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Post by biggkidd on Nov 18, 2021 10:21:38 GMT -6
I've never taken one and won't take this one either. No prescription drugs or doctors in about 5 years either. I'll die when I die and so be it. After my fight with M.S. and learning to walk write and talk again and seeing how much better off I am without the drugs no more!
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Post by ncsfsgm on Nov 19, 2021 15:36:52 GMT -6
Chapter 86
The next morning Gil was out early making cracklings from the fat scraps and rendering down the lard from the pig. Gil loved this. They had cubed up the fat and Gil had built a fire in the fire pit out back and placed the butchering kettle on it. Throwing in the cubes of ft, Gil stirred the fat constantly until it had liquefied. He stood by as the fat fried off and had a container of salt to shake on the remnants when he dipped them out of the hot fat with a strainer. A man could get fat doing this! Mollie had washed out and dried the lard tins and brought them out to be filled.
"Oh! This is going to make some good pie crusts!"
"I want some fried apple pies." Gil said, grinning.
"I'll get some apples this afternoon, although they are better with dried apples."
"Well, go by the Farmer's Market and get a couple of bushels and let's dry them."
"I'll do just that."
Gil dipped the last of the cracklings out and began dipping the melted lard into the cheesecloth lined strainer over the 1-quart lard buckets. After the lard had cooled and began turning white, he threw a cloth over them and let them cool further. Gil got a pot of hot water out of the kitchen and washed the lard pot out with hot water and dried it out. He didn't want the grease going into the septic system. Leaving the lard to finish cooling, Gil went into the kitchen. Mollie and Grace were using the hand grinder to grind up the pork scraps to make sausage.
"We're ready to make the links. Mollie just has to add the spices." Grace said.
"Do you want this hot or medium? Mollie asked.
"Medium." Gil said.
Gil got out the package of casings out of the fridge and put them in a bowl of warm water while Mollie and Grace ran the spiced meat mixture through the grinder again to further mix the sausage.
Gil put the sausage tube on the grinder and slid a casing on. Mollie turned the crank on the grinder as Gil controlled the filling of the casing, giving it a twist every four inches, keeping the links no more than three feet long. As the lengths were cut off, Grace put them into a large pan and set it aside. When they finished, Gil took the pan down to the smokehouse and loaded it with the sausages. He checked the temperature in the smokehouse and calculated the time. He wasn't going to completely cook the sausage but prepare it for freezing. Gil added water-soaked hickory chips and checked the thermometers for the smoke inlet, the middle height of the smoker and the ceiling and adjusted the damper. Opening the weatherproof clipboard attached to the smokehouse door, Gil took down the starting time and the temperatures. He'd stay close by and check it every fifteen minutes to get an idea on smoking time.
Two and a half hours later, Gil removed the sausage links from the smoker and placed them in a clean pan. Carrying them to the basement, he spread them out on large baking pans and placed them in the refrigerator to cool down. Gil went upstairs and Grace had the vacuum sealer ready and she and Mollie were having a cup of tea.
"All done?" Grace asked.
"Cooling them down now." Gil said, making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
"Are you hungry? I can fix you something."
"Nah. Those sausages had my mouth watering though. This will tide me over."
Did you check the hams when you were down there?"
"I checked them earlier. They're fine."
"After we finish packaging the sausage, we're keeping what canned vegetables we'll need for the next couple of months and carrying the rest up to the storage chamber." Grace said.
"Have you got you list for the big box stores? We can go tomorrow if you want."
Brad and Allie came in and sat down at the dining room table with them.
"Brad, we're going to make a resupply run to Sam's and COSTCO in the morning. When I get back, I'll give you a hand.
Everyone looked at Gil, waiting.
"With what?" Brad asked.
"Well, I was walking by the trailer last night and your washing machine had that trailer rocking so bad I thought it was going to tip right over."
Allies face lost all its color, then turned beet red. She quickly covered her face with her hands and moaned.
While her face was covered, Brad got down on one knee and pulled the little box out of his pocket. The first thing Allie saw when she reopened her eyes was the opened box held out to her by Brad.
"Allie, will you marry me?"
Allie squealed and grabbed his hands "Yes!"
"Gil Conner! I ought to whip you! That was mean!" Grace yelled.
Mollie was shaking with laughter.
Allie got up and kissed Brad and held him close.
"Gil, you don't mind if I put a cabin up where the trailer is, do you?"
"Good a place as any. I'll give you Jack's number. Allie, you can look at floorplans on their webpage and if you want to add a pantry or something, they can adjust the plans."
Grace got up and lightly punched Gil in the stomach. "You embarrassed Allie!"
"Well, she said she would marry Brad. We had to let her know what she was walking in to. Where's the list for tomorrow? Allie, you might want to up the order a mite in prep to stock your new home."
"But that could be weeks away!"
"Don't procrastinate. Murphy is standing right outside on the deck , waiting to trip you up."
The next morning Gil, Grace and Mollie had breakfast at Yoder's before continuing on their shopping trip. The twins sat quietly gnawing on strips of toast.
"Where are we stopping first?" Grace asked.
"Sam's, its closer." Gil replied.
"Remind me to pick up a case of copying paper and two more buss pans."
When they got to Sam's, Gil and Grace grabbed flat carts and Mollie pushed the stroller, keeping the twins out of arm's reach of the merchandise. Gil started with a case of maple syrup and two large boxes of cereal that Billy liked. Grace picked up twenty pounds of instant milk and coffee creamer. They had cocoa this time so she picked up 4 large cans and ten pounds of powdered sugar. She made her own cocoa mix. Gil picked up six containers of peppercorns in the spice area. Some of the spices on the list weren't available. Perhaps COSTCO would have them. If they weren't, Allie could order them from a spice company. After they'd paid for their purchases, they took them out to the trailer and loaded them in totes Gil had brought with them then Grace and Gil went back in and Gil got a flat of toilet paper and Grace a flat of paper towels. They picked up the things at COSTCO they hadn't found at Sam's and Gil stocked up on wine. On the way out of town, Gil stopped at Bed, Bath & Beyond for Grace to go in and get pepper grinders. They were back home before 1:30, had a late lunch and began putting things away, Billy and Allie hauling things to the storage chamber.
