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Post by steamroller on Sept 13, 2021 13:26:24 GMT -6
^^^^ Ditto
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Post by udwe on Sept 13, 2021 13:40:54 GMT -6
Awesome as usual. This is such a great story!
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Post by ncsfsgm on Sept 13, 2021 15:15:17 GMT -6
When Cal and Ben got back, Cal called Miguel.
"Miguel, what are you going to do with that 1967 Oldsmobile Toronado you've been working on?"
"Sell it. It was a quick project car. We didn't have to do much to it."
"What are you asking for it?"
"Fifteen."
"I want you to sell it to Ben Cross for $500. I'll pay the difference."
"Sure, No problem. I'll give him a call."
"Thanks Miguel."
Cal knew why Ben was hesitant about asking Tanya for a date. He didn't have his own transportation.
Cal went into the house to a screaming Brigid running to him. He scooped her up and blew a big raspberry on her neck. She giggled and scrunched her shoulders up. Putting her down, Cal gave Siobhan a hug.
"Did you find what you wanted?" Siobhan asked.
"I did, and it is in pretty good shape. They locked it away in the late 40's and it has been there since. We're flying back out next week to get it ready to ship back here."
"Don't forget about the cookout tomorrow."
"I haven't. I'll put the Elk steaks in marinade in the morning. Everyone still coming?"
"Everyone say's they'll be here."
Cal helped Siobhan finish preparing dinner and got the kids washed up. After dinner the sat with the kids and read stories to them until it was time for them to get their baths and go to bed.
The next morning Cal was up early and started the coffee. He listened to the news a few minutes before turning it off and putting some Bluegrass music on. Grabbing a bus pan, he went to the Shelter refrigerator and got the Elk steaks and brought them back to the kitchen. The marinade was prepared the marinade and transferred the steaks and the marinade to a 2-gallon ZipLock bag and laid it in the bus pan. He sat back down and was drinking a cup of coffee until Siobhan came in.
After kissing him on the cheek, she poured herself a cup of coffee.
"What time is everyone getting here?" Cal asked.
"They'll be here at one."
"Humph. I need to go get a bag of Ben's charcoal."
"I had Joshua drop one off yesterday."
"Did you leave me anything to do?"
"You are the Man. You're just supposed to burn the meat."
"I'll remind you of that later, probably quite a few times." Cal grinned.
At 12:00, Cal went out and lit the charcoal. He put some applewood chips in water to soak and went to get the steaks out of the marinade and patting them dry with paper towels. After sprinkling a bit of kosher salt and fresh ground pepper on them he laid them on a large platter and covered the platter with plastic wrap. Cal cleaned everything up and made sure there was wine and ale chilling. He was putting the bus pan back in the pantry when he heard the scream. Banging his arm on the pantry door running to the Great Room, Cal burst in to the room to see Siobhan hugging Becky, and Craig looking sheepishly on.
"What's wrong?"
Becky turned to her father and lifted her left hand, showing him her diamond.
Cal grinned and walked over and hugged Becky, then shook hands with Craig.
"Well, at least I won't have to guess where you're sleeping at night."
"Cal!"
"What? I seem to remember someone sticking her head around my door before I married her."
Becky and Craig grinned at a blushing Siobhan.
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Post by ncsfsgm on Sept 13, 2021 15:16:15 GMT -6
Odell stared as the dust speckled sunlight beamed through the doors and spotlighted the steam engine. He was amazed at the sight of this piece of history. Steam powered boats and trains were iconic symbols of America's greatness but steam shovels, like this, had tamed some of America's toughest terrain, dug waterways and reservoirs and mined the country's riches.
"Let's do this boys!" Joshua said.
Cal was guiding Peterbilt Big Rig Tow Truck driver as he backed the truck to the barn doors. Odell and Ben took the ends of the chains from the truck operator and connected them to the 18-ton heirloom of the Jones family. Deftly, the operator manipulated his controls, and slowly brought the steam shovel out, its tracks turning, to be fully bathed in sunlight, well away from the home it had rested in for 60+ years.
Odell walked around inside the building and looked at the wrenches lining the wall and found the correct size wrench for the nuts he had to remove and a 5-foot length of pipe he could use for a cheater bar. Selecting his tools, Odell carried them back out as the crane was moved into position. Joshua selected points to connect the straps to the boom for the crane to hold it in position so the bolts could be removed safely. The crane put just enough tension on the cable to hold the boom in place. Odell moved forward and selected the first bolt he would tackle. First, spraying silicon lubricant on the exposed bolt shafts, Odell fitted the huge box end spud wrench on the first nut and slid the pipe over the wrench shaft and slowly applied his strength to the pipe end. With a slight screech, the nut gave way and begin began to turn. When the nut threads met the silicon, Odell was able to spin it the rest of the way off using his hand.
Grinning, Odell looked at the others. "This isn't going to be as bad as that combine!"
