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Post by papaof2 on Oct 20, 2020 15:38:32 GMT -6
Yes, I'm aware that there are at least a half dozen stories/books with "Dark Days" in the title, but it will serve as a working title until I find something better. I'm 20-odd chapters into this story and MAYBE my muse will finish it. For now, some outtakes that provide a synopsis - and a cushion against Amazon's story-hunter robots when/if I finally decide to publish this one.
Dark Days -
Most of the neighbors did come together after the first few days, as the store shelves began to empty and the various services became intermittent and then went away. First internet service was slow, later it would be on for part of a day and then it was gone. Cell phone service got slow when everyone started using their cell phones for internet access but a day or two after commercial power went off the cell towers started shutting down as their generators ran out of fuel - didn't matter much by then as most people couldn't charge their phones after the first day or so without commercial power. Water pressure from County Water dropped after power went off and they started using their generator (something that should have been tested regularly). After the first hour on generator they put out a "Boil Water" order which was delivered daily via the PA systems in the Sheriff's Deputies' cruisers as they made their rounds - until those vehicles ran out of fuel with no power for the pumps at their garage and no backup generator when they tried to start it remotely (rust on the hack-sawed hold-down bolts indicated it had been stolen months earlier - there's more than one reason to test your generator regularly). The water was to be on two hours a day (7-9AM) to save fuel as soon as they realized that no power meant the pipeline to the petroleum products terminal in the nearest city (one county over) was empty and there would be limited to zero future fuel deliveries. They were hoping to stretch the two weeks of generator fuel much longer. That was a good thought as two weeks of running 24/7 is 336 hours and running it two hours a day should have given them 336 / 2 = 168 days but the guy on duty the morning of 13 July had a heart attack and the generator ran more than 40 hours before someone noticed the water was on in the afternoon and they went to investigate. That cost them three weeks of two hours a day so the 168 days became 147 days and now they're providing water for one hour and only on even numbered days to keep the water on longer (perhaps a year?) but the 'Boil water' order still applies. If everyone on County Water fills a bathtub or a number of pails or buckets when the water is on, they'd be OK for the longer gaps over the 31st of one month and the 1st of the next month. Not sure how many people still have paper calendars so they'll have to see how that works out.
No one mentioned the status of the sewage treatment plant but I did hear reports of "brown lumps in" and "a bad smell from" the river just South of the plant. Maybe they just switched that plant to 'Bypass' and are dumping everything into the river? That might have been OK two hundred years ago but unless the die-off hits 90% or more the county now has too many residents for the river to be "self-cleaning in a mile" which was the rule of thumb for public sanitation in running water a couple of centuries ago.
If family farms, quilts and pottery sound like a primitive civilization, it might be primitive to someone who only knows the 21st century but it's ballpark for the early 19th century - maybe 1820? - and some people survived just fine then. Although the lack of modern medications and always available medical personnel may have put our illness survival rates closer to those of that period and the accidental deaths are already there because no power means no trauma center with incredible diagnostic and surgical capabilities and no refrigeration for storing blood so blood transfusions only from live donors with the right blood type. No communications and no fuel mean no Medevac from a remote site. You get the care that's available where you are and you hope there's an herbal medication that works for you. Heroin lettuce is a more effective pain reliever than ibuprofen for some people and L-Theanine might work as well as some of the prescription anti-anxiety medications. There's even a Physician's Desk Reference for herbal medications and we have a paper copy (about $60 on Amazon for our old but still useful year 2000 edition).
How is it that we have enough people to have a working community when this year's "flu" killed 90% of the population in many places? That 37 miles to town kept exposure down and as soon as there was a "Maybe people should be quarantined" suggestion, it was implemented. If you went to town, you were isolated for fourteen days when you returned - none of the locals needed more than one experience of that. The process was simple. The folks at Sunny Acres Mobile Home Park, including the owner, were all gone as soon as the power was off for a few days so the abandoned rental trailers were supplied with food and water for fourteen days and the people billeted there were warned not to leave the park until they were called for by a Deputy. We only had to shoot one person - a drifter no one knew - to make that point. He was up on a post with a "Broke quarantine" sign. Brutal? Barbaric? No, just staying alive in our new normal. This isn't your nanny state of California - this is the real world of end-of-the-road Alabama. If you don't work, you don't eat and if you threaten other people's lives, your life may be forfeit - and possibly carrying disease is a threat to the lives of others.
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Let me know if you want the next 50,000 words. I'll post those chapters as I get them polished and maybe get the tale finished in a few months.
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Post by sniper69 on Oct 20, 2020 16:13:52 GMT -6
Sweet, a new story. Looking forward to more papaof2.
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Post by papaof2 on Oct 20, 2020 16:40:40 GMT -6
Prologue
Well, the neighbors used to call me crazy for my weird ideas that civilization as we know it was not guaranteed. Then a few of them changed that to creative when my books based on those ideas actually sold enough copies that the County Library had them on their shelves. The library even set up a special display with my picture. That didn't last long because an eco-friendly (in her mind), self-appointed, nanny-for-adults objected to people carrying guns and using outhouses in her future. You should have heard her rant when the grid went down for the count and she could no longer charge her eco-friendly Nissan Leaf - and the solar panels she'd bought for charging didn't work. I tried to explain that the panels needed to be on the sunny side of the roof but she said they were "ugly" and she'd just leave them on the North side of the house so they couldn't be seen from the street; they still got daylight, so the installer must have wired something wrong. We lost her in the third month of what the locals call "the Dark Days" when she tried to steal food from her neighbor's garden.
He said "Put it down and don't come back."
She tossed a brick at him while yelling "Make me!"
The buckshot from his 12 gauge ended that confrontation - and Joe Stevens had no problems with uninvited people in his garden for many months after that. Having Tiffany Jenkins' body on a post near his front gate with a "Food Thief" sign hanging across her might have been a deterrent.
No, he didn't forget about calling the Sheriff. By that time, there was no phone service and the deputies were patrolling the county on horseback. The "County Mounties" from the heyday of CB radio are our new "normal". The next time Deputy Simms rode by, he took Joe's paper report (everything is handwritten these days) and left him a LEAR Form (Law Enforcement Action Report - the master was created on a manual typewriter and the forms run off on a hand-operated mimeograph machine; both were found in an old storeroom at the Sheriff's office, along with mimeograph masters and ink - no more computers without grid power but we still have lots of acronyms).
'In the matter of the death of Tiffany Jenkins (age 22) in confrontation with Joseph Stevens (age 62), investigated by Deputy J. T. Simms, 21 July 2028. Resolution: justifiable homicide in protection of food supplies.'
I was able to help Joe get the batteries out of that Nissan and expand what had been a very small solar power system to something that could power his fridge and freezer by using the 1500 watts of solar panels we moved from Tiffany's tiny house to the South side of Joe's roof where they work well with his other solar panels. We never did figure out how an eco-nut from California wound up in the boondocks of Alabama.
You say you don't like dark stories? Then you'd best stop here as there are some dark hours and days in the details that follow and I expect we'll have more of them in the future.
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Post by gipsy on Oct 20, 2020 16:54:55 GMT -6
Go for it.
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Post by papaof2 on Oct 20, 2020 16:59:59 GMT -6
Chapter 1
How is it that a former high rise steelworker from New York is living in "the middle of nowhere"? Our mailing address is Pebble, AL 35565 but we're almost in the Buckhead National Forest. Most of the people who live in this state don't know where Pebble is so "the middle of nowhere" is a good description.
