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Post by feralferret on Sept 1, 2023 2:57:36 GMT -6
Another fine chapter! Thank you.
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Post by pbbrown0 on Sept 3, 2023 6:10:26 GMT -6
Post # 39 All In The Family
The shadows were getting long by the time Bruce pulled into the obscure turn off east of Pete and Joann's property. He caught himself in the middle of that thought and realized it was now the obscure turnoff to 'our' property. Rob was checking in with his Dad and Joann who were about a mile behind them. Next he checked in with Carl and Colleen. Colleen decided to harass them for being late for dinner and how keeping it warm this long was going to just ruin all her efforts to have it on the table when it was just right. Her parents and Carls parents were not sure if she was joking or serious until the four of them climbed out of the truck. Carl and Colleen reminded them to wash before coming to the table, but to be prompt. Pete and Joann pulled up and looked at the grandkids with quizzical expressions. Carl winked at them and told them to have a seat. He and Colleen brought to large lidded pots to the table and sat down to wait for their parents to come back down the hill. When they arrived they were greeted with a stern look from Colleen, which she couldn't hold and started giggling. Carl asked Pete to give thanks for the meal and the day, which he did through a suppressed grin. Carl and Colleen then began dipping spaghetti and spaghetti sauce on to the plates that had been stacked on the table and passing them around to everyone. The conversation quickly picked up with the older adults recounting their day and experiences at the capital. Colleen and Carl listened attentively as they ate. Then the conversation turned to Carl and Colleen's experiences of the day. “Mister Gambrell is a really sweet man, and he is so … peaceful.” Colleen seemed very thoughtful. “It just seemed like a … an enigma. He and his wife for years had nothing to do but live isolated in the forest and keep ready to help in case the time finally arrived when a few people would need to come to them for a haven. I mean they went to meetings of the congregation and helped with bible studies, but basically their job was to keep that house ready and waiting. Now with his wife gone I suppose he has more time to study, but I suspect he was doing a lot of that before she died. Yet being alone and barely connected to the world he seems to have learned so much about stuff we never learned in school or anywhere else. He seemed so satisfied.” Carl added in, “We spent some time studying with him and we want to go back a couple of times a week to talk and study more. We just feel like there is so much we could learn from him. We also want to keep an eye on him in case he needs help. His is getting old and is not getting around as well as he use to.” “Carl and I want to take him to the meeting hall on Sunday. He is actually much closer to us than he is to the road toward Bear Creek. Do you think we could borrow one of the trucks to take him?” Colleen was worrying that they might not trust her or Carl to drive off road then all the way around to Bear Creek with a passenger, and they could her some uncertainty in her voice. Carl spoke up. “The truck ride this way from his house is smoother and faster than going the other way. I was thinking that Grandpa and Joann would want to go to the meeting, too. If we could take the truck to go get him, we could help him climb in and be back in just a few minutes. Then Joann and Grandpa could join us for the ride around to Bear Creek and back like last week.” “I think I can trust you with my truck for the trek through the woods, son.” Peter replied first. “You were the one picking the path the first time and it was definitely smoother. Having walked it twice now, I'm sure you can find a good path through from here to Isaac's house and back. I think it is a very nice thing for you and Colleen to think of helping him that way.” “Dad, just so we are straight, I did not walk along the route we'd be taking in the truck, going to his house this morning. Colleen and I explored a bit and went all the way north to Bear Creek before heading west then north to his house. I was not thinking about a route for the truck until we started heading back here. So, I've only walked it once, so far.” “You went south, then west, then north to find his house in the middle of the forest? Carl that was really risky. How did yo manage to find it?” “Mister Smith, Carl has a gift of some sort for that. That nickname Trailblazer really fits him. I had no idea where we were, but Carl was making his way up the hill and we couldn't see the house for the trees until we were right there on it and facing straight towards it.” Colleen was both trying to reassure the parents and defend Carl's actions. “Dad, I understand your concern about that vectoring I did, but I knew the issues about doing that. I was staying very alert to our angles, progress along the angles, and where they would place us. I was paying attention to that when we were coming home from Mister Gambrell's home the first time, too. I have this kind of mental map of where things are and where I have been.” Rob seemed to relax, a little, after that. When he saw that, Carl continued. “I don't know yet what kind of neighbors we are going to have or not going to have, but I thought we ought to be good neighbors, to him, because we will be better off with good neighbors than with 'bad' neighbors. I also took him a handset radio that Grandpa gave me just in case.” There were murmured encouragements about what Carl and Colleen were relating. There were also questions asked about what they saw at the creek, since that was now land that they owned. Bruce spoke up in a couple of minutes like he was trying to get a staff meeting refocused. “We will need to get these deed documents over to Harrisville to get them recorded, but we may want to wait until we have the paperwork from our coming attempts to acquire more land. We also need to get back to the capital, once things have settled down. There are several more parcels we would like to pursue with owners being at the capital. I am open to ideas and input about how to proceed.” “How much more land are we needing?' asked Linda. Jenny replied, “Since I'm the one who raised the idea of a land buffer, let me say that I don't have a precise notion of how much. What ever we work out is what we will work with.” Bruce responded to that. “Jenny, please don't think you are constraining us in any way with your feelings about that. We are all in this together as a team. We all are grateful for your pointing out that gap in our thinking. This is what I meant about ideas and input. Everyone needs to share their thinking so we can stay on the same page as we proceed.” “This isn't about how much, but the first thing that came to my mind was this. We need to stagger when we take what documents to the district clerk for filing.” Pete was as usual addressing the group in a very calm and steady voice. “If we take them all at once to the clerk's office as a completed assemblage, that will certainly grab attention and confirm a connection between the two trusts.” “Excellent point, Pete. Thank you for that, too. And while we are on that point of the two trusts … I've been thinking more and more about the fact that we are all working together. I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable, but it is a simple reality that at the moment, each trust has different amounts of assets. I want us all to consider some possibilities. We all know how Carl and Colleen feel about each other and where their relationship is going. To what ever degree we all allow or work toward, our families are going to be merging because of them, but also because of how we feel and act toward each other. That includes the two of you as well, Pete and Joann. What you did in allowing Linda, Colleen and I to come here went far beyond a hospitable gesture.” “What I want us all to consider is this.” Bruce continued. “The acquisition today was technically one now belonging to the Cooper Family Trust. Linda and I are the co-trustees. I am seeing that acquisition, though, as just part of what we as a collected family are doing together. I want us get that acquisition filed with the county tomorrow, just because we do not know what might happen next. Beyond that I would like us to be considering how we want to proceed with the legal transactions and and record as compared to the practical matters of what money is used to pay for what and who uses the land how. That's all I'm going to say, right now.” Rob spoke next. “I agree that we need to get the acquisitions filed with the county individually with as much disconnect as possible in the district clerks office. So I think we, that is someone, should take this deed to the district clerk's office tomorrow morning. I also think we should skip a day before going back to the capital. I know Jenny was uneasy about being there today. Whatever was going on there was something we need to avoid for a while at least. That's just what I'm thinking.” “I have another concern, Dad.” Carl was scowling a bit. “Something Grandpa said the other day is stuck in my mind. He said that even though we seem to be in a developing drought, when the drought breaks it is likely to be with a significant amount of rain rather suddenly. Grandpa and Joann are sleeping in a tent right now. I know we can't do everything at once, but I think we need to get started on building them a house.” That idea got Jenny animated by that suggestion. “I think you're right about that, Carl. There are eight of us here and truthfully I doubt if more is better when meeting to negotiate a land purchase. If just Rob and Bruce are working the land acquisition for a little while longer, I doubt if extra warm bodies are going to make that process go any faster. That still leaves six of us to get started on planning for the first house. A lot of the early work on building a house, it seems to me, is deciding on materials and layout and getting things planned out before the actual constructing starts. If Carl and Pete are with us to guide us in the fundamental plans like using this kind of construction and materials rather than that that kind we can get started on the design. If Joann is here to guide and approve our work on layout and features, I expect we can make a lot of progress by the time you two get the land angle covered.” Linda jumped in with enthusiasm, “I am totally useless when it comes to negotiating pricing on the land. I know our trust is set up so that either Bruce or I can sign with authority for any purchase or sale with or without the other being present. Now when it comes to designing a layout so a house is comfortable and the activities flow easily, I am all over that.” Joann stepped in to the kitchen table discussion now. “Carl that was very dear of you to think of Pete and I like that. If you will remember what Pete and I said about the house we want, you will understand why I would love to work with y'all in putting the full design together. I really like this idea, even if that does sound a little selfish.” She wagged her head in a mock kind of prissiness in the last bit of what she said, which made everyone laugh. “That sounds like we are all on the same page here. I guess we should follow Rob's suggestion to file the first deed with the county tomorrow morning, then come back here to see how we can help with what the rest of you are doing. We can all stay here through the weekend, then on Monday Rob and I can try again to get with the other land owners. I know Carl and Colleen want to visit Isaac again, at some point, to let him know of their plans for Sunday. Does that sound good with everyone?” Everyone was happy with the plans and tired from the day. They all got up from the table stretching, saying good night and heading toward their bedding arrangements for the night. It was getting darker now and Joann took hold of Pete's arm as they left the table. “Pete, that grandson of your is becoming a really special young man isn't he?” “Yes, Joann, He is surprising me again and again in very positive ways. I am very encouraged about the direction he is growing.” “It's okay to say you are proud of him, you know that don't you?” “You are right there, I'm so proud of him!” Linda was talking quietly to Bruce as they were getting ready for bed. “Bruce, I want you to know I am with you 100% on what you said about us working together. It's like our families are growing and melding together, and the more we do, the happier I am. Thank you for saying what you did about that.” “Thanks, my love it is so good to hear you say that, even though I wouldn't have said it if I wasn't sure already that you would be good with it. You and I have both been changing a lot in how we feel about what we own and what makes us happy. I'll give our kids a few more minutes to settle in for the night, before I check on the two of them. By the way, I was impressed with Carl thinking about his grandparents, and what he and Colleen are doing for Mister Gambrell. That shows real character thinking about what those nearby need when your own world is in such intense upheaval.” “Rob that was so nice of Bruce to say what he did tonight about my anxiety. I think of him so much as being all business most of the time, but you have a really good best friend.” “Second best friend, Darlin'. You are my best friend. You're right, though. He is a good friend. All this stuff we are going through is changing him in some good ways. What startled me was what he was suggesting about the assets and our all working together. I sat with him in some of his sessions with his attorney and believe me the lion's share of the assets among our three families is clearly inside his trailer right now. What he was suggesting is an exceptionally generous offer, yet he did not even hint at that fact that to anyone.” “Colleen, I have to thank you for standing up for me. You didn't have to do that, but I appreciate that you did. I also appreciate your helping me and supporting me in helping Mister Gambrell. I just admire his determination and I think he deserves some help considering the things he has done without so he could be ready to help others if needed. Thanks for your support in that.” “Carl, I hope you know me better than that. I am not supporting you in helping Mister Gambrell. I agree completely with you about him and I am just glad we can work together to help him. That is really a two way street. There is so much we can learn from him, and besides, I really like him.” “Okay, so then thank you for being who you are. It is such a nice feeling that when I feel something is the right thing to do, the right way to go, or even just what I would really prefer over other options; you are right there beside me thinking the same way. This relationship we have now is so much better than I ever expected it would be. I am so glad we have each other.” “I am too, Carl. It just seems to get better and better. I have to go now. Good night my sweet Trailblazer.” “Good night, Songbird.” The next morning Rob and Bruce headed out together to take the signed and witnessed deed documents to the District Clerk's office. On the way they had a serious discussion about Bruce's suggestion regarding sharing efforts and resources. “Bruce, that suggestion is a big one with long term repercussions. Once we go there mixing resources it would be very difficult to separate them out again. I know it is a very generous suggestion, but are you sure about this?” “Rob, that's one sign of a real friend in times of trouble. You care enough about me that you are cautioning me to reconsider a decision that you think would benefit you more than it would me. Linda and I have thought about this and talked about this. For all intents and purposes Colleen, Linda, and I have no family except for the Smith's who are lost in the forest with us. The three of us were each fully on board with leaving our old life behind and joining your family here. We knew there was no turning back. My daughter was even more committed to that than Linda and I were at first, but we have not had a moment of regret, since making that decision. That change in our commitments is now changing us, and we like the changes we are experiencing. It's includes your Dad and Joann also. At first I thought he was a little 'out there', but he knows things I have never heard before, and I can't argue yet with what he has told me. I as a matter of fact both of them, Pete and Joann are solid but humble people. If we get in a real bad pinch, the first person I'll want to hear a suggested course of action from will be your father. Joann is someone whose knowledge and heart are going to make a huge difference in how we manage to survive in this remote and primitive setting. She has already taken to Colleen like a second mother. Linda and I are confident that being committed to our expanded family is going to bring us far more happiness and security than being committed to all the physical assets we have managed to accumulate. You are our family, Rob. I dare you to tell me I'm wrong. Tell me Linda is wrong about her changes in what she really wants to make important in our lives. I dare you to even try to tell me Colleen is wrong about Carl and about our families becoming one family. You would choke on your own words trying to say that to me.” Bruce was suddenly silent like he had nothing else to say. Of course he was waiting for his friend to reply and nothing was being said to him for a long time. When they found the simple court house in Sweetgum Rob said he would wait with the truck while Bruce filed the papers. About twenty minutes later he came out. Bruce had been told they would have the official copy of the Title Deed with the Taxes Paid Stamp and Record Filing Numbers all certified by the district judge in two weeks. It would also have the Parcel I.D. Number from the County Tax Office marked. Bruce had told them he had just acquired the property, as they could see by the documents, and was in the process of moving to the property immediately. He had not yet established a mail box with the postal service so he would return to the court house to retrieve the Title Deed. As they were driving back Rob started talking. “Okay, Bruce. You are right, and I can see both the sense and the truth in what you are saying. How do we do this? How do we arrange things and move forward making this work?” “The decision is the hard part, good buddy. Saying it, accepting it, and then not looking back. Making it happen is just a little paper pushing. We find a young bright eyed attorney who doesn't know us, is still not corrupted by the system, and who is trying to get started. We wave some cash in front of him get him to craft some amendments to our trusts. We sign the papers, and then we proceed according to the plans we had already made, but we quit worrying about which trust owns what and who it is being held for because the two trusts now say it's all the same. The assets are being held for the same beneficiaries and the trustees are the same people. After that it doesn't really matter to us which trust name is on the deed or the bill of sale or whose lock box the cash is stored in. Linda, Jenny, Joann, or even Colleen can walk into a court house, a post office, or an attorney's office and sign any contract or title document on behalf of either trust with no one else cosigning, just like Carl, Pete, you, or me. That calls for a lot of trust in each other, but truthfully we already have that, don't we?” Rob was dumbstruck. He sat there processing all of this as Bruce drove home. As they were getting closer to their place Rob finally responded. “We are changing really fast, Bruce, but we are doing it together. We're going to make this work. We need to lay this out for our family so we can all start adjusting our thinking over the weekend. We can go attorney hunting on Monday morning. This is going to work.”
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Post by sniper69 on Sept 3, 2023 7:24:51 GMT -6
Another excellent chapter, and thank you for sharing. Now to see the twist and turns of returning to the capital city again.
