A Pox Upon Us

Ron Foster

Dixie, Alabama, USA

© 2013 by Ron Foster

All rights reserved.

ISBN-13: 978-1483982854

ISBN-10: 1483982858

Printed in the United States of America.

Acknowledgements

Silver Fire Rocket stoves and Todd Albi

SteriPen

Heliatos Solar

SUNRNR

STOVETEC

Taylor Brand Knives

PurfiCup

1

Bug it in?  Bug it out?

The phone rang loudly and Dennis hesitantly picked it up thinking to himself “Well I know this is going to be bad news, but just how bad? As he fumbled with the receiver.

“Hey! There you are Dennis! I am so glad I finally got through to you. The telephone lines have been crazy for days! “The familiar voice of his friend Suzy declared into his telephone handset.

“It sure is great to hear from you my friend! Been missing hearing your voice. Are you ok? No problems?” Dennis queried while nodding at the rooms occupants this was the call he had been expecting. Suzy only lived about 50 miles from him but right now it could have been 500 miles as short as gas was getting.

“I am doing fine I guess. I am just very worried as you might well expect. I can’t decide on whether or not I want to go hangout at the daughter’s house till this blows over, or come down to visit you and discuss SHTF plans. You got much company around?”  Suzy asked wondering what house guests or otherwise might be listening to the call or might be taking up temporary residence at Dennis’s Prepper shack for safety and sustenance.

“I got my Mom and as well as my good friend Charlene staying with me at the moment. Charlene brought down a bunch of her stash of preps for me to store and safeguard while she decides between staying here or maybe thinking possibly she is going to end up staying with her family one county over. You’re welcome to come on though and I will be glad to have you come and stay a short while or a long while. Are you maybe thinking about bugging in with me or is this just a social visit?” Dennis said hesitantly knowing his close lady friend Suzy had grandkids as well as extended family in her area and was probably pretty torn up as to what to do for herself or others in this situation. On the one hand she could help out with the kids babysitting etc as good grandmothers usually do but there were many options on the table. There were also a lot of cautions and survivability issues involved.

Bugging out to her son in law and daughters house was one option. She would have to get out of her own neighborhood anyway she had decided one way or another anyway as the desirability of the neighbors company had gone way done over the years. That meant moving what preps she had managed to collect over the years on a fixed income to the house of a son in-law who had been dubious about prepping for anything and was pretty much unprepared for even a power outage.

She and Dennis were pretty close friends that had thought and planned hypothetically in depth about several possible ends of the world scenarios together and they had both arrived at the conclusion that at their age having each others company and help when the SHTF was something both had strongly considered desirable.

“I just don’t know what to do Dennis. I have a full tank of gas for the van; thank the lord so I can make the trip back and forth a few times if the roads stay open…” Suzy said speculatively while putting on a brave front and wanting to be with her dear friend but just stricken heartbroken at the thought of leaving her daughter and grandkids.

“I can’t tell you much on making that hard decision Suzy. I heard Atlanta got hit with a terrorist smallpox release also and they are police backed emergency powers act restricting traffic into and out of the city at the moment. The CDC will be setting up various and sundry monitoring and observation points here and there as they try to contain the virus by clusters. You can still pretty much move around as much as you want at the moment, but you know there is no telling what the local police or sheriffs might get in their sometimes high handed minds. The roads all will be getting more and more dangerous to travel upon at a great many levels and even if you just needed help with a flat tire I doubt that many folks would stop to help anyone because of fear of contagion pr crazy folks. If you come to my place, you had maybe better pack for not going home again any time soon because the winds of change are coming faster than we can guess. Sort of what you call I.N.C.H. survival (I am Never Coming Home) mentality is what you might need to be thinking about when packing or traveling. “Dennis concluded cautiously before adding that we may not even see government enforced quarantine and travel restrictions this far south. Southerners tend to have enough sense to do it for themselves as need be and are kind of hard to be corralled if they don’t wish to be should someone tell them any different. Besides the threat was in the bigger cities up north, resources as well as perceived threats might not stretch down this far.

“Do you think it’s safe for me to travel the highways down your way at the moment Dennis?” Suzy said willing to take the risk to see Dennis if not for one last time but also to maybe stay for the duration.

“It’s about as safe now as it will ever be to travel about. I can only see things going downhill from here on and then it goes into the ditch from here on out as society unravels. Take the highway and if need be get off and hit the back roads like we talked about for safety in the past, but if your coming, you had better come on now and be sure to pack the last roll of toilet paper on the spindle in the bathroom” Dennis said not to sure he was giving the best advice, but telling her to close down her house.

“Well I told my daughter and Son in law to come over today and pickup what preps I couldn’t fit in the van for my big move. They should be here at my house in about a half hour and then I can head out your way. Nobody’s been sick around here at the moment, in the family that is, but like you said some of the friends and neighbors are imagining or actually experiencing some ills or sicknesses” Suzy said thinking back on some of Dennis’s more high brow emergency manager academic teachings on what to expect out of people from this type of disaster scenario.

One thing Dennis had brought up for this discussion many times is to be aware that not all physiological manifestations indicate exposure or are symptoms or indicators of a biological attack. Many stress-induced physical symptoms that mimic the effects of exposure are seen in first responders and the public as a whole.

Of particular importance is a phenomenon studied called “multiple unexplained physical symptoms” (MUPS) that has been noted after disasters, criminal assault, and warfare. In addition to MUPS, there may also be emergent and maladaptive reactions involving groups of people (i.e., collective psychosocial reactions) in the aftermath of terrorism and large-scale public health emergency events, such as mass sociogenic illness (sometimes also called mass psychogenic illness or mass hysteria). Such illness is characterized by the acute and rapid spread of medically unexplained physical symptoms including dizziness, shortness of breath, nausea, and/or palpitations. These symptoms occur throughout a group of individuals, often through direct line of sight, in the absence of any substantiated toxic or microbiological exposure. The symptoms are associated with psychosocial stress, health-related anxiety and depression, all of which increase healthcare utilization. (Locke 2004)

Bioterrorism threats fall into three categories: (1) bacterial (anthrax, plague, food borne pathogens); (2) viral (smallpox), and (3) toxins (botulinum toxin, Staph enterotoxin B, ricin, and Tricothecene mycotoxins.

Basically you can arrange the symptoms like this:

Severe flu-like illness indicating the release of inhalational anthrax, pneumonic plague, smallpox or other diseases

• Flaccid muscle paralysis indicating that a neurotoxin, such as botulism toxin, may have been released

• Bleeding disorders indicating the use of a viral hemorrhagic fever agent

• Rash indicating the release of smallpox

• Apparent food-borne illnesses possibly indicating an intentional release on a food source or vendor

Cholera Vomiting, headache, cramping, clear diarrhea

Tularemia (AKA rabbit fever) Pneumonia and other symptoms 3 to 5 days; symptoms appear suddenly and powerfully (Fiedelholtz, 2003)

Risk Mitigation

Adequate stockpiles of broad spectrum antibiotics

Vaccinations

MOP suits

Decontamination

The suits and masks are very hot and heat exhaustion must be guarded against.

Dennis answered her reservations rather carefully” I am not worried much about your bringing smallpox to my house at this stage of this mega disaster and please remind you to remind your family not to be freaking out about a little sniffle etc. from the kids. The power outage from that allegedly Korean and Iranian EMP attack will have been causing enough havoc already. That also means don’t stop for anyone darling to give a stranger a ride if your heading down the highway this way. People are already desperate enough, and you all keep yourselves a good eye on the neighbors when you’re loading your son in-laws truck with your leftover preps and food stuffs. You know them son of bitches in your neighborhood are going to be all over your house like a bait car in LA when they think you have moved out. Thing is get out and stay out of that neighborhood. I would rather have you staying with me but I understand if you want to stay with family. Just think it through as best you can.” Dennis told Suzy worriedly and tried not to look at the stares from his Mom and Charlene listening into his conversation.

“I have thought it through Dennis, I think I could certainly help you more there than I can them here and I have already done what I can for them for now providing the extra preps.” Suzy said tearfully regretting such a decision had to even be thought about.

“Well come on then Darling! Damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead! We will figure this thing out as we go, but be sure you’re not going to have any second thoughts or looking back on the way. I will get you reunited with them one day soon, I just can’t say exactly when or how at the moment. You be damn careful little lady and try picking me up on the CB radio when you get close enough. I will have “my ears on” and be waiting anxiously so try to call me when you leave if the phone lines let you.” Dennis said rubbing his head a bit dejectedly about how he was going to take in and care for one more member to his ever increasing brood.

“Damn it, it was more about community responsibility and helping friends out now than worrying about stretching his personal supplies!” He mentally admonished himself.

2

Traveling the Byways

"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education."

         Thomas Jefferson, letter to William C. Jarvis, September 28, 1820

The history of quarantines can be seen as a gradual expansion of the role of government to protect public health, first at a local level, then state, and finally at the Federal level.

“Holy shit, what in the hell was that cop doing searching that car for drugs when it looked like the world was going to hell in a hand basket” Suzy wondered as she slowly made her way through a very small town mired with traffic on the way to Dennis’s prepper shack.

“Darn, if I got pulled over now by them yahoos it would take them 99 forever’s to search through all the prepper crap I got in here and find nothing illegal except maybe the small-town L.E.O (law Enforcement Officer) fool would holler “open container” of alcohol from that left over Ancient Age whiskey jug Dennis had left last time they had partied together at her house. I guess I should of stayed on the main highway but this little law enforcement choke point would be damn interesting to talk to Dennis about when she got to his home.” She mused as she feigned non interest and avoided eye contact with the two camouflaged uniform men waving traffic on and off the three streetlights towns’ main drag.

“Were those local cops, National Guard or what? Hard to tell these days.” she was thinking before shots rang out and pandemonium set in.

Drivers in both lanes involuntarily flinched and speed up or slammed on brakes as their inclinations, instincts or stupidity took over.

Suzy swerved to avoid rear ending a little old man in small maroon pickup truck who evidently thought you were supposed to “stop, duck and cover” under your steering wheel if gun shots were heard or mayhem was ensuing. Dodging him caused her to take the gravel shoulder of the road and scare the bejesus out of the increasing crowd of gawkers or possible objecting ill wishers that were observing the parade of cars and the strange arrest going on down the road.

