I just got finished photographing all the remaining boxes and their contents. That pretty much shot the morning and I need to mow the grass before I start posting those images.
...but in an act of blatant procrastination (regarding the mowing), I'm going to explain a couple of things that might not be clear to some folks scattered around the world - perhaps even in the USA.
Estate Sale
When I was a youngster, growing up on a farm in the turbulent 60's, when a person passed away and his/her heirs were dealing with the detritus of the estate there would be an auction.
Now, at least in this part of the world (metro Atlanta Georgia USA), the solution to that issue is generally not an auction but an Estate "Tag Sale". A business comes onto the property of the deceased and labels (tags) almost everything with a price. Generally these Estate Sales last 2 to 4 days. The first day there is usually no movement on the price but each day thereafter the price is reduced by a percentage - so 100% the first day, 25% off the tagged price the second day and 50% the third day, etc. Towards the end of the multi-day event, deals are made for large lots of whatever is left. The financial results of the sale are divided in some fashion between the heirs and the business running the sale.
Mountain House Freeze Dried Meal
In the USA there is a company that makes Freeze Dried Meals for Backpackers. The Company started in the late 60's as a civilian offshoot of a supplier of Freeze Dried Meals for the US Military (Oregon Freeze Dry). Apparently an Outdoor Supply Company called REI Co-op sent a rather informal letter to Oregon Freeze Dry asking if they might make meals for backpackers. Mountain House is still in business and doing quite well. I have been a loyal customer for over 15 years.
The History of Mountain House
The Estate Sale I bought the LRP's & LRP components from also had a LOT of vintage Mountain House food. If I open up the "Resealed MRE to LRP Converted Meals", that are relabeled as something other Pork or Beef, I'm betting there's going to be a vintage Mountain House meal inside.
This is part of what was at the Estate Sale and is probably from the late 70's to late 80's. As mentioned earlier in this thread, I bought all the food. HA!
The last part of this "off-topic intermission" is to provide some speculation into the mindset of the original owner of this food ...and other items in his basement.
The packing slips on the boxes of the Individual items from SI Equipment had an address of 295 Luckie Street, Atlanta GA as the recipient's address. At first I thought this was the address of a middle-man or a retail business but, upon further review, I have determined that this address was somehow associated with the person that put all this in his basement.
295 Luckie Street no longer exists as that address (and a lot more) was wiped slick (Urban Renewal) to provide some space in downtown Atlanta for the 1996 Olympics. This is now the location of Centennial Park. In the late 80's, when the purchase of all this food was made, that address was in a VERY interesting area. My wife was a flight attendant, based in Atlanta, for Eastern Airlines in the 80's. I remember going to downtown Atlanta for some reason and I was walking on a street very close to the 295 Luckie Street address. The main reason I remember being there was a large billboard type sign, high on a building, that read: "Welcome to Atlanta - The most dangerous city in America." below that was a running total of the murders, rapes, armed robberies, etc.
I'm sure the city fathers loved the citizen that paid for that billboard. HA!
Anyway, perhaps the above gives a partial insight into the motivations of the original owner of these rations.
We will return to the the unboxing of these rations this evening.
Scott