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Post by ydderf on Feb 24, 2024 20:27:37 GMT -6
Thanks for the new chapter
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Post by ncsfsgm on Mar 9, 2024 13:01:32 GMT -6
Chapter 27
Back at the barn, Seán finished skinning out the buck. He fleshed, scraped, and salted down the hide as Fala and Catori began cutting the carcass up. They would take a quarter to the house and cube as much as they could into ¾-inch cubes , par-boil it, and place the trays into the freeze dryer. Scraps would be ground with the curing spices to be made into sausage.
Seán finished tacking the hide onto the drying rack and propped it in the barn alley to dry. Fala and Catori would finish the hide later with their own scraping and stretching tools to make buckskin.
He finished carrying the rest of the carcass to the house, got a pork belly out of the cellar, trimmed the fat, and began grinding the venison along with the fat scraps.
Seán had checked the liver and Fala had also and saw it was healthy, so she took out more livers she had in the freezer to thaw along with a pork shoulder, still having enough to have liver and onions for supper. Seán got together the rest of the ingredients for Venison Boudin and placed the meat into a pot to cook.
Seán continued grinding the venison until the meat in the pot had cooked, then added a quartered onion, bay leaves, and peppercorns and continued to simmer the meat. Fala mixed wild rice with long grain rice and cooked that, to give the sausage a faint nutty flavor. She heated bacon drippings and added rehydrated bell pepper, celery, and the white parts of green onions, and cooked until softened. Garlic and parsley were added and cooked for a couple of minutes more. The mixture was added to the meat in the mixing bowl and more spices added. Seán ground the meat twice more, first with the medium grinding plate and then with the fine. Fala and Catori stuffed the sausage in pork casings, ending up with 120 Boudin in 6-inch lengths. They hung the sausages in the screened in part of the porch to air dry, then packaged them in freezer bags and frozen. Later, the sausage could be prepared by grilling, steaming, roasting in the oven, searing in a hot pan with oil and a bit of water, or smoked.
Doc came down for supper and they halted the production until after their meal. It was almost 1130 PM before they finished stuffing the rest of the sausage to be smoked the next day.
Emmit had rebuilt the transmission and engine from the old delivery van and Henry was almost finished with the body. He had sandblasted the chassis, repainted it, and primed the body for painting. Emmit’s sign painter had agreed to paint the original logos and lettering on the truck, but that would be another week or so. The men were pleased with their work, and they were sure the owners would be too. After priming the body, the men began making a new wiring harness for the truck.
The next morning Seán was up early to start the fire in the smoker box while Fala made breakfast. After breakfast, they carried the strings of sausages to the smokehouse to hang. Before they could finish, large snowflakes were dropping out of the sky. Seán took off his boots and sat them in a drain pan in the mudroom and switched to moccasins, then got out his overshoes to wear to the smokehouse. They wouldn’t keep his feet any warmer but would make it easier to take off his boots when he came back in.
Seán kept the heat low and the smoke high. He had a metal bucket with strips of maple and oak soaking in water inside the smokehouse to keep the water from freezing. On his third trip out to the smokehouse he added a couple of pieces of firewood to the firebox and a few strips of soaked wood strips, then checked the temperature of the sausages. Another hour should do it. Seán’s mouth watered when he opened the door to the smokehouse. He hurried back to the house and quickly discarded the galoshes in the mud room. Going into the kitchen, he found Fala making dough.
“What are you making?” Seán asked.
“Fried bread snack rounds.” Fala replied.
She began rolling balls of dough about half the size of a golf ball and flattened them. After making a few, she placed oil in a fry pan she had on the stove and fried them until they were sort of leathery.
“They are too big and thick!” Fala said, changing the size of the dough balls to the size of a marble. She massaged the dough flat to a little larger than a Ritz cracker then tossed them into the hot oil. It took only a few seconds to fry the bread to the degree of firmness she wanted. Fala drained the rounds on paper towels and continued frying. When she had fried all the dough, Fala let the rounds cool down and stored them in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.
When the sausages had finished smoking, Seán hung the links back on the screened-in porch to cool. Fala retrieved two of the still warm links, sliced them and placed the slices on the fried bread rounds with a slice of cheddar cheese and a dab of mustard. She presented the snacks to Seán, with a cold beer to eat while they enjoyed the “Northwest Passage” DVD.
