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Post by texican on Jun 9, 2023 17:54:03 GMT -6
The total and final impacts from the vaccine and virus are still not known and how devastating it could be.
Will another virus or mutated covid viruses show up to plague the earth?
Bid flu is starting to spread to humans.
Are we going into: Luke 21:11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. Revelation 6:8 I looked and a pale-colored horse appeared. Its rider's name was Death, and Hades came close behind him; and authority was given to them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with the sword or with famine or pestilence or by means of the wild beasts of the earth.
Texican....
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Post by iamnobody on Jun 9, 2023 18:06:51 GMT -6
Bid flu is starting to spread to humans. Texican.... Was that a misspell? Bird Flu?
or
Being prophetic? Bid-en Flu?
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Post by ncsfsgm on Jun 17, 2023 14:49:26 GMT -6
Chapter 15 –Life in the Country
Saturday morning Paul took Angel to his improvised range to shoot pistols. He took a light 9mm, a 45 Caliber pistol, and a Taurus Judge with a 3-inch barrel. She shot the 9 pretty well, with a couple of flyers, the 45 she was right on, but it turned out the Judge was her favorite. Her wrists were strong enough to handle the pistol and she liked the idea of being able to fire the 410 shells in it. Plus, she was an ambidextrous shooter, so that was that. He fitted her with a holster, and she planned on carrying it to the store with her every day.
Paul had been ordering items to build both of them an emergency pack. He was still waiting on the Kifaru packs that were being built in Wyoming to come in. Paul went all out on the packs, to include a gun carrier for his Remington 700 Short Action mounted in a Magpul Pro 700 Folding Stock. He would pack a stainless Judge in Angel’s pack.
He checked his list for the Level 1 Emergency pack which included:
Millennium food bars
Level 1 IFAK
Klean Kanteen 27 oz Single Wall
Cnoc Vecto 2L Soft Water Bag w/ Sawyer Mini Water Filtration System
Potable Aqua Water Purification Tablets
BIC Maxi Lighter
Lightning Strike fire starter
Lifeboat matches
SOL Tinder-Quik Tabs
Black Diamond Spot 350 Headlamp w/ spare batteries
Fallkniven F1 field knife
Leatherman Wave+
50 feet 550 Type 3 Paracord
Aqua Quest Safari 10'x10' tarp
Rite in the Rain Notebook
Rite in the Rain Pen
Physical and digital copies of important docs
Cash - $500 in mixed bills plus assorted denominations of gold coins
Campsuds Concentrated Soap
Compressed Toilet Paper Tablets
Travel Nail Clippers
Tilley Hat
Darn Tough Micro Crew Socks
Travel underwear
Convertible pants
Top base layer (climate dependent)
Jacket / outer shell
Shemagh / bandana
two-way radio, incl antenna and battery
Yaesu FT-65 radio with spare battery and antenna
USB charging cable and wall plug
Rechargeable battery power pack
3M 8293 P100 Respirator
Miscellaneous size Ziplocs
Contractor trash bags
Spare Ammo
It was a bit more than he had in his plane bag, but it would be enough for them to get back home on. They would keep the kits in their vehicles.
Paul and Angel got a call from John and Diane Maples. They had received a travel trailer they had ordered and were going to take it on the road. Angel and Paul invited them to stop by on their travels to visit. Diane said they would do that and give them a call before they reached Arkansas.
That weekend, Paul made a couple of calls, then filled the plane and flew Angel up Friday evening to Hermann to visit Stone Hill Winery, one of the best wineries in the state. They were having a Wine Experience event Paul signed up for. Since he was flying and wanted to taste the wine, he reserved them a room at the Hermann Hill Bed and Breakfast. They did the tasting and bought a couple of cases of wines, then Sunday afternoon visited the Hermannhof Winery where Paul let Angel taste and select the wines. It was only an hour flight back to Crooked Creek, so they were back well before dark.
Angel had her grand opening of the café and people were waiting on the porch to get in, but the waitresses kept them in free coffee, tea, or juice. The special of the day was country fried steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, and cornbread. By the time they closed that day, they had served 400 pieces of steak, 25 Gallons of tea, and 125 strawberry shortcakes topped with fresh whipped cream. Sabrina and her nieces, who had serves as waitresses, were beat. Angel and Paul helped them clean up and let them get some rest. Tomorrow would be the first full day of business. The opening didn’t hurt business at the store either. Angel would have to call the beverage and gasoline distributors the next day.
The next morning the café wasn’t quite as busy, but there were a number of locals in there having breakfast or drinking coffee and gossiping on the porch.
John and Diane arrived two weeks later, driving a custom truck pulling a nice-looking travel trailer. Hugs and handshakes were exchanged and Paul asked, “What do you call this?”
“It’s what they call a Living Vehicle.” John replied. “The Dodge Ram is re-designed just for towing this thing.”
“Well, follow me. I’ve got a pad for you.” Paul said.
John drove the truck and followed Paul in the ATV to a concrete pad that had water and sewer connections.
After getting set up, John got a bottle of wine out of the trailer fridge, and they returned to the house.
Angel’s mother was down for the weekend, and she and Angela were giving Diane a tour of the house. John gave the bottle of wine to Paul, who stashed the bottle in the refrigerator then proceeded to make two Irish whiskies. They took them out on the patio and waited for the women to return.
“Well, this is a far way from the city.” John commented.
“Yep, just the way I like it. If Angel or I need to go to the bright lights, I can fly us there in very little time.”
“What made you settle way out here?” John asked.
"I got tired of the bullshit. Nothing is right these days. The politicians have lied so much you don’t know when they are telling the truth. The newspapers are nothing but sheets of yellow journalism biased to the left. Everything is about power and money. I decided I’d hunker down, spend my money while I still can, and let the assholes eat each other. Neutron bombs would be a good idea.” Paul lamented.
“Yeah, it’s a mess. Maybe you’ve got the right idea. Let them fight among themselves and kill each other off as they scramble for power.” John said.
“I wish. They are hurting a lot of people along their way though. So many targets, so few bullets.”
“Just killing them off wouldn’t do much good.” John said. Selectively eliminate the worst ones and work your way down. Conserve your ammo.” John said.
“Yeah, I guess you are right.”
When the women came out, Angel put her hand on Paul’s shoulder.
“Honey, could you make us a picture of strawberry daiquiris?”
“Sure, no problem.” Paul replied.
“I’ll help you.” John said.
They went into the kitchen where Paul reached into a lower cabinet and brought out a Coca-Cola 40-Ounce Frozen Beverage Station.
“Frozen Cokes?” John asked.
Paul grinned. “It makes great daiquiris.”
Paul got a pitcher of ice and poured it in to the blender bowl and shaved the ice down to snow, added a package of frozen strawberries, added lime and lemon juice, rum, and started blending.
“There are hurricane glasses in that upper cabinet.” Paul said. “Would you get me down three, please? Unless you want one too.” John shook his head. “I’ll stick with Irish.”
As the mixture was blending, Paul got a tray and a small dish. He put a scoop of white sugar into the dish, wet the rims of the glasses and dipped the glass rims into the sugar to coat them. Pouring the mixture into the glasses, he sat them on the tray. Added straws to the glasses, and they carried the glasses out to the ladies.
“Perfect!” Angel said, taking a sip of her drink.
This is good. Diane said. “The breeze, company, and this daiquiri makes the afternoon perfect! You have a beautiful place here and the air is so fresh!”
“It does have its advantages.” Angel said.
“You can tell the difference in the air when you leave Little Rock.” Cynthia said.
“It’s the stench left by the Clintons when they left Little Rock.” Paul quipped.
“Now Paul, don’t go getting into politics today.” Cynthia said.
“It is beautiful out here. How did you happen to find this place?” John asked.
“An old friend of mine gave me a heads up on it. I came all the way from Alaska to check it out and bought it.”
“Man, if you hear of any other properties like this for sale, give me a shout. I’d move here in a heartbeat!” John said. “It sure beats St. Louis!”
“Yes! Diane said. “You could set up a practice in Warrensburg or Clarksville and I could become a country lady of leisure, relaxing on my veranda, sipping mint julips.”
“In your dreams!” John said, laughing.
“It would be wonderful, though.” Diane said.
“Yeah, it’s something to think about.” John said lowly.
Angel wanted to see the travel trailer Diane had been telling her about so they all walked to it and John began setting it up. He pushed a button and awnings of solar panels slid off the top on each side. John opened a panel and pressed another button and jacks came down and leveled the trailer, completely lifting the tires off the ground. When they went inside, Diane gave them the grand tour, and everyone was impressed. It was a nicely built trailer, but Paul didn’t think he’d pay $700,000 for one. Still, it made all its own electricity and was very modern and well-built.
They all went back to the house, Paul made another pitcher of daiquiris, then pulled out the steaks to come to room temperature, and prepared the potatoes for baking.
A light breeze comforted the gathering in the shade of the sycamore trees. Beer and daiquiris further soothed the people, as Paul and John prepared the grill and put the potatoes on to bake. While the little party was going on, Carmelita was in the kitchen preparing the Chef’s salad in a stainless steel bowl, covering it and placed it in the refrigerator.
“What is land costing around here per acre?” John asked Paul.
“Oh, the price jumps around like the heartbeat of a teenage boy at his first hoochie-coochie show. It can go from the low two thousands to above twenty thousand an acre. It just depends on location. That’s just what I’ve seen for sale, anyway.” Paul said.
“Chet Morris mentioned the other day at the store that he was selling his property across the creek.” Angel said. “His wife Alice is in poor health and he needs the money for medical bills.” “The next time you see him, get information from him and we’ll check it out.” Paul said. “He’s got around a hundred acres over there, but it could be hard to get to.”
“Yeah, you’ve got me interested now.” John said. “I would spend a couple of million to have a place out here."
Paul put the steaks on to cook and the women went inside to help Carmelita get ready, but she already had everything done and had dinner rolls in the oven. Places were set on the dining room table. While the steaks were cooking, Angel sauteed mushrooms in garlic, butter, and red wine. Baked potatoes and steaks were brought inside and the wine was poured. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the meal.
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Post by gipsy on Jun 17, 2023 15:29:55 GMT -6
Thanks for the update
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Post by feralferret on Jun 17, 2023 16:22:04 GMT -6
Thanks for the new chapter.
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Post by ncsfsgm on Jun 21, 2023 10:18:59 GMT -6
Chapter 16 – Changes
They had a wonderful weekend with the Maples who packed up and headed back to St. Louis on Sunday afternoon.
“I’ll talk to Chet and see what he wants for that property. It would be nice to have Diane and John living nearby.” Angel said.
“Yeah, it would,” Paul said. Want to take a ride around over there and look at the property?” Paul asked.
“Yes! But can we cross the creek?” Angel asked.
“Sure, the Polaris can ford it in a couple of places,” Paul replied.
They got their packs and put them in the Ranger and Paul, Angel, and Cynthia headed toward the garden area. Paul crossed a shallow area, came up on an island, crossed and headed up the west bank of the creek. They came out in an open field and staying next to the tree line, rode around the field. It looked to be 35, maybe 40 acres in size.
“Cynthia, would like to have a little house over here by the creek?” Paul asked.
“I would love it!” Cynthia replied. ”But there would be the creek between us.”
“I’d put in a bridge.” Paul said. “We need to talk to Chet. If he’ll sell to John, then I’ll buy an acre or two from John or buy direct from Chet.”
They went back to the house and Paul managed to find Chet’s phone number and called him. Chet confirmed he was going to sell the land and told Paul if he’d meet him at the café in the morning, he could take Paul out and give him the nickel tour. Paul agreed to meet there at 08:00. Paul then called John’s cell phone.
