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Post by 9idrr on Mar 21, 2021 20:29:28 GMT -6
Slow progress is better than no progress. I'm sure you'd much rather be fully healed already, but think of all the mental exercise you can get 'til you regain your manual dexterity.
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Post by papaof2 on Mar 23, 2021 17:14:49 GMT -6
Speaking of manual dexterity - I managed to button the cuff on the sleeve of the good hand with the surgery hand today. Probably took a minute, but it's the first time in 6 weeks I could do it at all. Today's therapy session got into the serious work of 'range of motion'.
"Just relax, and tell me if it's too much."
She's a petite little thing - she was standing on a stool to manage a hand paraffin wrap for a somewhat taller person - but she sure can apply pressure in painful ways :-( I did a lot of "Stop there" as she bent my wrist back and forth and waggled my thumb. I went home with instructions to ice the hand again... I did ;-)
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Post by texican on Mar 23, 2021 18:56:31 GMT -6
She's a petite little thing - she was standing on a stool to manage a hand paraffin wrap for a somewhat taller person - but she sure can apply pressure in painful ways
Yep, PT is notorious for using pretty petite young ladies to take guys minds off what is fixing to happen to them, but only works for a few bends and pulls and pushes.
pp2,
Icing down helps. You can get the extremities cold enough that there is minimal if not any feeling until they start thawing.
So times the cure is nearly as bad as the problem.
Texican....
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Post by papaof2 on Mar 23, 2021 19:17:18 GMT -6
My most frequently used phrase during PT is probably "I don't like you today".
However, she can't be too bad - she likes PAW fiction ;-)
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Post by papaof2 on Mar 26, 2021 21:47:31 GMT -6
Chapter 30
Saturday, 29 April, 2028, 05:40 CDT
"Blueberry waffles, love?"
"That's a 'sixth sense' item, Jack."
"About what? The power outage?"
"I'm not sure, just that something isn't right."
"That's not an answer I wanted to hear, especially when your 'sixth sense' is so often correct. We'll know in a few hours?"
"I'm positive."
---
Saturday, 29 April, 2028, 06:00 CDT
'This is WWWH-FM news at 6AM. Alabama Power has announced that they may not be able to obtain repair parts for the Henry and Holt plants for perhaps a year, due to shipping not being available from South Korea and truck transport from Canada possibly being shut down next week to prevent further cross-border infections. This will extend the four hours on and eight hours off power schedule indefinitely, with adjustments being made as more workers are sick and more plants are running at reduced output or possibly shut down. Any changes will be announced at least four hours before they happen so people will have an opportunity so store water or shop for groceries before additional outages occur.
'Nationally, the CDC has announced that they are unable to get sufficient data from US hospitals to have an accurate count on infections and deaths from 2028NK but consider that doubling yesterday's estimates of five million infected and four million deaths is probably conservative, making today's numbers at least ten million infected and eight million dead. There has also been a loss of local utilities - water, sewage treatment, natural gas plus landline and cell phones - in locations without full-time power.
'Internationally, there's little to report as the shortwave broadcast stations which had been providing information are mostly off the air. We can only assume that 2028NK has affected their staffs and/or their power.
'WWWH-FM would like to thank Sheriff Paul Tucker and his deputized guards for protecting our generator and our fuel supply so we can continue to provide information to the community. Since 9AM yesterday, seven people have been arrested and four shot, two of them fatally.
'We'll be back in two hours.'
"You were right, Jack. People did make the connection about the station having diesel. But not that it might be protected."
"And now that they know the protection might include deadly force, they're not likely to have many more attempts."
"I wonder if the bodies are up on poles. Perhaps at the gate leading to their transmitter site?"
"Good location. I'll be out welding for a while."
"You want me to remind you of the news at 8AM or make notes?"
"Remind me. I'll need a break by then."
"Will do."
---
"Jack, news in five minutes."
"I'll turn the welder off and come in to wash up."
Saturday, 29 April, 2028, 08:00 CDT
'From some NSA research which was released today by the President, WWWH-FM has learned that 2028NK was a weapon developed by the Chinese equivalent of the CIA for their program to take over the world. However, reports leaking out of China indicate massive numbers of infected and dead and an estimate of the disease being 98% fatal to people of Chinese ancestry. Satellite images indicate almost no human activity in any Chinese city. Satellites monitoring electronic emissions indicate near-zero radio communications of any type in most of the country. The status of automated factories and power plants - in particular their nuclear plants - is not known at this time. Without personnel and auxiliary power, the nuclear plants could go into meltdown as happened at Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi. Explosive failures at those plants could spread nuclear materials over other countries. Some of the automated factories could spread dangerous or deadly chemicals across the areas near them if not shut down correctly. Scientists say some areas of China could become a chemical wasteland worse than the Bhopal methyl isocyanate disaster in 1984.
'Alabama Power has confirmed that they will not be able to provide more than 65% of their total capacity before the failures occurred on April 26. This means the rotating blackouts will continue for an unknown length of time. Repairs to damaged transmission lines are limited by the number of people able to work and are proceeding much slower than usual. They did not provide a target date for complete power restoration.
'We'll be back in two hours.'
"Not exactly news to some of us, love, other than the infection having been engineered backwards. I would think they intended 98% Chinese survival and somewhat lower other ethnic survival to have world domination."
"I seem to remember you mentioning they were hiding 'more than a trade secret'."
"It seems they were. Will people wait a few years for 2028NK to mostly burn out and then go out on sailing ships to explore what's left of the world? Maybe with some solar power for lights and pumps?"
"Sailing ships would at least have motive 'power'. How long would the GPS satellites stay up without attention?"
