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Post by jtpatriot on Nov 9, 2011 0:13:47 GMT -6
David and Jane Pruit were best friends with the Parkers. David worked with Jim at Los Colinas in Dallas before a really good job opportunity called him away to Oklahoma City. Meg and Jane had become best friends after they met at a company Christmas party. Taking advantage of the three day Labor Day week end the Pruits had driven down to Plano to visit their best friends and just relax for a change. The conversation at dinner had been mostly about the recent attacks on the law enforcement officers across the country, mostly in the major cities and the upcoming address by the President and what his comments might be about the violence. The television was turned on as the President was ready to speak from the oval office. He began," Good evening my fellow Americans"........, and the screen faded to black. After a moment, the Dallas station came back up and announced they had lost the signal, and then the power went out. Meg lit a few candles and picked up her cel phone to report the power outage to the power company. There was no dial tone. Meg looked at Jim and said, " What now?"
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Post by nancy1340 on Nov 10, 2011 19:48:57 GMT -6
Very good start.
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Post by patience on Nov 12, 2011 19:18:51 GMT -6
Jim looked pale as he hazarded a guess. "Maybe the rumors at work were true. They've been saying for a month or more around Exxonmobil that Iran's terrorists were swearing they would "destroy the unbelievers". Nobody knew whether to take it seriously or not. Maybe they got some missles over here and did an HEMP thing. That's the only thing I can think of that would take down TV broadcasts, the power grid, and the cell towers all at once." Meg asked, "What's HEMP? What does that mean?" Her eyes were got bigger as Jim replied. "It means High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse, but if that's what it is, it really means that we are in deep trouble." David was upset. "You mean they've been talking about this at the home office for a month and you didn't say anything to us?" Jim shrugged, "Hey, nobody thought anything about it. It just sounded like more of the standard BS out of the Mideast religious nuts." "Well, if that is what happened, the power isn't coming back on any time soon." Jane asked soberly, "Like, how long do you mean?" "Depends on how much damage there was. Like, how many weapons and how powerful. Nobody knows too much about this. It's all a bunch of scientists guessing at what it would damage. Most say it would fry the computers in cars, electronics of all kinds, if they weren't in a grounded metal box. We'd better check out the the car." He headed for the door. "And take a look around, to see if anyone has lights anywhere." It was pitch dark outside when Jim hurried out the door. There wasn't a light showing anywhere in the business district down the street. Worse than that, there were no cars moving either. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Jim could make out several cars sitting stopped in the middle of the street. A few people were milling around down there, but it was hard to see with only a quarter moon for light.
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Post by jtpatriot on Nov 18, 2011 1:37:08 GMT -6
The four of them sat in candle light and Meg was the first to speak. "Water. What about water?" Meg was up immediately going into the kitchen. She turned on the faucet and water flow out as normal. " Jim get the two 5 gallon jugs from the garage so we can fill them, and anything else out there we can use to store water in. If the city cant pump water into the water tower, its only a matter of time before there is no water to drink." Then the light bulb came on in Jane's head, and she thought out loud, "With out electricity the food in the fridge will spoil, and if the cars and trucks wont run, the grocery stores will run out of food. Surely they will get the power back on soon." " Maybe, but I don't think so," said Jim as he came in from the garage with an assortment of water containers. " We have some decisions to make and we had best make them quickly. Meg, if my old truck will start, I think we should load up and try to get to your folks place. I know its 60 miles, but there, we might have a better chance to make it. If we go now, maybe, just maybe we can get out of town before everyone else figures out that the power isn't coming back on.
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Post by mnn2300 on Nov 18, 2011 15:56:48 GMT -6
Jim and David went out to the garage where Jim had been restoring the old truck, he had finished the mechanical end, but the body, while all there, was still in rough shape, he got in and turned it over, it caught for a minute and then died, he opened the hood and David saw him make a few adjustments to the timing and spray some starting fluid into the carburetor. “Try it now Dave” JIm said from under the hood. This time the truck caught and stayed running although it was rough. Jim made a few more adjustments and the engine smoothed out. After about 3 minutes of the engine purring like it should Jim pulled it out into the driveway and then turned it off. “This thing only has a couple gallons of gas in it, we’re going to have to siphon some from our cars. Tell the girls to get ready to go, grab your suitcases and tell Meg to pack for us, outdoor work clothes, boots, tennis shoes, not office clothes and all the food and water they can pack. Once they get that out here, we’ll pack the bed of the truck and put in a few other things we might need.”
10 minutes later Jim had filled the tank on the old truck from gas he has siphoned from his SUV. Meg and Jane and David were carrying suitcases and boxes out to the garage and setting them next to the truck. “We’re not all going to fit in that, and what about Bella?” Meg asked. Bella was the now 10 month old German Shepard they had gotten last spring. “Someone’s going to have to ride in back and Bella can ride in back with them.” Jim replied. “I guess that would be me” David answered, “Do you have a leash for Bella? And maybe we can grab a couple cushions off your lawn chairs so my rides not so rough?” “We can do that, lets take a quick look at what y’all packed.” Jim said, looking in the suitcase.
“David, why don’t you start packing the truck, give yourself and Bella some room near the cab, put the cushions there, we’ll have room for a few more things.” He said, running into the house, Meg followed him. “Dave, do you really think it was EMP?” his wife Jane asked. “Yeah, if it was widespread it’ll be years before thing even start to get back to normal, if they ever do.” He replied.