Suzy quickly regained her personal composure and regained control over her Van and hurried away from the unfolding scene in back of her. As she passed by the old wooden faded white painted clapboard Victorian houses along with the tiny family farms and left over share falling down sharecropper houses a statement Dennis had once made rang in her head.

“Emergency Managers and Law Enforcement ultimately learn the wisdom of a simple adage: culture eats strategy for lunch.” Dennis had once remarked watching a YouTube video of a crowd overwhelming soldiers at a UN food drop.

Dennis had told her to anticipate and expect wide spread civil disobedience as a precursor of a W.R.O.L situation (Without Rule Of Law) but she had never considered she would be experiencing first hand the manifestations of such. One thing was for sure, she was getting back on the highway as soon as she could. Screw these one lane, one traffic light towns, who knows if the county sheriff, the towns’ chief of police and the mayor was all on one page of control and conquer. She thought she would never consider it a good thing but bureaucracy and inaction in the bigger cities or disputes about L.E.O. jurisdictions seemed a good thing at the moment, at least which ones ineptitude might give her a chance to sneak by the legal or illegal patrols enforcing uninformed mandates by local officials. Damn Dennis in teaching me the acronym I.N.C.H, I ain`t never going to get home or see him at this rate. He was honest but seems to me he could have said more about that subject!” Suzy fumed to herself carefully watching the road.

Following September 11, 2001, it became apparent to all manner of U.S. emergency responders that new plans for public safety responses were needed. Accordingly, health officials, at the CDC’s request, drafted the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act (MSEHPA). The purpose of the MSEHPA was to provide a resource for state, local and tribal governments to use in revising or updating public health statutes and administrative rules to ensure appropriate authority for implementing quarantine in the event of an emergency. States were encouraged to review their own laws, and make changes where necessary.

The draft MSEHPA itself is controversial; critics believe that some of new powers proscribed in the legislation trample on the basic rights of citizens in times of emergency.

Sue Blevins. “Heritage Lecture #748, The Model State Emergency Health Powers Act: An Assault on Civil Liberties in the Name of Homeland Security,” The Heritage Foundation, June 10, 2002.

3

Mind Your Gates

“The Camptown ladies sing this song, / Doo-da, Doo-da / The Camptown racetrack's five miles long / Oh, de doo-da day / Goin' to run all night / Goin' to run all ...” Dennis heard a mixture of voices chorusing as he was trying to tweak on the engine of his weed eater with a roto tiller attachment on his back deck.

“Well either that whiskey is fit for drinking that  me and Charles have been working on making or that old son of a gun  been holding out on me! “ Dennis thought as he saw Charles, Monica and her daughter Lorraine making their boisterous singing weebly wobbly way to his house.

“That was the sound that there were some adult beverages involved in this impromptu party heading towards his house Dennis had no doubt. What bugged him was he didn’t see anyone carrying a jug to share with him. Dang those misfits I bet they drank up the first pour of that “Sugarized Sasquatch juice” that Charles and him had been creating and nick named.  Hey that batch was only for trading and socializing with the customers first and then we got to partake of the profits. “Dennis thought gloomily about no booze for him or his back bistro as he called his porch deck.

“What the hell is that? They got a radio playing jingle bells or something?” Dennis thought before he about fell out with laughter watching a giant cow sized bulldog of Charles topping the hill with a silly doggy grin and WEARING Xmas bells?” Dennis grinned while pondering the massive white and tan behemoth bulldog as it crested the hill in back of the seranaders

“Oh hell NO! “ Now that is truly a sight! Dennis chuckled to himself as he managed to save himself from falling after tripping over a tree root watching the spectacle announcing itself at his end of the hill.

Floyd had on some reindeer antler hat he evidently kept from some bygone Xmas that fit him better than the dog and was pushing Charles water barrel cart and all the while encouraging that ox of a dog to help with the load.

“45 gallons”, they all said in union as Dennis realized he was not going to be drinking with just imaginary friends for one of his prepper fiction books today.

Well then, welcome, welcome to ya! Let’s see what we got here he said moving towards the wagon just as a crème colored van next came into view cresting the hill on the dead end of his prepper road.

“Now you all know that’s my sweetie coming in, do me a favor Monica, you go and try to square it with my old lady and Charlie you quit saying oomph and smirking at me you old codger, while you wondering how in the world I am going to finagle all these goings ons.” Dennis said reluctantly beginning to leave the untapped booze barrel.

4

Much Ado about Something

Lorraine had some how managed to bring herself to corral Dennis’s mom in conversation at the back of the house as Suzy drove in to the driveway. Charlene and Monica were having amnesias during this discourse and Charles was helping Floyd unhitch that miniature locomotive of a dog he had when Floyd passed a glass full of stump knocker to Dennis for his educated palates approval.

Well conversations and renditions of the old movie blazing saddles commenced because of the camptown ladies song and the next thing you know ol Dennis was instigating moving this little party elsewhere like back all the way back to Charles place. It seems that the revelers were only playing drunk as a prank on Dennis, but he knew that could be soon rectified once the taste testing of their devils brew began, Dennis hadn’t proofed the ethanol alcohol for himself yet so he didn’t know how much of it could be used as a 50/50 mixture with gasoline to run the cars and what amount could remain for further distillation or social drinking.

“To bad he couldn’t make that foamy elixir he loved so much called BEER!” Dennis mused to himself.

“Hey Dennis, looks like you picked up a few more quests.” Suzy said smiling and giving Dennis a hug.

“No telling who might show up if you leave the drive way gates open.” Dennis said smiling but still a bit miffed that his friends had forgot his mom’s views on alcohol when they were playing this joke on him.

“How was the interstate Suzy? Any Problems?” Dennis asked looking serious and trying to ignore the whispers and smiles of his friends that were distracting him.

“Well better than I expected but yet much worse than you would think.” Suzy answered in a puzzling fashion.

“Could always be worse than I think it is, what do you mean sweetie?” Dennis said not understanding what she was implying.

“Well I mean there are not as many broke down cars on the side of the road as you would expect but some of those back roads got some very strange and weird goings on, I will tell you all about those dangers later.” She said looking at Charles’s enormous dog heading their way with his silly dog grin to say hi to Dennis or check out the new stranger.

“He is an all right ol hound; big baby really, you just need to let him sniff you before you try patting him. He likes that ritual a lot and if you respect it, well then he is just a big overgrown pup that wants his butt rubbed. Very smart though that dog knows a ton of words and sits and listens to conversations like he understands what we are talking about.” Dennis said rubbing the dogs big lop eared boney head.

Suzy did the meet and great with Rastus the bulldog while Dennis and Charlie looked on approvingly. Dennis then took a tentative swig out of the glass Floyd had given and sort of squenched his face up in a display of distaste and tried to catch his breath from downing the scorching fiery distillate.

“Damn Floyd what in the world did you do? Filter this through your socks!” Dennis said eying Floyd and Charles and making even more faces while he looked for a some kind of liquid chaser to get the foul taste out of his mouth.

“It ain`t so bad, it’s uncut straight from that table top still and we used your sugar recipe to make it. Maybe it just needs aging a might.” Charles said a bit put off that Dennis didn’t seem happy with all the work and effort that went into creating this big barrel of joy juice,

“It don’t need aging so much as filtering, you forgot a step or two in the directions I think. It’s easily fixed though. Floyd if you don’t mind get with Charlene and pour this glass and a bit more of a barrel sample through the Brita water filter pitcher. That charcoal in it will put a polish on this white lightening and we can sip some of it without killing ourselves. “Dennis said and then spit on the ground once again with a slight coughing shudder and tried another sip even though he knew better.

“Bleh! You put possum innards in this Floyd? No worries Charles. We just got to get a few of them fiery embers out of that turpentine you made so it knows its supposed to be good sipping whisky.” Dennis said jokingly as he made yet another asshole sucking a lemon face.

“I still say it ain`t all that bad as is.” Charles said drinking whatever mixed drink concoction Monica had came up with and pretending he really liked it.

Most likely it was some kind of flavoring she had dreamed up using lemon or lime juice. Monica put lemon or lime juice in just about everything from wine to whisky which reminded Dennis that he sure was glad for his lemon and lime citrus trees. He had over wintered them in the ground at his farmstead in south Alabama this year and no matter what the books said about cold weather and bringing them inside he was still going to get another fine crop luckily.

“I will offer you a drink in a bit after we bead test it and maybe cut it with some water. Charles what proof alcohol do you think that rotgut is?’ “Dennis queried starring at the jar like it held paint thinner.

A quick estimate of the alcoholic strength, or proof, of the distillate (the ratio of alcohol to water) is often achieved by shaking a clear container of the distillate. Large bubbles (bead) with a short duration indicate higher alcohol content, while smaller bubbles that disappear more slowly indicate the increasing presence of water.

“I am guessing it to be about 90 proof but you check it with the hydrometer.” Charles replied hesitantly.

“It burns blue just fine though!” Charles exclaimed grinning though as Dennis raised his eyebrows.

A common folk test for the quality of moonshine was to pour a small quantity of it into a spoon and set it on fire. The theory was that a safe distillate burns with a blue flame, but a tainted distillate burns with a yellow flame. Practitioners of this simple test also held that if a radiator coil had been used as a condenser, then there would be lead in the distillate, which would give a reddish flame. This led to the mnemonic, "Lead burns red and makes you dead." Although the flame test will show the presence of lead and fusel oils, it will not reveal the presence of methanol (also poisonous), which burns with an invisible flame

“Remind me to question the hell out of you thoroughly before I partake of anything you offer me as food or drink in the future.” Dennis said only half kidding.

“You ain`t died yet! “ Charles said poking him playfully in the shoulder.

“Yea and I would dang sure like to keep it that way!” Dennis laughed back but still wondered if that first sip hadn’t burned off some of his tongues taste buds permanently.