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Post by feralferret on Sept 3, 2023 16:13:18 GMT -6
Another wonderful chapter. Thank you so much.
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Post by udwe on Sept 4, 2023 16:17:09 GMT -6
Love, love this. Keep going!
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Post by pbbrown0 on Sept 4, 2023 19:06:50 GMT -6
Post # 40 All In
With Rob and Bruce away for at least part of the morning, Carl knew someone had to get everyone focused on getting everyone started as a team. When they had cleaned up from breakfast Carl started talking to Joann and Pete. “Grandpa, we need you and Joann to get us started on the big picture for your house, before we start digging into the details. The first question, I think is where do you want it placed? Near the bottom of the hill, near the top, or somewhere in between?” Joann spoke up first. “I'm just thinking out loud here, but to us the most important part is how the house is laid out. Could we get a clearer picture of that with overall size and such first, and then we could look at where it might fit. We are really flexible regarding construction and such as long as it turns out solid and it has a large enough great room at its core.” “Okay let's start with that concept. You want a large great room at the core. How big do you see this great room being, and why do you want that great room at the core?” “Carl do you remember Mister Gambrell's house? Honestly, that is the concept I had in my mind. I could stand the great room being slightly bigger or maybe about the same size. As for why, there are many reasons. One is the same concept that Isaac had. So there would be enough room to provide a temporary haven or meeting place during an emergency for some of the people in this area who really need it. When there is not an emergency, I want enough room for all of us to get together and spend time being a family. I would truthfully like enough space for all of us to sleep under one roof and perhaps even accommodate a few guests for a short time, if that was needed.” “Are you thinking like building one big place where we could all live safely and properly sheltered until we can get separate homes built for different couples or families?” “I believe that is what Pete and I both have in mind. That might be more house than we can handle for just ourselves, after others have their own houses, but we can't accurately predict what might happen when, can we?” Carl was thinking for a minute. “Joann, I see your point about what comes first in the planning. I had made a guess about a smaller house than you are describing. I think I ought to point out that on the land we have so far, there is only one flat pace that might be large enough to accommodate your house. That's just across the creek on the land Colleen's parents just bought. Other wise we will need to excavate into a slope somewhere and have part of the house below grade, that is cut into the hill below the surface of the ground.” “That's something Pete and I mentioned as a possibility. That would be great!” “Good. Is somebody taking notes?” “Let me do that.” said Jenny. “Who would like to do some sketches as we try to piece a layout together? We need to get some rough dimensions marked down as we go.” It took only a few minutes to get the outline sketched out with approximate dimensions. They had a simple design with about eight bedroom size rooms, two full bathrooms, a sizable laundry room, and a pantry partitioned in a perimeter around the four sides of the central great room. The great room was fundamentally that, a very large open room with a kitchen taking up one end of it. The house looked like a slightly stretched square with a square plug removed from one side. Colleen suggested making that empty square space into a covered porch under the same roof as the rest of the house. Carl agreed that would greatly simplify the construction process. He said in fact they could build the outer shell of this house fairly quickly and allow occupancy under shelter. The partitioning and completion of the smaller perimeter rooms surrounding the inner great room could then proceed at a pace that allowed a lot of discretion and flexibility based the functional needs and priorities that developed. Next he started questioning his Grandpa and Joann about their thinking about construction materials and what they meant when they said they wanted it to be sturdy. Their answer surprised him. “Son,” Pete started out very seriously. “Construction codes in some areas are based on what level of hurricane a house can withstand. There are none that I have heard of that consider making a house that can stand against a direct hit from a large tornado. Some areas have building codes for a house to remain standing in a significant earthquake of one magnitude or another, but not to survive a really strong earthquake. We are in an area there are almost no building codes. However there are considerations here for possible disasters. Suppose a wind storm, torrential rain storm, a minor earthquake, or simple root rot topples one of these big trees around us. Do you have a concept of what that could do to the roof or a wall? We talked about partially digging in in to the side of the hill. What if one of these forces started a minor rock slide and a pile of rocks tumbled down the hill on top of the house. We can't prevent all damage to the house, but it should resist serious damage and most of all protect the occupants as much as is feasible. That is why we call it shelter.” Carl was pondering what Pete had said. “Okay, Grandpa. Now, Wildcat,” Carl almost suppressed a grin. “Close your eyes and imaging the outside of your house on a hillside. What do you see?” She closed her eyes and waited a minute. “I see a house that seems to just sink back into the hillside. The roof has a shallow slope that is very close to the same slope as that of the hill. The eaves reach way out past the front of the house leaving the face of the house in a shadow. There are a few windows on the front back under the eaves. The porch is a wooden deck with a couple of steps up to it. ” “Look back into the shadow, Joann. What are the front walls or the side walls made of?” She concentrated more. “The lower wall is stone. Just chunks of rock held together with mortar. Above that are rounded logs. Standing on end but fitted tight side to side. The eaves have small logs coming out to the edges supporting them and running back up under the roof.” “Well this helps a lot.” Carl was very positive. “We still need to address a lot of details about water supply, waste water, electricity, heating and such. The fundamental plan however, now has some bones in it. We do need to look at a specific sight for this and how to insert the house into the hillside. Then we can look at materials and actual construction effort.” They continued working on this planning until Rob and Bruce returned. As Rob and Bruce explained what they had been discussing, but they were not getting the reaction they expected. Well before they explained the ins and outs of it, everyone else jumped up and started hugging and celebrating. Rob looked at Bruce and said, “So much for giving everyone a weekend to absorb all of this.” Saturday morning Carl and Colleen set out to visit Mister Gambrell again. Once again they first went down to Bear Creek but now they were looking with fresh eyes because their family owned it now. Carl picked a different spot along the creek to turn north, so they could see a little more of the woods that they had not seen before. Colleen could tell their angle northward was different mostly because the slant of the land against her feet was slightly different. They used their radio to call ahead so he would be expecting them this time. Once again when they spied Mister Gambrell's house through the trees they had been lined up heading straight toward it. Mister Gambrell was obviously very pleased to see them again. He offered them the choice of either tea or coffee, both of which were ready and hot, along with some biscuits and black berry jam. They talked with him for over an hour about what their families were doing, what they were finding, and how they were changing. Then they turned their attention to their plan for Sunday. Isaac was at first stunned and then thrilled. “I have so missed meeting with my brothers and sisters there. I doubt if there are a handful that even remember me, but it will be so good to be in the congregation with even those who I do not know yet. You said Brother Pete and his wife will be going with us?” “That's right. My Grandpa, Peter, and Joann are both wanting to get acquainted with the congregation and be regular at their meetings.” “And you two are coming to fetch me before Brother Pete and Sister Joan join us?” That's right. I'll be driving a truck over here, and then it will only take a few minutes to get the three of us back to our place where they will be waiting.” “You two young ones are so dear to be doing this for me. I appreciate you so much. Tell me more about yourselves.” Colleen started telling Isaac about their story of growing up next door to each other. When she began talking about the decisions Carl made to change his path and her decision to follow him, Carl was embarrassed by her praise. He tried to discount a lot of it by saying she was biased but her feelings for him, but she turned it right back on him saying it was his making those choices and showing his character that made her feel that way about him. After a few minutes of that Carl wanted to change the subject and asked Mister Gambrell he would help them with some more Bible study time. Isaac agreed and that's what they did for the next hour. At the end of the hour Isaac stopped and suggested they head back home. He thanked them again for visiting and their plan to get him to the meeting hall. As they were leaving he cautioned them. “The world is full of traps and snares. Remember that as you hike back. I haven't seen any bears up here in many years, but you cannot predict what each day will hold for you. Keep alert. Stay awake as you travel the path.” They got home just in time for lunch and they were hungry after their treks through the woods. After lunch Carl and the other men went to see the site that Pete and Joann had selected. Colleen went with then since she had not yet seen it, either. Carl looked it over carefully from many angles without talking. When he had finished he closed his eyes and stood very still for several minutes. “This needs to be changed. Grandpa, you remember talking about possible damage to the house in this particular environment? We need to rotate the house forty-five degrees. We need the corner pointing up the hill rather than a long flat wall. If there is a rock slide, mud slide, even just a tree falling down the hill we want the force of it deflected, not smashing into the center of a long wall or piling up across the long side of the house like a flat faced dam. It's harder to envision it because we are so trained to think about houses placed on square grids, but we need to mark it out at an angle to the slope of the hill.” Everyone just stared and looked at the hillside for some time like they were dumbfounded. Rob finally started nodding and clapped his son on the back. “That is a really good idea. Did you learn that on your construction job?” “Not exactly. I learned a lot about bracing and strengthening a structure, but everything was oriented toward compensating for the inherent weaknesses of a square structure. Yet, everything we built was built square. I just put that together with the dangers that Grandpa was talking about, and what I learned in physics about force vectors.” When he said that, Bruce did a palm smack on his own forehead. Carl continued “It's going to take an awful lot of work to get the space cut out into the hillside. We need to stake it out and run the strings to mark it. Next we next to fell the trees and prepare them for using in the construction. The third step will be the hardest. We need to dig out the slot for the house to fit into. As we dig it out we will likely be digging out more rock than dirt. What kind of rock we don't know yet, but at the back of the excavation it will be pretty deep. We need all the dirt and rock moved out of the way and the rock needs to be collected for use in the construction and elsewhere. Eventually we will find a use for the dirt as well. The tree roots can also be very useful later on.” Rob joined the discussion here. “I'm thinking with this first house, especially with it being rather large, that we ought to rent a small excavator. Digging that deep into rock by hand can take a long time and our time on the front end may turn critical at some point.” “I completely agree, son.” Pete concurred. “I know there is a risk with every significant transaction like the rental of heavy equipment, but in this case I think the greater risk is delaying getting a real shelter built.” Bruce and Carl quickly agreed, and Carl added that they still would have to get a bunch of shovels and hand digging tools to fine tune the gross work that would be accomplished with an excavator. He also suggested a good chain saw or two to speed up the work of clearing the trees and preparing them for later use. During their discussion they realized that acquiring a heavy load flatbed trailer to tow behind one of the trucks would prove useful many times over as they progressed with their own construction enterprise. They had not remembered to bring measuring tapes, string, stakes or the sketches with dimensions with them. Pete offered to go gather those tools together and bring them back so they could start measuring and marking the site. He motioned for Colleen to follow. As they walked he put one arm around her shoulder to give her a hug. “Precious granddaughter, I am so glad you and Carl have been going to see Isaac. Thank you for caring about him. I am certain that is a real joy for him. And your idea about getting him to a congregation meeting is going to bring him so much joy. You two are being a real blessing for him, as you are for us.” Colleen blushed. “Grandpa, it was Carl's idea to help him get to the meeting, not mine. But, it makes us both happy to be able to do that for him.” “Dear girl, you two are a team. When you are together, like you two are becoming, the gifts either of you are giving to others are counted by our creator as coming from both of you. You are blessing Brother Isaac just as much as Carl is whether you realize it or not. Now I'm going to ask a favor. You remember how Jenny and your Mom helped yesterday by taking notes? Would you get something to write on along with their notes about the dimensions and come back with me? We are going to need someone taking notes on what the men are discussing or we are going to forget something later on.” “Sure, Grandpa. I'd be glad to help that way.” Colleen practically skipped off to find the other women to get Jenny's notes and some writing material. It was a good thing she was taking notes, too. As the men were working they kept talking and someone or another was constantly thinking of tools, supplies, or tasks they were going to have to deal with as the work progressed. It was a little tricky without surveyor tools to estimate the elevation changes within the perimeter markings, but Colleen had made many notes about their calculating and estimating how deep they expected to dig at different points along the perimeter. As a result Colleen had taken pages of notes on their ideas for materials and tools as well as how they planned to proceed. By the time supper was ready the men had staked out the plot for the new house, and they were ready to move on to other steps. While the men, with Colleen's recording efforts, had been working on measuring and marking the building sight, the other women had been discussing and planning the interior of the house. They considered the best placement of different functional rooms in the internal perimeter surrounding the kitchen and great room. Joann raised a concern about not having a window in either the kitchen or the great room. They also talked about the staging of partitioning the smaller rooms after the outer shell was completed. Then they started discussing the use of water and whether to use composting toilets or building a more elaborate sanitation system. They even discussed separating 'gray' versus 'black' waste water and fresh versus filtered water in their supply lines. Another discussion was about electricity versus wood for stoves and hot water and possible refrigeration in this not so frigid temperate zone. At the end of the day most of these choices were still undecided. There were too many factors for which they had too little hard information about cost, effort, and feasibility. Joann summed it up with, 'We need to pray, ponder, and investigate a lot more before we make many of these decisions.” After supper there was a diverse and swirling discussion of all that had been considered in different groups, which was both energizing and tiring. Eventually, Carl mentioned that he and Colleen needed to get an early start in the morning so they could get Mister Gambrell back here in time to get to the meeting hall. The young couple excused themselves from the table discussion and left to get ready for the night. As they left everyone watch quietly as they slipped up the hill into the trees. Bruce broke the silence first. “Those two kids are turning into an amazing pair, aren't they?” “Yes, they are.” agreed Joann. “Dad,” asked Jenny, “What exactly goes on at your meetings? Colleen and Carl seem to enjoy them, but tell us how they... what would we be doing if we went with you as visitors in one of your meetings?” “I've been wondering the same thing,” said Linda. “We have been growing closer as a family, but it's like an unintentional classification exists between those who are studying the Bible and those of us who are curious.” “Oh, Linda, please don't tell me we are making you feel like an outsider!” Joann was suddenly worried. “No, no, Joann. It's not you or Pete.” Bruce jumped in. You and Pete made choices to study and go to meetings when we were living miles away from here. Our kids made choices about wanting to learn more about that after we got here. We just haven't made choices, yet, to pursue our curiosities in that area the way they have. I am curious. I have just been distracted by all that is going on, and I haven't done much of anything to indulge that curiosity for me or for Linda.” “Dad, if I may?” Rob interrupted. “Let's just say, hypothetically, that Jenny and I plus Bruce and Linda went along tomorrow to your meeting. First of all with what I know about the size of that congregation that is going to be a of visitors with our whole clan suddenly showing up. Second, having never been to one of your meetings, we have no clue what happens or what is expected of the people in the congregation and visitors. Is anything going to happen that we might think was bizarre? Is there anything where our not knowing what was expected might cause embarrassment for us or them?” Pete was by now shaking his head and chuckling. “Guys, if that is what you are worried about, you can relax. I have no idea what you might be imagining, but there is nothing to be afraid of. We sing a song and have a simple prayer to start, then another song and simple prayer at the conclusion. In between one person will give a short talk on a topic from the Bible. Then we have a bible study where everyone has a printed outline of the topic with the bible verses all listed. The bible study time is basically a time when everyone is invited to make comments about what ideas stood out to them as they went through the outline. The rest of the meeting is just the people catching up with each other before and after the meeting time. I can't imagine any of that being scary or upsetting, and you will find yourselves warmly welcomed there.” The next morning, Carl and Colleen got to Mister Gabrell's house and he came to the door to meet them holding a notebook and Bible in one hand while gripping a cane in the other. They carefully helped him down the steps and then helped him climb up into the truck. Carl took it easy driving back through the woods and when they reached the camp, Carl and Colleen's parent's were waiting in Bruce's truck. Mister Gambrell was siting in the front passenger seat of Rob's truck. And Carl started to climb out, but Pete told him to go ahead and drive. Pete and Joann climbed in the back seat with Colleen. Carl started to drive away and saw the two sets of parents waving to him. “Where are our folks fixin' to go, Grandpa?” Carl called into the back seat. “They are following us to the meeting hall. They decided to check it out.” “Cool!” It took about thirty minutes to drive the semi-loop to the north then west and finally back south to Bear Creek. When they pulled up in the parking lot a handful of other cars and trucks were emptying out, but their two unfamiliar trucks were drawing a lot of attention. At the door there was a greeter to hold the door and help an elderly person out of their car. As the Smith-Cooper clan approached the door greeter was looking intently at the old man with the cane. He ducked his head back inside for a few second then came out walking toward the visitors. The greeter was not that young and was almost totally bald. He walked right up to them and stopped in front of Isaac. With his hands propped on his hips he quipped, “Well, well, Brother Isaac, I know you've missed a few meetings, but you did not have to bring your own army to get back in. You're welcome here any time.” The man broke into a big grin stepped up to hug Isaac and tell him how glad he was to see him back. He then turned to greet everyone and started recognizing that four of them had been visiting the previous week. As the got to the door it was a slow process getting inside with Isaac moving slowly, so many coming in with him, and so many Brothers and Sisters wanting to greet Isaac and his entourage of guests. The did manage to get everyone inside but even then it took a while to get everyone seated. When the official meeting time was over the greeting and hugging and introductions continued. During all the after meeting confusion Isaac managed to draw Pete and his old friend, Brother Mark James, who Pete had met before into a side room and shut the door. Isaac invited Pete to sit down at a table with him, and Mark drove his motorized wheelchair up to the end of the small table. Brother Smith, I haven't known you long but I've gotten a glimpse of the family you raised before becoming one of us. You also know a little history about the Hallelujah Trust. Mark knows about it too. At one point my wife and I were co-trustees, but now I am the sole trustee I have wanted another trustee to keep things going if something happens to me. Mark does not think that it is wise for he and I to both be in those positions, because his health has been deteriorating lately as well. I want you to be a co trustee with me. You came up here the same way my father did and for the same reasons. With your family here to support you, and they are already showing their support for me as well as you, it makes perfect sense for you to join me on this endeavor. Once you take this responsibility you and I will have equal power to act legally for the trust separately or jointly.” “The trust is written so that we, as trustees, can add new or additional trustees as long those trustees are either a Brother or a Sister in our Brotherhood. This trust is not officially connected to the Brotherhood except for that trustee qualification being specified by the terms written into the trust itself. Will you join me and promise to keep this going?” Pete was stunned. “How many other people know about this trust and the haven you have created?” Isaac was somber in his reply. “At this moment, I believe it is only the three of us in this room. Advertising this seemed a bad idea. While Mark and I and our wives were very active in the congregation and community there didn't seem to be an issue of too few knowing about it. Lately Mark and I have become more uneasy about how to handle this. We have been praying about what to do, when you and your family showed up. Now, you will be alert, I hope, to those who might see the need to hide or take refuge in the crag when the time comes. You also understand what we mean by all of that.” Pete was overwhelmed for a minute, but then he agreed. After signing the necessary papers in Isaac's notebook, Isaac gave them to brother Mark to get copies made of the changes and so there would be back up copies in separated locations. Isaac looked to Pete one more time. “Pete, you are my Brother and I trust you. You can decide who to tell and who not to tell, just like I can. You can also decide how to make use of this property, that really belongs to our creator, and who we can use it to help.” Isaac and Pete slipped out of the room and rejoined everyone with out being noticed. As they drove home Isaac was much more animated in talking to the others in the truck, while Pete seemed more quiet and contemplative. They kept Isaac at their camp for lunch before taking him back to his home. This time Pete went along. Before Carl, Colleen, and Pete left, Isaac gave each of them a warm hug and expressed his gratitude for all they were doing for him.
