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Post by udwe on Jun 7, 2022 19:49:05 GMT -6
Thank you! Great addition
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Post by cutter on Jun 8, 2022 9:16:20 GMT -6
I want almost 10,000 acres of land, a nearly unlimited budget, and all kinds of cool government toys for my own personal playground.
It's a great story and I'm loving it. For the record up here in Kentucky we call them skunk apes
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Post by ncsfsgm on Jun 8, 2022 9:47:50 GMT -6
Chapter 27
The next time Brian talked to his father he asked him about what Brian called the “southwest tract.”
“I thought Dad sold that. I haven’t even thought about it in years.”
“Well the sale didn’t go through, so we’ve got an extra 6,495 acres we didn’t know about.”
“What do you mean ‘We,’ white man. Those papers you sign were to take ownership of everything. I just hope someday when I retire, you let me build a little cabin out in the woods to spend the rest of my days.” Jeremy said, happily.
“Well, okay then. When are you headed back this way?”
“It’s going to be a few weeks. There will be a lot of fireworks going off.”
“Enough said.” Brian replied
“How’s the garden going?” Jeremy asked.
“We’ve got enough canned or to be canned produce to feed us and the McGinnas.”
That’s good. I’m looking forward to eating some of them. Look, the land is entirely in your hands, I just hope you aren’t thinking about selling it.”
“That’s the last thing on my mind. I am thinking of developing it, but for our personal use only. I’ve got to get a bit of information together, but I hope to have a plan developed when you get back here.”
“Sounds good. Okay, I’ve got to get to a meeting. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay Dad, bye.”
Brian went into the kitchen where Jenna was husking and slicing strawberries to prepare them for drying.
“How many quarts will that make?” Brian asked.
“Twelve for the strawberries, of course they dry smaller when freeze dried.”
“Do you want to take a ride to Ft. Smith in the morning? I want to go to Sam’s a get some blueberries to dehydrate.”
“Sure, but could we go an hour further and got to Little Rock? They have a Sam’s AND a COSTCO.”
“Sure. If we leave here at 8:00 we can be there as they are opening.” Brian replied.
“Can you get me the 5 pans for one of the dryers and the silicone mats for them? I want to put these in the chest freezer tonight they we can slide them in the freeze-dryer in the morning. They should finished right as we get back tomorrow.”
Brian went to the dryer building and retrieved the freeze-dryer pans and the mats. He helped Jenna arranged the strawberries, filling all the pans. The twelve pounds of strawberries would yield about three to four pounds of dried strawberries. Jenna was hoping to find a deal at Sam’s or COSTCO on frozen blueberries and strawberries. Jenna and Brian were up early the next morning. Jenna took care of the chickens and gathered the eggs while Brian attended to the horses and hooked up the box trailer. They went in and had breakfast then were rolling out the gate at 07:55.
<“We are teaming up with the 18th West Judicial District Drug Task Force for this operation. Officers from Mansfield, Huntington, Hartfield, Booneville, and Mena departments will be assisting us. We don’t have that big of a problem here yet but we’re going to conduct the raids concurrently and snatch as many people as possible. The warrants are all ready and we’ll assemble at the high school at 7:00 PM tomorrow evening. Harris, you, Billings and Davis are on immediate patrol to act as a mobile reserve when we are assembling.
I know all of you have probably smoked a joint when you were kids but this stuff out on the streets is a hell of a lot more potent. They add all kinds of chemicals and some of the weed they are buying these days has as much as 75 – 95% THC. We’ve got to bring a halt to this quickly and keep our feet on the dealer’s and potential dealer’s necks. That is all.”
Brian and Jenna arrived at the Sam’s Club 15 minutes before opening. They got out and walked around the parking lot to stretch their legs, killing time. When they saw people start going inside, they went in. Jenna grabbed a shopping cart and Brian got a flat cart. Jenna had her list she printed off from the inventory of things they needed to replace in their rotational stock so they started filling their carts. They weren’t looking for anything extra but Jenna did find a buy on frozen hashbrowns. They had also had good prices on frozen sliced strawberries and frozen blueberries. Brian picked up four 8 pound bags of each. They didn’t quite fill the carts so Jenna wheeled them around and picked up more bottles of maple syrup, paper towels and toilet paper. You can never have two much of any of the three as far as she was concerned. They checked out and used up the money from previous savings and the total wasn’t that bad. Brian asked one of the Sam’s employees where he could get dry ice and the employee told him in a whisper, “COSTCO.” Brian smiled as they went out and began loading the trailer. Brian had brought four 70 quart coolers for the frozen and refrigerated items so they would be fine until they could get the dry ice.
