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Post by iamnobody on Jan 28, 2024 11:01:19 GMT -6
The children were adjusting to the place over the next few weeks. Their broken bones appeared to be healing nicely. They were almost jumping up and down with excitement when they seen the chickens and found out they would be helping tend them. Dillon had been using his cloth supplies to make them both some better clothes than the wolf hides. Their new clothing would never make a fashion statement but they were functional and covered their nakedness. They were starting to gain weight from eating regularly, they had been skinny when he found them. Dillon had talked with them, asking questions. He found out they were unrelated to each other. They remembered their parents dumping them off and then the man who “owned” them picking them up and saying that he now owned them. The man had worked them 12 hours a day and barely fed them.
Dillon even read them stories at bedtime. They often saw him reading his bible. They asked him what it was about. He told them it was about God, then the question - who was this God. He explained that God was the Creator of everything. Tom asked “if God is so great and loving, why did he allow bad things to happen to him and Mary?” Dillon thought for a moment on how to answer this. Then he started. Romans 8:28 KJV And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. He explained that all things that happened to them were not good but God used it in His plans. Dillon told them that his parents and family had been against him just like their parents had abandoned them. He also had 2 different women in his life, they both had did him evil. He explained that evil did not feel good but those situations brought him to where he was today and now he had Tom and Mary in his life and that was a good thing. He read the story about Joseph in the bible and how his brothers sold him into slavery, how later in life he became the #2 man in Egypt . He explained that did not mean that him or they would end up rich and famous. They looked at each other in wonder, then asked if Dillon would start reading the bible to them.
The winter months were slowly passing, the snow and cold outside. The fire in the stove was keeping them warm and cooking their food. They liked the taste of beans the way Dillon cooked them but in the beginning the bean gas about drove them all out of the small home. He assured them that eating beans was good and after about 10 days the body develops the bacteria needed to properly digest the beans and then no more gas. They found that to be true and relished the different beans.
By the time Spring rolled around and the snow had melted, Tom and Mary were back to normal, though Tom still walked with a slight limp. They were happy to be outside and helping to grow their own food. Of course they did the normal children things of running around and playing while Dillon kept a watchful eye around. They heard the yearly wolf pack and he warned Tom and Mary of that danger and of dogs. The trade meet was back and broadcasting but Dillon wasn't going this year. There was nothing they needed and he didn't want to take the children to it so soon after their “owner” had dumped them.
They enjoyed the fresh food from the garden plots and helped preserve the extra harvest and learning how to do it. They watched as he shot several wolves when they came too close to the home. He had shot several deer and they watched / helped him butcher and preserve the meat. In the beginning Tom and Mary were hesitant about the fermented food but after trying it, they loved it. They readily admitted to feeling better than they had in a long time. Every night he read them the bible, then a bedtime story. One night as he finished tucking them in bed, Mary said “good night dad.”
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Post by gipsy on Jan 28, 2024 14:08:49 GMT -6
Words that will change him forever. Thanks
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Post by kaijafon on Jan 28, 2024 17:12:33 GMT -6
fascinating twist!!! Thank you!
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Post by eyeseetwo on Jan 29, 2024 17:30:19 GMT -6
Thank you! I appreciate how well you have developed Dillon’s character.
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Post by iamnobody on Jan 29, 2024 17:37:54 GMT -6
Thank you! I appreciate how well you have developed Dillon’s character. I am trying to learn from the great writers on here.
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Post by iamnobody on Feb 4, 2024 10:12:38 GMT -6
Dillon froze and Mary said “sorry.” Then with a big smile on his face, he told her that if she wanted to call him dad, he would love it. Tom asked if he could too and Dillon said yes. He got both of them tucked in and then said “good night son and daughter.” He heard lots of giggles as he blew the candle out. Dillon went to bed with a smile on his face. He had thought he would never have any children. 2 wives and both of them had treated him evil and at his age and being way out in the “badlands” the odds of finding another wife was zilch. And to be honest, he would be very resistant to a relationship with another woman. Here it looked like God had entrusted him with 2 children so he wouldn't be alone and heirless.