They ended up with ten inches of snow. Grady was out early the next morning with his truck mounted snow blade clearing the drives. Seán pulled on a pair of insulated coveralls and his Redwing boots and began clearing the steps and walkway after breakfast. Fala packed up some sausage and took them up to Doc and Catori and set aside others in the refrigerator to take to Emmit and Sue later.
Seán attached the v-plow blade to his truck. In the morning, he and Fala would go to visit Emmit and Sue.
When they arrived at Emmit’s place in Crumpler, Emmit was clearing snow from in front of the garage with a garden tractor and blade. Sean parked out of his way and walked through the open bay door, while Fala went into the house to visit with Sue. Emmit parked the tractor and used the steam cleaner to clean the snow and ice off the tractor.
“That wasn’t so bad.” Emmit said.
“No, not as bad as it could have been.” Seán agreed.
Emmit proudly showed off the 1947 Ford panel truck that the sign painter would be finishing the next week.
“It looks good, Emmit. Probably better than when it came off the showroom floor.” Seán said.
“Well, hopefully, it will bring in more restoration work.” Emmit replied. “Advertising on wheels.”
Emmit and Seán walked to the house and were met with delicious smells. Sue had opened a jar of kraut, and they were baking smoked sausage and kraut for lunch, which was the very meal Catori made for Doc for his noon meal.
Around 5:00 PM, Seán and Fala headed back to the Bend. Since the road was already plowed, they were back home in only a few minutes.
“That was nice.” Fala said.
“Yeah, it seems like Emmit and Sue are getting along okay.” Seán commented.
Fala drew a glass of cold water and smiled. “Yes, they are doing well.”
The next day Seán and Doc cut firewood from the trees felled to extend the road from Seán’s property to connect with Doc’s. Although most of the trees had been cut from Doc’s land, he gave half of the wood to Seán. Grady and his sons joined them, hauling the wood off as it was processed.
Fala, Catori, and Maggie worked together to put together a good meal for all the men and since it was bread day, they had freshly made bread to go with the venison stew. The men had gotten about an eighth of the wood cut before supper, and the stew went well since all they had for lunch had been sandwiches.
When the sign painter had finished the lettering and graphics on the old delivery truck, Emmit sprayed clearcoat to finish it off. He left the truck in the paint booth for a couple of days and would wait until the snow melted off the roads before delivering it back to the Shatley Springs Inn. He would run an ozone generator for a couple of days inside the truck to dissipate the paint smell and hang a couple of “Summer Breeze” air fresheners he’d found in his catch-all box that would make the truck smell nice.
Henry removed the rubber tires and chrome hubcaps from the tire rims, repaired a few spokes and sandblasted the rims. Next came a primer coat and the same paint the body would be painted with. Emmit painted the body and then left it in the paint booth with the rims to set and dry. Next, Emmit put together the sideboards made of oak so he could get them over to the sign painter to paint pinstripes and “Emmit’s Restorations, Crumpler, N.C.” with a couple of depictions of vintage cars and trucks on the bottom board.
Emmit had been eyeing some Highland Cattle over on the other side of Scottville. He did a little research, and they would graze on practically anything and didn’t have to be sheltered in bad weather. Emmit wanted some to raise as beef cattle. He had 29 acres of fenced pasture that wasn’t doing him any good. He could by a few of the large round bales of hay to hold them until the grass started greening.
Henry followed Emmit over to Shatley Springs Inn in Emmit’s truck. The owner was beside himself with the job done on the delivery truck. He paid Emmit’s invoice and had a waitress bring coffee and apple pie from the restaurant. The owner told Emmit the truck was too nice to just leave outside just sitting in front, so he would have an open carport built across the drive so people could still see the truck.
Now Emmit could get back to working on his Ford Roadster Pickup.
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Post by ydderf on Mar 9, 2024 14:24:06 GMT -6
Thanks for the update.
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Post by gipsy on Mar 9, 2024 19:06:25 GMT -6
Fine update. Thanks
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Post by feralferret on Mar 10, 2024 1:14:23 GMT -6
Thank you, ncsfsgm!
