ydderf2
Member
"I'm from the government and here to help" hahahaha
Posts: 321
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Post by ydderf2 on Jun 25, 2022 10:23:24 GMT -6
thanks
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Post by ncsfsgm on Jun 26, 2022 5:15:39 GMT -6
Chapter 41
“I’m thinking of buying some land.”
Rose, the realtor, waved to Jason to follow her as she drove through the gate. The road went through about a fifty yard strip of live oaks and then a row of pecan trees on each side of the drive that extended on about another 100 yards to where the old home place had stood. The burned debris had been removed and nothing was left except a concrete slab off to the side. They got out of the truck and walked up to Rose’s Jeep. An old man got out of the passenger side of the Jeep.
“Jason, this is Mr. Jacob Edwards. He’s the owner.”
“Mr. Edwards, I’m pleased to meet you.”
“Likewise Jason. You feel like taking a walk?”
“Sure.”
They started walking toward what Jason figured was north.
“Why do you want to buy this land?” Jacob asked.
“Mr. Edwards, I spent some time in the military and once I got out I’ve been traveling with my job almost all the time. I live out of a 5th wheel trailer. I was staying with a friend not far from here and like the area. Most of all, I met a girl. You might know her father, Sean Maguire.”
“Oh yeah, I know Sean.”
“Well, If I can buy this land, I’m going to ask Freya to marry me. I want to build a home here and hopefully raise some kids.”
“Jason, this place has five ponds, four of them stocked. The two biggest ones are five and eight acres. If I was going to build here, I’d put a house on the north side of the property. It’d be a lot more private there and plenty of room to build new outbuildings. There is also a capped gas well up there. All you have to do is add a pressure tank and you’d have free gas for cookin’ and heatin.’ That old barn over there, you might as well tear it down. It’d cost you more to repair than to build a new one.”
“Yes sir, I want to raise a few beef cattle for meat, some chickens and maybe a pig or two.”
“Well, Rose means well and she put kind of a steep price and nobody’s biting. Personally, I think she’s holding out for the commission. I’ll sell you the place for $650,000. You’re young and I want you to have your dream. I ain’t got long left in this world and I’m tired. This will give me more than enough to take care of my expenses until I pull up my tent pegs and make the final journey. Let’s head back and we can have Rose start the paperwork.”
When they got back to the old house place, Freya and Rose were waiting by the Jeep.
“I’m selling to Jason for $650,000. Would you start the paperwork?”
“Yes, of course Mr. Edwards.”
“Let’s get goin’ then. The boys will have already started playin’ checkers.”
Jason and Freya watched as they drove off. “Let’s drive around a bit.” Jason said.
Jason took a farm road that went past the barn and up between the two big ponds to the northeast part of the property. He pulled to a stop and got out, Freya following him.
“You’re going buy this place?” Freya asked.
“Yes, this is what I wanted you to help me with.”
Jason pulled the ring box out of his pocket and went to one knee.
“Freya, will you marry me and help me to make this a home?”
Freya’s hands flew up and covered her mouth, She nodded as the tears began to flow. “OH YES JASON! I will marry you.”
Jason pulled the engagement ring out of the box and placed it on her finger, leaving the wedding band in the box.
“I hope you don’t mind. These were my Mother’s rings. If you want something new, I’ll get you what you want.”
“No! I love it! It’s beautiful!”
They stood there and kissed in the pasture, and finally came up for air.
“I need you to help me pick out a house like you want. We’ve got a lot to do.” Jason said.
“Can we go tell Momma and Daddy?”
“Let’s go.”
Jason was up early doing his pushups and sit ups. Afterward, he stretched his hamstrings a bit more before he left to run. It was still cold out and his lungs were burning from the chilly air. After about three miles, his nose started to run, although his legs really felt good. After he’d finished his run and returned to the trailer, he was sweating abundantly. Stripping off his clothing he threw everything in the washer and started to run a load. Freya yelled out to leave them. She would do the wash in a little while.
After taking a shower and shaving, he put on his clothes and pulled on his boots. Freya was making red-eye gravy in the kitchenette. She had fried up ham and made eggs in a hole. Freya told him to sit and set his plate in front of him. Jason soaked the bread in the red-eye gravy and took a bite of the toast, eggs, and ham.
“I might just keep you around with you cooking like this, but I’ll have to extend my running to 20 miles.”
“I’ll make more nutritional meals. I’m celebrating this morning.”
“What did your mother say when you packed your clothes to come over here.”
“She grinned and told me you were my man now and to take care of you.”
“I like her more and more every day.”
“What are you going to do today?” Freya asked.
“I need to find a general contractor to handle building our house. By the way, what kind of house do you want and how many kids?”
“I only want two kids. I think that is the perfect number, and I want to home school them. Jason, could we build something like the Lodge?”
“I don’t think we need anything that big with just two kids.”
“No, I mean a log home.”
“Sure, as long as we have a basement. I want a storm shelter too. I hate tornadoes.”
“When will we be able to start building?”
“Well, we need to find a general contractor, I have several buildings to build. I want a barn, a separate equipment building and garage. We’ve got to have buildings or shelters for the cattle, pigs and chickens. I’ve got to get a well dug, septic tank and drain field put in”
“After my exams are over, I’ll be able to help more.” Freya said.
“Don’t forget, you and your mother have a wedding to plan.”
“Momma and Aunt Mollie. I’ll just be nodding my head.”
“Well, I’ll start looking, and you too, for home plans. We’ll need at least four bedrooms, and I’ll check around for log home builders. If I can find a builder that uses cypress logs, I want to go with them.”
“Why cypress?”
“Cypress resists insects and chemical corrosion as well as decay and has a smell kinda like cedar.”
“Oh, okay.”
“It may take us a year to get everything done. Can you hold on that long?” Jason asked.
“As long as we’re married. The trailer isn’t bad at all.”
“Okay then. I’ll get a well and septic put in and we can move the trailer out there.”
Freya hugged Jason as visions of their future home drifted through their minds.
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Post by gipsy on Jun 26, 2022 6:01:15 GMT -6
Nice update.
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Post by udwe on Jun 26, 2022 21:08:31 GMT -6
Great addition!
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Post by imahic on Jun 27, 2022 14:23:22 GMT -6
Thanks.
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Post by ncsfsgm on Jun 27, 2022 18:24:20 GMT -6
Chapter 42
The land closed quickly and Jason got busy lining up the well driller and the company to put in the septic system. He found a log home builder in Russellville that built cypress log homes and made an appointment to meet with them on Saturday. That would be after Freya’s exams so they could both be in on the planning. He told the lady on the phone he was looking for a something with four bedrooms, an office, two car garage and porches both front and back. She said that she would have some plans waiting for them. Jason went up to talk to Jeremy. The sun was out and the temperature was in the high 50s so they drank coffee on the deck.
“You got something on your mind Jason?”
“Well, I’m going to be getting the homestead set up and I don’t want to be called out on anything unless it is really an emergency.”
“I’ve already set it up.” Jeremy said.
Jason took a sip of coffee.