COSTCO filled out the rest of Jenna’s list so she looped around and picked up a few things that weren’t on the list but wouldn’t hurt to have extra. Feminine supplies, oatmeal, olive oil, laundry and dish detergent, restaurant sized rolls of aluminum foil and food wrap, rice, dry beans, peanut butter, bouillons, Cholula and Texas Pete hot sauces, Worcestershire sauce and Mac and cheese dinners. Brian added the dry ice to their purchases and picked it up out of the cooler box on the way out. Once they got everything loaded and secured, they stopped by a Mexican restaurant and had Enchilada dinners.
On the way back to Washita Lodge, Brian received a call from Harold Gibson telling him the surveyors would be starting in the morning. He warned Brian it was going to take a while because the perimeter of the tract was almost 14 miles. He also told Brian the aerial photo was being taken next week and did he want a copy before the survey was finished. Brian told him no, to wait until the new survey was imprinted to the photo.
They unloaded everything and put it all away, then bagged up the freeze-dried strawberries, setting two bags aside, they boxed up the rest to be put in the shelter storage room. They washed out the dryer trays and loaded both freeze-dryers with frozen strawberries and the dehydrators with frozen blueberries. Jenna went back to the house, poured two glasses of iced tea and they relaxed on the patio until it was time to bring the horses in for the night.
Jaheem Brothers was, on the outside, an unassuming meek man who had won a seat on the County Commissioners by his ethnicity alone. He didn’t show it, but he was ambitious. Coming from a poor background, he was going to better himself one way or another. The drug task force had been monitoring his contacts for months and it was by pure chance he was at the rural farmhouse when the raid happened. Standing in the stripped out room, except for various equipment used for manufacturing illicit drugs, he was caught red-handed standing in front of a table with two kilos of cocaine and bags of various pills. There was no place to run and he was taken into custody.
No one town in Scott county had enough room in a single facility to contain the forty personnel arrested that night. so they were housed in the individual town detention centers. It was just a small, difficult step the task force would have to take in their attempt to rid the area of criminals and deadly drugs and all the while being fought by well-meaning or corrupt politicians.
When the survey was finally completed and Brian had received the aerial photos, the outline of Brian’s plan morphed into a full blown idea. He would build a lake. Using Google Earth, he drew the outline of where he wanted the lake and it seemed he had the room to put in a 300 acre lake on the tract. The timber that had to be cleared would pay for the lake itself. He would have a timber company come in to the clear-cut the trees in the future lake bed.
Brian contacted a company that specialized in building ponds and lakes and sent them his printout from Google Earth. One of their representatives came from Louisiana, inspected the area, and suggested a few changes. Brian agreed and ended up signing a contract for them to build the lake and put in a floating dock. They would send their surveyors to mark out the lake and a 10 yard cleared strip above the water line. Once the area was surveyed, Brian would have the trees removed.
Brian called around to a few companies who weren’t aware that the land was not a part of the Ouachita National Forest. They all were scrambling for the right to cut after they had done a timber survey of the area. All the timber was old growth of sizes they had not been able to cut in decades.
The construction completed the survey and just before the timber company with the winning bid was able to start cutting, the rains came.
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Post by gipsy on Jun 8, 2022 10:34:29 GMT -6
Thanks for a great update.
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Post by udwe on Jun 8, 2022 20:50:23 GMT -6
Of course!
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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 Jun 9, 2022 19:12:15 GMT -6
Thank you
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Post by ncsfsgm on Jun 9, 2022 22:33:02 GMT -6
Chapter 28
The rains lasted a couple of days and it was two more days before the logging company could get in begin to stabilize the old roads and trails so they could handle the equipment. It wasn’t long before loaded trucks were rolling down the trails.
They had started in the center of the area and worked out to the survey lines. In behind the cutters were two tracked skid-steers whose sole purpose was to pick up and stack the debris into a burn pile. The logging foreman said it would take about a month to clear everything out. The construction rep came out and looked at what had been done so he would have some idea when to schedule his men to come in. As soon as the eastern end had been cleared, they could begin removing the stumps from where they were going to remove dirt to build the dam. They wouldn’t have to remove all of the stumps, most would be under ten to twenty feet of water. The Arkansas Natural Resources Commission (ANRC) representative who had cleared Brian’s plans, came out to review the ongoing work. Brian asked him about fish habitats and he gave him a contact over in Conway at the Arkansas Ecological Services Field Office. Under their Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program, they provided free technical and financial assistance to landowners interested in improving wildlife habitat on their land. A few days later, Brian and Jenna took a trip to Conway and got all kinds of information on emplacing habitats and building your own structures. Brian was definitely interested in that. The artificial structures ran around $100 each. Not that he couldn’t afford them, but he liked the idea of building them himself. The woman they talked to offered to come down before the lake was filled to show them good places to put the habitats.
