The Solitary Man’s Refuge

Ron Foster

Alabama, USA

© 2014 by Ron Foster All rights reserved.

ISBN-13:

978-1496102034

ISBN-10:

1496102037 Printed in the United States of America

Acknowledgements

LowBuckPrepper & Cat Realdaypreppers.com Lowbuckprepper.com

My Dear Friends Cheryl Chamlies Pat Lambert

SUNRNR (Sun Runner) www.sunrnr.com/ SUNRNR provides portable solar generators that produce clean energy for power outages, backup power or off the grid electricity or microgrid.

Taylor Brand Knives

1

Countdown To Prepperdom

Donald turned his truck out onto the highway and began his short 40-mile trip to his new house and a new beginning. Because of his elevated mood and excitement on this fine day, it seemed to him just somehow a bit brighter and warmer than a normal sunny day in south Alabama during January. This was it, the big day he had been anticipating and yearning for, ever since he finally signed all the papers at the lawyer’s office for his new bug out location on Dec 28, 2011 and started his mental countdown to Dec. 21, 2012. The end of the Mayan calendar was not far off and he didn’t know quite what for but he was getting prepped for better or worse. He didn’t really hold with any of the prophecies or theories that were making the rounds on the internet and in the media, but he sensed something was going to happen this year, so better safe than sorry.

He had been calling his new place everything under the sun in front of family or friends. To some, he referred to it as his prepper shack, to others it was his farmstead, farm or just his little new house in the country. Whatever he called it, he knew it for what it was to him, his very own bug out location! And he had the keys!

This was to be his last big roll of the dice to get out of the city and to get the house and himself ready for the solar storms that he felt reasonably sure were going to take out the electrical grid sometime this year. Troubling times lay ahead and he was bound and determined not to be caught short when the black swan flew and the circuit breakers shutdown.

At age 53, he had been through a lot of life’s and the economy’s ups and downs and so he had been encouraged somehow or forced to move back in with his elderly mother for a while as an interim check gap, while he added to his education and simultaneously built up his preps and got back on his feet again. He scrimped and saved from his school loans, and with a few odd jobs had finally managed to painstakingly scrape up $5,000 as a down payment on a bug out location. A bit of luck was on his side and with this weird going to school money saving strategy, he was able to put a down payment on an owner financed tiny two bedroom home. The house sat on approximately 3 mostly wooded acres and he had jumped at the prospect of buying it, even if it was a wee bit overpriced for what it was.

The real estate ad for it had read that the owner wanted $8,000 down and $500 a month for 12 yrs to equal out to the price of $52,000. He offered the owner 42 grand for it after looking it over and noticed it was a small trailer someone had added to and basically turned it into more of a house. He bought it and the land for $380 a month owner finance and he was very happy with his new purchase.

The payment was very affordable, he hoped, and pretty easily doable on his small royalty incomes as a science fiction writer. He had decided that even if the shit didn’t hit the fan anytime soon, it was high time he had his own place in the country again.

The college degrees he got had not done him any good what so ever in finding a job in this rotten economy. He had been lucky enough to reinvent himself once again and apply his intellect to something more productive and fulfilling by working for himself as a post-apocalyptic writer.

He had already made several trips to his place while moving his preps out of a mini warehouse he had leased along with his small stockpiles of prepper stuff he had stored at friends’ houses and was really elated to get it all together in one place now.

He was sure glad that he had the use and possession of the two 24 x 12 portable metal buildings that had come with the property. One of them was filled full of boxes from the very first day from his U- Haul truckload of preps he had brought up from the city.

Organizing it and putting together shelves, etc., had taken him three more days, but you could now easily walk around inside the shed. He still had lots to do in there, but things were coming together nicely in what he called his prep shed.

He moved all his garden tools and regular tools into the other building he called the garage and was still dragging things in, or acquiring them and the place was pretty much in managed disarray. When he got his next royalty check, a Troy Built tiller was at the top of his list of “to buy”, got to have it things.

This place is sucking the life out of my finances. Don mused, not entirely put off at the notion of how many unexpected or more expensive than he had thought improvements and preps were needed to get his place in proper prepper working order.

Don had defiantly hit the ground running in Jan 2012 working on his place in a whiz-bang flurry of activities that helped to assuage his mind somewhat of the nagging notion he had less than a year to get ready for some type of calamity? He wasn’t exactly sure what, but something foreboding seemed to have taken over his psyche as well as many other “Preppers” worldwide. It was like a mass awaking of the populace to prepare for some known or unknown disaster these days, as more and more people joined the ranks of the prepper community and shared knowledge.

Preparing for what disaster and when you think it might happen, is a different notion or worry amongst all preppers. But prep they all did and usually in the extreme. Don’s disaster he was prepping for was the mega solar storm NASA had predicted for 2012-2013, but that was far from the only thing he had worries about. Economic collapse, terrorism, natural disasters, you name it; they were all subjects he studied and reviewed and prepped for daily.

Donald Dupree was a bit of an enigma. He had been everything from a construction worker, soldier, fine jewelry manager, and an entrepreneur in more things than he dared to relate on a resume.

He had always been a prepper though, in some form or another, and when he came up with a plan to go back to school at 47 he had two goals in mind. Get his degree so that maybe he could get a decent job in a new profession and build up his preps in the meantime for the day he got out of school or 2012 hit, which ever came first. He was becoming pretty adept at doing the professional student thing for a while.

Moving back home allowed him to save on his expenses immensely and he had been able to fill up a 10 x 8 ft. mini warehouse unit to capacity unbeknownst to his non- prepper Mom. He had managed to buy quite a bit of preps every semester from his financial aid refund check and some money he earned off odd jobs.

He had studied emergency management while in college in hopes of increasing his prepper knowledge and thought that this new career path would have been an ideal job to apply his talents to. However, he soon realized that without work-related experience or being a younger man that qualified for some intern program, he couldn’t find a government or state job in that field and had applied his knowledge of disasters to helping non-profits do business continuity plans until they themselves soon buckled under the financial pressure and closed their doors due to a failing economy and lack of charitable contributions.

His preps had been accumulated after years of study and contemplation. When he had first started down the road of prepperdom he made the usual newbie costly mistakes he had learned from. His final preparations had been now refined carefully and were the best quality available he could afford.

He had his own way of doing things when it came to food storage, that might not make sense to those that think the pundits and gurus in the survival blogs can’t be wrong. For example, that only store what you eat crap they advise, went out the window with him a long time ago.

He had been investing in Mountain House and other brands of freeze dried food for the last 5 years pretty much exclusively.

This type of food storage lasts 30 years he had figured and if the crap hasn’t hit the fan by the time I am 80, that is if I make it that far, well I probably will have already got in it to supplement my non-existent retirement or something so I can feed myself.

It was his meager retirement and insurance plan and totally self-directed. He had seen his food preps go up in price around 40% since he had started socking away this expensive type prep a few cans or a case here and there. But he didn’t start on it until after he had already got his ready-to-eat normal kitchen type preps in order.

Hell, he had three cases of MH chicken that used to be $25.00 a can that was now $46 to replace it. While others lost their 401k investments, he was doing ok in his own meager way and had also started to amass a small stash of silver that he had bought over a period of time.

Don was quite pleased he had stored over a years’ worth of food for one person as well as plenty of guns, ammunition and other prepper paraphernalia, so as soon as he moved in to his new home he was basically ready for what ever may come down the pike.

Today his thoughts were more about long-term sustainability, though. He had to get his land ready to help him be self-sufficient for the coming hard times. Stored food preps run out eventually, game gets scarce and besides, this place was also where he was going to retire at. He didn’t want to lose one summer of a tree growing or planting long term crops like asparagus etc. for a lifetime of enjoyment and food.

He had gotten an estimate to clear the trees off a couple places on his property so he could put in a raised bed garden and have a small orchard. A trip to Lowe’s to have a look at current lumber prices had surprised him when he saw that they were already selling fruit trees to go in before spring.

He had resisted the temptation to buy some trees and blueberry bushes and instead had gone home and spent countless hours on the internet weighing the pros and cons of different varieties, as well as buying the plants local. Those seed catalogs are awful tempting but good sense had prevailed based on his past bad experiences with mail-order plants and he had decided on mostly buying what he could inspect locally and just pay a bit more for plants in his own community.

Today he was going to the small town about 12 miles from his house and then going to Wally world and Lowe’s to purchase trees and berry bushes before they got picked over. He had looked at nature’s signs for planting and checked the farmer’s almanac and all the indications said early spring and no late frost, so he committed himself to taking the next big plunge.

At $15- $25 a pop for fruit trees this was no easy choice. He had contracted for the timber crew to do his land clearing in a week for $1800 dollars which was $600 more than he had estimated. He could have cut a lot of those trees himself, but after reflecting on it, he was not going to save that much by doing it, because a lot of the expense was bringing in the big machinery to haul it off and he wasn’t no spring chicken anymore to wield a chainsaw all day, he had opted to get the professionals on the job for speed and safety.

He was still grumbling about the landscapers’ price however, because that high price was with leaving the stumps in the ground and the fool of a woodcutter was telling him that although it was good timber he couldn’t sell it because the local mill was shut down. Oh, well time was not on Don’s side so “get her done” had become his new expensive mantra when a quick decision had to be made and the money was available. He just jumped in and did it by throwing money at a problem.

He had this odd premonition, like some preppers did, that there was a big hourglass of preps somewhere and that he was in a race with it before the some weird “disastrous event” happened.

People from all over the world had joined the prepper movement over the years for as if some sort of “social awakening” had strangely occurred amongst this group. Don didn’t know why, but he had an odd nagging sense of urgency to get things done and that something was somehow just not quite right and eerily foreboding beyond the daily doom and gloom news headlines. Something seemed to be bigger and scarier on the horizon that he could not quite put his finger on.

It was as if to him, that by not ordering something by mail today, not going down the rabbit hole to get the true facts of a situation or reviewing his prep gap lists daily, he would somehow hasten a disaster by his inactions and be left wishing he had prepared better. Doing the best at this moment, puts you in the best place for the next moment, he figured, and he kept adding to his stash.

He knew this was some pretty crazy thinking on his part. Just like the sports fanatics have their weird ways of thinking something they wear or do affects the outcome of a ball game, but he just couldn’t shake it, nor did he really want to. He liked being a prepper; it was his lifestyle and hobby. It gave him pleasure and a sense of security to make all these plans.

Don was normally a pretty intellectual, steadfast guy and was good at analyzing different behavioral motivations. He once helped get a Native American tribe to prepare for disasters in one of the most flood prone areas in the Midwest by doing a rethink of the tribes religious belief’s and giving them a different way to think about the usual dire warnings the government had been telling them for years to try to get them ready for floods.

You see this tribe had a belief that if you planned for something bad to happen, it would. They said it was like sending out an invitation, so they refused to plan for or mitigate the effects of the inevitable annual floods they seemed cursed with in the Midwest.

Talking to a village elder, Don had asked a question, regarding if they planned on next years harvests and time to plant things. The elder said that, indeed yes, they did. So Don told him that if they planned for something positive to happen by considering the dangers or lessons from the past of not planting early, having enough fertilizer, etc., then the crops were usually good, but they would be doomed if these things were not considered and that it made sense to plan for what the old floods taught and nothing bad would happen. This made sense to the tribal elders and they cooperated with FEMA to help mitigate flood damage and disaster proof the community.

Don had questioned his own motives about just how far he was willing to go with his own personal preps many times and he also looked at his penchant for looking at worse case scenarios and trying to not over spend money to prep for them. Regular life had its own needs and expenses, for example getting a better vehicle made a lot good sense.

He drove an old 1985 GMC 4x4 that was showing its age, however, unless he had to meet someone for the first time driving it, he never thought about its appearance, just its durability. It was completely paid for, and even if he eventually got something else, he wanted to keep it around because it was borderline EMP proof. He had considered converting it to a wood burner or alcohol fueled someday as a project. Well, there were just too many other expenses to consider now and replacing was just not going to happen anytime soon it looked like.

“Lets see here, get back on track of purchase planning before you get to Lowe’s” Don reminded himself.

“ I need to contemplate a few things here instead of just winging it or overspending, if I can help it. Now, I can’t really wait to get these fruit trees. But I can maybe finagle how I get them to the house. That deer rack I got on the back of my truck can handle 6, maybe 8, of them big gallon plus pots. Thing is a lot of those tress and bushes I seen are already getting leaves. Twelve plus miles traveling on the interstate out in the wind and I bet I stress them out pretty good and lose a lot of leaves anyway. I need a bunch of 2 x 6 boards for my raised beds and I was going to get all my lumber delivered for a $50 extra charge. Damn! I was going to get a gun safe delivered with them but can’t afford that purchase this month, or can I? Maybe the store will up my credit card limit if this is a big purchase for home improvement? They are always pushing and advertising that special purchase program, but I don’t know if that’s just certain things. I got ONLY about $279 on that store credit card, humm, possibility. Ok, do some math for a sec, ten raised beds to start with. That’s 20 twelve foot treated 2 x 6’s for the sides about $7.00 each=$140 I need 20- 8 ft. cut in half by them (one cut free per at store) for 4 ft. ends at about $4 per so $80 plus the $140=$220 that ain’t bad. I know I need other boxes but until I see the lay of the land, not sure about sizes. Hell, 10 boxes more than two people can eat, maybe, if I have a good veggie crop. Still haven’t found me a place to haul me in a truckload of manure and I ain`t paying 5 bucks a bag though. Ten trees max is $250, 10 blueberries $70, I need a tiller $700 and a gun safe $400. How much does all that crap cost? Don mused as he traveled the two-lane highway.

He eventually came up with $1570, which sort of freaked him out, but wasn’t insurmountable if he spread out or properly planned for the expense. He decided he just might have to avail himself of one of those special rate big purchase deals if they let him up his card because he couldn’t justify even in his rush to get things done the 25% annual interest them shysters wanted.

“Why is it that they have usury laws which say that outrageous loan interest rates are illegal for the loan sharks, etc., but not the credit card bankster companies in this state?” Don thought but already knew the answer too. It’s because they got rid of the Glass-Seagal act and allowed banks to trade securities and form derivatives out of notes and insurance he fumed.

Don got over in the turn lane and waited on the light to head on into the Lowe’s parking lot. He had chosen this little town as his proximity for a bug out location as well as retirement area mainly because the people were just so darn nice here. He had always stopped at a BBQ joint/bar around the area coming and going to Florida for years and was always impressed with the hospitability he had received when visiting.

His female prepper buddy, Janice, had also been duly impressed and more so after she had seen Don interacting with the various trades’ service people in the area. He smiled to himself as he exited the car, about the last time he and Janice had been in the store a week ago.

Janice spotted a wheelbarrow in the display rack out in front of the store and told Don they might be able to get it for less because it appeared to be a bit rusted and used as if the store had maybe borrowed it at one time. Don told her go for it, and if the price was right he would buy it because he really needed one and then proceeded to go look at the Roto tillers on display.

A few minutes after Janice had left, she returned with an employee who looked at the wheelbarrow and agreed a discount was warranted and went to find a store manager. After a moment or two of dickering with Don, the Manager said he could have it for half price and to pull his truck up to the curb and they would load the now $50.00 industrial strength wheelbarrow for him. Don went to move the truck from the far end of the parking lot and true to her good benevolent nature, Janice snuck back in the store and paid for it. When he pulled to the curb, she had presented the receipt to him with a big grin saying, “Happy bug-out and garden building in lieu of a more traditional housewarming gift.”

Don was very pleased with her gift and after he thanked her generosity, they both laughed at how she was so good at finding good deals and getting folks to help her.

Between the two of them augmenting each other’s preps over the years they had quite a diverse assortment of needed, as well as possibly superfluous, items.

What can be a source of dispute is not whether we need to be prepared, but how to prepare and what we need to prepare for. People need to understand that they must be ready to care for themselves and that it’s not the goverments’ job to save them, nor is the government capable of doing so if it totally was their responsibility. In that, they were in total agreement and tried to influence others to prepare as well.

2

Fair Warnings

Don read the world news daily; you might say almost religiously. He was constantly scanning relevant sites on the internet and then exchanged ideas and chats with his prepper buddies on Twitter or on YouTube. The latest topic for today was the screwy, but very real notion that DHS was profiling Preppers as some kind of potential terrorists.

“Things have become so messed up that DHS does public service announcements saying that you should have 72 hours to 7 days of supplies on hand in case of disaster, but then turns around and tells law enforcement that preparedness is a sign of potential domestic terrorism. I’m a little sick of the government and the media bunching preppers in with domestic terrorists, just because I have a Bible, a gun, a garden, and some food to feed my family with if a natural or manmade disaster happens. Don mused, wondering if he should try to disguise some of his prep gathering efforts and shrugged it off.

Don, as a Prepper, just wanted to create some sort of stable microenvironment to survive after a disaster and be able to take care of himself and others without outside help. He had included some extra food stores and things to try to take care of others in his community too, but any future expense in that direction sorely vexed him as to what he was willing to or could afford to purchase.

He had a plan, however, to try and help some of the unprepared, which is more than most folks had, preppers included. He had given it a lot of thought and discussion and it remained in back of his mind constantly how a disastrous event like a solar storm taking out the grid would play out.

If everyone is lucky and the sun’s geomagnetic storm isn’t too huge, it would just be a major electrical power loss of indeterminate length, but vehicles would still remain operable. Of course gas stations couldn’t pump gas, but the decline to social breakdown would be much slower and more manageable.

The first thing everyone of the sheeple and even good sensible country folk would do of course would be to clean out all the grocery shelves and snarl up all the traffic. No traffic lights and desperate folks make for a zinger of a cluster #&@^ every time. That meant even more horrific accidents occurring, as what few first responders were working were rushing vehicles to the scenes of mayhem became involved in wrecks themselves.

The hospitals would soon be overloaded and becoming hard up for fuel to keep their emergency generators running. That is, if they would even start because of the computer control switches to automatically turn them on might of got fried and no one was about that knew how to manually override or start the GenSet systems.

No one really knew how bad the effects would be on those with pacemakers, but most likely those who had the older models were going to greet the big man in the sky rather quickly and Don hoped they were not driving a car when their number came up to meet St. Peter.

Supposedly, NASA was going to give us a two hour warning over the emergency broadcast system if a big Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) was headed towards earth, so no telling when the panic buying would start.

Don had an automated notification to his cell phone for such warnings, but he more depended on his own tracking of the news and the YouTube and Twitter astronomers to give him an early heads up if a solar event was likely.

This year Don felt like he had horse blinders on and was in a race with old Sol to get his life, as well as his new abode in order. He was blessed with his good Prepper friend, Janice, but sadly lacked a closer intimate female companion. Sites like Survivalistsingles.com had sprung up in the last year as well as a few folks making some hard marriage decisions about who they wanted to face the mainstream eerie feeling that a bad moon was rising and would join lives or separate for an anticipated looming apocalypse.

Don had sent out some feelers himself in this department, even joined a seniors singles site.

It’s a hell of a note to start checking out old ladies for a romance at this point in the game he thought, but it was time and to his calculations time was short, Don had thought. He needed a companion, but he didn’t know anyone and was making clumsy attempts to find a mate.

Don was fully aware that to survive he had to have support on the home front. Janice had said she was bugging out to his place if SHTF and society really went down, but that was a bit sketchy to depend on. Janice had a sister and mother in the city 40 miles from him. Don’s elderly Mom lived in the same city. Janice had over a years worth of preps at her home and Don had put in a small, but functional raised bed garden for her years ago and helped maintain it. But there was a lot unsaid between the two, about many things that seemed somehow accepted and un-discussed between them that were worrisome thoughts that haunted him often enough.

Don got the feeling that Janice was going to give up her preps and house to her sister and mother if she bugged out to his place. Janice knew that come hell or high water Don would either be with his Mom when the poo hit the fan, or expect Janice to pick her up and bring her with her towards him, or he would somehow reach them and bring them both to the BOL. (Bug Out Location)

Some EMP based scenarios, like cars breaking down, had been discussed already, but nothing in the form of a concrete plan was ever decided upon regarding timelines to bugging out.

It had taken Don many years to get his Mom into more than basically preparing for a disaster such as a hurricane and many arguments had occurred as he, in her words, “wasted his money” and bought prepper gear that was delivered to the house off his prior meager income.

He had his brother who lived in Texas on the bandwagon somewhat and prepping seemed like it was his brothers’ hobby passion too until Don had bought his little prepper place.

Don remembered the conversation on this subject all too well. He had tactfully and tactically waited for what he thought was an opportune time to advise his brother that maybe this year the family should consider celebrating Xmas a bit further south at his place.

His brother, Bruce, had always come home for Christmas and because he lived in another state, Don wanted him to consider and plan for being away from his preps if the 2012 predictions had any validity at all and left him being stuck at his Mom’s house on Dec 23.

Well, that scenario and suggestion went over like a lead balloon and his brother commenced to denounce any possibility of such an event ever happening and had a few unkind words to say about his brother spending money on his bug out location versus buying some health insurance and the sibling rivalry party denigrated from there.

Not to be dissuaded or discouraged Don just made a few more difficult mental notes about adding some more food and which gun he would let his block-headed brother borrow if the crap really did hit the fan when he was in the area.

His Mom’s house in the City had minimal preps at best and he was moving the majority of his he had formally stored there out to the country. He still had a locked army footlocker there that she didn’t know what was in it and neither did his brother, he had left there as a backup.

Don was regularly driving back and forth while visiting his old hometown and spending the night at his Mom’s, so it seemed like a good idea to keep that house prepared for himself and his family as well with some extra preps stored there.

The trunk contained a Sig Sauer 45, a short 12 gauge Mossberg cruiser and a folding Keltec 9mm carbine. If Don had his pants on, he had his pistol permit and his .380 Ruger LCP in his pocket so there was plenty of firepower available to go around if need be. If his brother was visiting for Xmas, he usually lent him his little 9mm Keltec that was now out in the country and he would have to remember to bring it in. His brother could carry it concealed legally in Alabama because of the reciprocal CCW laws in his state with Texas. Their Mom’s house had at least several extra weeks of food already stored up because Don and his brother had been getting his Mom into hurricane preparedness and possibly preparing for a pandemic mode, but that was it. Nothing for a long- term disaster was put away or stored there.

He had plenty of preps for one person, but not enough for three people. He guessed he would just go back to stocking the old standby prepper basics of beans and rice to build up his food reserve stores and use his good stuff to break up the food monotony and that would be the best he could hope to achieve on his own economics.

This line of food security planning had him going back over his mental prepper plans and lists which seemed to consume most of his thoughts these days. If he had received forewarning of a big CME solar event about to occur, he had decided to go on his own mission while folks were emptying grocery stores and take a few extra precautions for his neighbor’s welfare. He was going to go down to the local seed and feed store and stock up on cheap feed wheat, barley, corn, etc., to feed some of his dead-end road neighbors and himself maybe safer. He had already added an extra inexpensive cast iron flour grinder to his preps so that they could grind their own dinners if he was forced to go the handout route as the collapse lasted longer than anyone but him was anticipating in his area of operations. Add to some more plans to my PREPPER LIST Don began musing to himself:

• Locate all the Seed and Feed stores in the area.

• Locate the pet stores for antibiotics like FishMox, etc., as emergency substitutes for prescriptions.

• Check the viability of his bottled herbals and add a few plants to get established his own medicine chest in his garden.

• A years worth of legumes and wheat that was Mylar canned with oxygen absorbers from Emergency Essentials was about $400 so he needed to find 800 bucks or chip away at it bit by bit this year and maybe add regular can goods from sales plus 5 gallon buckets to up some of his own wheat and such iron rations.

Prepper Plans change daily with threats, political temperatures, finances etc. It’s always best to think outside the box and review the “what if’s” with a clear mind when trying to choose what needs to be done next and in what order to spend funds and energy accomplishing things.

Don kind of figured that the end of the Mayan calendar Dec 21, 2012 was not going to start with a big bang and immediate technological failure like they said Y2K was going to do for technical reasons.

No, that was just his finish by preparations goal date, to be home, safe and sound in the house and well prepped. Kind of like heeding the wisdom of staying off the roads and having a drink at the house on New Year’s Eve. The all too real threats were known for this day and the avoidance of those threats was common sense and just seemed practical to avoid them if you possibly could...

The way solar storms seemed to be occurring both more regularly, as well as more intensely, he pretty much stayed on his guard for the big one he expected and was content that what he had already managed to put away, placed him miles ahead of most folks in the ready for anything preparedness department.

One thing that disturbed him though, was what if he was out in the country at his home and his mom was in the city when one of those giant CME turn-off-all-the-new model-car-engine geomagnetic storms hit?

He had plans to buy a motorized bike maybe on his want list, but when? He had expenses out the whazoo already on his need it, got to have it, so try to get it prepper wish list. He had seen on eBay kits to convert bikes for about the cost of a normal bike. They varied from $150-$250. He could go buy a bicycle now and maybe convert it later if he found some extra funds, but he didn’t really like that idea. Assembling anything takes time and there seems to be gremlins added to the boxes of the stuff he got nowadays like missing pieces or bad directions. If his wallet was fat he would have all ready got an eBay already assembled Chinese special for about $450 or so. Too many other things needed to be considered though. Add to PREPPER LIST, Don decided, one WalMart oldstyle beach cruiser bike.

Don had thought about in the past a few times, a certain moral dilemma that seriously worried him, but then he had quickly put it out of his mind. How long did he suppose would it take to get an 80 yr. old woman who was his mother the 40 miles to his place on the back of a bicycle? Hell, the trip itself could kill her; she was doing ok on the meds the doctor had given her for her heart, but who knows what that kind of stress would do to her?

If he was in the country at his place when the storm hit, Don would get back to her come hell or highwater and see to her needs, but then what would he do? Getting her to leave her house under the societal breakdown conditions he foresaw would be extremely difficult at best. They could only ride out the social collapse in the city for so long and then it was just too hard to contemplate the physical and emotional outcomes of a bug out with your old mom scenario.

What would happen to all his stuff while he was gone to see about her? He was making friends with the local neighbors who would possibly look out for his house, but what condition were their pantries in? Kind of hard to disguise the fact you are a prepper when you write books on the subject and several of your neighbors know it and had also visited his home.

Those folks don’t really know what a real prepper is, but NatGeo and the rest of the media was making it mainstream news that Preppers “got stuff”, food and guns especially. I wonder what they think I might have. Don considered as he turned off the interstate on the county road that led towards his house.

Don had decided he had to create his own personal kind of opsec. Hide in plain sight as it were, was basically the only choice he now had. He reminded himself not to get into any conversations on conspiracy theories with the locals. That much he knew he could still avoid. Just be himself and act like a regular good ol’ boy that happened to have a few pieces of writing published and to learn as much about his neighbors as he could, as well as try to get their thoughts on prepping. So far, everyone on his little dead-end road seemed like nice, salt-of-the-earth type folks and displayed none of the prejudices towards strangers often found in small towns that wouldn’t accept you unless your great-grandfather was buried in the proper cemetery in town.

He wasn’t going to be letting his guard down however. He did daily recon and scenario evaluations mentally as he drove past all the neighbors on the roads leading to his house and waved to them when they were visible in their yards or riding past in cars.

He took into account many little observed details regarding the neighborhood, the number and size of their dogs. What the age and health of the houses occupants looked like. Who visited, were they family or friends, etc., and what vehicles they driving?