“Yeah Paul?”
“John, Angel and I took a ride over to that land of Chet’s and it looks pretty good. Chet is meeting me in the morning to go take a look at the land.”
“Damn! We should have stayed another day.” John groaned. “Look, call me when you discuss prices, if you would.”
“Sure, no problem. There’s just one thing. I’d like to buy an acre or two of the acreage to build Cynthia a small house on, and I want to build a bridge across the creek.” Paul said.
“Fine with me.” John replied. “We’ll make plans to come back down next weekend, if that’s all right.”
“That would be great! I’ll get some ribs.” Paul said.
“Sounds great! We’ll see you all on Friday evening, then. I’ll talk to you later.”
Paul followed Angel to the store the next morning, and then had breakfast with her at the café while he waited for Chet. After breakfast, Paul refreshed his coffee and sat back down. Chet arrived at 07:55, got a cup of coffee and sat down with Paul.
“So, you want to buy that parcel of land?” Chet asked.
“I only want an acre or two. A friend of mine wants some country property. I can buy it from him if he buys.” Paul replied.
“Ain’t no use in doing all of that. The lawyer can do both sets of paperwork.”
“I guess so. Just how much land is there and how much are you asking per acre?”
There’s 113 acres there that I could get $10,000 an acre the way land prices are now, but I’m only asking $8,500 an acre because it isn’t easy to get to. It’s a two and three-quarter mile drive back into it and the road needs some work. You’ll see.”
The two men finished their coffee, got into Chet’s truck, and headed east on AR-164 until they got to a sign that said, “Annie’s Chapel" and turned left onto Red Oak Road. Chet stopped and put the truck into four-wheel drive.
“This is Red Oak Road. The state has it designated AR-3791, but they don’t maintain it. You can petition for maintenance if there’s a certain number of homes per mile, but there ain’t. The roads are not bad, but there are a couple of places that are wet and could use a culvert or two. They had driven through the forest for a while when they came to a trail on the right. “Right up that trail is a place I cleared out to build Alice a house to live out our later years in. I’ll be satisfied if she just lives.” Chet said, sadly. “We’re going to go on around to the big field at the north end of the property.”
They continued west for another half mile or so and came to an intersection with another unimproved road.
“This is AR-3780. If you turn left you could ford the creek, if you had to, and get you to AR-123.” Chet said.
“Never hurts to have a back door.” Paul replied.
The field on their left stayed pretty much open but narrow up to the big field Paul had ridden around.
“These trees haven’t been cut in a hundred years, except the ones I cut to clear the new house place.” Chet said.
“It’s some beautiful property.” Paul commented.
“Yeah, it’s quiet, got plenty of wildlife like bears, white tail deer, bobcats, skunks, turkey, and a few coveys of quail. I even spotted an elk, but mostly they stay in the Ozark National Forest north of here. You could probably lure in more of the birds in here if you plant game food fields.”
“I’m going to call my friend and talk to him a minute.” Paul said.
“Sure, go ahead. I’ll pull over here and park in the shade.” Chet answered.
“Hey John, I’m out here with Chet on the land.”
“How does it look?”
“Well, if you don’t buy it, I might buy the whole parcel myself. It is beautiful, remote, and has plenty of hardwood trees and game. There are plenty of homesites just about everywhere you look.”
“Great! How much land is there and what is he asking for it?” John asked.
There’s 113 acres and he’s asking $8,500 an acre because it is remote and not that easy to get to.”
“960.5. That’s better than I had imagined. If he needs earnest money, let me know. I’ll take your word for it and buy the property. I’ll pay for the surveyors if you can get them started.” John said. “Okay, I’ll get things started and give you a timeline on everything.” Paul said.
Paul walked back over to the truck and got in.
“Chet, do you need any earnest money?” Paul asked.
“I could use something by the end of the month. I’ve got some big bills to pay.” Chet replied.
“Would $160,000 do you?” Paul replied.
“That would be good.” Chet said.
“Well, I just need to find some surveyors to lay everything out then.” Paul said.
“I know just the fellar. I used him when I bought this place. I’ll have him contact you and let my lawyer start getting the paperwork together. We’ll need to set up a meeting with him to lay out the particulars.”
“Can you set something up for Friday or next Monday?” Paul asked.
“Monday would probably be best. He usually doesn’t have much going on.” Okay, I’ll tell John and have him schedule getting Monday off to handle that.”
Going back to the café, Chet went straight and forded the creek and came out on AR-123 when took less time than the other way that they came in. Chet told Paul he’d have the surveyor contact him to arrange a date to do the job. Paul shook hands and Paul got an iced tea to go and went over to see Angel.
Paul called John that evening and discussed what had gone on that day.
“I’ll bring a cashier’s check for the earnest money. I’ll liquidate several stocks out of my portfolio and might as well liquidate the whole thing and buy gold. I’m beginning to lose money. I’ll get Monday off and we’ll still come on Friday. Where can I get a side-by-side like you have?” John asked.
“You can get them down in Clarksville. We could pick you one up on Saturday.”
“Good, Diane is excited and wants to get everything done RIGHT NOW! Her patience doesn’t run very far.”
Paul chuckled. “Yeah, I was the same way with this place.”
The idea of moving out of St. Louis and living near her daughter had Cynthia excited and she packed to head back to St. Louis. She was going to look for a builder and go over a few house plans. Angel showed her examples they found online, and Cynthia’s excitement grew as she made a list of URLs to take back with her. Paul worried he had opened up a can of worms, but what the heck, both women were happy.
Paul was contacted by George Faulkner, the surveyor, and they arranged for a time to meet and go over the plat map. Paul and Eduardo were going with them on the survey to help clear the brush. He and Eduardo went to the hardware store, and Paul purchased two good machetes and bush axes to use. George estimated it would take a little over a week to finish the surveying.
Chet’s real estate attorney was good, and quickly got the paperwork ready and was just waiting for the survey to be completed.
In St. Louis, John was busy contacting and getting his patients transferred to other doctors. Diane was going through the house listing what she wanted to keep, what they would put in storage, and what she would sell at yard sales.
Paul called Julia and asked her for the latest on his stock portfolio. She didn’t have any good news. Although his portfolio was highly diverse, he was reaching the breakeven point and she recommended liquidating and put the profits into gold. With the rising inflation, gold also rose, gold was gaining ground on the stock market. Paul brought up a new page on his computer, went to Kitco and checked the performance of gold prices. They had risen over 7% over the last six months, better than most of his stocks. The history of gold prices were as shaky as the stock market, but was showing better growth. Paul told Julia to sell, pay the taxes, and buy gold and silver. He didn’t want it on paper, but gold and silver coins. She agreed and put Brad on the line. Paul filled him in on what was going on and they talked for only a few minutes before Brad had to go. Their conversation got Brad to thinking.
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Post by gipsy on Jun 21, 2023 14:47:03 GMT -6
Thanks for the update
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Post by ncsfsgm on Jun 23, 2023 10:30:32 GMT -6
Chapter 17 – New Plans
John and Diane arrived a little after 01:00 pm on Friday, having left early in the morning. They got the travel trailer set up on the pad, then they all took a tour of Chet’s land. As he crossed the creek, Paul showed them the area he wanted to buy and put Cynthia’s house on. They then rode around the perimeter of the northern meadow, and Paul took them back down the old road and pointed out the ford where they could quickly get to AR-123.
“I don’t think my Lexus would make it across there,” John commented.
“Don’t they make a Lexus SUV?” Diane asked.
“That’s not an SUV, it’s a glorified soccer mom’s grocery car,” John said. “No, I’ll need to get something a little more rugged.”
Paul drove them down the trail and pulled onto the trail that went to the land Chet had cleared for his house.
“Up here is where Chet was going to build Alice a house,” Paul commented.
He stopped and they all got out to walk around.
“He already had a well drilled, “ John said, standing by a capped pipe.
“Sure looks like it,” Paul replied.
“John, this would be a beautiful place to have a house!” Diane said. “Just look at this view!”
“Yeah, it is pretty nice and we wouldn’t have to do much clearing,” John replied. “Will your design fit here okay?”
“Yes Dear, it would fit perfectly. It can be oriented in this direction and take advantage of this beautiful view. We could put in a pool over there.”
“A pool?” John exclaimed.
“Of course,” Diane said. “We seem to be a good distance from any other body of water.”
“Okay, a pool then,” John replied.
They went back to the house and Paul got a fire going at the grill.
“This is an interesting design. Did you have it custom made?” John asked about the grill.
“Yeah, sort of,” Paul said. “There is a guy outside of Clarksville that custom builds pig cookers. I had the plans for a Argentinian gaucho grill, and we fooled around with the plans and came up with a gaucho grill with an insulated smoker. Now, that took some doing because it had to be double-walled and insulated so I could run the smoker in cold weather. Even though it is fabricated out of stainless steel, it is still heavy as hell. That’s why I had it set on a stone base. Later, I want to build a pavilion over it so I can stay out of the weather. I’ll add a few more things and have an outside kitchen.”
“This is nice as it is,” John said.
“Do you still want to go down and pick up a side-by-side tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I want to give Diane some time to practice with it.
“You’d better give her a hand-held GPS to mount in the side-by-side until she gets used to getting around.”
“Yeah, I’d better.” John replied.
“Did you get your patients reassigned?”
“Yep, I can close the office anytime. As a matter of fact, I have another doctor wanting to take over the lease on the office.”
“Well, that’s good.” Paul replied.
Paul put the rub on the ribs and put them in the smoker. He set the timer on his watch and checked the temperature on the smoke. It was just at the 200-degree mark, so he raked a few more coals into the smoker firebox and added more wood to the coal box on the grill. Paul got two more beers out of the cooler and handed one to John.
‘I’ll need to get a couple more side-by-sides,” Paul said. With Cynthia moving here and you and Diane coming soon, the women will be on the trail all the time.”
John chuckled. “I imagine so.” You know, I was looking at the map and when you put the bridge in, I’ll go in half with you. It would be nice to have more than one way out of the place.”
“I’ll take you up on that. I’ll warn you it’s going to be around $200,000 for the bridge.” Paul said.
John nodded. “No problem.”
“If you want that drive of yours dressed, I can give you the info on the guy I used.” Paul offered.
“Yeah, I’d like to get that. He did a pretty good job.” John replied.
“Are you planning to put in a basement?” Paul asked, checking on the temperature on the smoker.
“I don’t know. Do you think we should?”
“Well, you know how it is with this area and tornadoes. Don’t forget to put in an escape tunnel in case the house collapses in on you.”
“I’ll talk to Diane. Tornadoes don’t come through here often, do they?”
“Not often but we get a hell of a lot of tornado watches.” Paul replied. “When the warm, moist air from the Gulf gets pushed up here, anything is possible.”
“Yeah, we had two come through the suburbs last year.” John said.
Paul put more coals in the smoker and added a couple of wet oak chips to the box.
Diane and Angel came out with hurricane glasses brimming with daiquiris.
“Oh my! Angel finally learned how to make daiquiris!” Paul teased.
“I looked up a recipe. We didn’t have enough strawberries though.” Angel said.
“Paul, how did you figure out how much to pay for your property to win the bid at the auction?” John said.
“Well, everyone was out to get their money, especially the government. A friend found out what the extra fees would be added and I upped them to 20%. Not very accurate, I know, but it got me the land at less than real value. I actually saved money and turned it around to improve the place and buy extra preps. We’ve got enough long-term storage foods to last us three years for ten people and there are a few other things I’m wanting to purchase. If the economy collapses for whatever reason, we should be all right. We’re in a pretty good place to last out anything that happens, short of them nuking every county in Arkansas. The closest target we’d have to here is Little Rock Air Force Base, and it isn’t tactical and 80 miles and a lot of hills away.”