First reason: I'd spent a lot of time on my grandparents' farm in Pennsylvania as a kid and I wanted our kids to experience farm life. Second reason: I'd been injured on the job and had a nice settlement from the company to go with my prosthetic foot and I wanted to invest in a place that would hold its value and be able to feed us if things went sideways - my conservative investments had not been hurt by the dot com bust or the derivatives boondoggle but both had been close things. Land prices were so depressed out here that the only way the values could go was up so this was a good place to buy - and very inexpensive for 100 acres with a big house plus a usable bunkhouse, smokehouse, animal barn and pole barn.
It seems the publicity about the OSHA investigation into my injury persuaded the company and its insurer that a jury trial would likely be many times more expensive than what I was asking because that state allowed a jury to award punitive damages of up to twenty times the plaintiff's claim. The insurance company offered $6 million in an out-of-court settlement so I took it. I'd already run the numbers and we could have lived well on my original $4 million claim with what was effectively my forced retirement at age 38 - if our residence and vehicles were paid for, the vehicles only replaced for cash on an as-needed basis and we were raising part of our food. A 100 acre farm isn't necessarily commercial size unless you're doing market gardening or producing some expensive niche crop but it can keep a family fed with meat, eggs and milk if you raise pigs and keep chickens plus a dairy cow or two and you can have as big a garden as you're able to work. Being out far enough to have plenty of land, the kids wanted horses and we had a barn and pasture space. We grow corn for us and the animals plus alfalfa and fescue for them and we cut and bale our own hay - and the space is big enough to rotate those crops yearly. The horses are our second generation of horses and primarily work animals, although they are saddle-broken, and one of my hobbies has been collecting and restoring horse-drawn farming implements - and learning to use them. I've learned a lot about working leather and wood from repairing that old equipment to go with my construction and machine shop knowledge. When the kids were old enough, they were involved in 4H and earned some awards for their animals and their crops. None wanted to stay in the area when they graduated high school but all completed college: one engineer (nuclear power, working at the Columbia Generating Station near Sunnyside, WA), one librarian (in Fresno, CA) and one doctor (veterinarian near Fort Worth, TX) - living on a farm did take for one of them ;-)
Did you know that in today's construction, steel work is mostly welding? That meant there was work waiting for me out here because there's always farm machinery that needs repair, so I set up a shop and I repair things for other people in the area. Yes, I have a business license, in the name of 'Jack's Welding and Machine Shop, LLC'. I mostly work for cash but some for barter - Martha Talbot makes some great cheeses and Tim always asks "How much is that in <whatever-this-week's-cheese-is>?" when we're discussing prices. Others ask in whatever they produce that isn't readily available at a local commercial outlet. It's 10 miles to the feed and seed in Haleyville (pop. 3952), 20 miles to Wally World and 37 miles to the nearest place big enough to really be called a "town" so I can barter in "town prices" for most of their goods because I'm not driving almost 80 miles round trip to get those things. Some of them think I might be a little stupid about the value of locally-produced things but I've always seen it as investing in local production of food and other things that I might need. Do the math: 80 miles at 20MPG is 4 gallons times an average of $3.50/gallon = $14 in fuel for the trip plus wear on the vehicle (eight foot bed pickups than can tandem trailer four horses and a wagon of baled hay aren't economy vehicles). I might have been seen as a little generous in my local dealings if you didn't include the cost of fuel - which it seems almost no one out here does as they grew up with 'Gotta go to town for everything'. We have many varieties of food and other things available locally including quilts, pottery, boots (mostly deerskin uppers, pigskin soles, sometimes car tire heels for adult boots) and woven baskets, for example.
Our property has a well and a septic tank; sometimes it's good to be far enough out that you don't have access to public utilities. Being out also means we use LP for cooking and heating with wood backup for both. We always fill up the vehicles at the half tank mark and both trucks have auxiliary tanks which more than double their original capacities plus we have a 500 gallon gas tank (also used for the welder/generator for my business) and a 1000 gallon diesel tank for the farm equipment and the backup generator.
We get power from the local electric co-op but the all-aerial-lines distribution system means that high winds, falling limbs and trees, or freezing rain can take the power out for days or weeks at a time so we have a 12KW diesel backup generator. No, it's not auto-start - too many frequent "little" outages (less than a day) and sometimes two or three short outages on the same day and I don't want auto-start to inflict that kind of wear on the generator so there's a small solar system that the fridge, freezer and a few LED lights are switched to after 15 minutes without power. The system is small enough to not be noticed by the neighbors (helps that the panels are on the side of the barn away from the road) so I did it by the book with a permit and inspection by the County Electrical Inspector and it's in the County's records as "outbuilding lighting". But the 30 amp 120/240 volt circuit from the house to the barn for commercial power also works as a 30 amp 120/240 volt circuit from the solar power system in the barn to the house - we just have to remember to NOT look like we have unlimited power when the co-op power is out so no one asks to run a quarter mile extension cord to power their fridge or TV. In a long outage, I could add more solar panels and controllers and provide on-going power for most of the house and the outbuildings (we have a stock of parts for doing that, if power were to stay off a long time).
My great-grandmother's wood-fired Princess cookstove was refurbished and moved to a place of honor when we remodeled the kitchen about ten years ago and it has the ten gallon hot water tank. Not as convenient as an always-on, pump-pressurized shower from an LP-fired water heater but we can fill multiple sun shower bags with warm water if needed and buckets of hot water work fine for filling the tub for my better half's bubble or lavender oil baths plus we have a hand pump on the same well as the electric pump. The 10KW pure sine wave inverter on the solar power system can easily supply 30 amps to the house (7200 watts) and run the well pump - with fewer pump starts and stops after I upgraded the pressure tank to 80 gallons - but we choose not to appear better off than most of our neighbors so we use the manual pump a couple times a day when power is off. Don't have to hand pump much water, as long as we're occasionally seen at the pump with a bucket (that's an item for your OpSec).
Out here "in the country" we know that a lot of rain can turn the dirt road into a sticky goo that only tracked or 4WD vehicles can manage (one reason we both have 4WD trucks with a lot of ground clearance) and that freezing/frozen precipitation (freezing rain is more likely than snow but we do get some snow) can also make travel difficult to impossible as you can only get by a stalled or stuck vehicle in certain places on our lane-and-a-half dirt road. However, that makes the road an undesirable place to travel for most people from outside the area so we have very few strangers wandering by. You would only have experienced this road on your way to visit family or look at property you might be interested in buying. We saw it and liked it when we were looking for a place more than 20 years ago, but we came in a 4WD Suburban loaded with kids and dogs.
Enough background. You're probably ready to hear about the lives we lived before and after the new 'flu'.
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Post by bluefox2 on Oct 20, 2020 20:29:59 GMT -6
We have been blessed with a new story
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remembergoliad
Member
if you send friend req on FB, message me too. I won't accept if I don't recognize you.
Posts: 158
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Post by remembergoliad on Oct 20, 2020 21:10:01 GMT -6
Dang good start! I like your writing style, thanks for posting another story.
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Post by papaof2 on Oct 21, 2020 15:27:39 GMT -6
Chapter 2
Tuesday, 11 April, 2028, 08:30
"Susan?"
"Yes, Jack?"
"Did you hear anything about a new 'flu' on the 6AM news?"
"Something about a slowdown in Chinese factory production and a reduction in the number of container ships scheduled this month but no mention of illness. Why?"
"Come watch and listen to what I just paused on the Fox News channel."
"OK."
'The shipping schedule from Chongqing, China has been reduced by 20%. This will impact consumers and businesses around the world as about a third of the world's laptops and a large percentage of the cell phones are manufactured there. No immediate reason was given for the announcement from Beijing but one of Hong Kong's newspapers had a small article in the third section today about high employee absenteeism that began in several areas of China around March 26, including the cities of Chongqing and Wuhan…'
"Wuhan is where Covid-19 first appeared, Jack?"