“I know there were a lot of well-meaning people that went to Washington. The established politicians slowly turned them until the fresh meat were so corrupt and filled with the Washington swamp stink they were indistinguishable. I'm not proud of it, the way we have to go about the cleansing, but the time had come when we have to fight fire with fire. We’re just cleaning up part of what is wrong with the government process. When you set a bone wrong, you have to re-break it to set it right. Doing it might be painful, but in the end you have a stronger, usable limb instead of a worthless crippled limb. We’ve got politicians who support and applaud left-wing insurrections, violence and destruction that agree with their corrupt and criminal agendas. We are just a measure of justice. It is painful, nevertheless, in this case, the ends do justify the means; the good of the whole over the good, read selfish power grabbing, of the few.”
“I hear you.” Jeremy said.
“I know we’ll have to do more, but I’d like a chance to get everything set up for Freya.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you are off the active list. We’re getting quite a few ex-spec ops people that are performing well.”
“Yeah, I appreciate that.”
“You know, you need to think about getting some equipment."
‘what do you mean?”
“Two hundred seventy six acres takes some time to get around on. You’ll wear your truck out. You need at least a Gator for day to day things.”
“Yeah, I understand what you’re saying.”
“Go over to and talk to Brian he can give you the dealer information and loan you a trailer to bring it back with.”
“I don’t have anywhere to keep one right now.”
“Just park it next to the trailer for now or go to Carson’s. They have a prefab garage building they can bring in on a tilt truck. I know you can afford it.” “Oh, okay.”
“Are you going to take the 5th wheel down?”
“Yeah, the driller is coming tomorrow to put in a well and they’ll bring the septic tank and install it and the drain field later this week.”
“How big are you building it?”
“I told them to double the size.”
“That’s good. Are you putting in a storm shelter?”
Jason grinned. “Yeah, something like that.”
“I get you. Talk to Brian too about the farm equipment. If you are going off the grid I assume you’ll try to be as self-sustaining as you can.”
“Yeah, that’s the idea.”
“You picked a good place for it. Brian and Jenna grew a big garden and canned everything. With what they’ve been storing up, they rarely have to go to the grocery store. Oh, and feel free to harvest any deadfall for firewood in the Washita tract. There’s enough there to last a lifetime.”
“I appreciate it. I guess a Gator would be helpful, and a tractor could do double duty as a wood hauler. I see my work is just getting started.”
“Yeah, I’d get the Gator and use it to get familiar with the trails “
Jason talked to Brian and borrowed the big vehicle trailer and headed to Fort Smith the next morning. The UTV and the Deere dealerships were next to each other so he had a pick of the four wheelers available. However, the utility value of the Gator won him over, plus the various attachments available. He got the ball receiver hitch for towing, the full fiberglass HVAC cab with windshield and wipers, tire chains, full light kit with a light bar, exterior mirrors, front winch with wireless remote, front hood rack, cargo box wall extensions, MOLLE pockets to attach to the back of the front bench seat, cargo box power lift, and a utility cart. Jason went ahead and got a heavy-weight polyester fabric vehicle storage cover that would keep it protected from the weather. He would forego the garage shed and wait until he talked to the builders. He wanted to see if they could build the 4-stall garage and an equipment shed out of cypress logs too.
Some of the accessories they had to install at the dealership so while he waited, Jason walked next door to look around at the UTV area. A display of trail bikes caught his eye and he walked over to them.
“Interested in a Rokon?” The salesman asked.
“Just looking.” Jason replied. “What’s the difference in the models?”
“The salesman went over the differences and began naming off the accessories available or that could be ordered.”
“Could I take a test ride?” Jason asked.
“Sure. We have a demo model you can ride.”
The salesman got Jason a helmet and took him to the demo bike. Jason rode around the parking lot a bit and came back. The salesman showed him how you could keep spare gas in the front wheel for emergencies and how to transfer fuel to the tank.
“What were the accessories again?” Jason asked.
The salesman got a catalog and showed them to Jason.
“I’ll take the Mototractor, the quick change extended rear cargo rack, LED headlamp, receiver tow bar, single track trailer, side car and tire chains. Do you have all those available?”
“Let me check. I’ll be right back.” The salesman replied.
Taking his notes to a computer, the salesman was soon back.
“Yes sir, we have everything in inventory.”
“Well, write it up.”
The salesman happily wrote up the invoice and Jason paid him. Two workers began bringing out the boxes of accessories.
“Do you have a truck to transport everything?”
“I’ve got a truck and trailer next door. I’m picking up a Gator there. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Jason went to the Deere dealership next door and they had finished loading the Gator. Jason paid the invoice and drove next door. The workers lifted the bike into the front of the trailer, forward f the Gatorand strapped it down. The gave him free tie-down straps to secure the load. The salesman shook Jason’s hand and Jason headed back to Washita Lake.
"Man! I just spent almost enough to buy a new truck!” Thought Jason.
When he got back to his trailer, he blocked and unhitched the trailer. Jason immediately went back into town to Tractor Supply and purchased a large tarp and a 15-gallon Poly Fuel Cart and filled it at a service station with regular gas. This would do until he got a fuel tank installed at the farm.
When he got back Freya was already at home. Jason took out the vehicles’ manuals out of the truck and went in.
“Hi!” Freya said, kissing Jason. “Looks like you’ve been shopping!”
Jason chuckled. “Yeah, I picked up a couple of things.”
“Can we go for a ride in the Gator?”
“If you help me off-load it. I need to put the tarp over everything anyway.”
Jason managed to get the Gator off without removing the Rokon stuff, he drove it over next to the truck and filled the fuel tank.”
“You want to drive?” Jason asked.
“I’ve never driven one before.” Freya frowned.
“Just like driving a car with an automatic transmission. We’ll take it up to the gate and back then you take us to the dam. Just take it easy. You’ll get used to it soon enough.”
Freya took off slowly and began picking up speed. Once she was confident, they rode along the shoreline easily and Jason noticed the water was now covering about half the lake. Not deep in most places except near the dam. They parked at the dam and walked around for a few minutes.
“How was your day?” Jason asked.
“Good. Just reviews. We won’t began exams until Wednesday. By Friday afternoon, I’ll know how I did overall. Did you get the Gator in Fort Smith?”
“Yeah, next door to the John Deere dealership was a 4-wheeler shop. That’s where I picked up the bike. I’ll mount the sidecar tomorrow and take you for a ride.”
“Are we still going to Russellville Saturday?”
“Yeah, we’ll have to leave here no later than 08:30 in order to make our appointment.
“I found the house plan I want, but it’s made by another company.” Freya said.
“That’s okay. They’ll take the plan and draw out what we want.”
“Let’s go back and I’ll show it to you.” Freya said, tugging his arm.
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Post by gipsy on Jun 27, 2022 20:35:17 GMT -6
Thanks for the update.
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Post by solo on Jun 28, 2022 9:44:38 GMT -6
Man, I'd love a gator. I am getting long in the tooth to wheelburrow all the things around my yard like I am. Just have to find one that will work on my board walk out to our little island area. They say it is rated for a lot of weight, but I still worry.
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Post by biggkidd on Jun 28, 2022 11:17:50 GMT -6
I went in another direction and bought an old golf cart and am adapting it to fit my needs. A WHOLE lot less MONEY involved and no buying fuel for it. I put a solar panel in place of the roof so it mostly takes care of charging itself. I also have a LifePO4 battery for it but I am currently using it to run our AC at night. lol It's truly amazing the amount of work it can do and things it can drag plus it goes just about anywhere a 4 wheeler can go even though it's only 2wd. I did lift it and also plan to get larger tires if I ever have the money.