As David finished packing the trucks bed, Jim and Meg ran back out with a couple large garbage bags full of items and handed them to David, Meg was carrying a large bag of dog food and a couple bowls and gave them to Dave to stow. Jim then went to a shelf in the garage and pulled down some sleeping bags and a tent. As soon as they got them stowed David and Jim positioned a tarp over the stuff and tied it down, leaving an opening for Dave and Bella.
“Everyone in” Jim said. When the girls got into the cab and Dave and Bella into the bed of the truck, Jim went over to a drawer in his workbench, unlocked it, and pulled out a hand gun, he kept it out of sight of the girls as he handed it to David. “Just in case.” he said getting into the cab and pulling out.
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Post by nancy1340 on Nov 20, 2011 14:02:24 GMT -6
Very nice. Thank you.
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Post by patience on Nov 20, 2011 18:53:06 GMT -6
Jim had completed all the important work on the truck from the ground up. It had new 16" wheels with directional mud grip 8 ply tires that looked like mini tractor tires. Two new spares on wheels were mounted on a rack Jim welded up on top of the cab and attached to the "headache rack" just behind it. The jack, lug wrench, tire chains, and a coiled 50 foot long 3/8" cable with hooks and a snatch block were tucked in behind the seat.
A mild 2" lift kit on the 1970 Chevy 4WD chassis made it sit just slightly higher than normal, but wasn't noticeable on a 3/4 ton truck. It had been stripped down to the frame and sandblasted, all rust damage welded up, and repainted so that from the underside it looked like factory new. Off-road shocks and extra leaf springs made the truck ride rough empty, but gave it a load capacity of about 3 tons.
Patches of dull red and gray primer paint on the body showed where Jim had fixed the worst of the body damage, but the original medium brown paint still showed over most of it. Overall, it looked like a desert camo paint job. All the side chrome trim was still back in Jim's garage, so the only chrome on it was around the headlights and taillights. The grille was painted the original flat black. Some dents and rust still showed along the lower part of the bed, but the cab corners and rocker panels had been replaced and the cab was tight. It had a new radiator and a new heater core and defrost fan.
He had found a slightly older 292 Chevy 6 cylinder engine with point ignition distributor that he'd rebuilt including having some head work done to increase compression a bit and making it "breathe" easier. A new washable air filter helped, too. Larger diameter exhaust pipes wth a quiet, easy-flow muffler were added and a clutch fan from a late model engine. All the minor modifications increased the engine's efficiency to add horsepower and also increased the fuel mileage from the 12 MPG expected of this model to around 16 MPG on the highway, even fully loaded. The Eaton axles were rated for the increased load capacity of the springs and tires. The old alternator was replaced with a new Delco 100 amp version to feed the dual batteries under the hood.
A second stock 20 gallon gas tank sat under the passenger side of the wideside bed, giving a total of 40 gallons capacity, switchable with a valve under the seat. There were 1/4" steel skid plates under both gas tanks, the oil pan, and the transfer case. They had almost been able to fill one tank from the cars, and Jim finally remembered that the reserve tank was already full, but had no gauge on it. The gauge only worked on the original tank. At 14 MPG average, they should have a range of between 500 and 600 miles before they had to find more gas.
The heavy duty 4 speed tranny had an extra deep low gear, for tremendous pulling power, yet the 4.10 differential gears gave it a top end speed over 90 MPH, and it would do that with a load. Jim took off in second gear, normal procedure in this truck unless it had a full 3 ton load.
Pulling out onto the main drag of town the big 6 cylinder's torque got them up to speed quickly. Jim wasn't too worried if they had to push some dead cars out of the way. He had built crash bumpers, front and back, out of 4" schedule 40 pipe and poured them full of concrete, then welded on brush guards on the front to shield the head lights and radiator. Whatever vehicles blocked their way he could push to the side and keep driving.
He had a winch and tow hooks installed on the front, and a rusty, but good 3/8" high tensile tow chain 24 feet long looped around the brush guard. The rear bumper had a receiver hitch with a 3-way in it that had 1 7/8", 2" and 2 5/16" hitch balls on it. An RV outlet and a 4 wire small trailer plug were mounted just under the tailgate, and loops to hook up trailer safety chains were welded to the bumper. The truck didn't even notice it had a load tonight, running very quietly in high gear.
Meg sat next to Jim in the middle of the bench seat. She had to keep her legs to one side so Jim could shift gears with the long floor stick, and to avoid the CB radio mounted under the dash. Jim only turned on the yellow fog lights under the bumper, in order to be somewhat less visible at a distance. After dodging around a few cars on the city streets, Jim took the back streets to the main highway and then turned on the headlights so he could drive a little faster and see far enough ahead to avoid hitting a dead car in the road. He got it up to about 35 MPH, but didn't want to push any faster, lest he run up on a stationary vehicle.
Meg opened the sliding rear cab window and asked David, "You all right back there?" "Yeah, I'm fine. Not seen a soul yet, either, so far. I'm glad it isn't cold weather, though. It's pretty breezy back here." Just then, Meg got a slurpy doggy kiss from Bella who stuck her head through the window. "Huh! Looks like you're doing fine, too. Now sit down back there." The dog sat agreeably, having greeted her master.
About that time Jim saw a person for the first time on the trip.
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Post by patience on Nov 20, 2011 19:30:28 GMT -6
What time of year is it? Any oil pumping rigs around where they can get drip gas? This truck will run on just about anything resembling gasoline. Of course, oilfield roughnecks are called that for a reason, but they don't normally hang around a pumping rig.
Where are we going? Anywhere close to a river? Not to the Gyp Hills, I hope. I hear there are some wild cattle in the breaks around the South Canadian River....
