|
Post by prepguy on Mar 28, 2023 19:58:52 GMT -6
Spent some time rereading this great story from the beginning. Really nicely done. Thank you for sharing your effort with us.
|
|
|
Post by ncsfsgm on Mar 31, 2023 19:36:47 GMT -6
Chapter 204
Perry drove Naomi down to Jacksonville for her Enhanced CCW class on Thursday. After dropping her off at the range, he went to browse a few outdoor stores and planned to go by Burge’s later in the afternoon and pick up two smoked turkeys and two smoked hams in cold pack boxes to add to his freezer. He’d go back to the range at lunch to eat with Naomi. He headed for Bass Pro first. He went to the gun section and checked out the holsters and shoulder rigs. He wasn’t sure what Naomi would want. If she wanted a shoulder rig, there was a guy and his wife over near Furlow who could custom make a rig for her. His wife did leatherwork and could make Naomi a dressy rig of she wanted.
As Perry wandered through the store, his mind went to outdoor chairs. He wanted a couple of chairs to put down on the dock to sit in the evenings. He was directed to the outdoor section and found an Adirondack chair he liked and bought two of them.
Perry wasn’t much on home décor but he saw an Iron and Wood Wall Clock that would look nice in the dog trot and picked it up too. He wandered around more and didn’t find anything else
Looking at his watch and calculating, he figured he had time to pick up some lunch and take it out to the range. He stopped by the Whole Hog and picked up two BBQ plates with iced tea and got to the range a few minutes before the class let out.
“How was it?” Perry asked.
“Piece of cake. It was just a review of what we’ve gone over.” Naomi said.
They sat and ate their meal in the shade of the break area.
“I was looking at holsters and shoulder rigs at Bass Pro. How are you going to carry?” Perry asked.
“I want to pick up a .380 to carry IWB and keep my 9mm in a CCW purse.” Naomi replied.
“Makes sense. Your scrub shirt will conceal the .380 well enough. You got one in mind?”
“The LC380. It’s almost the same size as my LC9.” Naomi replied.
“Well, just be careful with the mags. A 9mm round will fit in a .380 mag and use some fingernail polish or something to color code the base of your mags so you don’t get them mixed up.” Perry said.
On the way home, they stopped at Bass Pro and got the .380, ammo and an IWB holster.
The next morning Perry went over to help Eric lay out the forms for the RV pads. They were going to pour concrete the next day. When he got there, one form had been assembled and the plumber was roughing in the plumbing.
“Why are you doing this?” Perry asked Eric.
“It makes the hair on my arms stand up.” Eric replied.
Perry nodded. He understood what it meant when you know you’ve done something right and the hairs on your arms and the back of your neck stood up. On the other hand, his earlobes burned when things were getting ready to go to hell.
“Those guys have had a tough row to hoe. We all gave a part of ourselves but they were taken a step farther. I was fortunate and want to pass on to them something to make their lives a little better even if only for a relatively short time.” Eric said, staring down at the pad form.
They got all the forms in and Perry talked to Walt about helping him build a smoker. They set it up after the pads were in. Eric checked out the OffGridBox on the internet and then called the company and ordered the Pioneer OffGridBox. The RVs had solar panels and could provide their own power until the box got there, but by the time the pads cured, the box should be there. Perry and Walt brought rock down from the bluff to build a fire pit next to the pavilion within the semicircle of the pads. Eric bought two Adirondack chairs for each pad made from barnwood. The man who made them for the tourists sold them to Eric for a deep discount after he heard what they were doing for the vets. He was an alumni of the 2nd Marine Division.
Naomi helped Perry get the rest of his things stored in the cellar and from that time on spent every Thursday fishing with Perry, stocking up on trout for when Walt got the smoker finished. She also made sure his inventory of spices mirrored Margaret’s. Just before the first RVs were due t arrive, Perry took Naomi to Zales in Little Rock and let her pick out her engagement ring.
Sandra pouted around a few days before Eric laughingly took her to Little Rock for her ring. After that, every other woman’s conversation was about wedding plans.
Three RVs showed up on the day they finished putting the OffGridBox together. They plugged in the pads and there was water and electric hook ups ready for them. There were a total of nine vets ready to fish but they took the last three hours of daylight to get settled in. Some of them did some bank fishing and caught and released a few fish anyway. A game and fish officer stopped by to check licenses and said he would be back the next day to officer assistance. Eric thanked him and got a fire built in the fire pit. Margaret, Sandra and Naomi came down with buffet pans of fried chicken, slaw and potato salad for dinner. After that, they left the men alone and let them sit around the fire and sip beer.
“Ellie, I need a wheel of Sharp Cheddar, Parmesan, Mild Cheddar and a Monterey Jack. Eric has some fish to trade.” Mike said.
“Oh good!” Charlie at all we had.” Ellie said.
“Box them up and leave them on the table here. He said someone was coming to pick them up.”
“Will do.” Ellie replied.
The next morning Perry took his boat over to Eric’s landing and took on four fishermen.
“I’m going to go up to the Riverside and work my way back here.” Eric said.
“I’ll start at Lost Hollow and work my way back here then.” Perry replied.
