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Post by freebirde on Aug 3, 2022 2:47:05 GMT -6
Castor beans? Is she going to make castor bean oil or ricin for Jeffery?
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Post by gipsy on Aug 3, 2022 7:24:13 GMT -6
Thanks for the update
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ydderf2
Member
"I'm from the government and here to help" hahahaha
Posts: 321
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Post by ydderf2 on Aug 3, 2022 11:09:10 GMT -6
Thanks
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Post by ncsfsgm on Aug 3, 2022 22:04:09 GMT -6
Chapter 73
Brian cleaned the stalls and put fresh straw down. After giving them a carrot each, an extra scoop of grain and a little more hay, he headed for the chicken coop where he topped off the feeders and cleaned the waterers out. Brian gathered the eggs and headed back to the Lodge, his feet making soft crunching sounds in the accumulated snow. He cleaned the icy snow off on the boot cleaner and went inside the warm house, the smell of a baking cake heavy in the air. Jenna was standing at the weather station.
“The pressure is dropping. Looks like it’s going to be a pretty good storm.”
“Yeah, the jet stream has shifted and it’s bring up moisture from the western part of the Gulf. We’re more than likely going to get a lot of snow out of this one.” Brian said, hanging up his coat and slipping off his ranch Wellingtons. “That cake smells good!”
“Ten minutes. I thought it would be a good day to do some baking.” Jenna said.
“What are you making now?” Brian asked.
“Oatmeal raisin cookies. I’ve been craving them.”
“What’s that in the bowl?”
“I’m soaking the freeze-dried raisins in the egg yolks that go in the cookies so the raisins won’t be quite like wrinkled BBs.”
Brian got out his laptop and logged in to NOAA to get an idea of what the jet stream was doing and its projected movement. After clicking through several pages Brian surmised the next three days would be interesting. He turned on the bootlegged scanner that covered the local emergency and amateur repeater sites and listened while reading his bookmarked websites.
There was already 4” of snow on the ground and still falling when Chase went out to the garage shop to start a fire in the stove while Faith was making breakfast. Today, since they would be inside because of the storm, they would set the engine back on the 3100 frame and fit and weld the exhaust system together. Chase went back to the house just as Faith was starting the blueberry pancakes. He washed his hands and set the table in the breakfast nook.
“We might get a lot of snow.” Faith commented.
“Well, we’ve got everything we need and don’t need to go anywhere. Let it snow.”
They finished breakfast and Chase helped clean the kitchen before they went to the shop together. The first thing Chase did on entering the shop was add more wood to the stove. The heat powered stove fan was turning rapidly and had the shop nice and warm. They first hoisted the engine and quickly had it bolted in, then attached the gas tank. Now Faith could get the angles for the exhaust system drawn out and start fitting the pieces. They were so concentrated on their work it was lunch time before they knew it. Faith was still welding a piece of the exhaust system together so Chase went to the house and reconstituted a bag of broccoli-cheese soup and made toasted grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch. He was toasting the second sandwich on the cast iron griddle pan when Faith came in.
“This is perfect!” Faith said, taking a spoonful of the soup. “It is STILL snowing!”
“Yeah, we could get quite a bit. We’ve got at least six or seven inches already.”
“Well, I’ve got the exhaust pipe welded together. I need to add the muffler and the extension and we can hang it. I’ll need your help to get it block it up so I can adjust the hangers.”
“No problem, I am at your service.”
Jason added more wood to the furnace and went inside the greenhouse where Freya was checking the moisture content of the beds. There was a muffled THUMP as a melting section of snow slid down the roof of the greenhouse and hit the ground.
“I don’t think we have to worry about snow buildup.” Freya said.
“I was hoping it would do that.” Chase said.
Freya set the timer on the fluorescent lights and they came on.
“Look at the carrots. They are growing quickly. That manure tea is got everything looking really good.”
“Yeah, I’m having to tie these pole beans vines up almost every day.”
Freya got another piece of netting and Jason helped her to zip-tie it to the latticed frame to cradle another muskmelon.
“How many melons are you going to let grow?” Chase asked.
“When the frame fills up, then I’ll pinch off any new flowers and the tips of the vines think the frame will hold the weight. Each melon only gets up to about two pounds.”
They finished up in the greenhouse and Freya reset the light timer so the plants could get a full day of artificial sunlight.
The outspoken progressives were being given wide births by fellow Democrats. They wouldn’t meet with them unless under the strictest security protocols. There was no sharing of rides in limos and they were careful not to show there was ANY interaction with the radicals. But the most egregious of the left had already been identified.
Shaped charges are used in not only military but also civil engineering. On the civil side, shaped charges can be used to create a long crack in oil exploration, to cut a large or thick metal structure that is difficult to cut by common methods, and to break a rock or concrete block. On the military side, shaped charges are used to do what the military does, destroy things. Anti-armor missile warheads have a shaped charge warhead that burns through several inches of steel.
A shaped charge is usually a conical shape. The explosive charge is often contained in a tube whose upper part looks like a cylinder and whose lower part ends at a cone of metallic liner. The liner material may be steel, aluminum, copper, and other metallic materials. The mechanism of jet formation in the shaped charge is complex, but the construction of a field expedient shaped charge is relatively simple. A metal come is fabricated out of sheet metal or a piece of copper gutter and placed inside of the tube, in this case a 6” tube. ‘Liberated’ plastic explosive is them packed around the cone to fill the tube. The only thing left to add is a detonator. When the device is detonated, the explosive changes from a solid at ambient pressure to a gas at the same density, and thus very high pressure. The burn front of the transformation advances in a spherical manner at a rate that corresponds to the detonation velocity of the explosive. The resulting high pressure causes the cone to collapse, and this collapse creates a high-speed jet of material and a molten metal slug traveling from the detonation in the direction of the base of the cone at a rate of 8,550 meters per second.