While Odell and Ben were working on the rusty nuts, Joshua and Cal were using a sledge hammer to remove the bucket's connecting pin. When it was out, the tow truck operator used his boom to lift the bucket to the side. Soon all the nuts were free and the boom assembly was removed from the body of the steam shovel. The rusty cable was cut at the reel with the cutting torch and pulled away. It was going to be replaced with new cable anyway. When the boom assembly was disassembled further, the low-boy equipment trailer was backed in and positioned. The trailer had it's own winch, so the hook was attached to the shovel and slowly pulled onto the trailer. Once it was where the driver wanted it positioned, Odell and Ben climbed up on the trailer and hand-spun the nuts back on the bolts. The crane lifted the disassembled boom pieces and bucket onto the trailer and the men began strapping everything down. The truck driver handed Odell a 4-foot length of 2 x 4 and the end of a measuring tape for Odell to climb back up on the trailer and on to the roof of the shovel's cab. Laying the 2 x 4 in the roof and kneeling on it, Odell held the end of the tape measure to the bottom of the board and the driver called out the measurement.
"Twelve feet, eight and three-quarters inches!"
The driver smiled at Cal. Fit's regular load limits. I can take this baby right through!"
Cal frowned. "That's got to be at least a 14 hour drive."
"Probably more near 16 hours. But I'm stopping to pick my son up on the way out of town. We'll swap off the driving."
"Well, when you get to our Ranch, be prepared to rest overnight, eat a big steak and down a few of your favorite beverages." Cal said.
"Lookin' forward to it!" The driver said.
Joshua, Ben and Odell had been loading the tools into two large wooden crates strapped down at the front of the trailer. Once the building had been cleared of usable tools, the top of the crates were secured.
Cal turned to the driver, who had just finished checking the load. "By the way, my name is Cal Coleman, and you can call me Cal."
"Bill Jennings." The driver said, shaking Cal's hand.
"Bill, here are the directions. When you get near, call this number and someone will be there to get you through the gate. Drive safe."
Cal shook Bill's hand again and soon, with a hiss of the air brakes, the truck slowly moved down the farm road.
Cal walked over to the crane operator, handed him a one hundred doll bill as a tip, shook his hand and thanked him for his help. He did the same with the tow truck operator and soon all that was left was the retreating noises of the vehicles, slowly traveling out to the main road.
The four men closed and secured the equipment barn door. They stood there in front of the barn and gazed about.
"The end of an era, the beginning of new possibilities." Ben said softly.
The four men nodded to each other and got into their rental vehicle.
They stopped by Mr. Jones' house and Cal got out with a aluminum foam-filled case, three tubes of 1-ounce Gold Eagles nestled inside. Mr. Jones came out on the porch.
"Mr. Jones, we're done and we closed and secured the doors on the equipment barn.
'Thank you."
Cal flipped the latches on the case and opened it, showing Mr. Jones the gold.
Mr. Jones smiled. "They look mighty pretty. Take a seat."
Cal sat down on a bench in front of the kitchen window, Mr. jones in a worn rocking chair.
"Cal, I've lived here for 85 years. Since my nephew died in the war in sixty-six, ain't no one showed me the respect you have. No one has shown the love, respect and understanding of the old ways as you have. When you first looked at that old shovel, I didn't see the gleam of greed in your eyes. I could see a future for that old shovel in working to make things better. I done told you I was still spending the money my Grandaddy made on that coal mine. I've got three times the number of gold coins that are in that case, and mine are a bit older. I don't have much longer in this world and no relatives to will it to. What I have is going to that children's hospital up over in Memphis. You close up that case and take that money back with you and use that money to make things a little better."
Cal was stunned. "Mr. Jones, Thank you. I have been doing just what you said. We have several charities we donate to, give out food when people are hungry, and we also donate a significant amount of money to Saint Jude's Children's Research Hospital."
"Well Cal, I reckon there's some hope in this world. Some of us ain't all died out. Go on now, You've got things to do."
Cal latched the case, shook Mr. Jones' hand and stepped off the porch. Getting into the vehicle, he had only one thing to say….
"Drive."
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Post by ncsfsgm on Sept 13, 2021 15:20:34 GMT -6
Cal stood by the forge building as Bill drove the big rig up with Joshua guided him to where they wanted to off-load the boxes and the steam shovel. Bill jumped down out of the truck and walked over to Cal.
"Good trip?" Cal asked, shaking Bill's outstretched hand.
"Pretty easy. How do you want to do this?"
"We'll use the forklift to take the tool boxes and the boom parts off. We'll hook the winch cable off the Unimog to the cab body and as you slowly release your winch line, we can ease her off."
"Sounds good."
Gary brought the big forklift and took off the boom parts, bucket and the boxes and set them off to the side. Bill hooked up the winch cable to the shovel body and belayed the body as Ben slowly winched the load off. Once the shovel was on the ground the winch lines were disconnected and reeled in.
"That's a wrap!" Cal said. "What about a cold one?"
"Sounds good to me!" Bill said.
"Bill, you can leave your truck parked here. Grab you bags and I'll take you up to the guesthouse.
Cal led Bill and his son Dan up to the guesthouse to drop their bags off and took to them to the house and out onto the patio. Reaching into the small fridge, he drew out three Smithwick's. Popping the caps off, Cal carried them over the table. They toasted and drew deeply on the bottles.
It's good to get out on a little road trip." Bill said.