“Diane and I are going sightseeing tomorrow.” Angel announced. “She wants to get to know the area.”
“Where all are you going?” Paul asked.
“I’ll take her down to Russellville and to Clarksville.”
“Why not start in Little Rock and work your way back?” Paul asked.
“It would take too much time. You’d need a whole day just for Little Rock.” Angel explained. “I may stop by the 10Box and pick up some things.”
“I’ll be taking John around to look at some things too.” Paul said. “I’ll take him to meet a couple of builders too.”
“Don’t make any decisions without me being there!” Diane said.
“I won’t, Dear. I’m just going to get a feel for them.” John said.
Before the ribs were done, the women went in and helped Carmelita get the sides ready, which was very little to do because Carmelita had everything done except for a desert that was a sort of big tart made of angel food cake, lady fingers, cool whip and cream cheese and covered with strawberries.
With an hour left to cook the ribs, Paul came in and got the box of aluminum food wrap and wrapped the ribs and drizzled honey and sprayed apple juice on them. He pulled a few coals out of the smoker with a fireplace shovel to lower the temperature down to around 200 degrees and closed the smoker back up.
“You’ll have to be careful eating these ribs. The meat will fall off the bones before you can get them to your mouth.” Paul said.
The next morning, after breakfast, Angel and Diane headed to Russellville to begin their day of sightseeing and window shopping. Paul and John took another ride over to the property and looked around some more and talked over plans. Finally, around 10:00 they went back to the house, hooked the trailer to the truck, and headed to Clarksville to the ATV dealer. After looking around and receiving the spiels on the different ATVs, John selected a Polaris Ranger Crew SP 570 NorthStar Edition. He selected a sport roof, four helmets with intercom, and a mount for the GPS.
The azimuth the surveyor team kept them on was easy, The heavily forested area didn’t allow much underbrush to grow so they only had to trim the occasional holly bush. It was only when they were near the tree line next to the open fields did they have a lot of clearing to do. If the whole survey line remained the same, they would finish a lot sooner. They needed the survey verified before they could sign the paperwork, so John and Diane went back to St. Louis and Paul would fly up and bring them back for that. It was less than a two-hour flight.
They finished verifying the survey in five days. Swinging a bush axe had made Paul sore every night and he was glad the job was done. He went back and put bigger stakes around the two acres of Cynthia’s property to make it more visible. Cynthia already had a builder lined up for her 1,777 sq. ft. home, and told Angel she was donating the condo furniture to charity and buying new to furnish her house. She was coming up to stay and shop for furniture in the area. Angel told her to plan to have a basement or she would have to have some kind of shelter built in.
The next morning Angel opened the store and noticed several people sitting on the café porch in rocking chairs and straight-back caned chairs, enjoying coffee and talking. After checking the shelves and coolers, Angel heard faint music. She listened for a second then went outside. Jess Parker was sitting in a straight-back chair picking a guitar. Liz Carpenter came outside and began singing to the guitar music.
“It came from the east just as bright as a torch
The neighbors had a party on their porch
Daddy rocked the baby mother said amen
When Halley came to visit in nineteen-ten”
Angel listened until they finished the song then walked over.
“What is the name of that song,” Angel asked Jess.
“Halley Came To Jackson,” Jess replied.
“I liked it. I wouldn’t mind listening to more but I have to work. Do you ever do any shows?”
“Some of my friends and I sometimes play at dances and parties.’ Jess replied.
Angel went back to the store, a plan forming in her mind.
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Post by gipsy on Jun 23, 2023 12:06:13 GMT -6
Thanks for the update
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Post by ncsfsgm on Jun 27, 2023 12:03:14 GMT -6
Chapter 18 – Building for the future
Angela went back to the store and called Donald Edwards to let him know she had a project she wanted to talk to him about, then began helping Keira re-arrange products on a shelf. At noon, she called Paul and asked him to come down to the store. Paul arrived 20 minutes later, and Angel had him walk out with her. She took him out to the other side of the café and explained her idea.
“I want to build a pavilion here for fifty or 75 people, and on Saturday night let local musicians play here. We could charge $5.00 cover and let them play as long as they like. The cover charge would go to the musicians.”
“Why 50 to 75 people?” Paul asked.
“I’m not sure of fire codes.”
“Are you thinking of a wooden building?”
“Well, yes.” Angel replied. “I wanted to keep it like the motif of the café.
“You know you can build a steel building and side it with barnwood to make it somewhat like the café.”
“I’ll ask Don.” Angel replied.
“Also, you could always put in a water tank for a sprinkler system. I’d also talk with Jim Johnson at the fire department. Get his input.”
“I might have bitten off more than I can chew.” Angel groaned.
“Hey it’s an idea. Get all the facts together before you finally decide.”
“Yeah, I guess you are right. Thanks.”
Paul went back home and he and Eduardo harvested corn and picked green beans. Carmelita, Cecilia, and Lourdes got out the items they would need for canning, and went to the garden to help the men. Upon returning to the house, Cecilia had her children, Jose and Rosa, shucking and brushing the silk off the corn. Eduardo managed to sneak out while Paul was getting the Seal-A-Meal out of the pantry. They were going to blanch corn-on-the-cob and freeze half of the corn. Carmelita was going to cut the rest of the corn off the ears and can it. Paul looked through the drawers for the corn peeler, but Carmelita already had it out and washed. When the corn was shucked, Carmelita had the kids snapping beans. Cecilia blanched the ears of corn while and Paul dried them off and set them aside on cooling racks to cool. When they had cooled down some, he put four ears to a bag, vacuum sealed them, and laid them in the freezer. He still had enough room to lay them all flat and not stack them so they would freeze quickly.
They were just finishing up when Angel came home. Carmelita had made meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and fresh corn on the cob. They ate supper, then Paul settled down in his recliner to watch the weather and a little of the news. With no surprises looming on the weather, Paul switched over to the news, and the big headline was the stock market dropping 1000 points due to new policies enacted by the administration in Washington. He had been listening for about 5 minutes when his phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Paul, it’s Julia. I’m just calling to let you know I’ve completed the liquidation.”
“So, I’m going to lose out everywhere else?” Paul commented.
“Au contraire, monsieur. J'ai même liquidé les actions françaises et britanniques également.” (To the contrary, mister. I have even liquidated the French and British stocks also.)
“What’s the atmosphere like up there?” Paul asked.
“There’s a lot of pissed-off people, and just as many Democrats as Republicans because they didn’t read the bills the President was pushing along with his cronies in the House and Senate. “ Julia said. “Paul, Brad and I have decided to go to less hostile climes.”
“Do you want me to look for a place down here for you?” Paul asked.
“Let me put Brad on.” Julia said.
“Paul, things are going to hell in a handbasket around here.” Brad said.
“Well, it was bound to happen.” Paul said. “You give a politician an inch and they will take a mile. The Republicans have never fought hard or dirty enough.”
“Paul, I think it’s time Julia and I pulled our tent stakes and head your way. Can you be on the lookout for a place for us?”
“I’ll get on it first thing in the morning, Brad,” Paul said. “Take a vacation and come on down and stay a while.”
“We’ll bring your gold with us,” Brad said. “I bought a new Tahoe and an enclosed trailer.”
“I hope you will be armed.” Paul said.
“Definitely!” Brad replied. “Julia is permitted also.”
“Good, just be careful.”
“Who was that?” Angel asked.
“Brad and Julia Collins. They are making the move down here, looks like,” Paul said. “Keep your ears open for anyone selling property. I’ll go talk to Susan Wilson and see what is available.”
During the next few days, Paul did a lot of running around visiting construction companies George Carpenter had recommended looking for someone who could build a bridge. He finally found a company in Little Rock who could handle the job and would come out to do a survey and give him a price. On the way back home, Carmelita had asked him to be on the lookout for peaches and Paul got four bushels at a farmer’s market, The next two days was filled with canning and freeze drying peaches. Pfeiffer’s plant nursery showed up and planted three peach trees and four cherry trees in his developing orchard. He had worked a deal with the nursery to trade dogwood trees for the orchard trees and to plant them. The nursery had run short on dogwood trees for a development near Dardanelle. Paul had hundreds of young trees along the wood line next to the pastures. They brought out a skid steer with a tree transplanter, dug up the trees and wrapped the root ball in burlap. They ended up getting twenty trees and were happy.
“With the survey work done, the final signatures were needed for the land sale. Paul flew up to St. Louis and picked up John and Diane. When all the paperwork was done and the checks passed, John, Diane, Paul, and Angel ate a delicious enchilada lunch prepared by Carmelita. Angel rode with Paul to fly the Maples back to St. Louis.
Jim Stanek, his bridge builder, came out two days later with a survey crew to inspect the bridge site. Paul didn’t know what they were looking for, so he busied himself with other chores. The peach trees needed mulch.
Jim called Paul and asked him to come down to the bridge site. Paul arrived there in a few minutes in the Polaris.
“I wanted to show you how we are going to have to do this,” Jim explained.
Jim began to explain about the bedrock and flash flooding. They would need two major piles in the middle of the creek bed and two concrete based piles on each end. Six connected girders would span the creek and the one lane roadbed would be 4”x8” beams laid crosswise.
Jim quoted him a price of $245,000 for the bridge and Paul agreed.
They brought in a pile driver and pounded in the center span piles into the creek bed. The other four would be emplaced in holes bored and filled with a hollow pile filled with steel and concrete.
Paul found Brad and Julia a place, surprisingly not far from where they lived. It was just south of John and Diane’s place on the other side of the ford. There was 31 acres with a farmhouse that needed renovation, but Julia ended up liking the bones of the place.
Diane agreed to the basement and storm shelter tunnel, and they were waiting for the curing time on the concrete before starting construction on the house. John began ordering LTS foods also and was buying shipping containers from a place in Little Rock to begin storing supplies they were gathering. Brad followed his example, and both hired Eduardo’s friends to gather up dead wood in the forests and girded a few trees for later harvesting for firewood. Brad and Julia were staying with Paul and Angela with Carmelita tutoring Julia and Diane in country living. They participated in the cool weather vegetables planting and when the farmer’s market got in a load of cabbages, they helped chop and pack cabbage in crocks for sour kraut. Angel had been buying smoked meats from two companies across the Buffalo River, Big Springs Trading Co. and Coursey's Smoked Meats, and Paul asked her to buy plenty for them to put away. She bought so much the two companies, just up the road from one another, combined the orders and shipped them directly in a box truck. She purchased venison summer sausage, beef summer sausage, apple and hickory smoked bacon, smoked turkeys, smoked whole and half hams. She also purchased several pounds of linked smoked sausage that was delicious with the kraut. The Collins and Maple families taste tested the products and placed their own orders, but in smaller quantities.
Don Edwards agreed to build an event center at Shaner’s, and worked with the steel building distributor to get everything done. The building would be erected then sided with barn wood to make it look much older. Don would build a stage on the inside and Angel went on a search for some decent theater seats for the building. There would be space for a dance floor also. When the locals heard about the addition, they were excited, others not so much because they’d heard there would be no alcohol served. However, that wouldn’t deter them too much. Most who drank would have a pint or two in their trucks or cars.
By September, the bridge pilings were in place so the September rains swelling the creek didn’t hamper the rest of the construction. Cynthia and the Maple’s houses were dried in and the carpenters were doing the finish carpenter work. Cynthia bought a Polaris side-by-side in preparation of being able to use the bridge to visit her house site every day. She didn’t bother the carpenters, but spent a lot of time at the nursery planning her planting scheme for flowers and bushes around her new home. The storm shelters had been emplaced and the tunnels connected to them.