"Correct. What's the first suggestion as to why there are sick people in Wuhan?"
"Another 'Oops!' at the bio-weapons lab in that province. We're checking and updating all our supplies for an extended quarantine?"
"Yes. I think we should expand the supplies to cover at least another year, maybe two years."
"That might be pushing the shelf life of some of the OTC meds."
"Susan, we can add refrigerator space for the things most likely to be short-dated."
"Permanent solar power for the Engel fridge/freezer?"
"Yes. There's a battery pack that can power it for 48 hours and I'll equip that with solar power which can recharge the battery in three hours or less."
"We have that much spare solar?"
"We have a full set of spare solar panels and controllers. This only needs one 250 watt panel and a controller so the panel can go on the back of the house. If anyone questions our having limited LED lighting six months from now, we can point to that and say 'We have a little bit of solar power'."
"Nothing but the truth."
"Perhaps not as much information as they would like to have but simple truth. Easier to remember than any lie."
"I agree, Jack. What else should we plan 'simple truth' about?"
"I should check the paper list and see what additions are needed. Can you get Garrett Bailey out to top off the gas and diesel tanks?"
"I'll text him now. I think this is the week he refills the tanks at the seed and feed so we wouldn't be paying the full mileage charge from town, just the ten miles between here and there."
"Every little bit of savings helps. Do you want to increase the junk silver we have on hand?"
"By how much?"
"Another $5000 in face value?"
"You're expecting a year or more for this to blow over or burn out, Jack?"
"Probably no better than the three years of Covid-19 with its ups and downs in infections until they got it right with the third version of the vaccine - and possibly much worse."
"Make it $7500 face value. That's a nice cushion. Do I need to call Liz Duncan at the auto parts store?"
"I think we'll be driving less but some of that may be under extreme conditions of load or speed so double the order we placed in January."
"That's reasonable. Two full sets of tires for each pickup, the cab-over semi and all the trailers?"
"Yes. And a spare set of basic steel wheels all around. They can mount and balance one set of the tires and we'll have a full set of spares ready to be used."
"Just how much gunfire are you expecting?"
"Not sure love, but my 'sixth sense' feels like there are four shooters in this room."
"Been a long time since you were that antsy so I'll also double the ammo order we placed in September. We upped the number of weapons in each category then so we should be OK there."
"Good idea on the ammo and I agree on the weapons. We have twice as many weapons as places for shooters to sleep so we have a good spare count."
"Animal supplies?"
"Hay if our inventory is low. At least two years of bagged feed for all the animals, COB, salt blocks and the like, meds, syringes, needles and double whatever fish/bird antibiotics and other supplies we have for humans."
"I'll pull that inventory sheet and add what's needed for two more years. Any First Aid items?"
"You should plan on being the local ER for a while. You're a very experienced ER nurse and the closest thing to a doctor in 25 miles or more."
"OK. I'll add some OTC meds, ask Doc Barton about prescriptions for some IVs, a broad selection of antibiotics, local anesthetics and narcotic pain relievers, add various types of scalpels, sutures and needles, more generic bandages and also plan for gunshot and shrapnel wounds. The Israeli clotting bandages?"
"They seemed to work the best."
"Can we get them in the US?"
"If not, go online, buy direct and fly them here."
"You are wound up about this! I should be armed?"
"I am. Twice."
"Then I shall do likewise. Add another year or two to the basic staples inventory of beans, rice, flour, corn meal, yeast, powdered milk, powdered potatoes, sugar, salt and so forth? Also the LTS foods?"
"Two years to all that. If you can get some freeze-dried potato slices, do so. Your way of rehydrating those makes them into excellent home fries and if we're doing more manual farm work or farming with just the horses we'll need the additional fat in our diets. If we don't need those this year or next, they will keep until we do need them."
"Chamomile tea to calm you down?"
"Yes. At least another year's worth."
"Jack, I was asking about right now."
"You're right, love. I do need some calming and add chamomile for another two years to the list."
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"Here's your tea, Jack. Take off the prosthesis you keep trying to wiggle to 'the right place' and let me check your stump. I think you've been pacing the floor in your boots and the tile in here is not the best place for that and certainly not in hard-soled boots. There are some Walker's Orange Royals shortbread cookies in the tin."
"Yes, Nurse. Mmm! Shortbread covered with orange flavored chocolate. You do know how to calm a patient and keep him sitting down."
"I'll get some lotion and a fresh sock for your stump. There's a small rough spot inside the prosthesis that I might… It's a piece of the granular fertilizer you were spreading yesterday. Did you have irritation when you came in?"
"Just a little…"
"Remember to ALWAYS mention that to me! Little things can rapidly get out of hand. You really are wound up about this new 'flu' if it's overriding 20 years of experience with your prosthesis."
"You're right, love. Guess I'm more concerned about this than anything since 9/11. It just feels bad - with a capital B."
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"OK. Your stump's been washed, treated with an antibiotic and anti-inflammatory cream, has a fresh stump sock and I brought the soft-soled sneakers. If you pace the floor for another hour you probably won't do further damage."
"Yes, Nurse. Thank you, love. You should also have a cup of the tea before you start calling people."
"You're right, Jack. I'll go pour a cup for myself and then snitch a couple of those cookies."
"Be my guest. One more thing: the septic tank should be pumped before we go into a possible SHTF situation."
"Note on the calendar says it's due this month as it's been two years. Is it really needed that often?"
"Not for just the two of us because the tank and field are sized for twelve people. We might be OK for five years or more but it's relatively cheap insurance on it always working."
"I'll accept the 'always working' part of that and text Sean White that we want it done this month."
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Post by texican on Oct 21, 2020 21:05:50 GMT -6
PP2,
Good start. Second round of biologicals. Who would have thought.
Thanks,
Texican....
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Post by papaof2 on Oct 22, 2020 20:21:06 GMT -6
There are suspicions that several things have "gotten out of" the Chinese military's bio-warfare lab, primarily from poor sanitation practices (wild animals getting into their trash, which should be handled as high level HazMat and incinerated on-site, never tossed out where an animal has access to it). If it happened more than once previously, how likely is is to happen again - and to happen every few years until 1) they fix their procedures 2) they die off from failing to fix their procedures 3) most of the world dies off from them failing to fix their procedures
With almost no place in the world being more than 24 hours away from China by air, item 3 is possible in a matter of days/weeks. On that basis, perhaps what I write isn't PAW but horror?
The only question is: How many other people die in the process of item 3? Are there enough left in any country for 1820-level agrarian life with hand-pumped wells (or a bucket on a rope) and horse-drawn plows? Is that seed you put back actually heirloom seed?
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Post by papaof2 on Oct 24, 2020 7:58:15 GMT -6
Chapter 3
Tuesday, 11 April, 2028, 14:20
Bzzt!Bzzt!
A text from Janet.
[Mom, I'm suspicious of whatever upper respiratory infection is currently going around. I've had seven expensive birds (parrots, macaws and similar) in as patients since Thursday and they've all literally wilted and died a few hours after their runny-nosed owners brought them in and these are people who treat their birds better than most people treat their children. I've sent samples to the CDC for analysis and I'm ready to be out of here. Is there a room for me and a place for my trailer of vet instruments, meds and supplies?]
"Jack, you need to read this."
"Damn! Our little girl who played with spiders and snakes in elementary school and once wrestled an alligator on a dare during vet school has found something she's afraid of. I think that may be scarier than anything else we've seen or heard. Do we have H5N1 or H7N9 or do we now have 'Bird Flu Version 2028'?"
"You can research that and let me know. I'll tell her to come home."