“Hey, uh Miss Suzy darling. Mom don’t know you might be here for the duration yet and these hijinks of Charles and crew most likely got her on edge so we are going to keep this first introduction short and corral all these heathens back up towards Charles house and talk some Moonshine Mountain politics and maybe a little neighborhood parlay. “ Dennis said thinking he could get Jamie up the street to let his wife Marlene and kids visit his mom while they were discussing the merits of making what the non partying folks thought was a gasohol convention experiment to work on the fuel shortages.

Those two ladies were not dumb by a long shot and knew that the efforts of bad boys Charles and Dennis to assuage the gas shortage also made for some good adult beverage, they just preferred not to know or acknowledge and afforded the rest of us plausible deniability. Seems keeping peaceful coexistence and overlooking a few things was on everybody’s mind these days.

Floyd wandered his big ol friendly self back carrying a big Brita pitcher and from the look of his and Charlene’s Cheshire cat grins the “polishing” of the white lightening which was now gleaming silver in the pitcher and their glasses was a rousing success.

“Here taste this!” Floyd insisted in Charles direction who carefully studied the happy but reddened face of Charlene for approval that the stuff was now at least considered passable drinkable.

“Tastes like top shelf vodka now! Which according to Dennis is what it actually is, however if Dennis wants to do the honors I brought his “special seasonings” I have been waiting to try out. One is that LowBuck Lemonade mix that tastes like peach and I also brought whatever it is Dennis calls “RED EYE” whiskey that’s supposed to taste like sour mash.” Charlene was saying before Dennis chimed in and set the record straight.

“ Hey now, I got plenty of them single serving peach tea packets LowBuck uses, but my whiskey converters were bought by me top dollar from the best home distilling connoisseur sites on the internet. That shit in that magical pixie dust envelope can turn panther piss into a top notch Jack Daniels clone and is worth its weight in gold right now. Which reminds me, if you all got any unopened cans or bottles of Coca Cola I am paying top dollar for them and bidding commences right now. And listen up you all! No sharing my coke cola with yall, no sir, not even when you’re looking all wistful or wanting some for you or the kids because of the miseries. I am certifiably offering here and now hard money in exchange for my bourbon pleaser and glass partner or we can trade if you like. I don’t want anyone here to have any regrets if you barter with me. If it ain`t your birthday, your booze or my good nature, well then you ain`t getting none of my soft drink stash for a mixer I am trying to build up. I am hereby laying claim, expressing eminent domain or a miserly old cuss’s selfishness to not satisfying my singed taste buds with an occasional whiskey and coke if I am the saloon owner or it’s my private stash we talking about.” “Dennis babbled away without hesitation but not really considering the ramifications of his statements.

“Well I ain`t trading any mix, I am going to enjoy mine as long as it lasts!” Monica said in apparent discord with Dennis’s statement, but still giving a nervous chuckle as Dennis gave her a disapproving look.

“Me neither, that is, unless the price was very much alright. We can make booze in the future but not soft drinks to mix it with.” Floyd snidely offered trying to instigate some closed fisted Yankee negotiations with a southerner while grinning.

“Now just wait a damn minute!” Dennis began before Suzy saddled up to him.

“I will trade with you.” Suzy said with an exaggerated batting of the eyes and a distinctly flirtatious move in his direction.

“Now you just hang on there baby! That’s not fair negotiating!” Dennis said faking a sheepish but suddenly sexy acting arched eyebrow all knowing reply for the humorous benefit of all.

“I think she got you there!” Charles laughed

“He is finally speechless!” Floyd guffaws while pointing at him that set everyone tittering.

“Could be we negotiate with her!” Monica said playfully.

“Ok! OK! You got me! I give up, I am out numbered!” Dennis said pretending to give up for the moment and giving his honey a “mush..: “You all got me now under undue influence I might add, but, hey now butts are illegal in negotiations.” Dennis said as Suzy slid his hand noticeably? Or unnoticeably, down to hers and playfully growled at him.

“Damn Darlin! You are disarming this here captain and creating a mutiny with the crew over there….” Dennis began before a shotgun blast rang out not far from his place.

“What the HELL?” Floyd declared loudly before he was hushed with finger and word from Charles and Dennis who were intently listening and fingering firearms while looking in the direction where they thought the sound had came from.

“What was that?” Who was that?”!! Charlene began jabbering before being surprised with a grip on the bicep from Suzy that both hushed her for the moment and directed her to get down behind some solid cover so Dennis could take action and concentrate on analyzing the situation.

Suzy could shoot and she could shoot well. But she had not done so in many years, she was sort of the new age prepper that believed in including more spiritual things in her everyday life to protect her and avoid chaos and disorder. Things change though, she had come to visit and possibly stay with her beloved because practicality seemed the most opportune way at the moment to face starvation and violence at the point of a gun and it just made sense to do it with someone that carried one everyday and had been trained in combat hand to hand.

Charles and Dennis stood at a half crouch while waving everyone to get their heads lower as they warily eyed the edge of the woods across the street. It was not unusual at all to hear a firearm going off in this neck of the woods at various times be hunting season or target practice. Country folks consider gunfire just someone backyard practicing and their personal right as sovereign citizens and land holders most times, Today was different. That shot sounded like it had come from Charles’s 95 year old uncle’s place.

That ain`t right! As far as Charles and Dennis knew that old man had been disarmed by family after a bad encounter with a stray dog who had come on his property and that matter had been resolved many years ago.

“BOOOM!” 12 gauges sounded like, Dennis and Charles mused as the second shot rang out, but where exactly was the shooting going on at in the echoes of the hill base and the top of the road to Charles place they couldn’t tell.

“Ah hell! Take this and guard the home front.”  Dennis sad reaching in his waistband for an Astra A-100 17 shot 9mm pistol and handing it to Suzy who was totally unfamiliar with the weapon.

The mate or backup sister to the same pistol was now a hard run to the house for Charlene to dig out of her luggage. She silently cursed herself for not being” at the ready” as Dennis had said they should be and began to head out.

Her race to get armed was slowed by Suzy grabbing her and asking her once again where the F word was the safety on this damn pistol as Dennis and Charles started heading out in the direction of the uncle’s house with their own buckshot filled shotguns poised for action.

A eerie drawn out silence occurred while everyone watched Charles and Dennis separate to go to see what was happening across the road in a confused but much relied on a old soldiers basis. They had both been in the Army although it was long ago when they had served. Now they depended on their personal old memories and military training as Dennis let the old vet Charles go first up the trail to take care of his kinfolk.

“My 9mm pistol is in my bug out bag on top of my clothes in the living room. I got this little Keltec.380 for now. Look Suzy There is no safety on this pistol just like that SIG. Point and pull the trigger as is, it will go bang if need be,” Charlene said for once in her life not giving over detailed directions and turning them into stories as she mentally decided to not follow Dennis and stay and guard the house as he had requested.

Charlene and Suzi moved around the back of the house as fast as they could and Charlene retrieved her battle pistol from her luggage. Suzy made it clear to Dennis’s mom and Monica’s daughter that now was not the time for conversation and hurried back outside to take up position. The newly armed albeit inexperienced shooter nervously pointed her pistol safely to the side.

“Rack the slide and be sure you got a bullet in the chamber Suzy, I really don’t know the condition of Dennis’s armaments at this time but it most likely already and has a round at the ready in the chamber” Charlene said while trying to see what Charles and Dennis were doing as they crept across the road.

“Pull the slide back, wow that’s hard! Hit this button or that lever? Oh my lords do what?” Suzy wailed nervously and was obviously freaked out about operating an allegedly functional but still non operating weapon.

“Shit give it to me” Charlene demanded and reached for the pistol.

“It shoots, just pull the trigger if you see something to fire at., can you aim?” Charlene asked regretting ejecting out the already loaded round in the chamber to check the firing status of the pistol. “

“I can aim” Suzy said taking cover next to Charlene who was stooped over picking up the ejected pistol round.

“We need to just get you functioning now, pull the trigger in that direction.” Charlene advised.

5

Range War

“Wait! What the hell? Them girls being squirrelly or did that gun shot in back of him need checking out? What the hell were they shooting at? Dennis wondered anxiously as he tried to look forward and back behind him at the same time.

“Were they being attacked on two fronts or was it just jittery nerves by one of the girls getting trigger happy that caused that gun shot report? Holy hell! I got to now investigate to my front and back. Me and Charles ain`t been yelling cover me “I am moving out” like a trainee soldier at a live fire army basic training course just for the fun of it  or to scare who ever it was out there. No, we were doing it to keep from shooting each other while moving forward and falling back on our old military live fire training of what to do when you were unsure of your partners. Now I am “damned if I do and damned if I DON’T’ at the moment. “ Dennis said to himself as he became further unnerved by the thought of friendly fire from the girls going down range in his direction or the possibility they had spotted some lurker in the back of the property.

Charlie’s had heard the crack of a pistol behind him and knew it came from Dennis’s home front towards the backyard... He couldn’t see Dennis but soon he saw his friends arm waving him forward towards his uncle’s house and signaling he himself was going back to his house from his position of a storm fallen log he taken cover in back of.

There it was again, the report of a shotgun and a fast-forward slow return arm signal from Dennis that they should hurry to the back and front respectively and slowly meet back in this same position when they felt it safe.  .

“Who the hell is shooting over there?” Uncle Arnie yelled towards the woods not taking any great pains to stay behind at least the biggest tree in the wood line and reduce the chance of a stray shotgun pellet or slug perforating him.

“I said WHO IS THERE? SPEAK UP AND MAKE YOURSELF KNOWN!” Uncle Arnie said as he beat an old steel garden shovel he was holding against a fallen hickory log to draw attention and telegraph his location by sound to the shooters...

“Damn “Unc”! Get your sorry self behind that big oak “Charles said jumping up from his position and rushing over to escort the spry old man protesting behind the large ageless tree.

“You don’t know who they are and what they want yet you old fool!” Charles declared scanning the woods and listening intently to try to locate what might be aggressors bent on murder.

“ Hell boy get your panties out of a wad, they are at least 4 acres over by the sound of it, might be old Jeb shooting coyotes bothering his calves” “ the feisty old man said removing Charles hand from his shoulder and looking at him a bit riled.

“Hells bells I didn’t know, Dennis and me heard shots and come a running. I didn’t think about Jeb hunting back there though, and by the way what the hell do you think you were going to do with a shovel at a gunfight?” Charles said returning his uncles angry stare.