They took off to their starting positions and had their limits within two hours. When they got back to Eric’s landing, the Game and Fish officer met them and checked them out. Finding nothing illegal, he began regaling the men with fish stories on the river. Eric arrived soon after, which curtailed the officer’s storytelling but he found Eric’s boat on the up and up also. Eric hoped he saw they were doing things by the book and leave them alone for the rest of the week. The only complaints the men had were having to release any trout 13 to 16 inches long. Well, the law was the law.
Andy had flown up to Flat Creek to exchange the three cases of smoked fish for the cheese. Margaret took possession of them immediately when he returned.
The vets were sitting around the firepit drinking beer, eating smoked trout and potato chips when Naomi came down with Sandra. Naomi came into the pavilion and hung a defibrillator next to the first aid kit hanging in a corner. A couple of guys were hitting on her when one of the vets said, “Hey! Don’t ya’ll see that ring on her finger? Cut it out! Bodies float down river and the river is deep here!”
The guys knocked it off and Eric introduced Naomi as Perry’s fiancé. The guys apologized, followed with, “Do you have a sister?”
It was all good natured and one of the guys asked how they smoked the fish. And the subject ran into smoking recipes.
Billy was leading mules over to the blacksmith shop for Greg to shoe them before they plowed the gardens for the fall and planted them with cool weather crops. Ellie and Jo wanted to plant a lot of cabbages and spinach this year. They were also going to plant a couple of patches of sugar beets and turnips for winter feed supplements also. The mules and hogs loved them. Greg was just finishing up a tomahawk head for Hank. He fitted the hickory handle to it and finished sharpening it. Hand was going to give it to Devin and Diane was going to make a belt sheath for it. Greg grinned and shook his head. That kid was born 200 years too late. He was going to grow up and be another Daniel Boone.
Over at Hank’s, Hank was splitting firewood while Devin was cutting small limbs for kindling with an ACE Hardware hatchet, except as soon as he cut a piece of limb off, Max would pick up the stick and walk off to chew it up. Xena lay and watched everything going on with disinterest.
“Hank! I’m running down to Flat Creek with the knife sheaths for Greg. Maddie is going with me.”
“Okay. Take a radio with you!” Hank shouted back.
Greg, Charlie’s son, had picked up the hobby of making some decent hunting knives out of leaf springs. He decided to donate knives to the vets over at Eric’s. Diane made deer hide sheaths for them and Hank provided the antler grips. When he heard Andy was flying over with the fish, Greg thought he’d send the knives back with him. Jerry added a couple of quarts of Kickapoo Joy Juice.
Once a month the Flat and Piney Creek communities still got together at the Hall and had a cookout where the women got together in a separate group from the men. The women talked about recipes and energy saving steps in their day to day activities and the men talked about the local and world situations and how they could combat the effects. They filtered through the TV news and ironed out the assumptions. Gun violence was on the rise, inflation was rampant, the borders were open, inflation was high and it didn’t seem few politicians of either party had a lick of common sense. Problems could be solved if they would just come together and work at it. Intransigent people get nothing done. Mainly, the men worked on their roadmap on how to keep the effects from their families. It was tough enough fighting with natural disasters without incompetent politicians throwing their hats in the ring. Every one of them needed to have Icy Hot sprayed in their underwear to get their attention.
|
|
|
Post by bluefox2 on Mar 31, 2023 20:11:00 GMT -6
Icy hot is not a bad idea
|
|
|
Post by gipsy on Mar 31, 2023 21:16:37 GMT -6
Tiger balm is better. Thanks for the update.
|
|
|
Post by feralferret on Mar 31, 2023 22:12:34 GMT -6
How about Absorbine Veterinary Liniment in their shorts? It's stronger.
Good chapter! Thanks.
|
|
|
Post by jpr9954 on Apr 1, 2023 14:13:37 GMT -6
I love your stories but I hate the term "gun violence". It is the term used by the gun control lobby and their allies in the media. Though longer, I think the proper term should be the criminal misuse of a firearm.
|
|
|
Post by bluefox2 on Apr 1, 2023 19:56:43 GMT -6
How about Absorbine Veterinary Liniment in their shorts? It's stronger. Good chapter! Thanks. if you are going that route how about just using straight horse liniment?
|
|
|
Post by feralferret on Apr 1, 2023 22:34:26 GMT -6
How about Absorbine Veterinary Liniment in their shorts? It's stronger. Good chapter! Thanks. if you are going that route how about just using straight horse liniment? Absorbine Veterinary Liniment is horse liniment.
|
|
|
Post by bluefox2 on Apr 2, 2023 7:38:04 GMT -6
if you are going that route how about just using straight horse liniment? Absorbine Veterinary Liniment is horse liniment. Got it now. Thanks
|
|
|
Post by ncsfsgm on Apr 2, 2023 18:08:46 GMT -6
Chapter 205
Sunday afternoon Eric held a big cookout at his place and presented each of the vets with a couple of jars of smoked trout and the hunting knife Greg had made. Funny stories were told by the men but not one war story. The memories were still too fresh. Plenty of beer was consumed and the steaks were tender. When the party broke up, Margaret hugged each vet and had a tear in her eye, she had treated each one like a son because that’s the way she felt. Sandra and Eric ferried them back to the RV site. They would be leaving first thing in the morning.