Jeremy came back for a week and went down to the lake site to see the progress.
“Right up there is here I want to build my place.” Jeremy, pointing to the north bank.
“Tell me what you want and we can get started on it.” Brian said.
“Not yet. I’m having it custom built. I’m going to use shipping containers. There is a company outside of Austin that makes them. ‘ll just need to clear an area, dig a well and put in a septic tank.”
“Well, give me the dimensions and we can clear the area out and get the well and septic in.”
“I’ll get back to you on that.” Jeremy said.
They rode around on the Gator up to where they were still harvesting trees. Almost two thirds of the cutting had been done.
“You’re going to have one hell of a bonfire this fall.” Jeremy said.
“Yeah, I’m going to wait until they have what stumps they are going to pull out and burn them then.”
“Make sure you notify the forest service.”
“I will.”
They rode back to the Lodge and got a couple of beers and sat on the patio.
“How are things going back east?” Brian asked.
Jeremy just shook his head slowly.
“The Democrats are digging their own graves, some of them literally. They have developed a two-tiered, no-justice system. What you see going on right now will be their death knell. Once the Conservatives take back control, there are people who are going jail. They may escape judicial justice, but justice will prevail. The FBI is going to have to be cleaned up one way or another. We know who the traitors and they’ll answer for what they have done.”
“So what happens when a balance has been reached?”
“Then our people will go back to plowing the fields, back to normal citizens.”
“How long is it going to take?”
“Longer than I’ll be around. Some of those people will go to ground and act like they didn’t do anything wrong. It takes time, but they will answer and they will know why they were targeted.”
“How are they reacting?”
“You’ve seen some of it. They’re ratcheting down on their power in Congress and on the American people. They are trying to grind into dust anyone who is against them. I can name a dozen right now I’d like to see a third eye on. They are evil and should be destroyed.”
“What can I do to help?”
“Exactly what you are doing now. Establishing a refuge. Someone, somewhere is going to flip the wrong switch and the American people are going to suffer. You just make sure the Lodge personnel and the McGinnas don’t suffer too.”
Brian invited the McGinnas over for a BBQ Saturday afternoon while his father was still there. The ribs and steaks were cooked to perfection and the men, including Joe and Dave drank plenty of beverages, but none were inebriated. Harley made his rounds and made sure everyone got a chance to pet him.
“Whatta ya going to do with that lake Brian.?” Hiram asked.
“I’m gonna get Millie up on some water skis.” Brain replied.
“NO YOU’RE NOT!” Millie said.
Hiram chuckled. “You gonna stock it?”
“Yep, with Bass, Coppernose Bluegill, Redear Sunfish, Fathead Minnows, Grass Carp, Channel Catfish and Black Crappie.
“Well looks like I won’t need to fish in the Ouachita River no more.”
“For the first year, I just want to catch and release, let them get a head start.” Brian said.
“Sure, sure, I do that at the river too.”
“When will they finish the lake?” Dave asked.
“It will be sometime in the late fall. They have to remove some stumps to remove dirt in certain areas to build the dam. I suppose we can close off the drain by Christmas. It could be filled by the end of next year. I’m just guestimating though.” Brian replied.
Joe’s phone buzzed and got up and walked away talking softly. He soon returned, looked at Jeremy and nodded. The women called them to eat dessert but the men ate the rest of the ribblets instead. The men continued talking about events that were concerning the country late into the night.
The next morning the news carried a sequence of events that had become somewhat normal in these days and times. Four meth labs blew up in and around Atlanta, one at a lake cottage owned by a state senator. She feigned innocence but in the coming days, search warrants were issued for her $750,000 home in Peachtree City. Later that day she was remanded by the Fayette County Drug Enforcement Unit. She was out in a few hours on a $500,000 bond but was relieved of her passport.