"We get our pleasures where we can in times like these." Cal said. Bill sat there, wiping his finger slowly around the wet ring left by the bottle on the table.
"Something's not right with this country. I can feel it, I can smell it in the air." He said.
Cal nodded. "I feel there is a slow movement to Marxism. It has been going on for a long time. That and the greed of the politicians for power increases every day.
"Yeah," Bill said, "I'm constantly seeing that with these idiotic one-size-fits-all laws they pass and they persecuted anyone who disagrees."
"Bill, It's not that our Administrations have been bullying and persecuting us for the last few years. They have been doing so for a hundred years. And every year they have been turning the screw a little tighter, cutting one more slice off the ever shortening salami, inching up the heat on the pot of water. Something's got to give."
Cal, my people have lived in Missouri since the early 1800's. They farmed and raised families and had no problems until the pro-slavery factions started acting up. My family never owned one slave, but if you didn't support them, you were no better than a Jayhawker. My ancestors caught hell from both sides. Caught in the middle, they were persecuted by both pro and anti-slavery ruffians. They fought back and held their ground. After the war, the Jayhawker Army units persecuted them as if they had been part of the pro-slavery element just because they were Missourians. Part of the governments 'one-size-fits-all' solution to the secessionists, and they wrapped everyone in the same blanket. Naw, I don't trust the politicians to do the right thing anytime."
"Bill, do you drive trucks for a living?" Cal asked.
"Naw. I occasionally do a job like this for Charlie Rivers. Day to day, I'm a General Contractor. Since Dan got out of the Army, he's been working with me. He's got his residential electrician's license and we've been doing pretty good."
Cal reached and massaged his ear lobe. Andy, seeing this, turned up his bottle and drain the three swallows left in it.
"Gentlemen, this has been nice, but I have some paperwork to do. Dan, Bill, it's good to meet you."
"Same here Andy."
Andy got up and left.
"Pop's wanting to buy a place back in the hills and hunker down. The cities are bad enough and we aren't far away from Springfield for my liking. Dan said.
"Well, that's why I've developed this place." Cal said. "We're a little isolated out here and prepared for when the SHTF."
"Well, you've got a nice place here to do it. What do you grow here? I saw some greenhouses over the way."
"Oh, we raise cattle, horses, we grow produce crops in a couple fields and in greenhouses. We mainly raise the food to feed our people be we also sell some and give away some to the food bank. We're pretty self-sufficient. Our power comes from solar and wind and we have some gas wells on the property."
"That's good, that's good." Bill said.
Cal got up and started the charcoal in the grill and came back.
"Another ale?" Cal asked.
"Don't mind if I do." Bill said.
Cal got three more ales and passed them out.
"You still married, Bill?"
"Naw, wife passed about four years ago."
"Sorry to hear that, Bill."
"Yeah, but he has Maude Baker lookin' sidewise at him."
"Shut your mouth, boy." I'd have to buy another fly swatter to even talk to her."
Dan grabbed his sides and started laughing.
Cal's phone buzzed. He took it out and looked at the text message.
"Clear on both."
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Post by gipsy on Sept 13, 2021 20:05:20 GMT -6
More able bodies to help build more houses
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Post by udwe on Sept 13, 2021 20:46:48 GMT -6
Getting better & better. Thanks so much!
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Post by paulk on Sept 14, 2021 8:03:41 GMT -6
Love these people!
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Post by ncsfsgm on Sept 15, 2021 4:17:42 GMT -6
Cal went inside and got four baking potatoes that Siobhan had prepared, put them on the grill and closed the cover.
Bill looked around the patio and asked, "Cal, how in the dickens were you able to do all this?"
"Bill, sometimes a I have to sit back and ask myself the same thing. I've had a chain of events that has propelled from one thing to another. Gathering the right people, like yourself, has helped a great deal also. When it comes down to it, the people in our little community aren't blood related, but we take care of each other. One transgression to one, is a transgression against us all…as if we were blood related. Doesn't make any difference to their race, creed, nor religion. We are One. I'd like you and Dan to join us in our community.
Bill looked over to Dan, then back to Cal.
"Cal, I've never been to jail, but I've been known to make a little 'shine now and again."
"Then you need to talk to Darryl. He makes some stuff that will take the rust off that old steam shovel."
"If you don't mind, I'd like to talk to Dan tonight over this."
"That's fine Bill."
Siobhan came out with three Porterhouse steaks and a filet."
"Are you ready to burn the meat?" Siobhan grinned.
"Bill, Dan, this is my wife, Siobhan."
The two men jumped to their feet.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Ma'am," Bill said.
Siobhan set the tray of steaks down and shook their hands.
"Okay Chef, burn the steaks! Everything else is ready. Did you check the potatoes?"
"They should be ready, by the time the steaks are. I nuked them a bit."
"I'll check them."
After they finished eating in the shade on the patio, Bill sighed.
"I can't remember the last time I ate a Porterhouse so good. Was that some of your beef?"
"Yep. No artificial hormones, just pure Colorado beef."
Dan groaned. "That was good!"