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Post by gipsy on Jun 27, 2023 12:24:48 GMT -6
Thanks for sneaking in another one.
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Post by ncsfsgm on Jul 1, 2023 21:57:41 GMT -6
Chapter 19 - Threats
John and Paul had just finished installing the railing solar lights on the bridge when Angel drove up in the truck with a trailer loaded with furniture she and Cynthia had gone to pick up at furniture stores. Paul turned the Polaris around and they went back to help unload.
John and Diane would be able to move into their house the next week. Diane wanted the pool finished and the sod laid before she wanted to move in. As soon as the trailer was unloaded, Angel and her mother headed out to get another load. John and Paul put the beds together and Lourdes made the beds and washed the new kitchen things. She would wait until Cynthia came back before putting anything away. Cynthia would have worked it out where she wanted everything put away.
As soon as Cynthia had all of her furniture moved in, she and Angel went to Little Rock to get her boxed personal things and be there for the charities to come get the furniture. She put the condo up for sale at a bargain and the realtor said it would be sold soon. As soon as the cleaners finished at the condominium, they came back to Crooked Creek.
Cynthia swapped her Lexus for a Chevrolet Traverse to have some cargo space for her plants she was getting at the nursery.
The steel building installers, plumbers, and electricians got the plumbing and electrical conduit installed and the floor poured for the music hall, and had to wait for the concrete to cure. Don was collecting barn wood for the siding and interior decoration. Everyone kept their eyes out for country related articles for decoration inside the café and music hall, like Cracker Barrel restaurants. Many items were donated by customers at the store, café, or by residents in the Hagarville area. Angel set a timeline for the first of November for the opening of the music hall, which she would appropriately name “Hagarville Music Hall.”
Brad and Julia’s house restoration was just about finished. Sills damaged by carpenter ants had been replaced, the old house had been leveled, and a new PV-shingled roof had been installed. New plumbing had been put in, as well as new double paned windows. A wrap-around porch had been added and Julia was shopping for furniture. The house actually turned out to be larger than their house in Herndon and the sale of their house in Virginia paid for the restoration of their creek side farm. Brad had geothermal cooling and heating installed, but they planned to use mostly a wood stove for heating in the winter. Last to be added was an above ground concrete storm shelter with the entrance just beyond the back door of the house.
On Sundays, the three families got together at Paul and Angela’s where the women talked about the latest nicknack they had found, and the men talked about improving their situations.
“You know, these solar systems are working just fine,” John said. “Why can’t the government get it right?”
“Because the government thinks one size fits all,” Paul said. “If they would subsidize the installations, you would get more people using alternative energy. Coming right out and stopping the use of fossil fuels and leaving people to get what power they can with the blackouts and brownouts, just won’t work. People use electricity in different amounts and ways. If you are responsible how you use it, you won’t have any problems. That’s why I overbuilt my system. I’ll pay extra for the lack of aggravation to watch every watt I use.”
“Why didn’t you use a grid-tie system and sell power back to the power companies?” Brad asked.
“They helped make the mess, let them fix it,” John said.
“Exactly,” Paul said. “They’ve made millions in profits and not spent enough to keep up the grids. You can blame politicians for some of that too. If they are making enough on their stocks and contributions from the utility companies, they aren’t going to help very much either.”
When the talk died down, Paul had them follow him down with their side-by-sides to the conexes next to the airfield. He gave each man a Heckler & Koch MR556A1 Rifle, 8 magazines, 1000 rounds of SS109 ammo, a set of LBE set up with ammo pouches, IFAK, and canteens, and a Colt 1911 pistol, holster, and 500 rounds of ammo.
“What is this for?” Brad asked.”
“Just in case,” Paul replied.
Brad nodded and took the gear and put it into the bed of the his side by side.
We can set up a time when you’re free and I can take you all to the range to familiarize yourself with the weapons. Next, I want to get some communications set up, both fixed and mobile. I’ve got to do a little research and get back with you once I come up with something.
“Well, personally, I don’t think things have gotten that bad, but I guess it’s better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it” John said.
John and Brad agreed Wednesday would be a good day for range training, so they decided to meet at Paul’s at 09:00, weather permitting.
Brad had them bring their hunting rifles also to check the zero of the weapons. Both John and Brad were “Celebrity hunters” where they had been on guided hunts and had someone else skin and process the meat. Paul would teach them how to be a real hunter.
Paul had been putting out mineral blocks and scent attractants throughout the summer and had set up game cameras. He knew where the deer were and a herd of feral pigs roamed. They wouldn’t go without wild meat. They were also having two steers and two hogs butchered and processed and each family would get a side and a third of each. Paul agreed to smoke the hams and shoulders of the hogs. Paul had built a stilted smokehouse, 8 feet above the ground, similar to meat caches in Alaska, and had used a fire box he made from one of those two-barrel stove kits. He could adjust the temperature and smoke. He had a wireless thermometer to tell him what the heat in the smoker room was.
Paul did the haunches and shoulders by slicing down to the bone at the joints and packing with his cure made up of curing salt, red pepper, black pepper, and brown sugar. He laid the meat in pans with a layer of the cure in the bottom and placed them in a used refrigerator he had bought. He let them sit for 18 days. When the meat was firm, it was ready to smoke.
The hams and shoulders turned out pretty good, but if you didn’t like salty ham you’d need to simmer them in water and throw the water away before frying the slices. Paul had all the meat sliced at a butcher who had a saw that would cut through bone and meat, and had it all packaged up. The scraps flavored up green and pinto beans nicely.
The tide was turning in the culture war in America. Christians were being treated like red-headed Korean stepchildren. Churches, Christian related buildings, and pro-life organizations were being attacked all across America. Some of it was filtering into Little Rock, and more congregations were putting guards in their churches. Reverend Bowman called for volunteers and The Crooked Creek families answered the call.
Paul took the men to the range and got them to zero their rifles on the zero targets, then shot a couple of magazines at B-27 targets. Their range time finished with firing the .45 pistols with Paul correcting them at a few points, but they all did well.
“How bad do you think this is going to get?" Brad asked Paul.
“I don’t know but you can be sure it will get worse before it gets better.” Paul replied.
Paul called Jeremy and asked for some help getting body armor, and his recommendations on radio equipment. Jeremy said he had body armor, but all his planes were out making deliveries. Paul said he could come to pick it up and Jeremy said to come on. The next morning John and Paul flew down to the lodge in the middle of the Quachita National Forest. Jeremy was waiting for them with 25 vests in the bed of a pickup and several cases. They quickly got the vests loaded in the plane and Jeremy added some more ammo cans, four heavy cardboard boxes, and four large pelican cases.
“What is all this?” Paul asked.
“Twelve IMI Tavor TAR-21s. Chambered in 5.56 mm, uses the same mags as your H&Ks and have red dot, laser, and night vision on them. Plus, they have suppressors, and to top it off, three base stations and twelve mobile radios that are compatible with the radios we use” Jeremy said.
“Thanks, these might come in handy.” Paul said.
They took off and headed back to Crooked Creek.
"Paul, when we get back, let’s take these rifles to the range and check them out. It seems the attacks on churches are coming at night. The night vision will be our edge. As soon as we read the operator’s manual and are squared away, we can teach the others how to use them. When it’s our shift at the church, we’ll take them.”
“I heard that!” John said.
When they returned to Crooked Creek, they loaded the weapons and gear into Paul’s truck bed and headed to the range. They loaded magazines then sat on the tailgate and read through the Tavor operator’s manual.
“This is pretty simple,” John said.
“Yeah,” Paul agreed. “Once we get them battle-sighted, the NV scopes mount right to the red dot sight, We just need to align the laser to the red dot.”
Paul put up zero targets and fired three rounds. The red dot sights were right on. They tried the laser and adjusted the beam so the rounds were impacting at the same point as the red dot. They put the daylight covers on the NV scopes then fired three more times. Sure enough, the scope was locked in with the red dot.
“I wonder how many knocks and bangs the NV will take to bring it off zero?” John commented.
“Let’s fire a magazine with the NV scope and see if jars it off zero,” Paul said.
They fired a thirty-round magazine at a B-27 target and the rounds were hitting consistently on the aim point at 100 meters.
“We need to get Brad zeroed and we should have one of us on the night shift for upgraded security,” Paul said. “Also, I need to get you two outfitted with the radios and a AA-12.”
“What’s that?” John asked.
“An automatic shotgun,” Paul replied.
“Oh, I’ve got a Browning A5,” John said.
Paul chuckled. “Not even in the same class as the AA-12. That baby spits out 250 rounds a minute out of a 20 round drum or 8 round stick magazine.”
“Holy Crap!” Is it legal?” John asked.
“Not to civilians but I’m getting legal lowers for them. Until I get them in, we can have our civilian shotguns in the truck and swap them out before the law dogs get there,” Paul replied.
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Post by feralferret on Jul 2, 2023 1:25:30 GMT -6
Ncsfsgm, excellent chapter. Thanks!
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Post by gipsy on Jul 2, 2023 9:10:52 GMT -6
Thanks for the update.
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Post by ncsfsgm on Jul 5, 2023 14:38:26 GMT -6
Chapter 20 – Escalation
“Well, it does change a person’s attitude hearing a shotgun racked in the dark,” John said.
That afternoon, the volunteer guards met with Reverend Bowman at the church.
“Thank you gentlemen for coming. I just received word someone tried to firebomb the Our Shepherd Lutheran Church up in Searcy last night.” Reverend Bowman announced.
“The animals are filtering out of the dystopia,” John mumbled.
“Do we know who they are?” Eric Himmel asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” Paul said. “They are enemies of the people. They are utilizing weapons of mass destruction against innocent people and organizations.”
“Paul, will you set up the guard roster?” Rev. Bowman asked.
“Of course, Reverend. Okay guys, I’ve set up a weekly matrix of three 8-hour shifts per day for one week. Fill in the hours you can pull a shift. If there’s a conflict, we’ll iron it out. I’ve got portable radios for everyone so we can keep in touch during the shifts.” Reverend, why don’t you act as our intel gatherer. “Let me know when an attack, an attempt, or suspicious activity occurs.”
“I can do that Paul.” Rev. Bowman replied.
“Either I, John, or Brad will be on each night shift. We have night vision equipment that will give us an advantage.” Paul said.
“Shouldn’t the FBI or ATF be down here protecting or at least investigating those people?” Don Baker asked. “Where are they?”
“Don, no problem is so dire that government involvement cannot make worse." Paul said. “We can take care of our community.”
That evening’s shift agreed to meet back at the church at 5:30 and Paul, John, and Brad headed back to Paul’s. Paul drew out four sets of LBE with ammo pouches, IFAK, two canteens, and a Military style LED right-angle flashlight. They put the equipment together and filled the canteens. Paul would be on tonight’s shift, so he also got out a ballistic helmet, a PVS-14 and attached it to the mount on the helmet and tested the setup. Paul also took out four IR monoculars and tested those. The LBE, body armor, and radios would be used by each shift. The NV devices would only be used during the night shifts.
Paul was at the church at 5:20 and walked around, studying the terrain. When everyone got there, he had them position their vehicles so they wouldn’t provide cover to any intruders unless they had to travel at a minimum of 50 meters across open terrain. He handed out the equipment and held a short class on how to use the IR scopes, how often to use them, and what to look for. There were houses to the front and both sides of the church so Paul went out and hung a blue and an IR chemlight out on the edges of the property between them and the houses and told the men not to shoot toward the chemlights.