Eric was happy with the way things had gone that weekend and Margaret was already planning meals for the next time they had vets down. Then the word came out and a local stringer reporter wrote a news story about it using pictures taken by Eric and Margaret. Interest grew and local people began donating to build gift baskets, or boxes to the cause, welcoming the men and women to the area. Loads of wine, handmade area specific novelties, began pouring in. One family who made had crafted willow branch baskets got with Margaret to design a gift basket/box to hold the items in. Ellie began making 1/8-pound cheddar cheese samplers shaped with an antique butter mold to add. Mike paid to have foil wrappers printed to wrap the “Ozark Cheese” samplers in. A local graphic design company donated several dozen printed T-shirts. Local fishing guides offered their services and boats should Eric get more people in than he could manage. Sandra became the COO for the project to keep track of everything.
Calico Rock and the White River got a big boost in advertising and tourism once articles came out in veteran’s magazines. That brought in even more donations. Tourists to the area wanted Eric and Perry to act as their fishing guides, but they turned them away and directed them to local guides. Both Eric and Perry had fishing guide licenses, required for them to take the vets out, they had too much to do to spend any other time guiding.
The man with the AK47 literally blew apart at the waist when the Raufoss round hit him. The man on the other side of the column was missing his head, blood spewing everywhere. The eight boys and men carrying the backpacks crouched and struggled to remove the packs, then scurried back into the underbrush.
“Aces high”, the man behind one of the MK82s said into the microphone.’
‘Roger. Go to sector two.” The net control said.
The men rolled up their firing mats and guns and walked down into the arroyo, keeping to the rocks to hide their footprints.
The drone lifted off the roof of Rufus King Apartments and flew down 148th Street to the courthouse. The spotter had called it just right. As the Prosecutor appeared from the armored vehicle, the drone released two fragmentation and two white phosphorus grenades which fell within two meters of the entourage, killing four people, among them the prosecutor who had changed his office from distribution of law to a political weapon. The drone flew on down 148th, turned right on 88th then blew up behind the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses between 88th and Hillside Avenue. Ten other drones took to the air, flying around and then converged on Forest Park and blew up over the trees.
In a half dozen locations across the nation legal personalities and politicians were confronted by others with a different idea of what was considered justice, mostly with terminal consequences.
Jeremy stopped by Eric’s with a couple of boxes. One held a fiber laser engraving machine and the other held two hundred Black Oxide Leatherman Rebar Multi-Tools to add to the gift packages for the Vets. DHS really didn’t need them for their office pogues. Taylor had made a good find.
The Healing Waters Foundation was quick to reschedule another group and wanted to send a film crew with them to document the event. Eric agreed and notified everyone involved, including the game and fish officer. Eric requested he be sent a list of names of the vets taking part. Sandra had been practicing with the laser engraver and was going to etch the Vet’s name and “Thank you for your Service” on the multi-tools. Eric flew over to Flat Creek and Mike took him to see Diane to get her to make leather sheaths for the Leatherman tools. She had plenty of leather scraps and readily agreed. Eric left her with one of the Leatherman tools and its cheap MOLLE Sheath.
Gary and Clay were ripping slabs off the last log for the 8x8 posts to be used in the expansion of the pavilion at the Community Hall. Mike had radioed about 30 minutes before that a strong storm system was headed their way and to batten down the hatches. With the last cut being made, Gary shut the saw down and closed everything up. They hurried to their houses, to get ready. Saoirse had turned off the gas to the oven and was moving food from the refrigerator to the shelter. Gary called Mike and reported they were secure. Gary looked to the southwest but couldn’t see much, just heavy clouds.
Hank got the warning over the SPT about the storm. The TV was reporting tornadoes east of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma and the storm cells were moving rapidly in their direction. He was the only one to directly observe the tornado as it cut across the valley below. It came across Flat Creek and swept across the end of the runway, then zigged and passed the greenhouse at Matt’s, taking the roof off the covered bridge but the structure stood intact. It continued to the northeast and entered the National Forest leaving dozens of twisted trees in its wake.
After the storm had passed, Mike and Matt met out while doing an assessment of the damage. Surprisingly, the greenhouse didn’t have even one cracked panel. They lost a couple of sheets of tin off of one of the mule weather shelters and of course the roof on the covered bridge, but everything was easily repairable. They decided to hold off until the next day to affect any repairs. There were more storm bands behind this storm and could have more damage during the night. Everyone was sleeping in the shelters that night.
Repairs were quickly made the next day. After all, it only involved sheets of metal roofing and some roofing screws. They had been extremely lucky. A news crew and the forest service came by and the F.S. Rep readily agreed to let Matt and Mike harvest the shattered timber because it could get infested with insects and cause a fire hazard later.
The work started again on the pavilion and was finished up by the weekend. Now the occupancy of the hall had a covered space outside to gather which also gave them plenty of room to set up tables and everyone could eat outside also. Mat, Mike and Gary went in together to put in a big order of more security cameras for their shelters. The men and women also were out helping other people in the paths of tornadoes clean up or giving whatever assistance they could. A house near the Lohmer Full Gospel Church was destroyed but fortunately, most of that area was state forest lands and did not have many houses. A consignment shop to the northwest of Cassville lost its roof but they had it tarped before much rain got in. The small communities had dodged the bullet once again.