The cabbages were harvested, half to be frozen and half were pulled up, roots and all, and stored in the root cellar. They would last in there three to four months. With the last of the plants dead or gone, Brian removed the trellis and stakes and spread manure compost over the garden and plowed it in. He then planted a mixture of crimson clover and hairy vetch as a cover crop.
Jeremy got the information he needed from the container house builder. He and Brian rode back out to the lake site and Jeremy picked out the site for his house. They also decided that would be where they would put in the floating dock. They staked out the area and Brian would see to it that it was cleared. They rode back to the Lodge and Jeremy led them down into the hidden gun room. He went over to a corner table and picked up the brown paper wrapped box he had Brian place down there months ago. Cutting the paper off and opening the box, he started removing the contents. Brian stared at the stacks forming on the table. When Jeremy finished there were 50 purple strapped packs of $20 bills, 25 yellow strapped packets of $10 bills, and 25 red strapped $5 bills.
“There’s a little over $87,000 here. Use it, but first, wash the bills in the washing machine and dry them in the dryer.”
“Are they real?” Brian asked.
“Official U.S. Government printed. Some ill-gotten gains from a government official turned drug lord. They may have some cocaine residue so make sure you wash them.”
“What do I spend it on?”
“Whatever you have been spending money on, but you could use it to pay a dozer driver to clear that ¼ acre, get the well and septic in. Also, think about making a beach at the upper end of the lake. Have a landscaper come in and lay it out. Build a small, covered area for a couple of picnic tables and a grilling area. We’ll use it in the coming years. Oh, and get a couple of more Gators. I’ll need one for my place. Remember cash will get you discounts, especially if it’s paid under the table.”
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Post by udwe on Jun 10, 2022 7:11:09 GMT -6
Wow! At least he knows what he's getting into, sorta!
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Post by gipsy on Jun 10, 2022 7:16:27 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 Jun 10, 2022 12:18:09 GMT -6
Thanks
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Post by ncsfsgm on Jun 10, 2022 18:57:36 GMT -6
Chapter 29
Fall was a magical time to Brian. It was when Mother Nature put her children to bed. With the last of the harvesting done, Brian would switch back and forth to helping clear deadfall to checking the lake site. He hired a recommend landscaping company out of Fort Smith, gave them an outline of what he wanted and turned them loose. Now he knew they would pad the project with attractive things so he turned Jenna loose on them and she micro-managed the hell out of the group. That behind him, he watched as the first tons of dirt were packed into the dam base. They had emplaced the overflow pipe and drain valve the day before and were carefully tamping the dirt with a heavy road tamper. He had never seen one like it before. It had a big roller like he was used to seeing but it also vibrated. One pass over the soil the excavator spread out and the ground was hard as concrete. Nothing more to see there so he went and caught up with the wood crew.
The guy’s firewood sales had picked up and two of the guys turned into a full-time deliverymen/stackers. They cut down and re-welded a small dumpster until it held exactly 64 cubic feet of wood, which was half a cord. Once it was filled, they would pick it up with the tractor forks and dump it into the tilt-bed truck or the dump trailer. They would dump the wood when it was delivered and for an extra fee they would stack it also. They also made and sold firewood racks. It was a pretty good deal for them. Brian could feel they were being watched as they went through getting up the deadfall, but they never saw one of the Howlers or saw any sign. They once heard a scream off in the distance but the men shrugged it off as a puma.
Jenna called Brian on the radio and asked him to come down to the lake. When Brian arrived, Jenna was talking to the landscaping crew chief.
“What’s up?”
“Jerry asked me a question I didn’t know the answer to.”
“I asked her if she wanted landscape fabric laid before we poured the sand.” Jerry said.
“Yes, how far out are you taking it?”
“Only 50 feet. The surveyor said the water would be 8 feet deep there.”
“Okay, that’s fine.
“They got the solar lighting hooked up.” Jenna said.
Brian and Jenna walked over to the pavilion.
“This is looking nice Jenna.”
“They are going to transplant native shrubs and sow native wildflower seeds around here too. It’s going to be beautiful next Spring.”
“We’re selectively planting Dogwoods also.” Jerry interjected.
“What do you mean ‘selectively’?” Brian asked.
“Dogwoods are shallow-rooted trees that prefer morning sun and afternoon shade. They will burn in full sun. So we’ll plant them at the best locations to insure they’re protected. Brian walked over to the light switch and flipped it on. The 12 volt light strings came on. He shut the switch off. Following the wiring conduit, he saw up in the rafters were the batteries were stored. Walking over to the grill, Brian studied the stone veneer.”