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Post by feralferret on Sept 4, 2023 21:15:29 GMT -6
A very interesting development for Pete and the family.
Thank you for this amazing story!
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Post by pbbrown0 on Sept 8, 2023 9:58:43 GMT -6
...Please return to your seats. Place your seat in its full upright position. Stow any carry-on luggage under the seat in front of you. Lock your tray in its upright position, and fasten your seatbelts.
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Post by pbbrown0 on Sept 8, 2023 10:23:46 GMT -6
Post #41 The Taller They Stand, The Harder They Fall
Everyone was up and wide awake before the coffee was even ready the next morning. The previous day had been restful and positive for everyone. Rob and Bruce were wanting to leave early to drive to the capital. Jenny and Linda were feeling good about trying to help plan for a new house that was going to be for all of them, at least at the beginning. Colleen and Carl were feeling good about the way things had gone the previous day, especially because of the way their parents had responded to their visiting the Bear Creek Congregation's Sunday meeting. Pete and Joann seemed more energized yet more serious, or was that just more determined about moving ahead? No one else in the group was aware of the conversation Pete and Joann had about the change in the Hallelujah trust, and the new responsibilities for Pete that went with that change. Before Rob and Bruce left to head head out, Pete asked if he could voice a prayer with the group about the trip to the capital. He prayed for their safety, and for guidance and wisdom from the Creator. He also asked for special help in making them successful in line with the Creator's intentions rather than merely being successful in “our own sometimes misguided or uninformed attempts to do the right thing”. When he finish, Bruce and Rob each thanked him as they pondered his wording of that prayer. Once they left, Carl and Pete agreed on getting the woodsman's tools that had belonged to Pete's grandfather and start to work on cutting trees to clear the spot where they were going to build the house. The wood cutting tools were in amazing shape. They had been meticulously cared for, sharpened, and oiled before they had been last put away. The two Smith men selected the first tree for their efforts and planned where to fell it. Carl and Pete had each, in their own time previously, studied the proper way to fell a tree. Pete was very glad to have better tools to use now, than he had with his previous effort to build a kitchen shelter. The two man tree saw, especially, would be much faster than the saw he had used, before the rest of the family had arrived. Even so, it was going to be very hard work since many of these trees, within the space to be occupied by the new house, were much larger than the ones he had selected for that kitchen project. The first tree they selected to remove was almost two feet across, which takes far more energy to cut across than sawing across a 2”x4” board. They began by using their axes to chop away some bark from the places they were going to start their saw cuts. The face notch was also a little awkward at first because the undercut had to be made at an upward angle into the trunk. It took them a few minutes to establish a synchronized rhythm for the pushing and pulling of the large saw and keeping the saw tilted the same from both ends. Once they got into that unison effort the sawing was easier and progressed more quickly. Then they made the top face cut and that went more smoothly. Once they took care of the full face cut they were both ready for a short break. Carl craned his neck to look high up to the crown of this tree and shook his head. “Yep, a couple of chain saws would help a lot. Once we get this one down we still have to cut the limbs off. Then we will have to cross cut it several times to have logs short enough to tow out of the way using one of the trucks and a chain hitch.” Carl had studied enough to know that a twenty foot long log this size could weigh several thousand pounds. Dragging that much weight covered with rough bark over uneven ground would require tremendous power, even for a truck. “I tell you what,” said Pete. “Let's get this one dropped and rough measure it. Even with your keen sense of angles and distances I doubt you have the experience to accurately measure a tree's height from this angle with just eyeballing it. After we get it down, we'll need to decide a place to layout the logs for drying until we are ready to start using them. Before we buck the trunk, that's the old logging term for cross cutting it into manageable log sizes, we'll need to take a drive and see if we can get some good chain saws and logging rigs. Your great great grandpa had some good tools for his time, but a logging crew back then had a number of members with different specialties working together. Each man had his own set of tools, including the ones who had their own team of horses or oxen to drag the logs, and draw on the winch lifts to place the logs onto a stack.” After a short rest, Pete and Carl were back at it starting the deep back cut into the tree trunk. It was tiring work and each of them had occasional thoughts of stopping for another quick break, but neither wanted to break their rhythm, and neither wanted to be the partner that could not keep going. Carl was the first to call a halt, when he thought he heard a pop. “Did you hear that?” “Hear what?” asked Pete while trying not to huff and puff too hard to even hear Carl talking to him. “I thought I heard a pop!” Carl replied. Pete squatted lower and peered into the kerf, or the thin gap left by the sawing into the trunk. The blade was buried deep in the trunk. He stared at the sliver of light coming through from the other side. Then he looked through the “V” shaped face cut from one side to the other. The alignment was good, and he was starting to catch his breath back. “Help me ease the blade out the back side, Carl.” The blade slipped out easily. “Grab your end! Hurry around here with it!” Carl did what he was told, but he was puzzled at the apparent rush Pete indicated was needed. “Why the rush? I thought with everything still and quiet, that you'd want to cut just a little deeper.” “No! Step back away with me. We might have kept going a fraction of an inch deeper, but this is safer. The blade came out too easy for being buried that deep in the trunk. The tip over has already started. It's just slow because this wood is hard and strong.” just as Pete said 'strong' there was another pop. “Get behind this tree over here!” Pete almost shouted. The tree was still not falling, and both men were looking at it past either side of the large tree that was giving them shelter. Almost a minute passed before there was another pop followed by a slowly accelerating crescendo of pops and crackles. The tree was now clearly starting to topple. As its fall gained momentum its own branches were striking and whipping the branches of nearby trees. Some limbs and many smaller branches were snapping and spinning off in all directions as the tree fell. At the last instant the base of the trunk, where it had been cut almost all the way through, completely snapped apart. The massive tree slipped off the stump late in its fall and the entire length of the tree slapped the surface of the hillside with a ground shaking crash. Carl was stunned. He had never been up close and personal in seeing a truly large tree fall before. The falling tree had created a storm of leaves, branches, and swirling air currents culminating in a thunderous boom. The drama and energy of it was far beyond anything he had experienced in watching online videos of a tree felling. He and Pete came back around their shelter to the giant structure of a tree they had felled and started immediately pacing it off from stump to crown. It was just over forty paces before they reached the crown. “Grandpa, this is over a hundred feet long! Do you know how many cross cuts, we'll have to make to get the logs down to manageable sizes?” Pete looked around at the number and sizes of the trees within the marked off space for the house. “Carl we are going to have to get some serious tools and equipment before we are through building our houses.” Just then they heard a scrambling sound down the hill followed by voices calling their names. They looked and Colleen was running toward them followed by Jenny, Linda, and Joann. The ladies were out of breath from running up hill, but they kept running until they could grab hold of Carl and Pete. They were looking the two men over to see if they were alright. Colleen gasped out, “Are y'all ... okay? ... What was ... that crash?” Carl and Pete looked at each other and started laughing. “That was the tree we cut down,” Pete told them. “What?” “No way!” “You can't be serious.” “Come on. What really happened?” “You scared us!” “That had to be something else.” All the women were exclaiming at once. “No, Seriously! It was incredible! Look how big it is!” Carl was still excited about it. “You think it was loud down there? You should have been here right next to it!” “Well it felt more like an earthquake than a tree falling.” Linda made a sardonic face. “Well it might have been a jarring crash, but it was no earthquake. An earthquake isn't over that quick,” Joann had calmed down a lot by now. Colleen had wrapped her arms around Carl and was still clinging to him tightly. He returned the hug and was talking soothingly to her, “It's okay, Sweetie. No one is hurt. I'm okay. Everything is alright, Songbird.” Colleen stretched up to whisper in his ear. “I know you're okay, silly, I'm just exploiting the situation to get a good long hug from you. Keep soothing my feelings, but keep hugging me too.” She was trying very hard not to giggle while he continued hugging her for a few more seconds. “Okay, you two. Break it up. You're not fooling anybody.” Linda was the one interrupting their fun. “Mister Comfort-My-Frightened-Daughter, we need some real help with this house design. Joann is not happy with your highly efficient house design and the rest of us agree with her. The way you laid it out there are no windows in either the kitchen or the great room. Do you have any clue how hot it will get in the kitchen without extra ventilation? Besides that, the great room will need a 'Maximum Occupancy' sign to keep too many warm bodies from turning it into a steam sauna. We know we can cut out scale rectangles and squares to play around on paper with rearranging the positions of the rooms. Before we start that, though, we need you to tell us where the land grade is going to hit on the outside walls. How high do the windows have to be at different positions along the outside walls to keep dirt from spilling in if you open one? You men went off playing games with the orientation of the house, but you failed to communicate significant detailsabout that which affect the layout design.” “Carl now slapped his forehead. Oh, wow. I am so sorry. That was a big mistake. Let's go back to the table and work on that.” Before he left the site where they felled the tree, he and Pete cleaned up the saw and ax blades. Then they applied a smear of oil to the metal and boxed the tools back up. - - - - -
Bruce and Rob were making progress on their trip to the capital when Rob suggested that they find a different route into the downtown area of the capital, this time. They decided to swing wide to the east and come into downtown on the north side of the capital. After crossing the river they could find a smaller highway that was not labeled as part of the interstate system to use for working their way back toward the center of town. With it being the state capital there should be enough signs pointing the way for them to work it out, without having to use an online map. It would take a bit longer, but not as long as navigating past a possible shut down on an interstate highway. Driving into the city was uneventful along this route, Bruce and Rob were able to spend more time discussing the properties owned by the two land owners they were planning to contact. One of the owners held multiple parcels that formed a quarter mile wide strip from the eastern edge of Pete's property all the way to the road that the Smith/Cooper Clan was normally using to get to their property. That road was running north and south to the east of them. The other owner held a similar strip mirroring that collection of parcels just to the north of the first strip. There was an access easement across these strips that was described as a logging road that ran westward from the public road to Pete's property. It allowed access to owners of properties to the west of the county road. They had talked with Pete about it and he had said it was not mapped or precisely measured by any filed surveys. The easement was first mentioned in property records from almost a hundred years before, back when the road was much easier to see. Now the only evidence of that easement 'logging road' could be found by scratching under the plants and fallen leaves where you might stumble onto patches of gravel at or near the surface that roughly 'marked' where the old road had been. The two combined strips of land they were considering covered an area half a mile wide and two miles long for a total of over six hundred acres. They decided to try R.D. Culbertson first. He owned the southern strip of parcels and his address was listed as a suite number near the heart of downtown, just a few blocks from the state capital building. It took a while to weave their way through the matrix and maze of streets and intersections but they arrived just minutes before eleven o'clock. They found a “public” parking garage and pulled a time coded ticket from the automated entrance gate. They made the walk of a few blocks and entered the lobby of a multi-story office building. The building was somewhat older than many nearby buildings, but it was in excellent condition. They checked the building directory and verified Mr. Culbertson's suite number. When they stepped off the elevator on his floor they knew they were in for an adventure. The halls were full of office workers scrambling back and forth. Several unmarked doors along the hallway were propped open with boxes. Workers were carrying file boxes and loose stacks of file folders in and out. Some were carrying sealed express delivery document cartons to the elevators. Some were headed for the elevator with a briefcase and an open box of what looked like desk or office implements and small picture frames. Down the hall one man in an expensive suit was standing in an open double door doorway giving orders and pointing directions to workers, both in the hallway and inside the office suite. Bruce and Rob were scanning doors for name plaques and suite or room numbers. They soon recognized that the suite they were looking for was at the double doorway where the man was trying to direct the frantic scenario. Rob and Bruce gave each other a questioning look before Bruce stepped up to the man they guessed was R.D. Culbertson. “Mister Culbertson, I apologize for interrupting, but my colleague and I have some urgent business we would like to discuss with you.” The man turned and looked at them, before saying, “I'm terribly sorry, gentlemen, but I am not taking on any new clients at the moment. As you can see, we are having to subdue a crisis at the moment. If you are able, I hope you will consider coming back in about four weeks. If you cannot delay that long, I suggest you seek other counsel. Now if you will excuse me...” Rob interrupted him before he could dismiss them. “Mister Culbertson we are here to make an offer to purchase some land you own up in ...” Now Mister Culbertson motioned curtly for Rob to be quiet as he furtively looked around to see if anyone else had noticed what Rob was starting to say. “Come with me,” he said quietly but firmly and headed for the far end of the hallway. When they reached the very end, he pushed on the crash bar and stepped into the stairwell holding the door open for them. He glanced back down the hall to see if any of his workers were paying attention to his exit. “Who are you?” He scowled first at Rob and then at Bruce. Rob and Bruce introduced themselves by name only. “Show me some ID,” Culbertson demanded. Both men calmly pulled out their wallets and showed their drivers licenses. “You're both from Texas. Wait you two are neighbors? Are either of you in law enforcement? Do either of you have a recording device or any kind of transmitter on your person or in your brief cases?” Bruce responded, “No. And not even cell phones, Mister Culbertson.” Culbertson's eyebrows raised for a few seconds at Bruce's response. Culbertson lowered his voice and his face before continuing “Look I don't know how you found out about that land, but right now all my bank accounts are frozen and I cannot even buy a tank of gas for my car. Apparently I made campaign contributions to the wrong candidates and someone with pull is pulling on banking authorities as well as various law enforcement entities to make my life a nightmare. Selling some land right now would be a great idea for me to gain some liquidity, but even a cashiers check would be worthless to me with all the red tape they have wrapped around me.” He appeared to shake his head as he spoke, as if he was exploring an option but then rejected it as unworkable. His mouth pursed up and his face became tight as he continued to hold it tilted down and somewhat to one side. Bruce caught his body language and lowered his voice as well when he replied. “Mister Culbertson, We were planning to pay in cash – today. We don't know if we have enough cash to buy all of your parcels, because we are also looking at some parcels just north of yours. We'd like to talk with you right away. It sounds like you might need to do something quickly, too.” Bruce was pressing a little but he tried to make it sound friendly. Mister Culbertson paused with his mouth open, like something that Bruce said had caught him off balance. “So, you are wanting to talk with someone else today about a land purchase?” He sounded relieved and inquisitive at the same time, and he had emphasized the word 'else'. But, it also felt like he was talking to some one other than Bruce and Rob. “Do you know how to find this other person that you think has land you might want?” He had lifted his head just enough to regain eye contact. “Yes we do.” Before Bruce or Rob could say more, Culbertson lifted his head and jumped into their conversation again with his full attention. Culbertson gestured with his palms turned toward Rob and Bruce indicating a push back posture.