It made no difference that the D.C. mayor had the manhole covers welded shut. The shaped charge cut right through the manhole cover and left the armored limousine a burning hulk on a street in Alexandria.
Brian got up the next morning and looked outside. Large flakes of snow were still falling, but almost straight down. There was virtually no wind. He walked over to the battery monitor and the batteries were fully charged. There must have been some wind last night for the wind turbine to bring the battery charge level up. Looking outside again, he did notice the snow was piled higher on the west side of the trees. Brian walked into the kitchen and made two pots of coffee. He made a pot of decaf in the regular percolator for Jenna and used his beat up old camp percolator to make a ‘decent’ pot of coffee. Opening up his laptop, Brian went to the NOAA website and saw the low pressure system was over the Colorado/Kansas/Oklahoma borders and when he clicked the button to animate the map, the system wasn’t moving very fast. He would need to get out and clear some snow today or it would be a bitch to move it by the time that system moved past them.
Jenna came in in her flannel robe and got mugs down.
“Thank you for making the coffee. What’s the weather looking like?”
“Snow, then more of the same. That low system isn’t moving very fast because of two high systems on the other side of the Mississippi. I’ll have to move some snow today.”
“I’ll make you a thermos of hot chocolate to take with you.”
Jenna put on a kettle of water and turned on the TV to the weather channel. She watched that until she finished her first cup of coffee and then started breakfast, oatmeal with honey and raisins, eggs, bacon and toast. Brian went and got out his insulated coveralls and his mukluks, along his outback hat with the ear flaps, and laid them on his chair. Brian got out smaller frying pan, sliced four slices of bread then toasted and buttered them. Jenna poured juice for them both and they sat down and ate.
Brian replaced the bucket on the cabbed tractor with the front blade and tilted the blade out 30 degrees and first cleared the road to Dave’s. He could go along at a pretty good clip so that didn’t take all that long. Going down to Joe’s didn’t take that long either. He had to run the wipers to keep the windscreen cleared. It was steadily snowing with periods of really heavy snow. Brian stopped and filled his travel mug with the hot chocolate, not that he really needed it, the cab heater was working fine and kept ice from forming on the windscreen from the melting flakes. He did have to get out every so often to slap the wipers against the windscreen to break the ice off. He continued to plow all the way down to the graveled main road. Once he had his drive cleared, he went back to the gravel road and cleared down to the lake gate and then on down to the lake, his Dad’s place, Beth’s place and the seaplane ramp into the lake. He’d have to do it again once the front moved through, but there wouldn’t be as much to do. As he finished the ramp and in front of the hangar, Beth came out and waved at him to stop.
“Come on in and have some coffee.”
“I’ve been drinking hot chocolate. I hope the coffee is strong.”
“It’s Colombian.”
Brian switched off the tractor and followed her back inside.
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Post by gipsy on Aug 4, 2022 7:48:13 GMT -6
Thanks for the update.
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Post by ncsfsgm on Aug 5, 2022 8:41:36 GMT -6
Chapter 74
By the time Brian finished his coffee, his tire tracks were already filling in. He drove back to the equipment building without doing any more plowing and put the tractor back under the shelter. Before going inside, he checked on the horses and gave them each a carrot. Wiping the snow off his boots, he went inside the Lodge. He took off his Wellingtons and sat them in the tray by the door and took off his coat and hat. Brian walked over to the stove, poked the logs and added another.
“It looks like the front is starting to move out.” Jenna said.
“I hope so, this is a pain in the butt.”
“Calm down.” We’re good, we don’t need anything, everyone is safe and only the chickens and the horses need tending. “
“What are you cooking?” Brian asked.
“I’ve got a spaghetti sauce simmering and a dough for an Italian loaf rising.”
“A good meal to have on a day like this. Do you need anything?”
“I could use a pound of butter out of the chest freezer. I need to make garlic butter for the bread.”
“I’m on it.”
After getting the butter out, Brian got out his cleaning kit and removed all the oil from his pistol and lubricated it with powdered molybdenum disulfide.
Jason took the nylon push broom and raked snow off the eaves of the greenhouse, allowing the rest of the snow to slide off the glass roof. Freya had raised the thermostat couple of notches and reset the lights. The plants were doing well in the warm humid air. Freya checked the lemon tree she had started growing from a seed and it was thriving. She added more water to the shallow ceramic basin she had the plant container sitting in on three bricks. Her mother had grown one once and one day they found ants crawling all over it and the ants had killed it. She was determined not to let that happen to her little tree. She looked forward to growing her own lemons. When the seed catalogs came out next month, she was going to see if she could find dwarf citrus trees for sale. She looked up and saw the sky was brighter in areas and it looked as if the clouds were breaking up. There was a little more wind today too. Freya went around and checked the soil moisture and everything was good.
“Another mellloooon!’ Freya said in a sing-song voice and began tying up another piece of netting to suspend the little sphere.
“I’m going to have this trellis filled in no time!”
Jason went over to check the sturdiness of the trellis. “I wish you could grow watermelons like this.”
“Well, I think there are heirloom icebox varieties. I’ll check on it. Look, the tomatoes are beginning to ripen.”