“That’s GenStone.” Jerry said. It’s 50% cheaper than masonry and just as durable.”
“I like it.” Brian said.
“How big is this lake going to be?” Jerry asked.
“Around 300 acres. It will be a little under two miles long and 2000 feet at its widest point.”
“Are you going to sell lots?”
“No, it will be entirely private.”
“Can we get a garden shed to keep chairs and things in?” Jenna asked.
“Sure. Jerry can you arrange that?”
“What’s that Brian?”
“Jenna wants a storage building, an 10x12, to keep extra chairs and such in.”
“Sure. Do you want it the same color as the stain on the pavilion?”
Brian looked at Jenna. “Yes!” Jenna answered.
“The dozer guy is coming tomorrow. I’ll meet him at the gate and lead him to where dad wants to put his dumpster house.” Brian said.
“It’s called a container home.” Jenna said.
“Yeah, okay. Anyway, as soon as he’s finished clearing the area I’ll get the well driller in here.”
“Is it that area over there that’s staked off?” Jenna asked.
“Yeah, why?”
“Could we run a waterline down here to a post hydrant?”
“We can and will. I’ll pick up the water line and a hydrant the next time I’m in town. In fact, I need to go in and get some fruit. Want to ride along?”
“Sure, let me get my canteen.”
They drove the Gators back to the Lodge and took Brian’s truck.
“I couldn’t see from the beach, how far along are they on the dam?”
“They are just getting started. They are packing the dirt down carefully so it’s going to take some time. That dam is going to be almost 50 feet tall from the base."
They got to the market and Brian got the four baskets out of the back that they’d brought. They went through and selected the fruits they wanted and filled two of the baskets. As Jenna ran the fruit through checkout, Brian would place it into the empty baskets. They placed the baskets into the truck and drove down to the farm store and got the waterline, connectors and the hydrant. While he was there, Brian looked over the ditch-witch they had for rent. It would be perfect when it came time to put the waterline in. He wanted to put the pipe four feet underground and the ditch-with would easily do it. He paid for their purchases and headed home.
“Where are you going to get your chairs for the pavilion?” Brian asked.
“Momma knows a place in Fort Smith that caters to the lake and river crowds. She says they have everything I could ever want.”
“Well, don’t go buying up anything until the shed is in.”
“I won’t.
Brian unloaded the pipe, connectors and hydrant at the equipment shed and placed one of the baskets in the root cellar. They put the other basket in a Gator and Brian, Jenna and Harley drove down to the oak tree. Brian placed the basket out and nothing showed up after a few minutes and Harley didn’t alert to anything. They drove back to the house and decided on BLTs for dinner.
The offices of DC-based consulting firm Arabella Advisors, which oversees a large network that pulled in $715 million in secretive donations for left-wing causes in 2019 alone, were completely destroyed last night in Washington, DC, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Durham, N.C. All offices were struck at approximately the same time, although in different time zones. When employees attempted to access their server files, they found the servers had been completely wiped clean. The terrorist actions are currently under investigation by the FBI.
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Post by gipsy on Jun 10, 2022 19:29:04 GMT -6
They might be working too close to their sleeping/safe space to keep them a bit afraid. Thanks for the update.
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Post by freebirde on Jun 11, 2022 5:07:23 GMT -6
Might think about planting some dwarf and full-size apple and other fruit trees, native and domestic, around the lake. Grape vines, native and domestic, would be good too.
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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 Jun 11, 2022 9:53:19 GMT -6
Thanks
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Post by imahic on Jun 11, 2022 12:55:30 GMT -6
Thanks for the update.
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Post by udwe on Jun 11, 2022 20:01:05 GMT -6
Thank you!
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Post by ncsfsgm on Jun 11, 2022 21:15:14 GMT -6
Chapter 30
Jenna, Sally and Millie came back from Fort Smith with a trailer load of “Things.” As soon as the shed was in they all three looked it over while the guys were still staining and putting waterproofing treatment on it. They left early for Fort Smith and didn’t come back until late afternoon. Thy had 20 good quality folding chairs, 6 folding chaise lounges, folding side tables and six hurricane lanterns with hangers. It all fit in the shed with room to spare, to Brian’s surprise. The women were already planning a 4th of July party out there.
<Throwing the rope over the wire, Jason gave a quick jerk and the wire fell into the grass next to the spewing faucet. Now it was just a matter of waiting.