“I didn’t think there was no gunfight, but I wasn’t going to check it out totally unarmed!” Arnie said still sore that his nephew had taken away his single shot 20 gauge shotgun about 5 years ago for doing the unthinkable by shooting what he had declared a threatening stray dog.

“ITS ME, JEBIDIAH! Got my daughter Margo with me too.” A loud caterwauling like man’s voice yelled back from the depth of the pine woods.

“We are coming up, hold your fire, and hold it tight, Jeb!” Charles called out and started forward in worn jungle boots into the woods with his uncle still toting a rusty shovel in his gnarled old arthritic hands.

“Come on up then boys, had me some trespassers on the place but they cleared out” Jebidiah hollered back and then went silent as the grave.

“Trespassers? What freaking kind of trespassers? Damn southerners around here got there own kind of way of speaking and relating things and that statement meant anything from a fox in the hen house to any other four legged or two legged critter invading their ‘space’. Charles grumbled to himself as he went down a thorny trail in the general direction he had heard Jeb hollering from.

Jeb owned 450 acres of prime cattle pasture bordering Charles wooded and sloped 15 acres. It sounded like they were on the wooded fence line between the properties next to Jeb`s stock holding pens where he separated calves and cows every few years. Most likely it was a coyote or feral dog problem or he wouldn’t have been shooting. Didn’t hear no yips or barks though.” Charles thought as he made his way down the trail.

“Could be he had himself some two legged critters trying to do a bit of rustling or maybe a desperate parent trying to take a gamble on cow for a meal for his family without asking.” Uncle Arnie said noticing that there were no animal sounds or human hollering to give him an indication of what the actual threat was.

An armed confrontation on posted private land like Jebediah had sometimes occurred in normal times. A cattleman might be out hunting doves in his field and spy a couple miscreants hunting psychedelic mushrooms in the cow patties after a rain and fire his gun in the air to scare them off. The shroom gathers generally were just old hippies and unarmed but it was not unheard of to hear a pistol shot in the air as a response as a younger generation moved out. Whether or not any shots were fired in the general direction of poachers or as a further warning of seriousness was entirely based on the backgrounds and experience of the confrontation between trespasser and landowner. If not handled correctly it could be bad for all parties and in these days and times Charles thought the rules and reservations might change a might in regards to popping a cap.

“Hey Charlie! Hi ya Arnie!” Margo said startling them both considerably as she stepped out of the woods in full real tree camo with some camouflage war paint on her face that made her look like a character off of the NatGeo show “ Duck Dynasty” loosely toting a automatic 12 gauge across her arm.

“Holy shit woman! I liked to thrown this here shovel at you that you would probably have ended up needing to bury me with! Announce yourself loudly before you jump out from behind a tree like some danged haint or hobgoblin.” Arnie said cold sweating and looking like he had just ate something sour.

“Arnie I could I could hear you crashing around as you were coming through the woods from a mile off, sorry to have startled you. Everything is ok, no worries, and no threats. I was out hunting deer to supplement and apparently my shot at one doe spooked somebody in the woods and they must have fired a shot to tell me where they were in the woods, least ways that’s what me and dad hopes.” Marge said as everyone noticeably relaxed and waited for her dad Jeb to join them.

“I will be back in a minute let me go holler at Dennis that it’s all clear before he acts like he is going to take Iwo Jima by his lonesome” Charles said as hurried back to the road and hollered over to Dennis there was nothing to worry about.

“Ok buddy! Just a misfire over here, I will be along shortly.” Dennis called back and went to rejoin the ladies back at his house.

Charles rejoined his uncle and began talking to his neighbors.

“You get a look at who it was Jeb?” Charles asked

“No, not really. I saw them but couldn’t make out who it was. After they lit out I did see the “walking man” traveling down the road however. I doubt he had anything to do with them but that guy gives me the creeps.” Jeb said referring to one of the odder characters we occasionally saw wandering these back roads.

“The “Walking Man” was an older man of no specific age that was built like superman and was usually shoeless and looked like he had just crawled out of the woods. He always had a crazy mean look in his eyes as you drove by him and folks avoided the old hermit like he had leprosy.

“That old fool been known to do some crazy things, I will keep an eye out for him. What do you think about the others? Just hunters straying onto your property or were they after one of your cows’ maybe?” Arnie asked.

“Probably just hunters, but between me and you I am moving my cows back to the holding pens for awhile until I can figure out a way to better protect them. I don’t have too many left at the moment. You realize we just got done going to the cattle auction not long before the Koreans turned the damn lights off. I hear on the radio those crazy ass Iranians pr the Koreans released some small pox virus. Can cows get small pox?” Jeb asked.

“I am not sure if they can get it or not. That is a good question. Dennis might know the answer. I know he was telling me one time something about people who had gotten cow pox from milking those critters but people somehow built up some kind of immunity to it but I don’t remember what point he was trying to make. He knows a lot about small pox though, claims he might have a cure for it made out of “Pitcher Plant” roots if he can find something in his books on a dosage to give someone.” Charles responded

“What is a Pitcher Plant? Never heard of such,” Margo asked.

“It’s a carnivorous plant like a Venus flytrap. Bugs fly into a flower that is sort of hinged and filled with water and they drown and the plants get nutrients off them some kind of way. Dennis planted some in a wet area awhile back because he thought they were a cool addition to his medicinal gardens but he has not talked about it since.” Charles said wrinkling his eyebrow and trying to remember just what all the hell Dennis had planted or which roots herbs Dennis said still survived after last years drought devastated a lot of his gorilla gardening efforts.

“I would’ve liked to ask him a few questions about the Small Pox virus, not much info is being said about it except report any suspected cases to your local health department. Fat lot of good it is telling folks that, most folk’s phones don’t even work no more and if they drove into town to report it they most likely would end up spreading it.” Jeb said spitting out some tobacco juice from his “chaw” that he was noted to usually be seen carrying around as a lump in his mouth next to his cheek.

Arnie hated the filthy habit of chewing tobacco but today was not a day to berate old Jeb about it or talk about his usually off aim with spitting the foul juice.

“Jebidiah, me and you need to have us a little private parlay amongst ourselves about butchering one of those steers and having us to help you guard the rest of them. There isn’t much cash on this dead end road to pay you for the beef but we should be able to come to some neighborly agreement.” Arnie ventured as Charles perked up to watch Jeb`s and Marge’s reactions.

“Well… I suppose we might come to some sort of terms but that few head of cows aren’t going to last long under present conditions. You know the folks who live on my side of the road sort of have the same notion and have approached me also. Wouldn’t have been much of a problem if I had my full breeding herd, but I don’t and that’s all there is to it. I am not saying I won’t share a mite with you but it’s going to be awful slim pickens unless we can find us some stock and try to build the herd backup.’” Jeb said very slowly and carefully letting his point sinks in.

“Who has any viable livestock for sale? I noticed awhile back most everyone is raising calves this time a year and have already thinned out most of the rest of their older cows. ‘Charles asked somewhat puzzled over animal husbandry.

“I have been pondering on that question; I know where to get a few cows here and there but the problem comes down to cash. All the money I got from the sale of my herd is in some kind of electronic limbo in a closed down bank. I didn’t have but forty dollars in my pocket when the poo hit the fan.”” Jeb said dejectedly wondering how he had arrived in such a position.

“I got us two hundred bucks in my emergency fund I could throw in. How much does a cow cost anyway? “Arnie offered glad he had had something put back.

“That’s another thing, prices are plum crazy. I spent all the money me and Margo had on gas, a little cornmeal and some flour. Maybe, just may maybe I am thinking that if the neighborhood all chipped in we could form a collective or co-op and we could work on shares to buy a few head to raise on my land.” Jeb suggested looking hopeful.

“Hey here comes Dennis, he might have something in mind to barter with for cows we haven’t thought of.” Charles said pointing as Dennis made his way through the woods towards them.

Introductions and ‘how do you do`s” were made all around before they got back down to business.

“You know of anybody raising feedlot calves that are dependent on hay and grain around here? Seems to me if you can’t feed them and don’t have access to any refrigeration if you had to slaughter they ought to be willing to listen to some cheap pricing or barter.” Dennis offered after listening to the dilemma.

“Could be Andy McFarlane might be willing to sell off some his heifers, I know he over bought this year thinking he was going to make some extra money this season but he is kind of tight fisted with his pricing when it comes to selling under normal times.” Jeb said rubbing the side of his head thinking about how to approach him and his miserly ways.

“How far off the road is his pasture? Could be he is having as many worries as you about protecting his stock and might want to reduce his liabilities.” Arnie asked.

“What do you mean Liabilities”? Do you mean a small herd draws less attention? He has a feed lot operation, just a bunch of big corrals and a barn with very little pasture with about 150 head on site. He can be seen from the highway quite clearly, though.” Margo questioned.

“Well, I meant that, but Dennis here told me that the government will be using some of those danged emergency powers acts to commandeer crops and livestock for the “so-called common good”. We might remind him that he might end up being a “Government Farmer” if his spread looks big enough to bother.” Arnie said and looked to Dennis for confirmation.

“What Arnie here is saying is true, the Emergency Powers acts and various Executive orders empower the government to pretty much regulate and control any damn thing they want including forming Civilian Labor gangs if deemed necessary.” Dennis replied.

“Well doesn’t that get your ox stuck in the ditch; if you look prosperous you don’t only have to worry about the common thieves but the government rustlers as well.” Jeb fumed.

“Still and all that skinflint Andy probably has the first nickel he ever made and he and them boys of his would rally their clan and put some buckshot in any government revenuers britches that tried to take their cattle without full payment I am thinking. He doesn’t know you all, you had better let me try to go talk to him and negotiate first before one of them carpetbaggers talk to him. You all got any sipping whiskey to loosen his pocketbook any? Andy likes a snort here and there and is a lot easier to talk to if you do a bit of socializing first?’ Jeb said as Margo nodded knowingly about Andy liking to tipple a bit at any chance he could.