"I suspect they get minor orbit and clock time corrections on perhaps a monthly basis and might be OK for a year but would lose accuracy if they drifted far from their assigned orbits or their on-board clocks drifted much from each other. On the other hand, most cities would have a large enough GPS 'presence' that, while the GPS might not know which road you're on, it could still point you in the general direction of a destination. A GPS plus a road atlas should work on land. A marine GPS should still be able to get you to a port city but might not be accurate on where the shoals and sandbars are located at that point in time. I have no idea what might still be in orbit in five years."
"Well, the travelers might still have excellent maps, compasses, timepieces and astrolabes to determine their positions as they traveled. There was regular passenger traffic on the world's oceans and in the skies long before the advent of GPS."
"Lots of travel was done by the stars and a compass, love. I'm thinking I should give serious consideration to allotting some fuel or perhaps just some horse time to grading our dirt road to keep it passable by at least horse and foot traffic."
"Maybe bicycles as well?"
"Anything that doesn't need a petroleum-based fuel."
---
Saturday, 29 April, 2028, 08:20 CDT
Bee-deep!
"Gate camera, love. It's Katie."
'Yes, Katie?'
'Miz Wilson! It's awful! Before daylight Daddy starting yelling about the snakes and monsters and he was bleeding from his eyes and nose! Then Charley came in to help me when Daddy started jerking and Charley was bleeding too! I went to check the twins and they were just jerking and bleeding! I need a hug!'
"Jack, she has blood on her clothes!"
"Masks and gloves for both of us, love, and a Tyvek suit plus goggles for you. Take her to the decon shower on the back porch and get her undressed and fully washed down. We have a good idea what's happened but she needs the release of telling you about it. Digital audio recorder in your pocket so we don't miss anything."
'Katie, I'll open the gate and meet you out front.'
'Yes, Ma'am.'
"Jack, check for clothes for Katie. I don't think she'll want to go back to the house and we have plenty of bedrooms here. Based on the time since Doug brought the infection home, Katie appears to be either one of the five per cent that are immune or one of the 25% that high dose Tamiflu actually works for. Goggles and a Tyvek suit before you go in their house."
"Tyvek coverall in the duffel, along with boot covers and a full-face respirator plus gloves and some other things. I'll drive down so I can bring back some of Katie's clothes and maybe a favorite blanket or stuffed animal. I should check for canned food?"
"Anything in glass, metal or plastic which can be adequately cleaned."
"I'll take some plastic totes that can be sanitized."
"That'll work."
---
"I have you, Katie. Mr. Wilson will go check on your family. While he does that, I want you in the shower back here to get the blood off so I can check that you're OK."
"Yes, Ma'am."
---
"She's asleep, love?"
"After the shower for cleaning her hair and body, a twenty minute soak in a tub of warm water with a few drops of lavender oil, a cup of hot chocolate plus a half tablet of children's diphenhydramine to calm her down and twenty minutes with her head on my shoulder and my arm around her."
"She chose the REM shirt?"
"She liked the logo and it makes a good gown for a petite ten-year-old."
"It does."
"Status of the rest of her family, Jack?"
"They're all dead. The reports on the North Korean soldier said about four hours from tearing off his clothes to bleeding out and it looks as though Doug and the other kids didn't last any longer than that. Other than the blood Katie had on her from trying to get a lucid response from the others, her other clothes and her room were clean. I have her and Charley's bottles of Tamiflu. There was unopened Tamiflu in the kitchen and no blood in there so I have Doug's allotment of capsules and the oral suspension allotments for the twins. Who tells Katie, love? You? Me? Both?"
"Probably best if it's the both of us and she has a choice of hugs and shoulders. After we tell her and then get her calmed down again, we can ask if she wants us to move her bedroom furnishings here or just her clothes and things."
"I brought enough clothes for a few days so that's not urgent. I'll write this up for Sheriff Tucker so he'll know what happened when and who did or didn't survive. I'll include hearing Doug Jones apparently coming back from town drunk several days ago."
"You have the exact date and time in your journal?"
"Yes, love. The journal has proven to be a useful record of who was infected where and when and how long they survived but we don't know whether Doug was at the bar earlier that week. I saw Linda, our mail carrier; she said the welfare checks were delivered on 18 April so what we heard could have been Doug's return from his second trip to town. I'll include that with the other info I give Paul."
"Then we could back up ten days from yesterday to get the day of his first trip - probably the afternoon/evening of 18 April and today is 29 April so the disease is right on schedule. I can address the Tamiflu bottles you found. Katie told me that Charley and the twins didn't think the Tamiflu was important if their Daddy didn't take it so Charley told Katie to take his so I wouldn't know he wasn't taking it."
"Damn! Be different if Charley had done it to protect his sister instead of just staying out of trouble with you - but we do know that the recommended 'high dose' may not be enough for all the people Tamiflu could save; it's even better if that dose is doubled. We'll do that if we encounter another case early in the infection cycle. We can see about doubling someone else's Tamiflu with the bottles I brought back."
"I've already made that note in my journal. I've thought of some additions to her bedroom suite."
"Yes?"
"Family pictures - things on the wall or in albums but some of those will need to be decontaminated before they come into this house. The big Family Bible that belonged to Molly's grandmother. There's probably a lot of family history that Katie doesn't know and that added 'family' might help her in dealing with the loss."
"OK. What else?"
"Maybe some family heirlooms? Perhaps some special dishes or some handmade quilts or the like?"
"You need to talk with her when she wakes. While you get her dressed, ask about other clothes and the bedroom suite and expand that with the 'Anything else?' options."