There were mostly trailers on his small road ending in a two- house cul-de-sac. Not a lot of places in a trailer that the inhabitants could have a well stocked pantry to cope with the hard times. What would they do in a couple weeks after the SHTF and the cupboards got bare? There was a church not far up the road; it was likely many would seek solace there. Don was not the church going type so his recon of it just was an occasional drive by on Sundays and a visual look over of it’s parking lot. Pretty much everyone in the area would probably revert to hunting if they could and would send out every able bodied person they had to get something for the pot when the hard times came. As far as Don could tell, their style of hunting was a deer stand and sometimes the use of a 4- wheeler maybe to run some ridge lines. He doubted many of these stand hunters would have any luck or inclination to stalk hunt on their own. But, he was also surrounded with hunting club properties that knew how to organize themselves and drive game to a shooter.

That can work for or against me, Don thought. If they stay on the hunting land, the deer most likely would migrate and hide on the smaller parcels of land so this road would have more game. That being said, the people on this road would be in the same dire straights and probably start hunting their backyards and the deer would try to leave the area. With millions of hunters on the loose in the US, the woods were going to be dangerous. The deer to survive would be in the swampiest, nastiest, briar filled areas they could find for safety. Most hunters would figure this out and have to go farther afield to have any luck at all. That meant wandering deer camps full of desperate armed men and women and it also meant many households would lose its best defenders so the criminal elements might take to looking for opportunities. Man, what are the lots full of armed trailer trash and others going to be up to living so close together? David thought, as he pulled in his driveway and shutdown the car after a quick glance around the property for invisible possible threats.

Don didn’t know what might happen amongst those trailer zombies if faced with starvation within the confines of a trailer park. He figured many would choose the moment of a WROL (Without Rule of Law) situation to settle old scores, the same as the intercity and whack each other in some short-term violence. Then what? Of course they would band together under whoever had some military or gang related experience and move to a suburb to attempt to take what they needed. DISTANCE, distance was Don’s friend. The suburbs would fight some of the anarchy headed his way, the cities would spew the gang-bangers and riff-raff past many guns in other peoples hands before he had anything to worry about, he guesstimated. Total Chaos would drive many regular folks out of their homes regardless, so it was hit or miss option if they wandered his way. Don liked most people in general and could not stand for an animal or human to suffer, but he wrestled with how to turn the needs of others down if it meant his or his family’s own survival if push came to shove.

He had no problem shooting someone in defense of his or his charges survival or safety. Years of the military and street smarts had taught him a calculated callousness to it all. He would not consider shooting a man robbing his garden to feed himself or his family. But in desperate times with armed intruders everywhere, how much or how careful of a warning was wise? History tells us of eras filled with strife and yet travelers were bedded down in the barn etc. and common hospitability extended.

The morality has changed in this country though or has it? The “Gun Preppers” those young ignorant types that store only shot and shell and very little sustenance are an enormous danger that he thought about at times. Nothing wrong with being classified a gun prepper if you are just enjoying choosing and stocking a variety of weapons for different tasks. The problem is when someone becomes fixated upon having the biggest baddest gun to the detriment of their food preps and fantasizing about a video game shoot-um up version of societal collapse. Some of these young idiots go out of their way to say they are going to take the stuff from true preppers because they invested all their time and energy in negatively observing our efforts to teach the public to get prepared. Little Johnny Rambo survivalist types will be a scourge, if a community does not in some cases hunt them down and prevent them from robbing others just because they think they can.

Don had many years of experience and formal training that taught him that, generally speaking, most folks will give you the shirt off their back when a disaster occurs and work diligently and kindly to remake a community. Then you got the A-holes who have been waiting for just this kind of moment to loot a store or the sex offender that is going to take advantage of a bad situation to get his jollies. If the poo hits the fan, expect that a big sorting out of society will occur and until the bad eggs and predators are dealt with, it is not going to be safe. It might be a rude awakening for some folks who are unprepared just how nasty humanity can turn if offered the right circumstances.

Don was prepared for his own basic safety and well-being and able to fend for his close family, what was on the minds of others was what worried him, however. Cannibals, Zombies, Mutant Ninja bikers, etc. that other preppers referred to were not the cause for him to worry. It was that simple 100 yard shot that was aimed at him when he was tending his garden, because someone wanted his preps or his garden because they had not prepared for their family. He had long since put away that fear as something you could prepare for, but he was well aware of its potential threat. His personally prepared analogy of the situation was simple:

Make yourself as irreplaceable to others as you can be in the post apocalyptic community. Be ready to form a community or get together like-minded people in order to protect others and be protected by them. Don had already added to his PREPPER LIST the need to add a few dozen more 110 Conibear traps. They were a cheap and effective means to forage for sustenance. The internet survival trapping Guru Bruce “Buckshot” Hemming had always told folks it was the best ONE survival trap ever made.

Don had put the knowledge that age and experience had given him to expand on another notion for his little piece of the woods. He remembered the lessons he had learned in a book he had read called the Rural Ranger that had said similar things regarding traps and snares and had studied in detail the techniques of using this modern day steel body kill trap.

He related well with this authors disdain for the cruel and inhumane leg hold traps often used in the fur industry and never gave them a thought, except to look at their form and function should he ever run across some. What Don had come to realize regarding his neighbors was that people watched animals in their area quite frequently and learned their habits? Whoever he could outlive for a while on this little road would be to some extent extended if he gave them some hope and skills and the use of a few traps.

Trapping is an art. Its different trap set for every animal and environment. But many of his neighbors had been observing the seasons and the squirrels etc. in their own backyards for many years. A lesson or two with Don’s donated traps to the neighbors and some success on their part might just keep the wolf from his door. A sack of grain, a few traps, and a guided hunt or trap line setup run possibly and this clan of the cul-de-sac would keep a civilized mindset and the peace he hoped because everyone should be eating somewhat regular.

He had many more survival skills as well as possible preps to share with friends to insure his safety and security. It was a question of timing. Too early of a conversation and you are letting it be known you got shit they might want, too late and those so called friends are desperate and vindictive because you allowed them to get so low. This was a challenge of timing and disclosure that Don had not decided upon yet.

He had foreseen as well as noticed that when power was out for any length of time, which was when everyone usually was checking on each other or being outside more so they could be engaged in conversation with neighbors. It was the knock at the door as things became worse and the inevitable question of do you have anything to share or spare for a starving family that he dreaded.

Do you just flat out lie to those that come to you to seek your help, how much of your preps would it be advisable or prudent to share? Could you lie to a starving child? Wood smoke and food smells travel long distances. Some of this smell is distributed as a commonplace occurrence now in a circumstance where everyone relies on the same fuel sources. Otherwise, the smell of cooking is a telegraph, a dead give away, a reason you need to post a guard or have caution approaching a neighbors place. Who writes at what time of day or when someone is forced to go begging for food? Who writes the time of day when a desperate father picks up his shotgun with murder in his eye to take by force from a neighbor the food his family so desperately needs? The thread of humanity is a frayed and sometimes indiscernible attachment to morality that can break for any number of reasons.

Group speak as a concept, community, the village or whatever communication form registers in ones conscious, is the basis of civilization and the laws or morals we hold dear to reign in acts of thievery and violence. Humanity survives because we band together and use our wits and talents to overcome adversity as a group. Safety in numbers has always held true in the past as it does today. The reason for this is not physical. It is based on shared knowledge. When to plant, how to craft marketable goods, cures for ills, and sharing of domestic animals etc.: this is what insures a community’s survival. To create a world we all wish to live in is one that requires deep thoughts and open hearts by everyone in cooperating as a community.

3

A Bit Of Permaculture

When Jack and his logging crew began clearing his land, the noise of the excavator and bulldozer brought over one of his neighbors looking to get some similar work done on his own property.

Bobby was a short wiry man of about 60 who owned a couple of small fishponds right at the beginning of the road Don lived on. Bobby was one of those fellas that liked to talk a lot, but Don didn’t mind as he enjoyed finding out about the neighbor and what he knew about the community. It was Bobby who had pointed out the wild huckleberry bushes that grew in abundance in Don’s woods that he didn’t know he’d had before his visit. This time of the year when the leaves hadn’t come out yet on the trees and most bushes foliage made it difficult to identify things, but once Bobby pointed out the unique almost leafless green stems, Don started spotting the bushes for himself everywhere to his delight.

Bobby had said the huckleberry bushes should have had buds or flowers on them already unless perhaps the deer were eating them off. Don and he had decided though that maybe Bobby’s bushes had started to bloom early because his were in direct sunlight in his field, whereas Donald’s were in the shade of the under story of the woods. Deer certainly could be a culprit though. There were tracks and trails all over the place on Donald’s property. Don had spent the mornings of the past three days that it took the crew to clear his land looking over the fresh soil for tracks and signs before the crew showed up for work. Animal signs were everywhere, but he took particular note of the coyote tracks that sometimes followed the deer closely as they moved through the trail system.

So much for any ideas he had about raising and free- ranging some chickens in his backyard. That was okay though; he had been scouring the internet for chicken tractor plans and had about decided he would give one a try to help keep down the weeds and bugs in the orchard he was going to put in. With this many deer about though, he had better start thinking about protecting his orchard from their marauding and had come up with a neat solution. There was a company that made a single wire solar-powered electric fence that came with bait that was going to be his solution. Unlike other fencing, the fence itself does not have to provide a strong barrier. The electric shock that results from the deer touching it acts as a strong psychological barrier, not a physical barrier. Baited and Electrified fencing has been tested and recommended by major universities with a high degree of effectiveness. Deer will be effortlessly attracted to bait stations around your fence. When any deer licks the bait they will receive a mild, safe, yet startling correction that will train the deer to stay clear of that area.

The Wireless Deer Fence is an inventive variation on this type of fencing. The system doesn't use fencing as such, but uses posts that are baited with scented pellets. The deer are attracted to these posts and receive a mild shock, discouraging them from approaching the area in the future. The baited posts are positioned on deer paths, around vulnerable plants, or around special areas like gardens. The deer then avoid the area. (This device is not as effective as wire electric fencing, but it may be enough for your area).

You can buy kits or construct one yourself.

The basic idea is that deer are attracted to bait stations around an electrified fence. When any deer licks the bait, they receive a shock that trains the deer to stay clear of that area. Peanut butter works well or you can use Scent caps. These are metal pop bottle caps with cotton inside them and a strand of soft wire for wrapping around the rope. Apple scent is a concentrated scented liquid inside a squeeze bottle with a lid that enables precise drop-by-drop application.

Some folks use commercial Deer repellant to try to deter deer. Some folks even mix their own formulas. High success rates have been reported using a mixture of 20% eggs and 80% water.

The single rope fence he was going to get should work, but if need be, he had another trick up his sleeve called a 3D fence. It’s two vertical fences of electrified rope set 3 ft. apart. They combine to make a barrier that has both depth and height. The rope is supported by Fiber Rods and /or insulated wood or steel posts. An energizer is connected to the rope to provide the essential pulses that instill fear in deer. Scent caps are attached to the rope at intervals to induce deer to touch the rope with their noses.

Why does a 3-D fence work?

Experts tell us that deer have “landing anxiety” before they decide to jump over something. So, when facing a fence that has height, length and depth (thus 3D) deer are more tentative than with a fence that’s only “2D” (tall/wide but not deep). Why? It seems that the depth perception of species with side-of-the-head eye placement (deer, horses) is less than for species with both eyes in front (cattle, humans). That is why deer are tentative when they see a 3D fence and are likely to stop...slowly walk up to the fence...check the fence with their nose...and receive a strong electric shock. The pain encourages deer to find a less risky “restaurant,” trail or bedding ground.

For his normal garden fence he was going to save his money and just go with a 5 ft. 2”x 4” inch wire mesh. Some folks get 7 ft. deer fencing that is either poly or steel, but that was an expensive proposition he didn’t feel the need for or have the money to consider. His 30 plus years of gardening told him the deer usually stayed out of shorter fences unless they were starving. Deterrents such as a couple pie tins suspended together on a wire so they could rustle was added to this setup and worked well, too.

After the logging crew left, Don set about making a list of Lowe’s store purchases for delivery. He calculated he could fit in 13 raised bed boxes measuring 12` x 4` into the area they had cleared for his garden and he had figured out how many treated 2” x 6”s he would need. He could have used cheaper decking type boards to make his beds, but he figured that since he was going to stay here permanently, he might as well spend a bit extra and get better lumber that would last longer.

He calculated he needed 26 (4 ft) sections and decided to let Lowe’s cut 8 ft. boards down the middle for him. It only cost a quarter a cut to do this and for that price it was a big labor and time saver. Funny how an 8 ft. board is longer than 8 ft., but that’s not a problem as long as they did the cut evenly for him. He figured out what boards he needed for fencing gates and added a few more 4 ft. sections to build some small 4’ x 4’ boxes for his orchard and enclose his berry plants. Lowe’s had a ‘6 months no interest plan’ so he went for it and got all his lumber, gun safe and tiller delivered for 59 bucks. He was going to make damn sure he paid that Lowe’s bill off before the interest kicked in, too. This way he got everything he needed now, but had time to pay for it without getting sucked dry by exorbitant interest charges.

When everything got delivered the next day, he set about building his raised bed garden boxes and nailing them together with outdoor rated ring shank decking nails. He only put two nails in each corner so he could straighten the boxes later and get them more level after he filled them in with dirt. Banging against the boxes with a wheelbarrow while he was filling them was sure to cause some problems he knew, so he left the third nail for last after he completed filling them all. Even having the lumber already cut, it still took him the better part of a day to build and site the boxes in place. He used an old trusty framing hammer for ease of driving a nail and the extra reach it gave him in performing the task. He had Jack deliver him an entire dump truck load of topsoil mixed with composted horse manure for $250. Jack said he would layer it up like lasagna when loading it to help mix the dirt up. After Jack’s driver dumped it, he looked at the huge pile and all the boxes that had to be filled by hand and wished Don good luck jokingly and pulled out wondering if Donald was actually going to attempt the hard task alone.

Don had told him he had an operator’s license for the wheelbarrow, but after a couple hours of moving dirt he started thinking his had expired. It had been a long time since Don had done that much physical labor and it took its toll on him. It took Donald about two and half days to move the 5 tons or more of manure and dirt and he used every bit of it up without totally filling all his boxes. He looked over his raised garden beds with satisfaction and sore arms, but they were filled enough for a start and now ready to plant. Next on the agenda he had Jack bring him a truckload of mulch. Jack had warned him that the pine bark mulch he had was starting to breakdown and compost, but Don said it didn’t matter to him it would work for what he had in mind. He tried moving it by square point shovel at first and soon gave that up and went to the co-op to buy a pitchfork and things went much smoother after that. After moving all that enriched dirt, moving a load of mulch was a dream and easy work in comparison. He put about two or three inches of mulch down between the box rows so he didn’t have to worry about mowing or weeds and was quite surprised when he got to the center of the pile of mulch that it was literally steaming in the cool air from starting to heat up and compost.

He had met an old Nam Vet neighbor named Michael and had asked him about a roll of fencing that was left over after he made a yard for his dogs and purchased it from him. Michael and he had a merry time of getting introduced to one another over a bottle of whiskey and had shared many confidences and gossip about the neighbors on this road. Don asked him if he wanted to make a few extra bucks helping to put up his fence, but both could see scheduling it might be a problem because Michael attended many different veterans’ functions nationwide. Don left the invitation loose and took stock of what fruit and nut trees he had on hand and what was still coming in the mail.

He had planted several bushes about a week ago, 5 beaked hazelnuts around the perimeter of an old Deer stand back in his woods. Often found in the forest under story and along the edges of forests, hazelnut tolerates fairly heavy shade, especially from tall, old trees. It grows best and produces more fruit in full sun. Hazelnut prefers well-drained soil, but can grow on the edges of wet sites. Beaked hazelnut is commercially grown for the edible nuts and used in wildlife habitat plantings to provide cover and nuts, which are eaten by squirrels, deer, grouse and pheasant. American Indians used the nuts picked in early autumn and then stored them until fully ripe; the nuts were then roasted or eaten raw, also the nuts were used in various recipes. They were pounded into cakes with berries, meat, or animal fat and also boiled to extract the oil, which was used as flavoring. The nut's milk was used to cure coughs and colds, to heal cuts, and as an astringent. The wood was fashioned into arrows, fishing traps, hooks, and spoons and the long, flexible shoots were twisted into rope.

This recipe for Witch Hazel Tonic is from The Herb Quarterly (Winter 1994).

First, here are a few paragraphs from the accompanying article on Witch Hazel:

Witch Hazel has a long history of medicinal use, primarily as an antiseptic and an astringent. The herb was listed in the United States Pharmacopoeia of 1882, and it was still listed in the National Formulary as late as 1955. Native Americans applied the leaves and bark as a poultice on painful swellings and tumors and to reduce inflammation. According to James Duke (Handbook of Medicinal Herbs, 1989), the fresh leaves are highly astringent, and were used in tea form by the Cherokee "for colds, fevers, periodic pain, sore throat, and tuberculosis, and to wash sores and wounds." Other tribes used the herb to treat bruises, scratches, bad backs, and sprains, and in a steam bath to relieve rheumatism.

Many of these treatments passed on to the American colonists. In the 19th century, witch hazel extracts of various kinds were used internally and externally to treat myriad conditions, among them burns, diarrhea, dysentery, inflammation, phlebitis, wounds, and ulcers. Witch hazel is still used externally to treat hemorrhoids and varicose veins, and very dilute distilled witch hazel can be used in eye lotions.

Pure witch hazel extract, available in many drugstores and supermarkets, is the most frequently used form of the herb--more than a million gallons are sold each year. Useful as an antiseptic, astringent, or make-up remover, and even providing relief from hemorrhoid pain and bleeding, it is an all-purpose first-aid lotion and cosmetic aid.

Here's the recipe:

Although the Pilgrims' tonic is not as potent as the commercial extract, you can follow this easy recipe and have fun brewing up your own witch hazel remedy:

• Prune one pound of fresh twigs from shrubs as soon as they have flowered. This practice produces the strongest tonic.

• Strip off the leaves and flowers (save these for sachets) and chop the twigs into coarse mulch using either a mechanical mulcher or pruning clippers.

Place the chopped twigs into a two-gallon stainless steel pot.

Cover the twigs with distilled water (available at the supermarket) and bring the contents to a boil.

Reduce heat to simmer, then cover and cook for at least eight hours; add water as needed to cover the mulch.

Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature.

Pour the witch hazel tonic through a funnel containing a cheesecloth filter and into clean plastic squeeze bottles or other suitable, tightly capped containers.

• Use the tonic within a week unless it is kept refrigerated. You can preserve your tonic for long-term room temperature storage by adding nine ounces of vodka or grain alcohol to 23 ounces of tonic. Yield: one gallon.

Warning: Do NOT use internally! Keep out of the reach of children.

I don't know about you, but witch hazel is one of those common household things I've always kept around. According to Reader’s Digest, harvesting the witch hazel yourself beats buying it at the store because commercial processing tends to reduce the effectiveness of the witch hazel.

Witch-hazel Extract

1 lb witch hazel branch tips

Distilled or bottled spring water (not city water) Cheese cloth or cotton cloth and a strainer

Container like Mason jars

Get out your largest stockpot. Cut branch tips from the shrub. Remove any flowers and leaves. You just want the wood. Cut the pieces into mulch with shears and place in the pot. Add just enough water to cover the mulch. Bring the pot to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Let the mixture simmer for about 8 hours.

Add water occasionally during simmering to barely keep the mulch covered. Remove the pot from the heat and let the contents cool to room temperature.

Strain the solids out of the liquid. Pour extract into bottles or jars of choice. Seal tightly.

To extend the shelf life add 1/2 cup rubbing alcohol to every 3 cups of extract.

Pine Toner

2 cups fresh pine needles

1 cup distilled water

½ cup witch hazel

For pine toner, place pine needles in small saucepan with distilled water. Bring water to boil. Allow water to cool completely then remove pine needles. Pine needles can be thrown away. Add witch hazel and stir well. Pour into a clean bottle or other container. Apply to skin with a cotton ball. Store in a cool dark place

Don had chosen two hazelnut cultivars to plant in his so called “forest garden” in front of his house. He had a circular driveway and the center section was thinly wooded and ideal for adding extra trees and bushes in. The cultivars he chose were more productive, smaller and earlier to bear nuts to harvest than the wild ones he had placed in the woods. To this little island of food producing woods he added some Allegheny Chinquapin nuts which appear much like a chestnut seed but are much smaller. The Paw Paw is a true native American fruit tree indigenous to the entire eastern half of America, from Texas to the Great Lakes and down the east coast to Florida. The Paw Paw is rarely seen and hardly known by recent generations, but was a household name for the prebaby boomer generations.

Many old and now forgotten folk songs were sung praising the Paw Paw. Being the largest edible fruit native to America, the Paw Paw is worth singing about and has found some resurgent interest in the past 20 years or so.

The fruit starts out green and in the oblong shape of a mango. It grows 3-6 inches long and ripens into a golden-brown with black splotches. It ripens from midAugust to October and should be soft enough to come off the tree with a gentle squeeze. The ripe Paw Paw will have a pronounced perfumed fragrance. The highly nutritious flesh will have a consistency of custard and a unique flavor, resembling a vanilla banana blend. The Paw Paw tree requires two for good pollination and heavy fruit set. The Paw Paw tree is a small and handsome addition to an edible landscape. The Paw Paw tree is an understory tree in the forest and prefers to be planted in partial sun. Don laughed at himself singing songs about "pickin' up paw paws puttin 'em in a basket." as he planted his patch.

Blueberry bushes run down one side of his driveway and he had mixed in a few thornless blackberries on the other side. Hawthorne trees were strategically placed here and there along his front fence row for hard times food as well as enhancing his security. Europeans used to call these “traveler’s trees” or “bread and cheese trees”. Hawthorne (Crataegus) is deciduous and a member of the rose family. The common name for hawthorne comes from haw, which is an old English word for "hedge." The tree's name simply means "thorny hedge." After the British General Enclosures Act of 1845, hawthorn was used extensively as hedgerow because of its thorny nature and quick growth, angering peasants who no longer could enter the lands they previously roamed at will. Its Latin name, Crataegus, means "hardness", referring to the quality of the wood. Use the leaves, flowers and berries for medicinal and culinary purposes. The berries are collected when ripe and used raw or cooked, or dried whole for use in decoctions, liquid extracts, and tinctures. Harvest the leaf-buds in the early spring for cooking or as a substitute for smoking tobacco. Harvest the flowers in the spring and the berries after they ripen in the fall.

Both ancient and modern herbalists have successfully used hawthorn for its food and health benefits. Modern science shows that hawthorne contains chemical components which are sedative, anti-spasmodic and diuretic. If you intend to use it for medicinal purposes, look for C. laevigata, C. monogyna, or C. pinnatifida, as these hybrids are known best for their medicinal uses. Read how to make a tincture or an infusion using hawthorne flowers or berries.

The hawthorne berry is one of the best cardiac tonics available, and is often used to treat high blood pressure.

Hawthorne berries are used to treat childhood diabetes. See Cautions.

Hawthorne flower tea is a safe diuretic.

Hawthorne berries, dried and crushed and made into a decoction, eases diarrhea and dysentery, kidney inflammations and disorders. See Cautions.

The young hawthorn leaves can be used as a safe, and non-nicotine tobacco substitute for those who desire to quit smoking tobacco. Enhance the flavor and help heal the throat by adding yarrow, mint, coltsfoot or mullein.

Chewing the Hawthorn leaf has been known for centuries as a safe way to give nourishment, revive energy, and a feeling of well-being. That is why it can be used to treat those who have problems with apprehension, insomnia and despondency. Chewing Hawthorn leaves takes away that "tummy grumble" when you’re hungry. That is why the Hawthorne became known as the "bread and cheese" tree, giving as much sustenance as a plate of bread and cheese.

The Hawthorne leaf-buds are good cooked (10 to 20 minutes) and have a similar taste to lima beans. They make a great addition to chilies and soups.

You can make jellies and fruit sauces from the berries, just make sure you strain the sauce. Hawthorne berries contain their own pectin so the sauce or jelly will thicken nicely.

Hawthorne flowers are edible and make an attractive addition to salads and other dishes. Hawthorne seeds can be roasted and used in a manner similar to coffee.

Cautions

Hawthorne is a very powerful herb and in most cases should be taken along with other herbs rather than by itself for medicinal purposes. When dealing with medical conditions, I recommend consultation with a medical professional rather than attempting self-medication.

Hawthorne wood is more prized than oak wood for wood fires, as it burns very hot. A hawthorne wood fire can produce fire that can melt pig iron.

Hawthorne hedgerow is still very evident in Britain and parts of Germany, used as a fence to keep cattle in and people out of private properties. Hedgerow makes a great security fence.

Don had even planted a couple tea trees ( Camellia sinensis var) The Camellia plant genus, from which all forms of tea are harvested, is amazingly resilient and adaptable. When he bought the land, one of the first things he did was use this opportunity to set himself up with a lifetime supply of tea that's as fresh and pure as you can make it. If you want to grow camellias for tea, stick with a Chinese variety, In Latin terms, that's Camellia sinensis var, not to be confused with Camellia assamica, which is an Indian tea; Indian tea plants are less tolerant of the cold. These are really easy plants to grow if winters are warm.

Chinese tea varieties are used for green and oolong teas, while Indian varieties produce black teas—which is good for home growers, considering that most of tea's health benefits have been attributed to green tea.

It takes about two years before the bush is mature enough that you can harvest sufficient tea to brew a reasonable amount, and about five years before the bush reaches the point where you can harvest tea leaves regularly.

To make the tea, you have to pick the two to three newest leaves, and the leaf bud, on each shoot. What you do with those leaves after that will determine whether you end up with green tea or oolong tea (which falls somewhere between green tea and black tea in terms of taste). For green tea, the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences at the University of Florida says to steam or panheat the leaves at 480 to 570 degrees F for 10 to 15 minutes while constantly stirring them to keep them from burning. Then dry the leaves in a standard oven or toaster oven at 212 to 302 degrees for another 10 to 15 minutes, and they're ready to brew.

For oolong tea, you need to allow the leaves to wilt, first in full sun for 30 to 60 minutes then in the shade for another eight to 10 hours. While they're wilting in the shade, you need to stir them once every hour. Bring the leaves inside, and pan-heat them on low heat, between 121 and 149 degrees F for 15 minutes. Oolong tea doesn't need to be dried, as green tea does. Traditionally, the leaves are rolled up, either into thin strips or into tiny balls, preserving the leaves' oils and flavors. As you brew the tea, the leaves unfurl and release their flavor. In China, oolong leaves are customarily brewed two to three times because each steeping process changes the flavor a little bit.

Prepping is a positive step that empowers individuals. The more prepared you are the less stress and anxiety you have. Prepping the way Don did was sort of like part permaculture and part guerilla gardening that would last years after all his stored food ran out. He tried his best to choose things that produced this year or next, but always had an eye to very long term dirt living as he called it. He wanted to be able to go out on any corner of his 3 acres and be able to graze his forest crops if need be while walking his trap line. It was kind of like leaving your refrigerator door open for all the critters in the woods and when need be, setting a trap or snare to let nature pay him back for feeding all the wildlife in the area was the dues he would take. It was to be his symbiotic relationship as caretaker of his farmstead and woods that was based on a simple give and take notion of backyard survival. He gave of his labor and was rewarded with Nature’s diverse bounty that he shared with the creatures of his woods. Normally, Don would say he had a deal with the animals in his woods and they were free to come and go as they please plus have their own farmsteader laboring away and making their lives easier. But they were prey if the SHTf and fair game for the pot otherwise.

