat problems, that is what I did.

I tend to deal with a lot of cold issues this time of year, the combination of the changing seasons, travel, large events, etc. seems to be a common theme in such things.  I plan to use this 2-3 times a day while well though this season this year and see how it works.

It seems like a natural preparedness item as it will store well and is made of three well known immune supporting components.  What about the taste though?  Well let me relate a story, one time I cam in from working though I had not worked that hard.  I told the wife I think I need a shower and she said as follows, “well you don’t smell bad, but you don’t smell good either”.  That is a perfect description of the taste, “the taste isn’t bad, but it ain’t good either”.  It does have a bit of heat to it, so that might make it harder to get kids to use.  It goes away fast though.

The burn is likely because this product is a herbal tincture meaning it is a concentrated herbal formula using alcohol, about 60% alcohol in this instance balanced by water.  The amount in a few sprays is insignificant in alcohol’s effects on the body but I did want to let you know that it has alcohol in it since some of you refrain from any and all uses of said same. 

Anyway Gaia Herbs Echinacea Goldenseal Propolis Throat Spray has found a home in my herbal tool kit and my winter regime.  Consider adding it to your home this year.  I think this one is going to be on par with Dr. Christopher’s Tissue and Bone for happy stories from the audience.  Yes it seems to be that good.

Remember you can always find the TSP Amazon Item of the day by just going to TspAz.com and by shopping at TspAz.com anytime you shop online you help support TSP and the work we do here no matter what you buy.

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