"Sneaky but good interrogation, Mr. Wilson."
"Thank you, Mrs. Wilson."
"You'll be out welding?"
"Until you call me to help you with Katie. Should we ask her about being Hiram's 'housekeeper', even if it is more of being his 'follow the rules' keeper?"
"Maybe tomorrow or the next day. She might feel better about herself if she's in the position of taking care of someone else."
---
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Post by cavsgt on Mar 27, 2021 8:32:53 GMT -6
Welcome addition to the story. A meal for the MOAR Hounds.
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Post by papaof2 on Apr 6, 2021 16:18:57 GMT -6
Chapter 31
Saturday, 29 April, 2028, 11:40 CDT
"This ain't my bed. Or my room. Daddy!!"
"Will I do, Katie?"
"Oh… Hi, Miz Wilson. Daddy and the others were jerking and bleeding and wouldn't talk to me so I came here… Hold me!"
"I have you, Katie. For as long as you need me."
"Mr. Wilson went to check on the others?"
"He did, Katie."
"They didn't make it?"
"I'm sorry, Katie, but they didn't. We're not sure, but Charley giving you his medicine might be what saved you."
"But he just didn't want you to yell at him…"
"Have I ever yelled at you?"
"Only when Mr. Wilson was backing up the tractor and I started to run behind it."
"And why did I yell?"
"To keep me safe… You wouldn't have yelled at Charley but you woulda had a long talk with him?"
"Yes, smart girl."
"I ain't smart - see, I even say 'ain't' and Daddy was always yelling about us being stupid."
"Katie, there's a lot of difference between being stupid and not able to understand things and being uneducated and not yet knowing the best way to say or do things. You figured out that I would not have yelled at Charley so you're smart. We just need to ensure that you get the education you need. Would you be interested in learning more?'
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Do you remember meeting Mister Hiram here?"
"With the Santa Claus beard?"
"Yes, he has a white beard."
"He's family to you?"
"Yes, he's my uncle - that's something else this smart girl remembered. Mister Hiram was caring for one of his horses when a wasp stung the horse and the horse ran over him. Now Mister Hiram has a bruised foot that he can't walk on and a broken arm that keeps him from using crutches to get around. Do you remember what I said Mister Hiram did?"
"He was a schoolteacher?"
"Correct. Would you be interested in helping him with animal chores and doing some cooking for him in exchange for him being your teacher so you can get that education you want?"
"How would I get there?"
"We could do things two ways. You could ride Buttermilk over in the mornings to fix his breakfast and something for him to eat later in the day and you'd take care of the animals and maybe have some class time and then you'd come back here or you could have a room at his house so you wouldn't be riding back and forth in the rain."
"Could we do the 'ride over' for a while and I can change my mind later?"
"You need more time with 'almost family'?"
"You're the closest to a grandma I've ever known."
"Then we'll do that for a while. You've ridden before?"
"A little, at Grandpa Miller's house. They kept one horse mostly for doing the garden but he'd let me ride him sometimes."
"Ride with a saddle and you controlling the reins?"
"The last time we were there. He said I did OK."
"Then you need to get to know our horses and they need to get to know you. One of us will introduce you tomorrow and then you can help with feeding and grooming."
"Grooming? You mean the brushing?"
"Yes."
"Grandpa Miller's horse liked that."
"So you know one way to be friends with a horse. We'll talk more about horses later. Now some local housekeeping. Do you want Mr. Wilson to move your bedroom furniture to one of the rooms here or just your clothes and things?"
"All of it if you have room 'cause it was Momma's Momma's bed. And the silver teapot that belonged to Momma's Momma that Momma hid in the big churn so Daddy couldn't pawn it to buy beer. And the green and yellow quilt that Momma's Momma made for me before I was born. And some of the pictures if they don't have blood… Hold me!"
"I think the number of 'Hold me' that you're experiencing tell me that you should live here for a while…"
"Yes!"
"Then when Mr. Wilson comes in from working outside, I'll tell him that we need to move everything in your bedroom here. Meanwhile, let's get you dressed for the day."
"There's clothes other than the bloody ones?"
"The bloody ones went in a bucket to soak so the blood wouldn't set before they're washed. Mr. Wilson brought back enough of your clothes for a few days so let's go look through them and you pick some for today. Then I want you to go with me to the unused bedrooms and see if there's one you want to move into."
"Hold my hand?"
"Yes."
---
"Jack!"
"Coming, love. I need to contact Bob Sanders about getting his Farmall over here."
"After you talk with Katie. She may be in 'Hold me' mode as she was several times while we talked about what happened. We can do a burial?"
"Some of the wooden crates that replacement parts came in will suffice for caskets for Charley and the twins. I might need something bigger for Doug. I'd need to suit up for that and probably have Dave suit up to help me with Doug and then the loaded caskets. Should we try to clean the wood furnishings there for future use or just burn the place?"
"Now that you've mentioned burning, perhaps a funeral pyre would be a safer disposal than a burial that might affect the groundwater."
"I do have plenty of pine logs that won't be used in the stoves or fireplaces so I can make a big fire with lots of smoke to add to the burn and that will get the temperature up to the 2000F needed for cremation. I certainly don't want to use diesel or gasoline."
"You can build a pyre that will work?"
"If the caskets are side-by-side with less than a foot between them, I can build a fire that will do the job."
"Jack, we need to talk with Katie about the pyre instead of ground burial."
"She's a smart kid. I think she'll understand the 'keeping other people safe' part of it. We talk with her and then I get Dave to help me put things in place. Then we can have a funeral and light the fire. Are the Viking books still in the bookcase near the fireplace? A story from one of those about honoring the dead with a pyre might be a good lead-in to our discussion. And maybe put some of the ashes in the big stoneware crock I saw and we bury that and put up a marker with all the names and dates on it?"