“What variety are these?”
“These are Nepal.”
“If I got a couple of hogs, we could grow our own BLTs.”
“I don’t think so, Mr. Funny. I’ve already checked. It’s cheaper to buy the bacon right now.”
“Have you been working on the shopping list?”
“Yep, and on the top is a baby shower gift for Jenna. Sally, Faith and I have been coordinating so we don’t all get her the same things.”
“Get her a box of shotgun shells. You can never go wrong there.”
“I was thinking along the line of things more baby related, Goofus. Although a little set of camo clothes for a toddler might not be a bad idea.”
“What if it’s a girl?”
“I like to hunt too!”
“Let’s give it a couple of days for the roads to clear up and we’ll take a ride to Fort Smith. Add work gloves on the list. Sometimes Sam’s have them by the dozen packs. I want to get a couple of packs for the store room.”
“Momma wants three cases of T-shirt bags too.”
Freya checked her white board calendar. We need to feed the plants again tomorrow. How much of the tea do we have left?”
“Plenty. There’s still 20 gallons.”
“Good. I still can’t believe how well it works.”
“And how cheap it is.” Jason added, grinning.
Chase held the bumper in place as Faith bolted it on.
“Okay, you can let go now.” Faith said, torquing the bolts.
“Looking good!” Chase said as he stepped back, looking the truck over.
“It is nice looking, isn’t it?”
“What’s next?” Chase asked.
“Weeeelllll. Do you think you could make me some new stake sides out of oak for the 6400?”
“Yeah, I suppose so. I can use the old ones as a pattern. I’ll have to go to the lumberyard to get the oak for it though.”
“No hurry. I thought it would be nice looking with new wood stake sides, that’s all.”
“No, it’s not a problem. I need to clean out under the equipment barn and put gravel in there. I don’t know when I can get to that. It will probably be sometime after the snow melts.”
“We’ve got time. I’m ready for some coffee.”
Rumors had cropped up occasionally over the years but no evidence could be found or was well covered up. It shouldn’t have been such a surprise when the Senator opened the envelope while he sat in the VIP lounge at Dulles International Airport that morning with his Aide. When he pulled out the letter and the three photos, the Senator’s face first turn took on a ghostly pallor, then clutched his chest and slumped in the chair. The Aide look up, puzzled, then rushed to the Senator’s side. As he yelled for medical help he spotted the contents of the envelope sliding down the Senator’s leg into the chair. Seeing the photos, the Aide quickly gathered them up and hurriedly placed them in his overcoat pocket. As the medical personnel worked on the Senator, the Aide made a call.
The concealment of the envelope’s contents would do no good. Duplicates of the contents, to include the letter, were already on their way to every American news agency represented in Washington, plus several high-ranking government officials. The pictures were of the Senator and his Aide, together with what were apparently two underaged boys. The two visibly excited men were disrobed and in the process of conducting, shall we say, lewd behavior. Also included in the distributed packets were two lists; one list contained the names and addresses of people who were a part of the pedophile ring the Senator and his Aide belonged to, their schedules for their “meetings” and parties and addresses of the “get togethers.” The other list contained names and addresses of all the recipients of the of the distributed packets. This would help insure there would be no cover-ups.
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Post by gipsy on Aug 5, 2022 9:31:46 GMT -6
Cover all the bases so it doesn't get "lost". Thanks for the update.
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ydderf2
Member
"I'm from the government and here to help" hahahaha
Posts: 321
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Post by ydderf2 on Aug 6, 2022 0:50:16 GMT -6
Thanks
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Post by ncsfsgm on Aug 6, 2022 10:29:41 GMT -6
Chapter 75
The flight from Dulles departed on time but landed in Charlotte ten minutes late at 12:22 due to a storm system. There was a two hour wait for his flight to Asheville so the Man sat on a padded stool at Captain Jack’s and sipped on a mediocre craft beer until his flight. Upon arrival in Asheville, the man took his carry-on and left the terminal. He was not seen in the area after that.
Beth landed on the glass-like waters of Lake Junaluska and followed the GPS to the floating dock. An attendant was there to secure the temporary line to the pontoon. Getting out of the plane, Beth watched the Man as he came down the walk and stopped.
”I am required to see your driver’s license before we proceed.”
She carefully verified his name and that the photograph matched his face before returning it to him. Walking back to the plane, she opened the door and the Man climbed in the rear passenger area. As Beth cranked the engine, the attendant uncoiled the line from the pontoon mooring cleat and pushed the plane away from the dock with a long gaff pole.
Brian took the 4, ten week old chickens out of the coop one-by-one by the neck, spun them around and broke their necks, then pulled their heads off. After cleaning them, he split them down the backbone and placed them in the brine and Za’atar.
“What else are we having with the chicken? Brian asked.
“Asparagus and pilaf.” Jenna said. I stepped away from Mediterranean and having peach cobbler for dessert.”
“I don’t know, I’m sure they have something like it.”
Jenna had asked Jeremy and Beth to come over for a home-cooked meal after being “shut-ins” during the snow storm.
Brian heated up a frying pan, added sesame oil, minced garlic and fresh ground black pepper and sautéed the garlic under low heat. Once the garlic became translucent, he turned the heat off and let the oil cool. He would use this to baste the grilled chicken.
Early that evening, Beth and Jeremy arrived as Brian was putting the chicken on the grill.
“That’s already smelling good!” Jeremy said.
“Hey Dad. How did the container house survive the mini ice age?”