I'm not an Okie, but I knew one real well once.
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Post by mnn2300 on Nov 20, 2011 21:50:06 GMT -6
Its Labor Day weekend and they were headed to Megs parents about 60 miles from their home in Plano, TX (North Dallas suburb) If they went up Highway 75 it would put them just barely across the OK border, any other road(s) and they'd still be in TX.
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Post by patience on Nov 21, 2011 15:39:07 GMT -6
Sorry. I wasn't reading carefully. Somehow I had them in OK city? Oh, well. Somebody else take this and run with it!
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Post by nancy1340 on Nov 21, 2011 21:19:55 GMT -6
Thanks for the new chapter.
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Post by patience on Nov 27, 2011 21:24:36 GMT -6
We need somebody who knows about the Red River and Denison Dam area to take off with this. (I'm just reading the road atlas.) My brother in law lived in Houston for ages, but he is no help here. C'mon, somebody take a shot at this tale!
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Post by jtpatriot on Nov 28, 2011 0:55:47 GMT -6
Jim had taken the exit at Van Alstyne and was headed east on the farm to market road when they came upon the man walking in the same direction. In the bright head lights of the truck it was easy to see the man was dressed in camo and was carrying a shotgun. The man shielded his eyes from the bright lights as Jim stopped about 100 feet from him. "Evnin," said the man, his shot gun still in the crook of his arm. "If you'd tun those lights down or off, I'd feel a lot better and while your doin that I'm just gonna step out on the grass where I can see a little better. Now, thats better. Now what can I do for you folks this evnin? Are you lost?" "No, we are just passing through. When we came upon you walking down this country road carring a gun, we didnt know if you were in trouble or looking for trouble," said Jim. "Well I can tell that you dont live around here, cause if you did you would know that most everyone around here carries a gun. Most carry more than one. And no, I'm not looking for trouble, I'm just trying to get home. I was dove huntin, and when I got back to my truck, it was past dark and the dang thing wouldnt start. Cell phone either so I just struck out walkin. Didnt have much choice. Ha! I magine my wife has a pretty good mad on about now cause I was supposed to be home a long time ago."
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Post by patience on Nov 28, 2011 10:24:32 GMT -6
Jim asked, "You're welcome to ride in the back, if you can fit in there somewhere. How far to your place?"
"Just a coupla miles down here ahead," he answered. "I'd sure 'preciate it. Name's Hank King." "You must be the neighbor my wife's folks talk about, the Fletcher's." "Yeah! We been good neighbors for a while now. We live just this side of their place. You goin' to see them?" "Uh-huh. Up for a visit" "Well, lucky you came by," he said, climbing in the truck bed beside David and the dog. "I been walkin' all afternoon. Hello dog, how're you?" Bella seemed to approve of the guy, as he sat down on a box beside her. She sniffed the pockets of his hunting coat, where he had tucked the doves he'd shot. "Now you can't have them, that's MY supper in there!" He petted her head and Bella gave him a doggy smile.
David offered his hand, saying, "I'm David Pruit, a friend of Jim's." "Pleased to meet ya." "Can you get comfortable there?" "Yeah, I'm fine. Sure beats walkin'. My wife is gonna be hot, 'cause I said I'd be home in time for milkin', so I know she's had to do it. At least it's just the one now. We sold off the dairy herd when I retired last year. There ain't that much milk, since we're lettin' the calf have most of it, but I hate to leave her stuck with the job. My supper is gonna be cold, fer sure. Hey, is that Meg in there? Hello Meg! Long time since I seen you!"
Meg slid the rear truck window open so they could talk. "Hello Hank! You know about the power being out?" "No, I ain't been home since lunch." "Well, it's out everywhere. We came up from Plano and there's no lights ANYWHERE. We think it's a big problem. Jim thinks it was a magnetic pulse thing, either a big flare from the sun, or an atom bomb that causes that, and it destroys all the electronics." "Never heard of such a thing. How long you reckon it will take to get that fixed?" "Maybe a real long time", Jim said. "It just depends on how much stuff got damaged. Radios and TV don't work either, so we can't get any news." Hank looked serious and said, "Looks like we got big trouble here. Folks depend on 'lectricity a whole lot now. Heck, our freezer if fulla meat. We're gonna have to can that up quick, or lose it. Oh, my. I got to talk to my wife. You sure about this?" "Pretty sure", Jim said. "We need to get together and talk with Meg's folks and you all, too. If this lasts like I think it will, we'll have to work together on a lot of things." Hank was thinking a mile a minute. "Hey, that means the water pump ain't workin'. Lucky I left the old hand pump in the well outside. Hey, Meg? Ain't yer folks got a hand pump on their well?" "Yeah Hank, at least it was there the last time we were up here." "Good. At least we can all get water. But what about the folks in town? The city water ain't gonna work, and the gas pumps are electric too. I know they had to wait for the power to come on after the last big storm before I could get any gas, so I had the farm tank filled up. Oh, this is bad. I hope we got enough canning lids to do that meat. Say, we better go shoppin' right quick tomorrow, don't ya think?"
Jim said, "Yes, and we'd better get everything we are going to need for a long time." Hank figured it out real quick. "So, that's why y'all came up here, huh? Not a good time to be in a big city." "Yep, you got it." "Meg's folks will be all right. They always can food and stuff. What about cookin'? We got a gas stove, but it'll run out some time. Course, it'll last a long time if we don't run the water heater an' furnace. Oh, I hope this gets fixed pretty quick."