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Post by ncsfsgm on Nov 19, 2021 15:37:55 GMT -6
Chapter 87
After dinner that night, while Grace and Allie looked at log cabin plans, Gil and Brad took the firing pins that had come in and went up to the Chamber to replace the ones out of tolerance. "When do you think its all going to fall apart? Brad asked. "You know, the country."
I don't know Brad. It could hit us from any direction. It could be economic, it could be a Pearl Harbor attack, and if it's from within, and caused by the policies of the Democrats, we won't get a prior warning because the boot licking media will cover for them until the water is up the their noses, and probably after that. We just need to get as prepared as much as we can."
"Do you think we should start raising some pigs, maybe get a couple of steers to fatten up? We could raise a lot of corn in a portion of that old hay field."
"Let's get everyone together tonight and have a talk, it's going to mean more work."
That evening after dinner, everyone gathered in the Great Room to discuss the idea of keeping animals on hand for slaughter.
"Where would we keep them?" Grace inquired.
"We've got 25 acres of room in the old hay fields." Gil replied.
"Pigs stink. Have you ever driven by one of those pig farms?" Allie replied.
We're only talking about two or three pigs."
"They stink because they're raised in close proximity." Mollie added.
"Well, we can go to eating possums and raccoons to go along with the occasional deer." Gil mused.
"Gil, you seem to forget the land on the other side of the ridge that you bought from me. There's a field there, surrounded by trees, that grows pretty fair hay. It's a little under 3 acres and has a pond you could water from. A little supplemental feed and you could fatten two or three pigs and the same number of steers up in no time. It's only a little over a mile away; out of sight, no smell, and you can save the river bottoms for planting corn to feed them.
Gil sat there thinking.
"Well, we'd need to fence it, build shelter for steers and pigs, they have to be checked each day in the morning and night… "
"I could check them!" Billy said.
"And I could take over the chickens for Billy!" Allie said.
Gil looked at Brad. "Looks like we've been handed our next project."
"Billy, I want you to go with Brad and I over to check this area out in the morning."
"Yes Sir!"
The next morning, Billy hurried out before Gil and Brad and jumped into the driver's seat in the 4-place Gator.
"Do you know where to go?"
"Yes Sir."
"Let's go."
Billy drove up the drive and over the ridge and cut across a field to an opening in the tree line. Gil had Billy turned left and slowly drive around the edge of the field, first setting his GPS to record the route. Billy stopped when they got to the pond to get out and look around.
"Spring fed." Brad commented."
"Yeah, I see that." Gil replied.
"The pond his higher than the pasture. We'll have to put a pump here." Billy said.
"Yeah, we'll put a ram pump to fill the waterers."
"What's that?" Billy asked.
"I'll show you when we get back." Gil replied.
They continued going around the field and back out to the drive and home, Gil mapping the edges of the field out. When they got back home, Gil sat down with graph paper and plotted the field dimensions and calculated how many fence and support posts, staples, wire, lumber, etcetera they would need to complete the project. After plotting out the animal shelter's dimensions, he made up his materials list and printed it out.
"Grace, I'm going in to the Farmer's Co-op to order these building supplies. Do you need anything?"
"No, I can't think of anything. See what they have on sale."
"Yes Dear."
Gil walked around inside the Co-op checking out farm tools. He had everything they'd used to build the garden fence, or thought he did. There on the shelf was a cordless fence staple gun. Now that would have saved a lot effort pounding the staples with a hammer. Gil got a case of staples, the staple gun and two extra rechargeable batteries. He went to check-out, ordered and paid for the materials and took the gun, batteries and staples with him. When he got back home Gil took the batteries to the battery bank shed and put the batteries on their charge bases.
Gil had ordered over 200 different size posts, a little over a mile of electrical fencing, a solar fence charger, insulators, double-headed nails, hog and barbed wire, PVC pipe, clamps, a ram pump, and pig and livestock waterers and feeders.
This was going to take a lot of work!
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Post by ncsfsgm on Nov 19, 2021 15:39:06 GMT -6
Chapter 88
Jack had Don excavate the full basement on Brad and Allie's log home. They were getting more sales, especially around Sevierville and had expanded their crews. With the small amount of changes that Brad and Allie wanted, the logs would be shipped in quickly from Wisconsin. Brad and Gil laid out the fence line and began digging post holes. Billy would come up after finishing his studies and pull a trailer around, putting posts in the holes and tamping earth around them. Don lent them a compressor and a pole tamper and the posts ended up as tight as if they been set in concrete. They only used concrete on corner posts and braces. The large, wire covered gate was ordered to be as high as the 6' fence and had rollers to support it. They poured a concrete pad for the gate's rollers to roll freely when the gate was swung open.
Gil had Billy install the waterers and feeders so he would recognize a problem developing. A 55-gallon barrel was mounted above the waterers and a float valve regulated the water flowing into the waterer. Gil showed Billy how to start and stop the ram pump and they were just about ready. Initially, Gil ordered a large garden shed to store supplemental feed for the cattle and pigs. He would order a silo from the Co-op later. For now, it would be enough. Now to get the yearlings and pigs.
Early the next morning, Gil walked out on the deck, coffee mug in hand. He took the dew cover off a chair and sat down, sucking in a lung full of the fresh air. It seem like only last night he had pulled Grace off of that sandbar. Things had really moved fast. What age is it when you quit wishing that time would move faster then all off a sudden time seems to go too fast? At least staying busy took his mind off of his old memories that sometimes visited him in the middle of the night. Gil looked at the work as being on the plus side of things.
Gil heard the door open and looked up, Grace had donned a sweater and carried a coffee mug in her hand. Quietly closing the door, she walked over then claimed his lap for seating.