"You do that. I need some online research time."
[Janet, your room awaits you. Plenty of room to park a trailer and the local area needs a vet for farm animals. Your Dad could probably build an "office" in some of the unused space in the barn.]
"Jack, the message is sent."
"That's good, love. South Korea has found a new version of 'Bird Flu' that they're describing as 'Asian Avian Influenza 2028NK' in a North Korean soldier who 'went crazy, threw down his weapons, tore off his clothes and ran to the South Korean side of the DMZ while yelling "Not back to Wuhan!" as long as he was able to speak'. He soon went into convulsions and then died of massive hemorrhages in a matter of hours. They're still analyzing his blood and tissue samples and they also sent samples to the US CDC."
"Janet might get more of an answer than she expects from the CDC if those samples are similar."
"I'll try to find a reference about incubation time for the new 'flu' and you can ask her if she was masked and gloved all the time she was near those birds."
"In progress."
[Your Dad wants to know whether you were masked and gloved all the time you were near those birds.]
Bzzt!Bzzt!
[Before the owners arrived with the birds. I took the mask and gloves off before entering my vehicle and put on a fresh mask and gloves before going back into the clinic. I've gone through lots of masks and gloves in almost five days but I think I'm clean.]
"Jack, here's her response."
"Looks like she did all she could to protect herself. The best guess from online medical professionals is ten to fourteen days incubation time so I'll want her to do fourteen days of quarantine in the bunkhouse."
"I agree. Way too much risk with an unknown agent and the Ebola-like death of that soldier. You think the Chinese might have tried to combine Bird Flu with Ebola?"
"That's almost too evil to think about, love, but I can't say that they wouldn't. If they did, there are a huge number of possible animal hosts. Birds are the most fragile of those hosts which might explain why they're dying and we have no reports of human infections in the US - yet."
"I agree with your 'yet', Jack. I'm very glad that I'm not working in the ER this year. I don't want to be the one that must tell a parent 'Hold your child because he/she only has a few hours left'."
"The true seamy side of ER nursing."
"Yes. Much worse than telling a parent about a mangled body that the orthopedic and plastic surgeons can put back together and make mostly functional and at least visually acceptable again. I'll text her about the quarantine."
[Your Dad wants you to self-quarantine in the bunkhouse for 14 days. I'll go out and stock it today so it will be ready when you get here. I'll also cook some of your favorite dishes and put them in the fridge and freezer out there for heating at your convenience for the first few days.]
Bzzt!Bzzt!
[Best offer I've had in months ;-) See you late tomorrow.]
"Message sent and responded to. She'll be here late tomorrow."
"Possibly very late, as that trip is eleven driving hours plus food, gas and rest stops. Let's make up the brown wrapping paper 'hug' cutouts we made to greet the kids when they came home from summer camp."
"Excellent idea, Mr. Wilson."
"Thank you, Mrs. Wilson."
"Do you have the building materials to put together a vet clinic here? I told her you could build an 'office' in the barn."
"I think so but I should go check. Ten minutes."
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"And?"
"I have studs, sheetrock, wiring, lighting fixtures, switches and receptacles but may need more than the two pre-hung doors. I also need her input on the sinks, drains and surgery- or birthing-related plumbing. I'll make pencil sketches of a couple of possible layouts and put them in the bunkhouse. She can make changes, snap a picture of her design and text or email the pic to me."
"That sounds like it will work. Do you have a guesstimate on when the first case of this 'flu' will be in our state?"
"No later than the middle of May and possibly much sooner."
"That was a quick answer."
"There were some time estimates in one article about that North Korean soldier. Another article mentions that some US troops were with the South Korean patrol he ran to, so we have the possibility of them not being isolated immediately and other US troops being exposed to that group while they were still 'hot' from their exposure to the NK soldier. Some of those exposed troops might be in the group that's returning home from South Korea on the 17th of this month per this item from Fox News."
"Not good news but an excellent basis for your numbers. Anything else we need to do?"
"I should check all the sections of the electric fencing. I have the fence 'beeper' from TSC so I just need to walk the fence lines. That's a multi-day project as the perimeter is about three miles plus the length of the cross fences and I've included some time for repairs in that estimate. A visual inspection can be done on the UTV but checking the electric portion requires having my hand close to the fence and I'd rather not encounter a row of barbed wire at speed as not all the sections have the barbed and electrified wires at the same levels."
"All day and you take a lunch?"
"More likely to be after breakfast through 2PM - or to a good stopping place - for two or three days and then back to other projects the remainder of those days."
"You'll be telling Sheriff Tucker and others?"
"I'll tell Paul today. The others later, after our preparations are done to ensure that our needs are covered before I start helping them and then don't have time to do all we need. I can think of at least a dozen people who've mentioned 'I need to get with you about <whatever>' but they haven't yet had adequate incentive to call me."
"I think they're about to get some incentive."
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Ring! Ring!
'This is Tucker.'
'Paul, it's Jack. I have some news you may not want to hear.'
'Related to the North Korean soldier?'
'Plus some other info no one else yet has.'
'I'm listening.'
'Stop by the house at your convenience and I'll give you paper copies.'
'Then it will be bad because you almost always run that "paperless office" that we were once promised. I'll be there after 7PM.'
'I think I'll recognize the vehicle. See you then.'
---
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Post by texican on Oct 24, 2020 20:56:23 GMT -6
Well the poop is hitting the fan.
Thanks PP2,
Texican....
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Post by papaof2 on Oct 27, 2020 19:24:28 GMT -6
Chapter 4
Tuesday, 11 April, 2028, 19:10
"The US troops in South Korea will be released when they return?"
"Paul, that's from a 'usually reliable' source on one of the military status web sites. Their record on predicting troop movements is 94% accurate on which units, when and where."
"So the troops will be released less than ten days after potentially being exposed to a serious infection with an estimated ten to fourteen day incubation period?"
"That's what the information I've been able to find says. Higher command doesn't know or doesn't care or they do know and don't want to be quarantining and caring for possibly several hundred very sick soldiers."
"That's just asking for a massive infection that goes nationwide!"
"That's what I see. Susan agrees with me and her ER experience tells her that there aren't enough beds or meds to treat possibly four hundred soldiers with what appears to be an Ebola-like infection and hospitals with that level of isolation will be overwhelmed."
"With the Ebola-like symptoms, the exposure multiplier is likely off the charts and there simply aren't enough facilities of any type to handle the number of people they will infect. You have any ideas?"
"You may not get much cooperation from the public until they see someone in the last stages of infection but I think a near-lockdown with a 'Stay home' order, mandatory mask and gloves when off your property, social distancing and a fourteen day quarantine of anyone coming in from outside, including locals returning from town."
"But…"
"Janet left the vet clinic in Fort Worth and is coming home because of the bird deaths she's seen and those involved birds 'that are treated better than most children' in her words. She's already agreed to a fourteen day quarantine when she gets here."
"If the girl who wrestled an alligator considers something dangerous I should give it serious consideration. Are masks and gloves available?"
"Limited supplies at the drugstores, home centers and warehouse stores in town, the feed and seed which is closer to us and online until word gets out and things either sell out or go up in price ten or twenty times as they did in the early days of Covid-19. I can text Janet and have her order 10,000 of each through her usual vet supply company if the County will reimburse us."
"They won't question a vet placing a common yearly order - good thinking. Let me take this info to the Chairman of the County Commission and see what he says. I'll text you his answer."
"I'll be here."
---
Tuesday, 11 April, 2028, 21:40
Bzzt! Bzzt!
[Jack, Chairman Carl Willis read it over, heard what you'd told me about Janet, polled the Commission members and the unanimous response was "How soon can those things get here?"]