Gale had gone down to the General Store to get a quart of Strawberry Ice Cream. Sometimes that was the best "pick-me-up" and she liked to keep it on hand. She was throwing the paper bag in the recycle bin when she glanced out the window and saw Chase laying on one of the chaise lounges placed under the pergola over on the apartment building patio, reading a book. She watched a second and smile. Snapping back to what she was doing she had to pause to remember what she was going to do next.
Shaking her head, she remembered she was going to go take the finished towels out of the washing machine and put them into the dryer. She set and started the dryer and added the sheets to the washer. Returning to the kitchen, Gale made a wine spritzer to sip while she read her book. Before she sat down, she looked out of the window again. Chase still lay on the lounge, head now tilted slightly to the side, book lying loosely on his lap.
Fifty minutes later her reading was interrupted by the buzzing of the dryer timer. Gale put her book down and went to the laundry room and began folding the towels. After putting them away, she took her empty glass and sat it in the kitchen sink. Looking out the window again, she saw Chase still on the lounge, head slightly tilted to the right. Gale watched for a few seconds, then slipped out the side door and walked over to the patio. Her rubber soled shoes barely made a sound as she walked across the cobblestones.
Chase awoke with a gentle touch from Gale. She had a concerned look on her face and asked, "Are you okay?"
He smiled weakly and said "Yes, why shouldn't I be OK?"
She smiled at him and said, "You were laying here for so long I got concerned."
"It was so nice just laying here in the quiet. I was reading for a while and dozed off."
"That was more than a doze buster. It was if you were exhausted."
Chase took the book off his lap and laid it on the little table beside the chaise lounge and took her hand, gently pulling him toward him. Gale let him pull her down next to him and she snuggled her head onto his shoulder. They lay there quietly and listened to the late afternoon sounds.
Cal looked at the patio door and nodded to Siobhan. She soon stepped out with a tray that had a ice bucket, three low ball glasses and a bottle of Rye.
"I occasionally like to have a little Rye to help with digestion. Help yourself gentlemen."
Cal dropped two ice cubes into a glass and poured a couple of ounces of Rye whiskey into it.
Bill and Dan made their drinks and sat back down.
"What are you going to do with that old steam shovel?" Dan asked.
"We may have to put it to work someday. It is a backup right now. As I mentioned before, I, and the people here, are always looking for ways to make this easier if times got really bad. I have a diesel excavator right now. How good would it be if I couldn't get fuel for it? That steam shovel doesn't use diesel. I have a deposit of natural coke here on the Ranch and have been burning it in our outdoor furnaces. The steam shovel will burn coke in its firebox. We do have a means to make biodiesel but I like backups. Most of the vehicles here are either diesel or electric. As it is right now, just about all the smaller vehicles, to include pickup trucks, are electric."
"You really are self-sufficient." Bill said, nodding.
"Yes." Cal said. "We could live months, even years without any outside support or contact."
Cal let them sit and think on that a bit.
"Gale stirred and said, "I've got sheets I need to put in the dryer."
Gale lifted herself up, but Chase wrapped his arm around her waist, keeping her from getting up.
"Need some help making the bed?" Chase asked.
Gale looked into his eyes. "I'm afraid if you got me near that bed we wouldn't be getting the sheets smoothed."
"And the downside to that is...?"
"Chase, I'm not just an occasional lay. I'm not sure how you feel about me."
"No…no, I don't think of you that way." Chase said, as her drew her back down and kissed her. Gale was far from reticent….she kissed him right back.
"What do you think of coming out here and working for me?" Cal asked.
Both men's heads quickly looked at Cal.
"What jobs would we have? We're not much at raising cattle or working the fields." Bill asked.
"You have skills we can use. I've got an electrician, but he is more specialized at maintaining the power distribution system. We're building something here all the time. It requires someone to ramrod the operation. Both of you would fit in. We provide housing at $100 a month, including utilities. I'll pay you a fair wage and the food is cheaper than anywhere else you'll find. Also, considering the situation in the country today, you'd fair better here than hunkered down back in the Ozarks."
"Me and Dan need to talk this over. Can we give you an answer in the morning?"
"Sure, no rush. Now, let's enjoy this whiskey."
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Post by ncsfsgm on Sept 15, 2021 4:22:56 GMT -6
They broke the kiss and Gale opened her eyes. Don't move! I'LL go and put the sheets in the dryer. You stay here and relax.
Chase grinned as she scurried to her house. He had made it a policy never to argue with someone telling him to relax while they work.
Cal helped Siobhan to fix breakfast then went down to the guesthouse to call Bill and Dan to breakfast. They were coming out with their overnight bags in their hands as he reached the steps.
"Come on and get you some breakfast before you hit the road." Cal said.
They followed Cal to the house and sat their bags on the porch. Cal led them to the dining room and Siobhan and Alice brought in a coffee carafe, plates of bacon, country ham, fried eggs, biscuits and a bowl of chipped beef gravy.
The two men looked wide-eyed at the food.
"Cal, if we hadn't already decided to accept your job offer, this would have won me over in a heartbeat." Bill said.
"Well, dig in! Food's going to get cold!" Cal said, grinning.
The men dug in and the silence was only occasionally broken by the sipping of coffee and forks being dragged across their plates. Finally, the two laid their forks and knives down, and added a little more coffee to their cups.