Brandon, Aspen and a county Deputy cruised the lake in the hovercraft with a load of blankets and tarps. They were checking out campgrounds and RV parks. They did find one cottage with a damaged roof and helped the homeowner tarp it. So far, they had found no injuries. They traveled up as far as Stonewater Cove where the Deputy had gotten a report of storm damage. By the end of the day, they were worn out.
”This stuff makes me feel old.” The Deputy said as they dropped him off at Kimberling Marina.
“It doesn’t make me feel old as when I found out Ali McGraw was 85 years old.” Brandon replied.
Perry gazed over at Naomi, and a smile came over his face. She was an amazing woman and was strikingly beautiful with the sun shimmering on her raven black hair. Even without makeup or lipstick, the sight of her brought joy to him. He was always amazed that such an attractive woman could have such a big heart. A lot of women of her beauty were too wrapped in how they looked than how others felt.
"What are you looking at?"
"Heaven in a pair of dungarees, T-shirt and hiking shoes."
Naomi reached over and squeezed his forearm. "I like what I see too, Perry Spencer. You make life worth living."
"Lady, I was just thinking the same about you. I thought I had been in love once before but what I feel for you beats it all to hell.”
“Why Mr. Spencer, are you trying to win my favors once again?”
“You know it!” Perry said, grinning.
Sandra, Eric, Naomi, and Perry were married in a double ceremony at the River Rock Church of Calico Rock on October 3rd. Jeremy, Gary and Caoimhe and many friends around Calico Rock attended. Andy flew Eric and Sandra to Ft. Walton Beach for their honeymoon. Perry and Naomi delayed their honeymoon because Naomi was going to do Sandra’s rounds of her patients and Sandra would pick up Naomi’s patients when she went on her honeymoon. Naomi wanted to go to Banff, Canada and not to the beach so Perry made the reservations. Andy would fly Perry and Naomi to Branson to catch a flight to Kansas City and a connection to Calgary. Perry had a friend in Calgary who would fly them from Calgary International to Banff airfield in a DeHaviland Beaver. A rental car would be waiting at the hotel.
Naomi was gone all day, every day now, so Perry spent a good bit of time fishing. He helped Walt finish up the smoker and got it covered to keep it out of the weather. One more day of fishing and he was going to smoke his own fish. He already had a batch of brine made up that Margaret helped him with He had cut plenty of Aspen on the other side of the river and even brought a few shoots back to transplant down on the point near the trestle. The wood was good and dry. And he was eager to assess his smoking abilities.
|
|
|
Post by ncsfsgm on Apr 2, 2023 18:11:00 GMT -6
I love your stories but I hate the term "gun violence". It is the term used by the gun control lobby and their allies in the media. Though longer, I think the proper term should be the criminal misuse of a firearm. To me, "gun Violence" is the criminal use of a firearm.
|
|
|
Post by gipsy on Apr 2, 2023 19:09:08 GMT -6
Thanks for the update
|
|
|
Post by kaijafon on Apr 5, 2023 17:17:57 GMT -6
"The drone flew on down 148th, turned right on 88th then blew up behind the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses between 88th and Hillside Avenue." Hey now, why you be blowing up one of our kingdom halls when everyone knows (or should) that JW's don't get involved in politics but pay our taxes and obey the laws..... Or am I reading it wrong and it was the DRONE that blew up? ??
|
|
|
Post by ncsfsgm on Apr 5, 2023 17:22:32 GMT -6
"The drone flew on down 148th, turned right on 88th then blew up behind the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses between 88th and Hillside Avenue." Hey now, why you be blowing up one of our kingdom halls when everyone knows (or should) that JW's don't get involved in politics but pay our taxes and obey the laws..... Or am I reading it wrong and it was the DRONE that blew up? ?? Diversionary squib charge, no collateral damage except a lady who peed her pants.
|
|
|
Post by kaijafon on Apr 6, 2023 10:34:07 GMT -6
"The drone flew on down 148th, turned right on 88th then blew up behind the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses between 88th and Hillside Avenue." Hey now, why you be blowing up one of our kingdom halls when everyone knows (or should) that JW's don't get involved in politics but pay our taxes and obey the laws..... Or am I reading it wrong and it was the DRONE that blew up? ?? Diversionary squib charge, no collateral damage except a lady who peed her pants.HAHAHAHA! BEAUTIFUL~!
|
|
|
Post by ncsfsgm on Apr 7, 2023 14:54:14 GMT -6
Chapter 206
Perry woke up with Naomi’s head on his arm. He turned slightly and wrapped his other arm around her. Her hair smelled faintly of Gardenias and tickled his chin as he nuzzled against her neck. Naomi’s body was always warm and inviting, but her feet were as cold as ice. She wore a pair of Perry’s heavy woolen socks every night when she stayed over. She could actually wake him up in the middle of the night of she didn’t have on the socks. She had the warmest heart and the damnedest cold feet. Slowly easing his arm out from under her neck, Perry got up and put some sweatpants and his moccasins on and went downstairs. Grabbing a bottle of cold water from the fridge, walked out on the deck, took a breath of the clean air and drank from the bottle. Naomi slipped up behind him and put her arms around his waist, her generous breasts pressing against him
"Good morning my sweet. Have a good sleep?" Perry asked.
"Best in a long time my love, until you tried to sneak out of bed. What's for breakfast?"