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Post by ncsfsgm on Mar 20, 2024 9:14:43 GMT -6
Chapter 28
Seán walked through the small orchard and checked the apple and pear trees. They should start budding in another two or three weeks and it was time to start pruning. He had done nothing with the apples and pears the last year except dry some for pies. This year, he was going to make use of the apple cider press in the basement and put up some cider. He had ordered Potassium metabisulfite and had washed the carboys in preparation for an apple and pear harvest this year. The deer would be disappointed, but he would still harvest a couple out of the orchard once the apples ripened. Maggie was all over pear cider and had encouraged Seán to prune the trees. It didn’t hurt that the apple and pear wood was good for smoking meat either.
Seán dumped the wheelbarrow loads of limbs under the open shed to dry out and decided to take a ride and check on the cows in which he was interested. The Caulder family raised Belted Galloway cattle, a hardy breed that could withstand winter weather with little to no shelter and gain weight eating most anything. It would save him some money not having to build shelters. In fact, Dane Caulder’s son, Jimmy, had been the recipient of Seán’s Trackchair.
The cattle were big, one steer could easily feed three families over a winter. Seán ended up buying six cows, a steer, and a bull. Mr. Caulder agreed to deliver them since Seán didn’t own a stock trailer. Sean went back home and gathered tools to check the fence and make repairs as needed. He had to replace several strands of wire and tighten up the rest. He would have to install a gate to link the eastern pasture and the northern pasture. But that wasn’t a big hurry on that. Dane was bringing the cattle Saturday, so he had plenty of time.
Emmit bought a bull, 7 cows, and two steers from Grange’s farm over in Scottville to be delivered, all of them Belted Galloways. Old man Grange swore by the cattle. He said they practically took care of themselves. Emmit quit work on his truck to check the fences. They were only a couple of years old, so he had few repairs to make. He ordered enough hay to feed the cattle until the pastures greened up. He also had enough grain delivered to fill the two small feed silos.
When the cattle were delivered, they took right to the pasture and the 6-foot bale of hay. They had water in the trough by the barn and also a water point in the northern part of the property next to the river with a windmill keeping the water basin full.
Happily, Emmit went to the house and into the kitchen, then turned around to wash up in the bathroom. Sue had her rules.
Seán opened the deck door and slid the screen closed to let fresh air into the house. Going out onto the deck, he carried his drink out and leaned on the railing and watched the cattle in the pasture. A dragonfly landed on the deck railing next to Seán and bobbed its lower parts in the air before it flew off again with some distinct purpose.
Well, the days had progressively gotten warmer, and the dragonflies were out, so it was time to do some fishing. Seán wanted to smoke a lot of trout this year.
Fala came out with a glass of cider in her hand.
“Spring is here.” She said, stopping and standing next to Seán. “I see it stirs your blood.”
“Yeah, it has got me thinking of trout fishing and putting up a lot of smoked fish. I’ll check the smoke house in the morning and begin to sort out wood.”
“I will help you fish.” Fala smiled.
The next morning Seán made sure the firebox was cleaned out and started selecting wood and chunking it into the cargo box of the Gator and its trailer. He took it down to the smokehouse and stacked it in the sheltered wood rack next to the fire box. Filling a 5-gallon bucket with water, he added split sticks from chunks of alder to soak in the bucket. He was planning to fish on Friday and Saturday. He was confident he would get enough trout to fill out the smokehouse.
That evening, Fala had Seán bring up four cases of pint canning jars from the basement to wash. She wanted to can some for longer storage. While the jars were draining, Fala meticulously thin-sliced garlic cloves. When she was ready, she blended EVO, brown sugar, a bit of dill, maple syrup, sea salt, and the garlic in a blender and poured it into a pot to settle for the night. Seán Prepared their fishing gear for the next morning.
The next morning, after a light breakfast, they bank fished from the western end of their property line up to the mouth of the south fork of the new river. When they had two coolers full, they’d take them back to the farm and clean them. Anything smaller than ten inches would be smoked whole and all they had to do was remove the gills and guts. Larger fish would be gutted, de-gilled and butterflied. The smaller fish would be hung up by string running through the head with a sail needle.