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Post by imahic on Jun 28, 2022 14:00:02 GMT -6
I went in another direction and bought an old golf cart and am adapting it to fit my needs. A WHOLE lot less MONEY involved and no buying fuel for it. I put a solar panel in place of the roof so it mostly takes care of charging itself. I also have a LifePO4 battery for it but I am currently using it to run our AC at night. lol It's truly amazing the amount of work it can do and things it can drag plus it goes just about anywhere a 4 wheeler can go even though it's only 2wd. I did lift it and also plan to get larger tires if I ever have the money. I've been looking at golf carts as well. They have sure got high since everyone appears to have the same idea...lol
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Post by ncsfsgm on Jun 29, 2022 7:23:34 GMT -6
Chapter 43
Freya stayed at Jason’s Friday night so they could leave out early. They arrived at the office ten minutes 10 minutes short of their appointment time and were greeted as soon as they went in.
The salesman had four bedroom plans laid out but Freya show him the printouts of what she’d found on the internet and he said it would be no problem re-drawing the plans to meet their needs. Freya wanted to add a large pantry and they both wanted a full basement. The salesman took notes and asked about electrical outlets and the type of foundation they wanted. Jason then asked about a 4-bay detached garage and a three sided equipment building with windows on the back side. He was told they had the components on hand and they could have them built before the house was raised. Jason gladly paid the deposit and was given a final completion date of mid-June. Before Jason left, he inquired about a General Contractor that could oversee the projects for Jason. He was given a card for a man in Danville they had worked with before. Jason planned to contact him on the way home since they had to pass through Danville on the way back.
When the graveled pad was finished, Jason moved the 5th wheel to the farm. He connected the black and gray water hoses and ran them into the septic tank access hole and a water hose from the well to the to the RV. He rolled out the awnings and had chairs set up when Freya arrived. A fire ring, made out of a truck rim sunk into the ground, held a crackling fire. He had even built a reflector to heat the area under the awning. A 9x15 artificial grass rug extended beneath the awning.
“Hi! It looks great!” Freya said. “Aunt Mollie sent you some fruit.”
Jason took the bag inside and filled the fruit bowl.
“What’s the rest of your week looking like?” Jason asked.
“Just getting ready for graduation on Friday.”
“I got a call from the builders. They’re sending out a crew tomorrow to put up the equipment shed since it’s pretty straightforward. They said it would only take a couple of days.”
“That’s great! Is the foundation finished?”
“Yeah, you want to see it?”
“Sure.”
They walked across the field to the building site.
“Why did you put it here?” Freya asked.
“Prevailing winds. Also it will help block winds from storms coming up out of the Gulf. I overbuilt it a little but I’ll have enough room to keep the equipment out of the weather.”
“What equipment are you going to get?”
“I don’t know. I’ll walk around and see what they have and if it fits in my plans then I’ll buy it.”
“Aunt Mollie said she was going to get us some peach and apple trees.”
“That’s good. We can pick a spot for an orchard.”
They walked back to the RV and sat down. Jason threw more wood on the fire.
“Are you staying here tonight?” Jason asked.
“I’d like to since it is your first night out here. I told Momma I probably would. What are you doing tomorrow?”
“I need to stick around until Dennis, the contractor gets here. I want to wait about buying stuff to build the chicken coop until I have somewhere to store it. I might just have a storage shed delivered. While Dennis is overseeing the building I could be working on the chicken coop. I want to get that done while the weather is still cool.”
“When are you getting any power out here?”
“They guys from Oklahoma will be here next week to do a survey to see what type of system I need. Brian said they were quick and efficient so it shouldn’t take long to get it in. The builders are bringing their own generators.”
“This is going to be so pretty.”
“Well, that’s up to you to make it pretty, my job is to make it efficient.”
They sat there until the fire died down then Jason closed up the awnings and they went in for the night.
Brian set the basket of fruit down and looked around. Not seeing any movement, he got back in the Gator and headed to the equipment shed. Hooking up the tiller to one of the tractors, he tilled the manure compost in the garden. They had another month before they would start putting seedlings in the hot boxes so he wanted the compost to have enough time to leach into the soil. Washing down the tiller and the tractor, he parked them back under the equipment shed.
“I put the seed pots under the grow light,” Jenna said.
“Good. Unless we have some unusually cold weather we should be fine.”
“If we do, I can just remove the covers and raise the grow lights up. We should be okay.”
“Jason moved his 5th wheel to the farm today.”
“What can we give them for a wedding present?” Jenna asked.
“Get together a selection of cast iron cookware. That’s all I can think of. He can well afford anything he wants. Jason might be young but he has been good with his money, at least that what Dad says. He’s probably made more in interest while we’re talking about it than what he’ll spend in a month. We’ll keep an eye out and see what they are short of, but Freya has a good head too, and I don’t think she’ll let anything slip by. I think I’ll drop by tomorrow and check things out.”
The next morning Brian drove down to the lake, borrowed his father’s Gator and drove around the shoreline. The lake was slowly filling but he was hoping for more rain. He could use something like Katrina coming up the Mississippi River Valley. He was still going with the stocking plan, maybe just not stock as many fish. He could stock more later on in the year. When he drove the Gator back up to his father’s place and parked, Jeremy came out the door.
“How’s it look?”
“It’s filling, slowly but surely. Have you been down to Jason’s farm yet?”
“No, not yet. Let’s take the Gator and take the trails. It’s not that far.”
Jeremy got his hand-held GPS and mounted it in its holder. They drove around the shoreline and turned onto a trail near the dam. The distance from the pavilion was about four miles but the trails were in good condition and they made good time. Brian made a note to bring a chainsaw and clear some of the saplings off the trail. When they broke out of the forest at the edge of Jason’s farm, they could see workers erecting a building. The crane was lifting logs onto the three-sided structure and workers were busy screwing the logs together. They were moving fairly quickly. It wouldn’t take long to finish the structure.
Jason spotted Jeremy and Brian and went over to them.
“Morning, Jason.”
“Morning guys. They move quick, don’t they?”
“Definitely. That your equipment shed?”
“Yeah. They said they could get this and a four bay garage up quickly because they already had the materials on hand. I can start getting some equipment now. I’m getting a storage building from Carson’s to keep tools in for right now. I want to get started on a chicken coop.”
“If you need some good layers, I can point you to where I got mine.”
“Okay, thanks Brian.”
“Where are you going to keep your chicken feed?” Jeremy asked.
Brian stared at the building site. “I hadn’t thought that far along.”
“Just get another shed from Carson’s.” Brian said. “Get a couple of drums from Tractor Supply to store the feed in or you’ll have field mice all over the place.”
“Good idea. I’m going to build something similar to what you have Brian, but the run will be movable and I can move it frequently so they don’t eat all the grass out of one spot, sort of like a chicken tractor. It will swing in a 180 degree arc. By the time I’ve moved it to the last position, the grass will have grown back up in the first area and I can just start back over again.”
“That’s a good idea. I’ll have to come back over and see how that’s working out.”
“When are they starting on the house?” Jeremy asked.
“They are putting it together in their yard now. They’ll assemble it there, mark the logs and reassemble it here. I don’t look for that to happen for another month or so.”
“Do you need anything?”