He had started their education as they hadn't received much before they came into his life. He was also teaching them on gun safety and having them shoot the 22LRs. They were getting very good with the rifles. The children were blossoming since coming to Dillon's place. They were gaining weight and he guessed they had grown an inch in the last few months. They were always asking questions about things being done and watching his every move when he was doing something. Dillon was making learning fun for them instead of “rigid learning.”
During the summer months, both Tom and Mary shot several rabbits, squirrels, grouse and some groundhogs to add to their meals. He taught them how to cook them up into savory meals. Over the summer months he listened to the trade meet broadcasts every 3 weeks just like before. It was approaching the day that it would be the last trade meet for the year. He had thought about changing his mind and going. As he was listening to the live broadcast he suddenly heard screaming and gunshots. Then he heard the broadcaster yelling “Help! We are being attacked by US military in US helicopters!” Dillon could hear the sounds of automatic rifle fire, the sounds of several helicopters and the swoosh of rockets flying through the air. He heard an explosion that sounded near the broadcaster and then the transmission ended.
The 3 of them sat there in shock. Tom and Mary were wide eyed in fear while Dillon was in disbelief. Why would the US government be concerned about something so far away from them? Why would they send troops to attack? He kept listening to the radio, trying to hear more but the transmission was ended. A few days later he heard a transmission from someone else saying they had been at the trade meet when it was attacked but they had escaped. They were saying how horrible it was and then suddenly there was an explosion and their transmission was cut off. Dillon hurriedly shut down his radio and disconnected it.
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Post by prepguy on Feb 4, 2024 10:30:35 GMT -6
The twists continue! His world is full of danger, betrayal with a mix of hope spread throughout. Let's see what happens
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Post by kansasterri on Feb 4, 2024 17:53:59 GMT -6
YIKES!!!!!!
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Post by feralferret on Feb 4, 2024 18:23:07 GMT -6
Quite a chapter! Thanks.
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Post by iamnobody on Feb 7, 2024 0:41:29 GMT -6
The company announced pay raises today.
Store managers got $20,000 a year raise.
Store employees got $2 an hour raise.
Warehouse employees, that's me (drum roll please) got 50 cents an hour raise.
Locally regular gas is $3.40 a gallon.
So with the extra money of the pay raise, I can now afford to splurge for an extra gallon of gas a day.
But I will need to work 9 hours to get it.
9hrs x .50 equals $4.50 minus 25% taxes = $3.37
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Post by feralferret on Feb 7, 2024 2:38:37 GMT -6
The company announced pay raises today.
Store managers got $20,000 a year raise.
Store employees got $2 an hour raise.
Warehouse employees, that's me (drum roll please) got 50 cents an hour raise.
Locally regular gas is $3.40 a gallon.
So with the extra money of the pay raise, I can now afford to splurge for an extra gallon of gas a day.
But I will need to work 9 hours to get it.
9hrs x .50 equals $4.50 minus 25% taxes = $3.37 Pay structure seems a bit top heavy.
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Post by kansasterri on Feb 7, 2024 19:22:57 GMT -6
That *IS* top heavy!
It is also $66 dollars a month.
Before the kids moved out I used to save those smallish amounts of money and put them into savings. That is, after all, almost $800 a year. Because sooner or later I knew that it would come in handy.
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Post by iamnobody on Feb 10, 2024 10:38:44 GMT -6
Dillon was thinking over the next few days of what to do. He had thought he was safe out there away from the US government but now it seems they are attacking people out here. He double checked his stove chimney. When he built it, he had purposely set it up so that it would give very little heat signature and his smoke diffusor was working properly so that the smoke was not visible. The only thing visible from the sky would be his garden plots and their small greenhouses over them. Him and the children worked at placing branches over them in odd patterns so they wouldn't be as visible from the sky. The winter snows would soon be coming, covering everything with its cloak of concealment.
He was spending days outside on the hilltop watching the skies for trouble. Sometimes he thought he heard helicopters way off in the distance but he couldn't be sure because of the distance. Constantly he was in prayer, asking God for His hedge of protection, to keep evil far from them. On a cloudy day the temperature was dropping and the wind was picking up, gusting from different directions. Dillon could see a stray snowflake swirling around. Then his blood ran cold as he plainly heard the sound of an approaching helicopter. Peering off in the distance he could see a speck that materialized into an outline of a helicopter slowly making a crisscrossing pattern at least 5 miles away.