He allowed the deer and squirrels, etc. unmolested free reign of the place as long as they stayed out of the vegetable garden and he enjoyed watching and learning from their antics and habits. A Survival or WROL (With Out Rule of Law) situation was totally a different matter though. Everyone had better go to stealth mode then. He knew if he was to be on his own basically for any length of time as an individual prepper, he couldn’t be straying far from his house to hunt and fish unless the neighbors were truly part of his newly formed tribe. He had reviewed all sorts of options on just how that might work out and none of it sounded very good or profitable for him individually as an outcome.

The first few weeks of the grid shutting down wouldn’t be too bad he thought. Folks usually had some food available and were seen outside in the cooler air more. Neighbors spoke to each other during such times and most probably didn’t understand that the lights were not coming back on for years if a solar storm actualy took the grid out. When the cupboards got bare and no relief was in sight though, then the suspicions and folks hiding inside the house would start. Watching the neighbors like the wildlife would indicate how he would make his next steps known. Pretty much everyone on the road he lived on had access to guns and would be trying to hunt to feed themselves if the SHTF. Not the time to be out in the woods, Donald thought.

Deer trails connected every one of the houses around here in some form or fashion if you were used to looking for them and followed them to find out where they lead. He had done a little recon of them on his own and like the deer had followed the easiest paths through the undergrowth and had ghosted by in back of the neighbors houses while exploring the woods in back of his property. He could easily envision his neighbors accidently or intentionally walking up to the back of his house while they were out looking for game or foraging and that gave him a pause of anxiety and a bit of mistrust.

His woods had a lot of green briar vines in them. These grab your clothes and flesh snarl you up vines have lots of strong needle sharp spiky thorns; the plant has broad and heart-shaped leaves. The vine has small, green flowers in the spring, and a blue-black berry from late summer into the spring. Greenbriers (and Catbriers) are good as asparagus, in salad, and cooked by using the young shoots, leaves, and tendrils. If the rootstocks of these vines are crushed and washed, the red powder can be boiled in water to make a "mild jelly," according to the Peterson's guide. This powder can also be mixed half and half with wheat flour to create a "thickening agent," or can be diluted in a liquid (water) to make a cold drink. We've all had run-ins with Green Briars (Smilax rotundifolia) while walking through the woods. You know, those long waxy green vines with nice sharp thorns on them that seem to form natural detours or thickets. They are easy to identify because they are the only vine around here that has both tendrils and thorns. They root in the ground and grow up into shrubs and trees and create a real tangle of thorns that can really slow you down. Well, even Green Briars have a few useful purposes. Their main useful purpose, as far as we are concerned, is that they provide an abundant, nutritious, and easily harvested source of food. Check out a briar patch in the springtime and you will see that the vines are putting on new growth. This new growth is a lighter green than the older part of the vine, and it is soft These young shoots can be pinched off of the vine, just above the first thorn, and eaten on the spot; or they can be collected and then steamed or boiled. They have a flavor kind of like green beans. If you have a little salt and pepper to add to them, they are very tasty. Taste the leaf, if you're fairly certain the plant is a green briar. It tastes slightly bitter, but is edible. You can eat many parts of the plant, which you can cook as stews or soups or eat raw.

The roots may be dug in late fall and throughout the winter when the food source is stored in the large rootstock and heavy feeder roots. To obtain flour, dry the cleaned roots thoroughly, cut them up, pound on the roots, and sift or strain out the fine talc.

This flour may then be used for baking, making jelly, or concocting a drink. The drink is made by adding water, honey or sugar to sweeten, and a small amount of greenbrier flour. It's not very good, and I have not been able to find out if it's healthful or not! But, surely it has to be good for something and I will be researching more!!

When making jelly, only half the usual amount of sugar is needed. Full amounts produce a thick gel. The water turns a dark brown when boiled with the root. A simpler way to make jelly is to add honey, hot water and greenbrier flour, mix. When it cools, it forms a jelly. Judge this plant for yourself. It's worth taking the time to become acquainted.

Don planned on using green briar to divert folks off the trails leading close to his house and towards even more bracken to discourage chance or unwanted encounters. He could put on a pair of heavy gloves and basically barbwire a few areas with these ‘wait a minute vines’ to improve his security in those waiting weeks. He had also planted some very wicked looking Spanish bayonet plants in a couple areas in front of his home where he thought was a likely place someone might want to hide or take cover in. A rose bush here and there also upgraded his security along with some edible prickly pear cactus assured some lanes of travel would not be easy to negotiate.

The fruit orchard was shaping up well. He had fourteen trees in the ground now and he had started looking at those “$100” free offers if you buy $100 worth of merchandise the seed companies put out. He was pretty much decided that now might just be the time to get some insecticidal spray for his trees with one of those coupons and maybe some fruit tree fertilizer spikes for his preps. Won’t be able to find that stuff if the poo hits the fan and he would eventually need to use it anyway he figured.

Dang, too much damn money going out! Always a do something now or pay for it later decision he had to make. He had wanted to go to Florida for one last fun binge this spring. It was only 3 hours away and seemed to be calling his name. If he didn’t go this month, the summer rates would kick in and possibly he would never have the chance again. Best that he give that some clear thoughts, he could afford it, but his preps would suffer a lot if he spent the money on a mini vacation, Don mused.

4

Getting the Itch to Travel

“Good morning!” Don called as he let himself in Janice’s front door. Don had a key to her place and she his and when he was in town it was their custom to have morning coffee together and plan their days.

“Hi! You’re sounding all chipper up for the day this morning. You must have gotten some rest last night.” Janice said, pouring him a cup of coffee.

“No, actually I was up late shooting the breeze with LowBuckPrepper on Skype and had me a few beers. We were discussing how to make alcohol to run cars and such.” Don said as he settled down in a kitchen chair.

“Knowing ya’ll, you talked more about moonshine than you did running engines.” Janice joked at him.

“Actually we didn’t much, did you know you can get a free Federal license to make ethanol for fuel? I am going to look into that deeper. It was a pretty eye opening conversation.” Don advised her.

“I want to see his video of that, if he is going to make one. Didn’t you tell me the other day that any car made after 1983 could be run on a 50/50 mixture of gas and alcohol with no engine conversions?” Janice said, knowing Don appreciated her remembering that tid bit of information.

“I sure did. With gas prices going up and possible shortages on the horizon that is a proposition I want to maybe get into.” Don said adjusting himself for the cat that had just snuck over and decided it wanted to sit on his lap.

“You going to Sam’s Club anytime soon for cat food?” Don asked.

“Maybe Friday, you need anything?” Janice inquired.

“Yea, couple cases of cream of chicken soup to go with those 25 lb. boxes of Rice I bought there last month.” Don said stroking the cat.

“I am glad you turned me onto that so called “comfort food “ of yours. I couldn’t decide what I wanted to eat and combined a boiling bag of rice and a can of that cream of chicken soup and it really hit the spot the other night. I found some with mushrooms in it, by the way.” Janice told him as she settled down in the chair across from him.

“It’s good as a meal or a side dish. Hey, you want me to fertilize those trees for you next time I am up? It’s that time of year again.” Don said, looking out the window at her garden at a pair of Filbert trees.

Filbert orchard nut production increases dramatically after the size of the tree increases, especially when heavily fertilized. The nut from the Filbert (Hazelnut) Tree provided a unique nut food source. There are many brands of nuts available in the supermarket, and the Filbert is very expensive at the grocery store, but can be grown inexpensively with very little maintenance in your garden. The Filbert (Hazelnut) Tree is also called hazelnut in European communities and is one of the popular nuts found under the Christmas tree.

“Yes, I wish you would. I also wish you would have gotten around to pruning those other fruit trees, but yea, I know you were too busy writing books to get around to it.” Janice said, not too kindly.

“Not enough hours in the day. Sorry about that. They’ll be ok though.” Don replied and shooed the cat off his lap so he could wander over to the backdoor to survey the garden better.

“I just don’t have time to help you much this year with your garden and put in mine, too. I am going to grow more than we need anyway, maybe you should just cover most of your beds with plastic and solarize them this year and let the soil rest and get sterilized.” Don said, dreading his ever-growing pile of things on his to do list.

“You got to dig up and transfer that big asparagus bed next to the house to your farm. If I decide to paint the house, I am scared the workers will ruin it, besides you bought all those plants years ago, and last year you put in those asparagus beds out back and they are looking good and healthy.” Janice said bringing back the memories of their joint prepping efforts.

“Those roots gotta be 5 or 6 yrs. old now; most of them were three yrs old when I put them in. I haven’t looked, but I think most survived fine, gotta be over a hundred in there.” Don said thinking it was probably going to take him at least half a day to dig them up.

“I lost track of what all you did, I know you got the all male purple and green hybrids as well as the Martha Washington Asparagus that produces seeds so you might have a bunch of young ones, too.” Janice said pouring Don another cup of coffee.

“I hadn’t thought about volunteer asparagus. How are your other beds doing?” Don replied.

“Oh, they are doing well, you know we didn’t add manure or fertilizer like we said we were going to after the foliage died back this winter.” Janice said reminding him of one more duty they had shirked.

Janice had back problems if she overexerted and Don usually did most of the manual labor, but had just found too many other distractions in the last year and basically left the perennials like asparagus and strawberries to fend for themselves.

“You need to recruit your sister and one of your girlfriends to pitch in if they want some free veggies this year.” Don suggested.

“Well, they mean well, but you know how that goes, it’s never convenient for them when it needs doing now.” Janice said evaluating the possibilities to get some garden help from someone other than Don.

“I got more plants coming in the mail, by the way, for my spread and I got my regular start from seed planting to do for squash and okra, etc.” Don said hinting that he couldn’t be counted on either this year.

“Well, you could just till me up two beds and I can handle the rest. The other beds can just lay fallow, be solarized or planted with some kind of cover crop, but you could take a day here and there and try to help weed the perennials if you would.” Janice said glumly.

“Will do.” Don replied and then hurriedly changed the subject.

“We need to talk about what, if any, preps you want moved up to my place and figure out strategy.” Don said broaching a subject neither of them liked to consider, but one that had to be reckoned with.

“Well, you moved my boxes of holiday food there already.” Janice said referring to her special, more expensive preps like dehydrated canned Turkey and special treats, including a whole canned chicken.

“I left it all in the boxes in case you had a change of plans and wanted to carry it back, which I don’t think you want to do, but it’s packed and ready if you ever decide you need it back here. What do you have excess of or taking up too much space? How about taking those big heavy buckets of wheat?” Don said, mentally trying to envision all the past orders they had received and divided up over the years.

“Yea, take them. I need the space and since I plan on bugging out in your direction I couldn’t carry them anyway. You need to maybe take some of that field gear I got, it’s not too practical for the city and I need to do a rethink on how I will get to you if cars don’t actually work after a solar storm.” Janice said pondering.

“I don’t know, a web belt, canteen etc. is about the only way I see you carrying much extra other than a very light backpack. You could ride your bike in a few days to my place, but you’re leaving a shitload of preps behind. I know the idea is to leave a bunch with your sister in town, but you got logistic problems you haven’t thought out far enough.” Don said, knowing Janice didn’t like to consider some harsh realities. Janice’s mother lived in the same town, but a pretty good distance away and Janice said she wouldn’t bug out and besides there was no room at my place, so her sister would stay and take care of her.

Don could depend on Janice checking on his Mom and sharing supplies if need be because they lived in close proximity, but that just delayed the inevitable of needing to get to the bug out location before it got too wild out there on the road and in Don’s opinion he thought they would wait too long and jeopardize all his plans by making him undertake the journey to come in town to get them and then leave his home unguarded for a period of time.

Now having preps in two locations had a lot of merit. He was constantly in between the country and his Mom’s place and there was no guessing about the odds of being in either place at an opportune moment unless he got a space weather report in time to take proper actions. Two to three hours is the most heads-up time he would have. If he was in the country, it was an hour in and an hour back. That was cutting it too close and he had never seen a woman in the world who could leave a house on 5 minutes notice once someone arrived to leave for somewhere.

Janice had a bug out bag packed as well as had a very useful portion of her preps ready to go in 3 duffel bags. She had a car-top carrier that could be rigged to take even more preps, but just loading stuff would take over an hour, even if Don was there to push it.

His Mom had a stocked pantry full of stuff that he could load in her car if he was given enough time, but he had more than just a niggling feeling most of the available time would be convincing her she had to leave and leave now! Unless of course the yahoos at the emergency broadcast network actually gave useful advice like store water now, etc. and the chances of that happening, his experience and education said was not going to happen.

Hell, during the Civil Defense era everyone was primed and ready to head for a shelter or take precautions. Now, the liberals don’t want to panic anyone by giving them unadulterated truth. Civil defense was dissolved as being unsustainable and un-survivable and people just had apathy about any kind of government warnings to prepare. No, it was up to old Prepper Don to gather his flock and head for the hills based on his own. AND, the big ” IF”, was could he pull it off without his significant others getting him killed trying to help them or forcing him to give up any bug out notions and survive in the city away from his carefully prepared refuge from the apocalypse. He had at best a year to convince them and plan for contingencies. Where to start planning when something had no particular end or beginning was driving him nuts.

Word gets out quick when a shortage or an impending disaster threatens and then many people’s imaginations take over. Watch a gas shortage become worse as people race around town to fill up after being warned not to do that so they don’t cause a crisis by depleting demographic reserves. The cell phone and telephone lines will get overloaded quickly and he had no idea how early the system might actually start getting technical difficulties before the full fledged geomagnetic storm hit. Might be quite before the fact as satellite operators tried to turn them away from the solar flares or change orbits. He ruled out the possibility of being able to talk to his Mom and Janice on the way in from the country to tell them to get ready to come with him and get packed. It’s going to be a three ring circus on the highways as people rush to get home and of course use those damn cell phones while driving anyway to call their loved ones. Ok, so dangerous drivers, possible car failures after the solar storm hits, humm.

Don shuddered as his imagination showed him miles of interstate covered with broken down cars and burning wrecks within hours of notification that this was it, the big Carrington effect NASA had predicted was about to happen.

Well, they say timing is everything and this was one piece of the puzzle that was not going to get revealed until an event actually happened. Don drew a mental circle around the two towns and tried to figure out best case and worst-case scenarios where he would be when the lights went out. Really best case would be sitting at his Mom’s house. That meant he didn’t have to get back up to the city and he had what? At least two weeks to get her moving in the right direction. Humm, what are the conditions third week after a disaster on the road? Well, that could be framed as a research question so what was his hypothesis? What variables were present or not present that he needed to contend with?

First off, you need to consider the state of the subject you are considering, what is the environment, what is their state of mind?

Well, Mom was a product of the depression era, the greatest generation that pitched in collectively during WW II and had been through a few power outages from hurricanes, etc., so mentally and physically meeting her needs were covered for a while.

Janice? How was Janice going to deal with this? Her sister lived within walking distance so they would be at her house. Her other sister, I think, was closer to her Mom so maybe they buddied up. If Janice knew Don was in town, she would be sitting tight waiting on him to come by with a plan. What if he was out of town? Might take her a week? 3 days, maybe, to check on his Mom. Janice’s neighborhood would be having a hen party of

conversations about the disaster and it would be only days the low life’s or homeless that lived in the area would start looking for food and water so folks would be on their guard. I have seen people using the faucet at the gas station on the corner to fill milk jugs when they didn’t pay their water bills or be loitering to bum money. Well, Janice has protection in the form of firearms, but it’s still a couple miles to Mom’s place. The thing we don’t talk about much is the number of gunshots you hear in the adjoining neighborhoods all too frequently anyway. Those angry folks will be settling vendettas amongst themselves for a while depending on how hot or cold it is outside when the geomagnetic storm or EMP takes the grid out.

It appears, if we are all separated, then early movements are better than later ones to get together. The option of waiting things out to move from a “Bug In” situation to a “Bug out” situation is moot if it jeopardizes forming your survival group’s continuity. A force field per se of shared preps, protection and mutual support is needed immediately. The closer you are at the beginning of the event, the stronger you will be when the threat level escalates. How long everyone should act or react is a decision that must be addressed and discussed before hand and a dependable time frame of receiving support or assistance must be arrived at before the fact.

“Don, what are you making faces about? You seem lost in thought and disturbed by something.” Janice said breaking the trance that he had seemed to have gone into.

“The usual Prepper shit, worrying about something I just realized I need an answer to and don’t have yet. Sorry, I think too much about too many things sometimes.” Don said, drinking the dregs of his cold coffee.

“What’s got you worried now?” curious about what weird prepperdom solution or scenario had Don so distracted today.

“Well, I see a bad moon rising in regards to all this traveling around in what will be possibly badlands for us to be able to bunch up and assemble if a solar storm did hit. I just can’t seem to get a handle on my objectives and timing on our movements.” Don said and went back to staring out the window at the bedraggled raised bed garden which he also couldn’t figure out when he would have time to attend to.

“I will see to your Mom’s welfare, don’t you worry. We can get down to you one way or another.” Janice said trying to console him.

“Well, we’ll chat about that subject later. I need to think about a few changes I need to make and some other pressing things to get my mind off it and back to the here and now. I am seriously considering going to Florida, by the way, for a few days, although I know I shouldn’t really be doing it with all the work around these three places to do, let alone the expense.” Don said tentatively and side glancing in her direction.

Janice knew if Don had gone beyond just entertaining the fleeting thought of a trip, to now talking about actually considering it, he most likely was going to go ahead and do it.

“Think it through, there’s a lot going on with you, but maybe you need some away time for yourself.” She offered noncommittally.

“I can think of a hundred reasons for or against me going but I feel like I am overwhelmed and a little vacation might be in order. I know it’s stupid, but hey, I like a road trip once in a while to appreciate what I got when I get back.” Don said grinning.

“That’s one way to look at it, no place like home, huh?” Janice said grinning back.

“More like the lyrics to that old country western song “Where am I going to live at when I get home?” Don quipped.

Don and Janice made small talk after that and said their farewells as he went back to his Mom’s house to make lunch.

5

Getting Ready For A Break

Don had made a mental list of all the things modern and country living required him to do but today he wasn’t as motivated as usual to get things done. He was thinking more about what had to get done to free him up if he was going to actually leave for a few days. NUMBER ONE ON THE LIST WAS SIT DOWN AND WRITE HIS BILLS. Got to get those out of the way first and count his pennies left for his next actions or preps he needed.

Next was friggin’ schoolwork due. He was in the 9th

week of a 10-week semester to get a second Masters he could care less about. He had basically almost finished a doctorate before he had decided to drop out and pursue his other endeavors and the school’s counselor had said to him it made more sense to just drop back and get another degree instead of wasting all that time and money and Don had agreed. The other students in his class were struggling to get ready to turn in their capstone course papers and earn their masters, but Don was just going to dumb down an old Doctorate level paper and turn it in to the school and move on. He wasn’t cheating in any way; he had just done all the work before and considered it an art he had to perform in taking a 55 page PhD paper and turning it into a 21 page psycho babble on Emergency Management applied to Human services at a lower level. No sense in reinventing the wheel for just this course.

He had already got a 100 on his draft paper and although the instructor noted some minor APA edit flaws, she said he would get an A regardless if he turned it in uncorrected, anyway. He had no worry in that direction; it was the last forum question he had to dream up some crap on about how this course gave him three things to be thankful for professionally and personally and another touchy feely set of questions. OH BS, answer honestly, them young pups might learn from him but he couldn’t do that. He wanted to say, I learned to acquire a lifetime of debt from student loans I start paying back in 6 months, I learned that my classmates can be dumb as rocks and still get a degree, most of all I learned to bite my tongue or raise immortal hell to defend my right to my opinions in an academic manner. Enough said on that note, he would just smile and write an acceptable submission and walk on by forever.

Trees and plants were coming in to Janice’s address, expensive ones he didn’t want to lose, but she could just add water to them for few days if needed, until he had a chance to pick them up and plant them at the bug out location.

Don kind of figured since it was the last big spring break of his academic and social life, why not go to Florida? Yea, he was old and not a typical spring breaker, but it was a right of passage and reward he wanted to try one time so he was not regretful for not doing it when he was older and grayer. Dumb idea yea, he probably wouldn’t remember much of why or what he did, but maybe a nice memory would present itself on this new adventure. Florida was usually lucky or good to him and he could get a new storyline idea loosely based on some colorful characters he was sure to meet in his carousing. His

Prepper shack had all brand new locks installed; they worked all on one key now instead of the 12 he used to have to carry around. He had paid his house insurance and wasn’t worried except about a deer munching something in his garden and that he couldn’t help that much anyway until he got his fence up. Oh yea, he could adjust his animal security measures, spread some repellant or cayenne pepper around to make it less flavorful.

“ Ok! Do that chore on the way to the beach; got to go by the place and pick up a couple of things anyways”, he concluded.

Check all the fluid levels on the old truck and make sure to do the same on the return trip. Wash clothes before going, etc., and this proposed trip might just be possible.

Check how long you have been carrying the same ammo in your daily carry piece. I am satisfied. One extra clip in get-home bag? Plus 20 rounds federal in a plastic box? That should be more than enough Don muttered to himself. He! He! Good to go then!

6

The Old Man

Old Max had been living on the hill across the street from Don’s farm for over thirty years. He had seen various folks come and go, owning that piece of dirt Don had bought himself for a while, but this new fella had some gumption about him he must say. That boy reminded him of a woodpecker. When he put his mind to something he would just keep hitting at it until it was done. He kind of had fun watching him wrestle with trying to get his little grubstake together over there. He had given the man his years of wisdom about the land and the road the overanxious fella told him he was going to transform and then merrily and quietly sat back and watched as

knowledgeable old cusses do.

This new landowner was more than respectable enough and Old Max liked that. Came right over, shook his hand and thanked him for being a neighbor before he even moved in a stick of furniture. Had a woman with him too that was sweet as sunshine to his wife. Said she was a nurse of different sorts and that was something he felt blessed by moving in next to them until he found out she was some used to be girlfriend and not a wife or a lover. He’d get to the bottom of that relationship later, but they were close he could see that. This boy wasn’t any greenhorn city boy in regards to knowing country ways... Oh yes, the Man had asked a flurry of questions about what grows here and or don’t just like most slickers do, but he also had plenty of personal stories of growing crops on other land in different counties. Max decided to just wait and see what the new neighbor would do and was rewarded with watching a one-man anthill getting things done. Seems this new guy would pick a task, ask if anybody knew anyone that could do it, and when the answer came back a ‘No,’ he found the best available help on his own and finished the rest with his own two hands. Don might have been a bit slow on the uptake of chasing that wheelbarrow of his around he thought, but the sucker was tenacious and after a sip of coffee and a few drags off a cigarette was a non-stop machine moving the mountains of dirt and mulch he had ordered.

Pretty good ol’ boy too, gave Max some extra tomato plants he had bought and mulch he had, like he had known him fifty years as a regular neighbor. Donald said, they was free and no charge to boot. ‘Might even decide to like that guy,’ Max had been overheard to say.

Max waved at Donald as he pulled out of his drive way headed for Florida. Max then reached over to readjust his radio for the umpteenth time today.

“Sure is a lot of static on the radio today” Max told his wife Betsy.

“News said the sun was acting up again” Betsy replied looking up at it like she might be able to see something wrong with it.

“Never did really understand that space weather crap.” Max said looking in the same direction.

7

Florida Bound

Don was glad to be away from the daily grind of working on his place but couldn’t help himself feeling a bit guilty about the exorbitant trip expense and leaving several things undone around the house.

“Ah, get over it, you got a lot accomplished so far and three days one way or another wouldn’t hurt too much” he mused.

He all of the sudden then perked up, applied his brakes and pulled into an old country store/gas station he had a habit of stopping at on his way to Florida. He stopped in here 7 years ago for coffee with Janice who he had just started to get into prepping. He bought them both one of those little wooden single line complete fishing kits you can find all over the south. You know, the kind that has the line wrapped around a very thin piece of wood and has hook, bobber and sinker already attached for you. They were great for doing some impromptu dock fishing or tying onto the end of a cane pole. He could count the number of trips he had been to Florida since in his glove box as the things accumulated after a visit. He was going to get another one of those for 99 cents, as was his customary addition to his Florida prepper thing; he didn’t really even ask himself why he saw the need to do it anymore. Just a personal good luck quirk he had gotten into the habit of doing.

Today he had other possible items on the list and gravitated towards the cheap tool table that was prominently featured up against one wall of the store and began to happily root around in the pile looking for magnifying glasses. He had been dying to bump into one of these big box jumble of Taiwan tools displays for a month after he came up with what he thought was a great prepper barter item to specialize in storing. He figured if the SHTF did happen, the need for reading glasses and magnifying lenses might increase. People’s vision gets affected if you don’t have a good diet and vitamin count for your body. The need to try to repair small things or get a splinter out of your finger increased exponentially so magnifiers were needed and hey, they could double as fire starters. These cheap Chinese-made magnifying glasses would get scratched easily and were not good for any trying to use for long term reading but they were going to be in demand, he thought, and gathered up 6 of them in different sizes. Hey, at a buck apiece, he figured it wasn’t a waste of money at all. He had already bought several different pairs of cheap reading glasses from a dollar store, too. Hell, he needed them himself oftentimes and they could get used eventually even if he didn’t need to trade them someday.

The clerk looked at him funny when he plopped down on the counter what was probably all the magnifying glasses the store had in stock but didn’t make any comments. Donald carried his bag full of prepper products back to the truck and started reflecting back on the week that had been.

He knew he had been pushing himself too hard and hoped this little trip might do him some good in his outlook and attitude. Being stuck off by himself was sort of fun at first. But then it got kind of lonely and what with all the changes going on both personally and the world had seemed to cause him to start drinking way too much. Oh, he got the work done all right, that was also a good way for him to not touch anything for days as he was just too tired and dehydrated to even study a beer. His old nemesis, Jack Daniels had crept back into his life and Donald wondered why he ever thought about getting back in the ring with that heavy weight champion of the world. Donald liked coke and whisky but the whiskey did not like him. Folks said he changed when he got on that stuff. Donald had a bit of Indian blood in him and that might be part of it, but he figured consuming a bottle of it at a time on an empty stomach might have a lot to do with it, too. He shook his head to himself in humiliation at the thought that he had gone off the deep end a while back and went on a two or three day mind bender drinking from morning and into the night and had almost screwed up his relationship with his favorite neighbors Michael and his girlfriend, Amy. Thankfully, they had overlooked his drunken antics and feeling sorry for himself and let it pass after promising to swear off whiskey for good. Donald had had a girlfriend who had to swear off vodka the same way and if he had been acting half the fool he thought he had been, could relate to how crazy some folks could get.

These two neighbors were great folks to have around and they had sort of just hit it off at the beginning as Donald started to settle into getting his place fixed up. Michael was a retired diesel mechanic and Nam Vet who was sort of a biker and hippie combined. He had helped Donald on several projects and Donald was always amazed at this man’s ingenuity. It was Michael who had showed him the first day they met a really unique way he was getting water for his garden from the creek in back of him.

He had built a removable wooden box that could fit into a lawn tractor trailer and mounted a 30-gallon barrel to the box. His method was to drive his lawnmower down to the creek and use a small emergency sump pump powered by the tractors’ battery to fill the tank. He had a solar trickle charger for the battery when not in use but Donald had donated a Sears Marine battery and a small briefcase size charger to the cause of upgrading the system and seeing just what else Michael could dream up. Donald was blessed with several extra preps from doing manufacturers reviews and would often share some of this wealth by giving it to Michael to help get him more prepped. These gestures, Donald thought, also helped him more than they did Michael in that Michael not only showed him new techniques or uses for an item, but also vastly increased his chances of survival by adding different resources he didn’t have yet like the means to transport water his friend possessed.