"What'll you have? We’ve got powdered eggs, bacon, sausage, oatmeal and things like that. I can cook pancakes if you want."
Naomi kept her hold on him, her head against his back. "Eggs, bacon and toast will do nicely," she said. "What’s up coming out here?"
"Just enjoying the morning."
"It is beautiful. Shall I make the coffee?"
"Hey, yeah, I forgot all about that."
They busied themselves with their respective chores, then sat down at the table and ate.
When Eric and Sandra returned for their honeymoon, Adam flew Perry and Naomi to Branson. After a long day of travel, they landed in Calgary, they were picked up by the Beaver and flown to Banff. A ten-minute shuttle to the hotel and they were soon signed in and had keys to a rental car. They were too tired from traveling to go out to eat so they ordered room service and got a good night’s sleep. It was early in the season for much snow. There was a little but not enough on the big slopes. They had snow making units set up on the beginner slopes though. The biggest draw for them was the scenery. They basically liked to walk around, either on the trails or to the shops and look, like the couple they now were. They had many romantic dinners and sometimes strolled in the light snow that frequently fell in the evening, only to be almost completely melted the next day. The heavier snows would be there soon, but they planned on being out of there before then. Naomi did buy some nice winter clothes. She also bought Perry a Wolverine trimmed fur trapper’s hat that he might wear some day if it got bad enough on the White River.
They both breathed a sigh of relief when their plane touched down in Branson. Adam was there with a shuttle van to transport them to the General Aviation area of the airport. Less than an hour later the Maule aircraft was touching down at Calico Bluff. Perry and Eric carried the bags to the boat while Sandra, Naomi and Sue gossiped.
Archie was ecstatic to see them. He’d stayed over at Eric and Sandra’s while Perry and Naomi were away. Margaret spoiled him like a grandchild and at first, he was reluctant to leave, staring at Margaret until she pointed at the boat and said, “Go on! Get in.” Archie jumped in Eric’s boat followed by Naomi, Perry and Eric. When they got to the Piney Creek dock, Archie was the first one out of the boat to go re-mark his boundary trees.
Eric had come over and had moved the Gator down to the dock earlier so all they had to do was load their bags and Perry and Naomi drove up to the house. Perry unloaded the bags while Naomi opened some doors and windows to air the place out. Perry turned the gas back on and laid a fire. They would need it in a few hours.
Jeremy used Eric and Perry as auxiliary on a couple of training exercises to resupply and move teams around by boat when the roads were suspect. Perry became practiced at maneuvering the boat using only Night vision goggles. Perry had purchased on his own two pairs of the civilian equivalent of the Army’s new Enhanced Night Vision Goggles (ENVG) because he didn’t want to be caught out at night by Game and Fish with military goggles. He had to ride though, with one hand in the light switch to turn on the required night running lights.
In a declared emergency, the government will tell you: Stay calm. Do not leave your homes. Do not panic. Just wait for the state to restore the situation. The government will provide. People have been conditioned to trust the government and will sit and wait for someone to help them. They will be the losers and be some of the first to die. Once the government gets involved, many times the people are left bereft due to political and/or personal bias. The nexuses of Flat and Piney Creeks, Legion Cove and Calico Bluff weren’t going to wait on an unresponsive entity known as The Government. They were preparing as well as they could for any crisis and were always improvising and coming up with new ideas. The Democrats were fighting hard to gain more power and if they got total control, abject actions by them were sure to follow.
People were slowly waking up to what was going on in America but ambivalence was going to get the majority of them killed in one way or another. The next afternoon, Naomi pulled up to their cabin and saw Perry on the deck lying in the hammock. Archie was lying below the hammock keeping guard.
“You lazy bum! Why aren’t you making my dinner?!” Naomi said, slapping Perry’s foot.
“I made beef stroganoff. It’s staying warm right now.” Perry said, opening one eye.
“Oh! Well, aren’t you sweet! Come on, let’s open a bottle of wine.”
Perry swung his feet out of the hammock and got up. Archie scrambled to get out of his way.
“So how was your day?” Perry asked.
“Mrs. Romer isn’t doing so good. I’m afraid it won’t be long before her daughter puts her into Hospice.” Naomi said.
“That’s sad. If my family were to send me away to die, I’d put a gun to my head.” Perry said.
“I’d never do that to you, my love.” Naomi said, kissing Perry on the cheek.
“I’d appreciate that.” Perry said.
Adam held the apex of the parabolic shaped material while Eric straightened out the lines stretching from the skirt of the material.
“Can you use these more than once?” Adam asked.
“If you can recover them.” Eric replied.
“How much can we be off?” Adam asked.
“I don’t want to be off more than two meters.”
Eric sat the box at the end if the shroud lines stretching from the skirt of the parachute canopy and connected the webbing to the box with carabiners and screwed the closures shut and locked. He smoothed out the material, the began folding the panes and smoothing them left and right. He then neatly folded the parachute, starting with the skirt into the deployment bag and pressed the material tight. Pressing the Velcro closed on the flaps of the bag, he tied the apex loop to a fifteen foot static line with 80-pound test strength cotton cord then S-folded the static line on top of the bag and secured the loops with rubber bands to the loops.
“That’s it. One case of rations, one case of ammo with incidentals. That should get them to the next cache.” Eric said.