As the sun rose, he got his gear in order. Jason watched as the man ran out to the barn to turn off the water to the broken faucet. Not seeing the downed power line, the man made jerking motions and collapsed into the puddle of water.
Jason folded the bipod on the rifle and made his way back cross country to his pickup point, happy he wouldn't have to destroy a good rifle.
Brian watched as they laid the liner on the upstream slope of the dam and proceeded to pack more earth onto the dam and lay rip-rap. The clayey soil was excellent for this. It packed tightly and would keep the water from seeping through. A few more feet and they would began to pour the emergency spillway. It looked like they would be able to start filling the lake around a week before Christmas. The small stream, fed by springs back in the hills wouldn’t be adequate to fill the lake. They would need rain, lots of rain.
Brian saw the project foreman and drove over to him.
“How’s it going Bill?”
“We’[re a little ahead of schedule. I’ve got a crew coming in tomorrow to get started on the hydroseeding of the edges of the lake with creeping fescue.”
“What’s that?”
“Hydroseeding is a seeding process in which seed and hydromulch are mixed into a slurry and applied to an area with water. It usually consists of a blend of seed, fertilizer, mulch, and a tackifing agent that is mixed with water to be sprayed from a specialized machine.”
“Oh, I’ve seen that when they build roads.”
“Exactly.”
“Are you going to hydroseed the dam?”
“No. We’re using Zosia grass and that takes a while to establish through seeding. We’ll be using rolls of Zosia sod to cover the dam. That way we don’t have to worry about erosion anytime soon.”
“This lake is going to hold a lot of water.” Brian said.
“Around 131,000,000 gallons, plus or minus.”
“Wow.”
“Have you talked to anyone about fish habitats?”
“Yes, I went over to Conway to the Arkansas Ecological Services Field Office and got some pointers. When I’m ready, an agent will come out and show me where to best locate the habitats.”
“You need to talk to them to about oxygenating plants too.”
“Yeah, I was wondering about that. I was concerned about evasive plants.”
“They’ll steer you right. Carp will take care of most of them though.”
Brian rode around to the beach and found the women attempting to put up the lantern brackets. Brian took over and soon had all the brackets installed.
“Well, is that it?” Brian asked.
“All we need is water.” Jenna replied.
“Well, I need to get that brush pile burned. What stumps don’t burn I’ll haul them off to a ravine. As soon as the humidity is right I’ll set it on fire.”
As it was, the following Wednesday was perfect. Brian poured 20 gallons of kerosene on the huge pile and lit it with road flares. He called the forest service so they had warning if they saw the smoke. One of the forest rangers came out anyway and checked things out.
“This will be a nice lake.” Ranger Bell commented.
“I don’t know who to contact but if there are fires in the area and you need to dip water or fill tankers, feel free to get as much as you want here.” Brian said.
“I’ll pass that on.”
Brian drove Ranger Bell around in the Gator so he could get coordinates of the lake perimeter to add to their map at the office.
“There will be a locked gate at the road entrance to here. If it’s an emergency, just cut the lock.”
“Okay, thanks.”
When the Ranger left, Brian headed back to the house.
Jeremy came back to see to his container home. It was on the road from Texas and would be in the first of next week. He and Brian rode down to lake site to the lot Brian had bulldozed out. Brian already had a garage shed on site with his father’s Gator in it. The well and septic system were in and ready to be hooked up to the house.
“I ran a water line over to the beach pavilion and have an outside hydrant put in here too.” Brian said.”
“Good. Thanks. This is going to be nice. How’s the dam going?”
“They’ll be finished in about three weeks. They are finishing the emergency spillway and still have to sod the dam face. Let’s take a ride over there.”
Brian drove down the Lake bed until he got near the dam then cut into the trees so they would come out at the top of the dam. A gravel road ran across the top and a concrete bridge ran across emergency spillway to the other side of the lake.
“I’ll have the wood cutters clear a road around the lake and have a dozer come in and make the roadbed.”
“Keep the cutting to a minimum, only cut a tree where you really have to. It’s not like we need a high-speed avenue of approach.” Jeremy said. “Just cut trees and have someone with a stump grinder come in. There’s no marshy areas so it should work all right.”
The container home arrived and the crew set to work bolting together the foundation frame and concreting in the support posts. Once the two containers were lifted on the foundation and leveled, a crew began building a deck and another began assembling the solar panels and connecting water and sewer. In a couple of days the home was ready to move in, except it had no furniture.