"Dan, you're going to have to drive that first stretch. I'm going to have to take a nap after that."
"Got it Pops!" Dan grinned.
"Cal, we really appreciate the offer. It's going to take us a week or two to take care of things back at Mountain Grove, but I'll keep you updated."
"That's fine Bill. I'm looking forward to having you two around."
They got up from the table and Cal walked them down to their truck. Dan checked the fluids and Cal directed him over to the fuel station and had them top off their saddle tanks. Once the tanks were filled, Cal shook their hands and handed each two one hundred dollar bills. Cal watched the two grinning men as they pulled out to the gate.
Walking back to the house, Cal searched through his mind trying to find another notch that needed to be filled.
The kids were just getting up when Cal walked back into the house. Siobhan told him to let them finish waking up and she'd fix them breakfast. With nothing else to do before getting ready for Church, Cal began to put together pancake mix.
"Cal, would you look at this!" Joshua said.
Cal walked over to the table and there was a large pad of paper laying there. The first sheet was a rough drawing of the steam shovel. Each consecutive sheet contained the drawing of a part and it's location as it was taken off the shovel.
"Ben do this?" Cal asked.
"No! Odell!" Joshua said excitedly.
"Where is Odell?"
"He and Ben went into town to get more penetrating oil."
"That young man has a head on his shoulders." Cal said.
"Cal, a lot of people look at Odell like some big dumb white boy, but he's smart. He thinks about things. When he's taking the shovel apart, he envisions how that particular part functions in the system and locks it in his mind."
"Ben, if there are books or whatever he can use, order them and pay for them with the card I gave you. Tell Ben to do an internet search and see what he can find. We just might have our steam power expert in residence."
Odell and Ben went over to the Production House and got the boiler on the steam engine fired up. Dawn and some of the volunteer women were already there dicing green, red and yellow bell peppers for freeze drying. From past experience, Dawn knew that if the peppers were flash-frozen first, the process of freeze drying didn't take so long. When they had 12 trays of diced peppers ready, they were flash frozen and placed in the freeze dryers. Dawn asked they guys if they could run the engine for the next six hours so they could also use the steam-powered generator to run the freeze dryers, they assured her they could, deciding they would keep one hour watches and switch off.
Joshua was taking each part that Ben and Odell had taken off the steam shove so far and sand blasted the old rust and grime off of it. Each part was inspected for cracks, and a couple of bracket plates did needed to be welded. He welded them and cleaned up the weld with a rotary grinder. Joshua went over to check the part in Odell's pad and marveled at how accurately he had drawn it. Laying the piece back where he got it from the layout on the floor, he began working on another part.
Bill and Becky looked over the new printer and finishing oven.
"How big of an 'object' can we make with this thing?" Bill asked.
"DUH! Billy, it's 5 x 5 x 20 feet. Take a wild ass guess." Becky said, poking Billy in the ribs.
"I mean, could we cure a wing in …" Bill stopped before he finished. Of course they could.
""What about molds?"
"Billy, use you CNC. You can make what you want."
"Can I call on you if we hit a stumbling block?"
"Of course you can. However, my consulting fees are considered pretty steep. Make sure you go precisely by the formula when you're mixing the polymers or you'll end up with something like Silly String."
"In order to get the sensors and cameras mounted, we need to make it into two parts. Do you have any ideas on how we can do that?"
"Billy, I'm not an aircraft designer, but if it was me, I would just put in access covers and hinge everything. Oh! I forgot to give you this."
Becky went over next to the door and picked up a Pelican case.
"This is a sonic/UV welder. Don't point it at people. It works on the same principal as the oven. If you have to attach something or repair a section, this will weld a new piece in, as long as it’s a partially cured repair piece."
"Okay. Thanks." Bill stood there examining the device as Becky walked away.
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Post by ncsfsgm on Sept 15, 2021 4:35:57 GMT -6
"Cal, there's something burning out here to our northwest…about 280 degrees."
"Okay Jerry, we'll check it out."
Cal called Adam and asked him to send a drone out that way. Ten minutes later Cal got a call back.
"Cal, you'd better send someone out. There's a burning van out off 4 2/10 Road. It's just smoldering now. I don't think you need any fire equipment."
"Roger."
Cal drove up to the airfield and Craig's helicopter was sitting out on the apron. Craig had a door open doing something.
"Craig, this thing ready to fly?"
"Sure, what's up?"
"We need to take a look at a burning vehicle northwest of Shire Hill off 4 2/10 Rd.
"Let's go!"
Craig took the straps off the rotor blade and hopped in, quickly flipping switches. The turbines whined and in no time they lifted off. Craig followed the road to Shire Hill until they had the ranch in sight then turned northwest, keeping 4 2/10 Road in sight until they found the remnants of a smoldering vehicle. Craig landed on the road and looked around. There were tire tracks going up an old trail, with spinning tracks coming out. Cal stayed off the trail as not to disturb the tracks. He had a bad feeling.
Approaching the vehicle…it appeared to be an 80's style Dodge panel van. He watched where he was stepping and went around to the rear doors to see if he could see through the windows. Cal's stomach immediately went queasy. There were burned bodies inside.