“Where’s the drop zone?” Adam asked.
“I’ve got the coordinates written down for you, but I’ll show you on the map.” Eric said. “It’s only about six miles from here. Right here, in this cow pasture. I want you to fly east to west at 400 feet. I’ll push the bundles out. Just keep the plane level, at 90 knots and 400 feet You’ll be wearing NODs and you’ll see a chemlight here and here. Just stay aligned on those lights. We’re dropping the bundles so they land near the end of this ravine, so the team has minimum exposure in the open.”
“Where are they headed to?”
“The other side of the Ozark National Forest. They’ve got a good walk.”
“Hell, I could land in that pasture and shuttle them.” Adam said.
“It’s an endurance event for training. A confidence builder. There won’t be any participation trophies. They either make it or start their training cycle all over again at the beginning.”
James Benson, Walt’s son and his wife Laura, and their daughter Amy were often over on Sundays for at least a couple of hours to visit. James and Laura had been busy since their arrival in Calico Rock building their bed and breakfast, Peaceful Inn. They had also partnered with a local fishing guide to offer their services to the local attraction. Their mini cabins had been filled all summer and were booked all the way through December. James and Eric got along well and often James would ask Eric for advice. It was Eric who recommended to James that he buy his staples in bulk to cut down on the costs of running the bed and breakfast. And Laura was cynical at first but after the first three months looking at the books, she was a believer. James had even bought a couple of shipping containers and had supplies stored in them. They would go to Little Rock once every three months and bring back enough supplies for the next three months. Their 38-acre property contained the main house with two guest bedrooms and the six cabins. The cabins came with satellite TV, sleeping for four, WIFI, Heat, A/C, Table & Chairs, Microwave, Coffee Maker, and Mini-Fridge, and access to a Pavilion equipped with BBQ Grills & Picnic Tables. If you wanted to eat meals at the Inn then that was set up ahead of time.
Business had been so good, they were undergoing a renovation and adding a wing to the Inn, Had hired a full-time cook and a house keeper. Laura was working to budget a gardener also. There had been a nice little rose garden and she had a landscaper build upon it and made a nice place to sit out and enjoy the day. There were even wives coming with their husbands, not to fish but to enjoy the quaint little town and visit the local antique shops. Wives came along and wouldn’t see their husbands again until they had washed the fish smell off from the days fishing. Some wives did like to fish and had just as good a time. Laura did everything to make sure their guests had a pleasant time and their bookings and ratings showed it. James wanted to talk to Perry about getting a jet boat built for tours so Perry and Naomi were over also for a cookout.
Perry showed James the website on Eric’s computer but none of the boats seemed suitable. Perry typed in a search and they finally found something that James was interested in. It was a Neoteric 8-passenger Hovercraft. Perry printed out the information page and gave it to James.
“This might be just what I need. I wanted a shallow draft, comfortable boat for tours, especially in the fall when the tourists come up her for the colors.” James said.
“Well, you won’t need a dock for that, you can just drive right up on the bank.” Eric said. “You’ll have to send whoever is going to drive it to take operator training, and that can be anywhere between two thousand to three thousand dollars.”
“Well, the plant is up in Indiana so it might not be so bad.” James said.
Perry and Naomi were sitting in the family room watching a movie on the Blue Ray when Archie stood up and stared at the door. The fur on his neck his neck was bristling.
“Okay Archie,” Perry said softly, “heel and we’ll check out whatever has you spooked.”
Archie, not unexpectedly, didn’t have much to say in response. Perry picked up his pistol and a flashlight and they walked out into the yard. Archie started to chomp on some of the sparse vegetation in the yard and they began walking up the drive. As they got near the main road, Perry heard a car door slam and saw tail lights up the road as the car pulled away.
|
|
|
Post by gipsy on Apr 7, 2023 15:40:26 GMT -6
Spies in the dark. Thanks for the update.
|
|
|
Post by feralferret on Apr 7, 2023 16:49:28 GMT -6
Another very enjoyable chapter! Thank you.
|
|
|
Post by kaijafon on Apr 9, 2023 17:16:36 GMT -6
hope that wasn't poison he was chomping on. when I lived in the desert, had a gang come by and poison all the dogs (poisoned steaks/burger), then they came and robbed all the places...except mine. I met them outside. They took off in their car. Not sure why.
|
|
|
Post by bluefox2 on Apr 9, 2023 20:41:42 GMT -6
hope that wasn't poison he was chomping on. when I lived in the desert, had a gang come by and poison all the dogs (poisoned steaks/burger), then they came and robbed all the places...except mine. I met them outside. They took off in their car. Not sure why. Was it the fact you weren't wearing any clothes and carrying a big azzed gun?
|
|
|
Post by ncsfsgm on Apr 11, 2023 7:20:54 GMT -6
Chapter 207
The next morning Perry made a call to an acquaintance who was a distributor of odd survival gear and put in a big order. It wouldn’t get to Perry quickly because part of it was labeled “explosives.”
The devices he had ordered were Perimeter alarms armed with a 12 Gauge 2 3/4” flash-bang shotgun round. When tripped, they would explode with a very large BANG and either slow up intruders or make them leave due to their being discovered. Perry had ordered enough for Eric to use also. Things were getting interesting.