Paul didn’t think any attackers would come across the 70 meter field behind them. By the reports they’d received, the attackers came in quick and were prepared to leave quick. The church had a half-circle drive in front of it so that’s where he expected them and made sure the two guys on that corner of the church had shotguns, Paul would place himself toward the northeast corner of the church but close enough to provide assistance to the guys in front basically, using the TAR-21 and the laser with the PVS-14, it was a matter of swinging the laser on target and pulling the trigger. All was quiet on the night shift, to the relief of the guards. When the next shift got there, Paul briefed the shift commander and relayed to him where he thought any attack would come from.
Nothing happened all week as more reports came in about church burnings and attempted church burnings. When putting all their historical information together, most of the attacks came in the latter part of the work week. The Sheriff’s Department had received warnings from Homeland Security to be particularly observant Wednesday through Saturday nights.
Friday night, while Paul was on guard again, three cars pulled up in front of the church when the right side doors of the middle car flew open, two guys jumped out, and he saw them light probably what were Molotov cocktails and cocked their arms to throw the bottles toward the front door. The first bottle was shattered by a shotgun blast by Ed Turner before it had gone very far, throwing flaming glass and accelerant back at the two men, which caused the second guy to quickly drop his bottle, shattering it on the ground at their feet. Ben Johnson let loose a blast that peppered the passenger door. While the two men were screaming and stomping around, Paul began taking out tires on the cars with the TAR-21. Paul got a fire extinguisher out of his truck and put the fire out, just as the extra Molotov cocktails began cooking off on the rear floorboards of the car. When they gathered up the passengers of the cars, Paul went to his truck and exchanged the TAR-21 for a mini-14. A Sheriff’s Department Deputy arrived about 15 minutes later to find four armed men guarding 8 men setting on the church lawn, backs against the wire fence surrounding the children’s play area.
The Deputy called for backup and an ambulance, and two hours later everything was cleared up. The next guard shift came on and all the men helped pick up glass in front of the church as wreckers hauled the cars off. The attackers would be charged with arson and use of a weapon of mass destruction during a crime. Bad guys – 0, Guards -8.
At noon, Paul had all the guards assemble the next shift at the church, and he briefed them on how they had set up and their actions during the confrontation.
They kept the guard shifts up for another two weeks, but no other events had occurred in Johnson County or the surrounding counties, so they called the guard shifts off. The Sheriff’s Department revealed to the Reverend that two of the perps had come from Little Rock, two from St. Louis, two from Chicago, and two from Portland. Homeland Security promised to step up surveillance and track movements of anarchist group members, only to find out later that was not true.
The Reverend told Paul and Paul just shook his head. “This has been going on for more than two years and just now they want to step up surveillance. Trust the government!”
Paul selected five guys who lived within a two-mile radius of Hagarville and offered to equip and train them and they accepted. He set them up with H&K MR556A1s with battle rigs and 2000 rounds of ammunition for each man. Since they were working men, he set up time when they could get with him for training with him and/or Eduardo. Jeremy showed up, talked to Eduardo, and within a week two more shipping containers showed up followed by Jeremy. Jeremy, Paul, John, Brad, and Eduardo sat down for a pow-wow and talked about the path forward into the future and discussed supplies.
“Paul, this is a list of equipment in the containers.” Jeremy said. “We’ve set up our resupply units like the old MARGE bundles, except with more modern equipment. I’ve included more night vision and surveillance equipment. There are also four RQ-11 Raven drones. Pick someone for a primary operator and I’ll send someone down to train them.”
“Jeremy, do you believe it is really going to get worse?” Brad asked.
Jeremy sighed and took a drink of water. “Until the Marxists are taken out of government and academia, it is sure to continue on this path or get worse. Every day they are gaining foothold because they are training young, irresponsible minds in our schools. Many of the so-called leaders are into this ‘Woke’ crap for the money. We’re slowly gaining an edge over those people by exposing them and siphoning their money to where it can be used best. The more militant ones we just make disappear. Sinkholes have become our friends. No, with the weak-spined politicians and judges we have, it’s going to take a while to get things in order, but when they hit us, we hit them twice as hard. Plans are in the works to take four people from the subgroups that those men and women came from that hit you all.”
“Is that really necessary?" John asked.
“John, those people don’t respect the average man, woman, or child in this country. If you can’t get them to respect YOUR beliefs, then you have to punish them and make them fear you.” Jeremy said.
“Paul, I’ve got a couple of more contacts established and have A new Bell 412 I want to use to get around. It will also be used for QRF. Can I put in a 500-gallon JET-A tank here to extend the range?” Jeremy asked.
Paul nodded. “Sure, no problem. Set it where you need it.”
Paul drew a 5-mile radius around Hagarville and visited every home within that circle. He was able to gather 25 men above the age of 18 years to form an on-call security team for the community. The men jokingly called themselves “Security Regulators”, but they were earnest in their endeavor and training. As a result, 58 square miles of Johnson County didn’t have one incident of overt law violations other than the squealing of tires by a teenager out of Shaner’s parking lot. The Sheriff came around and investigated the group and instead of a militia, found trusted citizens willing to work with the Law Enforcement Agencies, more or less a neighborhood watch that was willing to protect their neighborhood with arms. This made the Sheriff’s Department have to work harder because no criminals would get within that 5-mile boundary of Hagarville and did their mischief elsewhere in the rest of the county. Jeremy pushed more gear and ammo to Paul to outfit and train the men and women. The wives of the men also took interest in home defense and were becoming quite good with the Beretta A300 Ultima Patrol 20-gauge shotguns Paul made available. Some Saturday training days became big cookouts for the families after the range time.
It wasn’t noticed very much, but ANTIFA activists were beginning to become less noticeable. In fact it was as if they were disappearing, at least the visible leaders were.
Paul was headed into Clarksville one day when he saw the strangest looking dog he had ever seen next to a man beside a mailbox. He quickly pulled over and asked the man what kind of dog it was.
“Catahoula Leopard Dog,” the man replied.
“It was used to hunt leopards?”
“Naw, the breed was originally bred down in Louisiana to herd cattle. It got that name because of the spots.”
“It looks like she might have had pups,” Paul said.
“Yeah, she had eight. I sold six and have two 8-month-old pups left. Interested?”
“Let me look at them,” Paul said. “My name is Paul Austin."
“Emmet Simpson,” Emmet said, shaking Paul’s offered hand.
“Pull right on in the drive here.” The man said.
Paul pulled up to the garage and got out. The man led him to a dog pen behind the garage. In the pen were two dogs, a male and a female. The female had two light sky-blue eyes and the male had one light brown eye and one light sky-blue eye.
“Them eyes are normal with this breed. You can have both eyes that color blue, brown eyes, or one of each.” The man said. “ I’ve been training these to herd cattle and hogs. They do pretty good with each. I didn’t neuter the male but the female is spade."
The man turned the two young dogs out and told them to sit and the dogs sat down in front of the man and Paul, so Paul could look them over. Paul petted them both until the man told them to search. The dogs alerted and swiveled their heads around looking for cattle or pigs. He told them to heel and started walking away and they took up positions on each side of him and went with him. The man came back to Paul and told the dogs to sit and the dogs sat right down.
“These dogs are pretty smart and are easy to train. Just reward them when they do whatever you want them to do. They are family-friendly and anyone you want them to be friendly to. With strangers they are stand-offish until you tell them it’s all right.”
“What are you asking for them?” Paul asked.
“I’ll take $200 a piece for them if you take ‘em both. $300 for one.”
“Well, I guess I’ll take them both then,” Paul said.
“I’ll get their vaccination papers.”
Paul opened the gun safe in his truck and pulled out four $100 bills and gave it to the man and received the vaccination paperwork.
“I appreciate this Mr. Simpson.”
“If you decide to stud that male out, give me a shout. He’ll make some good puppies.”
“Okay, I will if I decide to. You take care.”
“Be seein’ ya.” Emmet said.
The dogs rode quietly in the back seat to the auto parts store and the farm store where Paul picked up dog food. He went inside and bought collars and leashes, put them on the dogs, then took them inside back to where they had the pet supplies. He let them pick out the food they wanted and the dog treats. Tails twitching and butts wagging, they stayed right with him as he picked up water and feed bowls and took them to the checkout counter. He put everything in the bed of the truck and the dogs in the back seat. Opening the box of treats up, he gave each dog a treat and praised them for being good.
Paul wondered what Angel was going to say when she saw them.
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Post by gipsy on Jul 5, 2023 15:26:11 GMT -6
Head over heels for them I am sure. Thanks for the update.
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Post by ncsfsgm on Jul 8, 2023 13:38:16 GMT -6
Chapter 21-Preparing for winter
Paul set up the dogs’ bowls and bedding on the west side porch. The dogs were roaming around the yard, sniffing everything. When he called them, they came trotting up on the porch where Paul fed them each a treat, saying their names. He sat on the steps and both dogs laid down beside him on the porch. He was rubbing and scratching their ears when Eduardo came riding up. Both dogs tensed and bristled. Paul got up and walked out to the side by side to greet Eduardo.
“What in the hell are those?” Eduardo asked.
“Leopard Dogs,” Paul replied. “Come!” Paul said to the dogs. Both dogs came over, cautiously to the men.
“Friend,” Paul said and patted Eduardo on the shoulder. Eduardo let them sniff the back of his hand and they calmed down. Paul gave them another piece of chicken jerky.
“You shouldn’t have any problems with them now,” Paul said.
“I should hope not!” Eduardo replied. “Have you named them yet?”
“I was thinking of calling the male Cujo and the female Molly.”
“Hunh. They’ve got weird eyes,” Eduardo said.
“It’s supposed to be common in that breed,” Paul said.
Carmelita came out the door and quickly jumped back in as if she were about to step on a snake. Molly spun around and stared at Carmelita, then wagged her tail.
“¡¿Señor Paul?! ¡¿Qué es esto?!" A startled Carmelita said.
“New members of the family. Carmelita, meet Cujo and Molly.”
Both dogs turned their attention to Carmelita. She turned her hand over and let the dogs sniff it at Paul’s suggestion. He scratched their ears and fed them a scrap of chicken jerky as Carmelita took over scratching their ears.
“They are beautiful!” Carmelita cooed. Both dogs moved closer and nuzzled her.
The dogs began ignoring Carmelita and took up position on the porch at the top of the steps.
Paul went into the house, poured three fingers of Irish and went back to sit outside with the dogs. Angel should be back soon. They sat there for about 15 minutes, Paul occasionally sipping his whiskey and the dogs moving their heads closer for Paul to scratch their ears. Then Angel pulled in. She sat in the SUV and stared at the two dogs for a few seconds, then exited the vehicle.
“What are those?” Angel asked.
Paul chuckled. “Our new guard dogs. Come on up and meet them.”
The dogs stood as Angel approached.
“Let them sniff the back of your hand.” Paul said.
Angel reached her hand forward and turned it over. Both dogs excitedly sniffed her hands as Paul broke a piece of jerky in half and handed them to her. “Give them each a piece and scratch their ears.” Paul said.
The dogs eagerly took the jerky and began nuzzling her.
“What are their names?” Angel asked.
“The female is Molly and the male is Cujo.” Paul said, smiling.
“Oh my God! You would have to name him that! They are both beautiful….and their eyes!”
“Strange, aren’t they?”
“Well, I need a quick shower.” Angel said, straightening up.
Paul followed her in and went to the kitchen, took the warm lasagna out of the oven and set the table. As he was uncorking a bottle of wine, she appeared in a sleeping T-shirt and her lined bedroom shoes.