"You go read and I'll go talk with Janet and Dave."
"As soon as I'm back inside."
---
"Mr. Wilson, I thought they put Vikings in a ship and set it on fire with a flaming arrow."
"You've seen too many movies, Katie. They tend to take an idea and make it look good on the big screen, whether their 'look good' is accurate or not. Let me show you something. Let's take this piece of paper and fold it up into a sort of boat and hold the edges together with tape."
"Funny looking boat but it does float in the bucket."
"Now if I use this lighter as my 'flaming arrow' and light this side of it…"
"OK. It's burning - but it goes out when it gets to the water."
"Water often extinguishes a fire."
"The same woulda happened to a wood boat?"
"Correct, smart girl. The early Vikings often cremated their dead but if they used a boat, it was a small boat and it was on land - usually a funeral pyre to have enough big wood to actually get the fire hot enough to burn the bodies."
"And you wanna do that so the blood and stuff doesn't run into the groundwater and get into somebody's well?"
"Yes, smart girl."
"I like being your smart girl. Can you be my Grandpa and Miz Wilson be my Grandma?"
"I'm honored that you would ask and I'd be happy to be Katie's Grandpa. You will have to share us, as our son Tom and his wife Erin have a daughter named Lily who is six and they'll be here tomorrow."
"I know how to share. She's six? That's the same as the twins… Hold me?"
---
"Jack, the boxes for the two pieces of the combine's auger will just fit the younger kids. What about the other boy and the man?"
"Charley's taller than the twins but he's very skinny so the other pair of boxes about that size can be put end-to-end for him. I think this old plywood cabinet will work for Doug if we take the shelves out of it."
"You have paint to cover the oval Ford logo on some of the boxes?"
"I think the paint color is 'Hammered Bronze' but it's close enough to a dark woodgrain and it's latex enamel so it can be put on with a roller and will be dry enough to be handled in a couple of hours."
"We'll have the funeral today?"
"Better than having Tom, Erin and Lily encounter it cold tomorrow."
"True. Will all those logs burn out by tomorrow?"
"That's a definite maybe. We may need someone to be on firewatch until it does."
"I'll take the first shift after midnight and I'll ask Janet to take the next one. You and Susan will need your rest to be able to handle a grieving child plus getting three more people in the house tomorrow."
"Thanks. We'll let the two of you do that."
---
"Jack, this is the last casket?"
"Yes, Dave. This old scaffolding isn't safe for doing work from but it will suffice to support the caskets above the fire. The big pine logs, some strategically placed smaller split pine firewood and some branches with dry needles are arranged to be lit on both sides to get the fire going hot as quickly as possible. You and I will have grill lighters and we'll light this after the 'Amen' of the brief service Susan wrote."
"Nice to have a cue that I can't miss."
"Funerals with a child survivor are always hard for the adults so we'll try to make it easy for ourselves. I expect that Susan or I will have a sobbing child on a shoulder when the fire is lit, if not sooner."
"I hate to say it, but better one of you than me. You have had experience with children in all sorts of circumstances and I have no idea what to expect or what to do for them."
"You may get some experience today. Aunt Janet and Uncle Dave could also be called on for hugs or lap time."
"Jack, I've never seen a kid put family relationships together that fast. I was speechless when Katie told Janet 'If I'm their granddaughter and you're their daughter, since you're not my Momma you must be my aunt.'"
"I called her 'smart girl' for some other things she pulled together like that earlier today. It seems I was correct when I told her she just needed some education to bring out those smarts."
"I agree."
---
Saturday, 29 April, 2028, 19:30 CDT
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to say goodbye to…"
'In your lap, Grandpa?'
'Yes, Katie.'
"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust…"
'And a hug?'
'Yes.'
"… in hope of the resurrection in the last days. Amen."
"Will you let your Grandma hold you, Katie?"
"Un huh."
Click!
Whoosh!
Click!
Whoosh!
"How'd the fire get so big so fast?"
"Your new Grandpa knows a lot about building fires. You should ask him when we're back at the house. He can explain and maybe draw you some pictures."
"OK. I wanna know how."
---
"Mr. Wi… Grandpa, how'd you make the fire get so big so fast?"
"Katie, there's an art to building fires and part of that is knowing which wood to use and how to place it. What do you remember of how the wood was placed?"
"There was big logs at the bottom but they weren't on the ground - they were up on some bricks."
"Why would I build it that way?"
"So can burn all the way down? If it was on the ground, it'd be like the paper boat and stop part way down."
"That's my smart girl. What else do you remember?"
"There was lots of small branches with dead needles on them. Because anything pine burns fast and the dry stuff burns the fastest?"
"That's another smart girl answer."
"Can I help with the marker you're gonna make?"
"You can and you may."
"Huh?"
"'Can' is able to do something. 'May' is permission to do something. I think you're able to help and you have permission to help. In the morning, I'll show you my idea for the marker and you can help me make it."
"You're doing 'teacher' stuff."
"I think I said that you needed to be educated. You can learn things almost anywhere, not just at a school."
"I'm gonna like livin' here."
---
"She's asleep, love?"
"Yes, Jack. She finally gave in to her grief - mostly for Charley and the twins - and cried herself to sleep. I did have her get in her jammies and then brush and floss before she got head-on-my-shoulder time. If you can pick her up, I'll go turn down the bed."
"As you wish."
"You'll be telling her that?"
"As soon as we have a movie night with popcorn."