"Care for some biscuits and chipped beef gravy for breakfast?" She asked, taking a sip of coffee.
"Sounds wonderful." Gil replied.
"Look at you." Grace said softly, running her fingers through his hair. "You've been working so hard. Why don't take that airplane of yours up for a while and air it out?"
"Can't. I want to go buy that used livestock trailer for sale at the Co-op. I'm picking up the yearlings and pigs tomorrow."
"Well, sometime this week, I want you to take a morning and do nothing but relax."
Grace leaned over and kissed his forehead. "I'll go do the biscuits."
"I'll cut up the dried beef." Gil like working at her side, cooking.
Gil went through the gate Billy had opened and turned around facing the gate. Opening the back of the trailer, the yearlings slowly got out, then kicked their legs up and ran over into the pasture, then began grazing. Gil walked over and checked the pig pen and saw they had finished their feed and were laying on the hay under the shelter.
Billy went to the back of the Gator brought over two pumpkins and busted them on the ground in the pen. The pigs scrambled up and ran over to start eating.
"They seem to like pumpkins." Gil grinned.
"Well, we've got 50 more of them. Momma said she had canned all she needed. She even gave 30 jars to the food bank and told me not to even take any up to the storage chamber."
Aside from dealing with the livestock, Gil took the rest of the day off, spending much of the time with the twins and their mother, just relaxing and playing, something Gil had far too little time and energy to do for the last while.
Jack's crew came in with trailer trucks pf logs and construction materials. Getting the first row of logs in, the floor joists and the subfloor, took relatively little time. The crew was working like a well-oiled machine. Gil watched them for a while and drove over the ridge to check their 'livestock.' He had purchased cheap water flow meters designed for a garden hose and attached them to the filler hoses coming from the 55-gallon filler tanks. Gil wasn't sure how accurate they were, but he could get an idea of the water usage for the steers and pigs. So far, it seemed both waterers would still have water in them when it was time for Billy to come up to run the ram pump.
When Gil got back to the house, the twins were in their playpen next to where Mollie and Grace had set up the two treadle sewing machines they hadn't even touched since the estate sale. They had taken them out of their cases, cleaned and oiled the parts. He walked in when they were just replacing the sewing needles to sew up vegetable bags from a bolt of muslin material that was on sale at the fabric shop. They couldn't imagine anyone wearing anything made from the cloth. It was plain ugly, but it would make good bags for storing things. At least they wouldn't show dirt easily. Gil also noticed his roll of 1/8 Inch braided nylon cord was there, probably to make drawstrings.
"Gil, you say you're going to grow corn next year?" Mollie asked.
"Yep plan to."
"Well, Allie and I were up at Food City and there was a flyer posted about Hiram James estate sale. He had a good 3-row, pull behind corn harvester you might be able to pick up. Nobody uses them much anymore, so you shouldn't have too many competitors.
"When is the sale?"
"Saturday."
"Want to take a ride to the sale Saturday, Grace?"
"I don't thinks so. The kids would be a lot to handle."
"Oh, go on with him! I'll watch my grandbabies!"
Grace grinned. "Then we're going to the sale Saturday."
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Post by ncsfsgm on Nov 19, 2021 15:42:23 GMT -6
Chapter 89
Grace was up early Saturday morning making bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits. By the time Gil had the equipment trailer hooked up and various ratchet straps and tie-downs loaded, Grace was coming out the door with two travel mugs of coffee, a paper bag with the biscuits, and two 64 oz. Klean Kanteen water bottles filled with water. Grace unwrapped Gil a biscuit as he was driving up the ridge. "Are you looking for anything other than the corn harvester?" Grace asked
"If I see something we can use, I'll bid on it."
They arrived at the farm early and selected a parking place they couldn't get blocked in. Walking around, they checked the farm implements that were parked in a pasture for display. Gil inspected the corn harvester and the 3-row corn drill sitting beside it. Both were in excellent condition, apparently kept in a barn or under shelter when not in use. There was also a small grain trailer and a 30' portable grain auger. Grace saw an enamel top table she'd like to put next to the wood cookstove in the Chamber. She remembered a list she had on her phone of the "100 Items to Disappear First" to look for things.
Gil won the bids on the harvester, corn drill, grain trailer and the auger. He stood by and let Grace bid on the things she wanted. He also bid on some boxes of old brass cabinet hardware and antique woodworking tools. He was especially interested in the various size spoke shaves and the 18 various size wood augers. They managed to pack their purchases on the trailer with the harvester, but Gil would have to come back for the grain trailer and auger.
Cal and Billy went out and got two big Does with the air rifles. Billy's weighed 126 pounds after field dressing and Gil's weighed in at 130 after field dressing. Gil was thinking the food plots and mineral blocks might be working. Gil didn't even bother taking them to Mr. Hirschfeld this time. One of the deer they were turning into jerky and the other would be used for making pemmican. Gil had a chance to pick up ten cases of Bison Tallow a few weeks ago and jumped on it. Bison Tallow could be used for many things, especially cooking, and had a much milder flavor than beef tallow. Gil liked carrying a bar of pemmican in the winter time. It made a great break-time snack when working outside or hunting.
All the ladies helped slice the venison up for jerky and Gil set it aside to marinate. When it was time to dry the jerky in the smoker, he just loaded the smoker with as much meat as he could. He adjusted the heat to 165 degrees and checked the meat in different zones every hour. When it was ready, Gil put the jerky into a buss pan and let it cool on the deck under a cloth until it was ready to pack into vacuum sealed bags.
Once they had dried what they had estimated to be half the meal, the rest of the jerky was ground up, dried blueberries and bison tallow added and formed into energy bar sized bars and placed in the refrigerator to harden. Once hardened, the were shrink-wrapped in food wrap and stored in the freezer.
