I cannot believe I almost forgot it is Pearl Harbor Day!  I have not had the TV on all day but they are probably still talking about fake news and impeachment. This is a tragic day even all of these years later when you consider how many thousands of men died needlessly because of the war brought on by the German, Italian and Japanese forces. We are living in days of insanity again and you have to wonder if there is a cure for whatever is wrong with people who are so laden with hate and anger.

Let us spare some time and prayer for those who have died in wars and those maniacs who are trying to start the next one here and abroad. God bless our servicemen, honor them wherever they are around the globe. Keep them safe and bring them home soon.

Finally I am getting a breather. The semester has ended and the 2020 one doesn't start until late in January. In the meantime I have a lot of writing to do as well as editing. The covert knife book is getting so nice I am going nuts wanting it to be finished. I am in contact with a potential publisher in England.

I have recently added about a half dozen new clandestine knives to my collection and hope to squeeze them into the book as well. Had it not been for this delay i might have forgotten to include the two small daggers that belonged to Peter and Prudence Mason. I had specifically asked for photos of them from the museum in England where they are on loan. It would have been a shame to miss putting them in the book. That is part of the problem, sometimes an overload of material is available and only me to sort it out. Then there are other places where the information just doesn't exist or is too deeply buried. If I lived in England this would be a lot easier to ferret out. One of my sources in England has died and the other has serious cancer and also fallen quiet.

Here is one of those recent additions. It is a Military Mission dagger with very dense ebony scale handles attached with brass pins. The ricasso is stamped "1" and "1941" in a crooked line of numbers. The blued blade has been carefully sharpened to a keen edge. The sheath is interesting in having a standard F-S type chape on a leather sheath with the center seam running down the front. This is the second knife in our collection with the 1941 date.

Just this morning I finished all of the paperwork for the college student grading so now its on to work revising my gas engine textbook and getting an ISBN number for it to please the college book store. Yes also to work on the covert daggers book. We're hoping the IT dept where my daughter works can salvage the stuff stored on her hard drive. Keep your fingers crossed. I'll post again before too long. Have a great weekend.