"Perhaps tomorrow night? Might be a good time for a family movie."
"Sounds good to me. We can watch TV by the light of a kerosene lamp."
"You want to see if Katie or Lily spots the incongruity of having those things together?"
"If one of them does, I can tell them that if it hadn't been for Thomas Edison, we'd have always watched TV and used computers by the light of a kerosene lamp."
"You goof! You're looking to see how much pun-ishment you might be able to inflict on them."
"You might be correct. After she's down, I'll take my hours watching the fire. Dave and Janet will take the hours after midnight so we can be rested up for a possibly long day tomorrow."
"I can see the possibilities of a very long day. We wake Katie to help with chores?"
"Might as well. She's 'family' so she can do the things she's able to do. We also need to get the chickens, pigs and cows from her place and move them here. The cows can be led but better if the chickens are in boxes or cages and the pigs need to be herded into a trailer to make moving them easier. Maybe I should take a generator and hook the well pump up when we go to burn the house?"
"Probably a good idea. You and Dave?"
"Yes. We need to move Katie's bedroom furnishings out and see what, if anything, can be salvaged from the kitchen or other rooms before we burn the house. If the floors had linoleum or vinyl on them, I might consider just burning the other beds and bedding but we'd never get all of the blood from between the not-well-laid wood flooring or off the paneled walls. I should ensure that the outbuildings and the LP tank survive as those are now Katie's property."
"You'll talk to her before you burn it?"
"And use the same reasons as the funeral pyre - keeping other people safe. If the crime scene cleaners were still available via phone or internet, this might be a job for them but I don't think we have the tools or the knowledge to do a proper house cleanup after what might be Ebola-related deaths."
"True."
---
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Post by 9idrr on Apr 6, 2021 18:41:39 GMT -6
Please thank your muse for me.
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Post by texican on Apr 6, 2021 19:54:04 GMT -6
Thanks pp2 for the chapter.
Texican....
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Post by ydderf on Apr 7, 2021 15:57:26 GMT -6
Huge chapter thank you PP2 and your muse deserves thanks also.
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Post by papaof2 on Apr 7, 2021 17:30:43 GMT -6
This is work the muse did last year - I'm still slowly tweaking and posting. Still nothing after Chapter 40 :-( Haven't heard from either muse since early January - unless you want a four line ending (have two of those).
Maybe the doctor's next round of testing (later this month) will have something positive...
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Post by udwe on Apr 7, 2021 18:42:42 GMT -6
Anyway you can bribe those muses? This is a wonderful story!
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Post by papaof2 on Apr 7, 2021 18:59:26 GMT -6
I'm keeping the dark chocolate M&M's, the Nutella, the premium vanilla ice cream and Special Dark chocolate syrup available plus dark Kisses, Dove and Hershey's Nuggets as an "Easter basket" - but no signs of a muse. My better half bought some cookies that were on sale at the grocery store today - I think the name is "Captiva", but I would describe them as "Death by Chocolate" ;-) Nothing yet from either muse... Maybe they went to their home planet of Sol3Equiv in the Alpha Centauri system for Christmas and all the spaceship pilots have contracted Covid-19 so they can't get back here?
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Post by texican on Apr 7, 2021 22:43:31 GMT -6
Nothing yet from either muse... Maybe they went to their home planet of Sol3Equiv in the Alpha Centauri system for Christmas and all the spaceship pilots have contracted Covid-19 so they can't get back here?
Covid has screwed up lots.
Texican....
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Post by ydderf on Apr 8, 2021 12:47:12 GMT -6
Muses,being neither slaves nor indentured servants we must muster our patience and wait. Positive prayers towards the doctor's.
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Post by udwe on Apr 8, 2021 20:19:23 GMT -6
Send out an SOS?
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Post by papaof2 on Apr 23, 2021 22:42:37 GMT -6
Chapter 32
Sunday, 30 April, 2028, 05:40 CDT
"Good morning, sweet girl."
"Good morning, Miz… Grandma. Will you wake me up with a kiss on my forehead every day?"
"For a few days, we thought you might like a different way of waking up. If we can find a battery powered alarm clock - or maybe an old wind-up clock, you can also have your own alarm if you choose to."
"I sure do like it better than Daddy throwing cold water on me to get us up for chores. Will I have chores?"
"When we bring your animals here, they will be your responsibility."
"My animals?"
"You are the surviving child so you inherit the family's property which includes the animals so they are your animals."
"I'm a kid that owns a farm and some animals. Am I rich?"
"The way things seem to be going with the 2028NK 'flu', having animals, a place to keep them, a well for water, a garden and land for farming or pasture could be seen as making you very rich."
"Nobody will say 'trailer trash' now?"
"You didn't live in a trailer before and you know we'd never call a smart girl 'trash'. That house is small but it's certainly not a trailer. Remember what we need to do about the blood in many rooms?"
"Like the funeral pyre. If you can't clean it good enough, you hafta burn it to be sure none of the bad stuff is left. Burn everything?"
"Just the house. The chicken coop, the barn and the pig pen are also wood which would be difficult to clean but they don't have any contaminated blood in or on them."
"'Cause none of the sick ones were outside to do chores. That means I gotta do chores from yesterday and today!"
"What if we get you some help with getting two days' chores done today?"
"You'll help me? Why?"
"Maybe because you claimed us as 'family' and family helps each other?"
"Family with you is good."
"Then up, potty, wash your hands and get dressed and you can help me cook for that family."
"I get to cook?"
"For things you show me that you can do safely. If you don't know how to do something, we'll teach you."
"I'm gonna like livin' here!"
---
"We have a new cook?"