“Snug as a bug in a rug, but I think if I were in colder climes I would have devised some type of system to have an access to firewood from the inside, like a FIFO rack for cans.”
“Something to think about there.” Brian replied, raising the grill a couple of inches and turning the chicken halves then basting them.
“Cornish hens?”
“Nah. Just getting too many chickens, plus, I wanted to try this recipe.”
“Well, it’s got my mouth watering.”
“Have you taken anything down to the tree since the storm?”
“No, not yet. I learned last year during that storm that they hunker down and don’t start moving until after the snow has about gone. They are canny. They try not to move around where they can leave tracks. I left them a basket and a big bag of apples just before the storm though.”
“Beth, how did you spend our snow shoe vacation?” Jenna asked, grinning.
“Huh! Coffee, a book and The Matrix movies. You all do okay here?”
“Yeah, I thought it was going to be a new Missouri cloud cover for a while. It just made it hard to get to the greenhouse. Brian kept it clear for the most part and I worked and even took a folding lounge chair out there. We spent a good bit of time out there just relaxing. I think Harley liked it most of all. He could be outside and still be warm at the same time.
Jenna dished the pilaf and asparagus into bowls as Brian and Jeremy came in with the chicken, hot off the grill. The timer dinged at almost the same time and Jenna took the rolls out of the oven while Beth poured the wine. They sat down to eat, mouths watering from the delicious smells.
“Anything going on much, Dad?”
“No, not in our bailiwick. I’ve got to travel a little next week but nothing big. How is my granddaughter doing?”
Jenna smiled. “We won’t know if it’s a granddaughter until Tuesday, but whatever sex it is, it will be an active child, I’m sure!”
“Jenna, this asparagus is delicious!” Beth said.
“It’s just sautéed in butter and garlic.”
“Well, it is done just right.”
The chicken is delicious too, Brian.” Jeremy said.
After dinner, Jenna pushed Jeremy and Brian out on the patio while she and Beth cleaned up the kitchen. Brian added wood to the firepit and he and his dad sat sipping Irish whiskey.
“How are things in Washington?” Brian asked in a low voice.
“They are coming around, slowly. There are still a lot sins to be paid for, but they are off balance on the Hill. We expect six more resignations in the next couple of weeks. They’ve got nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.”
“Whatever happened to the Constitution and common sense?”
“Oh, they jump right out the window when greed and hunger for power walks in the door. The problem is, once you beat it back, it’s like a Greenbriar vine, just as you think you have it killed back, another shoot pops up. We’ll just have to stay vigilant and warn them.”
“What are you traveling for next week?”
“Just setting up a contact.”
Jeremy looked around through the windows at the slowly receding snow.
“This is nice. If you had a big lake out there, this would be like Tahoe in the winter.”
Jenna and Beth came out to join them. Jenna got a couple more comfortable pillows out of the deck box to pad her seat a little more.
“Beth, do you want a couple of pillows?”
“No, I’m fine.” Beth said, taking a chair next to the fire. “This is nice!”
They heard the motor first, then saw Joe coming up in a Gator. Joe came through the door and said with a stoic face, “I’ve got a problem.”
“What’s wrong? Jeremy asked.
“I’ve run out of bourbon.”
Brian grinned and got up. “Have a seat,” he said and went inside.
He’d no sooner and gone through the door when Dave drove up. He walked in as Brian returned with a 750 ml bottle of Wild Turkey 101.
“I can’t drink all of that!” Joe exclaimed.
“I’ll help you!” Dave grinned.
“I could use a little of that myself.” Beth said.
Jenna got glasses for them and herself a hot mug of decaf tea. The friends and family talked and joked well into the evening.
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Post by gipsy on Aug 6, 2022 10:41:25 GMT -6
Thanks for the update.
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Post by ncsfsgm on Aug 7, 2022 8:16:19 GMT -6
Chapter 76
Jack let the autopilot get him to John Sanders Ridge and after the plane turned back to the west, Jack took back control. He dropped down to just 75 feet above the trees and flew low and slow, like a hawk looking for its prey. At the bend in Bush creek where it turned to the south, Jack turned 20 degrees to the northeast for 30 seconds then turned back to the west, picking his way along the lower terrain. As he saw the open area approaching, he set quarter flaps and adjusted the throttle. As he entered the open area Jack banked to the left and saw the flags Joe and Dave had set out. Jack adjusted the flaps a little more then floated the plane down onto the pasture.
“Did you record that?” Jeremy asked.
“Every meter from Sanders Ridge.”
“Good, lock it in and get me a copy for distribution. Taxi over to that pickup and shut down.”
They all got out of the plane and hopped into the back of the pickup, then Joe drove up to the patio, where they were met by Brian. Jeremy directed them around table where a map of the property lay.
“Gentlemen, I need a 2000 foot airstrip with runway grass grid built from approximately here to here. In this area, just south of Dave’s cabin, is a hill covered with mixture of deciduous and coniferous trees and bushes. Brian, I need you to cut back into that hill and erect a Quonset hanger for the Kodiak and cover it back over with like bushes and small trees. Joe, I want you to check with your contacts at DARPA and get the latest in anti-anything camo netting, especially IR. I want enough to cover the entire front of the hanger on some type of retracting system that one man can operate in minimum time.”
“How soon do you need the runway grid in?”
“The Kodiak can handle the strip as it is now. It needs less than 1000 feet for takeoff and landing. I want the grid down for bigger STOL loads, like the Arava. It has a tendency to take a nose dive into soggy soils. Main approach is from the north along the Sanders Ridge approach. Oh, and instead of a windsock, devise some type of pilot actuated smoke dispenser for daytime and for night we’ll keep with radio readings.”
