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Post by prepguy on Jan 14, 2024 23:20:40 GMT -6
This is an excellent story
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Post by eyeseetwo on Jan 14, 2024 23:27:12 GMT -6
Kermit wrote :
Well dear ma’am it has been a true blessing to come to know you and your man.
Now I do admit I was first mighty pissed that come to find out he did not serve during Nam. But after talking with him after lighting up a bowl or three and he talking of being rejected due to his poor eyes sight after trying to volunteer in all the branches put his lack of service in much better perspective.
My daddy went through so much in Nam and then Panama, then getting blown up in the first sand box scuffle put a sour mouth in me regarding supposed men who choose to not serve our nation. And you know my feelings on the trannies wearing the uniform. Yeppers, I am a devoted deplorable.
Any who, back to the business of living. I know you have skills to use “our” place as a short term refuge. I am so glad Johnny got your papers needed to eventually get your self to your step son’s place.
Be sure to scan for drones and remember to listen not transmit on my or your radios. I want you to use up my supplies and unpack as little as possible from your rig in case you need to leave in a mighty rush.
In the back of the rig hut out there, you know the car port, is a short container. Has the same key as gate one. I put the container in after your last visit. In it is a preloaded trailer. Be sure to hook it up and take it with you on the next part of your journey. The inventory it is in the binder marked New Trailer.
Keep the fire in the wood stove small. The wood is bone dry and will hardly show. Better to make early morning or evening fires.
If there are any foods too harvest take it not in a bunch to keep your foot print of occupation small. Be sure to take some asparagus, walking onions, korms from the orchard, ginseng starts, you know the basics. Also be sure to dig up my grannies Iris bulbs. In the cold room is a potato sack of dried acorns.
Just wander the place and take what you fancy. And remember burn the place down after you take your leave. f*** the state of California government goons.
Finishing the page Patty brought the packet of papers in and tossed them on the table. She pulled out the bottle of Gin and made a nice tall drinking glass of gin and tonic, squirted some lime juice in the glass, grabbed her smokes and took her dear Thelma to the porch to watch the sunset.
Yes, she had much to do and ponder as her dear brother of her heart Hermit would say.
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Post by eyeseetwo on Jan 14, 2024 23:27:45 GMT -6
Kermit wrote : oops double post sorry folks.
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Post by gipsy on Jan 15, 2024 11:47:47 GMT -6
Thanks
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canoeguy
New Member
Posts: 40
Member is Online
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Post by canoeguy on Jan 15, 2024 12:34:15 GMT -6
A fine yarn to be sure. I am waiting for more.
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Post by CountryGuy on Jan 15, 2024 12:50:30 GMT -6
Eyeseetwo, This is a great story. I'm really liking it and love the way you added in a little backstory on the Cole family lineage that brought them to their holler.
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Post by eyeseetwo on Jan 15, 2024 20:58:31 GMT -6
Long after the sun had set and both Patty and Thelma asleep on the porch the night had gotten much cooler.
The rumble of thunder woke the old gals. Thelma shook her self and took to her feet whining loud enough for Patty to hear. Patty slowly got her feet careful not to trip over the dog in the inky darkness surrounding the cabin.
They carefully made their way into the cabin. Patty shut the door then made her way across the room to the Davenport and found her headlamp, donned it and turned it on. She closed the drapes and fed Thelma, then used the toilet. She was pleased to see that her urine was a faint yellow. She learned long ago to take a peek at both her urine and feces to gauge her health. She chuckled about reading stories on Reddit about poop knives, how to adjust your diet to have a good flushable poo and how to gauge if you need more water hydration.
Time for supper she thought and thankfully the stew on the wood stove was nice and hot still. She put her premixed and cut biscuits in the Griswold skillet and covered it with doubles up aluminum foil and place it in the coals in the wood stove. Ten minutes later she pulled out the skillet and she buttered the biscuits, got a half full pint jar of apricot jam out of tge Servel, scooped up a hearty portion of stew and ate up. Yummy!
She had set aside some pieces of juicy tender venison for Thelma and diced it up then topped off the dry dog kibble in the dog dish. Thelma had sat right by Patty as she was eating.
Patty looked at her beloved dog and commanded eat. Thelma went right at it.