“Just so happens we do have a little private stock to lend to the effort. I don’t have any store bought liquor but me and Charles here got some shine we just cooked up that will curl Andy’s toes and loosen his tongue to be a might more agreeable guaraaaaaaaaanteed!” Dennis said wearing a world record shit eating grin that Charles also shared and beamed in Jebidiahs direction.

“Well I tell ya, normally Andy likes to be bribed with top shelf scotch but beggars can’t be choosers these days so I suppose that would work. I shared some white lightening with him before but he cut it with some cola. You got any of that to go with it as chaser?” Jeb said to Dennis’s horror.

“We might, just might. What do you say Dennis?” Charles said smirking at an obviously unhappy Dennis.

“Give me a minute now; just hold up a minute or two now. We haven’t quite explored all the angles yet.” Dennis began objecting.

“That’s Dennis’s booze drink mix of choice and he is not real happy about trading any off.” Charles said in a loud stage whisper to a grinning Jeb.

“I can hear you, you know that don’t you, you old heathen.” Dennis said making a face at Charles that made Margo start to crack up with laughter.

“Come on now boy it’s for a good cause. DONATE!” Jeb said with a small smile and hands on his hips.

“I will do it, but I was just saying there are other options. I can make some of that infamous apple pie moonshine or a couple other flavored hooch combinations. Let’s not start trading anything we’re going to be out of soon enough. I got a whole container of Country Time lemonade you can use for mixer and it would last a whole lot longer than the 1 liter of coke I had in mind for the cause.” Dennis said, hopeful that his suggestion looked like it was being well received.

“That actually sounds like a pretty good beverage to share around.” Margo said encouraging Jeb and Charles to consider Dennis’s proposal with a small smile.

“Yea, there you go! And if you give me a few minutes I will be back here in a flash with a sample for you to taste test. Matter of fact after that little scare we had with the unexpected gunfire I bet everyone back at the house would like one also. Hey, come on back with me and you can have yours with some ICE!” Dennis said rubbing his hands together that his plan to keep his sodas was working out so well.

“You got ICE? How did you manage that?” Margo asked incredulously.

“That boy is a ‘prepper” he runs a portable icemaker off his solar power battery units. There ain`t no telling what he might have stored or come up with. But I draw the line at operating that “Crank-A-Watt” of his to create some kind of Frankenstein in the “skunk works” mad scientist laboratory of his.” Charles said throwing a sweaty muscular arm around Dennis’s neck in comradely fun as he pretended to choke.

“Hell boy if you got ice for a drink lets head your way, come on feets don’t fail me now! Get a move on Charles, I see a Lynchburg Lemonade in the making” Jebidiah said trying to keep up with Margo as they headed to the Dennis` “Prepper shack”.

“Hey, hold on there now, those girls are still a bit jittery and well ARMED. You best let me do some hollering about “check fire” before we look like targets even though they know its all clear.

“What was damn pistol shot all about anyway Dennis. I thought you might have had some extra aggressors infringing on your back 40.” Charles said pointedly

“Damn …Me and you both, it wasn’t nothing except clearing a pistol but it was at a particularly bad time and we going to have a talk about that.” Dennis said good naturedly as he went to the front of the group to lead them into his property.

“I heard that too! Bad enough it sounded like we were going make popcorn with the rifles over here, but then you and Charles started doing the war yells to each other and that ghost shot had me diving for cover.” Margo said pointing at the mud stains on her knees

“I thought that come from you hiding behind a bush and trying to give an old man a heart attack.” Arnie said to pester the young woman a bit for scaring him damn near to death.

“Oh Jeezus!! “ Dennis hollered as the neighbors husky decided to play his favorite game of sneaking up on him at the same moment.

“Damn Arnie you got any of that heart medicine left?” Dennis said sheepishly as he recomposed himself and rubbed the friendly hounds’ ears.

“Hell. No, I just seen you about to get ate up by a wolf! Where the hell did that dog come from anyway?” Arnie said doing his best Fred Sanford interpretation and staggering around holding his own chest misery.

“Damn scared the hell out of me too, I damn near shot you aiming at him and that freaks me out.” Margo said a bit tearfully.

“Like Dennis said, Drinks are in order. Don’t worry yourself darling, that wolf dog almost been shot or hit by me more times than one myself and it’s a good lesson to know what your aiming at before you point a gun barrel at it and they went to Dennis’s house with nervous laughter and a bit of paranoia.

Wolfie scampered down the driveway towards the house and Suzy came out to greet him. “Sorry about the loose shot going off, Charlene handed me the gun without warning me there was no safety on it!” Suzy explained. “What happened out there? “She asked trying to draw attention away from her.

“First off that darn pot of water you brought out here for that fool of a sneaky dog needs to be for Floyd, dump it on his head when he appears…where the heck is he at the moment anyway?” Dennis asked wondering what line of defense Floyd had given his home front when he was the only male about.

.

“You’re right about that dumping the water on him, funny thing though! Suzy said guffawing and looking in the direction of the dejected head poking up from behind Dennis’s “ballistic log”.

“Guess What Dennis?  Floyd ran for cover and sat in a big pile of doggy doo and I was headed for him to clean up a bit when you all wandered back to camp” Suzy said looking amused.

Wolfie meantime was trying to get a drink from the stove pot she was toting but Suzy pulled it back and said “I’ll get you more; right now Floyd needs to get decent so we can stand to be around him!”

“Hey guys, I had me a bit of an accident and you need to be understanding.” A very embarrassed Floyd called out from behind a 48 inch pine log Dennis had left for decoration or defense when he had his property cleared of trees for a garden and orchard.

Dennis’s Mom came out of the house with a pair of pants for Floyd saying “They may be a bit small for ya but we cant call you ‘droopy drawers’ no more if you fit that butt of yours in them!” the grinning old women said relived it was just country hijinks and not the end of the world or a threat to her son.

Suzy grabbed the pants and stainless steel cook pot in hand and headed for the woods where Floyd was waiting impatiently to get “decent” again.

The next thing the amused visitors knew his sister Lorraine came out of the woods with about a six foot stick with his jeans and underwear preceding her.

“Hey Lorraine if you going to surrender to us its supposed to be a WHITE FLAG, and not that brown mess you toting on the end of that stick.” Jebidiah said as Charles and Dennis leaned on each other for support while suffering gales of laughter and weakness in the knees at the humorous discomfort Floyd had gotten himself into.

6

Solutions

After a great deal of laughter and good natured kidding of Floyd had ceased, it was mentioned that they all needed to have a serious talk about security in the future but right now the pressing matter of acquiring some cows needed to be addressed.

“How much do you reckon a cow costs Jeb?” Dennis asked worriedly.

“Well a grown steer used to cost about 800 dollars but that’s not what we will be wanting. Let’s figure out what kind of cash and barter we got I will put together the best deal I can. I would like to get some what we call “2fers” if I can Jeb said referring to a purchase of one pregnant heifer with one calf sucking that was labeled as a two for one buy.

“I don’t know what the neighbors might be willing to contribute or even have in the way of coin and barter but we got about $800 hard cash amongst us and 40 gallons of that shine you been sipping to contribute to an effort.” Dennis offered as his tribes buy in to the cattle project.

“What kind of price you putting on that white liquor Dennis?” Jeb said raising his eyebrows.

“I am putting it $50.00 a gallon. Might sound a bit steep but it’s a 100 proof on a scale that I will be trading you and it can watered down for drinking or mixed as is with gas for driving. Prices are whatever a buyer will buy for or a seller will sell so argue it out at the feed lot with Andy and use your best judgment.’ Dennis said guesstimating what his hooch might be worth in these days and times.

“That actually might be a fair going price. So you are saying that 40 gallons is worth about 2 grand huh?” Margo said after doing some mental math and conferring with Jeb.

“How long will it take you to make more or can you make any more? You got fixings left for another batch?” Jeb asked calculating a purchase.

“Well, that all depends on any number of things, but better say two weeks to production of another unless we can figure out a way to increase output. Also it depends on what we are making mash out of.” Charles replied.

“I got a suggestion folks. If Jeb here has any feed corn left that ain`t assigned he wants to throw in, we can use a page and recipe I saved from

http://www.wikihow.com/Brew-Moonshine on common creative license that might be just what we need. Hang on a sec.” Dennis said as he went to get the formula.

Making homemade hard alcohol, also known as moonshine, can be a dangerous undertaking, but if done with caution and common sense it can be an interesting small-scale science experiment. Making moonshine is illegal in the United States, and drinking the final product is NOT recommended.

[[Category: Spirits and Liqueurs]]

== Steps ==

===Get the Equipment Ready===

#Gather supplies. It's important to use the right supplies when you're making moonshine, because using equipment made from the wrong material can backfire - literally. For the sake of safety and the best chance of making true moonshine, collect the following supplies:

#*A pressure cooker. Use one you don't intend to use for other purposes, or buy a new pressure cooker specifically for making moonshine.

#*Copper tubing. You'll need about two yards of tubing that is 1/4" in width. This can be purchased at hardware or home and garden store.

#*A drill with at least a 1/4" bit, for drilling a hole in the lid of the pressure cooker.

#*A 15-gallon metal pot.

#*A large plastic bucket.

#*Cheesecloth.

#*2.5 pounds of cornmeal, 10 pounds of sugar and 1/2 ounce of yeast.

#Build a still. Drill a hole in the lid of the pressure cooker and thread it to snugly receive a 1/4" copper tubing. Insert the end of the 1/4" copper tubing into the hole, being careful that it does not project through more than an inch. This is your condensing tube.

#*The tube should be long enough to go from the cooker to a sink and extend beyond the sink down to near the floor.

#*If you don't want to drill a hole in the cooker's lid, you can thread it through the vent and affix it there using duct tape.

===Make the Mash===

#Boil 10 gallons of water. Place the pot under the sink and fill it 2/3 way, then place the pot on the stove and turn the burner on high. Let the water come to a rolling boil.

#Cook the cornmeal. Add the 2.5 pounds of cornmeal to the water and stir it will a wooden paddle or another instrument. Let it cook for a few minutes until the water combines with the cornmeal and thickens into a paste. Remove the mixture from heat and allow it to cool, and then pour it into the clean bucket.