"We do, Jack. She's been learning to use the stovetop waffle irons."
"They're heavy to move or turn but the waffles sure do look good!"
"Then I guess we should see how good those waffles taste and then go do chores."
"Me too?"
"Can you milk a cow or feed pigs or feed chickens or gather eggs?"
"I can do all that."
"Then I'll have a helper when I go out for chores. Which job to you like best?"
"The milking, 'cause it's nice to be snuggled up against a warm cow."
"Then I'll show you how we wash Petunia's udder and you can show me how you milk."
"Your cow is named Petunia?"
"Shouldn't the family's animals have fun names? One horse is Silver and the other is Buttermilk."
"Funny names for horses. Where'd they come from?"
"Some very old Western movies and TV shows. We might have a movie night next week and have a double feature with a horse named Silver in one movie and a horse named Buttermilk in the other one."
"Two movies?"
"These are short movies but I think you and Lily will like them."
"Lily? Oh - she's your other granddaughter."
"Yes, smart girl."
"We can make the marker today?"
"After chores. Janet, Dave; status of the pyre?"
"Burned out except for a few bits of the bigger logs, Dad, but there's nothing close that could catch and there's no wind. I collected some items from the ashes and put them in that black crock so it's ready for later."
"We see if there's a 6AM newscast and then we work on chores."
---
'This is the 6AM news from WWWH-FM. Nationally, the power status is rotating blackouts over much of the country because only the hydro plants are still functioning at full capacity in many areas. Coal-fired plants need coal miners and they need electric power for the mining equipment, diesel is needed for the trains that move the coal and people are needed to man those trains and the power plants 24/7. Natural gas-fired plants need people at the natural gas wells, along the pipelines, at the power plants and power all along the pipelines. Nuclear plants have already been shut down by the IAEA because their potential for catastrophic failure even at low levels of absenteeism is greater than any of the other plants. Many cities have no fuel for public service vehicles and police are using horse, bicycle and foot patrols in areas where there is still a police presence. Many cities have no food stocks as the three days of food at the grocery stores have been exhausted with no trucks running in those areas because there is no fuel available.
'Locally, Alabama Power has confirmed that they will have the coal- and natural-gas-fired power plants running as long as they can get fuel but that they have no guarantee how long that will be. The natural gas supply is only as reliable as the pipelines and those are losing power in other areas. The coal supply may be limited to the ten day stockpile at each plant. The coal-fired plants could be cut back to running only one generator but that could reduce power cycle to two hours on and ten hours off for all customers in the state, at least as long as they have enough people to keep one generator running. That cycle should keep most fridges and freezers cold enough to preserve food if their doors receive only minimal openings.
'We'll be back in two hours.'
"He sounds about as happy to be delivering that news as we are to hear it."
"He does, love, but our stock of food is somewhat better than that…"
"Better than the grocery store, Grandpa?"
"Much better, Katie. Do you remember how big our garden is?"
"It's huge!"
"Huge in your eyes, perhaps, but it is much bigger than the one at your place. We also have a big pantry in the basement…"
"All the Mason jars and stuff?"
"Yes, smart girl. We'll also be canning and drying things we grow this year to have enough put back for the winter for all of us."
"You'll be farming my land too?"
"We will be. We need to be able to feed six adults and two kids for a long time so we'll farm as many acres as we can while our fuel lasts and then we might be farming with horses."
"You know how? Teach me?"
"I'll be glad to teach you, Katie. Now we need to do chores and then we make the marker we talked about yesterday and then we go secure your animals and do our other burning work."
"I have the milk pail."
---
"I thought the radio said power was off? I don't hear a generator so how do you have power for the radio?"
"Let's go to the other side of the barn."
"OK."
"Look up at the roof."
"Looks funny."
"That 'funny' is the solar panels that convert sunlight into electricity…"
"How?"
"That's an explanation for later when we're back in the house. The electricity from those panels comes through these controllers which keep the batteries at the charge level that will make them last the longest and this inverter takes power from the batteries to make the electricity that runs the fridge, freezer, radio and the lights."
"Could anybody do this?"
"If they have the knowledge and the money to do it themselves or the money to have someone do it for them."
"Cheaper if you know how?"
"Almost always."
"They could do this for the whole state?"
"Alabama Power has solar plants at Fort Rucker and Anniston but they don't have a place to put batteries big enough to power the whole state."
"So that's just power in the daytime?"
"Correct, smart girl. When do people run their air conditioning the most?"
"It's hottest in the afternoon… So this works good then but not at night so they need the other power plants that can make electricity all the time."
"Very good, smart girl. You're having a hard time carrying that pail of milk so I'll take it inside while you feed and water the chickens and collect the eggs."
"And you'll help me with the pigs?"
"After I get the milk in the fridge."
---
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Post by 9idrr on Apr 24, 2021 18:46:29 GMT -6
Thanks to you and your muse.
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Post by texican on Apr 25, 2021 13:47:41 GMT -6
Thanks pp2 for the chapter.
Texican....
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Post by papaof2 on Apr 25, 2021 14:23:15 GMT -6
I'm still waiting for regular muse contributions, but one of them did provide a very short new chapter - so we now have Chapter 41 in the story's future. First new chapter this year.
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Post by ydderf on Apr 26, 2021 8:16:21 GMT -6
Thank you and your muse.
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Post by papaof2 on May 2, 2021 21:34:01 GMT -6
Chapter 33
Sunday, 30 April, 2028, 07:30 CDT
"The little router thingy makes nice deep letters in the wood but it sure is noisy. These earmuffs help with the noise. It runs on the electricity from the solar panels?"