“Gentlemen, I am sorry your trip here was not the right place or time. I suggest you pursue that next person on your possible landowner owner list. I'm really sorry I am not in a place to do business with you this morning.” As he was saying this he was giving them a big smile and he turned slightly to give them a thumb-up sign held close to the front of his suit coat. Rob noticed that Culbertson had turned before signaling them. Rob lifted his eyes without moving his head and spotted a security camera in the stairwell that was now behind Culbertson's shoulder. Rob reached out to shake hands with Culbertson. Rob decided to play along with Culbertson's ad lib performance. “I appreciate your taking out a moment for us. I know you are very busy, so we will not take up any more of your time.” Rob was talking very distinctly with his face turned slightly toward the security camera. He gave Bruce hand and shoulder gestures like 'we tried, but this didn't work'. He then commented to Bruce, “We can check this one off our list. Who's next?” They stepped through the door back to the hallway. While they were waiting by the elevator to return, Rob saw Culbertson some distance back in the hallway texting on his phone before he pocketed his phone and returned to directing the office chaos surrounding his suite of offices. Once they were back in the truck and driving away Bruce finally spoke. “That was quite a scene. It was kind of like what I imagined things must have looked like during the Enron/Arthur Anderson debacle, only this was on a smaller scale, of course. But, this is also exactly what I was envisioning when Zolton was telling me about the trouble ahead. So, what do you think our next play is, good buddy?” “I don't know and don't want to know what the relationship is between Culbertson and the owner of the other parcels, but they know each other at the very least. I'm betting Culbertson sent a heads up text to ... what is the other owner's name?” Bruce, who was driving, thought a second and replied, “Hank Spaulding.” “Okay, I'm betting he was texting Hank as we were leaving. We need to go to see Mister Spaulding and see what kind of deal we can make with him.” Bruce was getting uneasy. “Rob, This is making me a little nervous. I don't want us caught up in the political battles going on right now. Our plan was to become invisible, remember. The last thing we need is to get connected to personalities on one side or another in political tug of wars. Unless I miss my guess Culbertson is already a high profile player; at least high enough profile to have a political target painted on him. We don't know anything about him. For all we know he could be a corrupt player in the political scene. If he is, do we want to be dealing with him, or even with Spaulding if they are good friends? ” “Bruce, I don't want us involved in anything that is crooked. I agree. We have to keep under the radar, which is not possible if we are breaking the law or associating with other people who are. Beyond that we want to stay ethical, not taking unfair advantage of others. You and I both know that there are things that may be legal, but they are still not right. We are going to have to be careful, but we still need to see what we can do. We also have to consider the risk of having property immediately next to our land belonging to people who are being targeted by political or criminal investigations. We don't want that danger hanging over us either.” “You're right, Rob. We don't want to become collateral damage in the fighting of others.” Bruce was taking deep breaths to calm down. “We need to take this one step at a time, but stay on the watch for danger. I sure hope your Dad's prayer this morning affords us some help.” They found the address of Hank Spaulding and it looked like a combination used car dealer/car repair facility. It looked fairly upscale; larger and nicer than many used car lots they had seen before. There were tall signs on the corners of the lot proclaiming 'Spaulding Automotive'. The main building had a brick and glass facade. The garage area was separated but contained a sizable row of clean and orderly repair bays. Most of the bays were occupied and a few cars were lined up near the repair bays. There were also about thirty or forty cars with sales signage on them lined up neatly on the paved parking/display lot in front of the main building. Rather than pulling into the lot, Bruce drove past and parked in a strip mall parking lot up the street. They got out again with both of them carrying their brief cases. Bruce commented, “I want us to be extra careful. They are bound to have security cameras with all those cars there for repairs and for sale. Lets walk in separately. As a matter of fact, I think I'll cross the street and come onto the lot from the other direction, just in case. If this guy gets in trouble some one may try to get a hold of their security tapes. Rob let Bruce go first, so that Bruce was inside the building before Rob even approached the lot. When Rob stepped in he saw Bruce at the receptionist counter. As he approached he could hear him asking if Hank was in. The receptionist picked up the phone and spoke quietly into it and with Bruce while Rob approached and stopped about six feet behind Bruce. When the receptionist began gesturing to Bruce and directing him to Hank's office, Rob started drifting in the direction that she was gesturing without catching her eye. Bruce and Rob stopped in front of the all glass door to Hank's office and started to knock. Hank looked up and gestured for the two of them to come on in. The door automatically shut behind them. Rob and Bruce were looking around the room and it looked like a normal office except the walls were almost all glass above a paneled 'half wall'. Hank introduced himself from behind his desk and then got straight to the issues. “I got a text from a friend who is having a lot of trouble and is concerned about the trouble spilling over to me soon. Some folks can be truly vicious, but that doesn't mean they are efficient at getting to their goals. Tell me about yourselves.” Bruce shifted like he was trying to decided how much to tell, when Rob blurted out. “We have cash and want to quietly buy some remote land that we understand you and your friend have.” Hank looked at Rob and then Pete and waited. So did they. “I guess that is the most critical information. My friend did not indicate how much cash you have. How much cash do you have to spend on this land?” Again Rob was careful about how much he said. “Enough to help you, but not enough to satisfy a real estate agent.” Hank threw his head back and laughed out loud. “Remind me never to try and sell you a used car, Mister Smith. Obviously I would like as much 'help' as we can get. Just so you know, I am negotiating for myself and my friend. We once had a common purpose and intention to share the land we have there. If you do have real cash and we come to terms we can get this deal executed today.” “That would benefit all of us it would seem.” Bruce now joined in on the conversation. “We are negotiating for our family. With the situation that seems to be developing, Mister Smith and I, of course, need to keep in mind the resources we might still need for other purposes after this transaction is completed. ” “I can see the wisdom in that.” Hank responded. “We are not expecting to retire on the money we get from this transaction. We see this as a temporary but significant hurdle. We need enough cash to regain the means to maneuver until we can get our other resources back to work.” “We do not need to know about those plans, but since you are opening your coat a little bit, I will reciprocate. We ARE expecting to retire, in a manner of speaking. Our view of the cash we hold is that there will be no source of replenishing it at anytime after the transactions we are considering have been completed.” Bruce was being cryptic to avoid revealing too much too early in the negotiations. At the same time he wanted to communicate factors that would constrain his and Rob's range of flexibility in their negotiations. “Ah, That does shed a different light on things, doesn't it.” Hank was quiet as he contemplated his next move. “I want to be fair, to the two of you but also to my friend and I. May I ask, in general terms, what you intend to do with this land?” Rob and Bruce looked at each other for a moment then nodded. Rob turned back to Hank and said, “Live on it with our family.” “That's all? Just live on it?” Hank was incredulous. Rob and Bruce just nodded. “Okay,” said Hank. “Time to get down to dealing. I have something you want that is finite. You know what that is and I assume you know something of its condition. You on the other hand have a commodity that to you is somewhat flexible, but I haven't a clue as to its size. I need you to give me a number. Whatever it is I assure you I will want more, but I like you might be able to make this work with less than I would like. You need to give me a number that you are confident you can live with. You already told me it is going to be less than the market value, but we have to start somewhere.” Bruce and Rob excused themselves into the hall and began whispering. They went back and forth for several minutes. Finally they agreed on a number and a posture to take if it was deemed not enough when they presented it to Hank. They returned to the room and Bruce gave Hank the number. Hank sat there staring at Bruce for about five minutes without speaking. Then he turned to Rob, and Rob was stone still. Hank took out his phone and started texting. He waited and soon a text came back. Hank paused, and looked at the ceiling minute. Then he got on his computer and typed in a few series of instructions. Then he typed some more and his expression hardened severely. He returned to his phone and sent another text. After a couple of minutes he got a reply and it took him a n minute to read it. “Gentlemen, do you have this cash with you or do you need to go somewhere to retrieve it?” Rob and Bruce looked at each other trying to control their stir of emotions. “That much, we have with us.” “May I get a glimpse of it just to make sure what you are telling me is real?” Bruce and Rob both opened their brief cases and turned them briefly toward Hanks desk before closing them. “How much of the land are you willing to include in the deal?” Bruce asked. “All of it. Do we have a deal?” Both Rob and Bruce simply replied, “Yes.” “Thank you. I know you are a bit surprised, at the rapid acceptance of terms, so let me explain. First I want to let my friend know.” He quickly composed a text and hit <Send> before putting his phone away. “We need all trace of our holding that land and any connection to our original intentions for it to disappear. Our original intentions for it are no longer viable and were almost forgotten years ago. We do not know if we still have old emails or such where we discussed those former intentions. We are going to try to purge those if we find any. Right now we do not trust that anything we said in the past will not be twisted into some contrived issue. People will have a harder time concocting an issue regarding our owning that property if we no longer own it. You already know the price you are paying is far below market, but this is still a win-win for my friend and I at this time. Also, you made it clear that you don't want attention drawn to this and you intend to live quietly out of sight. That, too is a big plus for us. Finally, while we were speaking my bank accounts also were frozen. Both I and my friend have moral obligation to pay our employees for the work they have already done for us. I am grateful that with this deal, my friend and I will be able to meet our obligations and still have a little room to reshape our functioning without creating yet more issues to be paraded about to the public. I need to go make an announcement to my employees right now, before they hear rumors and start to panic. Rick, my friend is telling his people right now, and that they will get paid in cash on Friday. That will help them to calm down a bit, too. Would you mind waiting in our employees' break room for about an hour so we can get all the ducks lined up for signing papers on this agreement? I would really appreciate that.” “We can do that.” Bruce offered. It actually took an hour and a half. When Culbertson showed up his attire had totally changed. Rather than a nice business suit he was wearing worn Blue Jeans, a worn short sleeve khaki work shirt, and a pair of work boots. He had a file folder tucked under his arm and he laid it on Hank's desk. Hank turned around and opened a small safe under the credenza behind his desk, and pulled out another folder. It took about five minutes for them to get all the right names in the right places on the warranty deeds. Hank picked up his phone and called for one of his employees to come in to notarize the signatures. Finally, Rob and Bruce counted out the money. It was arranged in organized stacks on Hank's desk so it was easy to visually recount the accumulating subtotals. Once the counting was finished, Hank took the Warranty deeds over to a scanner/laser printer in the corner of his office and began making duplicates so each person present had two copies of their own of each deed. Bruce and Rob packed up their papers then shook hands with R.D. and Hank before leaving. Rob and Bruce effectively swapped routes getting back to the truck. Inside the cab, they double checked to be sure they had all the paperwork in order. “Did that really just happen, Rob?” Bruce was stunned. “Do you realize how good this is?” Rob was awed. “We got so much more that we thought possible with how much money we had to work with! I thought we had gotten a good deal with Mister Billings. This deal to day was just, just, surreal. I was worried about Jenny's concern about a land buffer, because we saw before coming here what had been happening to land prices. It's like we have a guardian angel watching out for us.” Bruce checked his watch. They had enough time to grab a bite to eat, if they ate while driving, and still get to the county courthouse to file the papers today. They had a brief discussion about Pete's concern regarding too much paper work at once. They decided that concern was out weighed by the advantage of having the record of ownership removed from the previous owners as quickly as possible. They started out and hit the first drive thru window they found at a burger joint. They retraced their path out of town and were nearing the interstate heading north away from the capital. They were on a stretch of low concrete bridge spans crossing over the river basin when Rob was taking a sip of his drink. Just then it felt like Bruce was swerving a little, then his swerving was increasing. Rob spilled part of his drink on himself and looked up to see what Bruce was dodging on the roadway.
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Post by gipsy on Sept 8, 2023 11:06:56 GMT -6
Earthquake get in the doorway and hang on
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Post by feralferret on Sept 8, 2023 16:00:11 GMT -6
Dang, they just drove off of a cliff.
Pbbrown0, thank you That was quite a chapter.
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Post by 223shootersc on Sept 8, 2023 20:23:21 GMT -6
Wow a cliff and a avalanche all at once! Thanks!