After eating Thelma whined and went to the door to do her bedtime constitutional. Patty let her. Patty closed the metal window shutters and started the shower on low to bring to the full bath in the hidden hallway to a nice warm temperature. She let Thelma in and barred the door.
The full bath was the first door on the right side of the hallway.
In the beginning at the mining claim, Kermit the first bathed in the creek and used a privy.
Over time and the acquisition of a bride he got a long oval wash tub for bathing and built a proper out house secure from pesky wood rats, snakes and bears. By the time the Hermit’s granddaddy brought home his bride there was running water and the half bath added.
Donna, the Hermits bride would not move north from San Diego to the cabin until the full bath was installed. And she got her wish. Patty thought that the full bath was grand and she relished in taking the shower. Aching muscles relaxed and she towel dried her hair sitting on a small stool by the wood stove.
The Hermit admitted to Patty that installing the full bath was an A O. K. use of funds. The half bath came in handy when there were two or more at the cabin. Especially when it was too snowy and cold to outside to the still functioning out house.
Changing into her night clothes Patty went to bed, nestled in her home made sleeping sack, Thelma knocked out and Patty did her breathing exercises and said her prayers. Sleep came quickly.
About five A.M. Patty woke up, got up and did her stretching, stoked the wood stove, put on the tea kettle, got dressed and pulled out a worn Bible.
She read for a bit and then made up a cup of instant coffee. Thelma was still sound asleep so she let her be for now. She made Tom’s oats for breakfast. First she filled a small sauce pot with water, put a handful of raw pumpkin seeds, raisins, dried black cherries and a heavy shake or three of cinnamon in it. Brought up to simmer and added a half cup of old fashioned oats in, a dash of NuSalt, and cored apple cut up in eighths in it, stirred it up and put the lid on.
She placed the pot on the wood stove then went out side to bring in more fire wood and kindling from the front porch.
As she waited for the oats to cook up she got a smoke, her coffee mug and the old fashioned granny square crocheted Afghan off the Davenport to snuggle in on the porch. She sat outside long off to finish her cig, coffee and morning prayers.
She went back inside, ate her oats, washed the dishes and filled the dog dish. Thelma continued snoozing. Patty made another cup of coffee, got a smoke and the packet of papers.
Went out on the porch and settled in to read a bit.
The next four pages were the details on how to stealthily remain on the Cole homestead. Most was review of what the Hermit taught her on her previous places to the holler. The next few pages detailed which binders to take a gander at for operation of the hybrid solar/micro hydro/propane/wood systems. As well as the house and irrigation system, the communication systems, legal and important documents binder, the gun safes keys, maps of caches and Hermit’s list of contacts in California and across the western USS (United Socialist States). Of the forty names a full twenty had been lined out with date and circumstances of death or incarceration.
Passcodes, banking codes and storage locker details were on the next to last page.
The last page simply said, Stay Frosty and go by Squatter when you make contacts. May the Good Lord lead and guide you, may you find refuge and be hidden from thy enemy, be a light unto others, a defender of those in need and keep your sass. Love yah Sis, your brother from another Mom K
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Post by eyeseetwo on Jan 15, 2024 21:36:13 GMT -6
Thelma rose, shook and did her soft whine and Patty let her out side.
Shutting the door she finished tidying up the front room of the cabin.
The front room had the wood heat stove with the Davenport, two well worn BarcaLoungers (Easy Boy/ Recliners) a few end and side tables , the food prep area long wall, with the Hoosier Center in the middle of the space, the sink to the left and a tiny wood cook stove to the left.
Next to the wood cook stove was the propane cook stove. A door on the far way to the left entered into the Hermits added on extension bedroom. The add on shed room to the right side had mud wash room and the half bath and wringer washer and the two water heaters. One was fed by the hot water plumbed in fro the hybrid power system, the other by the water tank on the wood cook stove. The two fridges were also squeezed into the small addition.
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Post by prepguy on Jan 15, 2024 22:17:46 GMT -6
Very good updates, thank you. I was off work today so spent a fair amount of time writing. Finished another chapter in the latest book and got a few other pages done as well.Time well spent
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Post by feralferret on Jan 15, 2024 22:46:16 GMT -6
Time spent warm and indoors was time well spent with the current cold snap.
Eyeseetwo, thanks!