Cal backed away, carefully watching where he was stepping and went back to the helicopter. "Get this thing in the air so we can contact the Sheriff's Office. "
Craig lifted the helicopter up to 2000 feet and Cal got the Sheriff's Office Dispatch Center on the radio and gave them a brief report with the coordinates. Craig sat the bird back down off the road.
"Do you have any marking panels?"
"Yeah, they're in the emergency kit." Craig answered.
They got the panels out and laid them out across the road 100 meters before the site.
"What now?" Craig asked.
"We wait."
Forty minutes later a convoy consisting of three County Sheriff's cars, including Sheriff Earl Gilmore, and an ambulance came up the road and stopped at the panels, where Cal and Craig were waiting.
"What do you have Cal?"
"An early model Dodge van, burned, with bodies inside. Jerry spotted the smoke when he went to the barns early this morning."
Earl dispatched the evidence team and they started marking the area with crime scene tape and putting up portable barricades on the road.
"That road go anywhere?" Earl asked Cal.
"No. It runs a few miles into Utah and dead ends at some fields along the river. I looked and there is no recent vehicle traffic on the other side of the crime scene going in that direction."
"I'm going to have to notify Homeland Security on this. I saw a report on something like this a while back. It looks like cartel business."
"You need us any more Earl?"
"Just give your statements to Will. If anything comes up we'll contact you."
Cal and Craig gave their statements and flew back to the Ranch. Cal immediately went to the Facility to talk to Andy. When he told him what had transpired that morning, Andy called Jeannie in and told her what to look for. Jeannie gave him a faux salute and left the room.
"Andy, see what we can do." Cal said, the tops of his ears burning red.
Cal left the Facility building and drove over to the range complex. Jim had the new trainees going through Hogan's Alley. They weren't perfect, but they were doing pretty good. Call walked over to Jim at the control station.
"What do you think, Jim?"
"They're doing pretty good. That Manuel can knock the crap flakes off a gnat's ass at 50 meters. For previous non-shooters, they are, as a group, pretty damn good."
Cal nodded. "No bad habits to break."
Cal watched a while longer and decided to go see what Joshua and the guys were up to. When he parked by the forge building, the noticed they had pulled the tracks off the shovel body.
"Hey Cal!" Odell called out.
"These tracks going to work?" Cal asked.
"Cal, If you want a museum piece, then yeah, they will work. But if you expect to put this thing to work sometime, then you'd better replace the tracks. They don't make those bushings anymore."
"Can you find tracks that will fit it?"
Odell smiled. "Already have. Bell Trucks has a track we can use. I'll need to change out the sprocket and the idler wheels though."
"Do it."
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Post by gipsy on Sept 15, 2021 7:19:50 GMT -6
Thanks for the update.
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Post by udwe on Sept 15, 2021 21:20:01 GMT -6
Thank you!
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Post by paulk on Sept 16, 2021 10:53:21 GMT -6
More please.
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Post by gipsy on Sept 18, 2021 8:10:26 GMT -6
Hope things are ok
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Post by ncsfsgm on Sept 19, 2021 6:02:01 GMT -6
Cal and Shay watched from a distance as Darryl packed the explosives in the drilled holes.
"He's putting enough in there isn't he?" Shane asked.
"He's going for softball size pieces. Hell, all I know is 'P for Plenty.' He's got the formula worked out." Cal said.
Well, I'm backing the excavator up. When that thing goes 'BOOM' I want to be well out of the way." Shay said, walking to the huge machine.
A half-hour later, Darryl came walking up grinning. "This is going to be cool!"
"Just how much did you pack in those holes?"
"Enough. Don't worry. It's only going to lift everything four, no more than five feet in the air. Trust me, I used to work for the government!" Darryl said, grinning.
Darryl went to his truck and unlocked a box and took the detonator out. Turning it on, he did a system's check. He then took out an air horn and gave three blasts, paused ten seconds and gave three more blasts. Looking around and doing a final visual check of the blast site. He flipped the safety cover of the switch and yelled "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" and pushed the button. The earth lifted and fell in a cloud of dust. Darryl got a bottle of water out of his cooler and drank a few swallows. They waited ten minutes before he let Shay go forward with the excavator. As Shay moved forward and got into position, Dennis backed the dump truck up and waited for Shay to "Fill 'er up."
Ben Cannon was waiting with another dump truck to move into place when Shay left with his load. When all the coke bins had been filled, they'd start piles here.
Cal decided to get out of their way and left. On his way back to the Ranch, Andy called and wanted to talk to him. Cal went straight to the Facility and went inside to Andy's office.
"We got some info on the burned vehicle. All four victims had been shot in the back of the head, execution style. The van had been stolen from a car lot in Las Cruces, New Mexico about four weeks ago. The plates were taken off before it was set on fir so they were probably stolen also. All the victims were female and the coroner believes they were between fifteen and eighteen years of age?"
"Any guess on what this was all about?"
"Nothing conclusive, but my guess is human trafficking for sex. About two months ago there was a similar situation. For what ever reason, some of the girls become too much of a liability and they dump the trash, as one C.I. report said."
"Damn! Keep Jeannie and Patty reading the mail and stay on top of this."