“No, I’m good. As soon as they get the equipment shed completed, I can get a tractor and a trailer. I’ll see what they have for equipment before I decide on anything else.”
“For one, you’ll need a bottom plow and a disc harrow. You can also get a rotary tiller that mounts on the PTO if you are going to do a garden.”
“Yeah, I’m doing all that. I’ll need a bush hog also. I’ll get it all together in time. I just want to get the house built but I’m not going to sit around on my hands waiting for that.”
“Well, if we can be of any help, give us a shout.” Jeremy said.
“Thanks guys, I appreciate that.”
Jason watched them drive back to the forest trail. He pulled out his phone to call Carson’s then stopped. He could use the tool shed to store his tools in now and use it for chicken feed later. He was going in to get some carpenter tools and buy a trailer after he talked to Dennis to tell him where he would be.
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Post by gipsy on Jun 29, 2022 8:52:29 GMT -6
Thanks for the update.
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Post by solo on Jun 29, 2022 9:09:23 GMT -6
Great work, again! One small spot: “Brian moved his 5th wheel to the farm today.” - I think Brian is actually saying this about Jason.
V/R, Solo
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Post by ncsfsgm on Jun 30, 2022 13:18:01 GMT -6
Chapter 44
Jason watched as they placed the last metal roofing sheets on the salt box roof of the equipment shed. Two guys began installing the lightning protection system at the other end of the building. Just as Jason got ready to go into town, trucks and crews arrived to begin the foundation work on the garage.
Jason took his list and went into town. He had intended to by a 6x10 utility trailer and go by the Lumber yard to pick up supplies. Instead, he went on into Fort Smith to the John Deere distributor. He liked Brian’s tractor but they wouldn’t have another of that model for two more weeks. They did have the next higher model, it also with a cab so he bought it, a 3-blade bottom plow, disc and harrow, auger, tiller, bush hog, a rear blade and a 4-in-1 bucket. They could deliver all of the equipment the following week, which was fine with Jason because he needed to get fuel tanks installed.
Jason’s planning was flowing through his mind as he drove back to the farm. He was towing the trailer and decided to stop by the accountant’s office. Taxes could eat him up so he had a line on an accountant that would guide him through the his taxes on the farm. There were many things that would be exempt or he could get tax credits. He was keeping all receipts and take them in to the accountant.
That night Jason showered, washed his hair twice, and since he still felt beat, walked out and sat in a chair with a beer. He listened to the night and watched the stars as he had his one beer, and then went back in to sleep.
Brian had a boat ramp put in, away from the “beach,” before the water got too high. Eventually, he might put in a dry boat house for a boat but he was looking for something different. He wanted just a utility boat for the lake, nothing recreational. He had run across a YouTube video of a hovercraft capable of carrying cargo and took down the name of the company. Brian called them up and they were still in business so he decided to check them out. Rockford, Illinois was over a 12 hour drive so he called his Dad..
“Dad, Brian. Who do we have in Fort Smith that I can see about flying to Chicago?”
“I’ll check. Do you want to go commercial or charter?”
“Commercial is out. With all the flight cancellations, I don’t know when I would be back.”
“Good point. Let me call you back.”
Jason was setting up set up the stakes and boards to line up his chicken coop when Dan Brock from Thunderbird Power showed up to do his survey.
“Jason? Dan Brock.” Dan said, shaking Jason’s hand.
“Thanks for taking this project on. Brian and Jeremy said you were the best in the business.”
“Well, I don’t know about that. We try to be the most honest anyway. Do you have somewhere we can sit down and talk?”
“Sure, let’s go to my trailer. Would you like something to drink?
“Some water would be welcomed.”
Jason rolled out the awning and got a couple of glasses of water. Dan took a sip and sighed.
“Is this straight out of the well?” Dan asked.
“Yes.”
“Good. You have good water here. Jason, I see poles bringing wires in for commercial power down below the ponds. Why do you want to go alternative?”
“Attitude, I guess. I’ve seen what it takes to bring power to the rural areas and the mark-up. The cost is so much it has to be subsidized by the government which means our taxpayer dollars are doing it. I don’t mind them using my money to help those less fortunate than I but then the companies use their advantage and positions to run up huge salaries instead of keeping energy prices lower. I know it is going to cost me more, but I wanted out of the game. I’ve lived out of this trailer and have used solar for a while. I’m used to its limitations and can live with it.”
“That’s a good enough reason. Most of our customers believe they are doing something noble, saving the earth and such, by going solar, but in the end, it really does nothing to ‘green’ the earth. Making the components takes a lot of raw materials that are taken from the earth and does nothing to offset the costs nor save the planet. Sorry to get on a soap box. We’ll give you the best system, nevertheless. Now, I’ll need a set of your building plans. Can you give me some idea of your plans for the farm?”
“Dan, I just want a quiet life. I want to raise a few beef cattle, pigs and some chickens. I like my eggs and ham, bacon or sausage in the morning. I want a little better power system than I have in this trailer for my wife. Hell, I could live with Kerosene lamps and a wood stove.”
“I understand. What type off assets do you have here for power production? Do you have running water for hydroelectric; how are the winds? How much sunshine do you get a year?”
“Well, We’ve got the Fourche LaFave River on the edge of part of the property. There is a capped gas well and I’m not sure of about how much wind and sunshine we get.”
“I can research the winds and solar exposure. The hydro and gas have possibilities. You have some options. At a minimum, we can set up solar and have a backup generator powered from the gas well and maybe a wind generator. This is going to be expensive though.”
“I’m not concerned about the costs. I want my wife to live more in the 2000’s other than the 1800’s.”
“I hear you. Well, why don’t you take me to the well and river and let me check them out.”
Jason drove him around to the well and river in the Gator. Dan took water speed and fall measurements at the river and took down the pressure readings at the well. When they got back to the trailer Jason got them more water and they sat back in the chairs.
“Let me do the numbers and see how much energy you’re going to need. Sadly, I’m probably going to opt out on the hydro. I saw the high water marks on the river and even a small flooding episode could wipe out everything down there without dikes and a dam system, which would cost more than any return you could get.”
“That’s fine. Brian just runs off solar and wind, doesn’t he?
“”Yes, and has the option of attaching a generator if he wants but hasn’t had the need. We also built his system 25% bigger than he normally would need. Do you want us to do the same thing?”
“Yes. I’ve talked to him a lot and he hasn’t had any shortages or outages.”
“Very well. If you can get me a set of plans, which I’ll return to you when I’ve finished the calculations, I can get out of your hair and get started.”
Jason gave him his set of building plans and Dan left. Jason stood under the awning and gazed around, stopping at the work going on at the garage. In another week or so they’ll be finished with that and they house wouldn’t be far behind that. Freya had the wedding planned in another three weeks. They still had to get furniture and all the things needed for the house. They were going to be busy.
“Brian? When can you leave?”
“My bag is packed.”
“Okay, I have a charter leaving Fort Smith at 1300 on Wednesday for RFD, about 6 miles outside of town. There’ll the a rental SUV waiting for you. You’ll have to make your own reservations.”
“Can Jenna go with me?”
”Already figured in.”
“Okay, thanks Dad.”
“I’ll take care of the horses and chickens until you get back.” Jeremy said.
Brian told Jenna to pack for three days and made reservations at the Embassy Suites, about four blocks from the hovercraft dealer.