"Indirectly, yes. I think I promised you some diagrams of how that works but that can wait until we're back inside. When you finish that date, we have some dark paint to go in the routed letters so they will be easy to read and then we can…"
Roar!
Rattle!
Chug! Chug!
"What was that?"
"A truck running not very well on old or dirty gasoline and they're going in the direction of Katie's farm."
"My farm? Oh - it is!"
"And we need to see who's headed there. To the house, quickly!"
---
"Jack, we're all armed. I have my .308. Janet has her .223 and we'll take the quiet UTV along the trail and come in behind Katie's barn while you and Susan make a somewhat louder entry at the front."
"We have radios with VOX so our comms are hands-free and the throat mikes and earbuds make them almost silent. I saw what I think was a yellow crewcab truck and Doug's brother Bo is the only one I know with a vehicle like that. I don't trust him as far as I can throw that truck so I'm sure he's up to no good. We don't know how many of them there are but I'd expect up to as many as that crewcab can carry. They won't know that we have Kevlar vests or AP ammunition or that we have better knowledge of the property than they do, thanks to Katie. She'll give the first 'Leave my stuff alone' warning and we'll back her up. Any questions?"
"Shoot to kill?"
"Yes, love. I'm sure that will be their intent."
"Then let's go!"
---
"Uncle Bo! What are you doing on my farm?"
"Your farm, girl? I don't think so. This was Doug's place and I'm his brother so this is mine now. Just need to wash the blood off the beds and we can move in. Now get out of the way or I'll shoot you."
"DROP THE GUN, BO!"
"Who do you think you are?"
"The neighbor who Katie ran to. We're better armed and better shots than you. If you were inside the house without mask and gloves you're now infected - if you weren't already - and you will die in ten days. Tell your cousins to put down their weapons and come out with their hands up."
"And what are the two of you and a useless little trailer trash girl gonna do if we don't?"
"Bo, you don't know that there are only the two of us and don't call my new granddaughter trailer trash."
"Outta my way, girl!"
Pop!
"Ow! It hurts!"
"Katie!"
Bang!
"Bo's down!"
Pop! Pop! Pop!
'They're firing wild. All of those hit the house near the roof.'
Bang! Bang! Bang!
'Anyone hurt over there, Jack, and did we get them all?'
'We're OK, Dave, other than Katie probably having a bruise where that .22 hit the vest that's wrapped around her and her needing a change of clothes. I see no further motion. You and Janet have been practicing synchronized shooting?'
'The shooting just worked out that way but we seem to make a good team. You'll be putting up posts out front?'
'Definitely. With signs on the bodies. Tyvek suits, respirators, gloves and boot covers while we go in to check for damage and we'll get the remaining clothes and other things for Katie.'
---
"Grandma, I haven't wet myself since I was three! Why'd I do it today?"
"Being where people are shooting at you is scary and adults often respond as you did."
"I'm not being a little kid?"
"No, you're just having one of the common reactions to fear. That's one reason our fighting packs contain wet wipes and extra clothes."
"Grownups do it too?"
"Sometimes."
"One reaction? It coulda been worse?"
"I think you understand what might have been worse."
"I should always go potty before a gunfight?"
"If you can. We hope you won't be around more gunfights but if you want to learn to protect yourself…"
"I DO!"
"Then we can start on unarmed self-defense and gun lessons when we're back at the house."
"Yes!"
---
"We come back with the auger bit on the second wood gas tractor?"
"Yes, Dave. It's much faster than a manual post hole digger and it's one more thing to test on that wood gas powered tractor."
"You have forklift arms for the bucket on that tractor?"
"Yes. I think they'll reach high enough for dropping the posts into the holes and hanging the perps on the posts."
"Signs for the perps?"
"Just 'Thief' for each of them."
"What would Sheriff Tucker think?"
"Probably that he should have been out here sooner with the Reserve Deputy badge and paperwork he has for me."
"Probably."
---
"She's had enough lap time, Susan?"
"Yes, Jack. She asked about finishing the marker and getting it in place just before she dozed off. A twenty minute nap is probably all she needs now but she'll want more hugs or lap time as the day progresses."
"Most ten-year-olds don't experience gunfights on a regular basis. Kiss on her forehead?"
"She liked that wakeup this morning."
"Katie? Hi, smart girl."
"Hi, Grandpa. I went to sleep?"
"I think your scary morning left you tired and a little while in your new Grandma's lap had you asleep."
"I can always sleep when I feel safe and loved. Can we finish the marker? Ow! It hurts to turn like that!"
"Let's pull your shirt up on this side…"
"Yuck! That's ugly!"
"The Kevlar vest stopped the .22 bullet but it spread that impact over a larger area so you have that bruise on your ribs. It will be sore for a few days."
"I got shot but it's just a bruise?"
"That's one of the marvels of modern technology which we may no longer have - they could make a material which can stop small caliber bullets but your body still absorbs the impact, just spread over a larger area."
"I can still work on the marker?"
"Yes. Back out to the pole barn and back in the big shirt to protect your clothes while you're painting."
"You'll teach me about guns today?"
"That teaching takes longer than one day but we can start on some things today, such as memorization."
"Memorize? I gotta?"
"You 'gotta'. The most important things to remember are the safety rules for guns."
"OK, safety's important."
"Then we can do this while you paint. Rule 1: All guns are loaded…"
---
"We can put it in place in an hour?"
"We can put another coat of varnish over it in an hour so it lasts longer out in the weather."
"Then an hour after that?"
"Yes. You just can't wait, can you?"
"I never helped with a funeral before and it seems important to tell who's buried there."