“Happy to see me?” Paul said, pointing to the protrusions in her sleeping shirt.
“Oh, quit it! It’s getting chilly in here!” Angel said, blushing.
Paul sat the wine bottle down on the table, went to the woodstove and added two more pieces of split wood. She was pouring the wine when he returned to the dining table. Paul cut large squares in the lasagna and served them.
Paul heard a “WOOF” and toenails clicking on the porch so he got up to see what Cujo and Molly were alerting to. He heard, then saw, Cynthia coming down the drive in her side by side. He waited with the dogs, talking to them until Cynthia pull up to the porch.
“Cynthia, let me introduce you to Cujo and Molly,” Paul said. “Just let them sniff the back of your hand and I’ll give you a treat to feed them.”
While Cynthia was letting the dogs sniff her, Paul got a strip of chicken jerky and tore it in half, giving the two pieces to Cynthia. After the dogs gobbled down their treat, she scratched their ears, and was accepted as one of the good people.
Paul and Eduardo stood and watched as the CN—235 dropped down to below treetop level and began it’s run at the airstrip. Jeremy wanted to test doing LAPES drops (Low Altitude Parachute Extraction System) because the 235 was too big for the airstrip to land on. The cargo was supplies that Jeremy wanted to preposition in the new shipping containers that had been delivered.
The landing gear lowered, and the plane leveled off about a meter above the ground. Halfway down the strip, a drogue parachute flew out of the back of the aircraft and the pilot lifted the nose of the aircraft to clear the trees a few hundred meters beyond the end of the strip. A pallet came out the back of the aircraft and slid down the airstrip as it was slowed by another parachute. The pallet came to a stop about 100 meters from the end of the runway. The pilot flew the plane around and came back flying the same configuration except the drogue chute came out earlier and the pilot raised the nose of the aircraft sooner. The pallet slid to stop about 50 meters from the first one. The ramp on the aircraft closed and the pilot flew a low-level pass over the airstrip, waggling his wings and flew away.
Eduardo got on the tractor and Paul rode the hitch bar on the tractor out to the pallets. After removing the LAPES harness from the pallet, Eduardo picked it up and carried it to the container. The containers came with a roller transport system so all Eduardo had to do was set the pallet on the floor and give it a shove and the pallet rolled over halfway into the container. He quickly retrieved the second pallet and secured it in the container also. Paul secured the harnesses on the forks and they stored them in the container to be retrieve later by Jeremy’s people.
“That worked well enough,” Eduardo said.
“We are only limited to the pallet weight. If it’s more than the tractor can handle, we’ll be unloading by hand,” Paul said.
“Well, let’s remind them to keep their weights below 2000 pounds then,” Eduardo said.
They secured the container and put the tractor away.
“We still going out in the morning?” Eduardo asked.
“For sure!” Paul said. I want to fill all my tags this year.
“Both hogs and deer are working that area near Toms Branch for the acorns and the attractant we’ve put out there,” Eduardo said.
“Sounds good. I’ll meet you at the barn at 04:30,” Paul said.
“Sure thing,” Eduardo said, and they split up and went to their houses.
Cujo and Molly wagged their tails and came out into the yard to meet Paul as he drew nearer. Paul was pleased they took right to guarding the house and Molly especially bonded to Angel. Both dogs were obeying Angel’s orders as well as they did Paul’s.
The next morning Paul and Eduardo met up and took the side by side up to the range shed and parked, walking the rest of the distance. They were in place in their hides when the sky began to lighten. When Paul shot and nailed the 12-point buck, his shot startled a large feral boar and Eduardo downed him. Paul trotted off to get the utility vehicle after slitting the throat of the buck. They moved the carcasses away from their hunting area and field dressed them, then hauled them back to the house to skin and further process the meat.
Carmelita was making breakfast when they got back and when she saw what the men had, called Lourdes and Cecilia to come help. As the meat was cooling, the men had their breakfast.
Carmelita decided they would can, freeze, and smoke the meat and prepared the equipment. Paul, Eduardo, and Carmelita cut the meat up, and while the women and Eduardo wrapped portions for freezing, Paul prepared portions for salt curing and later smoking. He knocked the salt out of the old boxes and laid the hams and shoulders in and prepared them, finally covering everything in salt. The scraps from the deer and pork were ground up to make sausage and prepared for smoking. The dogs lay quietly guarding the place while gnawing on deer leg bones.
By noon, all the canning and the cleanup had been done. Sausages were smoking, as Paul and Eduardo were relaxing near the smoker monitoring it and drinking beer, next to the fire pit. Eduardo had a cast iron pot on the firepit grate, rendering the lard.
“Man! This turned out to be a busy day,” Paul said.
“Yeah, amigo, but we got a lot of meat today,” Eduardo said.
“Yes we did. I want to fill my doe tag next time and turn it into jerky and pemmican. I’ve got plenty of bison tallow.”
“Make some pemmican with raisins too. Mi hijos like that. I’d rather them snacking on that than junk food.” Eduardo said.
“I will, I’ll make half with raisins and half with blueberries.” Paul said.
Paul opened the smoker door and checked the temperature of the sausages with a temperature probe. “These will be ready in another thirty minutes,”
“I’ll go get a pan,” Eduardo said.
Paul went to get some #550 cord and strung a couple of lines to drape the strings of sausage links over to cool.
If they didn’t get any beef for the next few months, they still had a good source of protein. Right now, Paul was buying his beef from Fox Slaughtering and Processing down in Scranton, but also was getting bison and elk from them also. The elk ribeyes would melt in your mouth. His freezers were reaching capacity. That’s why he wanted to turn the next deer into jerky and pemmican.
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Post by gipsy on Jul 8, 2023 14:25:34 GMT -6
Some great snacking there. Thanks for the update.
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Post by imahic on Jul 8, 2023 15:17:13 GMT -6
Thanks for the update. Had some catching up to do.
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Post by ncsfsgm on Jul 11, 2023 8:08:52 GMT -6
Chapter 22 – Music to The Ears
There was excitement in the air on Saturday night when the Hagarville Music Hall had its big opening. Parking was at a premium, so Angel hired four high school boys to help park people. The people started gathering at 6:30 so Angel opened the door and let some of the musicians do a jam session before the scheduled singers and players were to perform at 7:00. Sabrina had been making big dispensers of sweet and unsweetened iced tea all day long, and Angel was considering buying an ice machine just for the Music Hall.
Reverend Bowman was pragmatist and had selected a table next to the exit to the smoking area. He was there to help police the inebriated that night. Everyone knew it would happen, but the men would help police each other. Everyone was enjoying the jam session. There was no singing, just guys and girls limbering up their fingers. The big hit seemed to be Horace Marley and his lap steel guitar.
At 7:00 PM the actual show began with Jess Parker on a flat top guitar and Albert Jackson on the five-string banjo picking for Liz Carpenter who was singing “Halley Came to Jackson”, as requested by Angel. It is a song written by internationally acclaimed singer and songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter and tells about one of the memories of author Eudora Welty, and her stories of growing up in Mississippi. Angel would listen to the song at least once a week, if not more. Her favorite rendition is performed by Reina del Cid on YouTube.
They did three songs before the crowd would let them take a break and other people did their songs. Liz ended the night at 11:30 with a Carter Family favorite, “Wildwood Flower.”
The night at the music hall was a big hit and people started to ask if of they could open up on Friday nights also. Angel wanted to wait for a few weeks before she made the decision.
Mike Alderberg finished installing the last of the five 2.4GHz,100 TB servers, put on his coat and went outside the entrance building. Snow was beginning to pile up on the old gamma ray detector next to the gate. Mike walked over and brushed the one inch of snow off of it and looked around. No cars were visible on West 51 in either direction, and he could see a long way east and west. He’d better check the weather forecast.
“I’m glad I made my trip to Sioux City last week. I’d hate to get caught out on the plains in this mess.” Mike said to himself. He did that often out there.
It was bad enough he’d had the ice storm the day before, but ice and snow didn’t mix very well. He went back into the entrance building and down the stairs into the living area and hung his coat up.
Mike was in an old AT&T underground building "hardened" against nuclear blasts out on the plains a few miles outside of Lyons, Nebraska. It was a lonely place to settle down, but it suited Mike.
Mike’s grandfather hadn’t really needed the old AUTOVON site when it came up for sale by AT&T, but it would fill out the section of land his grandfather had claimed, and the family had farmed up until the government came in and basically snatched it from them in the name of national defense. Later, Mike researched and found out it was built to house a major Electronic Switching System (ESS) that connected the network from Offut Air Force Base to the missile bases to the north and west, and national long wire systems.
The underground building consisted of two floors with high ceilings to accommodate tall racks of communications equipment and their overhead cabling, each floor having a mezzanine level. The building was constructed of reinforced concrete and was covered by several feet of earth. The only things AT&T removed from the structure were non-obsolete equipment and disconnected/cut the cables. It features blast doors closed automatically by a "seal-up system" in the event of a nuclear blast, a decontamination shower, a gas-turbine engine-alternator for emergency power, and a ventilation system designed to maintain a positive pressure of filtered air inside the building to prevent the entry of airborne fallout. Mike later added HEPA and carbon filters to filter out gasses. Since the site had been recently decommissioned, everything still worked, even the blast doors. Mike had come home on leave soon after Grandpa had purchased the site and they had gone through the two floors together. Mike’s specialty in the Air Force was computers and networks and it gave him an idea. There was a need for off-site data storage, and he could set up servers for that purpose. The site already had the HVAC needed for the setup and it was secure. Every chance he got, Mike would come home on leave and pull-out unneeded equipment and wiring and prepare the bottom floor for his servers. He had made a lot of money on the scrap copper he’d retrieved from the site, which he had poured right back in on the site preparation. He saved the circuit boards because he had read somewhere about retrieving the gold used in construction. The site also had a 100-meter self-supporting steel-lattice tower holding several horn-reflector microwave antennas, and there were several ground-mounted hardened UHF antennas which he had later used the masts to hold wind generators.
The only things visible from the state road were the tower and the entrance building, but later he and Grandpa began building windbreaks of trees around the place, so it wasn’t long before the only thing visible from the highway was the tower. Then someone from a company showed an interest in the horn-reflector antennas and Grandpa sold the antennas to them if they would dismantle the towers with as little damage as possible. The antennas must have been important to them because they did the deal. Now the tower was in pieces stacked next to where the tower once stood. Grandpa said they knew what they were doing because they had the tower down in less than a week. Now the pad where the tower once stood contained satellite dishes. Grandpa took up repairing neighbors’ farm equipment with the steel from the tower. He had quit farming when I had left to go into the Service. Now others leased the land to grow larger crops of wheat and other grains.
A few years before, a fire started in the wheat fields to the southwest and burned a path northeast, burning several farms, including Grandpa’s. He had been in Omaha at the time and when he got back home, his 100-year-old farmhouse and several outbuildings were in ruins. He took the situation in stride though. He had been using the top floor of the bunker as storage and had some furniture and such stored there. He borrowed linen from some neighbors and set up a house in the bunker. There was already a bathroom and shower, all he really had to get was replacement clothing and food, which he took care of the next day. When I got back on leave the next time, He had already began building walls to make a home. He couldn’t see building a brand-new house when that place was available, and he damn sure wasn’t going to live in a trailer house.