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Post by eyeseetwo on Jan 15, 2024 23:02:35 GMT -6
The cabin sported a loft that was used by the Hermit, his da and his granddaddy when they were boys. A retractable ladder with hand rails was added after his granddaddy fell off the rickety ladder was used to access the loft.
When his dad broke an arm and his collarbone when he was five years old boy was his momma one hot fired up pissed of hen.
The loft now stored duffle bags and totes of linens, camping gear, Bugaboo gear and a beautiful hand made cradle.
Before the Davenport was bought back in 1946 an old brass full size bedstead with a goose down mattress and home made quits and a bear skin nestled into the corner. The cradle had hung from the beam above the bed. He sold the bedstead for $350 at the swap meet.
The Hermit had been selling off the excess of possessions that use to crowd both the front room and the rooms along the hidden hallway. He read a book called the Swedish Death Cleanse and actually thought a few of the ideas in it applied to him. Most of the book he thought was a bunch hooey and pig crap.
Now only four of the back rooms had stuff in them.
So he spent his last years listening on the short wave, working his garden, poaching a deer or three on his land, working on the back road, completing his vast system of caches, visiting a few old battle buddies, putting up food and significantly reducing his pot and hootch intake. He had bonfires burning up the chaff and junk.
Until that dammed Covid he was doing great as far as he knew. He was visiting gun shops and coin shops selling down his inventory. His last sell before the new Virus X hit him was selling off his reloading equipment.
He was also “social distancing” and he refused the shot. That got him a few tense moments with his doc at the VA. He had to stop taking his RX meds because of his “anti social beliefs “ the denial from the VA to fill his prescriptions.
For a time he increased his pot and hootch daily allotment to deal with his PTSD. He slowly reduced intake of both as he prepared to join his beloved departed kin.
When he got back from that trip to Redding he went through his “stuff” or crap as the late great George Carlin use to say. And made a few more selling trips.
He actually got a good amount of cash from selling off antiques, vinyl records, the fancy China and silverware his grandma had bought but never had the occasion to use.
Meeting Patty and then Tom gave him a new lease on life for awhile.
He enjoyed their all too infrequent visits and the many letters they wrote to each other. He was so happy when Patty retired from the “government” school system. She had been assaulted twice in her last years of teaching. By “special” students bigger than her. But she kept in the grind trying to get her retirement,
He still thought it was bogus that she could not draw widows benefits or her own benefits from Social Security. She was happy to have earned forty quarters of contributions in SS before she became a teacher.
Cuz of that she got her Medicare Part A and paid for her Part B.
The only reason she was a census worker was due to her retiring early at 60 and having to private pay for medical insurance until 65.
Crazy how the illegals get so much help and citizens do not. Yep that chapped his ass.
She made bank that year with all the enhanced unemployment she drew. She took a one year contract teaching after that.
She got her retirement and salary that year.
Bummer she had to pay back a few thousand to the state teacher retirement fund though.
She saved the salary and that paid for her medical insurance.
We had a great get together for her 65th birthday here at the home place.
It really hit her hard in the pocketbook when the state teacher retirement fund went belly up and Medicare failed. The Veterans Administration was gutted as well.
He was impressed that she and Tom were debt free for the most part.
Patty could converse on a wide variety of topics. She always beat me and Tom playing that old tech board game Trivial Pursuit. She was unafraid of thorny topics. And she sure had hard lines of right and wrong.
The Hermit spent a lot of long days winnowing what to put in the trailer for her and Tom.
It broke his heart reading her last letter that she sent. He got the letter down at the tiny Post Office along the 299.
It was very short for her. She told of the cancer in her Tom. Her trying to make plans and for him to be aware of the new novel virus spreading in Europe.
At that Post Office he was exposed to Virus X. It had a short incubation period. 100% fatal according to that British nurse by the name of Campbell.
The Hermit felt off and was getting sick three days later. He went to Redding to sell off his last papered rifles. So off he drove feeling sicker and sicker. He thought well I as may as well take out a few ass hats with me.
He barely made it to the emergency room. It was jam packed with sick folks. And there he died bleeding out on the waiting room floor.
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Post by feralferret on Jan 15, 2024 23:58:36 GMT -6
Wow, another chapter tonight. Thanks!
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Post by gipsy on Jan 16, 2024 10:06:47 GMT -6
Thanks for the fine tale your spinning.