Arthur “Bruno” Armitage Was one of the people who could read between the lies and could see the country was heading for a fall. The politicians and elites were already preparing. If he stayed where he was, he’d just be another large minnow in a very big pond. He needed to get somewhere he could be bigger than the rest of the fish and take control, somewhere no one in the outside world would give a shit who was in charge. He just needed a dozen men he could control and take over when it was time. He had picked Calico Rock because his father had taken him there as a boy to go fishing. He remembered it was in the middle of nowhere and the population was sparse and he shouldn’t have any trouble taking over when the time was right. He bought some acreage outside the town limits that was defensible and renovated the farmhouse on the property. He began gathering supplies, preparing for the end of civil society.
Bruno covered all the bases, he thought. Lack of medicine, clean water, food, and proper sanitation would kill a lot of the people after the crash. .
Naomi had more spare time now. Her patients were slowly dying off so in her spare time was learning more about gardening, edible wild plants in their area, and raising Chickens. Perry and Walt built a chicken coop and run and Naomi began raising chickens and guinea hens for eggs and meat. The Guinea hens just roamed the property. They not only kept the ground insects down, especially ticks, they were also an effective burglar alarm. Their garden, thriving in the humid summer climate gave up their vegetables and fruits which Margaret trained Naomi to can. Perry had gone out several times at night and using his night vision equipment killed several feral hogs which were butchered, selected portions were smoked and cured. Eric and Perry, at the insistence of Sandra and Naomi, taught them combat shooting skills.
Perry and Naomi were in Mountain Home browsing through Flashbacks Retroshop antique store when the lights went off.
“What in the world?!” Naomi said.
“I think the manure has just met the fan.” Perry said. “Calmly make your way to the door, we need to head home.”
They left the store and made their way to the truck and Perry carefully drove out of the city. Some cars were stranded in the middle and sides of the street for those who had sense enough to pull over when they lost power. They finally made it to highway 201 and kept going. Perry was on constant watch and laid his pistol on the console between the seats. Naomi unholstered her pistol and checked the AS-12 laying under a blanket on the back seat.
Perry had to go slower because idiots left their vehicles in the road when their engines died, and he was constantly negotiating the obstacle course the highway had become. Thankfully, there wasn’t a lot of traffic on the road, especially the farther they got out of town. Jeremy warned them this might happen. The government tried to keep it a secret, then more and more news reports were exposing there might be a disruption in communications as the Earth passed through the solar flare. Jeremy warned them it would be worse. Many in Washington were already heading for their designated COG sites (Continuation of Government sites) to seek shelter.
“What’s going to happen?” Naomi asked.
“Just what we talked about. We’ll hunker down and let things get back to as normal as they can, which will be something like the 1850’s before everyone had electricity. Right now, the elite and government bureaucrats are hunkered in their bunkers, COG-designated locations, waiting to figure out how to tax the hell out of the citizens for services the government can’t provide.”
Aren’t they doing without too?”
“No, back in 1947 President Truman outlined emergency plans for federal departments. Truman created the Office of Emergency Planning to establish policies for continued operations in the event of a national crisis. President Kennedy reorganized the Office of Emergency Planning as part of his wide-sweeping reform of national defense infrastructure. These reforms were dictated by executive order and the Office of Emergency Planning gained the authority to set policy for the continuity of all three main branches of government. Over the years, these plans snowballed into secret bunkers across the United States where the politicians would flee to save themselves while the people on the street would be left to fend for themselves. Eric and I have been doing for ourselves what the government did for themselves.”
It wasn’t until they got to the other side of Norfolk that they experienced any trouble. A man was beside a truck in the right-hand lane waving a pistol trying to get them to stop.
“Get the shotgun and make it ready.” Perry said as they slowed 300 feet from the stopped vehicle. Naomi quickly retrieved the shotgun.
“What rounds?” Naomi asked.
“Buckshot.”
Naomi pointed the barrel at the floorboard, inserted a mag with ten rounds of buckshot, loaded a round into the chamber, then rolled her window down. Perry didn’t slow anymore and just breezed right on around thee stalled truck.
“Duck!” Perry yelled and floor boarded the accelerator.
Naomi scooched down in her seat and they heard a bullet hit the tailgate.
“Well, that wasn’t very nice of him!” Naomi said.
“That’s what you can expect for a while.” Perry replied.
“Get the phone out of the console and call Eric’s number.” Perry told Naomi.
Naomi opened the console, took the satellite phone out of the bag, and unfolded the antenna. Leaning slightly out the window, she checked the signal strength and pressed Eric’s speed dial number and handed the phone to Eric.
“Perry? Are you all right?” Eric asked.
“Yeah, No problem. We were in Mountain Home when the lights went out. We’re between Mountain Home and Calico Rock now.”
“Well, be careful. The stupid stuff is about to start happening.” Eric said.
“Already has. We’ll be over in a while.” Perry replied.
“Okay, see you later. Stay safe.” Eric replied.
Later, Eric received a phone call from Jeremy saying he was pulling in two training teams back to Calico Bluff and to expect them around 1900 at the radio tower. Eric called Adam on the radio and told him what was going on. Adam and Sue were in the hangar checking the plane’s electronics out. It looked like the metal hangar had worked as more of a Faraday cage than they had hoped. Still, they were glad they had stockpiled spare electrical components.