“What about fuel tanks? Jack asked.
“Get what you need. We’ll have to emplace them ourselves. Any other questions? Okay, I want to get this done before late Spring. Call any of our assets in you need to get this done.”
Freya picked two more melons and took them inside to prepare. She had two from yesterday but she had cut up one to have with their breakfast. These three she was going to slice up and freeze dry them. They made great snacks.
Jason was down adding another bale of hay to the feeder. He checked the two steers over and they seemed fine. He didn’t have to, but he would spoil them once in a while with a couple of scoops of sweet feed. He and Chase would butcher these two in a couple of weeks and he would be without cattle for a few weeks. They would then get four more and raise them for slaughter.
Freya finished slicing the melon chips and filled the trays. She set them in the freeze dryer and chopped up the rinds and added them to the compost bucket in the pantry. It would need emptying soon.
Jason took the Gator over to the gravel pile and began loading gravel into the cargo box. There was a low spot forming in the drive down near the pond and he wanted to stay ahead of it. He added the shovel, a rake, the tamper, a watering can and a 5-gallon bucket of limestone dust to the cargo box and headed down. Ten minutes work now would possibly save him hours of labor later.
Chase had added gravel to the equipment shed and rented a compactor. As Faith sprayed the gravel, Chase would compact the gravel down the different sided gravel compacted together to become a solid floor. They moved the trucks out of the garage shop over to the equipment shed. They would maybe sell the trucks later if there was a keen interest but for now, they were a novelty.
“Chase, what do you think about Jason and Freya’s greenhouse?” Faith asked.
“It’s okay, I guess.”
“Freya says she is really happy with it. She doesn’t need to worry about where the vegetables come from in the winter and doesn’t worry about getting diseases from some workers far away.”
Jason leaned on his shovel and looked at Faith. “I guess you’re telling me it would be a good thing to get a greenhouse?”
“Yeah, but not one like Jason and Freya’s. They are already thinking they’ll have to start replacing wood parts in a few years. I was thinking along the lines of like what Jenna has.”
Jason nodded and spit. “Well, get all the information from Jenna and we’ll get one.”
Many of the tagged politicians were struggling to get back to their home districts. Many were terrified to fly commercially, fearing the plane would be taken down. They needn’t have worried if they had been paying attention. The only collateral damage as far as human lives had been security personnel.
Congressman Alvin Hanks was low on the list for targets, but he could carry a message. He had been spending a lot of money flying on small, chartered jets to and from Washington and Covington, Tennessee; money he shouldn’t have had access to on his $174,000 a year salary. His visible investment portfolios weren’t that impressive either. But his spigot had been found and was about to be turned off. As the small jet began its takeoff roll, there was a loud bang as the .408 Cheytac - Hardened Steel and Tungsten bullet tore into the right engine causing warning lights and audible warnings to light up the cockpit. Smoke began filling the cabin. The plane veered slightly to the right but the pilot managed to keep the plane on the runway. He was able to stop the aircraft as the one little fire engine rolled up and began spraying foam. Congressman Hanks was helped through the emergency exit and onto the grass, well away from the aircraft. When the smoke had cleared, it was very apparent that the HondaJet Elite’s right engine had been destroyed.
When the Transportation Safety Board, along with investigators from Homeland Security concluded their investigations, it was determined the .408 anti-materiel round had more than likely been sold in the latest ammunition purchase by the IRS.
By the end of March, the workers were assembling the arched hanger and a little over ¼ of the grid on the airstrip had been laid. Jeremy had stolen Mike’s idea about the sod machine and found a used one for sale. It was easy to roll the sod up, lay the interlocking runway grids then cut plugs of sod and fill the holes in the grid. That took the longest.
Brian used the rotary tiller to mix up the compost pile, then changed to the bottom plow and tilled up the garden. The soil was rich and would grow some great crops this summer. A patch for growing comfrey was also tilled. Jenna had read that it was great for adding nutrients to the soil. Brian was going to mix them with his compost. He took a soil sample from the garden to see if he could improve it with more organic amendments.
Jenna was looking like she had swallowed a beach ball, and well she should. They were having a boy, and a girl. Sally was beside herself. She was over practically every day to help Jenna in one way or another. Sally had called the guy who made the baby furniture and ordered certain items again. They didn’t need two changing tables. Jenna was going to order what was advertised as baby food makers but realized they were nothing more than pretty food processors. She got a good food processor and baby food sized containers to store the food in instead. She stuck with class containers and bottles. She was going to keep plastics away from the babies food and drinks as much as possible. A year’s supply of everything baby related, including clothing was being stockpiled. Millie had taken to sewing again and she was making baby clothes in her spare time. Sally told Jenna that Hiram was already stockpiling dolls and wagons and all sorts of toys in the storage building he didn’t think she knew about. Hiram was proud as a peacock.
Since Jack was going to be based there, and it was difficult to bunk with Dave after he’d finished off a pot of chili, Jeremy planned to set up a container home above the hangar with a metal spiral staircase going down into the hangar, similar to Beth’s. The home was made up of two 40’ and two twenty foot shipping containers. The forty footers formed the sides of the “H” and the two twenty footers formed the bar on the “H”. It had two bedrooms, kitchen, den, dining, full baths, washer and dryer and plenty of closed space. At the bottom of the ”H”, facing west, was a covered front porch. At the top of the “H”, facing east, was a covered deck. The bonnet roof would hold the solar panels. A temporary casing had been built at the rear of the hangar roof to keep the dirt from falling into the hole for the staircase while dirt was used to cover the top of the hangar. It would be a few weeks before the container home was delivered. Small indigenous trees and plants were used to help camouflage the hangar but most of it would be covered by the container house anyway.