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Post by ydderf on Jan 16, 2024 14:52:17 GMT -6
Thanks
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Post by rep1270 on Jan 17, 2024 8:32:18 GMT -6
Thank you for the story. Ralph
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Post by eyeseetwo on Jan 27, 2024 23:43:37 GMT -6
I will add to the story later this week. I have been dealing with our end of year finances and tax preparation. Hope everyone is well.
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Post by CountryGuy on Jan 28, 2024 10:00:32 GMT -6
I will add to the story later this week. I have been dealing with our end of year finances and tax preparation. Hope everyone is well. We went in Friday to H&R and got it out of the way, so I feel your misery...
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Post by iamnobody on Jan 28, 2024 10:44:25 GMT -6
I will add to the story later this week. I have been dealing with our end of year finances and tax preparation. Hope everyone is well. We went in Friday to H&R and got it out of the way, so I feel your misery... The new tax rules will make it so much easier for us peasants.
They will just withhold your entire paycheck.
You will own nothing and be happy.
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Post by eyeseetwo on Feb 1, 2024 0:01:30 GMT -6
Patty decided to deep dive into the enclosed trailer the Hermit set up for her.
First she did a walk around to check the hitch, tires and tags on the license plate. The tires appeared to be brand new with little wear.
The tags were good for ten more months. The plate was for Idaho. Hmmmm she thought.
She headed back to the cabin to get the keys for the two padlocks. One for the wheel chuck locks and one for the back door of the trailer.
Upon returning to the trailer she unlocked the door and opened it up.
As she gazed into the trailer she thought “Wow!”
On the door of the trailer was a metal clip board with a large label that said READ FIRST. INCH.
The trailer was half filled with crates and bins.
At the far front of the trailer she could see a gun safe.
As she read the inventory of the trailer she saw that the old Hermit had precisely listed the what would be needed to have more than enough of the basics to start a sustainable homestead.
Included was legal documentation in her name to occupy a parcel of land in Idaho, contact information for a series of home places and folks to get her moved in a set series of hops and skips.
The hermit left her a letter to read as well, and a small ammo can filled with junk silver, a bit of paper money and surprisingly three sets of identification with her likeness on them.
Holy moley that sure is interesting.
She locked up the trailer, went into the cabin, make her gin and tonic, got a cig and went out on the porch and sat down to read the INCH binder and clipboard guiding her to her new home.
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Post by sniper69 on Feb 1, 2024 0:13:15 GMT -6
eyeseetwo - thank you for another fine chapter of MOAR feed, it is appreciated. This story definitely has some twists and am looking forward to see where it is going.
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Post by feralferret on Feb 1, 2024 0:58:09 GMT -6
eyeseetwo - thank you for another fine chapter of MOAR feed, it is appreciated. This story definitely has some twists and am looking forward to see where it is going. I fully concur. Eyeseetwo, thank you.
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Post by gipsy on Feb 1, 2024 8:30:26 GMT -6
Fine update, and the journey begins.
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Post by eyeseetwo on Feb 1, 2024 21:02:21 GMT -6
Thelma joined her on the porch and they sat there enjoying the sunshine and Patty read through the binder and documents on the clipboard.
One page was a tick off sheet listing suggested items from the which to pack into the trailer. Each line had a bold Capital letter marking an item as A. Essential, B. Take if there was room, and C. Comfort/trade goods.
The A. list was very short, with the solar panels, the water hand pump, the gardening seeds, perennials from the herb garden, the flower bulbs and corm, the cast iron cookware and butchering knives, a few high quality hand and gardening tools, a pull along game cart and collapsible garden cart and the baby cradle. And the Harris wheel micro hydro generator, inverter, six dry cell 12 volt batteries and solar array with wiring.
The B. list had the deluxe camping cot, the orchard ladder, the eight foot ladder, a handful of solar camping lanterns and strings of solar patio lights, and Kermit’s grandmother’s small weaving loom and supplies.
The C. list had the alcohol distiller and bottles with the thick recipe binder, the quilts and blackout curtains, a few totes of spices, cookware, linen, assorted sizes of clothing and foot ware, hardware, and tools.
Her mind reeling with all that she had read, she decided to stop and to work at gathering the things she wanted to harvest from the garden. She went to the garden shed and pulled out some burlap sacks, hand digging trowel and spade and she set to work. After a couple of hours she had built up a sweat and her tummy growled “Feed me!”