Just before BMNT, the two slipped out of the house and quietly went down the drive and skirted the garden area. There was just enough light from the full moon to see where we were going until the first light of the new day began to appear in the eastern sky. Slowly and quietly they moved along their almost 1300 meter route, pausing occasionally to take sips out of their Camelbaks. Finally getting to their hide sites, they settled into their positions, listening for the tell-tale noises of the flock's approach. As the daylight strengthened, they began hearing the familiar noises they had been patiently waiting for. Slowly, both forms silently pulled an arrow from their quiver and loosely nocked it and waited. Soon, they saw the outlines of the birds moving off the bank and down onto the sandy shore. As the Toms cleared the undergrowth, they stopped and, spreading their tailfeathers and puffing out their chests, strutted around. With the quiet, but deliberate signal Gil gave Billy, they both drew back their recurve bows and released their arrows at their selected targets. Both birds went down, the flock quickly scattering. Flipping the head of his ghillie suit back, Gil rose to his feet, grinning.
"Hey, great shot!"
Both went to their birds and removed their arrows, picking up their birds and headed back to the house laughing and talking.
Gil and Billy entered the house, leaving the covered dressed turkeys nestled in two buss pans sitting on the patio table. Grace looked up at them from her computer and smiled.
"Looks like you both were lucky!"
"Skilled, Momma, skilled. I think my turkey might weigh a little more than Dad's!'
"That's great! Get washed up and I'll make you some breakfast."
Gil and Billy went to put their gear away and cleaned the grease paint off their faces and hands.
Grace was frying bacon when Gil returned.
"What time did you leave this morning? I didn't even hear you leave!"
"Ah, the skills of a stealthy hunter!" Thank you Ma'am, you have enhanced my standing in this family."
"Don't let it go to your head Daniel Boone, you tired me out last night. Could you warm up my coffee?"
As the scrambled eggs were scraped into plates, Billy came down the stairs and took his place at the table. After saying grace, the two men ravished the food.
"What do you have to do to the turkeys now?"
"We need to burn the pinfeathers off and wash them, then I'll put them in the freezer. I wish they'd run the hunting season closer to Thanksgiving. It would be nice to have a fresh bird to eat."
"I guess I could pick one up at the market, but one of yours, even frozen, somehow tastes better than those mass produced birds."
"I'll help you do the turkeys after breakfast, Dad."
"No, you go ahead and take care of the animals. I can handle the birds. Make sure you check good for signs of coyotes. They are fine connoisseurs of pork also. I want to nip any incursions in the bud as soon as possible."
"My uncle used to keep a donkey in the pasture with his goats. They fight coyotes like nobody's business!" Mollie said.
"Yeah, I've heard that. I'll have to check on a donkey."
As they were finishing up dessert after dinner, Gil took the last bite of the blackberry cobbler and pushed his dish away.
"Well, I found a donkey, over in New Tazewell at the Mountain Hollow Farm."
"Where's that?" Brad asked.
"Up between New Tazwell and Harrogate, off 25E."
"Oh! I've always wanted to visit there!" Allie said.
Gil looked over at Brad. "You mind going over and picking it up tomorrow…maybe take Allie with you?"
"Sure, but you know she'll want to see everything."
Gil chuckled. "So, let her see everything. We don't have anything pushing around here. If the weather is good, Billy and I will be on the range."
Allie looked at Brad and Grinned.
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Post by gipsy on Nov 19, 2021 18:15:41 GMT -6
Thanks for the update.
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Post by texican on Nov 19, 2021 23:27:11 GMT -6
"Care for some biscuits and chipped beef gravy for breakfast?"
Biscuits and gravy, the breakfast for men and women and fit for any meal.
Texican....
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Post by bluefox2 on Nov 20, 2021 7:38:20 GMT -6
"Care for some biscuits and chipped beef gravy for breakfast?"Biscuits and gravy, the breakfast for men and women and fit for any meal. Texican.... Good old SOS
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Post by ydderf on Nov 20, 2021 14:31:49 GMT -6
I checked on Amazon chipped beef was $99.99 for a 2.5 oz jar plus 39.00 shipping. Obviously a food only for the wealthy Canadian.
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Post by ncsfsgm on Nov 20, 2021 14:42:28 GMT -6
I checked on Amazon chipped beef was $99.99 for a 2.5 oz jar plus 39.00 shipping. Obviously a food only for the wealthy Canadian. I hope that's a misprint. I can go two miles down the road to a Walmart and buy it for $2.58. I watch for it at a local grocery when they have sales and get it for less than $2.00 a jar. I always keep at least a half-dozen jars on hand. It's great in the winter when nothing but a pan of biscuits and a pan of gravy raises your spirits.
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Post by biggkidd on Nov 20, 2021 16:27:55 GMT -6
Sounds like it was a case lot of those little jars, maybe 50 or so.
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Post by ncsfsgm on Nov 20, 2021 17:36:42 GMT -6
Chapter 90
Gil drove the Gator up to the 100 meter firing point, Billy jumping out and grabbing the portable shooter's bench out of the back. "No, I want you to use the sandbags today."
Billy placed the shooter's bench back into the Gator and took out the shooting mat and laid it on the firing line, returning to the Gator and retrieving the sandbags. After getting everything into position, he took the gun case out of the Gator and set it beside the firing position and removed the M1A out, extended the bipod, and locked the bolt open.
Gil got out his spotting scope and set it up on its tripod.
"I want you to place 5 accurate shots, just like you've been trained." Gil said, watching Billy's every move.
Billy got down into position, adjusted the sandbags, took one of the ten shot loaded magazines out of the case, inserted the magazine and chambered a round. Making a couple of scope adjustments after checking the wind streamers on each side of the firing range, Billy settled down, clicked the safety off and moments later fired his first shot. Gil, watching with his scope, called the shot.
"Center, 4 o'clock, 15 millimeters."
Instead of making a scope adjustment, Billy used "Kentucky windage, Tennessee elevation" and placed the next four shots dead center.
"Clear your weapon, secure your equipment and we'll move to the next point."