Brian and Jenna left early to get to Fort Smith Regional.
“I ordered a couple of Bistro tables and chairs for our patio.” Jenna said.
Brian rolled his eyes.
“I ordered two for Jason and Freya too. You’ll like them. They are made out of wooden barrels and have a nice, thick wooden top.”
“I talked to Jason the other day. It’s going to be a while before the house is finished.”
“Well, I can just keep them on our patio until they are ready for them.” Jenna grinned.
They took off at 1305 and an hour and forty-five minutes later, landed at Chicago Rockford International Airport. Brian picked up the rental and they went to the Embassy Suites and checked in. They walked around one of the malls and window shopped then had an early dinner at Beef a Roo because Jenna didn’t want a “fancy” dinner.
The burger was good though.
The first thing Jason attached to the tractor was the auger to dig the post holes. Freya stooped out to help him and she was very helpful. She knew her way around a farm and had leveled posts before. When the last bag of concrete mix were dumped and wet down, they washed off their hands at the pump and went to the trailer.
“The pump is solar powered too?” Freya asked.
“Yeah, but Dan is going to upgrade the battery for it. When we finally move in we’ll be using more water, thus more power.”
“One more week.” Jason said.
“I know. I can’t wait to get everything done, then go on a honeymoon.”
“Have you ordered the furniture?” Jason asked.
“Yes, Jenna has been helping me find things. I’ll have the minimum linens and things to make the beds and such. We can get the rest later.”
“That’s fine. It’s coming together Babe.”
“Jason, this is Dan. I’ve finished your solar calculations and your area gets 120 sunny days a year, around 96 partly sunny for a total of 216 days a year the panels are charging efficiently. That leaves you 149 days you’re getting close to squat. If we put in a wind generator that ran at night, that would take up some slack. However, you also have natural gas on the property and if you tap into that, you won’t have any worries about having fully charged batteries. I recommend doing solar, wind and the backup gas generator.”
“That’s fine Dan. Go ahead.”
“We’ll start getting everything together Jason. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Talk to you later Dan."
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Post by biggkidd on Jun 30, 2022 13:42:54 GMT -6
A gas well sounds great, I'd love to have one. Having lived with solar power for the last 14.5 years I'd really like to play with hydropower some. Wind would be nice as well, it's often windy when the sun isn't shining here.
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Post by gipsy on Jun 30, 2022 14:35:27 GMT -6
Thanks for the update.
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Post by ncsfsgm on Jul 1, 2022 23:12:43 GMT -6
Chapter 45
The house was almost finished. The painters had finished the staining and the outside logs had been stained and water repellent applied. However, the only furnishings they had were the appliances. Freya started calling to have the furniture delivered she had ordered. She estimated it would all be in within two weeks. The final building took a little longer because Jason wanted the workers gone before they started the shelter. He bought an elliptical modular system with two modified living area modules, two storage modules, kitchen/dining/den module, a power module and a recreation area module and had sunk the well and pump down underground to where it could be accessed from the shelter. Dan had come through with the power setup. The solar panels were charging at peak efficiency and even if they ran the batteries down during the day, the wind generator had the batteries charged back up the next morning.
The wedding was held at the Parks Methodist Church and the reception at the Parks Community Center. Freya’s mother was a mover in the area. Jason hadn’t expected that many people to be there and some came that hadn’t been invited, but the people in the area looked for any reason to get together and Jason didn’t care. They had asked for no wedding gifts but they received 5000 rounds of ammunition for each of Jason’s guns from Jeremy and a complete set of cast iron cookware from Jenna and Brian. Many people donated home canned food also.
When Brian rode down to the lake he wasn’t surprised to see the lake was almost completely full the last low front that came through had wave after wave of thunderstorms that left everything soggy. He wasn’t expecting those conditions until hurricane season came. He and Jenna had just put the seedlings in the hot boxes right before the rains came and it would be a few weeks before they were transplanted in the garden. It would be another week before the hovercraft arrived. Rather than do five days of driving to pick up the watercraft and trailer up and bring it back, he paid to have it delivered.
Brian was having a General Steel building put in to store the hovercraft, trailer and maybe a bass boat for his dad. The floor had been poured and they would erect the building in few days. He rode around the shoreline to the dam and saw the water was about six inches from the 4-foot wide overflow pipe top. It was filling a lot quicker than he estimated. He would be able to stock the full load of fish. Riding around the stream, it was still running into the lake. They lake would be filled a lot quicker than Brian had figured.
Brian went back to the Lodge and checked the garden soil moisture. He hooked the disc up and disced the garden then used the garden row builder to build the raised beds. He would dress the rows up before they transplanted the seedlings and mulched.
For the next two weeks, the furniture trickled in. When the furniture for the master bedroom arrived, Freya had Jason stop his bush hogging and put the bed together. Freya and her Aunt Mollie had gone to Bed Bath and Beyond and Macy’s in Fort Smith and he suspected they had bought the stores out. But he really didn’t really care. She was having the time of her life putting their home together. He was also spending money outfitting the shelter. He made lists of things they would need and ordered them off the internet when he couldn’t get them locally. He finally got the food supply up to a one year supply and had Freya check against the inventory when she bought anything and rotated the food. He had a total of 7,650 cubic feet of storage space in the two storage modules and worked to get them filled.
Jason and Freya worked together to mark off and plow up a garden area. The soil was rich and didn’t need any additives this year so they would begin buying nursery grown plants to plant their garden when they started planting. They did start some seeds that Freya’s Aunt Mollie had given her and said they had been saving and drying their seeds for years. She came out one day and gave Freya some magazines on heirloom vegetables which both Freya and Jason took notes on. They, like any other young couple starting out, would learn from their mistakes.
Jason turned in the receipts from buying his chickens to his accountant because livestock was tax exempt and saved almost 9.5% in state and local taxes. It wasn’t much, but it could add up. As soon as they had everything else caught up, Jason would put in a couple of pastures to keep yearlings in.
Jason hired some of Jenna’s cousins and built a carport-type shelter over the 5th wheel to keep it out of the weather, bought a couple of high-end solar panels from Dan and wired them in to the trailer to keep the batteries charged. At first, he was going to remove the panels on top of the 5th wheel and place them on the roof but that would destroy the water-tight integrity of the roof and decided to just get new panels.
Brian removed the shrink wrap from the hovercraft and filled the fuel tank. After doing his maintenance checks, he started the engines and slowly moved the hovercraft down the boat ramp and out onto the lake. Standing up behind the motorcycle-like handlebars, he increased speed and headed to the dam, skimming along with hardly any wake. When he got to the overflow pipe he circled slowly around it and noticed the water was only a couple of inches from spilling over into the pipe. He rode around the lake, looking for signs of erosion and was satisfied. The hovercraft handled great and was easy to operate. He headed to his Dad’s place and pulled up to the floating dock. Jeremy came down from his house.
“How do you like it?” Jeremy asked.
“It’s great! Want to take a ride?”
“Sure.” Jeremy said.
Brian pulled out a life vest out of the equipment locker and handed it to Jeremy. When Jeremy was snapped in, Brian increased the throttle, backed away from the dock and headed down the middle of the lake. When they got in the area of the dam, Brian stepped away from the cockpit and let Jeremy drive around for a while. Jeremy took it back to the dock and Brian showed him how to kill the engines.”