"What did you do to the camera?" Bill asked.
"I took it apart and we made a new body out of the polymer. We knocked off two pounds of the weight."
Bill watched as Burke and Phil were mounting everything in the body of the drone. The five foot wide grey drone looked ominous.
"Are we still on schedule for the first test flight?" Bill asked.
"Yep. What I want to do is a static test outside the hangar first. Take it up to hangar roof level, park it, and see how long it will take before the auto-sensor brings it back to ground."
"Hopefully, that will be a while."
"Bryan said it would. We might be pulling shifts for a while to keep an eye on it."
"Why not do it in the hangar?"
"We want it in the weather, especially the wind. It's supposed to stay stationary in hover and not drift once we set the autopilot ."
"Okay then. Let's get this show on the road."
"You're getting antsy again." Siobhan told Cal. "Don't you have some project to complete or some problem to solve?" "At the moment , no."
"Well, think, and get out in the fresh air." Siobhan said, shooing him out of the house.
Cal went to the water tank and checked everything there, Filters had just been cleaned and water flow was good. He drove over to the first gas well. Pressure was still good on that one. He went to the other three wells and all had good pressure. But what if they didn't? He had no idea how long the wells would continue to produce. Mainly the gas was used to fire the boilers for hot water and the radiators in all the cabins. Although everyone had wood or coke stoves in their homes, if the gas wells quit on them, they would be back to boiling water for their hot water uses. Cal went to the boiler building and checked the setup and found Greg there.
"Everything all right Greg?"
"Yeah, just doing an inspection. Everything is working fine."
Cal stood there and looked at the boiler unit.
"Greg, how much trouble would it be to connect another heating system into this for a back-up?"
"No problem at all. Just a couple of valves to change where the water comes in and goes out. I could put a cut off valve here to stop the water from entering this boiler and direct it to another boiler. Same on the outflow."
"I'm thinking of putting in a like sized boiler, but with an outdoor furnace that burns coke."
It would work. You thinking the gas will run out?"
"Nothing lasts forever, Greg."
Cal went to the four outdoor furnaces and checked the plastic barrels that contained ashes from the clean outs. Since they had started using coke instead of wood, they no longer put the ashes in the compost. Coke ash contained residual amounts of arsenic and would be absorbed into their food plants. Arsenic was forever and accumulated in the fat cells of the body and would slowly poison a person. Cal didn't even want to put ashes on the roads for melting snow because it would eventually end up in their irrigation ponds. When they first started using coke, Cal had Shay dig a big containment trench with a sealed liner to put the ash in, keeping it from getting into the ground water. Coke was almost smokeless, but you had to be careful.
Cal found an industrial size burner that had an auto feed hopper and ash removal but he wanted to talk to Barry to make sure they could run it off of a battery bank.
"Well, here goes nothing." Brad Collins said as he flipped the switch.
The 6 foot wide drone lifted off the ground and Brad stopped it at eye-level and set the autopilot. He changed the settings to 60 feet on the console and pressed the initiate button and the drone quickly rose to the desired height and went back into the hover mode. He entered another set of instructions and the drone began doing a slow, 360 degree stationary rotation, remaining in its programmed position.
"Well, now we wait. Bill, you have the second shift."
"How long do you think Frogmouth will stay up?" Bill asked.
"Anything over 26 hours is icing on the cake."
"That is a flight path of over 1500 miles!"
"Well, yeah, but if you wanted to maintain surveillance for any amount of time, figure anything within a 390 miles radius. That would allow us to get another drone on site before the first one automatically returned."
"All right. I've got some work to do. I'll be back at 1600."
"Roger."
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Post by ncsfsgm on Sept 19, 2021 6:03:00 GMT -6
"Cal, Bill Jennings. We're leaving here in the morning. We should arrive there Thursday afternoon."
"Good Bill. GO directly to the guest house when you get here, We'll get you settled in on Friday."
"That's fine. We'll see you Thursday then Cal."
"Not to bad for our first year!" Peter said."
"Yes, it is a fine start." Jacque replied.
They had finished filling the three fermentation tanks with the grape juice.
"Well, we shall know in three months." Carl said. "I will start filling the barrels with water next week."
It didn't take much for the men to realize the combine, even though ancient, had been a great improvement over the use of binders and threshers. The later were manpower and time consuming but, if you had to eat…."
Odell and Dennis loaded the steam shovel onto the lowboy and moved it to the coke mine. Darryl set charges again and blasted out a 100 foot square sized area to test the steam shovel. The shovel did an excellent job for its age and the men learned a lot.
First, Cal contracted with a wagon builder to have two heavy duty freight wagons built to haul the coke to the Ranch. Two, they needed a storage building to keep the steam shovel and wagons out of the weather. And three, they'd need to have something to crush the larger pieces of coke that were greater than six inches.