When Mike came home on his terminal leave, his grandfather had finished walling in a 4,000 square foot living area with 3 bedrooms, three full baths, large country kitchen with a living space, library and recreation room, and there was still room left over. His last duty assignment had been at Whiteman Air Force base outside of Knob Noster, Missouri which was around a 4-hour drive from his grandfather’s. Mike also had to haul back a whole bunch of things he had accumulated pawing through the Defense Logistics Agency Property disposal site at Whiteman and bidding on items when the lots came up for auction. It took him three trips to retrieve everything from the storage units he had filled. Every bit pertained to his new line of work as a civilian. He had test equipment, computer racks, shelving, cabinets, tools, CAT-5, patch panels and boxes of hardware, he didn’t know whether he could use or not, but had been included in lots he had bought at auctions.
The second thing he did was to start working on the power system. He had set up enough solar panels to run Grandpa’s new “house”, but he had to have enough to run a lot of electrical equipment. He calculated the size system he would need and plussed it by 25%. He was glad to be updating the system because much more efficient equipment was being built now days. He had replaced the 750Kw generator that had originally been used for emergency power with a smaller unit, because his power requirements weren’t as large as the site had needed when it was operational. He kept the motor and alternator though, just in case.
Grandpa had been proud of the windbreak he had planted. He had worked in conjunction with a horticulturist from Lanes Nursery to select trees to give protection from the wind and intruders, plus provide shelter for wildlife. Scattered through the windbreak Grandpa had also planted Bristly greenbrier berries, buckthorn, and hawthorn bushes. The thorns could keep a buffalo out.
Mike missed his grandfather, who had died the summer before when he was welding out in his shop. For 96, he was as spry as any 50-year-old man, but we never get out of this world alive. Mike had him buried in the old family cemetery next to his wife, Mike’s father, and mother. Mike spent a day each month cleaning the cemetery. Just like he and his grandfather used to do.
Mike had the money rolling in from the servers now. He had been running 40 terabytes until Jeremy Cassidy requested space for backup. Mike had to add 20 more terabytes for Jeremy’s requirements. He didn’t know what business Jeremy was in to need that much space, and the data was encrypted on their end. But he was paying a premium for the service and all Mike had to do was keep it running. Every so often they would fill another hard drive and Mike would just add another one. Whatever Cassidy did came in irregular bursts. Of course, Mike stayed two steps ahead and had twenty more terabyte drives in the stack that would automatically take their backup. His monitoring program would tell him when new space was being used and he could add the extra drives. It just added dollar signs to Cassidy’s next bill.
Mike checked his shopping list and then checked the weather forecast. It was coming up to his monthly shopping trip to Sioux City, and he did a tour through his pantry and added things to his list. He checked his wine selection and added several bottles of Hanna’s favorites. He stopped and daydreamed for a few moments.
Hanna Edwinson was a farm girl that lived four miles away. She was from a Swedish family that had immigrated here in the late 1800’s. She could drive any piece of farm equipment as good, sometimes better, than many men. She also drove many of the seasonal workers to distraction. It wasn’t many weeks she didn’t stop by to visit one or two times. Mike and Hanna practically grew up together and went from the 1st grade through the 12th grade together. She liked to pheasant hunt and frequently came over and hunted the strips Mike kept planted around the compound and the old place. Looking back to his list, he made a note to take his coolers to bring back meat. He could get dry ice at the Hy-Vee. He wanted to get plenty of beef. When things had started getting screwy in the country, about the time Obama became President, Mike and his grandfather had been buying a little extra each month to tide them over in case they had to miss a trip.
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Post by gipsy on Jul 11, 2023 10:00:59 GMT -6
Thanks for the update.
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Post by ncsfsgm on Jul 13, 2023 6:13:28 GMT -6
Chapter 23 – Eddies in the Storm
The music hall was a big success, and the waitresses were particularly thrilled at the tips they had made. Angel had been able to hire girls less than 21 years of age because there was no alcohol served. There was a clamoring for the Hall to be opened on Friday nights, but she stuck to her guns and would wait a few weeks before making that decision and hiring a manager for it. She wanted to get an average of the food and drinks she would need. It looked as though they might need to expand the outside pavilion where the smokers went because the fire code wouldn’t handle everyone who wanted to attend inside. Again, she wanted to wait and get some stats together.
Meanwhile, Paul, John, and Brad busied themselves with harvesting firewood from the dead trees in the forests around them. One of the reasons was for the firewood but also to keep the forest clear of debris to help prevent wildfires. Once they had their forested areas clear, the forest service would be more than willing to allow harvesting in the national and state forests for the same reasons. They were no longer receiving the funds to maintain the forests and in some areas it was even too dangerous to do any clear burning because of the accumulated amount of biomass that would accelerate the fires.
The three men decided their goal was six cords of wood for each family and three for Cynthia. Paul figured they would need at most four, but it gave them an edge in the future.
John purchased a diesel-powered firewood processor that could do 3 to 5 cords an hour for what he jokingly called the “Crooked Creek Firewood Company”. The longest time it took was for cutting the trees and bringing them to where the mobile processor was located.
Paul purchased another tractor and a dump trailer to haul the logs and move the firewood to where it was needed. They continued processing firewood up to the week before Thanksgiving. The men hunted their own turkeys on their land and wanted to get three or four this year. Everyone knows that Thanksgiving dinner is great, but the leftovers are even better the days after the big day. The women planned to make enough of the sides for everyone to take home plenty of extras.
Paul had a flock of turkeys that congregated near the creek north of the garden. There was another on the southwest side of the creek near the harrow meadows near John’s place. They got their turkeys, and the women were prepared to roast them. However, the women did an about turn and decided they would roast the two biggest toms and Paul could smoke the other two.
Mike had built a couple of storage rooms and a gym area on the top floor of the facility. He had invested in top notch equipment and was assembling some of it when Hanna stopped by. She got to the door of the entrance building and pressed the button. Mike went to the console, checked the monitor, and buzzed her in. He heard her heavy boots hit every metal step as she came down.
“I’m back here!” Mike yelled.
Hanna came down the hallway and poked her head through the door.
"Småningom bygger fågeln sitt bo." (“Little by little, the bird makes its nest.”) Hanna said in a husky voice that could have done voice-overs for porn videos.
“We’re in America now, Hanna, speak American.” Mike said, tightening a screw.
“Daddy likes for me to practice my Swedish,” Hanna said.
“Check around for yourself, your Daddy isn’t here,” Mike said.
“Ow-w-w-w is my sweetie pie grumpy?”
“One of these days your teasing is going to go too far, and I’ll have to do something.” Mike said.
“I doubt that I’ll complain,” Hanna replied. “Seriously though, Mamma told me to tell you not to make any plans for Thanksgiving. You’re eating with us.” Hanna said.
“Oh? Your mother said that? So, when did I start taking orders from her?” Mike asked.
"Vad kvinna vill, vill Gud." (“What woman wants, God wants.”) Replied Hanna with a lopsided grin and twinkling eyes.
“Can I bring anything?” Mike inquired.
“Wine. Do you have any more of that Lotima Murella wine?” Hanna asked. “Mamma likes that.”
“Yeah, I’ll take a couple of bottles over the day before, so she has something to sip on while preparing the meal,” Mike said. “Oh! I have six pounds of commercially frozen salmon filets for you to take back with you. Your mother said she wanted to make Gravlax, and remind her she owes me two jars of pickled herring. I’ve grown a little tired of Bar Harbor Smoked Kippers. I bought a case of them and have tried to make them taste like your mother’s herring but it’s a lost cause.”
“She doesn’t make them. A cousin up in Wisconsin makes them and ships them down here.” Hanna said.
“Whatever, she is the keeper of the stash.” Mike said.
“Have you tried dill infused olive oil and vinegar over them?” Hanna asked.
“I’ll try that,” Mike replied. I’ve got dill growing in the hothouse.
Hanna went to the kitchen and Mike heard her going through the cabinets. He took a break and walked into the kitchen also.
“What are you looking for?” Mike asked.
“Something to eat. I’m hungry.”
“I made Kalops last night,” Mike said. “There are canned beets and boiled potatoes in the pantry.”
“Do you mind?” Hanna asked.
“Not at all,” Mike said. “You heat everything up and I’ll split it with you. I’ll do the bread."
Mike went to the freezer to check for dough but then realized that Hanna probably wouldn’t want to wait for the dough to rise. He turned to the bread box and took out the loaf of bread he had baked a couple of days before. Cutting off a good hunk, he set it on a sheet of aluminum foil, put his hand under running water in the sink and flicked the water from his fingers onto the bread. Wrapping the foil around the bread, he set the foil wrapped bread in the oven to warm up.
When Hanna had the stew, beets, and potatoes warmed up, Mike took the bread out of the oven and unwrapped the steaming bread. They tore off hunks, buttered them, and Hanna began devouring the meal. Mike chuckled, got up from the table and reaching into the back of the fridge, pulled out a bottle of mead and opened it. He poured two glasses and placed one in front of Hanna.
“I’m not trying to get you drunk so I can take advantage of you, but mead goes well with this meal,” Mike said.
Hanna’s forehead furrowed. “Mamma wouldn’t mind that,” Hanna said, her mouth curving into a smile.
Mike’s mouth snapped shut, he walked into that one. Annika Edwinson was always trying to get him and Hanna together.
“I’m going up to Sioux City Saturday to pick up some things. Tell your mother I’m going by Seaboard Triumph to pick up bacon and pork loins. Let me know what she wants.” Mike said between mouthfuls.
“Then I’d better go with you. You get near that Barnes and Noble, you’ll pull in and be there until dark.” Hanna said.
“No, I won’t. I’ve got a lot of places to go, and I’ll be back before dark, but I wouldn’t mind the company.”
“I’ll get a list of things from Mamma. Are you planning to make Schnitzel soon?”
“It was on my mind,” Mike said. “I like to pound the pork out ahead of time and just take out what I want to fry.”
“Are you going to get any Maid-Rites?” Hanna asked. “I know Pappa would probably want a case of them.”
“No, I’d rather make my own. I just got in a package from San Francisco Salt Company with several different flavors of smoked sea salt I want to try out.” Mike said. “I’m getting plenty of ground beef to make those, and Stuffed Beef Sandwiches too.”
Archer went over to Andy’s to help with the furniture placement. As the deliverymen brought it in, Andy and Archer fine-tuned the placement under Crystal’s direction. Crystal was having a wonderful time, the men, not so much. When the delivery truck was unloaded and everything in its place, Andy and Archer were walking to the boat house when Andy’s phone buzzed with a notification from the gate app.
Puzzled, Andy didn’t recognize the man in the video. “Can I help you?” Andy asked.
“Delivery from Colonel Cassidy,” The driver said.
Andy frowned and buzzed the man through the gate. As the truck drew nearer, Andy squinted and asked. “What the hell is that?”
Archer chuckled. "Looks like Jeremy sent you a wheeled skid steer.”
Sure enough, on the back of the 53’ trailer was a CAT skid steer with several attachments, of which Andy only recognized the bucket and fork attachments.
“What the hell? I’ve never operated one of those!” Andy said.
“Better learn how, or you may be unloading the stuff Jeremy is planning on putting in that ‘warehouse’ by hand.” Archer grinned.
Archer helped the driver unchain everything and jumped in the seat and drove the Cat off the trailer, lined it up and drove it back on, picked up the next implement and carried it back off to set it down by the storage building. There were pallet forks, combo bucket, grappler, landscape blade, snow blower, auger, and a chipper.
“What the hell do you need a snow blower for around here?” Andy asked.
“You’d be surprised how much snow you can get around here." Archer said. “They often get twenty or more inches around here. I checked.”
“Well, I guess I should put a lean-to roof on this side to keep the equipment out of the weather.” Andy said.
“Let me know and I’ll come over to help,” Archer replied.
Andy took some measurements in his notebook. He’d work out the materials list later.
He left the forks mounted on the skid steer and parked it in the warehouse. Archer got ready to leave in his boat when Andy received a call from Jeremy.