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Post by pbbrown0 on Sept 13, 2023 18:57:19 GMT -6
Post #42 Checking In
All of the clan, except for Rob and Bruce were gathered around the table having lunch and rehashing the work of the morning. They got cleaned up from the meal and pulled the notes and house drawings again. Carl was asking if anyone had a protractor so they could mark out the approximate slope angle where the house would be. He was estimating the slope based on the previous effort to mark out the perimeter on the site. Pete said he had an adjustable carpenters angle that would probably work. As he was getting up from the bench at the table his foot slipped and he reached out for Joann's arm to regain his balance. Suddenly the bench was tipping with Joann and Jenny on it. They both grabbed the table about the same time Carl, Colleen, and Linda were grabbing it on the other side to steady their bench and themselves. Joann yelled, “Get down! Under the table! Earthquake!” It was more than chaotic with six people close together scrambling to get off a picnic table style bench and under a long, heavy, well braced picnic style table. Fortunately, no one actually fell, but there were a few hard bumps that occurred. The first couple of shocks were over in about twelve seconds, but then there were what felt like waves going up and down but fading away for another ten seconds or so. “My loving husband, THAT was an earthquake. I'll bet you felt that one!” Joann was feeling a little sassy and also energize by the adrenaline that had kicked in. She turned to Linda and in a more soothing tone asked if she was okay. Then she added, “I hope you weren't offended with my comments earlier. This was sort of an inside joke between Pete and I because he missed noticing a very small tremor just a couple of weeks ago. This one was not huge, but is wasn't exactly small either.” By this time Carl had, of course, asked Colleen several time if she was okay, while he ignore the strawberry abrasion she was looking at near the top of his forehead. Pete had a small rip on the left knee of his pants from scrambling over the bench that had tipped over when Jenny and Joann were shifting to get under the table. Joann got out the first aid kit she and Pete had compiled. She checked Pete's knee then put a small bandage on Carl's forehead after cleaning up the scrape. There was a lively discussion going on about what had just happened and the house plans were totally forgotten. There were questions and concern about Rob and Bruce. It became clear to all of them that they would just have to wait, hope, and pray about that until Bruce and Rob got back. Pete remembered the radios and got his base unit turned on, but there was no response. They had no way of knowing yet whether the epicenter was closer to the capital or to their property. So, they had no way to know if the earthquake was worse for the two Dads or less significant for them. “Mister Gambrell!” Colleen exclaimed. “We need to go check on him!” “Hold on.” Carl said. “Let's see if we can get him on the radio, first.” Carl pulled his radio out of the holster on the back side of his belt. “ Mister Gambrell? This is Carl. Please answer.” He waited a few seconds and tried again. “Mister Gambrell? This is Carl. Please answer. Over.” They waited a little longer and Carl repeated his call. Finally, they heard a couple of clicks and static on the line. Then a weak voice came through. “Carl? Is that you, young man?” There were several sighs and murmured comments of relief as Carl responded. “Yes, Mister Gambrell this is Carl. We wanted to check to see if you were okay. Are you alright?” “Yes, Carl, I'm doing fine today. How are you?” “We are all good, Mister Gambrell. Can you tell if there is any damage there?” “Damage? What kind of damage?” Isaac sounded puzzled. “From the earthquake. Have you had a chance to look around, yet?” “Earthquake? Was there an earthquake? I'm afraid I missed it. I was taking a nap after lunch until your radio call woke me. I suppose I should get up and look around to see if anything is wrong.” “Mister Gambrell, Colleen and I will be over in just a little while. You stay put until we get there. I don't think you should be checking on earthquake damage by yourself ! We'll be there soon. Over.” Carl turned to Pete. “Grandpa, we need to borrow your truck instead of Dad's truck. Y'all need to keep trying to reach our Dads. If they need help, you will probably do better with Dad's truck than with yours if we are not back yet. His truck has a base unit already in it just like Colleen's Dad's truck does. Colleen and I will make sure everything is okay at Mister Gambrell's, then we will come right back here. Let us know if you hear from them before we get back. You can reach us on the channel we use on our handheld units.” Colleen and Carl left in Pete's little truck as Pete was pulling Rob's truck closer to the kitchen, just in case. Jenny grabbed her handheld unit and turned it on checking to be sure it was set on the right channel. Meanwhile Pete was periodically calling for Rob and Bruce on his base unit to find out about them. He was chagrined that he had not set up a better antenna arrangement already. How many times in the last two weeks had different members of the family been scattered without any communications? The antennas in the trucks did not provide for maximum range talking between the two trucks, but a better antenna at their camp would increase the effective range between either truck and the home base unit. That would allow relaying information among the three units. Suddenly he remembered his conversation with Ruben, back in Beaver Creek. He changed the channel setting on his base unit and keyed the mic. “This is Brother Pete calling Brother Ruben. Brother Pete calling Brother Ruben; Please respond.” He waited. “This is Brother Pete calling Brother Ruben, Please respond.” He repeated this pattern several times and was about to switch channels when he heard a response. “This is Brother Ruben. Is that my old Bible buddy, Brother Pete? Come back.” “Hey Ruben, great to hear your voice! We had a little shake up a few minutes ago. We are all okay. How is everyone there?” “Thanks for checking in. That helps, Brother. I was on the phone checking with the others in our group. That's why I was delayed responding to your radio call. Are you still where you told me you would be?” “Yes, Brother. Do I need to let you go to check on the rest of your group?” “No. That's alright. Everyone in my group is safe. It will be a little bit longer before we compile all the groups together to send our report up the line. Say, Brother, this is such a good idea you had. With this disturbance I suddenly started thinking just how good it is. For example, we still have cell service here, but somehow we lost land line service. We had to send several brothers to drive out to check on a few families that are still on the old technology. That is what we are waiting to hear about, before we report on our checking on everyone. Suppose some one was hurt and needed help. With your suggestion we could have the help they needed on the way rather than someone merely on the way to them to find that out. I'm going to contact our circuit overseer and talk to him about this, again. I think he will see more clearly the benefits of these radios.” “Yep, it doesn't seem like a big priority until you get in a real crisis. Say, Brother, I wanted to let you know my wife and I have been visiting at another meeting hall of the Brotherhood. Looks like we will be attaching ourselves to them. Same spelling as yours, after you take out the 'V and E' do you copy?” “ Ha, Ha, Ha. Yes, I copy. We'll get that recorded.” “Good. I need to get a unit set up for the group leaders in our new congregation too. I got to go and check on some folks here. Stay in touch Ruben, Tell our brothers and sisters there 'hello' and give them our love. Over. ” “Pass a greeting from our congregation to your new one, there. Our love to you and Joann. Pete stay safe. Over.” Linda, Jenny, and Joann were all ears listening carefully to the radio conversation. Pete got off the radio call and switched channels. He still could not raise Rob and Bruce. So he set down the mic on the table. “Ladies, I am expecting they will be answering as soon as they get in range. I do not expect any trouble worse than traffic snarls caused by the earthquake. This earthquake is more than unusual, in my ever so humble opinion, Joann. This area just does not have an historic precedence for this. The nearest significant geological fault is a long way from here and about the same distance from the capital as it is from here. When we find out for certain that they are safe I need to take a radio unit over to the Bear Creek meeting hall and see if there is anyone there needing help. We need to make better arrangements going forward for keeping in touch when there are troubles. We came here because we are expecting troubles, but we have been acting like now that we are here, we get a 'king's ex' to cover any troubles that may happen out there.” - - - - - -
Ahead on the concrete causeway, Rob was seeing cars and truck with brake lights coming on blinking off and on, cars drifting or swerving out of and back into their lanes. He was hanging on to the grab handle next to the windshield support and trying to hold on and Bruce was wrestling with the wheel. Rob could not figure out what was happening, until Bruce growled through his clenched teeth, “Earthquake.” Rob's brain could not take that in. He had never experienced an earthquake before. All he knew to do was hang on. They were nearing the far end of the causeway over the shallow river bed when Bruce stood on the brakes. They skidded to a stop and a car behind them came to a stop only with a little help from the trailer hitch on Bruce's truck. Rob realized the last section of concrete in front of them had slipped off the supports at the far end and had dropped to the dry ground of the shallow sloped river bed, while the near end of it was still being held up by the concrete crossbeam header on top of concrete pillars. The cars ahead had stopped, including three cars right at the far edge that were jammed into the loam of the river bed where they could not stop fast enough when the section of road way slipped off the cross beam support. Bruce engaged the Four Wheel Drive Low setting on his truck and eased forward making his way between cars. When he got near the cars at the far end of that dropped section he carefully climbed out and Rob joined him. They worked their down along the sloped pavement to the front of the cars that were bunched up. They looked inside one of the cars. The airbags had been discharged and there was a man inside trying to push the inflated bags down. There was no one else inside and they signaled the man to open his door. He struggled to work the door release, but once he did, Bruce sliced the side of the bag with his pocket knife. The the main bag deflated and the man quickly scrambled out. He was busy thanking Bruce, but Bruce held up both hands, palms facing the man, and told the man, “Stop. Listen to me. I know you are excited, but sit down. You may be hurt and not realize it, yet. Even if you are okay, there are others who may need help. Call 911 and tell them a bridge section is down here. Do you know where this is?” He nodded his head. “ Good. Tell them that many cars are piled up. There are probably injuries here. Can you do that?” Bruce got him to repeat the message to him and told him again to get that message to the 911 operator. Rob had already turned to the next car in the next lane over where there was a woman in the front seat being squeezed by air bags. There were two children in the back seat. One was a very young boy strapped into a child car seat. He was crying. The another child, a girl who was a few years older than the boy, was buckled into with a booster seat and she looked very frightened. Rob tapped gently on the driver's window and got no response. He went around to the side where the frightened girl was sitting. He leaned over to look through the window glass and tried to talk to her. “Hi, my name is Rob. I know you are scared, but we are here to help you. Are you hurt?” She made a face and slid her hand along the seat belt where it crossed her collar bone. Rob nodded sympathetically. “Can you unbuckle the seat belt?” She nodded and reached down to release the buckle. “Is there any other place where it hurts?” The little girl thought for a moment and said through the window glass, “No sir. Just here.” again she touched her collarbone on one side. “Can you check on your brother? Be a good big sister. Don't move him, but calm him down. Tell him the danger is gone. Help is here. Find out if he is hurting or just mostly scared. Can you do that?” She made a determined face and nodded. Rob watched her climb out of her booster seat and move over to her little brother. She put a hand gently on his cheek and began talking to him and he started calming down. After a little bit she crawled back across the seat to the window by Rob. “He is not hurting anywhere. He's just scared,” she said. “Okay that's good. Can you open the door?” Rob asked. “No. Mommy is the only one who can unlock the doors when she is driving.” Rob thought about that. “Can you climb into the front seat?” She nodded her head and started scrambling over the console into the front passenger seat. Rob noticed her wincing and reaching up to her collarbone a couple of times. When she got settled in the passenger seat, Rob spoke to her again. “You are being very brave. Now can you push the button to roll the window down?” She stared at the door armrest panel and fiddled with some buttons until her window glass slid down. “I told you my name is Rob. Can you tell me your name?” “Christie” is all she said. Rob could tell by her calling him 'Sir' earlier that Christie's mother had taught her manners, which meant she probably also taught her to be cautious around strangers. “Christie. Someone has called for more people to come and help. I need to open your door to see if I can help your Mommy. Would that be okay?” Christie thought for a minute, then she said, “Yes, I am worried about Mommy.” Rob nodded with a concerned face. “Christie, why don't you climb back there beside your brother so I can see about your Mommy. I'm sure he is worried too and needs his big sister. Be careful getting back there. I know your shoulder is hurting.” Rob reached in and got the door unlocked and opened. He slipped in and sat in the passenger seat. He reached over to where her arm was hanging down and felt for a pulse. He was relieved that it was strong and steady. She was still propped up by the air bags, and leaning back in her seat. She still did not appear to be conscious, so he carefully held her hand and stroked back and forth a few times across her palm with his fingernail, and called out, “Ma'am. Ma'am. There has been an accident. Your children are safe. Can you wake up?” There was a little movement so he called out again. “Ma'am, try not to move, yet, but try to open your eyes.” He saw her eyes wiggle a bit and then open. “Ma'am,” he said again, “your children are safe, but you have been in an accident. Try not to move too much just yet. Do you feel any pains or injuries any where?” She blinked a couple of times. “My face hurts, but that is all that hurts right now.” “That is probably from the air bag. I want you to take in a deep breath, then tell me if anything hurts.” She inhaled and responded. “Just my face and nose. That's all that hurts.” “Okay, I'm going to deflate the air bag. Just relax back in your seat for a minute.” waited a few seconds and cut into the side of the airbag with his pocket knife. Then he started pushing down on the bag to get the air out. “My name is Rob Smith, Ma'am. Your son and daughter are in the back seat, and they seem uninjured, but they were worried about you. There were a lot of cars piled up when the end of the bridge dropped, but someone has already called 911. Emergency teams should be on their way. If you are alright for the moment, I suggest you and your children should stay inside your car and not move around a lot until medical staff can check you out. I am not a medical professional, but your daughter, Christie says her collarbone is hurting. When the medical folks or police arrive, please tell them so they can check her out before she moves around anymore. I need to go see if anyone else needs help before they get here.” “Thank you, Mister Smith.” As Rob was climbing out of the car he heard her reassuring her children. He eased the car door almost shut and looked around for Bruce. He spotted Bruce several rows back leaning on the side of a car with his arms relaxed on top of its roof Rob waved and headed that way. “Hey Rob I saw what you were working there. I went ahead and checked out some of the other cars. I got back this far and waited because I did not want to get too far away from you. So, what is the status there?” “The two youngsters seem to be mostly okay. The girl may have a cracked or perhaps only a bruised collar bone. That's not uncommon in accidents from the shoulder strap catching you from flying forward. The Mom was unconscious but is awake now, and she seems okay. She said her face hurts, likely from the air bag smacking her. I told them to sit tight and wait for the medical techs to check them out. Looks like you covered more ground than I have. How does it look?” Bruce looked grim. “These last couple of rows were no big deal except for a few cases of overdose on adrenaline. One guy on the front row didn't make it. He was in an old car without airbags and he wasn't wearing a seat belt. A windshield is just no good as a safety net. No good at all.” Bruce got quiet and shook his head. “Best I can tell first responders are on their way, but struggling with traffic snarls everywhere. Its going to be a while before we can get out of here.” Rob was looking pensive. “I hope the rest of the family is okay. We are probably out of range for reaching them with the radio.” “Yep, that might be possible if we had a better antenna in the truck, but barely. I guess we could try raising some one on the radio and seeing if we could relay a message. Chances are slim, and we'd need to be careful about our identification and location, but we could try.” “I hadn't thought of that, Bruce. I think its worth a try. Let's do it.” Rob and Bruce walked back to their truck. Bruce started the truck so he could keep cool with the windows up while they were making calls on the radio. They started out on their preferred channel calling first “Bur Oak” then “Trailblazer”, and finally “Songbird”. They had no success that way then they decided to call out for help with a private message relay. They called out. “This is Pecan Tree asking for assistance with a private message relay. This is Pecan Tree asking for assistance with a private message relay. Over.” He called like that for a bout two minutes, then switched to another channel, then another channel. He went through about twelve channels before he got a response. “This is White Buffalo calling Pecan Tree. This is White Buffalo calling Pecan Tree. How may I assist? Over.” “Thank you for assist offer. My friend and I are away from home stuck in traffic jam near state capital after the shaker. Out of range from home base. Wish to confirm all is well at both ends. Over” “Pecan Tree, please meet up on channel 49. Repeat, Please meet up on channel 49.” “Channel 49. Copy that.” Rob switched the channel on their truck's radio. At that point he heard “Native Prophesy calling Squirrel's Paradise. Native Prophesy calling Squirrel's Paradise. Come in Squirrel's Paradise. Over.” Rob chuckled and replied. “Squirrel's Paradise here, Over.” “I am north of State Capital. Does that help you?” “Not sure. Prophesy. Base is northwest of us. Over.” Rob waited. “What channel is your base? Over.” “Base is previous channel minus 12. Repeat previous channel minus 12. Over.” What is call sign you wish to contact? Repeat, call sign you wish to contact. Over.” Rob was into this playing with channels and call signs to mess with eaves dropping radio monitors, and channel scanners, so he considered which call sign to use. “Songbird. Repeat Songbird. Over.” “Stand by, Paradise. Engaging second relay. Over.” C.J Sullivan, not knowing who he was talking to nor who he was going to message for them, switched to a channel he used consistently with one of his former students, Gerry Kerry. “Agri Coach calling Agri Mentor-ee. Agri Coach calling Agri Mentor-ee. Come in Mentor-ee. Over.”He had to repeat this call out multiple times before he got a response.