Bill and Dan started putting together plans to construct the building at the mine. Joshua, Odell and Ben began devising a way to crush the rock. They visited a mine up near Estes Park and looked at some of the old machinery. The old-time miners at that mine had used a jaw crusher to crush up rock into fine, almost sand-like, pieces and used chemicals to extract the gold. Joshua manage to scrounge up bits and pieces of mining equipment and built a jaw crusher that would crush the coke into 3-inch sized pieces, perfect for what they wanted. They built it on wheels so it could be towed out of the building and they could use a hit-and-miss engine or one of the smaller steam engines to power it. To improve n that, that built a big hopper the steam shovel could drop the bucket of coke into and it would travel down a chute into the top of the crusher. What was the correct size range would drop right on through, the rest would be crushed down. Joshua had used the crusher plates from three crushers so it was larger than the normal crusher. They tested the setup with the hit-a-miss and with a steam engine; both worked well.
After the garage building was built, all the equipment was cleaned and stored in the building, The greases, oils, tools and spare parts needed to maintain the equipment were stored with the machinery so nothing had to be hauled there every time they operated the coke mine.
Odell had become an expert on old steam technology. Going to the old mine sites, he could spot an old part and tell you exactly what it belonged to and what it did. If the part couldn't be restored, Joshua could build it. Ben had managed to find an internet site with old equipment manuals and ordered them all. Odell was even able to find Cal a couple of restored steam engines that Cal immediately purchased.
Cal slowly began to replace all the outdoor furnaces with the newer ones that had the automatic feeder. Barry designed and built a solar powered system for the furnaces' electrical needs. All Cal needed to do is explain to the people what was needed and pointed them in the right direction and they accomplished the job, often with improvements he hadn't thought of.
Gale also found her expertise needed often. She helped design the hopper tower at the mine and was called on at least once a month by Gary to help with some difficult design work.
Well, to match Siobhan's "Spring Welcoming Festival", she decided that a Fall Festival was in order. Again, the women went all out to make it a joyous event in October, after the major harvests were completed. Even more neighbors attended and spent the day, eating, drinking (in moderation), and just having a good time after a summer of hard work.
"What are you thinking about?"
"M-m-m-m…just that it's been a pretty good year. Everyone seems to be having a good time. You ladies did a good job organizing it."
Siobhan sat down on the bench beside Cal and laid her head on his shoulder.
"We wouldn't have been able to if it wasn't for you. You make things so easy for people to do things because of your support, you keep us safe from criminals and politicians…but I'm repeating myself…you are an enabler, you let us choose our own path as long as the end is a positive result. You really are a country statesman and leader."
"Be that as it may, we have the best people here, better than we could have asked for. With their help and input, we are ready for about just about anything. I hope it will be enough."
"What do you mean?"
A good piece of this Country is falling apart. This country was built by people with their hard working nature, cleverness in facing problems, and devotedness to getting the job done. It was a throwback to this country's early beginnings where sloth was actually a crime. Years of left-wing indoctrination has undermined that basic nature, but it isn't dead. Once freed from the tyranny of this Marxist revolution festering here in America that had kept them back, the traditional work ethic will return with a vengeance.
Incompetence will again became a reason to fire someone regardless of the race, religion, gender, or seniority of the incompetent individual. It will be hard for the people of America for a while, but I'm confident that like the Phoenix, America will arise from the ashes even stronger.
The Economy will take a big hit. Food and fuel prices will soar. Independence from imported goods has a very good chance of becoming a reality, because no one will be able to afford it. In times like these, the Democrats will start another war to cover their ineptness and have people focus on an external enemy.
People will get tired of the invasion of illegal aliens who don't respect American law, and will stop hiring undocumented workers. This will bring about an even greater rise in crime that has been ignored by the Democrats.
But there will be those everyday people out there who are not known as heroes, but that is what they are. They keep the traditions that made America great. They are just as much heroes as every soldier, sailor, airman, fireman or policeman that have served their country. Once the other 2/3s of this country realize this, we will again become a great country.
No, this Ranch wasn't just my doing. It was a combined effort of every person on this Ranch, and some off of it."
Siobhan sat us and kissed Cal on the cheek.
"Come on, my hero, I think it's time you got a little taste of Darryl's 'squeezins'."
THE END
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Post by sniper69 on Sept 19, 2021 6:33:44 GMT -6
ncsfsgm - thank you for this excellent story. I hate for this segment of Cal and crew's story to end, however am looking forward to any future writings that you share with us. Again - Thank you. You have an amazing talent and it is appreciated.
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Post by rep1270 on Sept 19, 2021 7:16:56 GMT -6
Thank you for the story. Ralph
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Post by gipsy on Sept 19, 2021 7:26:03 GMT -6
Hope you have another story in mind because this one was great.
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Post by biggkidd on Sept 19, 2021 7:36:34 GMT -6
So the next installment is SHTF and how they cope? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
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Post by bluefox2 on Sept 19, 2021 7:50:32 GMT -6
Perhaps a saga of how Bill, Becky and any other kids in the group carry on Cal's dream?
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Post by paulk on Sept 19, 2021 8:10:43 GMT -6
THE END??? No, No, No! It can not be. I will miss my friends and always wonder what is happening with them. This has been a wonderful story. Thank you!
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Post by iamnobody on Sept 19, 2021 8:17:47 GMT -6
Thank you for the great story.
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ahsga
New Member
Posts: 32
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Post by ahsga on Sept 19, 2021 8:48:53 GMT -6
Thank you for the saga.
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