Jim was having to turn his head to be heard out the back window. He asked where Hank's place was. "You'll see it over that rise. There's a big farmhouse and a pole light, uh, I guess there ain't no pole light if the power's off. There you go, right past that tree, on the right." Jim turned into the gravelled drive and stopped. A flashlight showed up at the side door of the house.
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Post by nancy1340 on Dec 4, 2011 2:14:23 GMT -6
Got friend on TX FM 121 with a place just east of Van Alstyen called Iron Horse Farm. Raises Appys.
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Post by patience on Dec 6, 2011 15:39:06 GMT -6
nancy1340, How about helping out here with the location? We need some feet-on-the-ground contributions about what the old folks' place looks like. Geography, hills or flat, what kind of trees, grass and whatever. What does the house look like? I've been through Texas once, in 1963, at about 70 MPH on Route 66. That's not much help to me here. I did get well acquainted with a guy from FW once, so I have an idea how some folks around there think. But no idea what the local places are like for the story, and I don't want to do something dumb here.
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Post by jtpatriot on Dec 16, 2011 23:43:31 GMT -6
Jim, it would be a pretty good idea to turn them lights down, just leave your runnin lights on. You saw the flashlight, but I'd bet a whole lot of money she has a pistol in her other hand. She's a fair shot. Its me honey, he called to her. Hank got out and walked the rest of the way to the house. After some serious explaining, Hank and Mary walked back out to the truck where Hank made the introductions. I'm going to see if my old work truck will start here in a bit, said Hank. If it'll run, might be a good idea that we go into town together in the morning. Sounds like a plan Hank, said Jim. Need any help? No, I've rebuilt the thing twice over the last twenty years. If I cant get it to run, it probly wont. The grocery doesn't open till eight o'clock, but we ought to get in there and try to be first in line. Don't ya think? I think you're right Hank, said Meg. We will get on to mom and dads and try to get settled and we will see you in the morning. As they pulled in to the drive that led to the Fletchers house and parked, all was quiet, that is until the unmistakable sound of a pump shotgun cycling a round broke the silence.
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Post by patience on Dec 17, 2011 19:23:25 GMT -6
"Dad! It's me, Meg!" "Meg? We never knew you were coming up. Whose truck is that?" "It's Jim's old truck. Nothing else will run. We've got a couple friends with us. We need to talk. Is Mom up?" Irene Fletcher answered, "Of course I'm up. C'mon in hon. Sam, you put that gun down. You all hungry? I've got a pot of chili on the stove. Let me get a light going here." Soon the whole bunch was crowded around the big kitchen table with a kerosene lamp giving a soft yellow glow to the room. The cornbread was cold, but the chili was hot, and the group was as relaxed as they could be under the circumstances. As they talked on into the evening, Bella made herself at home, snoozing beside Meg's chair.
"That's right Dad, most cars won't run, the new ones anyway." "Hmm. I never had any trouble with the tractor today, but we didn't go anywhere." Looking at Jim, Sam asked, "You say this has killed all the electronics in the country? That's kinda hard to believe something could do that." "It's sort of like a lightning strike, only on a huge scale. It only affects wires and what they are hooked up to. The longer the wire, the worse the charge it gets. So, a few things might work, but not much." Sam frowned. "We just thought the power went out. Never tried the phone. We're kinda used to that, so we just hauled out the old kerosene lamp and Irene made chili on the gas stove. Most everything's got computers in it now. This sounds like a mess. Could take some time to get things all fixed again."
Jim and David made their explanations, the women talking along with them. Sam and Irene soon understood the gravity of the situation and why their daughter had come home. They agreed that they should go shopping tomorrow. Irene got up and went into the pantry off the kitchen, and came back to the table. "We need to get a bunch of canning lids. We'll lose all the food in the freezer if the power stays out and I don't get it all canned. We got plenty of jars in the barn, but we need to get more lids. Lots of 'em. And plenty of salt if you're going to butcher those pigs, 'cause we can't freeze 'em now, so we're gonna have to salt and smoke 'em. I'll start making a list."
The other women started making lists, as did the men, planning the trip tomorrow. David asked, "Mr. Fletcher? You have plenty of gas for the stove?" "Call me Sam, and no, not as much as I'd like to have if this is going to last as long as you say. The tank's maybe half full or better, since we hadn't filled it for the winter. I'll see if I can get them to come fill it tomorrow. I know Randy that owns the gas delivery, so maybe it's time to call in some favors. We could dig out that old wood range of her Mom's back in the barn, I guess, but that would be hard to handle in hot weather. I remember cookin' outside in the summer over a fire to keep the heat out of the house when I was a kid. Well, with Fall comin' on, we could do that, I suppose, but cutting the wood is a chore. Say, we need to get the farm gas tank filled, too. I'll go see Randy first thing in the morning." David asked, "Does your car run?" "Hmm. Dunno. You say old ones still run? I got the farm truck. It's a 2 ton Ford with a stock rack, and not what you generally drive to town, but it oughta be old enough. It's still got points and condenser ignition. No time like the present to find out." With that he took the flashlight and headed outside.
While the rest of them talked, they soon heard the old truck fire up, running at high idle for a while before it shut off. When Sam returned, he said, "Looks like the old truck and the tractor is all we got that will go. The car cranks, but won't fire."