“Well, it’s neat, but not a bass boat.”
“No, I got it mainly for maintenance purposes, but you could put a couple of comfortable lawn chairs here to fish from, but I’ll use it to haul bags of fish food that I’ll feed them for the first few months. I’ve got all the structures plotted on my GPS and can go to each one and throw feed out around them.”
“Good idea. When are they going to be finished with the boat house?”
“By next Wednesday.”
“When are they delivering the fish?” Jeremy asked.
“Well, Arkansas Pondstockers have a usual delivery date of May 1st at the COOP in Waldron, but you have to bring your own containers. I’ve arranged to do a separate delivery here at the lake, I’ll need 30,000 bass fingerlings, 3000 pounds of fathead minnows, 24,000 Bluegill, 60,000 Redear Sunfish, 90,000 Channel Cats and 30,000 Crappie.”
“That’s a lot of fish!”
“Yeah, but remember, they are just fingerlings.”
“I guess I could go over to Bass Pro in Little Rock and order one of those GRIZZLY 2072 CC Sportsman boats with a kicker”
“Dad, they are fingerlings and it will be a year before you can catch and keep.”
“I know, but the boats are will probably be a hell of a lot more expensive next year. I’ll save some money.”
“That’s true. Well, I’ll go park this. Take it out when you want.”
“Okay. I’ll see you later.”
Brian stored the life vest back in the locker and took the hovercraft back over and parked it next to the boat house, but out of the way. Getting a tarp, his tied it down over the hovercraft and went back to the Lodge.
Jason saw the garden row builder Brian had and ordered one. When it came in, the bar was scratched, but that was understandable because it was too big to wrap in cardboard. A little spray paint fixed it up. It would still make setting up the garden a lot easier. When he and Freya had decided on what they wanted to plant, they decided they wanted 18” raised beds then figured out how big the final square footage they would need. He had to plow up a little more and got the garden the size they decided on.
After they had finished preparing the garden, Freya and Jason took a ride around to check on the timber. Jason let Freya drive and they headed for a stand of trees down toward the river. In all, they had around 80 acres of woodland and the rest in open grasslands. The Live oaks down by the highway were all looking and didn’t look like they needed any maintenance. The forty-two acres of forests down near the river had several blow-downs that looked like they would provide seasoned firewood and they would come back to harvest them later. The other 38 acres in the northwest corner of the property had some trees they could harvest also. They would have at least three to four years of firewood available.
As they played gentlemen farmers, they would notice little things that they would have done differently and take notes to discuss later. They both agreed the back porch wasn’t as big as they would have liked and decided to have a covered deck with thick translucent poly panels every other roofing panel to let the daylight through. Jason would find someone to build the deck.
Jason had had slacked off on his running, just doing situps and pushups daily and he wanted to get back to that part of his daily exercise. Taking the bush hog, he cut a path around the property line and ended up with a 15 mile path, a 5 mile path and a ten mile path marked off. He went back and used a landscape rake to clean the debris up. Freya began exercising with him in the mornings.
“Jason, can I talk with you a minute?” Freya asked.
Jason leaned back from the computer keyboard. “Sure, what’s up?”
“Jason, do I need to go to work?”
“Why are you asking that?”
“Well, I know we have money but I took those nursing courses and I wanted to know if I should go to work.”
“Freya, unless you haven’t noticed, you have been working here and have been a big help. I enjoy working side by side with you. I want you to be happy. If you want to get a job, then get one. If you want to stay around here, then it won’t matter one way or another financially. We’re in excellent shape as far as money goes.”
“I’d rather stay at home. I enjoy us working together too.”
“Then so be it. I think we can start setting plants out in the garden next week.”
Freya grinned. “Good, we can get even dirtier.”
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Post by gipsy on Jul 2, 2022 8:49:44 GMT -6
Thanks for the update.
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Post by udwe on Jul 2, 2022 20:31:28 GMT -6
Great!
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Post by ncsfsgm on Jul 3, 2022 7:15:15 GMT -6
Chapter 46
Brian backed the hovercraft on its trailer into the boathouse. Jeremy had gone scouting for bass boats in Little Rock. Brian had asked him to pick up more life preservers for any extra passengers they might have. Brian was going to make a rack to store them on the wall. He was just pulling down the door when he heard a gunshot to the northwest. He listened for a few more seconds and jumped in the Gator and took off up a trail in that direction the sound of the shot came from. About a mile from the boathouse he saw the tire tracks heading south west on an intersecting trail. Turning onto the trail, Brian slowed down and proceed down the trail until he got to a rise. He stopped and walked up until he could see down the trail and saw a truck parked on the trail and a man dragging a deer up to the truck. Brian drew his pistol and moved to the side of the trail, moving closer. Stopping behind a good sized hickory tree Brian shouted,
“Stop what you’re doing and put your hands up!”
The man dropped the deer’s legs and grabbed for his rifle that was leaning against the tailgate, swinging it in in Brian’s direction. Brian fired and the bullet hit the man in his left forearm extended under the rifle. The man dropped the rifle and grabbed his arm. Brian ran over and kicked the rifle away.
“What in the hell were thinking?” Brian shouted.
The man just sat there on the ground a glared at him. Brian called 911 and told them of the situation and his location. He was told to stay on the phone until law enforcement reached his location. A few minutes later, Jeremy pulled up in his Gator. Looking around, he figured out what happened.
“I saw your tracks tearing out and knew something had happened. You call anybody?” Jeremy asked.
“Yeah, I’m on the phone with the 911 dispatcher.” Brian replied.
Jeremy checked the man’s wound and got a compression bandage out of his first aid kit.
Jeremy chuckled. "You hit him in the forearm. What the hell were you aiming for?”
“The knuckle of his middle finger.”
“Boy, you need to hit the range.”
After bandaging the arm, Jeremy reached over on his GPS and captured his location.
“I’ll go up to the highway and lead them in.”
“Okay.”
Ten minutes later a Sheriff’s SUV came down the trail, two EMTs jumped out and checked the wounded man. Brian holstered his pistol.
“What happened here?” The Deputy asked.
Brian told him what had happened from the time he heard the shot. Another vehicle drove up, It was a wildlife enforcement officer.
After taking down Brian’s statement the Deputy and the Wildlife Officer talked on the side and came back over to Brian.
“Do you want to press charges?”
“What’s going to happen to him if I don’t?
“Well, for one, we confiscate his gun and his truck for illegal hunting and he will lose privileges to hunt for the rest of his life.”
“Just take him away. I don’t know if he needed to feed his family or not, but he went about it the wrong way. Let him live with his mistakes.” Brian replied.
Brian drove the man’s truck out to the main road for a tow truck to pick it up that the Wildlife Officer had called. Jeremy followed to bring Brian back to get his Gator.
“I’m getting gates put up at any trail any type of vehicle can come down. If someone is hungry, I’ll damn well feed them, but they better not steal from me.” Brian said.
“I’ll take care of it. Nothing we can do about the secondary roads but I know there’s seven trails they can gain entrance on. I’ll get more No Trespassing signs too.” Jeremy said.
“Did you find anyone to build the deck?” Freya asked.
“I’ve got the number of a company down in Mena that does nothing but design and build decks. I haven’t called them yet though.”
“Could you find out if they could do something like this?” Freya said, laying a printed screen print down in front of Jason.
“What’s this?”