His brain was running in a million different directions. How would he be able to protect his children? How can he stop this helicopter? As he is standing there and thinking about the oncoming helicopter, he was not paying attention to the wind and snow picking up til it was almost a blizzard and it was slapping him in the face. He knew he had to quickly make it back the 300 yards to home and children or they could be alone for at least several days or worse, he could die. He took off running in the direction of home, picking out close landmarks to guide him through the swirling snow. Finally he was at the doorway to his home. Opening the door, he stumbled in with some snow entering with him into the entryway that served as a mudroom. Tom and Mary heard him and opened the inner door seeing him covered in snow.
He ushered them back in and then downstairs to the storage rooms , explaining as they went about the threat of the helicopter and they would have to stay down in the storage room for a while for safety. Out side as the blizzard raged, the helicopter was also caught up in it. Its suddenness caught the pilots by surprise as the storm tossed it around. The pilots were fighting the controls, trying to keep it airborne. They couldn't see anything because of the blinding snow. The storm tossed them around and soon they were 100 miles further north than when Dillon had seen them. The snow was so thick they couldn't see 1 inch outside the helicopter and the sound of blaring alarms filled the cockpit. The pilots felt the helicopter going up real fast in an updraft. Then with a sickening feeling in their stomach, they felt the wind shift direction and they were speeding down. It took 3 minutes of speeding down from the height the wind had taken them when they felt the impact with the ground. They only felt it for a split second before the impact killed them and the helicopter burst into a fireball from the leaking fuel.
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Post by gipsy on Feb 10, 2024 11:08:39 GMT -6
Karma for sure. Thanks for the update.
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Post by iamnobody on Feb 11, 2024 18:41:44 GMT -6
Well, I'm gearing up for a possible snow storm early Tuesday morning.
The weather forecast ranges from just a coating to knee deep on a giraffe.
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Post by gipsy on Feb 11, 2024 18:49:21 GMT -6
Is that a full grown giraffe or a baby. It makes a difference.
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Post by iamnobody on Feb 11, 2024 19:07:40 GMT -6
Is that a full grown giraffe or a baby. It makes a difference. Its a super sized one.
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Post by gipsy on Feb 11, 2024 21:58:14 GMT -6
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Post by prepguy on Feb 11, 2024 22:00:23 GMT -6
Snowing here right now. Temps below freezing tonight so tomorrow is gonna be fun...
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Post by iamnobody on Feb 12, 2024 8:58:11 GMT -6
The storm has shifted to a more southern track. So I will be getting more snow. How much remains to be seen. Its supposed to start snowing around 4AM Tuesday morning.
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Post by sniper69 on Feb 12, 2024 9:25:23 GMT -6
The storm has shifted to a more southern track. So I will be getting more snow. How much remains to be seen. Its supposed to start snowing around 4AM Tuesday morning.
Stay safe, warm, and keep your powder dry during the snowpocalypse.
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Post by gipsy on Feb 12, 2024 9:45:23 GMT -6
But that can't be because the green hairs say we are in global warming.
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Post by iamnobody on Feb 13, 2024 9:07:47 GMT -6
Stay safe, warm, and keep your powder dry during the snowpocalypse. Keeping my powder dry was easy. I put all 5 rounds of 22LR ammo I own into a small baby food jar.
Ended up getting 3 1/4 inches of snow after all the hype from the weatherman. The forecast was wildly changing every hour - from all rain to getting knee deep snow. First the storm was shifting north, then the track was shifting south. It finally stayed south and mostly missed me. Counties north of me was an all rain event, counties east of me got dumped on. This weather is not normal anymore. It was 40F at 2AM, 1 inch of rain for hours before that, even saw a frog hopping across the road on the way home. By 2:30AM it had begun snowing big fluffy flakes.
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Post by cashless1 on Feb 13, 2024 10:49:08 GMT -6
5 rounds why do you keep so much?
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Post by iamnobody on Feb 13, 2024 11:53:30 GMT -6
5 rounds why do you keep so much? For barter.
I can get a whole pack of Twinkies for each round.
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