Amy was really cool too and had become friends with Janice. Both liked gardening and sharing herb lore so it was a natural thing to see them wander off to the garden, although Donald suspected it was most likely so they could talk about the men folk as ladies are wont to do sometimes. He really shouldn’t always be thinking that way, but Janice liked to talk and it seemed some of his personal business always managed to get out and surprised him at times when mentioned by another person. The ladies were a blessing in his life though and he sought their advice about many things.

8

The Real Day Prepper Show

Donald drove along the highway and considered what all he had to do when got back and the order he wanted to do it in. First thing he needed to do on his way back was stop by the grocery store and get ready for Cat and Lowbuck to stop by next week. Part of the reason Donald had been so stressed out was that he had also been competing against the clock to get ready to be on the NatGeo Dooms Day Prepper show.

“What had he been thinking to agree to that? Donald pondered to himself. He knew though, it was money. He figured being on that show would have made him a lot of book sales and had doubled his efforts and expenses trying to put the dog on for them. The only good thing about the binge he had gone on was he had done enough self-reflection to realize that he had made a seriously bad choice in agreeing to begin with and had politely quit the show. The pressure was just too much for him in itself. They were constantly asking for more pictures of his preps or answer a questionnaire. Jeez, he had to go get Michael and Amy one day to take pictures of his gun

The Real Day Prepper Show

collection because he had no way to do it and the production assistant said she needed them for meeting the next day. Donald had to think really hard about sharing that confidence with the neighbors so soon, but figured if he was going to show his butt to the world he might as well ask and got them to do it.

Donald had about 7 rifles and 5 pistols plus beaucoup ammo and they had looked at him in

astonishment as he brought out enough stuff to support a small infantry squad. All in all it worked out well, as it forced Donald to go all in and show his hand as a confirmed dyed-in-the- wool Prepper. They got to see it all plus a sizable part of his food stash and since he was now all in, discuss the nature of willing to share his preps should the SHTF. Donald and Michael had already had the conversation about how if anyone was to survive some sort of societal collapse that you got to have community to survive. Donald had explained it to Michael quite simply, he said “Who is going to watch my house if I am all alone and out hunting or trapping? I would be willing to work out some sort of mutual aid thing with you since I am prepped better, but I suggest you start buying some extra food now.” The two men had looked at each other and agreed that they would travel this same trail together as simple as that and no theatrics.

Donald also had decided he didn’t want into the limelight of being on for a number of reasons. First off, the Prez was passing so-called National Defense bills left and right labeling Preppers and ex-military possible suspected terrorists. The show was getting too extreme and too wacky making the prepper community look like nut cases so he just opted out before the producers made him look foolish or subversive. He decided to live a quieter and less stressful life and had said he wouldn’t ever consider again

The Real Day Prepper Show

putting his life and preps on film, that is until his buddy LowBuckPrepper (AKA Bubba) of YouTube fame had called him up with an invitation to appear on a show he was creating call Real Day Preppers

(http://realdaypreppers.com/R.D.P.html). This show was unique; it showed Preppers in a positive light and as normal people. Bubba and Donald had been talking for over a year via the prepper community and Donald had agreed to do a show segment with him. This would be the first time they met in person, though, and Donald was really looking forward to it. Bubba and his wife Cat traveled the highways and byways of America in an old motor home talking to real Preppers and sharing information in their documentaries via their web broadcasts to the prepper community. The show was totally supported by its corporate sponsors and viewers financially and was widely acclaimed and honored by its viewers as a no BS survival show that was an asset to the community.

The Preppers interviewed only shared what they wanted to and Bubba made sure no spin was ever put on the representation of the prepper citizen appearing in his film.

LowBuck was interviewing somebody over in Mississippi and they had agreed that since he was this far south that he would cross over to Alabama and fit Don in this trip. Donald figured LowBuck was still driving at least a day out of Mississippi and that he himself would be back in plenty of time to meet him and they could spend a few days doing the show and getting to know each other better.

Donald had given Michael a heads up that LowBuck might be in the area soon and to help out if he showed up before he got back from his trip, or if Donald

The Real Day Prepper Show

ran into any vehicle problems etc. while on his trip that delayed his return.

Traffic began picking up as Donald passed the Florida line and his mind began thinking about the conditions of the road ahead. He was on a pretty good two-lane road but for the last 3 years the 4 lane being built out of Panama City beach had been slowly moving it’s way towards Alabama. Outside of and leading to Vernon had been one messed up stretch of road. If any one vehicle broke down on it you were liable to be spending hours just sitting and waiting to get by. The first of the spring breakers were due this weekend and Donald could tell that some had already managed to ditch class or escape early and begin the time-honored tradition of partying at the beach.

“LOL, I bet I am going to be the oldest spring breaker there”, he chuckled to himself thinking how foolish it was for him to be acting like one of them. Well, not acting like them actually, he was going to the older side of the beach and do his partying with the snowbirds and retirees that frequented the old dive bars that held nostalgic attraction for him.

Might even get lucky and meet me a new lady friend, Don halfheartedly thought with a twinge of remorse about what he found lacking in his life.

Donald had been getting a bit more despondent doing all this prepping and not having anyone in his home to share life with. He was kind of getting burned out on prepping in general, as many folks do that had been living the lifestyle as long as he had been. Many a great YouTube channel had been just no longer added to as Preppers ran out of things to say or just quietly resumed

The Real Day Prepper Show

their lives after reaching their prepping point and moving on.

Donald knew that his angst over prepping at the moment was a very short-term emotion for the day and he would most likely be excitedly explaining prepping to some bar stool buddy within a few hours, but for right now he was not going to think about it. The road ahead was just as bad as he thought it was going to be and paying attention to it and other drivers didn’t let his mind wander much as he carefully navigated his way to his destination.

9

Cat and Bubba

Bubba pulled in the RV Park just outside of Mississippi and looked for the main office. He could have kept on pushing the vehicle on to his next prepper interview location city but it was time for a rest and he had some video tape editing to do anyway. Harley, the bulldog, woke up from his nap in the back of the motor home sensing that a new opportunity to get out and water every bush in sight would soon be presenting itself. Cat scolded the hound to settle down for minute as he began pushing at her to hurry up and get somewhere to put him on his lead and let him out. They had thought about leaving him in the care of one of their friends because this was going to be such a long trip but considering his antics were often part of the show, they had decided to let the boisterous dog in on the adventure.

“You let the dog out and I will go rent us a space for the night.” Bubba said as he wearily opened his door and proceeded to the rental office.

Cat got Harley calm enough to get him out of the RV without pulling her arm off in the process and took him for a walk. About 15 minutes later Bubba came back and said they were set for the night.

“That took a little while, were they busy?” Cat inquired.

“No, they had a lot of trouble with their credit card machine so I ended up just paying cash. They said their WIFI was on the fritz, too, at the moment so I got a small discount.” Bubba told her while wondering how the reception would be on his satellite dish if the local area was having problems.

“Well, Donald said we had some minor solar storms building up this week.” Cat said as they pulled into their parking place.

“Remind me to check space weather or Donald’s handle @SolarPrepper on Twitter for the latest news on anything developing. He hasn’t been tweeting as much as usual, I guess he is busy or is still getting his internet situation under control. You want to cook out tonight or are you ready for a sit-down meal at a restaurant?” Bubba offered.

“I want to go to that Denny’s we saw just up the road, no dishes to do and getting waited on sounds good to me tonight.” Cat replied smiling.

“Sounds good to me, we can walk up there if you want and stretch our legs some.” Bubba replied as he set about making camp.

“Ok, I will see to feeding Harley and then we can go grab us a bite.” Cat said as she set about filling a giant dog dish with chow.

Cat and Bubba walked into the restaurant and were seated by the waitress. After looking over the menu and ordering, Bubba started watching the local news that was being broadcast on one of the restaurants many TVs.

“So that’s what is causing all the internet disturbances, I just caught the tail end of what that announcer was saying but he said NASA warned of radio interference due to increased solar activity. They announced they were supposed to have an update on the 10:00 news.” Bubba said, wondering if this latest solar flare had anything to do with the earthquake report in Mexico that was now being shown on the screen.

Cat’s attention was drawn to the TV screen and she asked Bubba if he thought the earthquake and solar flare were connected as many scientists had already started seeing a pattern in these kinds of events.

“I don’t really know, I have been discussing that subject in depth with Donald for some time. He says, in his opinion, that earthquakes and tsunamis seem to appear directly influenced by geomagnetic storms. I will try to hook up with Donald later this evening and get his take on things.” Bubba said as he relaxed back in his chair and waited on his dinner to come.

“I think he is right. We need to tell our next interviewee we are in around noon tomorrow. We still going to swing by the beach in Biloxi afterwards or do you think we need to start moving in Donald’s direction?” Cat asked as she watched the waitress carrying over their salads.

“David said he was going out of town for a few

days so I guess it wouldn’t do us any good to arrive early if he isn’t around. I wanted to see the place and maybe visit one of those casinos, so I guess we take a day for ourselves before setting out. I think we deserve a little break and we got those free stay coupons.” Bubba said in between bites of his salad and wishing the main course was already there.

“I was looking forward to seeing the beach but not during a solar storm.” Cat said half jokingly.

“It will be fine, Sweetie, oh look, here comes our dinner.” Bubba said thrusting his half-eaten salad to the side and getting ready to pounce on the steak he had ordered.

Cat and Bubba went back to the RV park and after figuring out the internet was just too messed up to deal with, spent the night quietly talking under stars about their plans for the next few days.

They got up the next morning and headed to Hattiesburg, MS. to do their next interview. This next one sounded like fun and not just your typical discuss preps or threats discussions. The guy had set up a biosphere to grow year round food and Donald had told him to take some notes so maybe he could do the same on his property. This was about the longest trip he and Cat had been on except for that long ordeal of a trip Donald had helped him arrange to go visit Bruce Hemming at Buckshots Camp in South Dakota. Cat and he had learned the fine art of survival trapping from Buckshot and that interview had been one of Real Day Preppers Shows most followed and talked about shows. Bruce, AKA Buckshot, was a master at the art of snaring and ran a regular school up there but had invited Bubba and Cat to attend it for free if they would relate the experience to their large base of viewers. Bubba had been sure to buy a few dozen modern commercial snares that Buckshot handmakes in his kitchen and added them to his preps and bug home location.

Most preppers look for and stock a bug out location if able. However, since Bubba was on the road so much, he was already basicaly bugged out and had outfitted his old motor home accordingly and was towing a trailer full of food and emergency supplies. Bubba knew that if faced with a long-term survival situation though, he needed a firmer footing and had plans and a location to bug home to if he needed it as a safe haven to ride out a disastarous national collapse type event..

Bubba and Donald had talked about how it’s odd we Preppers were all doing preps for various reasons, but its something we do for ourselves because we see something foreboding or some type of calamity in the future, none of us is sure what, not the headlines in paper making us aware to do it. Just something it seemed for each individual to be called to do and start down the trail to prepperdom and self-reliance.

They had guessed that every prepper must ask themselves the same question, why are we all here in these forums and watching various types of social media that other Preppers use to share information? How is it we all manage to have formed up and start talking about so many different scenarios together?

Bubba didn’t know the answer to this mystery, but he was sure glad he had a network full of like-minded people he could call upon if he got caught somewhere and couldn’t get back to his bug home place immediately.

10

The Morning After

Donald woke up bleary eyed and slightly hung-over from his little party the night before. He had started wondering why he had thought this trip was going to be such a great idea in the first place. Everything had changed on the beach now it seemed and it wasn’t giving him the joy he thought he might feel at the beginning of this trip. He half heartedly thought about returning home early, but he had already paid the hotel charges for three days and decided to go explore the other end of the beach today and see if any fond memories or places were still around he could visit.

Friggin’ cable was out on his TV it appeared, so he didn’t even get his morning dose of news headlines today. Oh well, probably just as well, he was supposed to be on vacation and not worrying about that crap at the moment. He had forgotten to bring any coffee with him so he wandered outside to his truck and dug around in his get home bag until he found some individual foil packs of instant and just ran some hot water out of the spigot to make himself a quick cup.

Yuck! This stuff tasted awful. He had forgotten just how bad Florida water was on the beach. He forced himself to drink it anyway and did a bit of self-reflecting on which direction life was taking him these days and possibly what he could do to improve upon it. He finally realized that the answers to all these questions were not something he felt like undertaking today and took off in his truck to get to the far end of the beach and work his way slowly back to the hotel. He almost stopped at the old beach bar next to the hotel he was staying at because he knew they had coffee available this early in the morning. But he knew that would lead to a breakfast of beer and he was going to pace himself today better and behave for a while.

He drove all the way down to where one of his favorite hang out spots at the Marina was called the “Treasure Ship” and found it had been torn down. This was too much for his psyche to start the day out with! No! That was a wonderful landmark. What had once been a big seafood restaurant and dockside bar designed to look like a Spanish galleon was no more than an empty lot with a few docks. He had heard that sometime during the past year it had sustained some damage from a fire, but it was such a landmark and crowd attractor surely they would have rebuilt it.

“ Well, I guess I will end up in a bar this morning anyway despite my best intentions not to go sit in one, there isn’t anything else out this way and I want to find out what happened to the Treasure Ship. That being the case, I guess I am destined to do a repeat of yesterday.” Don thought as he pulled into the parking lot of an old working mans beach bar and joined the few morning patrons already saddled up to the bar and a few drinks ahead of him.

Donald placed his order for a Budweiser and looked up to see the TV screen all scratchy and fuzzy. The Barmaid told him the TV had been out since about 11:30 last night and seemed to be a beach wide outage. The scoop on the Restaurant was that it had been torn down 6 months ago, one of the patrons told him as he settled in to gossip and bar chat. The owner was up in age it appears and had just taken the insurance money and razed the place to the ground after really not that major of a fire and put its lot up for sale and retired. Donald hung around for another beer in the now gloomily depressing place and then wandered back out to his truck and considered his next move for the day.

There was another very old wooden Florida bar just across the street that everyone used to put their military unit patches up on the wall in and he decided he would go visit his old unit patches. He knew this wasn’t the greatest thing in the world to be doing this fine day, because that would lead to swapping war stories with someone and more beer drinking. He half heartedly promised himself he would leave after just one or two beers and find something less self destructive to do today as he entered the place. He went inside and found only one other customer around and ordered a draft. He listened to the conversation the bartender and he were having about ham radio signals being so messed up last few days with great interest before joining in the conversation. He knew there was some solar activity predicted this week but it was supposed to be just an M class solar flare at the worst, he told them, and then asked if they had heard anything more or expected with the space weather. The bartender said that before the cable went out that NASA said we had an X1 flare headed our way that they were watching closely but that’s about all that he knew. Donald finished his beer and then started back to the other end of the beach and his hotel room to grab his laptop and check space weather out for himself before going somewhere for an early lunch later after he found out what he could.

“ More than likely I bet the internet is not going to work at that old hotel either today.” Donald thought while pondering where a suitable WiFi location might be.

“ I think I will go gas up my truck first so I don’t have that chore to do on my way out of town day after tomorrow.” he told himself and pulled into the next gas station open.

Donald filled his tank and then grabbed a six-pack of bottled water to carry back to the hotel room with him as well as a small jar of extremely overpriced coffee. The lights in the store flickered once or twice while he was in there and the cashier complained it was all the cable people working on the lines causing the flickers. Donald hoped that was all it was messing with the electricity and hurried back to his truck and towards his hotel to get his laptop and do some web searches. On the way back he had to keep reminding himself that most likely nothing more was going on out here other than a regular glitch in technology systems. However, he wanted to be sure and wanted some confirmation. It would be just his luck about now to be stuck in Florida and a major coronal mass ejection or CME occurred or was about to. Well, this might just give him an excuse to cut his trip short and head on back anyway a bit early. He really wasn’t into chasing nostalgic times in Florida anymore and this vacation was turning into more unwanted stress and a lot less relaxation so far.

“ What if the big one was actually already headed his way? What should he do?” Donald thought as his mind switched over from beach bum to Solar Prepper mode. Well, first thing was to calm down and not sweat the unknown or mentally make up shit about things he knew nothing about yet... Next was to try to get some hard data on the likelihood of a solar storm event occurring and plan from there. His mind raced over a basic drill of what to do if he actually got a real government sponsored forecasted warning and he figured at the very least he would disconnect his battery cables if he didn’t have time to bug home right then. Home! Hell, he would need to get word back to Janice. He resisted the temptation to see if that stupid trac phone cell phone of his had a signal to make the call. Half the time he had trouble with it anyway finding one” Donald thought.

Donald pulled into his hotel and hurriedly started uncasing his laptop while noticing the cable was still out. He got it turned on and sure enough, couldn’t get a connection. He pulled his cell phone out and luckily had a single bar signal and immediately called Janice back in Alabama.

“Hey Janice, checking in with you..” He began before she cut him off.

“Where have you been? I tried calling you last night and a few times today! You told me you would be good about checking in somewhat regular. Anyway have you seen the NEWS about that geomagnetic storm they said was heading our way? Why haven’t you called me sooner?” A somewhat irate but shaken and concerned Janice unloaded on him all at once.

“You can fuss at me later; first tell me what you know about this solar storm.” Donald finally managed to get out.

“They said it was an X2 class and could possibly cause some disruptions to the grid and communications like GPS. NOW where have you been?” Janice said gearing back up before Donald could choke out a question or an answer.

“I am sorry; I got sort of sidetracked playing yesterday. Can you get on the internet for me?” Donald said in what he hoped was a humble enough response.

“I don’t know if I can or not. The cable has been messing up most of the night and this morning. What do you need?” Janice said, put out with him still but willing to help out if she could.

“I need to try and get more info on this Solar Storm; an X2 can turn a lot nastier under certain conditions.” Don replied

“Didn’t you bring your lap top with you? The hotel that you said you were going to stay in has a signal if you are on the right side of it the manager said last time we stayed.” Janice whined.

“I can’t seem to get any connection; I will try it out by the pool before I go hunting a hot spot though, as a thought. Look, I might come home early depending on the news I hear and I am not having much fun anyway.” Donald told her.

“I am sorry you’re not having any fun. You think this solar storm is something we should be worried about?” Janice asked carefully.

“Probably not, just one of the many storms like we had most of this year off and on as the Sun heads for solar maximum in 2013 but I will check it out and give you a call back.” Don said wishing he could hurry up and get off the phone and go find himself a decent internet connection somewhere.

“Well, I got to go into work in one hour, so just leave me a message if you need to and stay safe yourself.” Janice said sensing his impatience to get off the line.

“Will do, you take care and I hope you have a good day at work.” Donald said hanging up his cell phone and then hurrying outside with his laptop to see if he could maybe pick up something. He tried his laptop out by the pool and didn’t get anything but a very weak signal so he went on back to his room to think over his next move. He finally decided to go ahead and load up his truck now in case he decided to leave later on today and it only took him a minute to grab a single bag and his laptop carry case and head out. There was a Waffle House he thought might have internet about 5 miles up the road so he decided that would be his first destination and then he jumped a mile as a power pole transformer blew out about a block away.

“Coincidence? Damn, he sure the hell hoped so!” Donald thought as he gingerly tried to start the truck and was rewarded with it turning over just like it always did.

Donald pulled out of the hotel’s courtyard parking lot and out onto the access road to get over to front beach road and noticed the strong smell of ozone in the air. He was pulling onto Front Beach when he noticed the power lines on the sides of the road had started smoking in some places around the conductors.

“Oh Shit! Game on!” Donald said to himself, not

needing a computer report to read these signs that the grid was going down this minute! First thing to do right now was getting the hell out of dodge and hope no power lines fell burning across the road he was traveling down.” He decided, maneuvering towards the center of the road somewhat.

The little bit of traffic in front of him appeared to not have noticed anything at all. But he knew there would be some knocked out traffic lights up ahead clogging up a major intersection and decided to turn off and try for back beach road even though he wasn’t sure if you could even get to it from where he was at the moment.

“ Damn! Both he and Janice were probably going to have a big laugh at his expense about him racing home like Chicken Little just because he had gotten a little spooked about a normal power outage. However, it also could be that the kind fates had dealt him a good handoff card this time and given him a little mercy in the form of two steps out the door and away from here. He was lucky indeed to be heading out of town at this very moment if it was indeed necessary to escape some major bullshit coming down the pike if the grid was down because of a CME. Donald then began to think about several different scenarios that just now might be starting play out worldwide. He was very grateful to the powers that be, if this was indeed some kind of lucky chance maybe an edge he now possessed to have got a little forewarning and be out on the road already.

Donald was basically navigating by the seat of the pants haphazardly through unknown neighborhoods and streets in the direction of Back Beach Rd. This road lead to the highway he needed to get homeward bound. He became a bit anxious as he pictured how many stoplights would be blacked out and the number of turns he had to make on the streets ahead. Turning right on Back Beach won’t be nothing, but trying to go left over 4 lanes of traffic onto Hwy 79 would be difficult at best and more than likely impossible. He decided he would just proceed straight if it was too bad and then, if necessary, he could go past it and then make a U turn and come back to make his turn, worse case scenario.

“ Uh oh! This isn’t no dream or normal power outage we are dealing with here now!” Donald said observing several stalled 18-wheelers on Back Beach that most likely had their computer controlled engines fried and wouldn’t be moving anymore. Three damn big rigs like that don’t just breakdown all at once in the same general area, no sir. No way! Mr. Sun is the cause of that little gotcha... Traffic was beginning to snarl up but it was at least moving forward, he mused.

“ Way cool! Looks like two motorcycle cops got it under control and are standing out there directing traffic. That’s right, the police station and Chamber of Commerce is right up from this intersection so they got right on it. Good for them and good for me” Donald related to himself as he zoomed over to the left lane as quick as he could to get in the turn lane.

His truck slowly stopped and started towards the intersection and after he was easing around a semi finally made it to the left turn lane where the cop was directing traffic, about another 5 minute wait he got waved on to make his turn and start cruising for home.

“ Hell yea! Donald thought to himself. “On my way now bud, yea, but which way should I be going here? The next town ahead wasn’t anything to worry about traffic light wise. There was a ton of construction going on though. Most likely all that diesel heavy equipment is still running; also seems like most cars are, too. Hard to say though, he hadn’t observed but a couple vehicles that appeared to have broken down so far. This road rarely gets a semi on it, but if anyone is stopped on portions of the two-lane road ahead, it’s going to be a real booger bear to get around. I got a map in the glove box, but I can’t stop to be reading it now. Somewhere to my right is Highway 231 north and that’s all 4-lane heading north straight to Montgomery area where he needed to be. What the hell, let’s see where this road leads me. I know I will eventually have to run into the highway, so lady luck please stay sticking with me on a little detour.”

There wasn’t any traffic hardly to speak of at all on this county road. Donald was making some good time down the road and contemplating his options pretty leisurely now.

“ I need to pull over here somewhere and check the map. Better yet, stop at a store somewhere and ask directions. I bet 99% of the folks in the US don’t have a clue what just happened yet. That is big time to my advantage right now. I got about $170 hard cash on me and if I can find a grocery store on this road somewhere, I can load up on the way home some stuff soon to be in high demand. Mean time let me pull into this wooden, looks like it’s going to fall down, country store and figure out where the hell I am at.

Donald got out of the car and was greeted by an elderly old man who immediately told him it was cash only because the power was out. Donald said that he understood and only needed a few things and the man welcomed him in. When Donald asked how long the power had been out, the man said it had been a few hours and he was thinking about going home soon and shutting the doors.

Donald looked around the small store and wondered to himself just what he would buy knowing the apocalypse was upon him at present. Oil and transmission fluid for that raggedy truck was one thing!

“Is there a regular grocery store up ahead?” Donald asked the man.

“Yea, there is one in Wausau about 15 miles up the road. Where you headed?” The old shopkeeper inquired.

“Montgomery, Alabama” Donald answered digging in his pockets to pay for the oil.

“ Just stay on 77 and you will run into 231 eventually, it twists and turns a bit but just keep following it and you will get there.” the old man said, closing up an old tin cash box and sitting back down on his stool.

Donald got back in his truck and estimated that this little detour was going to cost him only about 40 extra miles max and started thinking about what he was going to be buying if he found a grocery store open.

“ Should have asked that old guy where the seed and feed was also. I guess I can ask up here just as well, whenever I find civilization. Now then, who all knows we are now officially grid down and how extensive is the damage is nationwide. This might just be a localized event like the 1989 solar storm that blacked out Canada's Quebec province for 10 hours, but no, if you think about it, whatever hit the beach was stronger than that one because it took out those 18 wheel tractor-trailer trucks. He had a crank and solar powered radio in the glove box that might have been possibly shielded from EMP effects, but it might not be a good idea to try it at the moment to see if those hardened AM transmitter site signals were getting through from the National Emergency Network. No, definitely do not play with a radio at the moment. Wouldn’t hurt him physically none, but he might be jeopardizing the only form of communication he had by exposing it, if it wasn’t already damaged, to the sun at the moment. Cops in the bigger cities would know a solar storm had taken the power down. There was an emergency law enforcement communication hard-line system that was somewhat shielded from EMP that probably was working. That didn’t do him any good though unless he saw a bunch mobilizing or looking like they were loaded for bear. This was like being in a Twilight Zone episode or something. Not knowing the magnitude of the thing or its effects was messing with his mind. He hoped it was just a localized event but he couldn’t count on that being the case. They got most of their power back on in Canada after 10 hours but this thing had the looks to him of one of those10 year restoration jobs the EMP Commission had speculated on regarding the effects of a massive solar storm. Well, nothing to do at this moment but pretend worse case scenario for now has occurred and carry on as planned. Let’s see, he had been on enough dry run prepping trips to the grocery store to envision what all he should grab and which grocery store isles to start on. He was hesitant to spend any of his cash on bottled water because he didn’t need it himself, but he did think about the many people he might see stranded down the road and mentally committed to buying a case of water so he could share

Damn, I might have a bunch of worries but I know Janice is probably really going through the wringer at the moment. Janice was a dialysis charge nurse and was sure to have at least 9 patients on machines when this crap hit and the power shut down. That meant the staff were trying to manually pump the machines and the damn place didn’t have an emergency generator backup. Just battery operated emergency lights. They are hooked to the main circuitry though. I wonder if they can survive this, being wired like that? Donald mused while looking ahead for the next town to come up.

He pulled the truck into the parking lot of the Piggly Wiggly and walked up to the employees standing outside gabbing.

“You open? “ Don questioned tentatively as he approached the small group.

“What cha needing? We don’t have any power you know. So no credit cards.” an old woman stated.

“I got cash and I will be quick. Just some groceries.” Donald responded.

“Well, if you had said you needed diapers or feminine products, I was going to let you in, but we’re not set up to sell on the registers when the powers out. Sorry.” The woman said curtly.

“Well thanks anyway.” Donald said and went back to his truck.

“ Dang! Should have asked them about another store or where the seed and feed is located.” David thought as he cranked up and then drove to the front of the store to ask for directions out the driver’s side window. They told him the seed and feed was down about 8 blocks and to the right and he left hoping for better luck there in making some purchases. He followed the directions given to him and pulled up in front where two men were sitting on a park bench in front of it.