“An outdoor kitchen but I want a charcoal grill along with the gas grill portion. Maybe with a refrigerator, a sink, a charcoal grill and a smoker, gas grill and burners, cabinets, something like that.”
“I’ll check. If he does, you can talk to him and design what you want.”
Jason found the company and turned the project over to Freya. He began building his raised beds in the garden and planting, with Freya’s occasional help, seeds and plants they bought at nurseries and garden centers. They only planted a few hybrid varieties and mainly used heirloom seeds and plants. Jason laid out the orchard and planted the peach and apple trees and a couple of plum trees the Aunt Mollie had given them.
Freya came back to him with the plans for the deck. It looked like it would be a nice area for relaxing and entertaining, what little they did. Freya was proud of what they designed and she should have been. The Grilling Station with a wood fired stainless steel gaucho grill, grill plancha, smoke hood, smoker, refrigerator, wood fired pizza oven, a gas grill with two side gas burners, cabinets, sink with prep area and drawers. There was even an area under the Grilling Station for charcoal and wood storage. Jason had seen something similar in Argentina but Freya had made the design her own.
Jason continued with his survival preps by talking to Jeremy and Brian, reading the forums and prepper sites on the internet and books and magazines on homesteading and subsistence farming. Jason got serious about this. He had already seen what government interference had done to the marketplace. All it took was one stupid move by ignorant progressive bureaucrats to cause a domino effect that could affect the price of everything. Food was getting more expensive and people were starting to juggle between whether to buy food to feed their families, buy fuel to get them to work only to receive wages that were being eaten up by the rising costs of everything caused of the interference with the free market. Jason had been able to procure four family units of Long Term Storage foods before they finally began disappearing. Now they were doing most of their stockage from big box stores and watching for sales.
The rains seemed to be adequate but Jason put in an irrigation system for the garden. He had talked to some of the locals at the Farmer’s COOP who said they had occasional dry spells so he decided to be proactive. At an estate sale, he bought a 25 HP Diesel irrigation Pump, 1,500 feet of irrigation line, three sprayers and a big box of connectors and adapters. The pump had been used to irrigate a corn field next to the Fourche LaFave river a few miles from Jason. His next endeavor would be to fence some pastureland.
Freya dropped her observation of the deck builders and helped Jason mark out the pasture fences. There was already a forty acre pasture on the other side of the property that they had run a large herd in previously but they had given up the lease when the farmer had downsized in retirement. Jason selected a ten acre area on the east side of the property, Had the soil tested, got it limed and was now fencing it. It was easier said than done. Running five strands of barbed wire is tough work. To run wire around 10 acres is about 2,665 feet. Multiply that by the number of strands it is 10,660 feet of wire which took 20 wooden and 178 metal T-posts. Jason used an air post driver he had picked up at the same estate sale he’d gotten the irrigation pump to drive the T-posts in. Freya had marked off the posts to the depth he needed to drive them. She drove the tractor and trailer that held the air compressor and all Jason had to do was stand the post up and drive it in. The weight of the driver wasn’t bad because of the pushups Jason continued to do, but it still left him a little sore at night. After getting the metal posts in, Jason put in the corner brace posts and rented a fencing rig from the COOP that held four rolls of wire and made the attaching of the strands a lot easier. Hanging the two gates was a bit more difficult but a couple of men from the decking crew helped lift them into place.
The deck turned out great! The 12’ deck and roof extended the length of the back of the house at the same level of the porch. Freya decided to turn the original porch into a another sitting area. The grilling area was a dream for any man who enjoys burning dead meat. Jason checked everything out twice. There was even a switch on the old porch to turn the power on the refrigerator instead of walking all the way over to turn it on. There was no hot water at the sink faucet but that didn’t matter. The stone façade looked beautiful and the granite counter tops brought out the beauty of the area. The whole thing cost him as much as a new 4x4 truck, but it was worth it. Freya decided then and there to host a big barbecue/house warming for their friends and family on the 4th of July.
They had a little over a month to plan but Freya notified everyone and the women started planning the menu and sharing responsibilities. Jason was going down to Mena and get Baby Backs, smoked beef sausages, beef ribs, tenderloins, pork loins and chicken to cook. He ordered several bags of chunk charcoal for smoking and grilling. The women made sure not a stone was left unturned in the planning. Brian and Jeremy were bringing over chairs and tables from the lake pavilion Everyone was looking forward to the party.
Brian watched as the truck slowly pumped the lake water into the truck tanks to acclimatize the fingerlings to the lake water temperature. Just dumping them into the lake would shock them and they could end up losing tens of thousands of fish. The crew from the fishery and Jeremy sat in the pavilion and chatted while the process was going on. They would pump the water through for three hours then release the fish. Brian rode up to the dam and was pleased to see the water spilling over into the overflow drain pipe. Jenna came down to the dam with Harley riding in the passenger seat of the Gator.
“Well finally, the day is here.” Jenna said.
“Yep. It has taken a while, but now the fun begins.”
“When are they going to put the fish in?”
Brian looked at his watch. “It’ll be a couple of hours yet.”
“I’m going over and visit Freya for a while.”
“Okay, make sure you call first.”
“Already have. She said their new deck was almost finished.”
“Do you have a radio with you?”
“Yes, and my phone and pistol with two extra mags and I have Harley Mr. Worrywart.”
“Well, I love you and want you to be safe.”
Jenna kissed him on the cheek. “I love you more. I won’t be long and will give you a call when I start back.”
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Post by gipsy on Jul 3, 2022 8:16:54 GMT -6
Thanks for the update.
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Post by udwe on Jul 3, 2022 19:40:59 GMT -6
Awesome story so far!
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Post by ncsfsgm on Jul 4, 2022 9:18:47 GMT -6
Chapter 47
The truck moved around the lake, putting the different species in different areas. They would eventually migrate to areas of their liking. Tomorrow, Brian would take the hovercraft and start throwing out a little feed at each of the structures, hopefully getting the fingerlings to shelter there. When the predator fish got big enough, he could reduce the amount of food he put out and the predator fish would begin to dine on the minnows and smaller fish. Brian was sitting in the Gator near the dam watching the offloading of more fingerlings when another Gator pulled up beside him.
“Hey Jason.”
“Hi Brian, Finally getting it stocked?”
“Yep. This is the last batch.”
“Beautiful lake. Do you mind if I come over and swim sometime?”
“Heck no Jason. You can come any time you want.”
“Thanks. I used to alternate between swimming and running. I used to run at least 5 miles a day or swim a mile. Water has been kind of short until now and I’d like to get back into the regimen.”
“Of course. Come over any time. You are part of the family or team, however you want to look at it. You have free roam of the Washita tract.”
“Thanks Brian. Is there anything you need me to do?”
“Just keep your eyes opened, and be prepared. All is not right in this country”
“I hear you.”
Jason watched as Brian rode away then turned the Gator around and went back home.
Jason and Freya continue to plant and work in the garden. The tomatoes started blooming and they staked them up. Jason arranged the watermelon vines to run down the raised bed and not in the rows. The potato plants were lush and the beans and cucumbers were doing well on the trellises. The women made changes every day, it seemed, for the 4th of July party, fine tuning their plans to have the best party anyone around had seen in a long, long time.