#Add the sugar and yeast. Stir in 10 pounds of sugar and 1/2 ounce of yeast. Use a wooden paddle or another large instrument to thoroughly incorporate the sugar and yeast into the mash.

#*Bread, brewers' yeast, naturally occurring yeast or even sourdough starter may be used in place of dry yeast to start the fermentation process.

#Ferment the mash. Loosely cover the bucket with cheesecloth and place it in a cool, dark place, such as in your cellar or basement, to allow fermentation to take place. Fermentation occurs when the yeast metabolizes the sugar and corn carbohydrates and produces alcohol.

#*A brown or light tan foam will appear on top of the mash bucket, gradually rising up higher each day. When the mash quits working, the sugars are "used up," and you will notice the foam, or "head" is no longer rising.

#*The mash is ready for the next stage when it stops bubbling. At this point it is referred to as "sour mash."

===Distill the Mash===

#Strain the sour mash through a cheesecloth. Place the cloth over the bucket, then tip the bucket over a clean bucket or pot. You may also use a screen wire or a clean white t-shirt to strain the mash.

#Pour the strained mash liquid into the pressure cooker. Clamp down the lid and place it on a stovetop burner. You may discard the solids that you strained out with the cheesecloth.

#Position the copper tubing to create a condenser. Run the copper tubing run from the lid (or vent) of the pressure cooker to a sink filled with cold water. Coil the middle of the copper tubing in the cold water, then run the other end of the tube over the edge of the sink to a clean container on the floor.

#Turn the stove on under the pressure cooker. Let the contents heat to exactly 177 degrees F (80 Celsius) and no more. This is the approximate boiling point of grain alcohol. As the pressure cooker heats, the alcohol turns into ethanol steam, travels through the condensing tube to cool. The resulting liquid drips into the container on the floor. That's the moonshine.

#*The liquid that comes out of the copper tube before the cooker reaches 177 degrees contains methanol, which becomes steam at a lower temperature than ethanol. This low-boiling liquid must be tossed out. Methanol attacks the optic nerves when consumed. You'll probably have to throw out at least two ounces of liquid before ethanol, which can actually be consumed, begins to emerge.

#*Keep monitoring the temperature and collecting alcohol until the temperature rises above 177 degrees or drops below it. You should be able to collect about 2 gallons of liquid.

#Transfer the alcohol to jars. Finished moonshine is between 180 and 190 proof (90 to 95%) - practically pure grain alcohol. To make this product drinkable, responsible brewers cut it to ''half'' strength by mixing with pure spring water.

== Tips ==

*Using a hydrometer to test for alcohol content and a thermometer to cook the mash will give better results.

*Most people who make "'shine" do so outside, over a wood fire, near a cold-water creek. This eliminates the danger of cooking alcohol indoors. The mash, while "working," has a very strong odor, which is another reason to do this outdoors.

*Do not invite friends over while the mash is working. I have personally smelled mash from over a mile away while fishing on creeks in moonshine country.

*Let the mash work as long as the head, or foam, seems to be rising, but it will ferment out and go sour, so about 10 to 14 days is maximum, depending on temperature. Yeast acts more slowly at lower temps.

*Keep the sour mash covered, but not air tight. A wine maker's flask with an air lock would work well for this.

*Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a singular species of yeast used in both bread and brewer’s yeast. Brewer’s yeast and Whisky yeast are carefully bred strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae that are simply more resistant to higher concentrations of ethyl alcohol and take longer to die off thus extending their lifespan and their production of ethyl alcohol.  Neither bread nor brewer’s yeast create by-products that will cause illness, blindness, or death. Distillers generally remove the first 5% of the distillate termed 'foreshots', (containing esters, methylates, and aldehydes). They are distasteful but not fatal and the smell and taste is naturally prohibitive. On record, fore-shot distillate has never blinded, killed, or sickened anyone, it just tastes bad.

== Warnings ==

*In the unlikely event someone may accidentally drink the spirits you produce, do not use aluminum tubing or pots in this process.

*A pressure cooker can be dangerous. This author recommends using a "turkey cooker" deep-fat fryer with the lid clamped down, instead.

*Using a yeast other than High Quality Brewer's Yeast will produce some amount of methanol, which will lead to illness, blindness, or death.

*Brewing moonshine is legal in the USA, but you must have a permit and pay taxes on it.

*Do not drink this product, use it for experimental purposes only.

== Things You'll Need ==

*Pressure cooker

*5 feet 1/4" copper tubing

*Clean bucket with cover

*Cheese cloth or an old, clean white t-shirt

*Cornmeal

*Sugar

*Yeast

“Well that sounds like just the ticket for what we need to acquire us a little herd and if you got some extra sugar I got a bunch of feed corn we can grind up for the meal needed.” Jeb said as his eyes sparkled and he gleefully rubbed his hands together in anticipation.

“We got the sugar you will need; however, the whiskey you will be distilling will taste different than ours so maybe we can play with pricing on different batches.” Dennis said thinking of al the different types of drinking alcohol he could tweak out of the two stills.

“Liquor is hard money, as long its safe to drink and don’t taste entirely awful I can move it.” Jeb stated confidently while taking a big swig of white lighting from his cup.

“Kind of grows on ya don’t it?” Suzy said smiling as she took a tiny sip out of her drink...

“Sure enough does” Jeb replied and Margo concurred that this stuff wasn’t half bad if you watered it down enough.

“Oatmeal beats no meal.” Dennis declared using one of his southern euphemisms that meant a bit of something was worth more than a whole lot of nothing.

“You said a mouthful there.” Margo replied.

“I tell you what, when we get done here I will see what the folks on my road might be willing to contribute towards having a steady supply of beef. I know everyone would pay highly for that privilege but how much cash they got on hand is another story.” Jeb said rubbing the beard stubble on his chin.

“Why don’t you let them contribute some Bernie bucks?” Suzy asked Dennis while smiling knowingly she had a great suggestion.

“What the hell is Bernie Bucks?’ Floyd asked forgetting he didn’t want anymore attention drawn his way today by speaking up.

“She is referring to a fictional banking system setup by an old man in the books of the Prepper Trilogy. Just might work though, basically you get script you can trade for value. One Bernie Buck equals one hour of labor or they can be purchased by barter. Say someone over there doesn’t have any Fed Dollars to contribute but can cut wood or offer some chicken eggs to the cause. I might be willing to back some Bernie bucks in silver or maybe cut a deal with him to deliver eggs to me if I put up the cash for him. It’s a community currency of sorts.” Dennis explained.

“Damn sounds far too complicated. How do you set the value of things like that gallon of whiskey? I am damn sure not working 50 hours doing whatever for one jug of hooch.” Floyd said adamantly.

“Not yet you won’t, but you might just consider it later!” Charles said smirking at Floyds known love of the stuff.

“Well that’s where the horse trading and bartering comes in “Top Side”. Dennis said referring to an old navy term of first man on deck when something interesting was going on.

“Maybe you could sell the stuff at a profit if you diluted it 20%. Maybe I give you the local’s price or I tell you I will give you 5 gallons of hooch for finishing building my deck etc. We get into all that later; right now you are part of these roads collective. I will think of a way to assign shares to everyone and we just work on our little tribe’s mutual survival right now.” Dennis said looking around at the group.

“That’s the spirit! I will do the same on my road. There wont be no big I little u when it comes to eating and protecting around here if everyone makes the effort to pull there own weight. Course mind you it’s my land and my original herd etc so I am THE “Head Cattleman” and what I say goes when it comes to raising and slaughtering them beef cows!’ Jeb said looking about with a ship captain’s stare of warning for any dissenters to his will on his ship.

“That’s fine and ok by me and I bow to your knowledge and experience raising cattle but keep in mind the division of choice cuts of meat or any profits involved are a decision of the shareholders of the association. Voting rights and such need to be worked out and…” Dennis was saying before Jeb started to stomp his foot in protest.

“Hell boy you being too political dag nab it. I said everyone would eat beef and I meant it. You all don’t know the first thing about butchering and you already talking good steaks and profits. Why we going to have to break leg bones to make marrow soup as well as dig out the brains and sweetbreads in the carcass as well as put everything including the cows lips and asshole in a hotdog to feed all the hunger that will be seen around here!” Jebediah huffed as everyone tried to get the picture of what Jeb was going to put in his special “hotdogs or sausages “out of their heads and off their dinner plates.

“Well I for one don’t mind ox tail soup, but I ain`t eating cow lips or a bung hole knowingly if I am supporting the lions share of this communities contribution to paying for something.  Now don’t get me wrong, I see your fairness and points Jeb and I still say rank has its privileges the same as a better buy in or larger contributor to this scheme. We best set some ground rules and reasonable expectations on return of investment before we go soliciting the neighbors.” Dennis said not pleased at the problems he was either anticipating or foresaw trouble with in the future.

“There you go again city boy complicating things. I raise the cows and you be the high muckety muck banker with them … what was it “Bernie Bucks”? Everybody will get some kind of share and everybody will eat. You do your high brow corporate shit and have all the church meetings or ladies porch bean picking sessions you want later to calculate the math. Right now I am going to talk to that muley old Scotsman McFarlane and see what his asking price is before we go any further. Could be he is too expensive, or could be if I convince him all will be lost if he don’t cooperate with me and listen we let him spin in the wind.. Hell he might already have a proposal himself that beats yours for raising his cows.” Jeb said obviously agitated.

Dennis hadn’t expected this much resolve in the old man and was considering his response when Margo chimed in and asked her daddy if he wanted the rest of her drink as she might not want anymore.

This gave Dennis the opportunity to reassert to Jeb that they had themselves an ample supply of the booze and let’s all back off and have another as we reevaluated things.

“Ill take another drink with ya Dennis, didn’t mean to sound so sharp but times a wasting as well as day light. Some other cattleman probably got the same notion you do and might just be beating a path over to the feedlot with his or her own proposition... Why don’t I just go with what we got and see which way the wind is going to blow?” Jeb said thanking Charlene for another drink.

“Can I top yours off Margo?’ Suzy asked sweetly trying to help Dennis diffuse the situation.