Billy got all the gear back into the Gator and they moved to the target frame, replaced the B-27 target and moved to the 200 meter firing position.
"Same procedure as the 100 meter position." Gil said, setting up his spotting scope.
Billy went through the same procedures, this time making a small adjustment to the scope. This time, Billy clover-leafed the shots in the center of the target.
"Clear your weapon, secure your equipment and we'll move to the next point."
After changing the B-27 in the target frame, they proceeded to the next position, a blue painted 4x4 post, 100 meters off the range from 200 meter firing point, but in line with the target stand.
Billy again mirrored his shots at the 300, 400 and 500 meter points. Getting up from his last shot, Billy high-fived a grinning Gil.
"You just earned that rifle. That's yours from now on."
"But Dad…."
"I've got another one just like it. Keep it zeroed and maintained. I've got a vest for you with magazine pouches to hold the 20-round magazines."
Billy hugged his dad and they began putting the equipment back into the Gator. Returning to the house, Billy got out the cleaning equipment and cleaned the weapon on a 5-foot folding table in the Great Room.
Brad pulled up into the parking area of the farm, a lady walked toward them as they got out.
"Are you here to pick up Lizzy?"
"If that's the donkey, then yes Ma'am."
The lady chuckled. "My name is Amanda. Come with me and I'll introduce you to her."
They walked down to a barn with a small corral next to it. Amanda pulled a carrot out of a bucket next to the barn and handed it to Allie.
"Here, feed her this. She'll be your friend for life."
They approached the corral and Allie reached her hand over the top bar and wiggled the carrot at Lizzy. Lizzy immediately came over and bit half the carrot off and began chewing it. She then stepped forward and gently took the rest of the carrot out of Allie's hand.
"How old is she?" Allie asked, scratching the donkey's ears.
"A little over a year old. We keep donkeys around to keep the varmints away from the goats. They are very effective."
"Ma'am, here is the check for the purchase." Brad said, handing her the check."
"Oh! This is much more than we agreed on!"
"Yes Ma'am." Gil said the extra is a donation. He knows that is how you get most of your operating funds."
"Well, I certainly appreciate it! You want to load her now?"
"Ma'am, do you mind if we look around a little bit?. I've always wanted to visit here." Allie asked.
"Sure! Look around all you want, and no charge. I'll be over there working in the flower bed."
Allie and Brad walked around the farm looking at the different animals.
"Oh! I love rabbits!" Allie said, standing looking at the caged bunnies.
"I like to eat them." Brad said.
"Not these bunnies!" Gasped Allie.
"Rabbit is rabbit." Brad grinned.
They finally made their way back around to where Amanda was working on her flowers.
"Did you see everything?"
"You have a great place here!" Allie said.
"Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Come on. I'll help you load up Lizzy."
Amanda took a lead rope off the wall of the barn and held it out to Allie.
"Snap this to her halter. You've fed her and she'll follow you without any problem." Amanda said.
Allie walked into the corral and Lizzy walked right up to her. Snapping the lead rope to Lizzy's halter, she led the donkey to the livestock trailer. With a couple of attempts, Lizzy finally jumped in and Brad tied the rope to the side of the trailer.
Closing the trailer door, Amanda came over to the two and shook their hands.
"You tell that Gil fellar I thank him for the donation." Amanda said.
"We will, and thank you for the tour."
"Don't mention it. Ya'll come back now, ya hear?"
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Post by ncsfsgm on Nov 20, 2021 17:47:25 GMT -6
Chapter 91
Allie called ahead and told Grace they were crossing the river at Caney Valley. Billy quickly cleaned up and put away the cleaning equipment and headed outside just as Brad and Allie drove up. "Billy, get some carrots!" Allie shouted.
Billy went to the basement and got a dozen large carrots and put them in a 5-gallon Lowe's blue bucket and went back out.
"Gil. Miss Amanda said to thank you for the donation." Brad said.
"Well, I admire her work and with the economy as it is, people aren't moving around as much."
"I've got the carrots!" Billy said, running up.
"Billy, the donkey's name is Lizzy. She falls in love with anyone feeding her a carrot. Since you are going to be the person she has daily contact with, I think you should handle her from this point forward."
"Okay."
Brad and Allie jumped back into Brad's Suburban and headed for the pasture, Billy following in a Gator. Brad slowed down on the down-slope of the ridge to let Billy pass him to open the gate. Pulling through the opened gate, Brad stopped and opened the door on the trailer. Taking a carrot, Billy went inside and had a couple of minutes with Lizzy, finally leading her out and turned her loose into the pasture. Lizzy immediately went over to visit the steers for a bit, then over to the pig area and checked them out. Billy set the bucket of carrots inside the feed shed and walked back over to Brad and Allie.
"She seems like she's adjusting all right." Billy said.
"Yeah, I think she'll be fine." Replied Allie.
Brad and Allie stopped by the house construction as one part of the crew was finishing up the metal roof and another crew was installing the triple pane windows.
"We have another appointment with Reverend Jim tomorrow evening." Allie said.
"Okay. I guess I should see about selling the trailer." Brad said.
"Don't. Keep it. We might want to go on a trip some time and we could always use it as a guest house."
They went back up to Gil and Grace's house where Allie helped Grace put together beef stew and Brad helped Gil in the shop building some cabinets.
"Did you watch the news this morning about the truckers?" Grace asked.
"No, I try not to watch it at all." Gil replied, pouring a cup of coffee.
"Well, its being reported that there's an 80,000 truckdriver shortage which will impact deliveries across the nation."
"Yeah, well, the cause is over-regulation by federal and local authorities. There are plenty of drivers, they just can't work where they are needed. On that note, you might start seeing some shortages in the grocery stores. If you do, take note and order your things online, freight express and don't bother buying at the stores and buy in bulk where you can."
Gil took his brass tumbler down to the shop and added pecan hulls and the brass hardware to it. While the brass was cleaning, he worked on the drawers, dovetailing the parts together. Brad walked in as Gil was gluing and clamping the pieces together.