"You are correct, smart girl."
---
"Jack, I think we can call this a 'family' burial event. Janet and Katie collected flowers. You and Dave drove the pressure treated post into the ground by the crock you'd buried. I held the marker in place while Katie used the battery-powered driver to put the screws through the marker you and she made."
"Love, that's how things were done for centuries before people specialized in a single task such as gravedigger. Katie did part of the work and all of her new 'family' helped her. I think that provides bonding for her as everyone worked together on something she wanted."
"She has been doing a lot of spontaneous hugging. You and Dave will go back and do the cleanout and the burning?"
"We need to have Janet on watch at home as Dave and I are needed for the heavy work and we need you to do the picture and heirloom selection. We don't have Tyvek suits in Katie's size."
"And you don't want her exposed any more than she already has been. I am keeping all of us on Tamiflu until it runs out. Is there a chance this flu will burn out at some point?"
"If all the blood and the like from deaths can be cleaned or those areas burned, maybe. Otherwise, we have the possibility of it surviving in some nook or cranny for an unknown period of time."
"And no one is available to do that type of research. We go today?"
"Go now and have a late lunch after we finish. I don't want to face that scene immediately after I eat."
"Go get the generator loaded so you can power the well pump and protect the other structures. Hook up a trailer for any furnishings we decide are safe to bring back or are cleanable. I'll tell Janet. Katie can stay with her. I'll do today's chores there while you and Dave move things."
---
Sunday, 30 April, 2028, 13:20 CDT
"The trailer is in the barn with a tarp over it to keep those things dust-free until we decide whether to keep them and where to put them if we do keep them. I think it's time for lunch."
"Then come eat, Grandma. Me and Aunt Janet fixed lunch."
"Katie, that's 'Aunt Janet and I fixed lunch'. The other person's name goes first and then you try 'I' and 'me' to see which sounds best. Would you say 'Me fixed lunch'?"
"That doesn't sound right… but that's what you said - the one that sounds best!"
"That's my smart girl."
"You just explain things good."
"That's also a 'smart girl' answer."
---
Sunday, 30 April, 2028, 13:55 CDT
"We have time to get Katie's animals before Tom and family arrive?"
"I think so, love. We can check for the next even hour's news and then go."
'WWWH-FM will be changing to two newscasts a day, at 6AM and 8PM beginning at 6AM tomorrow. We're joining a number of other stations who are resigned to possibly never getting more fuel and we'll try to make the fuel we have last as long as possible. Most of these stations are running relatively low power, solid-state transmitters so the thermal shock of on and off are much less than the older tube-powered transmitters and the multiple on/off cycles do not greatly affect the life of the transmitter.
'Nationally, the depletion of food stocks in most cities has people driving "out to the farms in the country for the food they grow" but those people are running out of gas with no place to fill up and are being met with blocked roads and armed locals. Skirmishes have left several hundred dead in the past two days. Uncontrolled fires are reported in many urban areas because there is no municipal water service with power off over much of the country. Rural areas with many available ponds are better able to handle structure fires than the cities are.
'We'll be back every two hours until midnight today, but remember our new schedule: at 6AM and 8PM only, beginning at 6AM tomorrow.'
"Dad, you're the only one that doesn't look surprised by that announcement."
"No surprise, Janet. This station was among the first to go to only being on the air briefly every two hours so them going to just twice a day is a reasonable compromise with not being on the air at all in another month or so. Being on the air twice a day instead of twelve times a day gives them almost six times as many on-air days. I would guess that they have a much smaller listening audience, as that audience is mostly limited to those with solar- or hand-crank rechargeable radios, those with some alternate source of long-term backup power or an FM-capable cell phone with a solar charger. Maybe a few listening on a car radio and only running the engine a few minutes each month to keep the battery charged? Remember that we're one of the very few families in the county who have light at the flip of a switch."
"Dave mentioned that he kept reaching for the light switches when you were at Katie's earlier today."
"And we need to go back and get her animals. Once they're loaded, we can start the fire and just plan on another night of firewatch but this time with the trailer-mounted welder/generator connected to the well pump so we can wet the other structures before we start and then start the gen as needed to have water later. It is electric start."
"That means any of the adults can be on firewatch."
"Correct."
---
"We have room for all the animals, Jack?"
"Yes, Dave. We'll need to move the feed barrels from some stalls in the barn to have places for those two cows but we're good on chickens and pigs."
"The box trailer is for the pigs and the open trailer is for the feed and the chickens in boxes?"
"Correct. If we find seed, we can ensure that it's in a vermin-proof container or take it with us and use the steel barrels in our barn, just bringing the seed that's needed when we're planting here."
"Be good to have someone living here to watch things."
"It would, but in a few more weeks I don't think that will matter much."
"We'll be near our population minimum?"
"Possibly. We need to plan schooling for the girls - including self-defense - and some practical learning for those who've never lived on a working farm."
"Things about the early hours and lots of dirt-y work?"
"Dave, I think my puns are rubbing off on you."
"Could be."
---
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Post by 9idrr on May 3, 2021 18:52:47 GMT -6
Nice find on a Monday. Thanks.
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Post by texican on May 3, 2021 19:20:44 GMT -6
They won't know that we have Kevlar vests or AP ammunition or that we have better knowledge of the property than they do, thanks to Katie. She'll give the first 'Leave my stuff alone' warning and we'll back her up. Any questions?"
"Shoot to kill?"
"Yes, love. I'm sure that will be their intent."
pp2,
Wise words.
Times getting violent to keep what is yours.
Texican....
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Post by udwe on May 7, 2021 22:01:05 GMT -6
Thank you!
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