{I don't think the Commission has been unanimous about anything in the years we've lived here. I'll text Janet and she can place an online order with delivery here. I'll text you the price after she places the order.]
[That unanimous vote reflects the commitment you and your family have to this community. "Those Yankees that bought the Baldwin place" rapidly became "our friends, the Wilsons". We'll be watching for the text. I'm still at Carl's house.]
Bzzt!Bzzt!
[Janet. The County needs 10,000 N95 masks and 10,000 pairs of nitrile gloves. Use your usual vet supply company. I'll cover the charge on your card and the County will reimburse me. If they can get Tamiflu, price enough to do high dose for 1100 people.]
[ I have their order form on my computer. Just need to adjust the quantities. Price in five minutes. Air or ground delivery?]
[UPS Ground is fine for now. Don't use FedEx - they're no longer reliable here.]
[Back in 5.]
---
"Really, Jack? 10,000 masks for 1100 residents?"
"That's only nine each, love. If they get three days out of a mask that's just under four weeks."
"You're betting on most people staying home and not having much contact outside the immediate family?"
"With the losses this area suffered from Covid-19, I think most people out here will be receptive to staying home and keeping their distance from other people. There were hard lessons when some of the families lost more than half their members. You only have to see one funeral procession with more hearses than mourners' cars to know that not-visible threats can be very real and very devastating. They had a number of those in 2020 and even more with the reactions to the first vaccine in 2021. Eli Lilly's vaccine worked well and with few side effects but Roche's attempt to make that vaccine created a product that was more deadly than the disease and they were bankrupt in less than a year. Now if you say 'Roche' people think you're talking about candy."
"I've seen those pictures in the memorial display at the County Library's Main Branch. On that basis, masks, gloves and quarantines will be more readily accepted here than in many other places. The locals just might survive."
"I'm hoping they do and we have enough people to still have an 1820 lifestyle, just with a few modern conveniences as long as batteries, solar panels, charge controllers, inverters and other bits of current technology survive."
"You'll still complete the deal with Bob Sanders for those two old tractors?"
"If the power goes off and gasoline isn't being pumped, how would he use the one that does run well? He's aware of that and I can pick them up any time; the small amount of junk silver is in a box with his name on it. I should do that this week. Getting both 1963 Ford tractors and the various implements will require multiple trips."
"You plan to build a wood gas generator to run each tractor?"
"I've ordered engine, transmission and brake overhaul kits for both tractors and spares of all the wheel and PTO bearings, seals, belts and so forth so I can rebuild both tractors and ideally I'll find some stainless steel tanks to build the two wood gas generators. If I don't find the stainless tanks, I have some carbon steel tanks that will work but they won't last as long. In either case, I'll have two identical running tractors and if one dies in a manner that I can't fix, that one will then be almost 100% spare parts for the other one. If things do go sideways, that little tractor will be big enough for the crops anyone out here will be raising. Remember that Bob has plows, planters, fertilizer spreaders, sickle mowers, hay balers and probably 90% of all the attachments ever made for those old machines. I've ordered tires for all the farm equipment and bearings, seals, belts and other 'wear' parts for all the implements. Having a machine shop, I can make some of the replacement parts if needed. If those machines all die, we have horses and horse-drawn farming equipment - not as fast as even a 65-year-old tractor but still useful for 1820's farming."
"An early 19th century farm with solar-powered, electrically-operated refrigeration, LED lighting and wireless security cameras. That's an interesting combination."
"Maybe I should write a story about it?"
"Not sure how many people would believe it."
"Perhaps not today but maybe in six months?"
"By then those who survive might be living it. If things progress as we think they will, there may then be no power for either online or paper publishing."
"True. Anything I print that needs to last should be printed using the inkjet printer that uses pigmented ink or the laser printer as both are semi-permanent."
"What would you be printing?"
"The journal I've started keeping and maybe local marriage, birth and death records if all County services go away. I'm keeping the journal in ink on paper but something that's 'future history' should probably be machine printed two-sided and bound so pages don't get lost and the kids who can't read cursive will be able to read it. I'll have to see how many words I'm writing each month and make the bound volumes by month, quarter or year - whatever fits into the binders I have. Transcribing those things to the computer would also be a good time to add in notes of how things that happened on a given day affected future events."
"I'd like to see the first of those journals."
"If you can decipher my cursive writing, the first volume is started in a blue wire-bound notebook on my desk."
"I have some reading to do before bedtime."
---
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Post by texican on Oct 27, 2020 22:40:20 GMT -6
pp2,
Getting supplies while the getting is still there.
Sound advice for all of us.
Texican....
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Post by papaof2 on Oct 30, 2020 18:19:30 GMT -6
Chapter 5
Wednesday, 12 April, 2028, 06:25
"Starting sausage-bean chowder this early in the day, Susan?"
"Yes, Jack, so it can get a long simmer before I let it cool and ladle it out into individual microwaveable bowls. Part of those can go in the fridge in the bunkhouse and the rest in the freezer out there. I went out before six this morning and closed the doors on both appliances and plugged them in to start getting cold so they'll be OK for use when we start taking things out there later in the day. I don't expect Janet much before dark."
"That drive is eleven hours road time plus food, gas and rest stops. I'd expect her to have her vehicle and the trailer packed today and be up and on the road before six tomorrow to beat the morning traffic there, so your timing is good. At least power is on so she can contact us by cell phone if needed."
"Why are you concerned about power?"
"If China has lost 20% of their shipping capacity from illness, how long until the infection rate is high enough to shut down utilities from lack of workers?"
"Many things will go away if half the employees are out sick. You're expecting something similar here?"
"Janet's been treating birds brought in by 'runny-nosed' owners. When was the last time you saw a large number of runny-nosed adults in the ER?"
"The 2003 'Bird Flu' epidemic… You think it's already spreading and there's no awareness at higher government levels?"
"Either no awareness or a cover-up. We'll give the CDC a few days with Janet's samples and the samples from that North Korean soldier and see what, if anything, they report. No published report from them and I'll say it's a cover-up."
"I agree. There's enough evidence to have the public aware of possible future problems - unless they're afraid of another surge of panic buying like the one that accompanied Covid-19 in 2020."
"Better some panic buying than having 326 million uninformed citizens who might be victims of a nasty and deadly new disease."
"Any ideas of possible immunity?"
"My best guess would be near zero if the Ebola component is dominant but some natural immunity and possibly some acquired immunity from the previous 'Bird Flu' outbreaks if it is dominant."
"So less than ten per cent of the current population will be in the remaining population of immune people and survivors?"
"If that high, based on Ebola's history of near 100% fatalities."
"Back to 1820 population levels?"
"Maybe an 1860 population level of 31 million instead of 2020's 326 million but an 1820 lifestyle with only human, horse and water power for most of those who survive. Cooper's steam locomotive was built for the B & O Railroad in 1830 but we don't have 1820's iron and brass foundries, water- and steam-powered machine shops or other industries so no one is likely to be building a steam locomotive any time soon. We now have many miles of railroad tracks but few working steam locomotives - mostly in museums - to put on those tracks and very few who can fire up and drive a steam train."
"Is there an alternative to diesel or steam locomotives?"
"Not with the power required to move multi-car trains. I could arrange solar power for one of the one- or two-man maintenance vehicles that currently run on a small gasoline engine or build a wood gas generator for it but those can't move tons of cargo. I don't know if one of those could move even one boxcar. For now, we're good here as we can produce our own food but we will eventually need clothing and footwear…"
"I should replace my grandmother's Singer treadle machine?"
"Didn't you find a Janome which will fit that cabinet?"
"I did, but the price was..."