Seán butterflied the larger fish while Fala put a salt rub on the smaller fish. She stacked the trays of smaller fish in the refrigerator while Sean took the buckets of brining fish to the basement to remain cool. They carried out another round of fishing and filled their coolers again. Before cleaning the fish, Seán started a fire in the smokehouse firebox.
They quickly cleaned the fish, salted, and brined them. Fala and Seán began gathering up the smaller fish to carry them to the smokehouse. Seán checked the temperature. He wanted to cold smoke the fish at 175 to 200 degrees for two hours. When they opened the door, there would be a loss of some of the heat so he would have to check the temp again later. Seán opened the door, reached inside, and took out several hanging sticks from the racks. These were maple Seán had cleaned the bark from with a spoke shave plane, and some with his Old Timer pocketknife. They quickly hung the fish and propped the bellies open with maple twigs. They went back to the house where Seán moved the wash tub of fish guts and gills to the Gator and took them to the place he dumped stuff like that for the raccoons and ‘possums. When he got back, he checked the temperature in the smokehouse, raked some coals out of the firebox and rinsed the washtub out at the garden faucet and went into the house to clean up.
Fala had already taken a shower and was going to make Seán dinner.
“Are you hungry?” Fala asked Seán.
“Not really. What about a plate of those sausage and cheese thingies you fixed before? That would be nice after my shower.”
Fala smiled. “I’ll make you some.”
After his shower, Seán pulled on some shorts, a T-shirt, and his moccasins. He first went to the smokehouse, checked the temp, and added more soaked sticks and a double handful of apple twigs to the firebox.
When he went inside, Fala had a plate of snacks sitting on the table next to his chair. Seán poured three fingers of Grandpa’s best and sat down to watch the rest of “The Quiet Man” with Fala.
By 10:00 PM, it was time to pull the fish out of the smokehouse. He and Fala took down deep buffet pans and stacked the fish in them. Taking them back to the kitchen, they began packing two fish into each vacuum bag and laying them aside. Fala placed two of the bags in the refrigerator to consume later that week. It didn’t take them long to bag everything and they loaded one of the chest freezers. They would divvy up the fish to the Buchannons and the Moores the next day.
Seán was up early the next morning to hang the butterflied fish. Before starting the fire in the firebox, he shook the brine off of each fish and placed them on slightly larger poles to help spread the fish and allow the smoke to penetrate the inner meat of the fish. These were the fish they would can in the jars. Fala skimmed the top off of the extra virgin olive oil and prepared everything for canning. When she tasted the olive oil, she went ahead and chopped up a little more dill to add to the jars. Before going back to the house, Seán added more alder sticks to his buckets of water.
Seán kept up the low temperature and heavy smoke for four hours until the internal temperature of the fish reached 145 degrees. He opened the top and lower vents to cool the inside of the smoker down and went to see what Fala needed help with setting up.
As Seán brought the fish in, Fala was breaking the fish up and loosely packing the jars. Sean began packing jars and Fala began the pressure canning. Sean couldn’t help taking a bite now and again. As the jars came out of the canner, Seán moved the jars to the back deck to cool.
They put the final jars in at 1600 and began cleaning up. They decided to repeat the process the next week after the garden prep was done. Everyone enjoyed the smoked trout but the next time, they would only keep 10” and above fish so they could butterfly them all. Seán wanted to save freezer space in the fall for a beef.
Seán drove the COE to Mr. Hastings farm and hauled back four loads of manure. Two loads were fresher, so he dumped them to the side to compost more. After using the turn plow to bury the manure, he disked up everything to begin laying out rows and planting the next week.
On Monday, Catori came down and helped Fala transfer plants from the cold frame to the garden while Seán planted corn and beans, melons and pumpkins went in next. Fala and Catori planted marigolds around the garden to attract pollinators, as a trap for nematodes, and deter pests from their food crops. They got the garden planted just in time for the rain to begin. Thankfully, it was a 4-day slow, soaking rain that made you want to sit on the porch, savor a drink, and read a book. However, it was enough to silt up the river a bit and screwed up the fishing.
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Post by gipsy on Mar 20, 2024 9:41:33 GMT -6
And another fine update, thanks.