“Did you receive the skid steer?” Jeremy asked.
“Yes, but what’s the deal with all the attachments?” Andy asked.
“Oh, I just included things that might be useful around there,” Jeremy replied. “Look, I’ll see you in a couple of days. Expect a couple of truckloads to store in the warehouse."
"Okay, I’ll talk to you then,” Andy said.
NEWS FLASH
“Today in St. Louis, the Soros backed DA, Joshua Abrams, was killed when explosives detonated and weakened the guardrail on the Eads Bridge. A simultaneous explosion at the right front wheel area of the car he was traveling in caused the car to veer through the guardrail and into the Mississippi River. Divers are currently attempting to recover the wreckage. Initial comments from unnamed law enforcement sources say this was a professional assassination attempt. As of yet, no bodies have been recovered.
"DA Abrams was well known for his no-bail, revolving door policies on criminals in the bi-state metropolitan area.”
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Post by gipsy on Jul 13, 2023 9:23:40 GMT -6
Must have been one of those upstanding People he let through the revolving door. Thanks for the update.
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Post by imahic on Jul 13, 2023 23:05:59 GMT -6
Wonder if DA Abrams was the one who left the cocaine in the White House?
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Post by ncsfsgm on Jul 19, 2023 6:54:18 GMT -6
Chapter 24 – The Snowman Cometh
Hanna had worn her heavy parka that morning.
“Is it that cold this morning?” Mike asked walking over to the weather station panel.
“The real temperature isn’t that bad, but the wind is blowing hard,” Hanna replied.
“Minus fifteen wind chill,” Mike called out.
The forty-five-minute drive to Sioux City wasn’t bad. The trailer got buffeted a few times, but there was only light traffic. Hanna dialed KSCJ on the radio to listen to the news. They were discussing a coming storm that would bring several inches of snow.
“I’m glad we are doing this today," Hanna commented. “I might as well get Pappa two cases of Maid-Rites.”
“I might pick up and extra case of pork loins,” Mike said. “I’ll have plenty of time to slice them up.”
Hanna changed channels again and they listened to Dougie MacLean sing Caledonia.
“Are you going by The Butcher Shop?” Hanna asked.
“Yep. I have an order waiting for me and I want to get some Bavarian sausages to have with kraut,” Mike replied.
“I’m eating at your house!” Hanna said, grinning.
Mike stopped at Seaboard Triumph first, picked up a case of pork chops and three of loins. Hanna bought a case of pork chops and one of loins. Next they went to the Butcher Shop located downtown and picked up Mike’s order and the sausages, then went on down Dakota Avenue to Maid-Rite and Sam’s Club. They picked up two cases of Maid-Rites for Didrik and headed on to Sam’s. At Sam’s Club, Mike got a two-jar pack of peanut butter, several jugs of maple syrup, four jars of honey, four pounds of salted butter, four pounds of unsalted butter, three big packs of toilet paper, three of paper towels and napkins. He got a case of Mexican beer, a big plastic jar of Reese’s Miniature Peanut Butter Cups, and a large bag of peppermint candy. In the clothing section, Mike picked up a couple of packs of socks and two pairs of canvas jeans. Hanna made most of her selections in the spice area. They each got 15 gallons of oil, two 25-pound bags of sugar, iodized salt, and Mike got three containers of sea salt, chili powder, granulated garlic, onion powder, and peppercorns. On the next aisle they got several cans of Hill Brother’s coffee and boxes of gallon-size and one cup tea bags. In the produce area, Mike got a bunch of bananas, a bag of apples, and they decided to split a container of grapes when they got home. On the way to check out, they picked up milk, orange juice, and hygiene items. They paid for their purchases and packed the trailer. There was room left in the trailer, so they decided to go over to the Super Walmart. There, Mike followed Hanna around with the cart as she tossed this and that in. Mike bought all the .22 magnum cartridges he was allowed and a few boxes of .22 shorts and ,17 HMR. Hanna scooted him out of the sporting goods section as soon as she could. In the produce section, Mike grabbed two boxes of vanilla wafers, four bags of Krusteaz Buttermilk Pancake Mix, and cans of frozen juices.
“This shopping makes me hungry,” Mike said. “What do you say we go get a tenderloin sandwich?”
“Sounds good to me,” Hanna replied.
They went to Steinbeck's Pub and had tenderloin sandwiches with fries and a salad, washed down with iced tea.
The meal made them feel a little sluggish, so Hanna relented, and they went to the Barnes and Noble bookstore. Mike picked out several magazines, as did Hanna. They only spent about 30 minutes in there and when they came out, the chilling wind woke them up. They headed back home as the wind got even stronger, making it difficult to drive, but made one more stop to pick up a case of mead. Just as Mike made the turn off of NE-77 onto NE-51, it began snowing.
Eduardo and Paul went around getting ready for the upcoming storm. Paul checked the chickens and made sure they had plenty of food and water. Shaner’s was busy with people coming in picking up milk, bread, and snacks. Angel hoped the storm wouldn’t delay their next delivery. They way people were buying things up, it wouldn’t be long before they ran out of things if the delivery were delayed.
Again, the weather gurus were a bottle short of a six-pack. The tropospheric polar vortex cane down at the same time another front was sucking up moisture laden air from the Gulf, which had been known to happen in the past. Those weather people just hadn’t gotten around to reading the cards right yet. The worst of the snow reached up to Sioux City, Iowa and stretched south to Little Rock, Arkansas. The southern portions of the Jet Stream got lesser snow, but was still more than they got during that time of the year. Sioux City, Missouri was under blizzard conditions.
Mike and Hanna quickly unloaded the trailer of the things Mike had purchased, and then he took the trailer down to the Edinson’s with Hannah following. They got things unloaded there with Annika fussing they should have stayed up at Mike’s. It was going to get bad.
“Well, I’ll just go back with him!” Hanna said.
“You do that. A body shouldn’t be alone during weather like this. Anything could happen,” Annika said with a smirk.
Mike looked at Annika as she gave him a knowing look.
“Well, we’d better get back then, Mike said. “ It is blowing harder.”
“Let me grab some things,” Hanna said.
She was soon back with a bag in her hand. Mike had to drive slowly back to his place, it being almost whiteout conditions. He pulled straight into the garage and shut the door. They entered the building and Mike adjusted the thermostat as they went in. The wind generators would handle the electricity needed to run the in-floor heating. He checked the monitor for the power system and the solar panels were producing minimal power, but the vortex generators were almost at their max, basically cancelling out anything the panels were producing.
Mike and Hanna went inside and finished putting away the goods he had bought that were still sitting stacked around in the kitchen. A good part of it went into the pantry anyway.
“You fell right into your mother’s trap,” Mike said.
“What? She thinks we’re married anyway except for the part of standing in front of the preacher.” Hanna said.
“Is that what you want?” Mike asked.
“It’s all I’ve wanted since I was 18 years old,” Hanna said. “Moving in with you would be a step in that direction. What do you think?” Hanna asked, her eyes darting to the refrigerator.
“I can’t say I haven’t thought about it. I do miss you when you aren’t around. When we were growing up, I considered you almost like a sister, but I’ve got feelings for you I can’t ignore."
“Do you have naughty thoughts about me?” Hanna asked.
“Let’s just say they are thoughts a brother shouldn’t have about his sister.” Mike replied.
Hanna slinked over to Mike. “Does a sister kiss her brother like this?” Hanna asked and smoked him with an unsisterly lip lock.
“Maybe over in Kentucky, but the brother would need more practice.” Mike replied with a red face.
“That my man, I plan on giving you plenty,” Hanna said.
Paul stood on the porch and watched as the sleet bounced off the ground. He’d come out to put chains on the UTV and one of the tractors, and stopped to check the dog’s sleeping enclosures. No wonder they didn’t venture out with him to the barn. They both were snug in their heated domains. They forlornly looked at Paul and came out, stretching. Both looked like they would rather be sleeping.
“You guys didn’t need to come out. I was just checking on you!”
Paul was starting to see icicles forming on some of the tree limbs and pulled out his phone to call Angel. She had two more hours before the store closed.
“Hey, it has started icing. Do you want me to come and get you?” Paul asked.
“No, I’ll be fine. I have a radio and I’ll keep you on the OnStar and talk to you on the way back,” Angel replied.
Paul went inside, made Baileys Hot Chocolate, and waited for Angel. A meatloaf dinner Carmelita had made was waiting in the warming oven.
Paul was adding wood to the stove in the great room when Angel called.
“I’s getting nasty out here,” Angel said.
“Well, drive slowly, there’s no hurry. Stop if you need to. I’ll come and get you if needed.”
“I’m fine. Earl Dixon stopped by and offered to put the chains on you put in my SUV. It’s just that driving in this mess is distracting.”
“Just drive slowly and you will be fine,” Paul said. "Did he install both sets?”
“Yes. Don’t worry, I’m almost at the Hiller farm and doing fine. What’s for dinner?” Angel asked.
“Meatloaf, garlic mashed potatoes, green beans, and cornbread. There are fried apple pies with whipped topping for dessert.” Paul replied.
“Good! I’ll really be extra careful now,” Angel replied.
Paul carried his phone into the kitchen and made a mug of Bailey’s hot chocolate for Angel and placed it on the wood stove in the great room.
“I’m at the driveway,” Angel said. “I’ll see you in a minute.”
Paul went to the door when the dogs started barking as they spotted the headlights coming through the trees. He stepped out and greeted Angel at the bottom of the steps.
“Careful, I need to spread some ice melt. The steps are a bit slippery.” Paul said.
They went inside where Paul handed Angel the mug of hot chocolate.
“Hm-m-m-m, just what I needed,” Angel said.
The next morning Paul fired up the wood cookstove and put a pot of coffee on, then walked out to a pale pink sky to the east and dark, forbidding skies to the west. He went back inside and got Angel’s keys and moved the SUV down to the barn and loaded 300 pounds of tractor weights into the back of the vehicle. After returning the vehicle to Angel’s parking spot, Paul went in and was enjoying his coffee, frying bacon, and trying to pay attention to the Weather Channel when Angel walked in, soon followed by Carmelita.
"The weather is going to be worse today,” Paul said. “They are calling for several inches of snow for all of Arkansas; another polar vortex.”
“Well, I hope it isn’t as bad as two years ago,” Angel said. “We were snowed in and without power for five days. I hope the delivery truck makes it. I’d better get in early, they usually come in the morning.”
“You go prepare yourself Señora Angela. I will finish breakfast,” Carmelita said.
“I will follow you in. I want to check the roads.” Paul said.
Paul got dressed and went out to the equipment shed and mounted the snow blade on his truck, threw two 35" 24,000-pound Chains with two clevises, and the portable hitch-mounted winch into the bed of the truck. You never knew. If someone needed help he would be prepared. Thinking again, he added a bucket of ice melt and a 5-gallon bucket of sand.
Paul followed Angel out of the drive and onto the main road. The roads were fairly clear except where water flowed across the road and froze. If people took it easy and paid attention they shouldn’t have any problem. Unfortunately, there were always those who wouldn’t defrost their windshields and could barely see the dangers ahead. Anyway, they didn’t see any accidents all the way to the store. Paul spread ice melt on the parking lot and around the pumps. After putting the bucket of ice melt back into the utility room, he kissed Angel and headed back home. By 09:00 huge flakes of snow began to fall, quickly accumulating on the cold ground. Paul spread out a cleaning mat on a folding table and began cleaning the oil off the working parts of his Ruger .17 HMR Rifle and replacing the oil with graphite. The rabbits would be standing out against the snow.
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