"Just what is it you are making here anyway?" Brad asked.
"A small wedding present for you and Allie. This is a jelly cabinet. I built it to put at the end of the kitchen counter. She can put anything in it she wants, but it's called a jelly cabinet."
"What do you need me to do?"
"Well, I'm certainly not going to let you help me on your wedding present. Listen, I want to get everyone familiarized on the night vision sights in the SOPMOD kits. Why don't you get them mounted and we can do that tomorrow night."
"I'm on it."
Gil grinned as Brad left to head for the Chamber. Brad was a good man.
Grace and Allie were going into town every couple of days and checking for shortages. They even brought back bags of relatively local ground cornmeal. Sealing the cornmeal in mylar bags with an oxygen absorber, they dated and stockpiled dozens of bags, so far, in the storage chamber. Grace also ordered 100 pounds of Red River Cereal. Gil hated cream of wheat cereals, said it was like eating warm frog's eggs. He and Billy both enjoyed the hot grain cereal. They also began packaging and storing flour and ordering large pails of wheat packed in nitrogen and grinders. They took notice of the items that they didn't use but were rapidly leaving the shelves. If they could be procured elsewhere, they bought them, as long as they could be stored for a long time, to be used for possible trading in the future. Grace continued to work off the "100 Items to Disappear First" list and adding to their inventory.
Gil finished with the last coat of tung oil on the jelly cabinet and began working on the oak can racks for the pantry, both for theirs and Allie's. He was making three racks for each pantry to hold the standard size cans they normally used. As a can was taken out the next oldest can rolled down to take it's lace. It was easily to count the cans needed to restock. Gil glued up the oak panels and set them aside then cut strips of oak to turn into dowels on the lathe. Doing what he could for the day, Gil cleaned up and went back to the house.
"Gil, on the list '100 Items to Disappear First During a Disaster", the first thing on the list are generators."
"Well, don't bother. Think about it. Fuel is going to be in short supply so even generators would run out soon. Generators are noisy too, possibly attracting people we don't want around here."
"Yeah, you're right. I did ordered a dozen Aladdin lamps with lots of extra mantels and a dozen Coleman lanterns with extra mantles, pump repair kits and globes."
"That's good. What about Coleman fuel?"
"We've got 200 gallons on hand and I just ordered 50 more."
"Keep ordering it as you go along, you can't have too much. You and Allie are doing a good job. Keep ordering and think about laundry needs in the Chamber. You might want to consider getting one or two more hand washing machines and ringers."
"Okay, Let me talk with Mollie and Allie."
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Post by ncsfsgm on Nov 20, 2021 17:54:21 GMT -6
Chapter 92
Gil checked the garden and the cover crop was doing well. He had taken one of the large rotten bales of hay and spread it into the soil during the Fall before planting the cover crop and plowed the rotted material under. Everything was growing nicely. He had plowed the cornfield under during the same time and with a light disking, would be ready to plant in the spring with heirloom corn. He probably wouldn't get as good of yield as with hybrid, but he needed to see what kind of yield he could get. Walking by the equipment barn, he took some time to inspect it. It hadn't been built of pressure treated lumber and didn't have many years of use left. He made the decision right then to replace it with a steel building. He'd give the guys in Knoxville, who had built the hangar, a call.
Walking back to the house, the air was getting colder and felt damper. Not quite the snow smell, but at a minimum, cold rain. He walked on up the drive to the house and as he reached he porch, drops of rain began falling.
Billy dumped the last bit of feed into the hog feeder and returned the bucket back in the feed shed. Taking a carrot out of the bucket, he offered it to Lizzy, who had been following him around every step since he had gotten there.
"There you are girl." Billy said, scratching around her ears.
Lizzy nosed his hand, wanting another carrot.
"That's enough for today. You need to join your friends under the shelter. It's beginning to rain."
When Billy locked the gate, he looked back at the pasture shelter and saw Lizzy standing there watching him.
Three things Gil wanted to get done this winter was to get a silo put up at the pasture, an equipment barn built, and a lumber shed built. He wanted to be able to stockpile building materials for use now and in the future. Laying out the dimensions for the lumber shed, he calculated the materials and took his list into the building supply and ordered the materials to be delivered. Gil then went to the Farmers co-op and ordered a grain silo with a twin discharge auger system. It would mean putting in another solar system to run the augers, but they wouldn't run very much each day and if they needed to, could attach a generator to run them in case they batteries hadn't charged enough. He might add a small wind turbine also. He didn't want to run a generator if at all possible. The noise carried too far.
Gil, Brad and Billy built the form for the silo floor and had concrete delivered to fill it before Thanksgiving. They wouldn't start putting the pieces together until after the holiday.
When the concrete was delivered, they were ready. As the concrete flowed through the rebar, Billy and Brad were ready with shovels to even out the flow and rake it level. As Gil guided the pump hose, Brad and Billy used the screed to begin leveling the poured concrete. After the concrete truck had left, Gil used the bull float and finished the floor. It was only going to get down into the forties that night so they didn't have to worry about the concrete freezing. They had been blessed with mild weather the last couple of days. They re-read the instructions for the silo installation, laid out the pieces in the order they would bolt them together, and discussed the tools they would need to put it all together. Billy would definitely have to be a part of this. One of them would have to operate the tractor with the grabber clamp to lift the pieces up to bolt them in after the first row of the wall went in.
Thanksgiving day was filled with delicious smells and eggnog laced with a titch of the 148 proof Presbyterian elixir; not so much for the women preparing the delicious food, but Gil, Brad, and Don had healthy glows in their cheeks. The meal was something to dream about and that afternoon the men had a few attempting to stay awake to watch the college football games. The women finally roused them and got them out around the firepit to wake up and have a final toast for the day.