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Post by ydderf on Mar 25, 2024 16:17:43 GMT -6
Thank you for the update
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Post by ncsfsgm on Apr 4, 2024 17:36:28 GMT -6
Chapter 29
Seán had driven this road many times checking on the sheep. Ed Barnes had a nice little farm, but he and Lucille had disappeared before Thanksgiving. This time, something was different….there was a thin thread of smoke rising above the trees. Seán turned into the driveway and loosened his pistol in its holster and drove slowly down the drive.
Jo was sweeping off the porch when she heard the truck coming down the drive. She set the broom aside and picked up the Remington 1100 leaning against the wall and waited by the corner wall as the truck drove into view.
Seán stopped well away from the house when he saw the woman on the porch with the shotgun. He turned off the truck and got out, raising his weak hand in greeting.
“Who are you?” Jo asked.
At that time, another woman came out on the porch with an M1 Carbine.
“My name is Seán Blake, a neighbor down the ridge. I stop by once in a while to check on Ed’s sheep. And who am I addressing?”
“I’m Jo Barnes and this is my sister Amy.” Jo replied.
“Yes, you must have recently arrived. I check the place every few days.” Seán said.
“Yes, we just got in last night.” Jo replied.
“Where are you coming from, if you don’t mind me asking?” Seán asked.
“Morristown, New Jersey. We were both teachers at Morristown High School. When we were little girls, we would come down here and spend the summers with Aunt Lucille and Uncle Ed.” Jo said.
“Where are Ed and Lucille?” Seán asked.
Jo drew in a deep breath and sat down. “Uncle Ed and Aunt Lucile came up for the annual family Thanksgiving gathering at Uncle Perry’s around the first of November. Two days after Thanksgiving, Uncle Ed had a heart attack and passed. The next week Aunt Lucille passed in her sleep. The doctor said she’d had a heart attack too, but I think it was a broken heart.
Uncle Ed had willed the farm to me and Amy, so it didn’t take us long to decide to come here. Crime and corruption are rampant up there, violence in the high school is out of control, and Amy was almost raped in the school. It took us only a short time to get our affairs in order and come down here. This is a much safer area than the northeast is.”
“Well, we are always happy to have new neighbors. If you need anything or any help, please call on us.” Seán said.
“Uncle Ed was one of those preparedness freaks. He was making the farm as self-sustaining as he could. He even has off-grid power. He taught us how to do with little and to take care of the animals.” Amy said.
“Be that as it may, if you need help, call on us. My wife and I will stop by later.” Seán said.
When Seán got back to the house he went to talk to Grady and Maggie to tell them about the sisters.
“I need to go do an inventory to see how well they are set up and I need to check the pasture fences to see in how good of shape they are in.” Seán said.
“I can send the boys up there to do that.” Grady said.
“I wouldn’t just yet. Those ladies tote shotguns. Let’s wait until Fala and I can make a visit tomorrow, first.” Seán said, grinning.
Jo and Amy sat at the kitchen table drinking coffee the next morning.
“We need to check the cellars and basement for what food they had stored.” Jo said.
“They’ve got to have a lot because Aunt Lucille canned all the time.” Amy said.
“Well, Uncle Ed bought a lot of bulk foods also and had it stored in drums and buckets.” Jo added.
They rinsed out their mugs, placed them in the big farm sink and opened the basement door.
Uncle Ed had not kept any tools in the basement, those having been stored in his shop. There was shelf after shelf of mason quart and pint jars they began identifying contents and dates and writing them down in a spiral notebook. Amy mentioned they should number or letter the shelves, so they used masking tape and did that. They went through about six sets of shelves before they came to stacks and stacks of white plastic buckets. They didn’t take time to contemplate what the labels read; they just wrote down what was on them.
‘Gosh! If there is this much here, I wonder what all is in the cellars!” Amy commented.
They saw two country hams hanging from the rafters and Amy said, “Uh Oh! There’s mold on this one.”
“That’s okay.” Jo said. “Hot water and a stiff vegetable brush will get rid of that.”
They were still working in the basement when Seán, Fala, Billy, and Pauly Fraser arrived.
The women heard the loud knocking on the porch door, so they went upstairs. Jo peeked out a side glass and opened the door. Amy stood in the background with a shotgun.
“Good morning ladies!” Seán greeted them.
“Good morning Seán.” Jo and Amy greeted him.