Jim remembered the old farm truck. It was a 1964 Ford with faded blue paint, but it only had about 20,000 actual miles on it, having only been used for farm work. The V8 engine wasn't that big, but it had a 4 speed transmission and a 2-speed rear end that shifted with a button on the gear lever. That gave a total of 8 gears, but "split shifting" the lever and button was tricky. The 2 ton rating was misleading. It could easily haul 6 or 8 tons, and had when he'd been dating Meg and helped haul grain with it. In Low/low gear, you could pull stumps out with that old truck. The bed was actually a grain box about 4 feet deep, with fold-ups that made a stock rack for hauling horses or cattle. Under the bed was a loading ramp that folded in half edgewise and slid in on the truck frame. Sides for the ramp hung on the sides of the grain box. Nothing else was needed to haul almost anything, be it feed grains, baled hay, bulk fertilizer, or animals.
Discussion turned to how other people might behave, and decided that caution was best, so David would go with her Dad to see about fuel tomorrow, while Jim and Meg would go see if Hank got his truck running and plan from there. Irene and Jane would start canning meat first with what supplies they had on hand. They spent an hour or so getting Jim's truck unloaded and some of their things put away before settling down for the night.
The old farmhouse had 4 bedrooms. Meg, with Bella following, automatically went to her old bedroom with Jim, and Irene took the Pruitt's to the bigger one that remained. After they all turned in, it took a long time for sleep to come.
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Post by patience on Dec 19, 2011 17:57:44 GMT -6
It was a short night. Sam and Irene were up before daylight, he doing the morning barn chores, and she getting breakfast ready by the time the young people awoke. Irene talked a stream while she shuffled 2 big skillets with eggs and bacon in one and pancakes in another.
"Sam, you get one of the boys here to help you get Mom's old cookstove out of the barn and set it up in the back yard, 'cause me'n Jane need to have more than one canner going if we're goin' to save that meat. We can boil water and heat jars and lids on the wood stove, and use the gas stove to run the pressure canners. I think Mom's pressure canner still works, but you better get some spare lid gaskets for both of 'em."
Meg and Jane had set the table and were pouring coffee as Irene went on like a drill sergeant. "Jim, you an' Meg better go the Wal Mart first, before a big crowd gets there and grab the stuff on my list here. You can get what women's things you want there, and maybe better get a winter coat apiece, since I didn't see you bring one in."
Sam got a word in edgeways when Irene began to load plates. "Once we get the cookstove moved, I'll want a hand loading my torch tanks in the truck so I can swap them out for full ones. And I want to stick the tarp bows on the racks and put the tarp on top. No need for everybody seeing what's in the truck today. That's at least a 2 man job to get the tarp on that thing. Then, I want to put a couple barrels in there so I can get some kerosene and motor oil at the bulk plant."
Jim said, "We're going to spend a lot of money today, and I doubt if credit cards are going to work, at least not for long. I have some checks on my bank in Dallas, and I have some cash, but not that much. At the last minute I grabbed the silver coins we bought a couple years ago, but I don't know if there is anyplace around here to sell them for what they are worth."
Sam was shaking his head. "Don't you worry about money. We don't keep everything we got in the bank. They've been looking shaky now for a couple years, so Mom and I keep quite a bit of cash on hand. I been thinking about this. If the power and computers are out for a long time, I don't think cash is going to be worth much before long, because if trucks don't run, the stores will run out of things. Then what is left will get real expensive in a hurry. I'd just as soon go ahead and spend all we can now, before that happens. Jim, you hang onto your silver for now. It could be worth a lot more soon."
David spoke up. "We don't have much money on us, since we mainly use a debit card. That is not going to work, so we aren't going to be able to contribute much here. I have money in the bank but I won't be able to get it out now. I don't know what we can do here to help."
Irene said, "Don't you worry about that now. We got a lot of work to do and you'll be worth a lot since it looks like we are goin' to have to do things like the old folks did. There's plenty of work to go around so you'll have your share to do and that pays the bills."
She turned to Meg. "You know where the hardware store is?" At Meg's nod she went on. "Okay. Better go there first and get plenty of canning lids and stuff. Make Wal Mart the second stop. The Wal Mart is about out of canning things now that gardening season is over. And the hardware store keeps lye for drain cleaner. Be sure and get plain lye, not anything else in it, and we can use it to make soap. We'll be butchering come cold weather, and we'll have plenty of lard and tallow to make it. Better get a couple more water bath canners, too. We can run them on the wood stove. Oh! And better see if you can get a couple more kerosene lamps and some wicks. We only have 2 and we'll need some for each bedroom. And get a lot of matches! We're gonna use a lot of 'em. Lordy! I wish we would have kept up this way and we wouldn't be in such a fidget about it now."
Meg was making notes on her list, when Hank's old farm truck pulled in. Sam was on his way to the pole shed with a grease gun to lube the old truck when he met Hank in the driveway.
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Post by patience on Dec 19, 2011 22:17:29 GMT -6
Somebody want to get creative with the money angle here?