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Post by jpr9954 on Aug 7, 2022 9:33:21 GMT -6
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Post by gipsy on Aug 7, 2022 9:46:56 GMT -6
Thanks for the update.
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ydderf2
Member
"I'm from the government and here to help" hahahaha
Posts: 321
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Post by ydderf2 on Aug 8, 2022 8:22:26 GMT -6
Thanks
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Post by solo on Aug 8, 2022 11:58:23 GMT -6
all caught up! Thanks!
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Post by ncsfsgm on Aug 9, 2022 6:56:27 GMT -6
Chapter 77
When Brian found out he could buy rice cheaper directly from the rice cooperative in Stuttgart than he could at Sam’s, he polled everyone and got an order together. Chase offered to go with him so Brian made sure Sally could come over and be with Jenna and he and Chase hooked up the big box trailer and took off for Stuttgart, Arkansas.
Stuttgart is the home of Riceland Rice, the world's largest miller and marketer of rice. They were going to get almost a ton of bagged rice and transfer it to buckets later for storing. Brian and Jenna ate rice at least a couple times a week and made sure they had it in their rotational stocks. Everyone else was pretty much the same. Chase and Faith didn’t have that much in storage and wanted to bring their stock up.
The airstrip grid was in and the trucks were coming tomorrow to fill the two 5000 gallon tanks with 100LL aviation fuel. Dave and Jack had plumbed the pump in themselves and were ready. They all pitched in to hang the door on the hanger then Joe had sprayed the metal front and door with matte colors to keep everything from shining like a new penny. The camo net was on its way and they were working between rains on the frame for the net. Jack, Jeremy and Dave were working on the deployment and recovery system for the net.
They put the solar power in themselves. They procured the panels from one place, the inverters and the batteries from another. It was more expensive doing it that way, but more secure also. They decided to go with a solar tracking system and ordered the mount from a distributor in Arizona. Jeremy selected a dual-axis solar tracker because it produced 30 to 45% more energy yield than fixed-tilt solar systems. The system they were going to use used a passive tracker system that rotated using compressed gas and liquid that caused everything to turn and follow the sunlight. The more expensive trackers used motors to move everything.
Jack got a call and had to make a trip, leaving Dave there for the tank filling the next day.
“How much rice did you order?” Freya asked.
“Well, I used the food calculator and set it for three adults and it came out to 150 pounds so I ordered four 50 pound bags. That’s for one year.”
“Why didn’t you go ahead and do 3 years’ worth?”
“Because Brian and Chase are picking up for everyone and if everyone ordered that much, it would have overloaded the trailer. It’s about a three and a half hour drive there so maybe you and I can go pick up a load later. How are we doing on the other staples.
“Well, flour will only last so long, longer if it’s packed in #10 cans, but that’s expensive. We can order wheat bulk but we’d need to get a grain mill to grind it into flour.”
“Pick out a grain mill and we can order it then.”
“I’ve found one. It is manually operated but can be motorized.”
“Okay, go ahead and order it. Did you already order any wheat?”
“Yes, six SuperPails of soft and six of hard.” Freya replied.
“What’s the difference?”
“You use hard wheat to make yeast bread recipes and soft wheat to make non-yeast recipes like muffins and pancakes.”
“I didn’t know that. So we don’t need to order pails?”
“No, the wheat is sealed in mylar bags in the buckets. We’ll just need pails and lids for the rice.”
“What about honey?”
“No, We should have enough to last us until the local guy you are buying from has the order together.”
“Fruit drink powders?”
“I’ll order them.”
Joe, Dave, Beth and Jeremy were setting up the runway actuator lights manufactured by Elbit System, Ltd., spacing them 50 feet apart. Jeremy rented a Ditch Witch cable plow and the hardest part was setting the actuator boxes in at ground level and attaching the cable. The controls were mounted inside the hangar and the antenna for the pilot actuated system mounted on top of the hangar. It took them two days to get everything in place and on the night of the second day they tested it. At dusk they turned on the lights from the hangar and then the next morning, Beth flew an approach and turned them on via radio. Everything worked.
Brian and Chase were able to bring back thirty, 50 pound bags of rice. They made deliveries to everyone with Chase being the last one before Brian went home. Brian off-loaded his bags in the prep building to place in buckets the next day. He checked the freezer and he had plenty of dry ice. Brian unhooked the trailer and went into the Lodge.
“Hey Babe.”
“Hey. Everything go all right?” Jenna asked.”
“No problems. How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine. Momma was over most of the day.”
“Good.”
“Wash up. Dinner is almost ready.”
Governors in four states were scrambling to appoint Senators to replace those that resigned, but were having a hard time because no one was willing to risk their lives to accept the positions and the under-the-table money was hotter than a firebrick. In the states where Congressmen and women had resigned, it was a more costly matter. For resigning representatives, things are different. The Constitution (Article I, Section 2, Clause 4) requires that Representatives must be elected — and provides for a special election to be called to fill the seat. Special elections can cost taxpayers anywhere from $300,000 to $3,000,000 of the taxpayer’s money, and the taxpayers were getting pissed. They weren’t pissed at the perpetrators of the threats against the politicians, but at the politicians for having sunk to the level to be called out on their misdeeds. Every visible threat, every death, was immediately followed up with information packets to the press, internet bloggers and Congress as to why the people had been targeted. No attempt to send the packets to the FBI was even attempted. The once revered agency had been politicized and weaponized by the socialists and any hope of them to do anything about the corruption was useless. The distribution of the information had been so widespread it couldn’t be covered up.