"Price isn't important now. Just order it and the bobbins, needles, patterns, cloth, thread, buttons, zippers and any other notions needed to make clothing for the next 20 years."
"What about vermin?"
"I have some new 55 gallon steel barrels with banded lids. Even big rats have a hard time chewing through steel. That reminds me - we need to add pest control products to the TSC order and probably weedkiller, especially for the poison ivy."
"And the barrels can be stored in an outbuilding as long as the space is dry."
"Correct - and we have a lot of dry outbuilding space."
"I'll make that list when the chowder is on to simmer. Order from Amazon?"
"Order from whoever does NOT use FedEx, love. I'd like the items to get here in less than a month."
"Less than a month? Oh, yes - the two orders of drill batteries that FedEx Ground spent three weeks or more delivering from their depot in the city to out here. That means either a vendor using UPS/USPS or Amazon's own delivery service."
"Unless there's a fabric store in the area that might have everything you want and we could just load up the truck while we're there."
"I think there's a sale at one in the outlet mall near the interstate - maybe a 'Going out of business'? I'll check while the chowder simmers and let you know. You're OK with driving 70 miles one way?"
"I am if we get a good price on those items and we can get them home before things go sideways."
"You really are wound up about this! We go armed?"
"Absolutely."
---
"Jack, I'd forgotten how good that little restaurant's BBQ was!"
"It's small and crowded in that converted house but they do have some of the best BBQ in the area and it's on our way to the fabric store."
"That's why you brought the 12 volt fridge?"
"Yes. Ten pounds of their pulled pork and enough baked beans to go with it will just fit in the Engel and we can separate those things into meal-sized portions and freeze them. We've done it before and it keeps at least six months…"
"Only six months because we've never purchased enough to last longer than that, you goof! This bigger batch should let us get a few more months of enjoyment."
"Not with three of us enjoying it."
"You're right; Janet will be here later today. Fabric store in the next block."
"And on the right."
---
"$1900 at a fabric store, Jack?"
"So we set a new record. The Janome 712T was on sale and we got three of them at 40% off so $227.40 instead of $379 each and the truck's bed is full of Janome spare parts, scissors, patterns, bobbins, cloth of all types, needles, thread, zippers, buttons, snaps, elastic and on and on. The original outlet prices would have been over $4000 so today was a good day to buy these things. I know there's a Singer treadle cabinet in one of the outbuildings so one Janome can be for Janet's 'hope chest' and the third one is a spare."
"You do think things will be out for a while."
"The number of businesses in that outlet mall that look to be in a bad way in the current economic environment scare me - with buildings in need of paint, parking lots in need of the lines repainted, even windows that need washing - because many of them would fail in a matter of days if there is any disruption in what's left of normal commerce."
"You see this as worse than Covid-19?"
"If the symptoms of that North Korean soldier are typical, then this will be many times worse and there will be bodies on the streets and sidewalks near hospitals and doctors' offices."
"People in HazMat suits collecting and burning those bodies?"
"Either burning or pit burials, love - pit burials need fewer gallons of fuel."
"That sounds harsh, Jack, but it's also practical with how things might go. A massive die-off means there won't be enough qualified people to run the nuke plants so they'll be shut down by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the other power plants can't make up the total shortfall so brownouts or rolling blackouts as we go into summer. As fuel or people become unavailable, eventually all the fuel-burning power plants shut down for lack of fuel and the dams will shut down for lack of people, putting 99% of the country in the dark."
"Possibly 99% of the continent - parts of at least Canada are interconnected with the US power grid and there's a lot of cross-border power and commercial traffic."
"And more chances for infection to spread. Are we done shopping, Jack? I want to be home and have a cup of chamomile tea."
"I'm pulling the big trailer because the order of feed, farm tires and parts for farm equipoment is ready at TSC. We need to stop there and you look through their animal meds, feed and supplements, their weed and pest control products and their human First Aid supplies plus their heirloom seeds for anything we didn't put on the list. Meanwhile, the non-spill mug in the pocket of your door is filled with chamomile."
"And the baggie has orange-chocolate-covered shortbread cookies. OK. TSC and then home."
"We should get home at least an hour before Janet so I'll have time to locate the other treadle cabinet. I'll put it, the Janome and some tools in the bunkhouse to keep her busy for a day or two."
---
Wednesday, 12 April, 2028, 20:30
Honk! Honk!
"It's Janet, love. I'll get a mask and gloves and go see if she needs help getting anything put away."
"Me too and I'll 'rub elbows' in greeting. That's about as much contact as I want at this point."
"Hi, daughter."
"Hi, Mom, Dad. Keep your distance as I'm very uptight about this infection and I don't want you exposed. Dad, if you can get the blue duffel, I'll get the rest of it. Just leave it on the porch."
"As you wish - and don't go teary-eyed at the mention of 'Princess Bride'; the DVD is in the player."
"Best place ever when you still treat me like a kid when I need it - that's almost as good as a hug. The intercom to the house still works?"
"Yes."
"I have some things to tell you about the trip here but they can wait until I've had a shower and some 'comfort food' from what Mom put in the fridge. Maybe an hour?"
"We'll probably be here."
"I know that, you goof!"
---
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Post by texican on Oct 31, 2020 0:08:41 GMT -6
"Order from whoever does NOT use FedEx, love. I'd like the items to get here in less than a month."
Had an order that was to be delivered by Fedex a couple of years ago. Had notice that it was delivered, but was not. Got on the phone with the local eex office (72 miles away) and found out that is was delivered to an empty home behind a locked fence about eight miles to the east of us.
The wife and I went out and picked the package up.
On my next trip to the town west and north of us where the local Fedex office was, I asked the female Fedex station boss if UPS could find us why couldn't Fedex. I left her a map to our place and informed her to post it so her drivers could find our place for any more missing shipments there would be a claim filed with the shipper and my credit card company and she would be paying for the lost shipment.
No more troubles from Fedex since then.
Texican....
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Post by eyeseetwo on Oct 31, 2020 19:29:10 GMT -6
While doing Census enumerating this past few months in the hinterlands of Northern California I met a lot of Fed Ex and UPS drivers. They were having the same mapping issues as I with cruddy GPS points screwed up.
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Post by papaof2 on Oct 31, 2020 21:47:11 GMT -6
My FedEx issues have been a package "Delivered with signature" when the signature is no one I know and none of the neighbors - and then that unopened package "turned up" on my porch three weeks later - plus getting "scheduled delivery today" when I check the status and getting no delivery because of "bad weather" - it rained a little that morning, not ehough to affect traffic - and then having the delivery repeatedly delayed with just "not attempted" or the delivery date changed to the next day after 8PM - with no reason given - and the final delivery done by a guy in non-descript clothing who's driving a Penske rental truck. That really gives you confidence in the carrier.
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Post by texican on Nov 1, 2020 21:11:00 GMT -6
My FedEx issues have been a package "Delivered with signature" when the signature is no one I know and none of the neighbors - and then that unopened package "turned up" on my porch three weeks later - plus getting "scheduled delivery today" when I check the status and getting no delivery because of "bad weather" - it rained a little that morning, not ehough to affect traffic - and then having the delivery repeatedly delayed with just "not attempted" or the delivery date changed to the next day after 8PM - with no reason given - and the final delivery done by a guy in non-descript clothing who's driving a Penske rental truck. That really gives you confidence in the carrier. The main problem with Fedex is that they use a lot of contract delivery gals and guys. Prefer UPS. All of the UPS guys know us and where we live. We always say high to them and thank them. Makes a difference. Texican....