Sandra and Margaret got the cabins ready for their visitors and Margaret prepared a hearty meal.
“What the hell is wrong with the power?!” Bruno shouted.
“I don’t know. I tried to call the power company, but my phone is dead.” Jack said.
“Mine is too.” Bruno said. “I got cut off during a call.”
“Well, start up the generator.” Bruno said. “I thought it was supposed to automatically start if the power went off.”
“Joe is checking on it now.” Jack said.
“Earl called on the SPT and said the power is out in town.” Diane said.
Hank went down in the bunker and got the wideband receiver out of the cage, took it upstairs, connected it to a longwire antenna and turned it on. He turned on the scanning feature of the radio and listened to major news organizations talking about the solar storm.
“Those modules Jeremy recommended seemed to have worked.” Diane said.
“Too bad the government didn’t have a program to EMP proof the rest of the country.” Hank commented.
“They were too busy covering their own butts.” Diane replied.
“Earl called on the SPT and said the power is out in town.” Diane said.
“Did you talk to Kacie?” Hank asked Diane.
“Yeah, she’s up and running but she has no internet. I checked our computer, it’s working, and we have satellite internet through Hughes. Why weren’t the satellites taken out too?” Diane asked.
“They’re building them these days with EMP protection built in.”
Brandon had to replace some components on the the hovercraft's two engine ignitions, but got it going. The EMP shields had worked on all the other vehicles, even the tractor. He made one contact with the Sheriff’s Department and so far, everything was calm. Brandon and Aspen took a ride into the Shell Knob area, and everything was quiet. They did notice a lot of people displaying weapons. A couple of service stations were running off of generators. All purchases were in cash though. Brandon chuckled. Cash was worthless now. Brandon filled his truck and paid with cash he kept in his console.
Mike, Jerry, and Charlie took the remote cameras off the chargers and set them up near the gate. Matt and his people did the same on their gate. Ellie and the women made another batch of cheese.
A repeater on the radio tower allowed Walt to stay in contact with his son at the Peaceful Inn. On that side of town, everything was still quiet, so far.
After dinner, Perry and Naomi sat on the deck drinking a glass of wine. "Perry, how many men have you had to kill?” Naomi asked.
Perry shook his head. "Sweetheart, I don't like to talk about that. I know you want to know more about me, but I don't want you to be afraid of me."
Naomi squeezed his hand. "I could never be afraid of you. Perry, I'm a very low key person, I love to care for people, and I avoid trouble as much as possible, but I want to be like you and be able to defend my loved ones when pushed. I know you never killed anyone who didn't deserve it."
As they days went by, Eric was picking up that someone was making a possible move on Calico Rock. People were staying at home because Harp’s was closed now; they had sold everything out and the shelves were bare. Few generators were in operation and no one was out and about except two or three vehicles with the same people in them each time.
Over the next few weeks, they occasionally heard explosions and gunshots from the direction of Calico Rock and across the river from Optimus. They also heard sustained gunfire close enough to make Perry and Eric take notice. They couldn't see anything, but Jake knew the shooting probably came from a couple of the farms nearby. One of the three-man teams were going to check the farms out. They saw a few boats on the river and heard a vehicle pass on the road every now and then, but for the most part, it was quiet along the river. "Perry, freeze!” Eric said, grabbing Perry by the drag loop on the back of his vest. “There is a boat approaching. Let's hide behind these bushes," Eric said.
They watched as the Jon boat cruised past them, two men with rifles sitting at the bow of the boat and one man steering. It went on past them to Cresswell Island, turned around, and began making its way back up the west side of the river.
|
|
|
Post by gipsy on Apr 11, 2023 8:37:10 GMT -6
Preparation now pays off. Thanks for the update.
|
|
|
Post by kaijafon on Apr 11, 2023 9:04:35 GMT -6
hope that wasn't poison he was chomping on. when I lived in the desert, had a gang come by and poison all the dogs (poisoned steaks/burger), then they came and robbed all the places...except mine. I met them outside. They took off in their car. Not sure why. Was it the fact you weren't wearing any clothes and carrying a big azzed gun? Actually I DID have cloths on and no gun. Me simply stepping out and crossing my arms had them scurrying away. Must of been the look on my face... I was not in a good mood that day and that might have played a teeny tiny part in it all.
|
|
|
Post by bluefox2 on Apr 11, 2023 19:51:15 GMT -6
Was it the fact you weren't wearing any clothes and carrying a big azzed gun? Actually I DID have cloths on and no gun. Me simply stepping out and crossing my arms had them scurrying away. Must of been the look on my face... I was not in a good mood that day and that might have played a teeny tiny part in it all. So you threw them that combination unhappy Mom and angry wife look
|
|
dannab1
New Member
Enter your message here...
Posts: 21
|
Post by dannab1 on Apr 12, 2023 20:22:46 GMT -6
Was it the fact you weren't wearing any clothes and carrying a big azzed gun? Actually I DID have cloths on and no gun. Me simply stepping out and crossing my arms had them scurrying away. Must of been the look on my face... I was not in a good mood that day and that might have played a teeny tiny part in it all. I've found the old school teacher stare works wonders on drunks and mischief makers. Maybe the crazy redheaded Irish/scot attitude helps🤣.
|
|