She set her harvest in the mud room and she and Thelma ate warmed up stew.
Then they took a nice long nap. Thelma woke her up late into the evening with her soft whining and Patty let her out. Patty then fed Thelma some dog kibble, let her out again. Patty did the dishes, started a small fire and took a shower, got in her night clothes, let Thelma in and Patty banked the fire. She locked up and secured the cabin then went to bed emotionally exhausted.
She had horrible dreams and woke up in a state of confusion and anxiety. She laid on the floor and did her stretching and breathing exercises and went over her dreams. And she realized she had not spent the time pray and be thankful before sleep. Well that settles that she thought. I need to focus on my heart, my faith, my mind.
She decided she would do a seven day modified fast, dig into the Word of God, pray and focus on not having any alcohol, reduce her nicotine intake, drink some herbal teas, eat lightly using up her bone broth and having steamed rice and oats. She learned long ago how he body could not tolerate a water only fast.
She got out her ear buds and played scripture based praise instrumental music and sat down to write her to do list, parcelling out one major physical per day and she started with totally emptying out her Dodge. It took her three days to sort through and reorganize what she wanted to keep in it.
She then made piles of the A, B and C list. She ended up
Each day for the next week she took an accounting of her past, her present and her future. She prayed intercession y prays for her step son, her far distant blood kin, friends from the past, the resistance, and for those in power of all facets of the USS and the few states that had been resisting the efforts of the evil doers.
She chose to not listen to the short wave radio transceiver, but to focus on the renewing her mind, body and soul. She found it easy to cut back to two cigarettes a day. And she really did not miss having a beer or gin and tonic. As she detoxified she sweated out a lot of stinky smells and ended up showering twice a day.
She boxed up her limited supply of beer and gin and put it into the trailer to use as trade goods. She found the Hermet’s case of vodka. Sweet. Plenty of it for making medicinal tinctures. She boxed up the assorted medicinal herbs hanging from the rafters and spent a day processing the curing marijuana plants hanging in the green house. She trimmed the flower buds and used a vacuum sealer for the buds and other herbs.
In the garden she saw that there were medicinal poppies and she sealed them up as well. She found a cask of honey with comb and it joined the medicinal herbs in gun safe on the trailer. A heavy duty dolly was chained above the safe from the ceiling of the trailer.
She found a sheet of wood that was precut to fit in front of the safe. The safe was tall, heavy and very shallow. She double depth restacked the packing boxes in front of wood sheet to the ceiling. She thought what a nifty way to hide the safe.
After restocking all the boxes and crates she found there was enough room to put her extra gear, everything on the A, B and C lists. She had to wrangle the heavy duty dolly down in order to move the wringer washer, the Servel refrigerator, and the T posts for the clothes line into the trailer. As well as the four wooden crates of cast iron cookware, fire place spiders and the Hoosier cabinet. She packed up the original wall sconces, the hanging kerosene and oil lamps, the extra wicks and fuel.
In the last bit of space she put rolls of plastic green house skins/plastic, garden pots, hoses, drip line, water filters, heating mats, broken down empty bee hives and apiary supplies. All store in four blue food grade water barrels with screw off lids.
Patty extended her modified fast for two additional weeks. She chipped away at her tasks and as she prayed and read the word and the binders the Hermit had left she planned her route to her next resting spot.
The final box she placed in the trailer was a small tote with the photos of the Cole family.
Patty decided to take some of the chain link fencing and the two rolls of barbed wire. Boy was she glad to have sturdy leather gloves on when she handled the fencing and barbed wire.
By now she had been at the Hermit’s place for four weeks. The fifth week she turned on the shortwave and caught up on the “news”. She planned out her route and went over her rig with a fine tooth comb and was very happy to finally find the hidden fuel storage. She and Thelma walked out the back route all the way from the mining claim to the edge of Sean’s property.
She found that the route was not all that rough and she left a note for Sean in an old Folgers coffee can on his gate post.
She and Thelma went back to the gate for the next three days. On the third day she found a return note from Sean saying……
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Post by gipsy on Feb 1, 2024 21:59:04 GMT -6
Well that sure hung us on the cliff. Thanks
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Post by prepguy on Feb 1, 2024 22:13:23 GMT -6
Really good update. Thank you
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