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Post by jtpatriot on Dec 21, 2011 0:02:26 GMT -6
After they had the old wood stove set up Sam took the boys aside and told them he had something he wanted to show them. They followed him into the kitchen where he opened the pantry door. In a moment, he had opened the hidden door that appeared to be a wall that held shelves used to store pantry items. A hidden stairway led down to a basement that contained multiple shelving units and each unit was filled with items all in the place indicated by a label. The units held fruits and vegetables put up by Irene along with shelf stable foods purchased for just in case things got bad. Sam and Irene were raised by parents that grew up during the depression and had taught their children the proper way to live was to be a good steward of the land and to be aware that the depression could happen again. Sam shined his flashlight at the far wall where stood two safes. The one on the right was obviously a gun safe and he opened it first. The safe held sixteen long guns and 10 hand guns. The long guns consisted of four model 1100 Remington 12 ga. shotguns, four model 700 bolt action rifles two in .308 and two in 30-06. Each fitted with a scope. There were four Ruger mini 14's and 4 four Springfield M1-A rifles. The hand guns consisted of four Colt Combat Commanders in 45acp, four Barrettas in 9mm, and two Smith and Wesson revolvers in .357 mag. Ammo was stacked deep along the wall for each caliber. When Sam opened the smaller safe the boys could not disguise there surprise. There was row after row of gold and silver coin and bullion stacked neatly on the velvet lined shelves. Sam closed the doors to the safe and looked at the two young men. He looked them both in the eyes and said, "Boys, I'm not showin you this to brag. Its just stuff. But this stuff is going to make a difference in whether we make it through this alive. Things is probly goin to get pretty stupid around here before it gets better. As you can see, I take this pretty serious. I intend to help as many as I can to get through this and be glad to do it. But, you need to know that I will not allow anyone to take whats mine or to do harm to the people I love and care about. If that comes to pass one of us will have an in person conversation with Jesus. What I need from each of you is the same commitment." The men silently nodded their commitment and sealed the deal with a firm handshake. Sam took from his shirt pocket a piece of paper and said, I did some figureing this morning and I came up with this, last price of gold was $1750.00 an ounce. Silver was $32.75. So that means the 90% silver coins are some thing like this. Dollars are worth $23.38, halves 11.69, quarters $5.85 and dimes $2.34. I have no idea what the coins are worth today, depends on what folks are willing to do. But for today, we might as well try to use the paper money, thats all most of the folks out there know about. " I dont know what you brought with you, but pick out what you need from the gun safe and a couple hundred rounds for each weapon. Theres holsters if you need them. I expect we ought to be armed at all times, but at least for now, lets cover em up so its not obvious.
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Post by jtpatriot on Dec 21, 2011 1:37:29 GMT -6
Hank, Sam, and Jim and Meg were walking out the front door when to go to town when Irene stopped Meg. She opened up her hand bag and from it she handed Meg a two inch Smith and Wesson revolver. "You remember how to use this?" "Its been a while, do you really think I need this?" Hope not, just put it in your bag, for just in case." The group had agreed that Hank and Sam would first stop at Randy Franklin s distributorship and see about getting gas and diesel. Randy was also the local propane dealer. Jim and Meg would go on into town to the hardware store. Hank and Sam pulled their trucks into the gravel parking lot and parked. Randy met them at the door with a shotgun in hand. "Oh hey Sam, Hank. Sorry about the shotgun but things have been a little crazy this morning. Seems some people want fuel, but they don't have any money. My credit card machine quit working. Folks like y'all that I know, I know you're good for the money, but you know there are some folks want me to deliver and I've never seen em before in my life. The stations in town don't have power. People are running Jack crazy wanting him to get their cars started, but he says their computers are fried. Man oh man, I aint never seen anything like it!" "We were hoping you could come out and top off our tanks said Hank. " "And we were both wanting a one thousand gallon propane tank, set up and all soon as you can get to it." "Both of you already have thousand gallon tanks, and I just topped them off the other day." Randy looked at both of the men. He knew they always paid in cash. " OK, Good thing my old trucks are runnin. I'll get the fuel for both of you today and probly one of the tanks. It will be tomorrow before I can get the 2nd one done." "Thats fine" said Sam. How much do we owe you?" " Let you know after I'm done" said Randy. The men shook hands and Hank and Sam pulled out for town.
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Post by patience on Dec 26, 2011 14:34:43 GMT -6
Jim and Meg got to the hardware store just after it opened at 8:00 AM. There was a little light inside and one old pickup in the parking lot, so they went inside. "We can't take anything but cash today folks," the gray headed man told them. "Our credit card machine won't work with the power and phones out."
"Yes, we sort of expected that," Jim answered. "We have a list here, and will need some help finding things." "Sure, we'll fix you right up. What do you need today?" Meg asked, "Where are the canning supplies?" "Right over there in the middle aisle." Meg headed for it while Jim and the man went the other way. In a short time they had quite a pile at the cash register, and decided to pay for that much before continuing. "You folks are going to be doing a lot of canning. I suppose that's 'cause the power's out. Stuff will keep for a 3 or 4 days in the freezers if you don't open it too much, but better get it done soon. I have a bad feeling about this. Never seen the phones and TV and all out at the same time before. Something isn't right about this." Jim didn't want to get the fellow too upset about this, so he didn't elaborate beyond agreeing with him. They loaded their purchases in the cab of the truck and went back in for more. After the third trip, he had to put things in the bed of the truck and decided to cover the load with a tarp.
The store owner was very helpful, providing a box for the kerosene lamps and newspaper to pack them. A couple other customers came in as they finished loading a box of garden seeds and another of lye, rat and mouse bait, garden dust, and a couple funnels. Meg said, "I don't like the idea of going to Wal Mart with all that stuff exposed in the truck bed. Let's lock it in the cab when we get there."
Jim agreed, since they had heard of petty theft in store parking lots before the power went off. The trip to the Wal Mart out on the edge of town was quiet, with almost no traffic, but there was a pretty good crowd in the parking lot, and more coming in as they arrived. Jim parked a short distance from the door, looking the situation over, but all was pretty calm. They quickly transferred their boxes into the cab and went inside, each taking a cart and found the store brightly lit as always, obviously on backup power. A hand lettered sign, "Cash Only" stood just inside the doors, and Meg noticed a couple people stopping, then going back out.