“I guess you can now Ms Suzy, I thought we were going to talk to the neighbors but it seems them two old badgers have some plan betwixt them to work alone today.” Margo said watching her dad and Dennis in close discussion with Charles and Floyd nodding their heads in agreement like they were all knowing when some unheard hurdle was crossed.

“Ok, so we in agreement. Five gallons of gas to haul the cattle. $800 cash, 40 gallons of shine plus a half of jug for tasting. 10 ounces of silver backing 500 “Bernie Bucks” A diamond ring worth a few hundred, 10 boxes of 12 gauge buckshot, one brick of 22s. Your promise to me for 40lbs of sugar to be combined with my corn for another load of hooch in two weeks.” Deal.” Shake on it” Jeb said extending his hand.

“Whatever those men were agreeing too they sure looked happy about” Suzy mused as she followed Margo over to get more details from them and try to apply some feminine whiles if opportunity offered.

“Ok Floyd, you are now this community’s printing press for money, the treasury of sorts. Go run off a thousand Bernie bucks and don’t be dinking around getting all artistic or complicated making them. You can scan our signatures onto the bills for the sake of urgency and ride with Jeb to help load and unload the whiskey and cows. The use of that shotgun of mine and the shells you toting, minus your labor to print the bills, plus the community debt for my ink, paper, electric power etc. Ah hell, just go help Jeb and we settle the books later.” Dennis said about as put out as Jeb was this shit was entirely too complicated for any discussion when urgency was needed to feed the world.

“Will do Boss” Floyd said grinning and ribbing Dennis with a fake butlers accent as he went about his duties to try and secure everyone’s future as well as his own avocation.

“Now then you grumpy old obstinate fools, you forgot I got a deer to track that is if I hit it in that hardwood cover. While you men folk have been giving each other the evil eye, me and Suzy here been working on the home front. By the way Dennis your mom is saying you should put a cork in it.” Margo said as he reached for the big brown stoneware jug he had got Lorraine to pour full of the stump knocker for “ascetics and appearances” in his marketing campaign.

“Damn...” “Dennis muttered at the withering stares he got when he looked non complainant.

“It seems a body can’t be happy he is pulling off the deal of the century without someone telling him he is getting too happy about doing it” Dennis remarked as he shoved the cork back in the jug like he was mad at the world..

“Day ain`t done yet Dennis, she just wants you to keep your wits about you while you negotiating” Suzy whispered to him as he stalked off to help Floyd load Jeb`s truck.

“I know darling, it is just aggravating to get hen pecked with advice when my wisdom is the only thing getting anything done.” Dennis said giving her a quick hug.

“Hey sweetie, Charlene put a quart of that boogie juice in a mason jar when your mom wasn’t looking so we can have us another still kick up some dust session later when your mom goes back inside.” Suzy said patting him on his arm with a smile.

“Ohhhhhhhh…. Nice babies.  That is very cool of you all and I will figure out some amnesia for that oversight later” Dennis said hugging her back before happily telling Floyd he should go borrow a few empty mason jars and cut a deal with Jeb to “just see them through to the next batch” as long as they were trading their stash away,

7

EVALUATING THE THREAT

“Dennis, tell me something if you can. How does water filters measure up to the small pox virus?” Charlene asked.

“Damn that’s a hell of a question you placed on me and one that is not answered easily. You know that viruses for example by your registered nurse training are not handled by antibiotics, you need an antiviral and they are smaller than most bacteria usually. I tried to do me a bit of research on that subject and got a bit stymied to give you a short or long answer. Now you know personally I put more of my faith in colloidal silver than most other medicines so my judgments to some might be a bit jaded. You remember awhile back I was given a PurifiCup® for review and consideration in the prepper blogs?  Well I was really interested in this item because I theorized that my big ceramic water filters had an essential element missing in regards to my safety that I considered necessary if I was dealing with a known virus outbreak. I think it is important for us to note that we define a virus as a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of an organism. My question was academically would there be enough organic residue left in these pores of a quality ceramic filter to harbor a virus?  This is an important question to ask ones self because it is known fact that the smallpox virus, at room temperature, in an undisturbed environment, can remain viable for years if not decades.  I know that research has shown that silver kills most viruses on contact so a system such as PurifiCup® that incorporates a patented silver membrane was a no brainer to want to tryout and consider storing in my preps. I contacted the company to explore my assertion and received a very good explanation to why my supposition might be right on target.

“To “kill viruses”, first we destroy the Cells of the Micro-organism such as Bacteria which the viruses lives in; so the Viruses will not live or replicate since “viruses” can only live inside a “Living Cell of Organisms”.

In the other word is - Viruses does not live or replicate on its own, it needs to live inside Living things such as animals, fish, human..... and most commonly – Bacteria, pathogen...  Therefore, we need to kill the “Vehicle that carries the Virus” which in this case are the Bacteria.

In short answers to the question: PurifiCup’s Silver Membrane “Kills the living cell of the Micro-Organism that the Virus requires to live in” therefore how small the viruses is, are not the issue. Silver Membrane is - Antimicrobial.”

This antimicrobial action was certainly a qualifying feature that I could find useful and applicable in adaptation, particularly when I let my fellow survivors read an article I had found that expresses the need for proper burial of victims of this dreaded disease. Maybe that’s what all those FEMA coffins are for because certainly groundwater contamination is an issue to consider here with a huge bioterrorism threat.

Smallpox is estimated to have been responsible for three hundred (300,000,000) to five hundred (500,000,000) million deaths worldwide in the last century alone.

Threat of Smallpox Contamination

at Tom Quick Burial Site

By Cindy Gibbs, Anthropology Study & Research

As the subject of smallpox arises in Milford, Pennsylvania, so does the subject arise among governments. The United States is talking about it. They are in great debate as to whether or not they should destroy they last remaining sample of smallpox held in this country. Russia too, has a sample of the virus. Our country fears at least five others have the virus in their possession. This, as we know, is a matter of germ warfare. By destroying what we have, they hope to set an example. The question is what becomes of the ability to produce serum?

So far, those I have spoken to say that now is a good time to bring up the issue of smallpox. One official even stated that the problem should "really (be) scream(ed) out to the people about it."

The major concern of an outbreak of smallpox in the Milford, PA area has to do with the remains of Tom Quick, who died of smallpox. What was left of his bones and original casket was dug up in the 1800's and placed in a class jar which was placed in a casket and reburied at the site of his monument on Sarah Street. Contamination is of major concern as you will see as you read on.

In 1892, a health scientist by the name of Jenner Guarnier documented his research on then called Cytoryetes viruses. One was called cowpox (vaccinia) the other small pox (variola). Although the two were identical in origin and nature, the cowpox was not strong enough to fully infect the test subject. They chose to use the smallpox to find the antibodies used in the serum. The smallpox was able to produce complete bacteriemia that was long lived and could fully infect a large cow within days.

They also found during this same time in the late 1800's that smallpox was a filter-passing virus. This is where bone material comes in. A filter passing virus is an ultramicroscopic organism that when passed through compressed earth, bone, unglazed clays and porcelain, concrete, etc. it can remain impacted within small crevices of such material. When water containing the smallest microbe of such virus is filtered and tested, it may show no sign of microscopic particles or bacteria, yet when injected into man or animal, it still causes disease.

The reason Tom Quick's bones are in glass is to prevent the virus from spreading. Whoever put the bones in glass knew that. It's something they had done in secret and if indeed the jar was properly sealed, the virus may stay contained. But what about the exposure after digging up the body to move it? And then the move itself? Depending on how long his body sat rotting in the original grave at Westfall, body fluids soaking the bones may have created this filter effect and left thousands of microbes in the earth as well.

As the bones decompose, they burn carbons and hydrogens. This can take years to accomplish given the right environment. Whatever organisms are growing from moisture within the jar are very much alive and aide to the survival of smallpox long after Tom Quick's demise.

Milford may feel safe having his bones in a jar in a casket under asphalt and concrete, but they are not safe. Eventually, bio-thermal activity (heating and freezing of the ground) can cause damage to the casket and break up the wood. Add the continuous movement of the earth's crust and the people above, (and hitting the concrete surround and digging in the soil of that area), well you get the picture.

What would cost more, moving the jar to a shelf in a lab, or answering to the United States government as to why Milford, PA suffers from a once extinct virus the United States has no cure for.

Everything at this site needs to be destroyed. If the jar had any type of rubber seal, it is now probably old and brittle and may allow air to pass through. In some ways it seems as though Milford, PA wants to continue Tom Quick's legacy.

Should they question the idea of smallpox existing for so long, it's a known fact that astronomers are still testing the theory that smallpox virus has followed Haley's Comet in a cloud of debris for hundreds of years. As far back as 1948, observations have been made.

More research is being done on this subject and updates will be provided. This matter does need attention.

Upon examining the Purificup and reading its specs I determined that was an item that a lot of people might want to consider for their preps. The capacity of 12 gallons plus is adequate for a bug out bag or 72 hour kit and its unique in the water filter department because it includes its own cup thus saving space. This contained cup benefit made my mental prepper light bulb go on as this was the perfect solution for pet disaster kits! Hey animals need safe drinking water also even though drinking from peoples toilets don’t appear to have any serious effects on them lol. Seriously now, if I know a virus that remains as viable as Small pox is around I would not risk giving unfiltered water to my pets if I could. Alas though my beasties are country dogs and will drink out of every creek and mud puddle around.  I then asked myself can dogs and cats get small pox? My first shocking fact from research was the FDA saying” We don’t know if the vaccine virus can be spread to

Cats, dogs, or other household pets, or whether pets can spread the virus to other people in the household. Try to keep the vaccine virus from reaching your pet. See “How do I care for the smallpox vaccination site?”

Well hell! No sense doing anymore research! Damn no I got to worry about a pack of small pox plaque dogs or some shit. No, no, no, not going there today. I will try to control my animals best I can and if they bugging out with me they are getting filtered water.

The Purificup for this purpose seemed Ideal because its unique filtration system provided some other benefits.

Exclusive 3 Stage Filter Technology

1. Ion exchange resin: Turn hard water into soft water by removing heavy metals (lead, copper, cadmium, mercury, etc) and calcareous (meganesium, calcium icons).