Finally Gerry jumped on the channel. “Coach-ee calling very old Coach. How's it shaking out, Old Coach?” Gerry was in a playful mood and trying to give C.J. a hassle over his security measures of changing his call signs to handles that would be recognized by friends, yet making it more difficult for automated tracking software to connect the dots in their databases. “Okay, Okay, settle down now. Everyone back at your positions. We have a lot to learn today, class.” “Sorry, coach. Just a little shaken up to today. I'll behave now. What's do we need to do, Coach?” “We have a family that needs to get in touch after the slippage today. Seems a couple of guys who made a trip down to the capital are caught in a traffic jam, and want their family out your direction to know they are okay. They also want to make sure that their family out your way are okay, too.” “Copy that, Agri-man. Need frequency and call signs.” “Pecan Tree is the caller. Be sure to pronounce Pecan like I just did. Songbird is the handle for the contact. The luckless number is the channel.” “Copy that, Coach. Hang tight.” Gerry switched to channel 13 and started calling. “Friend of Pecan Tree calling Songbird, Friend of Pecan tree calling Songbird, come in please.” he repeated the call several times waiting half a minute between calls. Finally he began calling, “Message for Songbird from Pecan Tree, come in please.” On the second updated call he heard a response. “This is Bur Oak calling for Pecan Tree; Bur Oak calling for Pecan Tree. Over.” “Beggin your pardon, Bur Oak, but you don't exactly sound like a Songbird to my ears.” There was a pause. Then a reply. “You don't exactly sound like Pecan Tree, either. Are we talking about...” “This is Songbird trying to contact Pecan Tree. Over.” “Please repeat on call for Pecan Tree. Over.” “This is Songbird calling for Pecan Tree. Over.” “Hello Songbird. This is Dexter Wrangler assisting in message relay from Pecan Tree. Message is … Pecan Tree and friend are safe. Caught in traffic jam. Are y'all okay? End of message. Over.” “Dexter Wrangler? ... This is Licked Face. Do you copy? Over.” “Copy loud and clear Songbird. Are y'all okay? Over.” “We are all safe and sound. Please relay reply. Thank you Dexter Wrangler. We'll be standing by. Over. “ “Happy to hear that, Songbird. Reply will be sent. Please call if further help is needed. Dexter Wrangler out. Over.” Gerry switched channels. “Agri Apprentice calling Agri Mentor; Agri Apprentice calling Agri Mentor. Over.” “This is Mentor. Continue Apprentice.” “Apprentice giving a shout out to Mentor. That Family is all safe. Nice to be able to help them. They are the group you sent to me to ask about raising special cattle. Please relay my good wishes for safe return home to those friends that are in a jam. Over.”
“Mentor here. Thank you for your help Apprentice. Will pass on the reply and good wishes, plus my own. Mentor out. Over.” C.J switched to channel 49. “Native Prophesy to Squirrel's Paradise; Native Prophesy to Squirrel's Paradise. Come in Paradise.” “Squirrel's Paradise here. Tell me good news, Prophesy. Over.” Rob shook his head and the way that wording came out. “All is well, Paradise. All is well. B T W, Paradise. Best wishes from me and my relay partner. We each have met your better halves. Looking forward to meeting you too. Tell them to keep the books as long as they need them. Prophesy out. Over.” “Thank you, Prophesy. Looking forward to meeting ... you, two, too. Squirrel's out. Over. ” Rob smirked to himself at the spinner he sent at the end of the message to any software or so called artificial intelligence that might be analyzing the radio transmissions on this frequency.
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Post by feralferret on Sept 13, 2023 23:40:09 GMT -6
Pbbrown0, fine chapter. Thanks!
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Post by sniper69 on Sept 14, 2023 3:35:44 GMT -6
Thank you for another excellent chapter, and glad all are safe from the quake.
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Post by pbbrown0 on Sept 15, 2023 0:51:57 GMT -6
Post #43 New Lessons
Carl and Colleen were back quickly from checking on Mister Gambrell. Carl checked over the House and even the chicken coop structures. They were all solidly built and had no signs of cracks, gaps, or tilts. Isaac assured them that he was fine and was not in need of any help. Once Carl assured him that the house and coop were in good shape, Isaac actually was trying to hurry them off with a request. He told them that with his increasing mobility limitations, Brother Mark had been replaced as a the coordinator of his team within the congregation, and he did not know who the replacement was. He was concerned, because after an earthquake the team coordinators would be checking on everyone in their group to make sure they were safe and finding out if there were any who needed help as a result of the quake. He wasn't sure there was anyone in the congregation besides Brother Mark, who really knew where to find him, so Isaac asked if Carl and Colleen might make contact with someone at the meeting hall to let them know he was safe and secure. Carl and Colleen hurried back to the rest of their clan, anxious to hear from their Dads. They were getting out of Pete's truck and approached the table as Pete was starting to make another radio call to try and contact Rob and Bruce. Pete apparently was hearing someone they didn't know using the channel the family had chosen for their main personal communications. Colleen thought that was an odd coincidence because of the sparse population in their area, the number of channels available, and the particular channel number they had chosen. She was about to sit down when she heard the other frequency user state her call sign. Grandpa was trying to clarify right of way on the frequency when Colleen signaled to let her have the mic. She jumped into the dialog and succinctly established who was calling who. She quickly realized that the other caller was Gerry Kerry who was the Dexter Cattle raiser they had met a few days before and he was trying to make sure he was getting a message to her and not to someone else. She was very relieved to hear her Dad and Carl's Dad were safe and thanked Gerry for relaying back to her Dad that everyone here was safe. With everyone now reassured Pete was eager to get to the congregation meeting hall in Bear Creek to get them a radio and to see if they knew of any brothers or sisters in the congregation who needed help. Carl relayed Isaac's request to let someone there know that he was okay, too. No one at the table wanted to be left behind so they all loaded up in Rob's truck and headed out for Bear Creek. On the way Pete and Joann answered several questions to clarify how each of the congregations in the brotherhood were organized so that anytime there was trouble from something as small as a local utility outage, to a disaster affecting a whole region, the brotherhood would have, as quickly as possible, an accurate inventory of any brothers or sisters who were hurt or needing help. They also had a roster of brothers and sisters who were trained and qualified to help with repairs or rebuilding if the home of someone in the congregation was damaged. By tomorrow morning the national organization would have an accurate picture of the extent of this earthquake and how much help needed to be mobilized to make sure all the brothers and sisters who needed help were getting the help they needed. That would include organizing and mobilizing teams from other areas or regions to help those areas hardest hit. When they arrived at the meeting hall there were several cars and trucks parked there already. Pete and Carl jumped out quickly, but Joann spoke to the other ladies. “Why don't the rest of us wait here, so it won't add more distraction to those inside already. If there is anything we can do, Pete and carl will come let us know. Pete was leading the way and Carl was right with him. When they stepped inside they saw Brother Ross and several other men plus a couple of women. They were sitting at a few tables than had been unfolded and were working over some lists and talking on their phones. Pete approached and got Brother Ross' attention. “Brother Ross, I know we are not officially part of this congregation yet, but that will be changing shortly. We wanted you to know we have checked on Brother Gambrell and he is safe and does not need special assistance at this time.” “Thank you Brother Smith. That is a relief. I'm afraid all we have for getting in touch with him in an emergency is an imprecise address. He should have provided us with better information. You are not his group leader, but you went to check on him? … How did you find him?” Carl looked away while Pete kept his composure. “Brother Ross, he is my Brother, and we take care of our Brothers. Besides that, he is my neighbor, that is we live close to each other. If you will remember we brought him to the meeting yesterday.” “Oh yes, of course with all of this trouble today my mind is a little shaken.” Carl stifled a snicker at the pun he was certain had not been intentional. Pete continued with his conversation, “Brother Ross, are there any other members of the congregation you are having trouble contacting. I have my son's truck with four wheel drive and If there is a problem contacting them or physically getting to them, I would be glad to help. Also, my grandson has construction experience and would be glad to help if someone's home has been damaged. If there are other needs our whole family would be glad to help in any manner that would be beneficial.” “Thank you, Brother Smith. I will check with the team leaders. Give me a phone number where I can reach you, and I will give you a call if your help is needed.” Pete took a deep breath and slowly released it. “Brother Ross, since I have not been assigned to a group yet, why don't I give that information directly to the congregation secretary, That way it can be recorded more efficiently without is being relayed through several messengers. That will help him get my wife and I assigned to a group and gather any other information that he needs to keep and protect.” “Of course, that makes sense. Let me take you to him.” He turned and walked toward the end of one of the tables assuming Pete was following. “Brother Kelsey, This is Pete Smith. He and his wife are wanting to get their names officially on the role of our congregation. Of course they will need to be assigned to a group so we can keep track of them and see that they are properly shepherded. You know how to do that don't you?” “Yes, Brother Ross. I'll make sure it all gets handled properly.” As John Ross turned and walked a away, Jeff Kelsey and Pete exchanged subtle looks. “Brother Jeff, it's good to see you, again. You remember my grandson, Carl, don't you?” Pete, Jeff, and Carl exchanged handshakes. Pete sat down and explained about having checked on Brother Isaac and the difficulties of contacting Isaac, as well as Pete and Joann, due to their 'imprecise locations'. He went on to explain about the solution he had brought in the form of a base station radio. He mentioned also that he had already been able to contact his team leader at the Beaver Creek congregation using these radios, so they would not have him and his wife listed as an unknown status on the congregation's report. Pete finally offered to help in contacting any brothers and sisters that for whatever reason the team leaders here had not been able to contact, yet. Brother Kelsey was very grateful for that offer. He asked Pete to hold on just a minute, then he picked up his phone. He called another brother and asked him to come to the meeting hall and told him there was something new he wanted help with. Then he spoke across the table to one of the other brothers about a family they had not contacted yet. There was an older couple who had a land line that was not letting them get through and they gave Pete the directions to get to their home. Pete and Carl went back to their truck and headed out to check on the older couple that could not be reached by phone. The followed directions and headed north north east of Bear Creek. About ten minutes later they got off the road onto a worn two track cutting into the woods. Pete was taking it slow because he had been told it was a very rough road. There were a couple of places where the ruts were a bit deep, but other than that it wasn't bad. Five minutes after turning off the road, Carl spotted a frame house painted white up ahead. The pulled up to a stop and Pete asked Joann to come with him. “Hullo in the house!” Pete called when they stopped short of the porch. About two minutes later an old man stepped through the screened door and stopped on the porch. “What kin I do fur you?” The old man asked. “I'm brother Pete Smith and this is my wife Joann Smith. We are new in this area and new to the Bear Creek congregation, but we are trying to help check on members of the congregation after the earthquake to make sure no one is hurt or in need of help.” “My wife and I are just fine. You can tell the brothers is wasn't the big one yet. So we are surviving. Why didn't you just call, rather than driving all the way out here?” “Brother Kelsey said they tried to call and they couldn't get through.” “Seriously?” He turned back toward the screen door. “Lisa, they're saying our phone is out. Would you check it?” Seconds later they heard her call back confirming it was dead. “Brother Bennett, hold on just a second.” Pete went back to the truck and brought back a hand held radio with a charger station. “Brother Bennett, Look here a second. This knob turns on this radio, and keeps turning to raise the volume.” He demonstrated how it worked. “These two buttons change the channel up and down. You can see channel number change when you press them.” He demonstrated again. Set it on channel 12 . I'm going back to the meeting hall to get a base radio set up. You can listen while it's on. If you need to talk just hold this button down then let it up when you are ready to listen to a reply. Here is a stand you can plug in to an electric outlet to keep the battery charged. I'll call you back in about an hour to make sure it is working.” “Thank you, Brother, we're doing just fine out here, but could you ask someone to call the phone company and tell them our line is out here. I'd appreciate that, and thank you for taking time to check on us. That was mighty nice of y'all.” Pete went back to the truck and headed to the Meeting Hall. He was eager to get the radio set up there and to show them how helpful it could be. Colleen asked what channel they would be using. Pete told her that for now they would be using channel 12, but that would probably change when they got more organized in their plans for using these radios. Colleen asked, “What was his name?” Pete answered, “Brother Bennett.” Colleen immediately changed channels on her hand held and called out. “Brother Bennett, This is Brother Smith's granddaughter. I just wanted you to hear that this really works, and we are glad you two are safe.” A moment later she heard, “Thank you very much, young lady. We are very grateful to you and your grandfather,” They got back to the meeting hall and one man was studying the base station while Brother Kelsey was talking to him. Pete walked up with Carl in tow. “First of all Brother Bennett and his wife are fine, They had not even realized their phone wasn't working. He asked if someone could call the phone company to report that since he cannot call them.” Brother Kelsey stopped to make a note. “Second I gave him a hand set. I know it works, because my soon to be granddaughter talked to him using her hand unit after we left. I just don't know that it will reach this far. I'd like to help you get that hooked up temporarily and talk with you some about implementing this. For now, would you mind coming out to my truck. I don't know if this will work but we can try." As he was walking out he was talking about signal power and antennas. He explained how he had his up with just a wire thrown over a tree limb and was able to reach Beaver Creek. They got to the truck and everyone climbed out to make room. “The unit in the truck is powerful enough, but the antenna is not as long as I would like. I'm afraid we can get a signal to him, but the antenna is too small to gather in his weak signal." “Hold on. Brother Smith, I'm George Rogers.” The man who had been looking over the radio with Brother Kelsey introduced himself. “I'm not that familiar with these radios, but I help with the audio and video equipment at the meeting hall. I'm pretty sure that the WiFi we use is essentially a radio signal limited by special equipment.” “I'm sorry, Brother Rogers that was rude of me. I guess I'm anxious to help Brother and Sister Bennett, so I was running off down a rabbit trail without paying attention to what or who was around me.” “Don't worry about it, Brother Smith. What I was getting to is that I have some spools of wire. If we wrap some around your truck antenna, then string it out, it might be enough to capture Brother Bennett's signal.” “That's a great idea. Let's get it hooked up before we try to call the Bennetts.” Pete was now more hopeful of having a successful demonstration. “Grandpa?” Carl spoke up as George ran off to his equipment. “It would help even more if we could throw the wire over a tree limb like you did before. That would keep the wire pickup away from the ground because sometimes that interferes with radio signals in some frequencies.” “Wait a minute!” Pete exclaimed. “They have a metal roof on the meeting hall. If we could connect the wire to that, it would be elevated and have much more surface to collect the radio waves.” When George got back Pete and Carl shared their ideas with him. He pondered them for a moment before he spoke. “I'm not an electronics engineer. I really don't know. It sounds to me like it is worth a try. I guess we are about to learn something, one way or another.” They moved the truck over under the eaves of the meeting hall. The building was designed to have wide low hanging eaves to provide more shade on the walls to reduce the summer heat. George was a tall, lean man and knew the building well since he had worked on the volunteer crew that built the structure. He was able to attach am alligator clip to the insulated wire and clip it securely to the edge of the metal sheet. He stripped the insulation from a sizable length of the wire at the other end and wound the bare copper tightly around the radio antenna on the truck. “Okay, Brother Smith.” George called out. “Let's give it a try.” Pete turned to radio unit on and tuned it to channel 12. He said a little prayer and then he remembered to tell Colleen to change channels, so they didn't get feedback. Then he keyed the mic. “Brother Smith calling Brother Bennett. Brother Smith calling Brother Bennett. Can you hear me. He waited a minute and was about to call again when he heard a twitch of static. “Yes, Brother Smith I can hear you. Where are you?” Brother Bennett was remembering being surprised when Colleen told him she was in the truck driving away. “I'm at the meeting hall with Brother Rogers. We just have a temporary hook up to make sure we could reach you. We're going to get something more permanent in place soon, so we may be disconnecting and reconnecting before talking to you again. In the mean time we will be calling the phone company to tell them about your phone being out. Stay safe, Brother.” Pete finished without the typical radio protocols. “Thank you, brothers. And Thank you all for watching out for Lisa and me.” “So,” said Pete, “Now we know a way to make this work. We need to get the antenna set up more permanently but we also need to make some decisions about how to use this for the benefit of the congregation. By the way. Brother Ruben Sanchez, in the Beaver Creek congregation is working a set up there and wants to talk with the circuit overseer about this in light of their experiences trying to contact brothers and sisters after the earthquake. We need to talk to the elders here and show them how it works so they can talk to our circuit overseer, too. In the mean time you can call out to Ruben on channel 17 and share notes and ideas about the set up and how we might use this.” Pete spoke with Brother Kelsey next and found out that they had not found anyone yet who was hurt or who had any real damage. There were still a few that had not been contacted, but team leaders were driving to those houses as they were speaking. Pete relayed to him the same information he had given Brother George and how they had managed to recontact brother Bennett a few minutes ago. Brother Kelsey was very pleased and assured Pete that the elders would be speaking to the circuit overseer about this new possibility. Pete reminded him of one more thing, before they parted. "You know, Brother Kelsey, we talk a lot about what is coming soon and how we need to get spiritually prepared for that. The Bible is full of wisdom that is spiritual, but also it is full of practical wisdom and guidance. I think we need to include practical preparations as well as spiritual preparations if we truly believe the tribulation is going to be soon. That's just a thought for the elders to consider." There were many things Pete felt he was pushing to the back burner today, but he knew they had learned and taught some important lessons today. He decided it was time to go home and wait for Rob and Bruce to get back home.