Without many customers, the shopping went fast. Meg came out with a cart loaded with canned meats, bags of dry beans, iodized salt, spices, bags of rice, peanut butter, cooking oil, instant coffee, and when she had trouble pulling the cart, she stopped at 80 pounds of sugar. She would get more the after they checked this load out. Jim loaded his cart with four huge bags of dog food, and went to the sporting goods section. He picked up half a dozen Maglite flashlights in AA and 4D cell sizes, a handful of battery packs each in AA, C, D, and 9 volts. He threw in packages of fish hooks, trotlines, bobbers, sinkers, fishing line, artificial baits, and a couple packaged fishing rod and reel sets. As he left that department, he noticed some steel traps and grabbed an armload of them.
The cart was full, so he grabbed an empty one sitting in the aisle and began loading it on the way out through the clothing section. Jeans, heavy shirts, underwear, socks, and a couple leather belts almost filled the second cart, but it was light so he pushed it and pulled the heavy one with the dog food. Near the checkouts, he grabbed several packages of Bic lighters. He met Meg there, dragging a cart full of canned food and pushing one with medicines, first aid supplies, and women's needs in it.
When they went through the checkout on their second trip, the clerk was a little bugeyed when their total again came to over $600, and said, "This is about the power bein' out an' all, ain't it?" Not wanting to kill any time, with their first purchases loosely tarped over in the truck bed, Jim said only that they were just planning ahead a little and quickly headed for the truck.
A couple people gave them some worried looks while they loaded their last 4 carts in the truck, but noone came too close. Meg said, "I think we're pushing our luck here. We better get this stuff home. Somebody is going to figure this out soon, and I don't want to be here when they do." Jim nodded agreement and tucked in the tarp, then pulled a couple bungee cords over it and got in the cab with no lost time.
Pulling out of the parking spot, Jim was glad he had parked with the truck nose headed out, when a youngster trotted up and pulled up the tarp. He gunned the engine and left the kid stumbling. As they passed the front of the store, an argument was going on and some yelling, so he hurried on out of the lot and got on the road. Meg had her gun out of her purse when he glanced her way, and she looked pretty scared. "It's okay now. We'll get out of town now and head home," Jim told her.
Sam's truck, with David riding shotgun, and then Hank's truck pulled into the feed store close together and backed up to the loading dock. They bought rolled oats, bags of plain salt, mineral blocks for the livestock, feed supplements, vet supplies, a couple buckets of nails and fence staples, several rolls of barbed wire, and a roll of window screening. They went to the clothing section inside and got work coats, boots, socks and gloves for everyone.
The owner smiled as Sam paid him in cash, and said, "You gettin' ready for this power trouble, huh?" Sam said, "I just hired a couple extra hands, and we had to outfit 'em. Yeah, I am some worried about the power being out all over. Hope they get it going again soon."
Quietly, the counter man asked, "You don't think they will--do ya?" Sam had gone to school with the man, and thought about him for a moment, then said, "Might take a good while, at that. Never hurts to be ready." They exchanged meaningful looks and let it go at that.
Hank headed home from there, but Sam and David stopped at a welding supply place, a bit out of the way. It looked somewhat rundown, since the oil business wasn't what it had been, but the door was open. Sam swapped out his acetylene and oxygen tanks for full ones, then bought 2 more new tanks of acetylene and 4 more of oxygen. He had a pile of gas welding and brazing rods, some torch parts, welding gloves and goggles on the counter when he paid out. The new tanks were close to $300 each, making the bill well over $2,000.
Again he was asked, "You're expecting this power outage to last a while, ain't you?" Sam said, "Well, it could. We don't know yet."
"You just bet a lot of money on it, looks to me like." "Yeah. But prices haven't been going down any have they? Either way, it seems like a good idea." "You got that right. What worries me is, we don't have any water without power for the pump at home. And as dry as it's been, the creeks and tanks are all dried up. They say there's water in town still, but when that water tower goes dry, there ain't no more. I hauled a stock tank home from town this morning early, but I couldn't get any gas anywhere. I say we got big trouble, and I don't know what to do about it."
Sam shook his head. "I don't know either. Glad we don't live in town."
When they were on the road again, David asked why he bought all those expensive tanks. Sam explained. "We aren't going to have electricity for the foreseeable future, probably no gasoline when the present supply is used up. I have an old stick welder, but that is useless without electricity. Even if I had a generator welder, it depends on gasoline to use, and gas won't store forever, even with an additive in it. I learned to weld with torch, and it still makes as good a weld as any other way, if you know what you're doing. And those tanks we got will store for years with no problem."
"We're going to be doing the farm and ranch work with horses before too long. I still have horse drawn haying equipment stored in that old barn in the back, but if something breaks on it, I have to be able to fix it." He chuckled as he said, "You'll get to earn your keep breaking some of our lazy horses to pull that stuff!"
David asked, "Can you bale hay with horse drawn machines?" "We aren't going to bale it, we'll stack it outside in haystacks with pitchforks, like Grandad did it. Then the stock just eats out of the stack, like they do with round bales now. But that pitchfork is a mankiller in hot weather. We'll probably have to do some of that at night. We've already gone back in time about 150 years, but most folks don't know it yet."
David thought about that the rest of the way home.
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Post by patience on Dec 26, 2011 16:58:12 GMT -6
Sam told David as he backed the big truck up to the pole barn that did duty as a garage, "Go see if the women can get something together to eat right quick, then come back and help me unload. I want to make another trip today."