2. Activated carbon: Remove chlorine and other organic odor including THM, organic solvent, and pesticides.

3. Silver membrane:  The membrane eliminates 99.99% of the pathogens in natural water sources such as streams, falls, creeks, and rivers.  It is located on the inlet and exit of the filter circulation channel, preventing the filter cartridge from contamination. + Absolute 1 micron filter for additional layer of protection against bacteria.

The combination of these benefits produces the best tasting Alkaline water at 7.2ph level thought-out its max capacity. That means fido will love it!

USE COUPON Code Prepper1 for 10% off and FREE Shipping! @ http://purificup.com

The need for a much larger less packable more robust system for me to use on a continuous daily basis required me to consider several options. The fact that in my extensive research I found a UV system (Ultra Violet Light) portable but larger water purification system existed that did not require batteries intrigued me no end. I had been very familiar with the famous SteriPEN product line featuring water purification technology that harnesses the application of the ingenious brilliant power of ultraviolet light to make water safe to drink. Dennis had never heard of one of their product models called a SteriPEN Sidewinder Portable UV Water Purifier.

Ah crank power! Sounds like a Charles job to him. That is quite an interesting use of alternative energy the company came up with and Charles was fascinated enough with the technology he would always volunteer to be the one running the spinner...

This gadget was an eco-friendly, portable UV water purifier that required no batteries to purify 1L of water in 90 seconds. The 8,000-dose UV light destroys viruses, bacteria and protozoa. Includes BPA-Free bottle and Pre-Filter. Hand powered and perfect for campers or emergency use.

Dennis had read the list of viruses and bacteria this thing could kill. The fact that ultraviolet kills the small pox virus made him sit-up and take notice.

The SteriPEN product line webpage underlined the habits of viruses and reinforced his belief in taking extra measures in such an environment to ensure my filters were setup up for such contingencies.

“Viruses – Remember when we said bacteria are tiny? Viruses are 100 times smaller than a single bacteria cell and they’re so cut throat that they’ll hijack the cells of other organisms to help them do things they can’t do on their own, like eat, grow and multiply...moochers!”

That statement reminded Dennis of some less fortunate types that would soon be a danger to him and the others and he guided the conversation back to security and food assurance.

For the next hour the group discussed how best we should approach a situation if we thought one of the groups homes were under attack. It was decided we would play wait and see hoe the meeting with Jeb and McFarlane went before talking to the neighbors about chipping in on the pasture re-stocking situation.

8

A BLESSING BESTOWED

Charles and Dennis heard what was most likely Jeb`s red pickup truck heading in their direction. That’s sort of the nice thing about living on a dead end road. You got used to the sound and appearances of the local resident’s vehicles and it also gave you some fore warning something new was going on in the neighborhood.

Everyone came out to confirm it was he and his daughter returning and anxiously awaited the news of how the meeting worked out as they turned in the driveway.

“Well Jeb how did it go? Is he going to do it?” Dennis said rushing up the vehicle and asking Jeb before he had even a chance to get the door open good.

“I got good news and bad news, which one you want first?” Jeb said as his daughter Margo rounded the truck and joined the conversation.

“Hell give me the good first, I am not sure I am ready for anymore bad news at the moment.” Dennis declared.

“Well you see it’s like this, McFarlane says he will take our whiskey at the price we asking if we take his cows price he is asking. Now hang on now I know what you going to say. His cow price is reasonable and that’s the good news. The bad news is in that in order to get them at that price we got to agree to let him in on our little Co-op and allow him to mix some of his herd into ours and they graze our pasture but he can come take them when ever he wants. I told him I had a bit of a problem with that so he agreed that if we can raise the money or barter to purchase another 20% he would sell that to the residents around here. By the way Dennis it took me about half that jug of tasting whiskey you give him to explain and get him take at least half that price in those weird “Bernie Buck” things you said you could back somehow with something more tangible.”  Jeb said hooking his thumb through his suspenders and watching everyone’s faces for emotions.

“Sounds like a pretty fair deal that you put together to me, although you don’t look like you like it much what’s up? “Dennis asked and listened intently for the response as Jeb got around to answering him.

“I still think I made a deal with the devil allowing him to mix his herd in with mine but he was adamant about it. Said if we couldn’t afford all that stock he was doing us a favor and at the prices we were asking he had to make up his losses.” Jeb said looking s bit beleaguered after arguing with one of the best traders in the county.

“You thinking he is just going to let them eat up all your grass and then he pull them or what?” Floyd- asked not understanding what was wrong with what sounded like a pretty good deal.

“Something like that, but also who is to say the government comes along and takes his remaining cows and he wants his back or snitches us out? Folks aren’t moving cows around like they used too and I don’t want any attention drawn to us. Anyway he is getting his boys together and as soon as I get my trailer we going to move the new herd over.” Jeb said digging in his bag of chewing tobacco for another chaw.

“You need anyone else to help you or you got all those cows taken care of?” Dennis asked wondering just what the hell they could do if the old man did need help. His little group was not cowpokes and he knew very little about the transportation of such.

“No we got it  covered, we going to be moving everything at dusk I will have another drink with you while Margo and Floyd go get things ready and then its Yipee Yi O time.” The old man said as Suzy moved to pour him a drink.

“You made a GOOD deal Jebidiah. Don’t look so long in the face.” Arnie declared.

“You sure did! Why I never thought you would get so much return on investment and besides even without McFarlane’s herd mixed in we got enough stock to maybe feed both our roads if we stay careful and the animals don’t get sick don’t we?” Dennis asked.

“That’s to be seen banker boy; lots of things can go wrong like a drought or predators. You lean on them neighbors to dig deep and buy all the extra head we can and don’t send me any durn fools trying to work off Bernie bucks if that scheme of yours doesn’t work out like you think its going too. I can pretty much tell you who is worth a damn and who you wasting your silver on already but that’s your business. You and McFarlane got some terms to work out also and I am going to listen in on that because I think both of you are going to be hard spent to out do one another in wheeling and dealing.” Jeb said as Margo came over and gave him one of those “It will be alright hugs.”

“I tell you what cattleman Jeb, I think you have just saved all our asses on both these little old roads and have a lot to be thanked and blessed for by all the families who depend on you now. Because of your good soul and willingness to help your fellow man or woman make it another day, we now all have the means to survive and thrive in the future and for that I will be forever grateful.” Dennis said extending his hand for an old mans gnarled up strong handshake and old country boys firm hug of agreement and appreciation.

The End

Thank you to all my fellow preppers and loyal readers! We accomplish and promote the true spirit of sharing knowledge because we dare to embrace knowledge and stand tall relating it to others in a positive pro active fashion. Ride an easy walking horse and sleep beneath a rain tight roof while having the good sense not to argue with others because your mama told you so. I am country and if we misspelled something or it was not said correctly, get over it and dream of the angels.

Supporters< COUPONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

My Readers Might Also Enjoy:

THE RURAL RANGER A SUBURBAN AND

URBAN SURVIVAL MANUAL & FIELD GUIDE

OF TRAPS AND SNARES FOR FOOD AND

SURVIVAL

By Ron Foster

The Modern Day Survival Primer for Solving Modern Day Survival Problems! This book will teach you the techniques to not just survive, but to use ingenuity and household items to solve your problems scientifically with a bit of primitive know how thrown in. A complete and detailed section utilizing explicit drawings and easy to understand photographs covers thoroughly the topic of survival trapping using Modern Snares, Deadfalls, Conibear Traps, and Primitive Snares. This book is dedicated for long term survival in the country or the suburbs to insure you survive and thrive! Build a solar oven or pasteurize water, its all in here! Catch your dinner, then cook it or preserve it, too! Food procurement is the name of the game along with purified water in a survival or disaster situation. Are you ready?

Check Out The Original Prepper Trilogy

Preppers Road March

A solar storm has just hit the world causing an EMP event. An emergency manager visiting Atlanta GA must find his way back home after this electromagnetic pulse has stranded him away from his vehicle and his beloved "bug out bag". With 180 miles to go to his destination, David must let his street smarts and survival skills kick in, as food and water becomes scarce and societal breakdown proceeds at an unrelenting pace. An interesting and often funny cast of characters from the Deep South, help the displaced Prepper on his way, as he shares his knowledge of how to make do with common items in order to live another day. Ultimately, he acquires an old tractor and heads for home on a car-littered interstate. This is book one of the Prepper Trilogy.

BUG OUT! Preppers on the move!

Book two of the Prepper trilogy finds the disaster planner and emergency manager Dave faced with the choice of bugging out with his cohort of friends and family, as he watches the societal collapse and demise of civilization around him after an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) solar storm has taken out the grid. A post apocalyptic fiction series that takes you through the trials and tribulations of survival after the predicted NASA 2012 solar super storm unravels the lives and lifestyles of a group of modern day survivalists. The preppers decide on a lake front bug out, with bags in hand, as well as a unique group of operating vehicles from a bobcat loader to a lawn tractor. Will they survive? Could you? Let us find out, and join the party down the desolate dystopian landscape of a new beginning in a world without lights or technology.

The Light in the Lake

Book three of the Prepper Trilogy finds our band of refugees from a solar storm safely moved into a several lake cabins and trying to work on their short term and long term survival. The lake is a beautiful place for a survival retreat, but is it safe with roving groups of lake residents all looking for what meager food resources remain after a EMP event has shut down society as we know it. Can society be recreated and restarted here, or will starvation and anarchy take over? Can a simple light in the lake be the solution to survival and the reconstruction of society, or is it merely a symbol of what has been and might be yet again?

FINEST VALUE

Use Prepper1 for your coupon !

PTRPPER1 coupons is Ron’s commitment and value added offering to the Prepper community, Try them on everything, if I haven’t made a deal or they are not yet a loyal supporter you just might find you will always get a better deal on quality goods by mentioning me! Tell folks you read it or were referred to it my books, if it’s a worthy item, let’s NETWORK

SUNRNR #Prepper1 coupon

HELIATOS SOLAR #Prepper1 coupon

Type BLADE (all caps) in for 30% off Taylor Brands

Support LowBuck and just love life and your pets. http://lowbuckprepper.com/

STOVETEC is and always will be a fine functional and greatly valued part of my preps #Prepper1 coupon