Jeremy was afraid at first that he had made a mistake asking Jenna to go furniture shopping with him, but she was surprisingly supportive. All she did was recommend items he should have and left it to him to pick the style. He wanted durable men’s stuff, and she came through. By the weekend, she had guided him through getting the furniture and all the little things men don’t think about. On Sunday, the fridge was stocked, the two beds were made, gun safe in its place and the kitchen outfitted. Brian brought over a trailer load of firewood and stacked it in the woodshed for the small wood stove Jeremy had included in his plans.
One more month and Jeremy would be home for good.
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Post by gipsy on Jun 12, 2022 7:06:07 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 Jun 12, 2022 18:36:45 GMT -6
Thanks
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Post by udwe on Jun 12, 2022 19:04:49 GMT -6
But what's gonna happen in that month?
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Post by ncsfsgm on Jun 12, 2022 21:42:28 GMT -6
Chapter 31
Brian had made a deal with the logging company to get any red cedar logs they harvested. They didn’t care. They were mostly after the white oak and hickory anyway. He ended up with about 20 logs 8” to 12” across. He Had an idea I the back of his head what to use them for.
Jeremy made it home just before Thanksgiving. The women had already planned everything out so the men just helped out where they were told. This year, Jenna asked if they could invite her cousin Earl and his family. Hiram and Hank had kill a couple of turkeys a few days before, cleaned them and singed the pinfeathers off. The women took over from there.
Jason crossed the Mississippi River at Greenville, Alabama. He kept to the less travel highway on his way to a coordinate in the Ouachita National Forest. The powers that be had decided he needed a break and secretly, he agreed with them. Staying on a more southerly route, he was headed to El Dorado, Arkansas and stopping for the Thanksgiving holidays at an RV park. The spot he’d rented in the park was a pull-through, so he had no problems getting set up. He detached the trailer and got it level, then hooked up the water and electricity. Before he headed in, Jason opened the safe in the wardrobe in his bedroom and pulled out $500 IN 20s, 10s and 5s. then headed back into El Dorado. He’d seen a sign at a diner advertising frozen turkey dinners. He thought he’d go back in and pick up a couple and a few groceries, maybe a six-pack. He picked up the dinners and went to Brookshire’s to pick up some milk and cereal.
When he had put everything away at the trailer. The temperature was mild, in the low 60s. so Jason let down the back ramp and closed the bug screen. Getting a folding chair out of storage, he popped a beer and enjoyed the rest of the evening.
The McGinnas, Tysons, et all, ate themselves onto a stupor. They women made sure carry-outs were prepared for everyone. Friday was just make-do work around the Lodge. Jeremy did take the time to put a fruit basket at the oak tree. On Saturday was the closing of the valves on the dam to let it begin filling up with water. Fifteen hundred square feet of Zoysia sod had been used on the face of the dam. They actually could have used more but they decided to lay the sod in a patchwork design and use about 10% of what it would take to cover the dam face. The spaces between the sod were planted with clover seed mixture to help hold the soil and provide nitrogen. In a couple of years, the Zoysia would overtake the clover and choke it out. The agent from Conway was coming out the first of the next week to show Brian where to put the fish habitats.
Monday, Jason hooked up, filled his water tank and emptied the waste tanks. He planned to head to Mena next, just outside the Ouachita National Forest.
Three and a half hours later, he pulled into Mena. Mena wasn’t much to look at. It’s only claim was it sat at eastern foot of Arkansas's second highest peak, Rich Mountain, or at least that was what Mena’s web site said. There were a lot of outdoor activities to be found but what they didn’t mention was the CIA operated in the area in the early 1980s; that a major cocaine and gun smuggler was based at the airfield. Now it was back to being just another little town in western Arkansas.
Jason didn’t feel right about the town. He was less than 30 minutes from his destination so he set the waypoint in his GPS and headed on up Highway 59 to Highway 270. The scenery in the area was beautiful. He suddenly got a craving for fruit and as he neared his destination, checked his GPS. The next town up was Waldron. He should be able to get fruit there.
Jason drove on into Waldron and didn’t see any grocery stores. He was about to pull over and ask for directions when he saw a tall sign announcing a farmers market. God! They were already selling Christmas trees. Jason pulled into the parking lot and parked where the big rig wouldn’t be in anyone’s way.
He walked into the market and it seemed they had every kind of fruit you could ever want. He walked down the aisles and check out what they had.