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Post by papaof2 on Nov 2, 2020 10:19:21 GMT -6
Chapter 6 Wednesday, 12 April, 2028, 21:50 Beeep! 'Wilson residence. This is your Mother speaking.' 'Thanks for the laugh, Mom. It's good to have some positive things after the calls and texts I've gotten from other vets today.' 'And your news is?' 'Expensive birds are dying across the country. Same circumstances of well-cared-for birds brought in by runny-nosed owners and the birds are dead in a matter of hours. I plan to set up an obituary watch for the owners' names I have and the ones I can get from the other vets - that watch is just an extension of some software I wrote for researching the family tree.' 'Any info on the food the birds are getting or any new cages or toys from China, Thailand, Vietnam or any other near-by country?' 'Thanks for the suggestions, Dad. I'll add those to my research and see what the other vets know. You think there's an infection that can survive on hard surfaces for the week or so an air shipment would take?' 'Better than having an infection that survives on a hard surface for eight or ten weeks at sea.' 'Ouch! That would be much worse with possibly more than half our electronics imports coming from China, plus the small engines, tools and other things at Northern Tool and Harbor Freight and the plethora of things at Wally World.' 'An infection on pet accessories might explain the birds being affected before the US troops exposed in South Korea have returned to the US and been released from their military obligation. We could also see a surge when the next model year of the Buicks and Cadillacs manufactured in China reach the US.' 'Soldiers dumped on the public with no testing and no announcements?' 'So it would appear. I'll text you a couple of sites to check for military movements.' 'OK. Wait a minute. You said Buicks and Cadillacs from China?' 'Since at least 2017.' 'I didn't know that. Something to ask one of my "I always buy American" colleagues about. I think he might be upset when he checks the factory info plate on his XT.' 'You're probably correct.' 'Janet?' 'Yes, Mom?' 'Thermos of chamomile tea and some Orange Royals shortbread cookies on the kitchen counter out there.' 'More comfort food! Excellent reason for being here. Dad, I'll check those links after I've had my calming.' 'Understood. Comfort first. We'll be here if you have questions.' 'Or if I get answers from the other vets or the obit search.' --- Wednesday, 12 April, 2028, 23:20 Beeep! 'Wilson residence. This is your Father speaking.' 'Thanks for the laugh, Dad. I have more info than I want about the bird owners.' 'And?' 'The first three owners who brought birds to me last week are in the news as "quarantined in Harris Methodist Hospital with an unknown flu-like infection". Found similar news items about some of the owners' names I got from other vets. Most of those who came in with sick birds on Thursday are now hospitalized.' 'Any info on food, new toys or the like?' 'Of those we could contact, two had new cages and three had new toys. Obviously don't have any info from those who've been hospitalized.' 'That's a possible link to the infection agent surviving on hard surfaces. Can you add that to the report you sent to the CDC?' 'I've already added it as "supporting information" using the reference number for the online report.' 'I was reasonably certain you had done so if the capability was there. No obits yet?' 'Not yet. From the description of the North Korean soldier's death, I would expect same day or next day death once symptoms are bad enough for someone to head to the ER.' 'Any cautions being put out by the public health agencies where those cases are?' 'Not as of 30 minutes ago. How long will things hold together here?' 'Not long, based on the first absenteeism in China starting the week of 26 March and their Chongqing shipping being down 20% yesterday.' 'Down 20% in two weeks? Does that put us back a century by the middle of June?' 'Possibly. Remember that the cases we know about in the US appear to be from the amount of infectious agent that survived on a hard surface for a week or more. We have possibly 400 infected soldiers returning to the US in about a week. How much more potent is their still-being-produced infectious agent versus the same agent that's been drying out for a while?' 'Dad, are you saying we'll be put back more like two centuries?' 'Strong possibility, Janet.' 'The rustling noise is me wrapping both paper "hugs" around myself. You'll still be able to farm?' 'I have two 1963 Ford tractors to pick up and rebuild, plus a lot of attachments for them. I plan to build wood gas generators for both of them. And there are always the horses to fall back on - we'd just be farming fewer acres.' 'We can protect the farm?' 'We can equip more people than we have sleeping space for.' 'You've increased the size of the armory, then?' 'Last fall. Seems it was a good time.' 'Have you heard from any of the others?' 'Not yet. Text me links to any media references about infected people and I'll put together a text for the rest of the family.' 'Will do - as soon as I get another cup of chamomile tea.' 'I'm also headed for the teapot.' "Jack, here's your cup. I heard all of that. You think the other kids might pay attention to a Fox or BBC account of quarantined bird owners in addition to the North Korean soldier and the early return of hundreds of possibly infected US troops?" "Those reports on the bird owners certainly support this being a bird-to-human transmissible disease and it's likely that researchers here will find a human-to-human component as well - possibly unintentionally. The unintentional find won't happen quickly with a ten to fourteen day incubation period." "You're thinking the US doctors and investigators may not give adequate attention to the symptoms that are Ebola-like and take proper precautions?" "Do you remember watching the video on suiting up for contact with an Ebola patient and then removing the multiple layers with some of the removal needing help from someone else to be done safely? I can see most hospitals not immediately going to that level of protection - some may not be equipped for it at all - and there are a limited number of places with facilities for an Ebola level of isolation." "You're correct, Jack. No more than one hospital in each state and most of those with at most five rooms equipped for that type isolation." "And our 400 possibly infected soldiers aren't yet on a plane headed this way," "We're looking at potentially years of SHTF aftermath?" "I think so, love. I have to wonder how many laptops, cell phones, audio/video remote controls and kids' toys might have been exposed to that agent and are in warehouses here or aboard ships or planes on their way to unsuspecting stores and customers." "Refill on your chamomile?" "Most definitely. Unfortunately, I see a much smaller population with a more primitive lifestyle but the ones who do survive will be those with the healthiest immune systems and we can hope with the strongest genes. Let's also hope that exposure to this new 'flu' doesn't affect their fertility as we'll need a larger population to produce food by older methods." "Back to small towns with an agrarian economy?" "Perhaps until iron and brass are again made by more primitive processes and steam engines are again produced as an alternative to horse and water power?" "Decades, then." "Very possible." "You can power the machine shop?" "Initially machine shop work for others will be done using gasoline or diesel they provide, probably on a two for one or three for one basis with them providing more than I burn doing their work but with a one gallon minimum. I have enough Pri-D for about 5,000 gallons of diesel so that's covered for a long time and enough Pri-G for maybe 2,000 gallons of gasoline. I should check the power requirements of all the motors used on the lathe, the milling machine, the various saws, drills and so forth plus the plasma cutter and see how much of it can be powered from the solar system on a limited basis or if I'll need to use one of the generators and plan on getting years of maintenance and replacement parts for both generators and make a small wood gas system for the gasoline welder/generator. I should make a paper note of that while I'm thinking about it and maybe get another Bobcat welder/generator to have 100% spare parts." "Also make a note about a spare for the diesel generator and whether the trucks could be run on wood gas." "Note is done. Wood gas generation works best with an engine under steady load such as a sawmill or a tractor which will be running at the best engine speed for the task at hand. I remember reading about a wood gas generator that could adapt over at least a small range for vehicular use but that could have been in some fiction* I read. I need to do some online research. I have a machine shop so I should also research building a steam engine or converting small gasoline engines to run on steam - there are likely to be a lot of unused lawnmowers. I know I saw that conversion somewhere online and that's the type of thing where I would have saved the article or at least the link so I also need to search the laptop for things about 'steam'." --- * "An Accidental Family" www.amazon.com/dp/B01LVU5ILA
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Post by papaof2 on Nov 5, 2020 12:39:22 GMT -6
Chapter 7
Thursday, 13 April, 2028, 06:30
Beeep!
'Wilson residence. This is your Father speaking.'