“Are they open?” Donald asked.

“Yea, I am open. But cash only and no large bills, ok? Powers out.” One of the men responded.

“Great, thanks.” Donald said starting to walk by a vegetable plant sales display when he noticed a box full of little yellow chicks and a couple hutches of black and white rabbits. These critters were not on his shopping list but mighty interesting to contemplate at this moment. He hadn’t got around to building a chicken coup yet nor had he considered raising any meat rabbits. He inquired of the pricing on the chicks and rabbits and ended up with 9 chicks, 4 rabbits, a couple sacks of feed for them each and two bags of high protein feed wheat. He loaded up his truck and took off with the rabbits and chicks residing on the backseat in separate crates.

“ This better be the big one or I am going to look dang foolish having gone on the longest false alarm prepper drill bug out ever.” David thought as he mentally wished those chicks would stop peeping so much and that the rabbits would quit jumping around.

Donald had some lumber next to his shed and an old section of garden fence with which he figured he could knock something together if need be for his newly acquired livestock when he got home, but he wasn’t planning on going directly home at the moment. He really needed to get to his Mom’s house and also coordinate with Janice to figure out their next moves. For him the answer was simple. Everybody gather what you can and move in with him in the country. Convincing his mom and Janice to do it now would be the hard part of it. No, he couldn’t see them bugging out for at least two weeks from now unless something like a fire was threatening their homes at the moment. David had guessed the power lines must be made of some fire retardant material because the only fire or smoke he had seen was at juncture points on the telephone poles. He might as well just resign himself to having to bug out of the city sometime in the future because they were going to be stubborn for now about leaving the city. He would stop off at his own house on the way and drop his chickens and rabbits off with Michael and Amy. Donald had asked himself several times if he was he worn out by the end of the world scenarios he was constantly considering before this trip, now it looked like the fun was just getting started. Even if thinking about that doomer crap all the time did make him a bit batty, it was paying off now and he relaxed as he had a plan for most things.

11

Motoring The Motor Home

Bubba and Kat had awakened early and headed for their next video shoot in Mississippi. The scratchy AM radio in the motorhome before it got out of transmitter range or took a dump, said Arkansas seemed to to be having a series of 7.0 magnitude earthquakes. The only space weather news they gotten in the last 6 hours was that the solar storm was building in strength. They hooked up with Jack, who was their newest real prepper interviewee for the Real Day Prepper Show, around 10:30 this morning and were just starting to shoot when the power suddenly went out. Jack said he had heard off of the Cometwatches YouTube channel that an X2 solar flare was headed our way but nothing else since then. They talked about what the researchers addressing this issue and funded by NASA say that the solar storms that started from March 8 and ended on March 10, 2012 dumped enough energy in Earth’s upper atmosphere to power every residence in New York for two years. The thermosphere lit up like a Christmas tree, it began to glow intensely at infrared wavelengths as the thermostat effect kicked in to the atmosphere. For the three-day period, March 8th through 10th, the news said that the

thermosphere absorbed 26 billion kWh of energy.

“Any way for us to tell if this power outage we are having was caused by a CME?” Jack asked Bubba.

“Sure, just turn on something electronic like this laptop” LowBuck said reaching for his and hitting its ON switch

“See. Nothing, err humm…might be. Maybe something to worry about. Hang on…” Bubba said reaching for his cell phone and popping it open to see if it functioned at all.

“Shit! We are screwed. Got NaDa! Not a damn thing!” Bubba said showing the dark communication device to Cat and Jack and then he looked up at the sky to see if he could observe any phenomenon.

“Ah Man, REALLY?” Jack exclaimed, checking his own cell phone while Cat did the same with hers and then showing each other blank screens...

“Better check on the motor home’s generator, Bubba...” Cat began before both men jumped up and thought screw that and went to see first if their vehicles would start. They both did fire up, thankfully, and the group reassembled after a mild dose of solar storm inspired panic was relieved by the engines functioning properly.

“Are we bugging back or bugging in?” Cat asked hesitantly trying to anticipate either option they were blessed or cursed with.

“You can stay here man!” Jack said a bit too jubilantly because he was thinking about how awesome and useful it would be to have the mighty LowBuckPrepper and his wife Cat the prepper as his post apocalyptic house guests.

“Thanks buddy, hey look, I got to think this thing through for a minute. I will be back in a few.” Bubba said going to his motor home to mix himself a stiff drink.

“I hope y’all stay. That biosphere I built can produce food year round. I know that I am in the suburbs but there is a lot of wildlife around here if you know how to get it.” Jack said as Cat was gathering up the show materials that had just got cut short.

“We will see what Bubba wants to do. Most likely, he will want to bug home as quickly as we can, I am thinking.” Cat replied and then looked over at Bubba coming out of the motor home with a big drink in his hand and walking towards them purposely with something on his mind.

“Jack this is how I see it. I appreciate your offer and kind hospitality but me and cat are about to get the hell out of dodge. I am thinking it’s one hell of a long distance to my bug in location and I would go there now, regardless, but Arkansas is having earthquakes and this shit happening at the same time, so I ain`t going to be crossing that state for a while until the dust settles. Donald’s place is only 5 hours away and we were going to go in that direction anyways. I think I will go and bug in with him for a month or two as I review my options.” Bubba said giving Cat a hug and Harley a pat...

“I hope you all don’t play hell getting there, you know all the street stop lights are out from here to there and traffic will be horrendous.” Jack said disappointedly and hoping to dissuade LowBuck from leaving so soon.

“Exactly, that is why I got to go now. The longer I wait though, the harder it will be, I am thinking, to get out of town and onto the highway. You will see more wrecks on the roads leading to highway exits as more people get out in that screwed up traffic to go retrieve friends and family from somewhere. If I drive careful now, there is a good chance I can get on relatively clear interstate and make some distance.” Bubba explained while picking up his now defunct laptop and offering it to Jack with a grin in a “Here you want it?” gesture...

“Oh gee, thanks LowBuck, just what I always

wanted. Now I got me a new paperweight.” Jack said smiling and reaching for the fried laptop as a memento.

“Not a problem brother. You take care of yourself man!” Bubba said reaching to shake Jacks’ hand and get on the way.

“You too, buddy! Tell Donald to write down your adventure in one of those crazy post apocalyptic books he writes. I’d like to read about that someday.” Jack said laughing.

“Let’s hope we can!” Jack said, a bit more somber but still smiling all the same.

“You ready to Adios, girl?” Bubba said hugging Cat as she walked up beside him and gave him a pat and put her hand on his shoulder.

“As ready as I will ever be!” Cat replied, hugging him back.

“Jack, you take care and stay safe. I hope our roads cross again someday.” Cat said and then leaned forward and hugged his shoulder in a farewell gesture.

“Stop by anytime. Bubba, are you going to try and come back this way if you decide to bug home in the future?” Jack said looking at him pleadingly.

“Definitely man, might even be sooner than you think. Anything preps wise you real short of now to put on my list to try to acquire if I can?” Bubba said looking around to be sure he wasn’t leaving anything behind himself he might need later.

“Nah man, I am a prepper remember, well, least ways I wouldn’t have to check all of the above on a list of essential preps I don’t have like most of the sheeple who will be waiting on FEMA to come by and rescue them.” Jack said looking around his property and already thinking about security.

“That’s good you got some stuff stored. It’s the people who haven’t prepped at all that I am concerned with as for timing when I should come back through this way. I can’t quite get a handle on when I think is the best time to do it though, too many variables. First week, it’s pretty much business as usual for most people after a power outage. Most folks got plenty of food but I don’t know how long the water pressure will last with the water company pumps most likely running on diesel emergency power generator backup, if they are able. Then you got the same thing going on with the sewage system and its pumps running on emergency power.

If everyone is dang lucky, maybe you got some kind of water and services for a bit over two weeks. Of course, everyone is going to be filling every available container they got in the house also during this time if they got any survival sense at all. Hopefully they will also have enough common sense to start boiling it without being told before they drink it. It’s not like the water company can broadcast a boil water sewage contamination warning advisory now, although lots of dumb asses have been known to get sick anyway even when after a hurricane they should know from experience the water might be contaminated.

The first week after a day or two of administration should see different sorts of emergency responses from the cops and hospitals. Both organizations should have been notified in some way on hardened emergency communication lines that this thing is a big deal and batten down the hatches. Most likely the hospitals will be somehow notified first by law enforcement before the CDC gets its act together to do their own notification. The hospitals will be running on emergency power generators, if they can get them started, for a week or so before they need more fuel. The hospital will switch to its catastrophic disaster mode operations and will need increased security to handle what’s headed their way as the parking lot and waiting rooms fill up. No telling when curfew will be officially imposed on all cities and citizens.” Bubba said beginning to outline when he might decide to try to make it to his bug in location or why he would just stay put somewhere a while.

“Do you think that it’s too early to try one of those cheap dollar store AM radios I wrapped in foil to protect them? Donald said that the Emergency Broadcast system was supposed to try to start transmitting once it was safe to do so to make some sort of announcement. He also said the last time they EMP tested one of those transmitter facilities it failed the test and had to be redesigned. I sure hope they fixed those places and they can get a signal out.” Cat asked, thinking this was basically why they had invested in a few of the cheap transistor things. She was going to use one like a canary in a coal mine and save their good radio until they knew it should be safe enough to use it. If a solar cycle was continuing to go on as they were apt to do at times for a week or so. She planned on trying to use one of the throwaway radios as a test and communication device.

“I think we should wait at least 24 hours to try it, because I bet the solar storm is still impacting the ionosphere. We might even find out for ourselves later on when we do get to listen to a radio though, that this was a localized outage caused by a certain way a solar storm interacts with the power company generating electricity around here and that the power plant that uses a different power generation system just a city away is still operating if they maybe undertook some precautions, maybe, like turning off its transformers if NOAA warned it of an inbound solar flare. It’s hard to say though; there is no general rules for geomagnetic storms or government responses to something like this.” Bubba advised.

“I say if it cooked your laptop and our cell phones it was something of catastrophic size that hit us and the fuse box of the world just got tripped.” Jack said resolutely.

“I am afraid you just might be right.” Cat said looking to Bubba for confirmation.

“Yea man, I would say it’s assuredly not a localized event that just happened. But now you got me thinking about what if it was a geographic oriented one? That’s possible too. We know often times its effects are stronger at the poles like for instance the Northern lights are commonplace in Alaska. Or how about if the US got whacked with a geomagnetic storm and Asia didn’t? Chances of that happening would be rare but entirely possible.” Bubba replied and decided not to even fathom that scenario at the moment.

“Ok, then. I will wait till later to open up a radio and try it out... You think we should cap up the fuel tank before we set off?” Cat asked, thinking about the extra 10 gallons of gas they carried on the back of the trailer.

“No, we got plenty of gas to get to Donald’s. Getting back here will be another whole story though.” Bubba thought, mentally cursing the storm for shutting down all the electric operated gas pumps in the Nation.

“You got a plan for dealing with a gas shortage? Or I should say no gas at the pump anywhere scenario?” asked Jack.

“Yea, I sure do as a matter of fact. I don’t know if I can implement it or not, might just get unfeasible to consider but I have what’s called a well bullet to get emergency gas out of in- ground tanks at a station if I can get the tanks covers open. Also there is always barter and I got a few things to trade for gas if someone’s willing.” Bubba replied.

“Going back to when you might expect us to darken your door again, if at all or ever, let me think a second. Second week is basically more of the same as the first week but now many people are low or getting low on food and water. The miscreants of the world are becoming bored behaving themselves and most likely will start doing some petty thievery or minor looting if it looks like just the right chance to get away with it. I doubt they dare do anything during the day because the cops will be out in force and most criminal activity will be only in certain neighborhoods and break-ins at night as opportunity seekers take advantage of the situation. That is sure to trigger curfews but I doubt martial law yet although it’s entirely possible if a mayor or the governor gets jumpy. The National Guard will be mobilized but no telling in what capacity other than an emergency response supportive element for now. Government continuity plans will start and the NG soldiers will be securing governmental offices under a plan for governmental continuity. That’s when it gets tricky because you have state and local organizations setting their own agendas and policies. Since this happened in the middle of the month, some folks have recently cashed their checks and bought groceries, others are finding their food stamps worthless until they take over the grocery stores and ration what’s left. The CDC may or may not use the pre-positioned pallets of drugs, medicines, various equipment and some foodstuffs they have spread around the country to respond to pandemics and other large-scale disasters. If they can keep the emergency generators going by requisition of diesel fuel, then the city still drinks and shits. If not, the big die off and exodus begins. Everyone will be sourcing water in the city or moving towards known natural water resources.

When a city’s water infrastructure quits is when Death puts his hourglass on the table and the sand starts running out for the inhabitants lives it represents. Dehydration, disease and death are the only logical outcome for many poor souls during this turbulent time. People can camp on a riverbank to get water but they will soon foul the area with filth and then what kind of food will they be eating anyway if they hang out there?

The areas around a National Guard water purification unit will have its hangers on, that might be when you first hear about relocation or refugee camps being implemented to take the overload. People will be standing in line to get into them camps, as you well know. It will take FEMA at least 3-4 weeks to mobilize any kind of response to even feed the Guard troops let alone any citizens and that is, if, the big if, if they got enough trucks and fuel to even attempt such a measure on a National scale, which they don’t even pretend to.

Government offices will have plenty of supplies and Congress just might be in a bunker somewhere but average Joe Citizen is going to be on his own for a while with an empty supper table. You know the President will most likely try to take this opportunity to evoke all those nasty presidential emergency powers to strip everyone of their constitutional rights and declare martial law about then.

When he does this, the civil disturbances and riots ought to be about to go full swing and the cities will start burning, I imagine.” LowBuck concluded looking very stern.

“Just that quick, we start sinking in deep doo doo, huh?” Jack said wistfully.

“Afraid so, who knows how low it will go after that?” Bubba said sourly.

“Sounds like the morgues will be full in the upcoming weeks already, let alone when this disaster gets its feet under it and it starts running full steam affecting everything.” Cat said speculatively.

“Hey man, I got to get my butt going. Maybe I can make it to a store that still has its doors open on the way out of town before everyone thinks of the same thing and try to buy some last minute items for the power outage. No, most likely I will keep on driving on down the highway. I got plenty of Preps and supplies so I am heading non stop to Donald’s as of cranking up this motor home.” Bubba said and after a final farewell, put his motor home on the road like a ship leaving an unsafe harbor and headed for open seas to ride out a bad storm.

.

12

Janice Has A Wake Up Call

Janice was frantic and stressed to the max. It had been one hell of a day at the Dialysis clinic when the power went out earlier. Not only did they have the patients to deal with before, after and during this period of medical emergency, she was also late getting out of the clinic because they manually had to backwash pump machines and sterilize them for when the power came back on for reuse. To make matters worse for everyone, the phone lines had been out all day and the ambulances that transported the patients couldn’t be called to pick them up when they were ready. Luckily, a few of the drivers had the aforethought to come back at what was a normal interval of treatment and get them all transported eventually.

Janice wondered if a power pole or something had been hit by a car or tree, feel like that has happened before and they were just taking 99 forever’s to fix it. Right now she was tired, dirty and plain didn’t care, she was just ready to be home. It was 7:30 in the evening and would be getting dark in a half hour. She was reasonably sure she was without power at her house also because one of the ambulance drivers had told her that the lights were out all over the city. She then decided she would swing by her sister’s house on the way home and ask her if she wanted to come over for a beer on the front porch so that they could visit and entertain each other.

She slowly pulled down to her sister’s street address after carefully navigating and avoiding a few close calls with other cars crossing intersections with no traffic lights and was disappointed to find that her sister was not at home.

“ Darn it! Darn it! Well maybe that Lady English professor next door to my house would want to share a bottle of wine or a beer with me this evening. She so needed to put her feet up and relax and unwind after such a long hard day that started at 7:30 this morning. Two of the patients had coded and damn near died because they couldn’t get a call through to an ambulance to take them to a hospital after stabilizing the patients as best they could. She didn’t even know if she was supposed to go in to work tomorrow because she couldn’t see the revised work schedule on the computer. Hell, if a real emergency ever happened she didn’t even know what she was supposed to do. Donald had approached her clinic and offered to review an existing one or create a new emergency plan for the corporation who owned the facility she worked in as part of a project for a Doctoral class in Emergency Business Continuity, but the administrator had turned him down cold by saying he couldn’t because it was a patient privacy and business secrecy policy thing not to allow him access to the facility. Idiots! Donald was a state certified emergency manager already with 2 Master Degrees and (7) graduate certificates in everything emergency management or Hospital Emergency continuity and human services. I think they were just scared how many flaws Donald would have pointed out in their system or management and the clinic’s administrator didn’t want to look bad.” Janice mused as she pulled into her driveway.

Two of the neighbor’s cats as well as her own pet kitty came running to greet her and also were begging to be fed.

“ Hey, kit kats, I will get to you in a minute.” Janice said, blocking the cats from entering the house and her having to deal with the three lovable, but squishable critters in the darkened house trying to swarm around her feet or getting in the way just yet. What’s this? Her sister had left her a note saying she had gone to their Mama’s house to stay the night.

Janice set her bag down and resisted the strong temptation to hit the light switch because she had already noticed all the houses were dark on her street. Navigating her way with a keychain light to her big flashlight and then retrieving and setting out her emergency LED lanterns took a few moments before she could even think of unloading her nurse’s uniform pockets of stethoscope, safety glasses, pens, lights, bandages, etc.

“I wonder how long these stupid lights have been out.” Janice said to herself and opened the fridge to get a less than cold beer out and open it. Bleh! That doesn’t taste that great on first swig. Well, at least it’s not that hot yet, she thought while grimacing after taking another sip and then set about getting the cats dinners ready for them.

When she was all done feeding the cats and had finished most of a cool but not cold can of beer, she remembered she had some freezer packs in the freezer that were still probably frozen enough that she could add to her cooler. I better do something about all my frozen food she decided and wrapped the freezer with an old surplus military wool blanket as well as put a few foodstuffs and some beer in the cooler. Janice pulled her cell phone out to call and invite her neighbor over and noticed its screen was totally black.

“ Damn! When was the last time she had charged this thing? Oh well, she would just walk on over there and visit then.” Janice thought as changed out of her scrubs in the darkened house into some jeans and a clean blouse.

Janice walked over to her friend’s house a couple doors down and although she carried a flashlight she didn’t need it because the moon was bright out tonight and pretty much illuminated the way. She knocked on the door and then waited for a response.

“Hi Betsy! You up for a little lights out party?” Janice asked, wiggling a plastic bag with ice and a six pack in it when she opened the door.

“Sure, Janice, come right on in, I am just sitting here in the dark, taking it easy. Any idea what has caused this power outage?” Betsy asked, motioning Janice in.

“Not off hand I don’t, I have been at work all day and was hoping you would know. Care for a beer?” Janice replied.

“I already have a glass of wine, thanks anyway. I haven’t heard anything. I was grading papers around noon and poof, the power went out.” Betsy related.

“Oh well, hey, later on can I borrow your cell phone for a couple minutes and call my sister? I guess I forgot to charge mine or something.” Janice asked her friend.

“Oh sure you can, it’s in on the charger. I will go get it for you in a minute. We haven’t had a little get together since I guess when the last hurricane knocked the power out for a week.” Betsy said taking a sip from her wine glass.

“Yea, we got to quit meeting like this and try for better days when we got some lights.” Janice said, laughing and having a seat while opening a beer.

“Well, at least the weather’s pretty good this evening. Let me go and get my battery-powered radio out of the van and get us some tunes to listen to. Maybe they have something on the news channel about when they are going to turn the power back on.” Betsy said, walking down the stairs of her porch to retrieve it. Betsy would take off whole summers and camp in her van visiting parks all over the US and had it rigged up for sleeping quarters. The old girl was pretty spry for 62 and enjoyed kayaking and parasailing also.

Betsy resumed her seat and began to fiddle with the radio.

“That’s funny, it won’t come on. I usually keep pretty fresh batteries in it. Oh well, I have some more in the house. You can call your sister while I get more batteries.” Betsy said, leading the way with a flashlight.

“Phone’s right there and I have some more batteries in this drawer.” Betsy said motioning for Janice to retrieve the phone, while she rummaged in the drawer.

Both girls returned to the porch and Janice attempted to call her sister while Betsy was changing the batteries in the radio.

“How do you turn this on?” Janice said extending the phone to Betsy.

“It’s supposed to be on. Let me see it. Can a power surge knock out a phone on a charger?” Betsy said looking puzzled as she tried a few things to try and get it working.

“I don’t know, sounds like maybe it could. You think something ruined your phone?” Janice asked, looking concerned.

“Well, something did. It was working before I plugged it in to charge after breakfast this morning. Could be whatever knocked the power offline, messed my phone up also. Damn! It’s always something isn’t it?” Betsy said disgustedly and went back to changing the batteries in her radio.

“Oh, great! This damn thing is not working either. What is it today?” Betsy exclaimed as she futilely twisted knobs trying to get the radio to play.

A dark realization began to come over Janice. What if a solar storm had struck or EMP had taken the electrical grid down?! “Betsy, have you driven your car today?” Janice asked warily.

“Yea, that’s another reason I am so frustrated with things breaking today. The check engine light came on for no reason and the digital is flashing on the dash, so I guess I will have to take it to the shop in the morning tomorrow.

“We need to go back to my house right this instant, Betsy! We need to try another radio and see if it works. I am afraid I think I know something about how serious whatever happened to the power is and it’s bad, real bad... There is a thing called a solar storm or Carrington event that might have just occurred and it can totally take the entire electrical grid out.” Janice said suddenly standing up and feeling rather panicky.

“You mean something the Sun did? I saw an article online that mentioned we were having a solar flare or storm or something like that, but I thought those things just temporarily messed up GPS systems and some radio communications.” Betsy said, following Janice back to her house worriedly.

“No, it can be much worse than that believe me and I think what has happened is something called a CME or Coronal Mass Ejection. See let me explain. For reasons that are not yet completely understood by scientists (although the currently held theory points to the cause as interaction between magnetic fields), the Sun will often launch bursts of energy out into space via solar flares, which send billions upon billions of charged atoms out into space. Flares originate from sunspots and are rated in power by letter-based classes, with the X-class being the most powerful. This stream of energy continually launched by the Sun into space is known as the solar wind. If there is a particularly strong flare that releases a lot of energy, the burst is then known as a coronal mass ejection (CME). If it was a CME, it will be many years before we get power back. That means the end of the world as we know it is here.” Janice said.

“Really? That bad? What’s this radio we’re looking for going to tell us? Janice, you’re starting to scare me.” Betsy said, all a twitter and edgy.

“I am not meaning to try to scare you, just inform you and I sure hope I am wrong about the cause of this. But that is what happened today I am pretty sure. I think I am right, after all, it has happened before, back in 1800’s all the telegraph lines went down. Ok, here goes nothing.” Janice said and hit the ON switch to the old battery powered transistor radio sitting next to the computer.

They heard NOTHING, not even a little static crackle to indicate the set had some power from the batteries.

“The shit has officially hit the fan, I can say now. We are screwed, Betsy.” Janice told her pointedly.

“What do you mean screwed? Let me try that radio. You mean this radio by not working proves your theory a solar storm destroyed most electronics?” Betsy said nervously, turning the dials over and over like something magic would happen.

“Geomagnetic storms can take out anything dependant on circuitry or electronics. This was a strong storm it seems but not all that strong really because it seems to have had little effect on vehicles engine computers. Well, at least the ones I have seen so far. If it had been just a little bigger solar storm your car wouldn’t have even started at all. ZAP! That would be it. But even if a car runs you won’t be able to get any gas for it. The pumps are all shut down. You had better sit down with me for a while and let’s have a long talk about all the implications of this thing and what we can do about it.” Janice replied, heading for a seat.

“Ok,” squeaked Betsy and she settled into a chair listening as Janice gives her a crash course in prepperdom living and solar storm disaster survival explanations.

13

Speculations

“You didn’t ever finish explaining what you thought might happen to society after 4 weeks?” Cat said looking forward out the windshield of the motor home and helping Bubba navigate through the dangerous intersections.

“Well, obviously, we don’t know exactly what will occur as it will be different for everyone depending on their own personal circumstances. This was one big, nasty surprise that will only keep producing more trials and troubles, though. I am thinking that most people by the fourth week of the power being out will already have had to depend on the kindness of strangers and the competence of government officials the first few weeks so most likely in the fourth week none of that will be happening much anymore.

Most people will be in desperate straits just to find their next meal. A full collapse of the financial and political system has basically just already occurred also to complicate matters more so. Socio-political and economic instability trigger psychological instability or uncertainty, and all this, I believe, will contribute a great deal to rising brutal crime and some full scale looting.

The “every man for himself” syndrome will take over as humanity suffers unless you have access to a close community. I guess this would be the beginning of a “without rule of law” or WROL situation in the country and an attempted Law Enforcement harder crackdown of martial law in the cities. Law enforcement and the National Guard are going to be eating regular and requisitioning food warehouses so there is some rule of law going on but who is to say what form it will take as people grow more desperate and resources get overwhelmed.

The cities will be emptying of those people with a rural place to go to or relatives to stay with and the housing projects will probably go up in flames with turf wars amongst the gangs as arguments heat up over food instead of drugs. Oh, drugs will be a big thing still to now, going to be lots of crazy junkies looking for their fix and not caring how they get it or who they got to go through. Unfortunately, we already know that daily stresses and events of the world today can set off psychological instability, so, certainly, can a mass disaster like this that causes our social networking and power structure to collapse. One thing that causes this is the sense of chaos, resulting in the person’s pervasive sense that “nothing works any more.” So they have lost everything and they mentally lose it.

Regular city people will start leaving for the country in search of food and water because they have an unrealistic view of farms. Lots of bad decisions will be made and people’s misinterpretation of actions or intentions as threats is going to get lots of folks killed as well. Most people won’t have hardly any choices at all but to migrate like locusts to the countryside and find what they can, where they can.

Luckily, we have got enough preps to give us time to carefully assess the situation and choose our best options. I think we are going to stay with Donald at least 8 weeks, maybe through the whole summer even if it makes sense and he don’t mind having us that long. This first winter is going to be the big grim reaper on anyone who survives the coming summer months so bugging back then when less folks are around, might be the answer. We are just going to have to play it by ear for now and stay at Donald’s little safe haven as society unravels.” Bubba said, glad he was finally on the main highway and headed out of the city limits and towards his friend.

“I will feel better when we finally get safely there. Wow! Did you notice the number of trucks and cars stuck on that bypass we just went by?” Cat said, looking at Bubba in disbelief they could be so backed up

“Yea! I couldn’t tell what caused that bad snarl up or if those vehicles were even operating. There are some trucks pulled over up ahead, I bet the solar storm played havoc with all the electronics them things carry.” Bubba said, pointing at three big rigs pulled over on both sides of the road and their befuddled drivers looking at the engines with the hoods raised.

Donald has always said that after the

disappearance of money, law, and government, it’s pretty much apocalypse now and all bets are off. In more other, more practical terms, we can say that the second big die out phase will begin when money is no longer accepted as a means of exchange. We are facing a global famine the like that’s never been seen on this earth. People will be forced to fend for themselves and their families, by any means necessary. Basically, national anarchy and a regression of civilization will be occurring at an astounding rate. Society has broken down irreparably for now and will retrogress into a new Dark Age.