“Jason, I saw the prettiest bird feeders in the garden section at Walmart. What do you think about getting one and putting it up next to the patio so we can listen to all the different kinds of birds?”
Jason wiped his hands with his bandana and looked thoughtful.
“Let’s say we did. Probably, within a week, we’ll have hundreds of birds taking advantage of the continuous flow of free and easily accessible food. But then the birds will start building nests close by and roosting around our cooking area. Then we’ll have to frequently wash down the deck and porch rails to remove the poop, and of course everywhere else because birds don’t care where they poop.
Then, you’ll find some of the birds will turn mean. They will dive bomb you and try to peck you even though you are kind enough to feed them. Other birds will be boisterous and loud. They’ll just sit on the feeder and squawk and scream demanding that you fill the feeder when it gets low on food.
After a while, we won’t be able to even sit on our own back porch anymore. If we took down the feeder, the birds would be gone in three days. I like it here as it is right now, quiet, and serene, with no birds demanding their rights to a free meal.
Look at what has happened to this country and where it is now. The government gives out free food, subsidized housing, free medical care and free education, and allows anyone born here to be an automatic Citizen. Then the illegal's came in by the tens of thousands, maybe millions, they don’t even give us a real count, probably don’t even know with the border as open as it is. Our taxes went up to pay for all the free services; small houses and apartments are housing more people than they we designed for; you have to wait hours to be seen by an emergency room doctor; children's second grade classes are behind other schools because over half the children don’t speak English.
Food now comes in bilingual packaging; I have to 'press one ' to hear my bank talk to me in English, and people are waving flags other than 'Old Glory' are squawking and screaming In the streets, demanding more rights and free liberties.
That’s just my opinion, but you can get a feeder if you want. Me, I would do what we’ve been doing, like back during the snow storm when the birds were having a difficult time finding food. Set up a temporary feeding station and feed them. When the weather clears and they have the opportunity to forage for their own food, take the station down. But that’s my own opinion.
Freya didn’t bring the subject up ever again.
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Post by gipsy on Aug 9, 2022 8:21:20 GMT -6
Thanks for the update.
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ydderf2
Member
"I'm from the government and here to help" hahahaha
Posts: 321
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Post by ydderf2 on Aug 9, 2022 9:43:50 GMT -6
Thanks
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Post by udwe on Aug 9, 2022 15:22:05 GMT -6
Great idea for the feeders.
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Post by solo on Aug 9, 2022 17:22:06 GMT -6
I would bet she didn't. DC politicians on both sides are just spineless tools of corporations. We the people do not matter.
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Post by ncsfsgm on Aug 10, 2022 22:19:26 GMT -6
Chapter 78
The container home arrived, everything was welded together, and Jack went to pick out furniture. Jenna was surprised at his selections. The pieces actually complimented one another. Jack didn’t have a lot of time off because both he and Beth were flying regularly. The Kodiak quickly came up on its 4000 hour inspection so he had some time down. Beth flew down to Mena to pick him up and brought him back. Actually, it was Beth who helped Jack pick out the furniture and helped him get set up, since she had gone through the same thing when she had moved into her container house.
When the last frost days had passed, Brian planted his corn the first thing in the garden. He staggered the planting so he only planted one row every week for four weeks. Jenna had been raising their plants in the greenhouse and the cold frames so they were ready to begin planting. Jeremy, Joe and Dave showed up and pitched in with the planting because Jenna wasn’t bending over very well these days but she was very able to sit and supervise. Sally was over daily to help keeping cold drinks ready for the men and to make lunch for everyone. Once the rows were planted and mulched well with oat straw, tt was just a matter of keeping it weeded, which wasn’t much of a chore because of the mulching and keeping the right moisture to the plants. Soil moisture was already taken care of. Jenna had purchased remote soil moisture sensors and a monitor so she could check the moisture of every bed in the greenhouse and in the garden. She knew exactly when the garden and greenhouse needed to be watered.
Congress was scheduled to be in session only fourteen days in the month of May, but they would be tumultuous days. The Democrats were clamoring for more security and other protections for the safety of the democracy, but technically, they were incorrect, maybe for their own selfish reasons.
It is true that democracies are defined by the power of the people to influence the government through voting, as in a representative democracy, and direct democracy would be managed by the people themselves. Mob rule.
This is comparable to some local governments within the United States, especially in rural areas where townspeople sometimes come together to discuss issues and vote on actions.
In those instances, the people act as both the voters and the governing body.
However, such a process would be cumbersome on a state government and federal level. It follows that citizens vote to elect representatives to speak on their behalf instead of participating in debates themselves, representatives who had promised the people they could be trusted.
The people and the federal government once had protocols to check both themselves and each other, preventing either from obtaining too much power, thus maintaining a balance between the people and the government
Elected officials serving as voices for the people were supposed to be one of the main ways the government and citizens kept each other in check. But the politicians began passing laws people didn’t agree with and giving themselves their own pay raises. Washington began getting out of control. Few politicians were agreeable to term limits and fought against it, not willing to let go of their power. Elections were rigged to keep out the "unwashed."