Jason turned a corner, scanning the boxes of fruit and vegetables. Just as he was moving on, he saw her. Long straight black hair, green eyes, tanned skin, legs that seemed to go up forever and the cutest dimples he had ever seen on a woman. On top of it all, she had a figure any woman would kill for. She was wearing a worker’s smock with a name tag that read “FREYA.” Jason was stunned speechless and was staring so intently at her as he moved down the aisle that the last thing he saw was her eyes as he walked directly into a support post, almost knocking himself unconscious. Freya Maguire looked at Jason with the eyes of an owl, then started laughing.
“That is going to leave a mark!”
“Sorry, I was mesmerized by your eyes.”
“Wow! You don’t waste any time Don Juan.”
“My name is Jason Parker. Would you like to go have lunch?”
“I don’t know. I’m hesitant because I’m concerned you might not be able to drive with any more skill than your walking abilities.”
“I promise, I am an excellent driver. If you don’t trust me, we can walk or you can drive.”
“You Sir, are making it difficult to resist your importunes.”
“Then don’t.” Jason grinned.
Freya looked out the big windows into the parking lot.
“Is that your rig out there?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’d better drive. The diner’s parking isn’t that big. “Aunt Mollie! I’m going to lunch!”
They walked out into the parking lot and Freya directed him over to a 2000 Jeep Cherokee.
“Nice Cherokee.” Jason commented.
“My Daddy restored it for me to drive back and forth to Mena.
“What do you do there?”
“Working on a nursing degree. What do you do?” Freya asked.
“I do some contracting for the government. I decided to take some time off and travel a bit.”
“You look young to be doing something like that.” Freya said.
They arrived at the diner and got a booth. The waitress brought over glasses of iced water and menus.
“What’s good here?” Jason asked.
“My favorite is the chicken fried steak.”
“Then that’s what I’ll have.” Jason replied.
They ordered their meals and Jason had a cup of coffee while Freya had a glass of iced tea.
“So, where are you from?” Freya asked.
I grew up on a farm outside of Snowville, Utah. When I graduated from high school, I joined the Army and never went back except to attend the funerals of my parents.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry! What happened?”
“One of those interstate pile-ups in blizzard conditions you hear about. They were burned almost beyond recognition.”
“I am so sorry!”
Jason shrugged.
“How long are you going to be in the area?” Freya asked.
”For a while, I think. I’ve got a friend down south of here that I’ll be staying on his place.”
“Where’s that at?”
“I guess a place near Parks. From looking at the map, it’s somewhere near there.”
“I know the area,” Freya said. “I thought it was part of the Ouachita National Forest.”
“I have no idea My idea was to pick up some fruit before I go out there.”
“Well, since you failed on your first try. I’d better help you out with that.” Freya said, grinning.
“Oh, I didn’t fail! As soon as I saw your beautiful eyes, my priorities immediately changed. My goal was to get you to go to lunch with me.”
“Well, in that, you were successful. What’s next?”
“Well. As soon as I get settled in. I’d like to take you out to dinner at a nicer place. I guess Fort Smith is the closest town of any size.”
“Pretty much. Little Rock is over two hours away. I guess you’re going to need my phone number then.”
“Please.” Jason said.
“Freya reached over, took Jason’s phone out of his shirt pocket and dialed her number.”
“There. I’m out of school until January the 4th.”
“Well, I’ll certainly call you soon.” Jason smiled. He saved her number in his contacts.
“What is your last name.”
“Maguire, Freya Maguire.”
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Post by sniper69 on Jun 12, 2022 21:47:08 GMT -6
I think Hank and Kacie visited from the other story. "Jeremy made it home just before Thanksgiving. The women had already planned everything out so the men just helped out where they were told. This year, Kacie asked if they could invite Earl and his family. Hiram and Hank had kill a couple of turkeys a few days before, cleaned them and singed the pinfeathers off. The women took over from there."
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Post by sniper69 on Jun 12, 2022 21:52:15 GMT -6
Thank you for the latest chapter. I'm thoroughly enjoying this story (and the others ones you have written too).
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Post by CountryGuy on Jun 13, 2022 6:32:19 GMT -6
"Fifteen hundred square feet of Zoysia sod had been used on the face of the dam."
You'd mentioned previously the dam was 50' tall. Not sure if you ever mentioned width but to hold back 300 acres it has to be sizeable. For an earthen dam the slope face would be much longer than the 50' height. So I'm thinking you possibly meant more like 150,000sqft? It might even be a lot more than that.
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Post by gipsy on Jun 13, 2022 7:15:22 GMT -6
Thanks for the update.
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