Freya had gone into Fort Smith to the Party City store and gotten plastic bowls, trays and whatever serving dishes the women were bringing extra food in and delivered them out with so none of the women had to worry about leaving their own dishes behind after the party was over. Two days before the party Jason picked up the meat and kept it in the refrigerator they had in the basement. He found himself idling around the Grilling Station and had to find something to do. He went down to the orchard to check on the trees and found the bark was starting to get blistered by the sun so he got some brown paper grocery bags, cut them in strips and wrapped the trunks for protection. The three yearlings looked to be doing okay and stared at him as he rode by. He needed to talked to Mr. Jenson down the road to see about buying three or four of his big bales of hay this fall to carry him over the winter, just in case The grass was thick and lush and he probably wouldn’t need them. That meant he would also need a hay barn if Mr. Jenson didn’t wrap his bales.
July 4th fell on a Monday so the women decided to hold the party on Saturday. That morning, Jason was up at the crack of dawn, did his exercise routine and ran. When he got back, Jason lit a fire in the smoker and prepared the Baby Backs and a half of a beef tenderloin and half of a pork loin. Jason had the meat resting on the kitchen island when Freya came in.
“You’re still sweaty!”
“I know. I was just about to go take a shower. I didn’t want to wake you.”
“Do you want breakfast?”
“Something light. Looking at this meat has my mouth watering.”
“Okay, go get a shower.”
When Jason came back, Freya had eggs in a hole and chipped beef gravy made. Jason poured a cup of coffee and a glass of milk and sat down.
“Are you ready for the party?” Jason asked.”
“All ready. I made the potato salad yesterday and I’ll make the Country Canapés after breakfast.”
“Country Canapés? What the heck are those?”
Freya giggled. “That’s what Aunt Mollie calls them. They are just countrified hors d'oeuvres. What else do you need to do?”
“Put out the tubs for the beer, sodas and water. I won’t ice them down until about 10:00. What time will people start arriving?”
“Around 11:00 If you start cooking before the people get here, the smell will have them starving by 1:00.”
“I’ll have an assortment of meats grilling for snacking. Don’t you have one of those dishes that are sectioned?”
“Yes, and it has a sectioned bowl the fits in the middle for sauces. I’ve got a couple set up with veggies.”
“Perfect! I’ll have some meat cooked by the time people get here if they get too hungry. I’ll need a separate one for the chicken wings.”
“I’ve got an extra tray and bowl. I’ll put Ranch dressing, BBQ sauce and a sweet hot sauce in the bowl.”
Jason took the ribs out to the smoker to get them started. It took six hours to do the ribs, the loins less time and he could add them later. Jason set a timer and started setting the drinks in the tubs, just to have something to do. Freya came out and placed cushions on the chairs and swing in the sitting area.
“I love our deck!“ Freya said.
“I do too. I’m glad you thought of it.” Jason said, reaching up and feeling the moisture of the hanging fern.
“I need to water those.” Freya said.
Reaching into a cabinet, she took out a small watering can and filled it at the sink.
“Watch this.” Freya said, unlatching a clip and swinging the plant hanger out past the edge of the deck. She watered the fern and in a few seconds water was dripping through the drain holes in the bottom of the hanging pot.
“Now I don’t get water all over the deck. When it quits dripping, I just swing the arm back and lock it in place.”
“Let me have the can. I’ll water the rest for you.” Jason said.
“Just do s half a can per fern.”
Brian and Jenna arrived around 10:30 with the extra chairs and tables. They pulled around back to unload and the women jumped into gear, directing them where to put everything. Freya got out the big stainless steel bowls and added ice, setting the pasta salad and the watermelon chunks down in the iced bowls to keep them cool. Freya brought out pint mason jars filled with wooden skewers and set them on the food table. Jason reached into a cabined and got a pack of 6” paper plates, unwrapped and set them in two stacks on the table. Freya got the utensil carrier out and filled the buckets with knives, forks and spoons.
“You’re not using plasticware?” Jenna asked.
“No. I found these at Walmart in the discontinued area just as they were putting them out.” Freya said. “They had six packs and I snatched them up. They were dirt cheap!”
“This deck is great Jason!” Brian said.
“It is all Freya’s idea and design. I just said, ‘Yes Ma’am’ and wrote the check.”
“This is a great grill. It reminds me of those down in Uruguay.” Brian said.
“Yeah, it’s what they call a gaucho grill.” Jason said.
Jason to the fire tool and raked coals under the grill grate and began laying sausages and meat on the grate. He watched it the meat for a bit then cranked the handle, raising the grate about three inches.
“That is neat! I’ve got to get one of these!” Brian grinned.
“Brian, if you can watch this, I need to check the ribs and get the loins on.”
“Got it!”
“Hey Jason, I’m surprised not to see flies around here with the pasture nearby.”
“I’m using sprayers that are timed to spray out a repellant every so often. It has a non-toxic, plant based insect repellant. I mixed some repellant with water and sprayed the yard and around the deck yesterday afternoon too. Horse growers use the sprayers in their barns from what I’ve read.”
“I need to get the info from you. I could use one in my barn.”
People began filtering in. Mollie, Emma and Sean were next, followed by Jeremy who came over the trail from the lake. Hiram, Sally and Millie were next. Joe Adler and Dave Richardson rode over together. Beers were cracked open and Freya made Mimosas for the ladies.
“Damn Jason, you went whole hog on this setup!” Joe said, looking around.
“Like I told Brian, this was all Freya’s dream. I just said, ‘Yes Ma’am’ and wrote the checks.”
The men chuckled. Brian brought over some folding chairs and went back to tending the grill. Jason added more charcoal to the firebox and said, “I can take back over, Brian.”
“I’ve got this. You take care of the ribs and be a host.”
Jason checked the timer and got a big roll of aluminum foil and tore sheets off at the prep area. Taking the ribs out a rack at the time, he laid the ribs on the foil, drizzled honey over them, then sprayed them with a mixture of Jack Daniels and apple juice. He wrapped the rack tightly in foil and placed it back in the smoker, returning with another rack.
“Ya caught any fish out of that lake yet Jer?” Hiram asked.
Jeremy chuckled. “They aren’t big enough to swallow a mosquito yet. I’ve got a boat coming though, I can practice getting a few lures wet for now.”
“You hear any more about that poacher?” Sean asked.
“All I know is his name is George Mason and he was sentenced.” Jeremy said.
“George Mason hunh? Sean said. “Well he finally got caught! He’s from over around Plankton. He’d kill anything he could and sell the meat. What did they do to him?”
“Ninety days in jail, took his truck, his gun, fined him $5,000 and lost his license for good.”
“Hmmph! That won’t stop him and good luck getting the fine out of him.” Sean said.
Jason set down a serving tray with assorted bite-size meats and a vegetable tray.
“Snack away guys.”
The crowd snacked and ate their way through the afternoon. It was hot, but the ceiling fans kept the deck area comfortable. The women admired the house and the deck and were flushed with the drinks. When the party started breaking up, all hands pitched in to get everything back in order.
“Two weeks folks!” Jeremy said. ‘Brian and I will be hosting a beach party down at the lake. Bring your swimsuits and appetites! Hiram, you can wear your floaties.”
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Post by gipsy on Jul 4, 2022 10:08:43 GMT -6
Thanks for the update. Happy 4th
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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 Jul 4, 2022 16:03:04 GMT -6
Thanks
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