Gil, Brad, and Billy got their equipment together and loaded into the Gators and headed for the pasture, Brad driving the tractor. Getting their pouch belts and gloves on, they picked up the first wall panel. Billy slipped the first bolt and rubber washer on and Gil quickly tighten the nut on the bolt with the large battery drill. The first layer went on quickly and Brad picked up the first panel for the second level. They had already established their working pattern and Gil was quickly tightening the bolts almost as fast as Billy was inserting them. As soon as the had a panel bolted on, Brad was right there with the next panel. They worked all day with only a short break for lunch. It went so easy that it was almost fun. By late afternoon, all that was left was to put on the roof, the twin augers, and assemble the power system. They would do that the next day.
The next morning, after having a hearty breakfast, the two and a half men with aching muscles headed out to finish their project, carrying the rest of the materials they'd need. They quickly began bolting on the roof panels and in a couple of hours completed that task. Billy helped Brad assemble the auger tube while Gil bolted the motor mount in and laid the chains out to be attached to the auger base sprockets. With Brad and Billy manhandling the movable tubes in place, Gil bolted them to the mount. Once the weather cover was in place, it was done. They took a break for lunch before they installed the battery bank, the PV panels and the small wind turbine.
It was with a sigh of relief when the last guy was tightened and the battery bank showed it was charging. A few tests of the augers showed they would run and they called 'finished' to the project. After they put their tools and equipment away in the shop, everyone went their own way, Gil first to call the Co-op and have the silo filled with enough feed to last until the harvest next fall. His next call was to the steel building people in Knoxville to order a 40x80 foot building to replace the equipment barn. Gil set it up to be built starting after the new year. He looked at his watch and decided he had time and made another call.
"Grace, I'm going to take the plane out for a little bit."
"Okay Hon. Be safe."
Gil pulled the STOL out of the hangar, cranked and taxied to the turn around and took off, banking in a northeasterly direction. He soon set down in the little pasture. Taxiing to the downwind end of the pasture, he shut the plane down and waited. Soon, he heard the distinctive sound of the old John Deere through the trees. Getting out, Gil waited planeside for the Deacon to pull up.
"Hello Gil. Gotcha delivery right heah!"
"Gil took out the first case and set it behind the seats. The next case fit right on top.
"Deacon, I've added a little more for the collection plate." Gil said, handing the money to the man.
"Thank you Gil. It's much appreciated.
"Deacon, do you have anyone up this way that sells and delivers firewood?"
"Shore do! Dan Haslip makes his livin' offa sellin' firewood. How much you be needin'?"
"Oh say, ten cords?"
"Oh, he'll be ah right happy to heah that and with Christmas coming. He dotes on those grandkids of his'n."
Here's my phone number and address. Tell him he doesn't have to do anything but dump it."
"Okay Gil. I'll be gettin' with him real quick."
"Okay Deacon, you take care."
Gil did a walk-around and started the engine. Checking the tree tops he revved the engine up and lifted well before the end of the pasture, returning to Bluff View.
After he had the plane put away, Gil loaded his cargo in the Gator and went straight to the Chamber to store the jugs. He would do this once a month until the situation wouldn't allow flights.
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Post by ncsfsgm on Nov 20, 2021 17:55:47 GMT -6
Chapter 93
"Gil, we want to make a trip into Knoxville to do some Christmas shopping." Grace announced at the dinner table that night. Gil looked around the table. Brad had his eyes on the plate of cornbread, reaching for another square, Billy and the women were looking at Gil.
"Okay, no problem, but we'll split up. Billy will go with me, Brad goes with you women. We'll probably switch off during the day. We'll leave early, have lunch and dinner in Knoxville, and come back a little late. Think the twins can handle it?"
"Oh sure. They're troopers. We'll keep a French fry in their hand."
So, they decided to make their trip on Thursday. The women even pushed Gil to leave earlier so they could stop and have breakfast at Yoder's. After a filling breakfast they hit the road again. As Billy got back into the truck, Gil handed him an envelope filled with $20 bills.
"I've been saving back your allowance for the last three months."
"But I don't get an al…."
"You do now. You've showed me what kind of person you are. You take responsibility, show maturity, and you think before you act. You'll be getting $25 a week to spend as you like."
"Thanks Dad."
Gil stayed within eyesight of Brad's Suburban until Brad put on his signal to take an off-ramp to a shopping mall. Gil picked up his radio.
"Brad, I'm headed to Sam's. If you can't reach me on the radio, text me."
"Roger."
Gil pulled into Sam's and both he and Billy got flat carts. They started in the Health and hygiene section.
"You see the toothpaste you use?"
"Yes Sir, right her."
"Get years' worth."
Billy stood there for a second and did the calculations in his head, the picked up 16 tubes of toothpaste.
"Do the same with all the other things you use, a make sure you get plenty of spare toothbrushes."
They next went to the breakfast foods area and Billy got four of the big boxes of the cereal he liked, Gil stacked 6 restaurant size cans of cocoa on his cart and loaded up on coffee that still came in #10 sealed cans. Many of the companies had begun shipping their coffee in pretty plastic containers. They didn't store as well over long time. Gil loaded 5 gallon containers of cooking oil on his cart and had Billy loaded four 25 pound bags of table salt on his cart with the four 20 pound bags of sugar. They look around and Gil put four cases of different wines on his cart. Coming to the candy aisle, Gil had Billy pick out large bags of hard candies, explaining their storability. They picked up paper plates, bowls, cups, utensils and such and went on to the shop and auto area. Gil picked a two dozen pairs of leather work gloves, half large, half extra-large. Carts full, they headed for checkout.
Once loading their purchases in the trailer, they got back in the truck and sat a minute.
"I want to make one more stop at COSTCO. Do you have any shopping you want to do?" Gil asked.
"Can we stop by Bass Pro Shops on the way home?"
"Sure no problem."
As they got out of the truck at COSTCO, Gil heard Brad over the earbud: "Headed to Market Square…"
"Roger, we're at COSTCO. Pick up Christmas treat stockings for Sandy."
"WILCO."