14

Reflections

Donald tried his best to imagine and anticipate what was inexorably going to happen next as the solar storm ran its’ course and dismantled technology as well as civilization as we know it. In the immediate aftermath of a disastrous breakdown of the social order, if you are in an urban area, there will likely be many, many people looking for the same basic things you are when stuff gets scarce. Looting will be rampant and widespread. What Donald like to call the three” C’s” -crime, cults, and craziness would become the order of the day. The world would see an increase in superstition, ignorance, cruelty, and intolerance as people just lost it. The events occurring now are exactly like cascading dominoes; all parts of the collapse have more to do with causality than with chronology, although there is no great distinction to be made between the two in reality.

“ Society will become far more primitive than the one to which we have been accustomed. In the meantime, you need a strategy to get you and your family back to your bug out location and in a timely fashion.” Donald considered as his most pressing issue to wrestle with.

No man is an island he had often lectured; it is crucial to remain connected to a community if one is to survive a breakdown of government. And that’s where the family stronghold comes into play. His place wasn’t that defendable on its own but he could improve on that situation. He had a good supply of prepper resources and a little land to fall back on and that was what was most important.

The greatest “resource” of all to possess, though, will be the knowledge inside one's own head versus having a fortress. People with the information and skills required for supplying themselves and their community with food and shelter, however, can certainly be called the survivalists now, even if a better label like Prepper is used.

It is well-documented fact that Donald studied often in college, that natural and man-made disasters are followed by increases in altruistic behavior and social solidarity so he didn’t see things spinning out of control for some time. A lot of people also had gardens this time of the year and would be spared a lot of hardship because of them.

Those who expected to get by with just their so called “victory type gardens” are unaware, however, of the arithmetic involved to do so. Perhaps some of the misunderstanding is due to the misconception that humans live on “vegetables” in the narrow sense of the word (e.g., in the sense of “green vegetables”). In reality, it is not “vegetables” but grains that are the foundation of human diet. Thousands of years ago, our ancestors took various species of grass and converted them into the plants on which human life now depends. Wheat, rice, corn, barley, rye, oats, sorghum, millet — these are the grasses people eat everyday.

It is these members of the grass family that are used in raising the pigs and cows that are killed as other foods to sustain the body. A diet of strictly green vegetables would be slow starvation; it is grains that supply the thousands of kilocalories that keep us alive from day to day.

By knowing and relating to this basic information to his current situation, he thought it was now very crucial to sacrifice the two bags of feed wheat he had recently bought as soon as possible to the community and try to get his neighbors to help him till and plant Bobby’s land with this life sustaining crop or he couldn’t see very many making it. Bobby had the only good size piece of open land close by and owned a fishpond to boot that he was willing to share if he got something in return for depleting his fish stock.

Donald had already mentioned the possibility of Donald planting wheat as a basic necessity crop after a disaster to him one time when they got on the subject of prepping when Donald had first moved here. Donald had already described various “what if situations” so he felt good about his success in implementing his plans and Bobby’s cooperation. Bread is the staff of life as they say and he was going to insure this community had plenty of it in some form or fashion.

Infrastructure and social order are interdependent to a large extent. The more fully infrastructure is woven into social life, the more difficult it is for human beings to anticipate and prepare for the day when it may come crashing down. Donald’s household would have some basic amenities that many lacked because of his extensive planning to be as self-reliant as he could.

Even though he felt like it darn near sent him over the edge doing all this mental and physical work alone or with very little help, he now felt somehow refreshed and back in control of his destiny again as the time for prepping was over now and the day to day survival game was starting up. He would have lots of time now to work on his various prepper projects, hell, eventually all they would have is time on their hands to devote to trying to improve their positions and try to insure their survival success.

He was glad he had also had the aforethought to stock some decks of playing cards and board games to pass time away in a more leisurely fashion when things settled down a bit. Around the farmstead these simple games would give his family and friends some much needed recreation time as well as help bond them together better and help get their minds off the aftermath of this life changing event and move on to simpler pleasures.

He wished that he could hang around and grill and smoke some of that stuff he had in the freezer with the rest of his neighbors but he had to keep moving when he hit town. He could give some of the meat from his freezer to Michael and ask him and Amy to please clean out his refrigerator as well while he was gone, though. Whew, he could only imagine how the air would smell a week from now in the cities. The stench would be building up as trash wasn’t picked up and the sewer systems backed up. Ok, he would talk to Michael and Amy and remind him LowBuck might be traveling by driving a motor home.

“ What’s up with that big old prepper, anyway? I wonder if he’s still coming my way? Probably not. I suspect he would want to haul ass back to his bug-in location but maybe not. My place is about a thousand miles closer for him to get to and he may just decide to ride the storm out my way if he realizes gas is going to be a big issue as well as some major arteries on highways will be shutdown or impassable. I hope he comes though; I could damn sure use him around my place. It’s not often you could find as good a man and woman as that personally and the prepper knowledge they had between them would fill many books.

Let me consider my course here for a minute, I am 3-4 hours out from my house if I don’t have any traffic problems. Donald mentally added another hour or so travel time to his Mom’s house and mentally dreaded playing hell driving in the traffic entering into that city to get to her.

If that Mr. Lowbuck and crew is on the road and coming in and he left right when the shit hit the fan, that puts him in maybe the same time as me or an hour earlier than me if he doesn’t have any traffic issues or major detours to get around.

“ I best buy us all some beer or something with my little bit of remaining money and plan for some post apocalyptic shindig in a few weeks while I got a chance to maybe find a store open.” Donald thought as he began to look for any kind of store to buy the last batch of alcohol he and LowBuck might see for a while. That might be a good thing for himself, though alcohol sometimes tended to attract odd and strange troubles to him like a magnet sometimes and he knew he had plenty of troubles already to deal with without attracting any more new extra glitches for a while. Poor Lowbuck is going to be lost between two shores if he does visit though; it’s a long way home for him.

15

Doggy Delights

“We are about an hour out from Donald’s house, if I am guessing correctly from this map.” Cat said looking up from her navigating duties now that the GPS was dead.

“I hope it stays this smooth driving, I wasn’t realizing how close he was to Jacks’ or how good the condition of this highway may have been when I said I hoped to get there before dark. If you see any kind of a store at all that looks open lets stop and spend what green cash we have on whatever we can get before its fiat value is considered worthless for buying stuff.” Bubba said, slowing down a little and searching the landscape for a place.

“ Buy a lot of dog chow if you can, weaning this beast of ours off of a bowl full whenever he wants it is going to be tough.” she said, half grinning as she rubbed Harley’s head but worried his diet would soon change as drastically theirs and would often have to be hungry.

“I got about 125 lbs. of food on the trailer for him but you’re right, he has got to start on lighter rations quick enough. Well, you his mamma, make him some of them dog cookies out of our wheat stores you make sometimes and supplement what food we have for him with what we got on hand otherwise.” Bubba said smiling, he would eat them things to himself if he had to, they were sort of like hard tack he guessed and was willing to give it a try.

Whole Wheat Dog Biscuits

• Prep: 15 min. Bake: 20 min.

• Yield: 30 Servings

Ingredients

2-1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 cup toasted wheat germ

1 garlic clove, crushed

4 tablespoons butter, cubed

1 egg, beaten

1/4 cup milk

1 tablespoon molasses

Water

Directions

Combine flour, wheat germ and garlic in a large bowl. Cut in butter. Stir in egg, milk and molasses. Add enough water so mixture can be shaped into a ball. Roll dough onto a floured surface to a thickness of 1/2 inch. Cut into desired shapes and place on a greased baking Cut into desired shapes and place on a greased baking 1/2 dozen.

Nutritional Facts 1 serving (1 each) equals 56 calories, 2 g fat (trace saturated fat), 7 mg cholesterol, 22 mg sodium, 8 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 2 g protein.

Birthday Bones

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole wheat flour

• 1 tablespoon baking powder

• 1 cup unsalted natural peanut butter

• 1 cup skim milk

Original Recipe Yield18 treats

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. Stir together the flour and baking powder; set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, mix together the peanut butter and milk. Stir in the flour mixture until well blended. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness and cut into shapes using cookie cutters. Place 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.

3. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly brown. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.

“He loves both of those mutt munchies recipes. I will have to make us some ships’ biscuit or hard tack if we can get enough wheat to make some flour out of for iron rations. Grab whatever prepackaged enriched flour we can get too. It won’t be going bad anytime soon as much as I anticipate us needing it at the moment. Can Donald grow wheat?” Cat asked unsure of just what Donald’s climate and arable land would support.

“I never talked to him about it, I know he was

experimenting with some Moringa trees and also had some soybeans and a peanut patch growing.” Bubba said before going on to explain what a Moringa tree is.

Moringa is considered to be the most nutrient rich plant on earth. Moringa leaves have been consumed by Asian people for millennia as a healthy food product. Containing more than 90 nutrients and 46 antioxidants, these vivid green leaves are nature’s super-power food

What is Moringa?

Moringa Oleifera is the best known of the thirteen species of the genus Moringaceae. Moringa was highly valued in the ancient world. The Romans, Greeks and Egyptians extracted edible oil from the seeds and used it for perfume and skin lotion. In the 19th century, plantations of Moringa in the West Indies exported the oil to Europe for perfumes and lubricants for machinery. People in the Indian sub-continent have long used Moringa pods for food. The edible leaves are eaten throughout West Africa and parts of Asia. Moringa is more than a super food. It is a food and commercial resource that can change people’s lives. In Comparable Amounts (gram per gram) Moringa contains more vitamin C than oranges, three times the iron of spinach, and four times the calcium of milk. The leaves are the most nutritious part of the plant. Moringa trees have been used to combat malnutrition, especially among infants and nursing mothers, being a significant source of beta-carotene, Vitamin C, protein, iron, and potassium The leaves are cooked and used like spinach. In addition to being used fresh as a substitute for spinach, its leaves are commonly dried and crushed into a powder, and used in soups and sauces. Although you can cook with Moringa, if it is exposed to temperatures above 140 degrees Fahrenheit some of the nutritional value will be lost. The tree is a good source of calcium and phosphorus.

Moringa leaves and pods are helpful in increasing breast milk. One tablespoon of leaf powder provides 14% of the protein, 40% of the calcium, 23% of the iron and most of the vitamin A needs of a child aged one to three. Six tablespoons of leaf powder will provide nearly all of a woman's daily iron and calcium needs during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

The Moringa seeds yield 38–40% edible oil (called ben oil from the high concentration of behenic acid contained in the oil). The refined oil is clear and odorless and resists rancidity at least as well as any other botanical oil. The seed cake remaining after oil extraction may be used as a fertilizer or as a flocculent to purify water. The bark, sap, roots, leaves, seeds, oil, and flowers are used in traditional medicine in several countries. In Jamaica, the sap is used for a blue dye.

The flowers are also cooked and relished as a delicacy in West Bengal and Bangladesh, especially during early spring.

“Wow, I never heard of this plant before. That is one very useful tree to have around!” Cat exclaimed, trying to picture one.

“Yea, it is, I just hope we don’t have to end up depending on eating lots of different plants to survive. I don’t know what this solar storm is going to do with the weather but I am sure I won’t think it’s very nice.” Bubba said, speeding up to take advantage of a clear stretch of road

“We will be getting to Donald’s place pretty soon now. You think he is there?” Cat asked.

“He is supposed to be there or be on his way to get there. He told me where to find a key if he wasn’t about, so I guess we are fine either way. He will get in sometime today or tomorrow, I imagine, if he doesn’t have trouble with traffic or is experiencing car problems.” Bubba told his wife.

16

Fair Thee Wells

Betsy looked overwhelmed and flabbergasted as the full impact of Janice’s little speech about solar disasters sunk in.

“SO YOU DON’T THINK THEY WILL GET THE POWER BACK ON FOR YEARS?” Betsy said, appalled at the notion, her mind reeling as she fought back a creeping panic.

“Possible, I suggest that you bug out to that friend of yours Steve’s place in the mountains as soon as you can. Travel is just going to get a little rougher and harder every day that passes from now on.” Janice counseled her distraught friend.

“I’m sorry to say that I think you are right in your predictions, looks like I got me some serious packing to do. What are you going to do, are you leaving for somewhere also?” Betsy asked Janice.

“Good question. First thing I am going to do is go check on Donald’s mom and then mine to see if they are safe. I got to get them aware of this situation and do some kind of strategic planning for them and with them. I think Donald is supposed to be coming back today, but no telling how long it will take him to get here from Florida or when he left there. I sure hope he comes in today and doesn’t decide to stay over at the farm waiting on us to come to him for some reason. I bet he comes in town as quick as he can though, he is pretty responsible when it comes to checking on his mother.” Janice told her after contemplating how to second-guess Donald’s

methodology and timing.

“Are you going down to his place in the country to ride this storm out?” Betsy asked.

“Well, I am supposed to be going to Donald’s and bugging out with him, but I think I might just hang out with the family in Ramer for awhile and see my sister and mom settled in. It depends on conditions how long I wait to move in his direction. I know this change in plans will upset him at first, but I think he will try to understand and be supportive.” Janice said, dreading telling Donald she would not be in his bug out convoy as they had rehearsed over and over before when playing out mental scenarios or drills how to get out of the city after a big disaster.

“Oh, I don’t think you are giving him enough credit. He will see your concerns and it will be ok.” Betsy said reassuringly.

“I don’t know, I think he might feel a bit betrayed by me and my preps going a different way, but you’re right; he will most likely get over it and just tell me to try to hurry to his place when I can see my way clear.” Janice responded a bit hesitatingly.

“He loves you a lot. Everything will turn out ok.” Betsy said trying to reassure her.

“Look, I got some packing to do if I am heading out early tomorrow morning. I will stop by later this evening and say my farewells, but I think it is best I get started back to my house now.” Betsy tearfully told Janice and then gave her friend a huge bear hug before they parted to ready for their separate bugging out packing preparations.

“ Hell, I don’t even know where to start organizing on that mountain of preps in my spare room. There was no way even amongst three vehicles she could possibly move everything she and Donald had amassed and he had helped her store in that room. I feel guilty too, I never really got around to breaking down my food stores into reasonable size or content units. I got cases of one thing, mixed cases of dissimilar food stores, partial cases, etc., so evenly dividing it based on content is out of the question at the moment. First things first I guess. I will put Donald’s extra bug out bag and weapons on the couch by the front door along with mine to be the first things grabbed and ready to go. She never had figured out just how many supplies or bug out bags Donald actually had, but she knew he probably had a bunch of crap over at his mom’s house too that would take up a lot of room in his mom’s car. Donald! Donald where are you at, my boy? I hope you’re safe. Hell, I know you’re safe, probably having the time of your life too, plotting and scheming how you’re going to get us all and a few adopt-a-puppies or strays safely through this might- be apocalypse. Well, you called this bugaboo dead-on, nobody will be nay saying you now.” Janice said to herself bitterly and set about prioritizing her preps for movement. Preps she had, time was another matter. Time to kick it into high gear and just getter done!

A few hours later a knock came on Janice’s front door and she put on a false front and cheerfulness as she let Betsy in, after spying through her peephole and recognizing her outline and voice.

“Well, I got about as much done as I am going to tonight. You want to sit on the porch and finish that drink we were having?” Janice said to a hot and tired Betsy.

“That sounds good. I got my van loaded. Wish I could take some of that gas I got in my car with me, but I don’t have a container for it.” Betsy bemoaned.

“You can dump the oil gas mixture out of that can Donald has for the weed eater and tiller and take it with you.” Janice offered, remembering she had a full five gallon jerry can of stabilized gas stored for herself in the shed and smiled to herself at the memory of her Donald insisting last month that it had to be filled and wishing he were here to help her load it into her car.

“Where should I dump it? In the sewer maybe?” Betsy asked.

“No, there is a big ant hill out back by the garden you can dump it on and get rid of those pests. Not much left in that can anyway, I don’t think. You got a siphon hose?” Janice responded.

“Yea, I got an emergency siphon in my van. You sure it won’t hurt your garden?” Betsy asked.

“It won’t hurt anything, that anthill is some distance from my raised beds. I guess I will leave the garden with Mary if she wants it, might help her get by. Oh, Betsy, I feel so guilty about leaving so many friends in the city, but there is nothing else I can see to do.” Janice said tearing up and both women beginning to cry.

“All we can do is to be offering up some prayers for them now, I suppose, and try to survive for ourselves as best we can. Mary is a tough old bird anyway, I am sure she will do fine by herself.” Betsy said sniveling a bit and trying to dry her eyes as they discussed one of their favorite neighbors neither of them had contacted yet with the disastrous news they now possessed and fretted over.

17

Mental Misery

Donald began to think back on all his college courses and the various FEMA training he had taken in emergency management over the years to try and figure out the prevailing human factors that were soon going to impact him and the world in the weeks to come. Culture and religion have always come to the forefront when trying to predict conflicts or mental attitudes and stressors. The mental health of those around him was a huge concern of his to take into account right now. He already had a pretty good understanding of the effects of Post Traumatic Stress from his own first hand experiences and that would of course be on the rise and be a more prevalent mental health issue amongst the populace now. The adverse effects of separation and major dislocation on mental and physical health would soon be a commonplace malady everyone was contending with.

Mental Health: The shock of so many disruptions, so much anxiety, sickness, death and grief will cause high levels of stress for even the most resilient parent or neighborhood. Before the solar storm hit, every community included adults and kids with the full range of mental health strengths, weaknesses and most of the common mental disorders. I want the reader to be aware that the 1% that cause 80% of crime on a normal day will increase to at least a 3% figure as they become more and more desperate or bold in an extended emergency event.

The first rule of survival is “don’t panic”. You must take stock of your situation.

This survival mnemonic will assist you to avoid immediate panic:

S Size up the situation.

U Undue haste makes waste.

R Remember where you are.

V Vanquish fear and panic.

I Improvise.

V Value living.

A Act like the locals.

L Lean on your basic skills.

ACTIONS BY SURVIVORS

While a survival situation will be a traumatic experience for most people, the effects it will have will depend on circumstances. For instance, being stranded in an environment where the basic requirements for survival are available will not be as traumatic as in a harsh environment containing no visible signs of the basic requirements for survival.

Stress and Survivors

Survivors will face many stresses that can lessen the will to survive. It is necessary to understand that stress is simply our reaction to pressure. Too much stress will lead to distress, resulting in anti-social behavior, angry outbursts, an inability to get on with others, difficulty making decisions, an inability to accept responsibility and eventually withdrawal from the group.

Common Stressors and Reactions

The most important stressors in a survival situation include injury, illness, death and uncertainty, lack of control, environment, hunger, thirst, fatigue and isolation. These are natural reactions to stress that need to be recognized, expected and for which strategic interventions need to be implemented. These include fear, anxiety, anger, frustration and depression. It is important you do not over-react, don’t panic and remain as calm as possible and remain focused on survival.

Initial Critical Reactions

Do recognize that you are in a survival situation and don’t be afraid to make an honest appraisal of the situation for yourself. Get your thoughts on track by employing the survival mnemonic and recognize any survival stressors that may be present that you can tackle. Overcome any negative attitude assumptions and adopt a positive attitude.

Remember your life and the lives of others who are relying on you to do your share are at stake.

When groups attempt to function under severe stress for an extended period of time, or when they are traumatized, a predictable process occurs: the group and its members fixate on the cause of the threat or the traumatic event and self-destructive interpersonal dynamics develop in the group.

One of the most destructive of these dynamics is fragmentation. Subgroups form along “cultural fault lines.” The less integrated and more diverse the group, the deeper and wider the fault lines. These fractures bring to the fore pre-existing conflicts or tensions arising from differences of religion, ethnicity, culture, language, geography, age, work style, or status.

Much research, discourse and controversy becomes apparent when studying so called “Hurricane Cultures”. These are cultures of people that were raised or conduct their business daily where hurricanes have a predictable likelihood of occurring. Some say these people have become inoculated to the effects of this type of experience through first or second hand experience. One such hurricane culture place is Cuba.

In "Winds of Change: Hurricanes and the Transformation of Nineteenth-Century Cuba" (UNC Press, 2001), Perez, a New York native whose grandfather was born in Cuba, examines questions about national character and recurring calamities. "What makes the French French? What makes Americans Americans? One factor is environment -- weather patterns, famine, harsh climates, earthquakes, floods are all assimilated into cultural characteristics," he said.

This argument is true of any community facing a recurring threat of calamity, he added. "People who live under the shadow of volcanoes or monsoons live in a culture of calamity. What’s fascinating to me is how these cultures begin to adapt to the possibility of catastrophe and to assimilate the peril into their everyday lives.”

In Cuba, Perez said, hurricanes have created an overriding sense of being subjected to forces beyond one’s control. "Many people say, ‘Why spend too much time thinking about the future? Why not live for the moment?’" he said. "But this has also created a culture of people who are conscious of the need for cooperation and

collaboration; every year, communities must work together to develop the skills and attitudes necessary to prevail. Otherwise, they’ll perish. So there’s a cultural emphasis on community unity in crisis and heroism."

http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/nov01/perez112901.ht m

A person’s religion also affects how individuals in the same community view their circumstances. A recent article discussing race and religion in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina posed these questions.

“How do evangelicals and fundamentalists process the racial components of the disaster? Will

Fundamentalists and Evangelicals regard for New Orleans as a sinful city impede the rebuilding process?”

That some people view the storm as Gods’ wrath or give thanks for their salvation is a very interesting anomaly of different cultures. A lot of those churches with food pantries will be wielding a lot of power and influence for better or worse.

The views of why disasters happen and the role of God regarding them have been debated for centuries. One of the most famous historical accounts of how this mental process works was the account of the Lisbon earthquake.

The Lisbon disaster of November 1, 1755, began as an earthquake in the bottom of the sea near the port city of Lisbon, Portugal. Lisbon was struck with violent shocks, followed by a tsunami with eighteen-foot waves at Lisbon and sixty-foot waves at Cadiz, Spain. A fire lasting six days gutted many buildings in Lisbon. As the result of the earthquake, the giant waves washing ashore, and the prolonged fire, large public buildings and 20,000 dwellings were lost. 60,000 people died in Lisbon from drowning, burning, suffocation, dehydration, starvation, disease, exposure, looting, and crushing from collapsing buildings and falling debris. Many others died elsewhere from the tsunami.

Throughout Europe, people began asking, "Why does God allow natural disasters in which many people are killed?", "If God has infinite power and God is good, why did he allow the Lisbon earthquake to happen?", "Perhaps God is good, but doesn't have the power to prevent natural disasters.", "Perhaps God has the power but doesn't care.", "Perhaps it is not God's policy to interfere with nature.", "Perhaps the people of Lisbon were evil and had it coming.", "It is not fair for Lisbon to be destroyed while many other cities were untouched." All these questions, pat answers, speculations, and complaints had a hollow ring.

This was the situation in which the professional philosophers stepped up to the podium to have their say.

The way various members of a religious sect or group view themselves as well as how much assistance is expected from their organized religion is a very interesting insight into the cultural aspects of disaster. This next case demonstrates the difference between “demand" religions compared with "assistance" religions.

Regular exposure to hurricanes, and vulnerability to volcanic and earthquake hazard threats, makes the Fijian islands an appropriate group to study, particularly because the occurrence of a disaster is often accompanied by substantial foreign aid and assistance. Irrespective of its altruistic intentions, unless this aid is designed in a manner consistent with community and cultural needs, it may, rather than assisting recovery, produce responsegenerated demands (Quarantelli, 1985) that compound community problems. Two problems with external aid provision are readily apparent. Firstly, aid practices and procedures, particularly those aimed at mitigating mental health consequences, are often developed in a cultural context that differs substantially from that prevailing within the affected country. This raises questions ranging from the validity of theoretical constructs and intervention procedures to the degree of cultural safety afforded by their use. Secondly, the ad hoc nature of intervention, largely as a consequence of the unpredictable (with respect to time, place, severity, etc.) nature of disasters, typically precludes attempts to identify the vulnerability characteristics that must be accommodated within culturally-safe interventions and which need to be considered if attempting to develop resilient communities (an important issue in countries like Fiji where natural disasters occur frequently).

Some 94% of Fijian Christians expected their church to render assistance to them. There was a confident anticipation that the church would "get them back on their feet" no matter how severe the damage. Reports of the last hurricane included stories of the church building new houses for members whose homes were destroyed. The church often supplied members with food and provisions over and above standard government aid. There was a strong belief that relief money was no obstacle for the church and that a high level of competent support could be expected. With the availability of foreign aid (from overseas Christian Churches), the Christian organizations of Fiji are able to provide good support on all levels, including reconstruction of housing, relocation, limited financial aid, and household food and supplies. Members of the Christian Church do not have any demands placed upon them apart from attending church and their usual church duties. The Christian Church can be classified as providing an "assistance" environment”.

While still anticipating some assistance, the expectations of members of Islamic Mosques and Hindu Temples were lower than those of their Christian counterparts. After a disaster, some 75% of Hindus and 63% of Muslims expected assistance to be forthcoming from their Temple or Mosque. Stress reactions could be exacerbated or compounded if this support fails to materialize or falls short of expectations.

Another difference between Christians, Hindus and Muslims was evident in regard to the expectations on the part of their respective religious centers to require and request assistance from its members. Hindus and Muslims are expected to provide manual labor (particularly by trades persons), food supplies (for the Mosque staff and Temple committees as well as the poorer of their members), building provisions (for the Mosques, Temples and their poorer members), and financial aid. Due to limited resources, Muslim Mosques and Hindu Temples come under the "demand" category of post disaster interaction. That is, the members of these organizations are expected to make contributions toward the repair and continuation of their Mosques and Temples, as well as providing support and assistance to their poorer fellow members. Operating within a "demand" environment may increase the psychological vulnerability of members of these religious denominations.

On the basis of these observations, membership of the Hindu and Muslim religions could constitute a response-generated demand. We could thus anticipate higher levels of post disaster stress amongst members of "demand" religions compared with "assistance" religions.

The unavailability of traditional funeral services was also to be sure to impact society’s mental health now that they would soon, for the most part, be to difficult to arrange.

Public rituals around death strengthen the social bonds with the hope of shared survival. Such acts fight off death through continuity of the social group: funerals give the members of society the impression that death is culturally controlled and regulated; they help society confront the death of its members and mend the trauma of loss.

The ambulance companies and mortuary services will be overtaxed and consequently corpses cannot be taken from houses or streets, in some cases it will be shocking to have the departed unnoticed or unattended for several days or weeks or unceremoniously loaded onto a flat bed truck for deposit in a mass grave.

The next time tragedy strikes, and this mess we are about to go through is far from over yet, people best remember the old Aesop fable of the grasshopper and the ant because big government can’t and won’t bail them out! We all need to ponder about personal and family issues such as how to do things for ourselves like treat the sick and manage without some of the usual conveniences and supplies we take for granted or think a trip to the corner store will provide.

Every individual and his family can become a target at any time or place in the world from terrorism to the impacts of disastrous weather; if you are prepared for it you lose a lot of the fear of the unexpected because you do expect it. You have adapted.

FDR said “The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself”: it’s time to realize the wisdom of these words once again. Community and Personal planning helps to remove fear. Knowledge of the threat and what to do about it before it happens is the key to surviving a disaster. Spreading the word, stocking supplies and watching the political climate the same as we do the weather is how my family and friends deal with the threat of terrorism. I hear “I regret that it’s necessary to plan”, I do not hear “I fear to do so”. A survival mindset is the one thing I can give to everyone, they all expect to possibly lose all their precious preparations and be forced to play refugee if they have to, but they know what to do and view themselves as “Survivors” not victims.