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Post by sniper69 on Sept 15, 2023 5:20:25 GMT -6
pbbrown0 - thank you for another great chapter!
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Post by texican on Sept 15, 2023 18:08:45 GMT -6
pb0,
Good chapter on what can occur and challenge your abilities to respond. That old Boy Scout motto still rings clear: "Be Prepared" Especially for the unexpected.
Texican....
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Post by CountryGuy on Sept 17, 2023 8:49:40 GMT -6
Another great piece. Nothing like actual emergency or near miss to help instill the idea of preparedness in people while the event is still fresh in their minds.
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Post by pbbrown0 on Sept 18, 2023 16:25:44 GMT -6
I need to make an apology to my readers. I made some mistakes regarding the channels being used by the radio operators in the last post. There have been a number of changes to the rules regarding various "frequencies" and the wattage allowed on specific frequencies for users of FRS or GMRS radios. (wattages of 1/2, 2, 5, and 50 watts depending on what frequency and which designation i.e. FRS or GMRS) Also there are different manufacturers who are subdividing within certain frequency ranges and labeling those by integer channel numbers, and these sequential integers skip around as to the frequencies designated by those channel numbers. To state this in another way, if you list all the numbered channels in order the frequencies assigned to those channels play leap frog up and down while the "Channel Numbers" go 1,2,3,...60. also the allowable wattage for those channels jump up and down like crickets. If this sounds confusing to you, you are exactly right about that assessment. This an various other nuances would have the net effect of the changes to certain "channels" as stated in the story above not being able to reach as far as the story indicates. I'm afraid I have not kept up to date on the government's meddling with changing regulations in a most convoluted way.
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Post by gipsy on Sept 18, 2023 17:51:27 GMT -6
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Post by pbbrown0 on Sept 24, 2023 2:14:54 GMT -6
Post #44 Splicing the Cords
It was past midnight when Rob and Bruce got home. The hard part was the waiting for all the cars on the tilted slab to be cleared. Once the tow trucks had open space behind them, Bruce was able to back out up the slope with his four wheel drive. When they got back on top they were allowed to turn around and head back to the city side of the causeway and take an alternate route out of town. About halfway from the city to their home in the woods they were able to make direct radio contact with their family. They deferred on any requests to talk about their day until they got home. Everyone was tired but awake until they arrived, but as soon as Rob and Bruce had eaten the fatigue kicked in, and they again said they would fill everyone in on the good news and a few other things in the morning. The next morning started out well because the ladies had brewed a couple of pots of coffee. Also the conversations were energetic, because there were so many new things to talk about. One of the new pieces of information was the the epicenter of the earthquake was east and somewhat north of both the state capital and their now sizable piece of land. The effects were significantly stronger at the epicenter, but it was fortunately not too close to major cities. There was one city closer to the epicenter than where Bruce and Rob had been and it was having problems with power outages and phone service issues. These phone issues were attributed to overload of calls due people calling to check on relatives and friends, but Bruce and Rob suspected it was due to network infrastructure damage having reduced the system capacity. There were also reports of some injuries and minor structural damage that was still being assessed by authorities there. Rob and Bruce heard over the radio media broadcasts that no deaths were being reported in the capital city in spite of their personal knowledge to the contrary. The news about the land that they had been able to acquire was very good. Pete also reiterated his recommendation about spreading out the filing of the title transfer documents and having different people take the documents to the district clerks office to be officially recorded. This was especially important in Pete's opinion where more than one parcel was acquired by the same trust. He agreed that someone should start with the first filing right away, but there might be advantages to delaying those filings related to those men who were being investigated on political grounds. Bruce was suggesting that might not be as big an issue in this county as it might be elsewhere. The population in this county was very low and their land records were not available online like they were in the more populated counties. Pete was very happy about how the efforts to acquire that surrounding land had turned out, just like everyone else was. He was pressing the group to focus more, however, on the challenges of getting a house built, than tending to legal paper work that had no hard deadlines in the next few months. Carl wanted the group to realize the need for getting the right tools to prepare the house site for building. He wanted them to acquire some chain saws and rigging, including a semi mobile plank or slab cutting saw mill rig that could utilize the chainsaws. He also recommended getting rigging to help skid and lift the logs to get them out of the way and into a staging area. Later, they would need to hire or rent excavation equipment to cut out a place in the hillside to build the house semi-buried and surrounded on at least two sides by the hill itself. Creating a sizable root cellar would require more excavation. Then would come the issues of cob, mortar, and cement for the foundation, cinder blocks, and stone work. He speculated, not knowing the details of the great price they got on the land, that their good fortune would be a real blessing when it came to acquiring all the tools and equipment they would need to move forward. Bruce was still eager to get the paperwork on everything finished, though he did see the wisdom in Pete's concern about doing too much paperwork in one place too close together much less all at once. That's when Linda jumped in to the conversation. “Bruce with all the things that have been going on, we skipped over something. You remember about the idea of getting these trust things all tied together. I don't remember the details of how, but you said we would need to find a young lawyer to do that for a fee, remember? Maybe we need to do that before we start taking the land papers to the courthouse. That way we can have more options on who they see with which paperwork on which land. I get confused just thinking about it. I don't know. It was just a thought.” “Linda is right, Bruce.” Rob put in. “We got delayed the first time going to the capital. Then we talked about rearranging the trusts and rethinking our plans for building the houses and in what order. Then we went through all that chaos at the capital with the land owners before the earthquake. Then there was the earthquake and a whole new chaos after the quake. We totally forgot about our plans for the trusts being amended.” “Right.” Bruce had a serious look on his face. “Okay, Let's get at least one of the transfer deeds delivered to the clerk tomorrow morning. Then we need to find a young and hungry lawyer that we can trust. It will take a few days for him to get all the changes to the paperwork ready. After that everyone will have to go to his office to sign on all the right lines. After that different ones of us can take more filings to the county. We will also need to be checking to pickup the registered title deeds. This is complicated and we probably need several weeks to complete all of it so we better get started.” Pete spoke again. “We will have to work out a schedule for all of that, and we need to work our other efforts at the same time. Finding good suppliers for the equipment we need will take some effort, too. Of course using the equipment carefully and effectively is no small thing, either.” “Listen everyone, please.” Jenny spoke gently with a hint of pleading in an otherwise strong and steady voice. “There are many things that need to be done and we can't afford to do one thing at a time. We all have a sense of urgency, yet each of us feels that urgency pushing at different tasks that all need to be done. Let's get them all on the table and even identify who is taking ownership of each task. Then maybe we can divide up who is working which task and who is teaming with them now to press forward on that task. Everyday we need to revisit to consider progress and adjusting priorities. That seems to me to be the only way to keep up with everything.” Joann took up the lead on Jenny's grasp of the situation and began going around the table to poll each person and write down their priority concerns. Then she circled the table again gleaning feedback on each item from those not “sponsoring” each task. Then she asked for who would co-sponsor or agree to making an item their second priority. She only allowed each person to select one item as their 'second' priority, but she did allow more than one person to select the same task as the one they agreed to co-sponsor. This resulted in a few orphaned task with no co-sponsor as well as some strongly supported with more than one co-sponsor. It was finally agreed that this morning, Bruce, Linda, and Rob would go to Sweet Gum, the County Seat to file a couple of the title transfer papers. After that they would go on to Barnsville and contact C.J. Sullivan. After some discussion it was decided that C.J. knew a lot that had been going on in his neck of the woods, and that he would understand what they were looking for in a young attorney. Next it was decided that the remaining five would split into two groups. Pete and Joann were going together in one group, while Carl, Colleen, and Jenny were going in the other. Pete and Joann were going back to Bear Creek to talk with some people in their new congregation about places to find the kind of tools and equipment they would need for building here. Carl and the other two were taking a trip up to see Gerry Kerry to ask about the same kind of thing plus a few more considerations. They wanted to talk with Gerry more seriously about the cattle, now that they had clearer understanding of how much land they would have to work with and what the various couples were intending to do with the cattle they wanted. Bruce and his team went first to the courthouse and Rob went in to submit the title transfer for one of the six new parcels. Then they started their drive to Barnsville. On the way Rob started talking about their radios. “I've been thinking a lot about our radios every since we got stuck in traffic after the quake. I've also been thinking about gasoline.” Rob caught himself on that last comment. The fact was he had not been consciously thinking about gasoline, but the words popped out of his mouth as if it was a subconscious thing he was not expecting. “Let come back to that gasoline thing, later. What I was saying about the radios is this. Its one of those things we knew we would need without thinking through many of the details. I think our experiences all around with them were a wake-up call that we need to get more organized. Obviously C.J. and Gerry have had some thought along the same line. I think we need to coordinate with them about how to stay in touch without drawing attention to our use of them.” Linda had been with Pete while he worked with the Brothers both in Bear Creek and also when he talked with his friend in the congregation in Beaver Creek. She had also been listening to the radio interaction with Gerry. “Rob, your dad has some plans about the radio usage that involve the brotherhood and the congregations around here to help with their networking when there are emergency situations. I think we ought to consider what they might be doing when we talk with C.J. he might not be aware of that. When we talk about plans we have to remember that others may be planning to increase their use of that shared resource for the same purpose.” “That's a good point. Bruce and I were out of touch when that was going on. We're going to need you to help us understand what you can about that when we talk with C.J. There may be others out there listening in that may want to insert themselves in what we are doing if, or should I say when things get more intense. We need to think ahead about handling that when it happens.” “You both have some really good ideas about that. We need to address all that with C.J. I just have a feeling he is an invaluable resource that we can't afford to overlook. Speaking of resources, let's talk about gasoline. So far we've been able to get gas anytime we need to. That earthquake should be a wake-up call for us like Rob said. We never know when a natural or non-natural event will interrupt or even effectively terminate that resource. My first reaction is to save in gas cans; a portion of what we buy every time we refuel. That means buying a lot of gas cans. Speaking of which, have you seen the prices on gas cans lately? It's unbelievable.” - - - - - Pete and Joann got to Bear Creek fairly early. They first found where Mark James lived and had some morning coffee with him. Pete wanted to update him on what they had learned about the land acquisition the Rob and Bruce had made. Mark had been very close with Isaac for many years and Pete thought it would be encouraging to him to understand the new developments. It was also on his mind that Carl and Colleen were planning to go and visit Isaac again today and that Jenny was going with them to get to know him better. She had met him when they took him to the Sunday meeting, but there were so many others who were excited to see him again, she had not really spent any time conversing with him. Pete mentioned that to Mark, also. Pete, Mark, and Joann were all three pleased to see that relationship with Isaac developing. They were also impressed that it did not seem to be just a short term impulse kind of interest for them. Instead they were pursuing and continuing to cultivate that relationship. Pete also wanted to touch base again with George Rogers about the radio set-up and talking to the elders as well as the Circuit Overseer about using them more effectively in emergencies. Pete could see a real benefit in having them set up to connect the various congregations with the overseer so he could could communicate with them if and when a disaster of one kind or another affected the communications infrastructure in the area. With those items checked off of their list of things to do, Joann and Pete turned their attention to finding resources for their house building. They were able to gather the names and locations of several people who had either a small business, a farm and forest store, or other significant experience in cutting timber, building in this area, or excavation equipment. They spent the rest of the afternoon going here and there to follow up on these resources and evaluating the specific help available from them. - - - - - Carl and Colleen were very enthused about seeing Mister Gambrell again, especially because they wanted Carl's Mom to see what it was like to have a Bible study with him. She was both surprised and intrigued that Isaac seemed to have so much knowledge and insight about the Bible, yet he spent very little time teaching what he knew about it. Most of the “study” time was taken up with him asking questions of Carl, Colleen, and also Jenny, to read a passage then asking them to think about and share what the Bible was saying to them in that passage. When they were unsure, or they were struggling to find an answer to that question, he would point them to another passage that was similar or related. Then after reading that supporting passage, he would ask again what they thought the Bible was saying about that topic. When Carl, Colleen, and Jenny left Isaac's place, Jenny was better understanding why they enjoyed studying with him. It was a very positive and encouraging thing to learn and discover new things from a book that had always seemed full of mysteries, yet her experience had been nothing like she had expected. Whether from past experience with college professors or her limited exposure to bible study when she was very young, she had anticipated listening to a lecture where the expert was teaching her all these “facts” without her really understanding how they could get all those facts out of the book that she had tried to read with only limited understanding. The three of them talked about that difference and what they had learned together in the Bible study time as they were driving to Gerry's cattle farm. As they got closer to Gerry's farm the conversation began to shift to the questions they were wanting to discuss with him. Of course they wanted more practical details about the work of raising and caring for these cattle, but there was so much more information they wanted to pull out of his experienced of setting up a farm on land that had previously been used primarily for timber harvesting and occasionally for modern day hunting. When he built his house and barn, how had he cleared the stumps after cutting down the trees? What kind of foundations had he used for his construction? Being by himself, had he done everything solo, or had he hired help and what kind of help had he hired? How much fencing and what kind of fencing had he built and how was that working? Did he start with small pastures fenced off, and add more sections later, or did he fence of one large section and subdivide it later? How much and how often did he need a veterinarian? They pulled up to the gate once again and saw the sign that read, “Kerry