David saw quite an operation going in the back yard. Irene and Jane had 2 old kettles boiling on the wood stove, canning meat. The picnic table was full of clean jars and there were pans of thawing meat on the warming ovens atop the old stove. He could hear the hissing and jiggling noise of a pressure canner in the kitchen. When he relayed his message, Irene said, "You tell him we'll have some sandwiches ready when you all are ready. There's a skillet going on the stove in the house. Jane's in there tending it. I hope Meg got more canning lids!"
Just then Jim drove in with his load. Irene yelled at him to back it up to the house and unload, because she had thought of some more things and they would have to go back for another load.
As soon as Jim and Meg got their truck emptied, Meg went to see about the food and Jim lent a hand unloading the big truck. At lunch, Sam said, "I need to go back to Sherman to get fertilizer and seed, and whatever else I can think of on the way. Meg, did you and Jim get enough medical stuff?"
"We spent a lot of money Dad. I hope it's enough. You can see it in the living room there in a pile."
Sam, looked it over still chewing his food. "That's a good start, but you better get another load that size or more. This is goning to be bad times."
"Dad, what do you know that we don't?" "I turned on the old truck radio and got nothing. I used to get Chicago on that in the daytime, and I know it's working because I can hear that bad spark plug wire on it when the motor is going. That means there ain't a radio station working in the whole middle of the country. So this is big, and that means it won't get fixed any time soon, maybe not in our lifetimes. And the water tower will run out in town pretty quick. When it does, there is going to be hell to pay. So go get all you you think you will need, because this may be the last shopping trip you ever get to make. If anybody has ideas, I want to hear 'em now, 'cause I'm making this up as I go along."
Jane's face was solemn as she said, "When people run out of water, they will go nuts trying to get some. We'd better be ready, because they are going to show up here. I want a shotgun to keep handy when we're working outside."
It got real quiet around the table for a couple minutes. It was hard to get that idea to sink in. Irene spoke up. "Meg, you and Jim go see Hank and take that big truck of his. That way you can haul more, and he might need more, too. And there would be 3 of you to deal with whatever comes up."
Meg looked a little pale. Jim's face was set like stone, as he said, "You got a list?"
Irene said, "I have some ideas. You young folks probably don't have much in the way of clothes, so be sure you get enough to last a long time. Don't worry much about the looks of it, but get durable things to work in. Lots of T-shirts and jeans for summer and good heavy shirts and work pants for winter. Go to the farm store and see about coats, too."
Sam said, "I got coats for the men and gloves and boots. I forgot hats, though." "Better get some more. We'll find places to put it all." Sam said, "I got Tetracycline powder, Sulfa Boluses, and Gentle Iodine at the feed store, but we need more antibiotics. I'll check with the vet and see what I can do there. I'll get some more cash for you Jim. I trust your judgement. If you think we need it, go ahead and buy it. After today, I want to stick real close to home."
Meg talked to Jane about clothing sizes and then trotted to the truck with Jim, both of them now carrying shotguns.
In a few minutes, they were all headed out again.
Sam's frst stop was at a tack shop. He came out with a double set of harness, shiny and covered with decorative chrome spots, that was intended for show use, but it was new and strong, made of the new synthetic material that didn't mind getting wet like leather did. He bought a pair of roping saddles, 4 new bridles, and a boxfull of lead ropes and halters. David carried out a box of horseshoes and a smaller one of horseshoe nails.
They got back on the road and headed for town. The truck was loaded heavily with fertilizer and bags of seed when they stopped at the Vet's office on the outskirts of town.
"I can't make any ranch runs now, until I get some gas," the Vet told him as soon as they came in the door. "We don't need you to come out, just want to buy some stuff. I want some sutures, and some antibiotics if you have them." "What sort of antibiotics? What are you treating?" "I want some broad spectrum stuff, maybe amoxicillin, or whatever you think might be useful at this time, and will keep without refrigeration. Something safe for an anesthetic, if you can." "So we understand each other here, Sam, you think we're in for a time of it, right?" Sam had known Stephen Lodge since he was a kid, and grieved with him when his wife had passed away a couple years ago. Stephen had always been straight with him. "Yeah, I surely do, Stephen. You're the expert here, so you tell me what I need." The vet did just that and put a pile of bottles, bags and packages into a cardboard box. When Sam asked what he owed, the vet said, "How about you just take that for now. I may need a place to go if this doesn't get better soon. Any chance you would have some room?" "I'll make room, if you need it. You got enough gas to get to my place?" "I'm not sure. I was about ready to fill up when this hit." "Got some rubber tubing? We'll get you some gas. My saddle tanks are near full on the truck."
They found a gas can and piece of hose and soon had 5 gallons in the vet's truck. Sam asked him, "You want to come now? It won't get any safer on the road by tomorrow."
"Somebody will trash this place if I leave. I'm not sure." "You want to be gone if that happens," Sam told him. He took a long look at his office and then said, "It will take a while to load things in my truck." "We'll help. Point the way."
David and Sam carried load after load to the vet's pickup with the custom storage boxes on it. The squeeze chute trailer was still attached to the vet's truck, so they piled it full of boxes too, and then loaded the cab full of lab equipment. Both trucks were heavily loaded, so Sam took it slow on the back roads home. He didn't particlularly want to be seen by any more people than necessary. The sun was going down, and that helped.
When they pulled in to Sam's place, Jim's truck was there. David noticed some holes in the tailgate that hadn't been there before.
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Post by nancy1340 on Dec 29, 2011 19:55:06 GMT -6
Sorry Patience, I had a kitchen pass and was on Puertor Rico and St. Croix for two weeks. I'll work on your request.
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