'Thanks for the verbal hug, Dad. The 6AM news has the three bird owners who were hospitalized yesterday headed for autopsy to determine why they bled out so quickly. The CDC is now involved because seven more bird owners were admitted to hospitals in four states overnight with similar symptoms.'
'This is getting worse very quickly and the sudden deaths make it very similar to the death of that North Korean soldier. We may have an epidemic before the troops get here from South Korea.'
'I agree. Will the masks, gloves and Tamiflu order get here before things shut down?'
'Maybe, so see if you can get them moved to Next Day Air.'
'I'm calling the vendor now.'
---
"We'll have everything else in time, Jack?"
"If what's currently in transit makes it here as scheduled, Susan. While I wait to hear back from Janet on the shipping change, I need to get the cab-over diesel tractor connected to the 40 foot low-boy trailer and head over to Bob Sanders' place to start loading things."
"You need another body?"
"Can't hurt to have another set of eyes when we're using the winch or the small crane on the side of that trailer. I'll connect the phone in the bunkhouse to our main line and tell Janet where we'll be and about how long so she can answer any calls. The phone out there has a Caller ID display."
"I should pack a lunch?"
"At least the water jug and some snacks. We might be back here in time for lunch on the second trip and I think we can get everything in three trips."
"Will do. You tell Janet."
"Will do."
Beeep!
'Wilson bunkhouse. This is your daughter speaking.'
'Good one, daughter. Your Mom and I are headed to Bob Sanders' place to load and haul some old tractors and farming implements. The main phone number is active on the phone out there. We'll probably be making three trips and may have lunch here after trip two.'
'Understood. The Janome is mine?'
'For your 'hope chest'. If you need sewing supplies, ask your Mom and she can give you a copy of the list of things in banded-lid barrels in the old smokehouse.'
'You bought out Hobby Lobby?'
'Just brought a truckload home from their going-out-of-business sale.'
'Thank you for the machine. I hope Mom has some denim in those barrels as I need farm work clothes.'
'She's put a copy of the list on the back porch. Be armed when you're outside. We're headed out the door right now.'
'Have the six round .380 auto on my belt. The bigger Glocks get in the way when you're doing farm work.'
'Good start. See you in a few hours.'
'Love you, Dad.'
'Love you, too.'
"Your 12 gauge, Jack. I have my 20. Both loaded with 00 and more in the sleeves on the stocks."
"Thank you, love. I'll let Bob know we're coming and then it's us to the raggedy old GM cab-over."
---
"You're good at backing that trailer, Jack."
"Just takes practice, Bob."
"Then you've practiced many more times than I have. You plan to drive the tractor that runs onto the trailer and then winch up the other things?"
"Winch for the other tractor. The side crane can handle two tons so it should be OK for most of the other things. I sketched out a loading plan to get everything moved in three trips. Have a look."
"That covers everything but the spare parts. I'm guessing that'd be close to a full bed on your pickup."
"Jack, I'll drive your pickup on the next trip here and you can use the crane for the heavier boxes and crates."
"Your wife may be as smart as you are, Jack."
"Thanks, Bob. She's always a big help with the things I do."
"We need jumper cables for the first tractor, Bob?"
"Yes, Ma'am. It doesn't get used enough to keep the battery up."
---
"It's 10:15, Jack. We have enough time to get the next load at Bob's place and be back here for a late lunch. You drive the semi and I'll drive your pickup."
"Lead on, love. You know where the low-boy will be, so park where you can easily back up to the crane."
"Will do."
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"You really got a load on that trailer this time, Jack!"
"Based on the research I did, the space is full but the load is less than eight tons. Some of the harvesting equipment has a lot of empty space in its footprint."
"Looking at it that way, you're right about the weight. I need to learn to think about 'empty space' when I'm moving and storing things."
"Helps to have an 'engineer's eye' for structure where you see the outside and the inside of things."
"I'm sure it does. I heard about a new 'flu' on the early news today. You know anything about it?"
"There have been reports that a new 'flu' broke out in China the last week of March, a North Korean soldier died with odd symptoms in the DMZ this week and there have been a number of deaths of exotic birds and their owners in the US. It seems there haven't been enough pieces put together yet for any official announcement about this new flu in the US but we're concerned the infection agent - virus, bacteria or whatever - may be able to survive long periods on a hard surface. Janet came home from her vet job and is quarantining in our bunkhouse for two weeks. She did some research and owners who brought their birds to her last Thursday were hospitalized yesterday and died overnight. They are scheduled for autopsy today. Some of those people had gotten new cages or new toys for their birds and most of those are made in China. We're concerned that anything made in China might carry the infection - laptop computers, cell phones, kids' toys and who knows what else."
"Dead in a few days? That is nasty stuff. You think it could affect the entire country?"
"There was an announcement that some Chinese shipping was down 20% this week."
"In two weeks since it started?"
"Correct."
"That kind of sickness spread here will affect fuel availability. How you gonna fuel these old tractors?"
"Wood gas generators. There was a little interest in wood gas here in the US during WWII when fuel was rationed. There are now much better materials for filtering the wood gas so the engines might last as long as one running on LP or natural gas. I think it's worth trying and we have a good stand of trees to work with."
"Will it work with my big Deere?"
"That's a diesel, isn't it?"
"Yes. What you're doing only works with gasoline engines?"
"Correct."
"And probably only the smaller ones?"
"I have no information on using wood gas for engines bigger than the original 95HP 239 cubic inch Ford flathead V8. I'm sure the formulas could be extended for something bigger but I don't know if economies of scale apply or if the wood gas generator itself would be so big and heavy as to be unworkable. I can see if there's info on bigger engines but that's time I won't be working on getting us ready for what looks like an SHTF event so it will cost you."
"I have gasoline, diesel, kerosene, food - home canned plus staples and LTS, heirloom seed, several types of fertilizer, chickens, rabbits and junk silver. See what you can find out and let me know what I owe you for research. If a wood gas gen is workable on a bigger engine, work up a price to build me one for the Case and one for the Farmall; both of them are about the same age as the Fords."
"Verify the year and fuel on the Case as I don't think they built many gas engines after 1960. Farmall had a 3.6 liter gas engine - that's about 220 cubic inches, so similar in size to the Ford flathead V8 - as late as 1963 so that one might work."
"I'll check and text the info. Let me know what you can do."
"Will do."
---
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Post by texican on Nov 5, 2020 14:53:58 GMT -6
pp2,
Things will soon start falling apart.
Do you have plans on a wood gas generator?
Thanks,
Texican....
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Post by papaof2 on Nov 5, 2020 16:56:53 GMT -6
Tex, There's an online vendor that sells a ready-to-use system for $1395: www.tacticalwoodgas.com/online-store/Wood-Gasifiers-c32962317The unit is adequate for powering their 800 to 3000 watt generators so probably adequate for most small engines. If you want to run a tractor, you'll need something bigger which is one reason for Jack's comments about the possible size of the wood gas gen - no problem to mount it in the bed of a pickup but no place to put it on your Honda Hybrid vehicle although there were a few hung on the back of pre-WWII sedans... I have a background search running on my laptop for "wood*gas" to find any references I have saved - I'm sure I saved some but I'm not sure where: having a terrabyte of disk storage maens there are MANY places to search. I'm almost positive I either saved the article or the links to some older (WWII) gasifier projects when I mentioned the idea in another story. I know there are some examples on YouTube so you can search there for "woodgas" or "wood gas" or "gasifier" as you might find things under any of those. Or just search the internet for "wood gasifier" and see what you find.
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Post by sniper69 on Nov 5, 2020 17:08:47 GMT -6
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Post by papaof2 on Nov 5, 2020 17:22:29 GMT -6
Good list. Thanks.
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