Farms - Private Road.” However they noticed that the other sign that read, “Private Property - Security Cameras In Use” was now missing. Colleen was out of the truck before anyone else, and without hesitating held down on the call button and called out, “Gerry, are you there? Hello, Gerry. I'm at the gate! I know you're busy, but you got some company. Hulloooooo, Gerry!” She waited a minute, then called again. After a couple of minutes more she tried again this time saying, “Hey, Gerry. I know you have a lot to take care of, but take a break. There is someone I want you to meet. Don't make us use the radio. We want to talk about that before we do that again.” After another pause she heard, “Is this who I think it is, Miss too impatient for her own good?” Colleen grinned and replied, “Chirp, Chirp, Chirp, old student. Now open this gate!” She heard a loud click and a buzz, then she grabbed the gate and opened it wide. She waved to Carl, who was driving today, to pull on through. Once the truck had cleared the gate, she closed it, checked that it was solidly latched, and jumped back into the truck. When they pulled up near Gerry's house she jumped out again, but this time she ran around to Carl's door and grabbed his arm. Gerry came strolling out and called out, “Hey, Songbird. Who's that lad you're clinging too, so tight?” “Hey, Wrangler. This is my dear Trailblazer. Carl, Meet Gerry. Gerry, Meet Carl. You remember Carl's Mom, my soon to be mom-in-law, Jenny, er, uhm, Mrs. Smith, uhm.” Colleen was stumbling as to what to call Jenny, with a friend who was not part of the family. “I've got an idea,” said Carl. “Mom, if you don't mind, How about you take the handle 'Tawny Owl'. Would that be okay with you?” Jenny looked taken aback. “Carl I don't mind using nicknames or handles, there is an advantage to that. But, why Tawny Owl?” “Well, besides the association a lot of people make about Owls being smart or wise, I read somewhere that the Tawny Owl has the best night vision of any bird. I didn't think too much about it. It just came to me.” Carl shrugged his shoulders. “Okay, I can live with that. Thank you, Carl.” Colleen piped in again. “So, Wrangler, you already met Tawny Owl. Now. we need to sit down and talk together. You have some coffee we can brew, Wrangler?” The first part of their discussion was about the Dexters. They explained to Gerry about the size of the land they were talking about and Carl gave Gerry a good overview of the geography. Then they talked more about the multiple couples making up their family and Jenny did most of the talking about who was wanting to do what regarding the cattle. She also talked a bit about their intentions how for the most part consider themselves one big family holding everything in common, even though their individual pet pursuits might vary. Gerry was asking a few questions, but by and large he thought he understood their intentions. Colleen was the one who mentioned that they also wanted to pick his brain for ideas about setting things up and even about building their houses. She told him they particularly wanted any help he could offer about where to get tools and supplies they would need for building. At this point Gerry was starting to make comments about their ambitiousness in tackling a whole new lifestyle, but he was totally in agreement about them making the right choice for that change. That's when Carl interrupted in a quiet but very serious tone of voice. “There's more to this than we've told you Gerry. You seem like a really down to earth and decent person, so there is another important element to all of this I want you to understand.” Gerry now interrupted Carl, but now he was matching Carl's tone rather than using his typical cheery style. “ This is where you want me to know that Tawny Owl was serious the last time she was here when she threw out the hand writing on the wall reference. Am I reading you correctly?” Carl paused and looked at his Mom. “I'm not sure what you are talking about. Can you clue me in?” Colleen was also uncertain about that reference. She heard the original interchange between Gerry and Jenny, but she had honestly not heard that expression before. She had gotten the impression it was a serious thing, but that was only from reading their demeanor; not from knowing anything about the reference. There were looks going back and forth between Jenny and Gerry, and from them to Carl and Colleen, but no one stepped up to explain for a moment. Finally, Gerry cleared his throat. “Hrghm. My granddaddy was a preacher. That's how I know this. It's in the book of Daniel. He was a Jewish prophet in exile in Babylon. There was an incident where the acting king of Babylon was throwing a feast. As a way of gloating about how powerful Babylon was, and therefore how powerful he as the acting king was, he sent servants to the treasury to retrieve the gold and silver vessels that a previous king of Babylon had taken from the Jewish temple in Jerusalem as spoils of war. Then he had them serve his guests wine using those implements to show off his superiority. Suddenly during the revelry a hand, only a hand appeared in the air and it wrote a cryptic message on the wall in a language no one there understood.” The people who were there and saw this, especially this boastful king, were rather frightened, if you can imagine that. The long story cut short was this. Daniel was finally called in to interpret this writing on the wall, and he essentially said 'you have been weighed, measured, and found lacking. Your reign has come to an end.' That was the night that the Medo-Persian army surreptitiously sneaked inside the great walls protecting the city of Babylon and brought an end to the Babylonian Empire.” Carl thought about that for a moment and still was uncertain about Gerry's question. “Okay, I had not heard that story before. Help me out here. What did you mean when you posed your question?” Gerry looked at Jenny, then Colleen, and finally at Carl. Then he looked down into his cup of coffee, before he set it down and placed his palms on the table. “Carl. There are a lot of things in this world that are not much fun to look at. That's why a lot of people including me joke about serious things. There are also a lot of things that most people don't want to look at, because they don't want to feel as foolish as they act. They don't want to change what they are doing, even if they do know deep down that they are acting like fools. I think psychologists call that cognitive dissonance or some other high sounding term. There are things I'm supposed to know and take seriously, but it's heavy duty stuff, and I haven't trained myself to face it with the strength I really need to stare those in the face, day by day, especially here by myself on the farm.” “The other day when your mother used that expression about the hand writing on the wall, it hit me as serious. Most times I hear that, which is less and less, it has been thrown out as almost a joke, like that story is too hocus pocus to be real, but there's small truth in it about making good decisions and cutting your losses, or something. So when she said it the way she did, I questioned her. Here response had no humor. It was serious to her. I've been thinking about that every since. When you started to tell me because of the person I am you wanted me to know there is something more … Well, all that thinking I've been doing came together. So, go ahead and say what you need to say and I'll listen.” Carl was now trying to recollect his thoughts. “Well, Gerry, I like you and I have some concerns about what is coming, and I wanted to plant a seed in your head, but it looks like Tawny Owl already planted that seed. Yeah, we think this is serious and not just one more cycle of difficulties people have to deal with from time to time. We think that there are troubles coming that most people will be clueless about how to cope with them. We can't fix it or rescue everyone, but we want to make a small lifeboat that can be a haven for a select few when the Titanic dives into the abyss. That's what I wanted you to know, Gerry.” Gerry stared hard at Carl, very hard. He closed his eyes for a moment to compose himself. Then he turned to Colleen. “Songbird, I think you were close when you picked his handle, but instead of Trailblazer, I'm going to have to call him Pathfinder from here on.” He turned back to Carl. “We have a lot to talk about, my friend. First we need to talk about radios. We need to get more organized, because we need to stay in touch without waving a red flag everywhere. I need to get C.J. on board with that part of our plans. He's a smart one on things like that.” “Now about those cattle. You need to start now, before we get into the fall, with just a few, maybe two or three Mamas and nursing calves. That means getting small areas of fences put up and training these cows and babies where their boundaries are. That takes some work, but it's a lot easier than building and maintaining super impressive fences. Trust me the last thing you want is to realized your investment of time, effort, and money just wandered off because you needed to do just a little more work to secure what was yours. With the right use of fences you can also better manage and utilize the grazing land you have. Sounds like you have some good land to start with and running water, that's … well that's just a real fine gift from the Creator. Don't you ever dare forget that. Don't you dare treat that as a lucky find, either.” “Then we need to talk about tools, equipment, and supplies for building. I know some people who can help with that.” They spent much of the day with Gerry offering advice and the other three asking questions. He had several merchants he recommended for various tools and supplies. He also knew some people with their own construction equipment, like tractor backhoes and leveling blades, or small to medium sized mortar or cement mixers they could tow behind a pickup. He also knew of a place where all the locals in the region went to get their timber handling supplies. The place had started out as a small general farm and ranch supply store, but rapidly morphed into the one place in the region specializing in what people in the forest really needed to be able to work their own land. They threw out several ideas about using radios. On of the principles Gerry had learned from C.J was that you need to get off the hailing channel quickly and get to another channel without specifying on the airwaves what that channel is going to be. Another is that when you identify your link up on the new channel, you drop the use of call signs and depend on voice or style to keep your conversation going. A third principle is that you must be careful to not drop sensitive information. The last one is that if your conversation must be detailed of more than a few short messages back and forth, you need to switch channels frequently during the conversation, again without broadcasting the new channel before you go there. Gerry said he would take it on himself to get with C.J., not using the radios, to work out a schema for selecting frequencies for channel changes in a pattern not easy to decode, but easy to follow if you know the key. When they decided they had talked enough for today, that is when Carl and Gerry decided that, they parted ways. Gerry headed to meet up with his old mentor, C.J. The other three headed to the timber handling specialty store. - - - - - When Gerry got to Barnsville it was late afternoon. He started to knock on the door, when C.J. opened it and said, “You four must have had quite a conversation. I have been expecting you. Come on in and let's get this laid out so you can get back to Rockston. That land is working out well for your cattle isn't it?” Gerry as was his developed habit answered C.J.'s last question first. “Yes, sir. Just Like you said it would. Everyone else figured that land had been ruined for the next couple of decades, so I was able to grab it with my meager saving. I got that bunch of calves, three of them with their nursing Mama's, then doubled up getting two calves to nurse from each cow. Took every penny and every minute I had and then some. I kept working my job for another year, and sold one of those yearling bulls to some fella up in Connecticut who wanted to bolster his gene pool. I followed your advice about closely managing the grazing areas and those areas just got richer and richer. The rest is history.” “As for getting back, Don't worry. This won't take long. Since you were expecting me and know what I've been up to, I suspect you already have all the answers to the question I was going to pose to you, so this won't take long. Oh, yes. I had a very enlightening conversation with those three.” “So, my up and coming student, what is your opinion about how far we should go in engaging with these folks? How far can we go in trusting them?” Gerry changed his tone, suddenly. “C.J. I'm not sure which of the men you have met. As I guess you know, I saw the son/grandson along with his fiancee and his mother today. All three of them impressed me and connected with me in ways I have not talked about with you, much. That young fella, he's still young, but older than his years. He saw something in me, and I'm not sure what exactly that was, but he carefully opened up to me about what for him is the truth behind the truth. Trust is a two way street. You're the one who taught me that, C.J. He trusted me enough to imply that when things do get really bad, they'll have a place for me, if I want it. Does that answer your question?” “I suppose it does, Gerry. So you know the basics of what I've told you about security over the radio.' “Right. I already told my three those principles.” “Did they tell you about the Bible Study Brotherhood possibly using these radios also, at least to some extent in this area?” C.J. knew the answer just from Gerry's expression. “C.J., are you telling me this whole family is in the Brotherhood?” “No, the story I got was that only grandpa and grandma are in the brotherhood, but grandson and his fiancee have started a bible study with one of the much older Brothers in addition to watching out for him since he is quite old and living alone now deep in the woods near them.” “My three today did not mention any of this to me, but I could easily believe that, based on what I saw of them.” “So, Gerry. We are both good with this?” “Yep, We're good.” “Okay, here is what I am going to recommend. As for the Brotherhood they have their own organizational processes for deciding and approving their manner of using the radios. I am going to recommend that they use only the 2 watt channels for keeping in touch with their members within the local congregations. If they have a local team on a work site or running a disaster relief operation on site they can easily limit their use to the half watt channels. The fifty watt channels can be used to communicate between congregations or for communicating between their district leaders and the various congregation leaders. We can give them advice about maintaining security if they ask for it, but security issues are too complicated without better understanding their need for it and their full assurance that they are serious about properly using the techniques we suggest. Sloppy use of our techniques put us at risk by exposing pieces of what we are using.” “I'm with you, C.J.” “As for this new clan, I guess it's in for a penny, in for a pound. I'll make some cards up with reference points, but we will have to explain what those points represent. The formula for add this and subtract that will have to be memorized. I'll make it as simple as possible using things like day of the week, day of the month, which year in a leap year cycle it is; things like that, to calculate what channel we switch to for our communications once we connect on a call. It may sound intimidating to them at first, but they will be able to do it with little thought once we get a few calls in.” Gerry was a bit surprised that C.J. had not already worked out the formula. He decided not to guess at why. The two of them sat together and played with some simple formulas for choosing the next channel that would give at least the appearance of being a jump to a random channel. They both realized this was only of value if there were live agents trying to track them. A more serious pursuit would simply record all channels and then piece the bits of conversation together. Overall the best security would be code talking. That meant being familiar with the persons you are talking with and speaking in quips, metaphors, and inferences that have meaning only to those on the inside of the conversation. For that to work both parties had to be able to to communicate to each other on a special level of understanding and frame of mind that they both shared. “Gerry, you and I have some history together. We can communicate about things in ways that others will not understand our meanings but we will. We, or rather mostly you, are going to have to get to know these people much better for this to work. Do you think you can manage that?” “Yes sir, I do. The truth is I would like getting to know them better. It's starting to get a little lonely on my place up there in Rockston.” “Okay, Gerry. I suggest you get to it then. I'll still be here. Keep in touch, son.” C.J. gave him a strong pat on the shoulder and sent him on his way.
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Post by feralferret on Sept 24, 2023 3:34:59 GMT -6
Pbbrown0, thank you for another wonderful chapter.
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Post by sniper69 on Sept 24, 2023 5:48:49 GMT -6
Thank you for another great chapter. It is getting even more interesting, and talking in a sort of code - nice. One question I have - with 50 watt channels on the radios - are the radios a type of GMRS radio?
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Post by feralferret on Sept 24, 2023 13:09:08 GMT -6
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