Just as the people and government were supposed to balance each other, the government has to keep itself in check and that was thrown out the window.
The change in the congressional pension plan happened under a Democrat majority in 1984. Members with only five years in office could draw a lucrative pension. More pocket money was needed because “Washington was just too expensive.” The greed and graft snowballed.
On May the 25” a communique was sent out to all major news agencies and even over the secure government networks:
“Checks and balances our forefathers envisioned for our government have failed. Our representatives are out of control. Congress has until July 31st to pass a Term Limit bill stating that no Representative can serve more than two terms. You have been warned and you have ignored us. Ignore us again to your peril. The citizens of this country who serve these people in power will no longer be immune to whatever befalls these corrupt representatives any longer. Leave or suffer their fate alongside them.”
Congress had a little over 30 days to come up with a bi-partisan bill.
Over the next few weeks, Beth and Jack began moving the cases stored in the bunker to several destinations across the country. All of these flights took place at night and weren’t discussed under any circumstances.
You going to that dance at the VFW?” Dave asked.
“I might. There’s some pretty good looking woman round here and some of them have all their teeth.”
“That’s what I was thinking. I’ve been thinking of settling down, but I need to find a decent woman. Got any ideas?”
“Well, you could start going to Church, and maybe follow my Momma's advice.”
“What’s that?”
“Don't love anything that can't love you back."
The Camerons and the Palmers borrowed Brian’s heavy box trailer and made another trip to Stuttgart and got the rice they wanted to fill out their planned stocks. They made good day of it, stopping to have lunch before they left Stuttgart. The girls made them stop at a couple of places that had antiques and Freya was glad they did. They found fermentation crocks that they snatched up. Freya wanted to make some hot sauce and garlic-dill pickles and Faith wanted to make kraut. The two women made a pact to exchange jars of their outout.
“Brian, I think it’s time to go.” Jenna said.
Brian helped her out to the truck and got her seated. He had placed her case in the back seat several days ago. Jenna called her mother and told her they were headed for the hospital and for someone to please look after Harley. Brian called his father and told him Jenna was having contractions and they were headed to the hospital. Surprisingly, Brian kept to the speed limit but kept constant check on Jenna.
“I’m fine Brian. The doctor just said for me to come in once I started having contractions because of the distance we are out of town. It’s probably going to be several hours before our two angels make an appearance.”
It was a long eight hours punctuated with cups of ice, some serious hand gripping and wiping Jenna with a cool cloth. Finally, Jeremy Allan Cassidy came out screaming at a fighting weight of 7 pounds 10 ounces, followed one minute later by Abigail Patricia Cassidy weighing a petite 6 pounds 10 ounces. When Brian came out of the delivery room, it seemed to Brian that everyone living within a ten mile radius of Washita Lake was waiting.
Joe went and got Brian a Hoagie sandwich and a cup of coffee as everyone waited to see the babies in the nursery.
“How is Jenna?” Sally asked.
“She’s fine. The nurse is going to come get me once they’ve cleaned her up and moved her to her room.”
“The babies?”
“Jeremy has six fingers on one hand and Abbie has a wart on her nose.”
“STOP IT!” Sally said, slapping Brian’s arm.
Brian chuckled. They are both wrinkled, red and ugly, but I’m told they grow out of it pretty quick.”
Hiram laughed. “Yeah, I’ve never seen what they called a pretty baby. They do get better lookin’ after a while.”
Faith and Freya both looked at their husbands and gave their hands a quick squeeze.
On Friday, July the 29th, with no hope of passing a Term Limits bill, the House and the Senate recessed for the weekend. The House recessing for a 3-day weekend and the Senate for only two days.
He opened the case and took out the missile that no one had wanted to be seen used under hostile circumstances within the borders of the United States. But they had been pushed to it. The operator looked at his watch and prepared the command unit. When the target was acquired he pressed the trigger and the missile shot out the end of the tube and followed the target. The operator went back into the storm drain culvert, placed the tube and the command unit back into the fiberglass case, wrapped it in the special blanket woven on native American looms in southeast Oklahoma with magnesium threads and cotton, then pulled the pin on the thermite grenade and set it on top of the case then turned and walked out of the culvert. The burning grenade quickly burned into the case and ignited the blanket. The operator made his way back down to the river, got into the boat and drift fished back down the Potomac River. Fiberglass molded cases are not flammable and thus will not catch on fire because it is a common material used for insulation. However, fiberglass cannot withstand high temperatures. Any temperature above five hundred degrees Celsius will cause it to melt. Thermite burns at 2500 °C, near the melting point of 2519 °C of the aluminum power used to make it.
Magnesium's flame temperature can be 3,100 °C (5,610 °F). Its autoignition temperature (the temperature at which it commences burning) is 473 °C (883 °F). The case ended up as a pile of molten electronic components and fiberglass in the storm drain culvert, only to be found several days later.
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Post by bluefox2 on Aug 11, 2022 7:36:03 GMT -6
^^ I thought maybe he was going to pull out one of those secret R9X Hellfire missiles. The one that is nicknamed "The Ginsu Rocket" If you do the google-fu on this one it is rather special
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Post by gipsy on Aug 11, 2022 9:13:06 GMT -6
Thanks for the update.
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Post by solo on Aug 11, 2022 10:18:57 GMT -6
The is a good and pretty permanent goodbye.
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ydderf2
Member
"I'm from the government and here to help" hahahaha
Posts: 321
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Post by ydderf2 on Aug 12, 2022 9:31:53 GMT -6
Thanks
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