“Recognize yourself and others as SurvivorsViewing yourself or others as a “victim” of terrorism or any type of traumatic, painful, or extraordinarily stressful event, discounts the person’s survival skills. Although the person may feel like a “victim” of terrorism, the “survivor” is someone who is resilient, knows how to ask for help, and has the ability to develop positive coping behaviors” (Stebnicki, 2007) Preppers are naturally resilient survivors who will not be burdened with the stigma of being a victim, if they do a bit of self reflection on their survivor mindset.

A positive mindset is also instilled in those around me. As quite often the subject turns to terrorism and its effects whereby, I fall back on my lessons from many courses to make an informed comment or observation. That someone is doing something about gathering and learning information on all things relevant to Emergency Management and disasters, gives most people a sense of relief that there just might be someone out here in administration that will be there for them when they need them and will educate them of dangers before an event happens and helps them to unburden a lot of fears. Educate the public and we all benefit. The Prepper community as a whole is a treasure trove of information and informed individuals ready to be tapped. The regular Emergency managers I can tell you now do not have a plan for a solar storm event and really could do little or nothing to help the masses of people impacted because of its huge magnitude of this type of nationwide extremely chaotic event. Prepare for yourself for this type of disaster or suffer some dire consequences because you will be basically on your own.

One particular preparedness measure many hold dearest and depend on in times of troubles is their belief in a higher power and how they view what kind of support both physically and spiritually that affords them. Get right with these expectations now before some event occurs. Think about how you are going to relate or interact with people who may hold different religious or moral beliefs about the nature of a disaster also. If you are part of a church ask what plans might be in place if they were faced with a major disaster or if they have even considered their role and the churches members’ role in times of major troubles.

18

We Have Arrived!

LowBuck pulled down the short county road Donald lived on and began looking for his house.

“That’s the address coming up on the right.” Cat said as she looked at the mailbox coming up.

“Ok, then I will turn in. Doesn’t look like anyone is around the place at the moment, unless he parks his truck in the back of the house.” Bubba said as he navigated the steep driveway that lead to Donald’s prepper shack.

They parked the motor home in the driveway and left a frustrated Harley dog in it as they walked around and checked out the backyard of the house. Nothing back there except a large raised bed garden and another storage building Don used as a garage for his lawn tractor and rear tine tiller.

“I guess we can let Harley out for a little bit, but keep him on a leash for now. I will go and get the key Don hid for us and we can check out the inside of the house.” Bubba said before setting off to retrieve it from its hiding place.

“Hey, not bad. Turn that faucet on in the kitchen and see if he has any water. I don’t know if he is on well water or city or what.” Bubba said, looking around the place after he unlocked the front door.

“We got flowing water!” Cat said excitedly and went to use the bathroom while she could.

“I wonder where Donald is at.” LowBuck called from the kitchen after examining the contents of the refrigerator. Donald would have seen to this food if the power had been off for any length of time and he had been in the area.

“Cat, I am going outside and look to see if he has a barbecue grill. Would you mind starting to clean out the fridge in the meantime?” Bubba said as Cat started to open the window blinds and curtains to let some light into the place.

“I am sure he does somewhere. I will do the fridge in just a min. Hey, Bubba, a couple is walking up the driveway.” Cat said looking out the window and seeing two people coming in the gate and walking down the gravel driveway towards the house.

“Keep an eye on Harley and come outside after I talk to them for a minute, if it looks ok.” Bubba said and went out the front door to great the strangers.

“Hello, you must be Bubba, the Low Buck Prepper. Donald said you were coming by and to be on the look out for you and your motor home. We saw you pull in here a few minutes ago. I am Michael and this is Amy.” The big stranger said extending a handshake to Bubba.

“Pleased to meet you both. Donald has mentioned you two a couple times. Have you seen him around by the way recently?” Bubba said returning the handshake and introducing Cat when she came out of the house to greet them also.

“No, he has been gone for a few days, stopped by before he left. Said he was going down to Florida to play spring break one last time and would be back in three or 4 days. I suspect he will be in tomorrow, maybe. I take it that you have figured out what’s going on with the power and the sun, haven’t you?” Michael said, thinking they already had to have done so because they were hardcore preppers, weren’t they, and hung out with Don?

“Oh Yea, ain’t this solar storm a real pisser?” Bubba said sitting down at a picnic table to visit with the neighbors some more.

“Well, Donald has been hinting around and talking about the effects of one since he moved here but it wasn’t anything I thought would truly happen.” Amy said to Cat.

“Donald sort of made a few plans on how we could help each other if SHTF one day when we were shooting the breeze. But I have to admit, I was skeptical about the likelihood of really ever needing to do it.” Michael offered.

“Donald has been echoing those NASA solar maximum 2012 -2013 warnings to who ever will listen all over the place and on the internet so I guess there are a lot of people who realize it now.” Bubba said, scanning the road in case Donald was going to be pulling in anytime soon.

“We are going to cook up a bunch of meat we had in the freezer tonight if you want to come join us?” Amy offered after already agreeing with Michael on the way over they were going to invite this new friend to dinner.

“I think we need to see about Donald’s freezer also and maybe cook up some of his. I guess he has a grill around here somewhere.” Bubba said, trying to think about what he should be doing while waiting on Don to come back.

“Oh, he has a great one with a smoker that goes on it but I don’t think he has put it together yet and it’s still in the box. If he did put it together or it’s in a box, it’s in that shed back there.” Michael said motioning to the metal storage building Donald used as a garage.

“Let me go see, I will put it together for him if not and we can maybe use it to preserve some meat while we are making dinner.” Bubba said, rising to go have a look.

“Oh, he left you a key? I will give you a hand with putting that together if need be in a second but I need to know if you might possibly have a key to his prep shed, too.” Michael asked.

Bubba got pretty suspicious of this line of questioning but carefully said he did have one and what did Michael need from it.

“Ah, let me explain. That’s old Max a friend of me and Don’s that lives up on that hill over there and he has a wife who is on oxygen. He has got a gas generator running that oxygen machine of hers at the moment but he was siphoning gas out of his car to run it. Donald has a portable solar panel in there and some marine batteries and an inverter that I thought he might lend to the cause if Max would let us have some of that gas for other things maybe.” Michael explained.

“Oh yea, he has a bunch of solar stuff stashed around here somewhere. He told me you helped him put together that hybrid portable solar wind generator of his. If you know where he keeps that stuff, we can get the solar battery system running or well maybe not. Donald might have some info on how long this storm is scheduled to go on or if other flares are predicted to precede another CME. I seen some pictures of some of it he sent in for a casting call application I put out for the Real Day Prepper Show though. Quite impressive, he has some versatile equipment.” Bubba replied.

“Hey, he also has a windmill or turbine thing built

out of a marine alternator that uses cut PVC pipe for blades that can turn out 1500 watts but I don’t think he ever got around to getting a pipe for a tower to erect it.” Michael told him and pointed at the Prep Shed, which was another modular steel building Donald had next to the main house.

“Let’s go check it out then. Wow, he has got some shit packed in here. Good Old Prepper Don!” Bubba exclaimed as he went into Donald’s Prep Shed and marveled at what the guy had managed to packrat away for his preps over the years.

“ I am not so sure it’s cool that we are in here though, at the moment. How much of this crap did you know Don had already stored up?” LowBuck said looking pointedly at Michael for some kind of indication.

“Oh, he showed it all to me before, no big deal he said because he had been fixing it up and arranging his stuff for that NATGEO prepper show and everyone would have known anyway if he had gone through with it. I never did figure out why he didn’t do the video shoot with them because it seemed like he was so Gung Ho about it to begin with. Amy and I even helped him take some prep pictures they asked for for their applications and did a few chores he needed some help with to get ready for their visit along the way before he quit considering doing it at all.” Michael said, looking unfazed by the amount of food storage and other supplies stacked in boxes or on shelves in the building.

That’s Don’s Shit, he wasn’t going to take any of it, wasn’t his to fool with. But he thought Bubba might need convincing of that, though. Don already had told Michael personally that he would be sharing preps with him in this type of situation because only a community could survive. Michael said he wouldn’t be a burden and start thinking about doing some prepping himself and had been adding to his own food stores. Michael had told Donald if he came by one day and said “ Don, I haven’t eaten in two days can you please spare some food”, then he expected Don to make good on the kind offer and he would also help him if he could, Michael thought to himself.

“Feels very weird to be playing in Donald’s preps when he is not here all the same, come on. Let’s go outside for now and talk about when we should try and hook up some solar electricity for Max if Donald doesn’t show up in the next day or two.” Bubba said, backing out the door and into the late afternoon sun.

“I will lend Max that battery and panel Don already gave me, and a low wattage inverter to augment that generator. That way we can see how it works and if the sun does mess it up we will have some indication of what the space weather is doing and speculate from there.” Michael said, formulating a plan of sorts.

“Now that sounds workable and good, let’s go with that plan. I don’t think there is a problem utilizing most solar electrical stuff at this moment anyway because my extra battery on the mobile home is fine but I hate risking that expensive equipment of Donald’s without his say so.” Bubba concluded.

“I agree we can wait. Where did Cat and Amy go?” Michael asked as he rounded the house to see an empty picnic table.

“They are probably inside the house. Hey, I got my big pet bulldog, Harley, in there by the way that you will need to meet and greet before we can get too comfortable around here.” Bubba said, giving him a heads up that he was about to meet a dog as big as the Hound of the Baskervilles.

“That’s ok, got a fine bulldog myself at home I will need to introduce to you later.” Michael said, following LowBuck into the house and offering the back of his hand for Harley to smell and let them start to get better acquainted.

Cat and Amy were busy gossiping and emptying out the shelves in the refrigerator and freezer while getting to know each other in the kitchen. The conversation at the moment was about how Donald’s previous planning had managed to touch everyone’s lives somewhat and how he seemed to naturally fit into all of this now, where as before he was almost hermit like trying to get things ready himself.

“I got another question for you if you don’t mind.” Michael said, sitting down at the kitchen table with LowBuck as Harley stood in front of him wanting some more attention.

“What’s that? LowBuck asked, smiling as Cat and Amy opened a couple of hot beers and offered the guys one too, if they wanted it.

“Why not!” was the consensus of the two men sitting at the table and each tried to out do each other making the foul hot beer face from the first sip as they resumed their conversation after taking big swigs. “You know Don has a gun safe in here. I am kind of curious if he gave you the combination to it. That’s another thing he said he would share if there was a need. I don’t have a need right now but I might sometime in the future.” Michael said, intimating his relationship with Donald included the honor and trust of gun sharing between old soldiers. “I got the combination for the safe if need be, but I

can’t really see myself lending you a gun until we get to know each other a bit better or some different

circumstances warrant issuing it.” Bubba said, not comfortable at all with the possibility of being asked for the loan of a weapon and one that was not his to boot.

“Like I said, I don’t need anything right this minute. I got an old 20 gauge but I am light on shells. Donald has a shitload of 12 gauge shells but no 20s, I might want to borrow a squirrel or deer rifle sometime in the future, maybe that scoped SKS if need be for two and 4 legged bigger critters if I need to put my war hat on.” He said looking intently at the understanding Bubba facing him.

“What is your lay of the land around here for if there is anyone we should watch a bit closer in the coming days of this little disaster?’ LowBuck said conspiratorially.

“No one in particular comes to my mind at the moment. Oh, we got us a few rowdies and lots of hunters to later contend with on these back roads, but all in all, most folks around here are harmless to everyone but themselves. I am just considering later when the deep Kimchi starts up and we need to pull back our borders and mind our perimeter a bit better.” Michael confided.

“Well, we will jump that creek when we get to it. I brought a few things that can go bang with me and we got enough chow not to have to get out in them woods hunting for a while. You think maybe we need do anything more than just camp out the next few weeks or should we be doing something more productive?” Bubba asked his new bugged in buddy.

“Hell, that crazy Donald forced me to listen to him all day one time as he explained the need to get some kind of wheat in the ground as soon as possible for this kind of event. I guess me and you need to go down to see Bobby and talk to him about ploughing up some of that cleared land he has for a crop.” Michael said, grinning that the crafty old weasel named Don had managed somehow to give his instructions to everyone to remember in the event of his demise or disappearance, just how to save their sorry butts if he wasn’t around to make some inspired suggestions. He sure could be a character at times, particularly if you added several beers; Michael had to give that to him and shook his head in humorous disbelief that the guy had actually pegged this bit of mayhem to a tee and had been getting ready for it.

“So it’s decided then, we are going to plant some wheat. Does he have a sack of wheat seed around here or what?” Bubba asked, thinking that Michael actually might have more rights to this place and some of its preps than he did because Donald had seemed to have made several plans already.

“I am not sure, he has some canned wheat he mentioned he could use if need be. But I have no idea of the differences between hard red wheat, soft white wheat, feed wheat or any variation in-between, when and how you plant that shit, let alone harvest it. You know much about it?” Michael asked speculatively.

“I don’t know much about it although I got a few cans of wheat myself packed on that trailer out there. I can tell you one thing though… You can be assured I bet that he has a book or an excerpt from an article around here somewhere that will tell us exactly what we need to know in order to plant and harvest wheat.” Bubba said, standing up and wandering across the room after deciding to check out the couple of book cases in the living room that turned out to be filled up with prepper fiction, gardening and various animal husbandry and assorted survival books.

“He has a pretty good library for such a small space, if you don’t mind, I want to borrow that book of his on herbalist recipes he has in those blue binders. He mentioned it to me the last time we visited and I forgot to take it with me.” Amy said, rising and going directly to the section of books she was curious about.

Amy perused the bookshelves with interest and also smiled to herself at the thought of her and her husband having a picture or two they had taken for Donald to put in one of his books listed. She wanted to show her newfound friends a particular chapter to where Donald had added their photography work into one of his stories.

“I wonder where all of Donald’s books he had written were, they weren’t on either one of the

bookshelves? Now where were those distinctive black and green covers she had become so accustomed to seeing over the years as sort of his hallmark? Ah, there they are on his dresser next to his bed. They were post apocalyptic adventure stories, but he had managed to record a lot of survival tricks and tips in them that she thought needed to be remembered.

There was a nicely framed picture on the wall over the books she noticed that said, “Dare to Dream”.

“ Well, Donald, you certainly have managed to do just that.” Amy mused as she selected the book with their photography in it and went to show it to Cat.

“Guess who is coming down the road right now” Michael called from the open front door while pointing his finger towards the far driveway.

“Hot damn! Don has made it home!” Bubba said as everyone tried to crowd out the door simultaneously.

Donald drove in the far driveway and parked in back of the motor home. He got out of the truck wearing a world record Cheshire cat grin and hollered hey to LowBuck and exchanged hugs and handshakes with the group in free for all welcome to one another.

“You all come around to help me with a chorus of “It’s the end of the world as we know it!” Donald said, singing the song lyric a bit off key and still wearing the same silly grin.

“You know it, man. Good to see ya! I take it you didn’t have any trouble on the road?” Bubba said equally happy that this day was turning out so well.

“No, but I might have brought some with me. Tell Harley to quit checking out my truck. I have some baby chicks and some rabbits in the backseat that have been noisy as hell all the way here and I would sort of like to keep them in one piece for a while.” Donald said as Harley put his paws up on the trucks window to get a look at its occupants.

“Harley, you get down from there right now! I bet he don’t know what to make of them birds, he has never seen a chicken before.” Bubba said chasing Harley away from the window and then having a look at them for himself.

“Where are you going to put those yard birds?” Michael asked peeking in the opposite window.

“ Dunno off hand, in the garage for now, I guess, is as good of a place as any. We need to build a coop or a hutch or something for them. I got some scrap lumber and wire around here that should be just enough to do the job. Maybe you and LowBuck won’t mind doing that little project for the group while I go into town and check on my mom and Janice.” Donald said just happy to be off the road for a minute and the possibility of getting away from that incessant “cheep cheeping” for a while.

“Sure, I can knock something together. When are you leaving and when are you coming back, anyway?” Bubba asked him.

“Well, it will be getting dark in an hour or so and I don’t care to try driving around at night if I don’t have to these days. Besides, we have got lots of things to discuss before I take off so I guess I will leave very early tomorrow morning. “When” I am coming back here is going to depend on several things. My Mom probably will not want to leave until I start throwing a fit about it. I am not worried about the first week or two of this shit. Most everyone is used to a week or two without power from living with the hurricanes. There will be some ice available for a bit and maybe some groceries for a while here and there. You all try to see what you can accumulate in town. How are you set for cash? I got about $300 put away here you can use and I know Mom has some cash put away at her house.” Donald said, accepting the offer of a hot beer from Cat.

“We got about $400 in green cash ourselves, I will get with Michael and we can do a laundry list of things will try to get on a store run if we can.” Bubba said, sitting down at the table.

“I am going to try to make it back here ASAP but I guess you can figure three weeks as my limit. I don’t care to be moving around much in desperate times as people start to really feel some pressure and weigh options.” Don said.

“I think it’s going to depend on when everybody figures out why the power’s out. When or how do you think the government is going to tell us about the solar storms effects?” Cat asked.

“That’s a good question. They are going to try the emergency broadcast network for one thing on AM radio, whether anyone has a working radio or not to receive news or instructions is another matter entirely. They could use patrol car PA systems or mega phones if they still operate or since vehicles seem to be working, the post office could deliver notifications. They will find some way though because they want to announce dusk to dawn curfew eventually, I bet. The President can impose travel restrictions if he wants to but I doubt he will for some time. Mostly all government is going to go shelter in place somewhere for a while and not do too much for its citizens. The Emergency Managers will be having conniptions because there is no plan for something like this or the manpower and materials except maybe if they can use something like the plan of feeding 5 million people for a month they developed for the Madrid earthquake scenario. No communications or very limited communications was not built into that plan much though, as a contributing factor. I give it about six weeks before things start really becoming unglued and the major cities start to burn. The food riots will start just as soon as somebody doesn’t think the government will give them a happy meal on time.” Donald said, glad he wasn’t going to be manning a desk in some Emergency Operations Center (EOC) this go round.

“Yea, the idiots will probably burn down LA and the crips and bloods and whatever other gangs they got over there are going to have a field day whacking each other in turf wars and looting every store in sight.” Bubba said disgustedly.

“How many folks do you think will be stealing

electronics?” guffawed Michael who made a bug-eyed face that got everyone snickering.

“Most likely about half of them fools will be!” Donald said, laughing at a mental picture of people hauling away worthless TV’s and stereos just about any way they could.

“That was funny as hell!” Cat said, grinning at her own mental picture of people running down the street whooping and hollering with stacks of shiny DVDs clutched to their chests.

“Besides making something for those chickens and rabbits to live in, you got any other projects to work on?” Bubba asked.

“Well, I got a couple extra 4 x 4’s you might be able to use to build us some kind of outdoor kitchen shelter. You are going to have to cut some tree limbs to rig a tarp, though. I don’t have enough lumber to do anything else.” Donald said and wandered around to the back of the house to decide where they were going to put it.

“Might sound crazy at the moment, but I got a bunch of sand bags you can start filling if you get bored.” Donald said as they walked to the spot he thought the cook shelter should go.

“Don’t sound crazy but it does sound like a lot of work. Might just wait on that little chore until you get home for that. ” Bubba said, laughing.

“I also got some cinder blocks we can fill with sand and maybe put under the windows too for added protection. Doubt we need to go to that much trouble but we are going to have lots of time on our hands and I can make some ballistic defenses if need be that just look like planters.” Donald said, wondering if he was going a bit overboard with security by fortifying the house or as he saw it, just being extra cautious in case there turned out to be a real need for it.

“Sounds like you have given your home security some serious thoughts. I guess it should be reasonably calm around here for a while at least, so we can work on that project later.” Bubba said and went back to discussing building the outdoor kitchen and the rain collection system it would have utilizing the shelters roof as a collector.

19

Mom’s House

Janice drove towards Betty’s house steadily fuming about how stubborn her mother was being about bugging out. Her mom thought that since she lived close to an Air Force base and also in a good neighborhood, it might be safer to stay where she was at and was totally ignoring her two daughter’s pleas for her to leave. Her sister Susan was working on her still, but it looked like Janice had the reluctant mother problem now and not Donald.

Too bad Betty can’t call and talk to her. Maybe someone from her own generation could help convince her of her stupidity in wanting to stay in the city. Well, she shouldn’t be saying she was stupid, but there was no way that continuing to live there when she had lots of relatives in the country willing to take her in made any sense whatsoever in Janice’s opinion.

Her sister Susan had said she would get up with her later on in the day, but was going to go by her own house and empty out her fridge first. They were to do some more plotting and scheming on their own on the subject and try to dream up some way to convince their mom to leave the city, with force if needed later on, if they ended up having to do so.

“ Shit! This is all I need at the moment. Change of plans I guess. Maybe Susan and I should move a bunch of preps over to our Mom’s? Her mom had plenty of food in her pantry for a while so maybe adding to it wasn’t such a good idea. It would be better for her to see herself slowly running out food than have a stockpile of it delivered to her doorstep, if she had any hopes of dissuading her. Hopefully, they could wear her down in a few days.” Janice thought, as she pulled into the driveway of Donald’s Moms’ house.

“Hi! Thanks for coming back. I have been busy since you left, come and see.” Betty said and led her to the enclosed back porch to show her boxes and pillowcases filled with canned goods and other nonperishable foodstuffs.

“Wow, you have been busy. What’s that over there? Is it your bug out bag? Donald is going to be so proud of you when he gets here!” Janice said and gave her a hug.

“I hope so; I am worn out from doing all of that. I guess we will cook up some chicken, if that’s all right with you. How did your Mom take the bad news?” Betty said, settling down into a chair.

“Well, disbelief at first, then anger and now she is being stubborn about moving to the country with my sister, Susan. She will come around eventually.” Janice said, hoping she would.

“I bet she does, she is probably in a state of shock right now that something like this has actually occurred and she will come around once she has had time to think about it more.” Betty said, trying to comfort her.

“I guess so, but it’s very frustrating that she doesn’t see that leaving the city is her best option. I am going to go get the barbecue fired up. You have any kind of special seasoning you want to use?” Janice asked.

“Donald usually does most of the cooking, so he has all kind of spices and rubs we can try. I haven’t packed them up yet, they are still on the shelf in the pantry.” Betty advised.

“Well, speak of the Devil, that sounds like Don’s truck pulling in.” And she and Janice rushed to greet him with open arms and big smile.

After having greeted his Mom and Janice and making some small talk about his happy homecoming, Donald began to explain his plans for staying in the city longer than he anticipated at first.

“I don’t think we will be leaving for a little while. I am in sort of watch and wait mode. Kind of a morbid fascination thing, you might say, to sit here and contemplate and watch for when I think the next shoe may drop. Folks who live here on the hurricane prone Gulf coast are more resilient to long power outages than say folks in the Midwest who do not have that type of weather threat. People who have been through hurricanes before have community experience as well as a disaster culture generational wisdom to draw upon during these times of hardship in order to survive.

Most of the people in this city have been through at least three hurricanes in their lifetime, so they are mentally prepared for living under adverse conditions like we are currently now experiencing. Only problem is, we would normally have access to several places or stores that had power as recovery was going on or the few places that had emergency generators operating while waiting to get our own personal power back on in 2 weeks or more.

Garbage probably will still get picked up even if it’s every 2-3 weeks versus twice a week for a while. A lot of those government buildings downtown have emergency generators so there will still be people going to work and government is functioning. Hell, probably sneaking their families into the cafeterias, too. They are probably going to have food for a while. Lots of security guards will be around those places, too. Those assholes from TSA will not have anything better to do at the airports since civilian air travel is basically null and void for sometime to come. Maybe not though, they will come up with something eventually to move all those displaced people stuck in the airports. No radio communications means no flying, none at all. And I bet it was a bitch to get all those planes landed safely on an airfield without a flight controller in charge of traffic. I bet there were some tragic accidents around here on tarmacs.

Anyway, we will still be getting ice for weeks to come, but it will be scarce. Cops are going to be on patrol, but no radios and no 911. The National Guard will be either notified in person or eventually by the sheriff’s department to report for duty or they will just report to the armories on their own. Infra Guard, whoever the hell they are in this city, will be getting notifications and orders. That’s a creepy bunch to think about. Their web site describes them as “InfraGard is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the private sector. InfraGard is an association of businesses, academic institutions, state and local law enforcement agencies, and other participants dedicated to sharing information and intelligence to prevent hostile acts against the United States.” Those suckers got some odd powers over life and death in these type situations, so say the conspiracy theorists.

So life goes on if they can keep the system going. Main thing is sewage and water. Can you imagine what would happen if a jail or prison had no sewage service? They probably let out a bunch of petty criminals to lighten the load but then what?

What about the insane asylums and old folks homes? Special needs group homes? The school for the blind? There ain’t but 3 Emergency managers in this city. They usually rely on county and state to tell them what to do and send in help so they are going to be pretty worthless in this situation and sorely overworked. They are the direct disaster communication connection though to the school boards, fire department, chamber of commerce, port authority etc. etc. though, and will be called upon to help coordinate all the different agencies and institute the general approved emergency plan in their books.

That reminds me. I hope the bastards don’t call me up for duty. You know I am in the Disaster Reserve as a GS 10 to help arrange loans to get people through disasters. I made sure that job description said “non essential personnel” security clearance only, before I took it though. A lot of them jobs say essential personnel which means they can force you to work and send you anywhere in the continental US if they want. I can turn down up to two assignments without penalty during my hitch before they can my ass normally. I don’t know if I care to be doing that job at the moment. If they want to send me somewhere, no way I quit. But my duty station is listed as here so I shouldn’t be assigned anywhere else. I could help with the recovery of this city and state. That could get real interesting, maybe. Kind of like having easy access to the lid on the cookie jar and getting to listen to various government types evaluate the situation and make plans.

Hell, I might want to do that. Not if they putting us all up in a hotel or barracks for our “protection” though. He had been through enough of those drills in the National Guard where they say come down and sign some papers about your retirement and found himself locked in an armory with part of his unit and the MP`s putting barbed wire barricades at the entrances. You would sit there for a few hours as your Commander, Executive Officer and First Sergeant described a problem with some country you had not even heard of and that we are getting ready to go get deployed there. No phone calls out, no phone calls in. Do not leave the building you are in under the Uniform Code of Military justice and are subject to all the penalties we signed up for when we enlisted. There was always a big wooden easel set up with cloth-covered posters in the center of the room. Each officer in turn would use a long wooden pointer to point out an area on a global map or a relevant cultural fact about the people inhabiting the country or the way their soldiers think. Once in a while, they would crack the damn thing on the table to make a point. Then at the end of the day, they tell you this was all BS and go home or that it wasn’t a drill and you actually were heading out in 24 hours, God knows where. All us soldiers in that unit got to watching that damn easel closely to see if it had been moved even slightly or that the cloth they used to cover the placards for security was missing from where it was usually just thrown on a shelf.

Then we would send one of the longer enlisted types to go try to find out if we had a drill coming up so we didn’t sit in suspense so long and he would whisper to us what was up. I think they started to intentionally leak “drill” to us after seeing we were getting a bit riotous after a few false scares.

Damn! I don’t have any special place to report in except by phone. Well, I take that back. The agency I work for has a government office here but I don’t know anyone in there. I only work when they call from DC or Atlanta and say report in.