“Jo, Amy, this is my wife Fala, and these two gentlemen are Bill and Paul Fraser. They are going to check your pasture fences to make sure the sheep can’t get out.”
“Oh my! We hadn’t thought about that yet!” Jo said.
“They’ll take care of that for you while we go through and make sure you have enough food and what not to sustain you.” Seán said.
Jo chuckled. “I don’t think we’ll have a problem with food. We’ve been inventorying the basement and haven’t even gotten around to the cellars yet.”
Fala went with the ladies back to the basement to finish that portion of the inventory while Seán went to inspect the outbuildings. The maintenance shop was neat and had almost a complete tool shop setup. Ed could even shoe horses if he’d had horses. He did have four mules as the tack was still hanging in the barn tack room, but they would have to be almost re-tamed to get them back to working condition. He had a diesel tractor with a sundry of implements, a large underground diesel fuel tank, and a 250-gallon pup tank to use in remote fields. A smaller gasoline tank went with the underground diesel tank in the tank farm area. Seán found cases and drums of fuel stabilizer in the shop building. Ed looked like he had prepared for the end of the world.
There was a total of three cellars on the property built with concrete block walls and a third of a piece of culvert for the roof. All were dry and contained shelves full of home-canned and commercially packed foods. Seán wondered where the money to outfit the place came from. The barn was in excellent condition and tight. There was what looked like hay from last fall’s cutting and water for the animals came from a 2300-liter spring-fed tank upslope from the barn. Sean completed his inspection and headed back to the house, his head full of questions.
Seán found the women in the kitchen scrubbing mold off of a cured ham. Amy patted the ham dry then hung it to air dry in the shade of the porch.
“Jo, what did Ed do before he and Lucille moved here?” Seán asked.
“He was into commercial banking in New York City for years, I think, or some kind of high finance. Jo said. “He had a hobby farm up north of the City he played with for years. He finally sold the land due to encroachment by the suburbs. They built subdivisions, a golf course and mini malls on his once pride and joy. There is still a lake there that bears the name of our Aunt. He finally got tired of the graft and other corruption, and they moved down here. He gave up everything of the life of the affluent for his little slice of heaven. I remember how happy they both were here.”
“Well, he had the place pretty well set up. You shouldn’t have any problems living here."
“We just don’t know that much about farm animals though." Amy said. “I did see some books in the library on farming we could read, I guess.”
“At least he invested in Katahdin Sheep.” Seán said.
“What are those?’ Jo asked.
“They are a short hair variety. Raised mostly for meat and milk.” Seán replied. “They don’t need to be sheared like some.”
But Aunt Lucille hand-wove wool blankets.” Amy said.
“Yes, there are scratching posts set up in the paddock for the animals to scratch themselves on and gather the wool. You gather the wool left on the posts and card it to make thread. I’m sure if you search, you’ll find everything needed to continue making the blankets.”
“Her loom is still in Aunt Lucille’s sewing room!” Amy said.
“I need to get back and water the garden.” Seán said, looking at his watch.
“You go ahead, I’ll stay and help Jo and Amy. I’ll be back in time to fix supper.” Fala said.
“I’ll leave you the truck. It’s only about a mile through the woods from here.” Seán said.
Emmit used the shop galley crane to ease the body of the truck back on the chassis frame. Henry began setting the bolts. Emmit began installing the gauges and speedometer in the dashboard and double checking the wiring. Emmit’s mind drifted as he traced wiring. The cows were doing well and looked to even be gaining weight. There was a 27-acre parcel next to him he was looking to obtain that would give him easy access to the river and give the cattle some rough forage. All he should have to do was pay the taxes on it. He had a lawyer down in Jefferson checking on it for him. Jake and Tom had been trained to do most of the tune-ups and engine work in the older vehicles. Used pre-1978 vehicles were bringing a premium on the used car market. More people wanted vehicles they could do some of the work on themselves instead of computers and electric fuel pumps and such. Some of the vehicles Emmit could replace some of the components with mechanical devices, but it depended on the model and availability of parts. Emmit put out feelers for sales of established repair shops that were going out of business, and he would try to buy out their excess and spare parts inventory.
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Post by gipsy on Apr 4, 2024 18:33:45 GMT -6
Cool new neighbors. Thanks
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