After filling out Gil's list at COSTCO, Grace called and wanted him to meet them at Mast General Store. The finally found a place to park and the women began bringing bags from the Suburban and stowing them in the trailer.
The girls and Brad headed on up the street so Gil and Billy went inside Mast General, where Gil ended up doing a great deal of his Christmas shopping. Billy was mesmerized by everything and soon wandered off, giving Gil time to purchase gifts for Billy and get them bagged before he wandered back.
"I found a couple of things for Momma and Grandma Mollie." Billy said when he finally showed up.
"Dad, what can I get for Alan and Alana?"
"Well, lets go to the kid's section and see what they have. To tell you the truth, whatever they get will soon be tossed aside and they'll be playing with toilet paper tubes."
Billy chuckled. He did find a couple of plush toys for them and a Curious George Jack-in-the-box he could use to play with them.
Billy paid for his purchases and as they were headed to the truck, Grace text and told Gil to meet them at the Pinnacle at Turkey Creek for lunch.
"What are they doing way over there?" Gil said.
"What is the Pinnacle?"
"Another shopping complex. My question about what they were doing over there was purely dumb. Text your Mom and ask here where we should meet them."
Billy punched a few keys. "She says Fleming's."
"Well, at least it's a decent steakhouse."
The found a good place to park right beside one of those mobile security camera trailers and went in. Not having been there enough to know where everything was, they checked the store map at the entrance and wove through the crowd to the steak house. Grace and the others already had a table so Gil pulled out a chair next to Grace.
"Are you about finished shopping?" Gil asked.
"What? Oh no! We're just getting started!"
Gil's face fell, then everyone started laughing.
Grace finally quit laughing and patted Gil on the shoulder. "You should have seen the look on your face!"
"You should have felt my stomach heave!" Gil replied.
"Seriously. I need to run into Marshall's and I want you to take Billy to Jos. A. Bank and get Billy a new sport coat, pants and dress shoes. Don't worry about getting the pants hemmed. I can do that. Billy, this is not a Christmas present. Now drink your tea. We'll have a late lunch at Cracker Barrel in Kodak and I want to go over to Bass Pro Shops."
"Billy wanted to stop there too. Drink up Billy. Let's go get you clothed and shod."
"We'll meet you back here. Mollie is going to stay here with the twins." Grace said.
"I'm going with the guys." Brad said.
"Coward!" Allie said, grinning.
An hour later Gil, Brad and Billy returned with a suit bag and bags containing shoes, a new belt, two new dress shirts, 6-pack of handkerchiefs and several pairs of dress socks. They sat down with the women for one more glass of iced tea before heading toward home.
Everyone was almost comatose when they pulled into Bluff View late that afternoon. There is nothing worse than shopping crowds during the Christmas season. Except for a few things the women wanted to take out, Gil left everything locked in the trailer until the next morning.
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Post by ydderf on Nov 20, 2021 18:51:14 GMT -6
I'm bah humbug about Christmas looks like the churches up here will be closed over the Christmas season
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Post by papaof2 on Nov 20, 2021 18:55:07 GMT -6
"He didn't want to run a generator if at all possible. The noise carried too far."
That depends on the generator's size and design. Start with an inverter generator - typically more efficient and thus less noise for the same amount of power produced - then build a noise enclosure. A good enclosure can provide 20dB of noise reduction (1/4 the perceived level of the original sound) which can take many inverter generators to less than the level of conversation. That should be more than adequate when the nearest "listener" is probably a quarter mile or more away.
If Gil uses the hovercraft or the STOL or any 4WD vehicle, they will likely be muich louder than a whole house generator, not to mention one in an effective sound enclosure.
Wind power is great IF your area has enough consistent wind to turn that generator. Our location has perhaps 10-15 days a YEAR (mostly during thunderstorms) when there's enough continuous wind above 20MPH to get useful power from a wind gen - typically, a wind gen's rated output requires wind at 26MPH or so - and the gen needs to be up twice the height of the nearest building or trees to be above the turbulence zone. There's a wind power site online which has lots of disgrams and formulas on "where to put your wind generator".
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Post by gipsy on Nov 20, 2021 19:39:36 GMT -6
Thanks for a fine update.
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Post by cavsgt on Nov 20, 2021 20:15:12 GMT -6
Thank You !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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remembergoliad
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Posts: 158
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Post by remembergoliad on Nov 20, 2021 20:41:19 GMT -6
I'm bah humbug about Christmas looks like the churches up here will be closed over the Christmas season Maybeso....but the bigger question is, will Popeye's also be closed?
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Post by iamnobody on Nov 20, 2021 20:48:15 GMT -6
I'm bah humbug about Christmas looks like the churches up here will be closed over the Christmas season They would rather obey Caesar than obey God.........
And of course most "churches" are 501C3 religious organizations, not churches.
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mlhj
New Member
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Post by mlhj on Nov 20, 2021 21:11:16 GMT -6
I’m not a big fan of wind power, except in limited circumstances. Feel like a tower that sticks up is more of a “I’m here” sign than a generator with good sound mitigation.
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Post by papaof2 on Nov 20, 2021 21:15:36 GMT -6
I'm bah humbug about Christmas looks like the churches up here will be closed over the Christmas season Our church is open, planning to have caroling and handbells on the porch of the church for the people going to the lighting of the town's Christmas tree next week (we're no longer in town - it's cheaper to live out - but it's still our church) and there will be a Christmas music service the second Sunday of December.
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Post by udwe on Nov 20, 2021 21:24:20 GMT -6
Thank you, great update!
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Post by texican on Nov 20, 2021 22:47:47 GMT -6
For sound abatement, bury a 55 gallon waterproofed covered steel barrel about 2/3 in the ground adjacent to where the generator will be placed. Fill the barrel with unfaced heavy fiberglass insulation that you run a flexible metal exhaust hose nearly to the bottom of the barrel with an top discharge outlet and the noise will be abated to an acceptable level. Set the barrel where rain water will drain off or install a a rain barrier above the barrel.
Texican....
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