Shit! Now I got to decide do I want to wait on them, report in or not do it. Maybe they don’t even have enough money to hire me? That is going to be a bitch. We had to have defaulted on all our government loans with other countries and they did the same back to us. Means the dollar is dead, well not dead yet but might as well be. They probably will issue that AMERO currency crap now > Hell, they had pictures of the coins out on the internet of it for years already. Probably got trillions of Amero`s stacked up in a damn warehouse somewhere ready for distribution since the news was first leaked to the public. This is not a drill! Ha, Ha, jokes on me!

Ah, man! I got to take that job, I would be crazy not to, even if I don’t want it. Shit. That will make me the only one of us that has a real dependable job in this new economy being paid in something tradable to purchase what’s available to buy for a while. You will be depending on me as well as this community for me to get out some new money and try and keep commerce going. This wasn’t in my plans at all!” a shocked and bewildered Donald said, looking like some kind of old professor trying to work out a difficult equation and pacing the kitchen floor with his head down and rubbing his scalp for answers.

“That won’t be so bad, Don! You done a lot harder things and that’s what you’re trained best in.” His mom said, brightly smiling and thinking now she didn’t have to leave her home if Donald got the job.

“ Wait a minute now. How exactly does that federal agency hiring thing work? He already has the federal job because he was put on a list of employees for the Disaster Reserve, but they only called him up when needed to go to certain disasters. Wouldn’t they need him now as big of a disaster as this was?” Betty thought, not understanding how or when Donald was going to “work”.

“Yea, Don, you like Emergency Management. You will be able to try and get rid of a lot of that bureaucracy and be able to personally help good people through the system like you said you wanted to. You were getting your doctorate so you could try and change or influence Homeland Security policies to a more holistic and academic socially and culturally aware approach versus the command and control military model they currently use.” Janice said, reminding him of his old academic passions that no longer mattered much to him.

“Like I said, I will do it. But I just don’t see myself being stuck in an office somewhere, lord knows how many hours a day and then having to return to a compound or hotel somewhere for a few hours sleep and not being able to communicate or check on my farm or you all. Hell, I just as soon take my chances driving to work everyday even if folks were jealous. Crap, I hope that staff car, company car or whatever it is they are going to give me don’t have government license plates on it. Let’s paint a big old bull’s eye on my butt too, in case someone misses the tags and styling of the vehicle. We usually just get rental cars when deployed out in the field, though, so I won’t sweat it but it’s going to depend on where they are going to get the gas to keep this tiddly wink match going. I can see vans to work and drivers for appointments. I got some rank, though, I may get my own.

Getting to those government buildings can be suicide though, maybe if you’re just a lone vehicle. People are going to see the lights on in the buildings and wonder why they can’t have the same and start protesting around them. Shit, the state capitol is just up the street. Nice place for a little riot concerning food stamps and welfare checks equal no food protest or riot depending on how the cops handled it. That is way too screwed up to think on. Even if they were locking down cities under martial law there will be many instances when he would be required to travel in order to interview his clients. It was illegal for him to carry a concealed civilian weapon (CCW) while performing his federal duties. (Screw you, FEMA, for creating that one). So he was going to be putting his butt on the line everyday whether he chose to follow the guideline and law or not. If he did carry anyway and got caught, best-case scenario, they fire him. Worst case, he goes to Leavenworth Federal prison for 5 yrs for defying the order. Lord forbid if he used his own personal gun to defend himself as a Citizen working for the FED. He has no citizens’ rights; His state concealed carry pistol permit is only valid when he is off duty. How screwed up is that?” Donald ranted getting some fire in his eyes.

“ These folks just don’t get it, (referring to his mother and Janice). I am going to be required to give up all my freedoms and my choice for personal safety and protection just for the sake of my friends and families to keep them living in a manner they are accustomed to. Well, that don’t sound right, people do that everyday regardless, as just being a responsible adult or family member. What I mean though, is that I already made places and stored food to do exactly that for them that will be unused by me mostly and I can’t be there to help them other than maybe send money. Damn, now I sound like a migrant worker. What am I trying to say here anyway?” Donald thought trying to put his conflicting emotions into words.

“I hadn’t thought about the dangers or you having to stay somewhere other than my house while you were working in town.” Donald’s Mom said, thinking the country might be better for her and Donald to go instead of being in the same city but rarely seeing each other. She would be alone except for if Janice visited her upon occasion, if she stayed in town.

“I think what I am trying to say here is that, at the

moment, I see it as a 50/50 chance right now that if and I mean IF! the government gets the Amero thing going, manages to get the railroads going again and folks don’t get too crazy then we will get a reasonably rapid recovery of sorts and the big cities will still be hubs on industry and commerce. It will still take years to get the grid back working if this was a worldwide event, though. I can easily see that happening. Look at China, Russia, all of Europe

or even some islands. SHTF worse with wars in the 20th

century and they lost electricity over vast areas as well as had famine and government repression that killed countless millions and civilization came back. So historically speaking, we are like centuries of history have proven to us, recover in some manner and move on. If you are one of those that think Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest applies you are dead wrong. We wouldn’t have so many congenital diseases or near sightedness etc. being passed along for generations if this was true. Hell, there is an optical shop on every corner. People will reform civilization regardless of what’s going on and be whatever mix of people and genes or brains they have that makes them survivors. I am just not liking to be in hamster mode on the wheel again and not being able to share our life experiences. Does that sound petty or jealous? Doesn’t to me, I want to share some life and kind of retire from this emergency management as a prepper not an

administrator. But you’re right, I got the calling for it and not to sound like my arrogant ass is trying to be humble, I know they will screw it up and need me to help try to fix it. It is a sacrifice that I feel I must do, but if I ask my self if I want to, the answer is no, I want to get on with my own life and dedicated enough time to this. Another part of me says serve and serve humanity and country always. My problem is I don’t think they can pull it off based on my experience and knowledge and don’t feel like spending the end of days in some thankless office some anarchist or terrorist with a misdirected grudge is possibly going to blow up for shits and giggles because they think I, as a representative of the government, have somehow not done my job for society sufficiently.

It will be like everyone of the combatants looks the same and the only one that looks like I got a uniform and acts like a enemy is me and I also look like the only hope in the world for others to beg from and get the guilty conscience syndrome if I can’t produce a miracle of logistics to help them.

Do you know that 5 million people just

disappeared after the Great Depression? Poof! They were recorded on the census before it and were unaccounted for after it. They were gone with out a trace. Nobody knows what really happened to them other than that they were missing in the population on the next census. Researchers suspect they starved to death or met untimely acts of violence that caused them to become an unrecorded statistic. The actual count is suspected to be far higher than that as the comparison census is considered very inaccurate and that didn’t account for migrant workers or unregistered voters. Thing is we are going to have a vast underclass of people begin disappearing now. No one is keeping up with the homeless or borderline mentally insane on the streets now to see they get fed. Hell, they probably will live longer than established people because they are used to the survival tricks it takes to actually live on the streets for a long period of time.

People in the country will actually be worse off in some ways. Most people don’t raise gardens much anymore regardless what city folks think and will be cut off from the amenities they can get from the city like existing stocks of seed, fertilizer and plants backyard city gardeners will buy up immediately.

Gas will get rationed in the cities for a while. There are lots of generators in storage ready for a pandemic or a nuclear reactor meltdown. Oh fun, what is the nuclear power plant up the road going to do without spewing radiation everywhere because they can’t pump water to cool them now?” Don said. He would get into that threat later on how EMP affects them and risk for radiological crop contamination and made another face as he remembered one more job or prepper thing he had to plan for.

“I know you will do what’s best for all of us, but I think you should just bug out to your home, Don.” Janice said trying to figure out what else Donald knew but was not sharing with them in regard to what a total technology breakdown eventually might mean.

“That option might not be open, I got to think about if I would be a wanted man or not for several reasons. They might want me to come to work but cannot find me. I am not quite sure at the moment if I am “required” to report in for work under some announcement or emergency powers act that I don’t know about has been evoked yet and if I didn’t show, I would be considered AWOL (Absent Without Leave) and be subject to extreme loss of rights and extra punishment under the war powers act like the Vietnam draftees were once they “deserted.” Cops were allowed to beat the shit out of you back then if they caught you running to Canada to “Evade the draft.” Once you were sworn in and went to basic, if you tried to go “over the hill” in the middle of the night and escape off base you would be treated as a coward and a deserter, if allowed to return to your training unit at best and at your own volition if you returned on your own after being turned back or arrested at best and were assigned to a punishment platoon to complete basic, or at worst you spent time in county, state and federal prisons for an unspecified amount of time up to 20 yrs. as a military deserter. Sleeping on guard duty or cowardice or desertion in the face of the enemy was punishable by firing squad and it was executed more than he cared to think about in war and you learned that threat or fact first day of basic training. This was not a game; Donald knew all too well, this knowledge from serving many a year with honor and in some of the most prestigious and toughest units in the military. Times and attitudes change with age though, and he was not naïve as he was in his younger and less lucid days and yearned for easier duty in his silver haired years.

“Donald, just quit the agency and say it’s to take care of me. They would understand if you said you had to take care of your sick, elderly mother. It doesn’t sound like you want to do that job anymore and I understand. Look, you just do the right thing as I know you will and think things all the way through. We will be alright either way.” Betty said, trying to advise her distraught son.

“You think my brother is going to try to get back home from Texas? He has been helping financially with house preps he sends us for a disaster for years and knows I will take care of you. But do you think he is coming back?” Don asked his Mom.

“I am not exactly sure where he is at the moment, he travels extensively as a corporate national sales manager, you know. Last week, he told me on the phone he was very sick with some kind of microbial flu but had to make a corporate meeting one state over if he could manage to walk in the door for the meeting. He is a hard worker and was stubbornly going to make it, it was that important to him to be there for the boss. I would love for him to be here at home now but we best not count on him. He has his own life and friends to worry about there and I am sure thinks we will be fine.” Betty concluded.

“ I wished that big fool had listened to me more about contingency planning for a solar storm. Not enough was said and now we will be paying the price for not talking then more. He just threw money at the problem and said to me deal with it if I wanted to get mom ready on the home front. Well, that’s ok, I didn’t have funds to deal with it myself any other way, anyway, so it was a huge blessing he contributed his wealth towards him and his Moms’ benefit.

“I think what I will do is wait a week while we stay in town and then go down to their office and find out if they have anything official planned at all or are just waiting around on orders that will come, lord knows when. It will probably be too early in this disaster to find out anything from them, though. I will think it over about leaving them a forwarding address for me but most likely I will go ahead and give it to them. If I can work, I guess I need to, we will all need the money. My decision is all going to depend on what I hear when I get to talk to someone in charge at the office.” Donald said, glad he still had a few options and putting it in a positive perspective.

“That sounds like a good plan. That also gives Janice some time to work on her mom to move to the country.” Betty said.

“She not wanting to go?” Donald said with some interest.

“She is being difficult. I will tell you about it later.” Janice replied.

“I have got enough gas in the truck to make 3 or 4 round trips back to my farm pretty easy. After I talk to my office, I need to go fill in LowBuck on what I know and see about a few things. You want to go with me the back way past your relatives’ houses and you can check on them or drop some stuff off?” Donald asked planning his next steps.

“Yes! I want to go! So, I finally get to meet LowBuck and his wife. That will be cool. I will decide on if I want to move any preps down that way by the end of the week. I am still thinking I might. Let’s see about getting dinner together.” Janice said smiling and giving him a hug because she was happy to see him home and there for them if needed.

END BOOK ONE

THE SOLITARY MAN: COUNTDOWN TO PREPPERDOM

ASSENDUM BOOK ONE

Considering that most people don’t discuss how to handle people during or after a disaster I have attached this article excerpt below

How to Be With a Katrina Survivor

This info is intended for (unaffected) family members, friends, acquaintances, and anyone that isn't a trained professional that encounters a person directly affected by the Katrina tragedy.

1. First, it is important for you to be available faceto-face. Many of us are experiencing so much of our own pain and suffering, it is difficult to be present for someone who has experienced a traumatic event. You may want to read this article, Dismantling Walls

( http://evelynrodriguez.typepad.com/crossroads_dispatch es/2005/09/dismantling_wal.html), for some suggestions. We are all wounded healers at some level, so don't expect perfection from yourself. If you still feel you are too fragile to be present for another, please be honest but don't ignore the person entirely. For instance, you can say, "I have so much of my own issues that I'm feeling tender right now with all that's happened. I don't know how to be helpful. What do you think would be helpful?" Find other family members, friends that can listen and be present. Find counseling resources - whether through a relief agency, your local hospital, local clergy, local therapists and/or social workers, and/or meditation and yoga centers. Help in the manner you have the capacity to help.

2. Your intent matters more than anything. Even silent communication is powerful as people pick up resonant energy in their limbic systems. Don't stress too much about if what you are saying or doing is "right." If you come with a hearfelt intent, it will come across somehow.

3. Don't assume talking will "make it worse." Many people avoid others that have gone through a traumatic event believing that not talking about it will somehow make the pain go away. It's a particularly lonely time if everyone has the same thought. It's not necessary to walk on eggshells, so to speak, with a trauma victim. After the tsunami, people really appreciated an attentive ear and a shoulder to lean on. People want to talk. Most really need to talk. There are some folks that tend to withdraw ("I just want to be alone"). Reach out and let them know you are available. Call or come by every few days (the "alone" phase will pass away).

4. Be patient. Everyone has their own timetable for grieving. Two weeks after the tsunami, I had friends suggesting that it was "time to move on." If the person seems to be attempting to heal and reach out, then they are doing just fine even if it's not your timetable (i.e. they are seeking counseling, meditating in a support group, etc.) If they have withdrawn from all support, that's when you can be helpful to a) listen b) find resources for healing and get them there.

5. Pity and sympathy aren't necessary ("oh you poor thing"). Compassion and empathy are. Imagine you are on a hospital bed with a terminal illness, you wouldn't expect friends to visit so they can suffer with you. A kind, benevolent, lighthearted, confident presence is preferred. Be yourself as much as possible. Joining in their suffering isn't necessary, or desired.

6. This is not the time for lectures or getting on your soapbox. For instance, "Why didn't you leave?" or "We create our own reality; the poor make their choices" or "Well, you know that New Orleans was a disaster waiting to happen; what do you expect?" In fact, this would be a good time to ensure the survivor isn't harboring self-blame and guilt. Let them know it's NOT their fault: what happened, happened. In fact, if you have strong opinions or judgments, this is time to keep them to yourself. I'm speaking from personal experience here, these are other uncalled for responses that do not help the survivor recover: "My pastor said that those in the tragedy were being punished by God.", "Why are you so upset - you didn't see any dead bodies yourself.", "Wow, that must have been quite an adventure!"

7. Don't make leaps and assume that every survivor is going to have post-traumatic stress syndrome. This may unnecessarily scare the survivor in regards to their longterm mental state. Humans are very resilient and psychologists are studying post-traumatic growth these days. I experienced symptoms of acute stress disorder for about the first ten days after the tsunami (anxiety, frequent heart palpatitations, difficulty sleeping). And I don't have PTSD today.

8. Do what your friend believes to be helpful. For instance, they may ask you to pray with them or read a passage from the Bible. Or take them to a movie. You might object because you're not Christian or you think their suggestion is 'stupid.' But in reality, they are simply asking for your support and your love in a form they understand. If it's not going to kill you, just do it.

(Katrina Help, 2005)

Katrina Help (2005.15 Sep). Counseling/Healing

Services Offered. Retrieved June 8, 2006, from Katrina

Help Web site:

http://katrinahelp.info/wiki/index.php/Counseling/Healing_S

ervices_Offered

The end Begin book 2

The Solitary Man In Defense Of Preppers

20 The Bunker Boys

Bubba and Donald walked down from the house to the jobsite which was a 15 x 30 dirt excavation dug out of the side of a very small hill. They stood next to a wheelbarrow full of tools eying with disdain the mixture of sloppy clay and mud that needed to be removed in order to build the foundation for a “fortified tornado shelter”.

“I have been throwing compost and brush on to this patch of mud off and on the last few months ever since they bulldozed this area clearing trees. These last few days of rain washing down the hill really soaked this area. It looks like we still got a mess on our hands to muck about in today.” Donald said poking at a reddish orange patch of ground in front of him and noticing the clays almost buttery texture.

“How deep does that crap go?” Bubba said observing the globs of clay sticking to Donald’s square point shovel.

“Well, I guess we are fixing to find that out now!” Donald said grinning and drawling out the southern phrase.

“Lets getter done!” Donald said laughing as he hefted a big shovel full of the sludge like muck off the floor of the muddy trench and slopped it into the wheelbarrow.

“This isn’t too bad though I don’t think it’s as bad as it looked. It’s only a shovel full or two to get down to some harder ground. Now that might be just another layer of clay or sandy soil or whatever like tree roots, I don’t know. When they cleared the trees and brush off for the garden, the landscaper put a layer of clay in here. It also used to get a lot of natural rainwater runoff from the hill, but after this first 6 ft or so back, its fairly solid ground even after it rains.” Donald said dumping another shovel full of clay slop in the wheelbarrow.

“You got any use for this nasty mucky muddy stuff? Or are we just going to go dump it somewhere near the woods edge to get it out of the way? “Bubba said while digging into the soil mixture with his shovel and then slinging it into a wheelbarrow parked a few feet away.

“I am thinking it would be good for stucco mud or something, anyway we are just going to pile it up over there on that berm until I can figure out a good use for it. That dang stuff is like shoveling wet taffy.” Donald replied fighting to remove some particularly tenaciously adhering sticky clay and twigs that didn’t want to get off his shovel on his first pitch to get rid of it...

“Now Donald, let me get this little project straight in my mind here. You are I think envisioning in that survivalist mindset of yours that we are building some kind of hybrid Tornado shelter. That, it appears from that drawing you got, you want to turn into some kind of fortified cook house thing as a shelter. You said that you got the idea from that Prepperarchaeology.com (reprint,) book called the “Army field fortification manual.” LowBuck said to outline the conversation while hefting the wooden handles of the heavy wheelbarrow. He steered his burden full of dirt and clay a short distance with a little bit of difficulty because of some pretty bumpy ground to cross to their designated dump pile.

“Yea Bubba, I am glad I got that book for a project like this. What may be an odd choice of book to some, I think it’s practical. I added it awhile back to my “how to do it” library collection for new ideas and so that I could show others some concepts I learned in the military. It’s the older issue Vietnam version pamphlet that was issued during that era so it’s a little dated in current building materials or thinking. But for me, it was just what I needed to inspire me to customize some plans and help direct this project based on some real battlefield type engineering with logs and sand bags.

“You see LowBuck, the way that I figure it; we might just need something like this type of structure pretty soon. A strong shelter will help us weather this solar storm after effects as well as serve many other purposes. Like I have said before, there is going to be some hellacious weather coming from this storm if it plays around with the air currents based on geomagnetic influences and other phenomenon that affect weather. It might get kind of rough in some areas. Think about it. If we get some kind of a tornado swarm around here, like the one that happened in the Midwest not so long ago, it could be worst than bad . That was after an M class solar storm, no telling what we get after a big X class flair and CME. Well then, if we are thinking about possible unknown disaster effects in that direction of probable or improbable scenarios. Then I want some solid cover to take for our storm shelter that I don’t have at the moment. We can make this structure our bad weather bunker, or use it as a place of last fortified retreat if we are ever threatened by aggressors who might have designs on my supplies I don’t agree with and come knocking. We can also get some use out of it as a outdoor cookhouse on a daily basis in summer so the house don’t heat up anymore than it has to with no AC.

I got a ventilation system designed in my mind to install that might make it feel almost air-conditioned in this little fortification, that is if my theory is right. That is also dependant on if I have enough good cut lumber to make the moving pieces of my little invention to get a somewhat movable ridge vent that I can close when it rains. Besides my friend, this project gives me a good excuse to get you to fill a bunch of sandbags for me for low to no pay there Mr. Bubba!” Donald said smirking at his friend LowBuck and thinking to himself that he was managing to get some of his projects he had been considering for sometime done and as a bonus, get it done without him having to be there to help Bubba and Michael do it while he was gone. He would have been trying to do a ton of work all by his lonesome if this solar storm hadn’t sort of thrown them all together into the same boat!

“Hey guys what’s up?” Michael called out as he walked up the trail from the properties backwoods and by coming up from behind the garden he caught Bubba and Donald by surprise...

“Man you scared the shit of me! I didn’t hear you coming or even expected you to come around today!” Donald said slowly releasing the death grip he had got on the shovel after the sudden apparition of Michael had made its self known and given him such a startle.

“I didn’t hear you either. What are you doing sneaking up from the back 40 anyway?’ Bubba grumbled somewhat good naturedly in a relived greeting as his own heart slowed down from trying to jump in his throat...

“I wasn’t coming in from the woods back there; I just walked up the bulldozer path road from your orchard by the driveway. I see Donald you just added a few new items to the orchard trail, but I couldn’t tell what the plants were. Where did you get those new trees you got mulched and planted circling the road?” Michael inquired describing an arc with his arm in the general direction.

“Ha! A very cool thing happened for me right before I left the city to come back down here. Those trees I just planted got delivered to Janice’s house 3 days AFTER the solar storm hit! I brought them back with me to pretty much complete my prior edible landscape plan. Probably that package will be the last mail or package I will ever see again for sometime now. I suspect that’s a main part of the reason I came back from the city to the old farmstead so quick.

I needed to get them trees planted and growing in the ground as soon as I could, as well as get together with you all to discuss a few things about what we might need to do in the future...I got all sorts of different trees in that came in that order. But mainly I received a dozen conservation grade 3ft black walnut trees that I planted running down the middle of that orchards entry road. I hope that by planting the trees the way I did it will eventually close most of it off and narrow its access in that field by a decent margin. That will make the orchard I less exposed from the road. How long it will take for those walnut trees to grow that big and produce some nuts, who know. They are planted in the ground now and fertilized so that’s something anyway accomplished. Black Walnut secretes juglone too which is a natural herbicide. It won’t allow the undergrowth to get all overgrown leading back there along my road and trails. The black walnut tree produces a strong-smelling, pungent substance called juglone, which is a natural insect repellent. You can take advantage of this strong scent and use the juglone-rich leaves and/or branches around your house as a natural repellent. But you'll need to be mindful of where you use the leaves and branches, because juglone can be harmful to nearby plants.

I also got in that last UPS package a couple butternut trees that are pretty fast growing for a nut tree. They only live about 70 yrs though so I got them close to the edges of the access road for harvesting way in somebody else’s future. I have a couple Carpathian walnuts in back of these that are also very fast growing but a much longer lived and hardy tree.

Isn’t just plain weird that I have to try to think about how this place will look that far down the road or in my near future at this stage in my life and at this very moment to boot? We all will be dead and gone by then and no telling who might be living here, that is if anybody at all is left that would want this little place. I kind of want to wishfully think that somebody will give me a mental a nod and some thanks to my foresight on down the road though and appreciate my little touches I tried to do for them in the here and now.” Donald said wistfully and went back to digging with renewed effort.

“ Donald considered for a moment to himself that this line of thinking was pretty depressing and morbid but on the other hand he was leaving a legacy to the forest and whoever might come after a legacy and this pleased him.”

“I am going to go let Harley off his chain he has been growling and fighting with his tire for awhile so he might be tired enough to be reasonably calm and let him hangout here with us. Also I will be back in a few minutes. He can also start doing his guard dog duties of warning me about any people sneaking up out of the woods on me when I ain’t watching!” Lowbuck said handing his shovel accusingly to Michael.

“Ha! I warned you Mike about standing to close to Bubba if there was work to be done in the vicinity! He can be a tool pusher extraordinaire if he gets half a chance “Donald said smiling at the funny put on show Michael was acting out with gestures like a mime doing a show. He would alternately stare in amazement at his hand like he was wondering how a shovel had suddenly and magically appeared in it and then make faces at Bubba like he was out of his mind for having magically putting it there. Looked like it might have had some un-removable glue attaching his hand to the handle too hah! Seemingly by Michaels exaggerated hand motions, getting rid of that shovel was pretty darn difficult to do by the way he attempted to occasionally try very hard to remove it with his other hand and it was evidently impossible because it kept apparently sticking to it no matter how hard he pulled it!

“It appears now like I remember something like that Donald. Ok you rascally old Bubba you got me tied to this thing for now.” Michael said, waving a mocking fist at a chuckling Bubba who was smiling and walking back towards the house as slowly as possible and whistling like he was the most innocent person in the world at the moment and Michael hadn’t fell for some devious trick of his.

“You are going to get this shovel back with your

name and operators license on it as soon as you return you know that you sorry old soul ” Said a smiling Michael who then began to good neighborly fashion pitch in on the task at hand of shoveling the muck out of the way of the foundation..

“Oh, sure Michael, I wont be long at all, you can count on it!” Bubba called out and grinned as he took his sweet time going to unhook Harley off his chain.

A few minutes later Harley came bounding excitedly up to the worksite to investigate the entire goings on as Bubba slowly sauntered his way back from the house. He was not appearing this morning to be in any great hurry to retrieve his shovel and was looking around the yard to find some other distraction to delay the task further.

“Digging a hole! Digging a hole! Hot Doggity Damn they digging a hole! The other masters were digging a hole! Oh Joy! Oh Wonder! Dig! Dig!” Harley the bulldog excitedly growl talked to himself and the humans in a garbled voice that sounded a bit like a Scooby doo carton. Then he stopped bouncing around for the moment and the dog happily greeted the two men who were his masters friends and snuffled around their work with his butt gyrating his stubby tail to beat the band before running off suddenly on a forgotten mission to relive himself by peeing on one of the garden fence posts about 50 feet away from the dig.

“See that? My furry boy over there is doing his job already by helping to scare off the deer and rabbits.” Lowbuck said watching Harley alternately spray and investigate the garden fences perimeter one by one for signs of other critters as well assert his territory dominance and doggy domain to any other animals in the vicinity.

“That’s good, I am glad he is killing the grass, but you be darn sure to keep him out of the garden! That city dog doesn’t recognize at all or in anyway shape or form the difference between a bunch of tomato plants or a raised bed garden box corner when he aims with that that whizzer of his. Outside of the garden fence posts is fine, don’t let him inside the garden yet.” Donald said making Michael grin at the hounds description as a city dog.

“Ah, Don you know he is a good old buddy dog, just takes him a little while sometimes to learn what’s expected out of him when you change environments and surroundings on him all the sudden.” Bubba said while going to reassure himself and see that the gate was secure and not able to be pushed open by a curious four footed snoot-faced battering ram that may or may not come the first time he called once Harley got inside that garden fences perimeter with so many restricted things to check out before he paid attention and finished a last squirt here or there.

“Hey, you old goldbricker get back over here. This shovel ain’t getting any lighter you know!” Michael said jokingly trying to hurry Bubba up into reliving him of its burden.

“I am coming, give me a just a few seconds to get prepared to show you how that is supposed to be done!” Bubba said while taking time to elaborately adjust his dew rag to allegedly keep the sweat out of his eyes from all the strenuous work he was about to perform.

“That’s good enough, you managed to fit it on your oversized coconut Lowbuck, now quit milking it and come on and relive me.” a tired Michael said smiling and handed back Bubba the shovel to spell him for a while as he and Donald took a rest break from the onerous chore of moving mud from point A to point B.

“How many of those military style sandbags you got on hand? You got any extras?” Michael asked looking at a big mixed stack of canvas and newer vinylized composite style bags over by a sandier part of the clearing that were ready to be filled once they all volunteered to get around to it.

“I pretty much have just enough of those good military surplus polyethylene ones for this project, those things cost a good bit and I had not envisioned needing so many of them for this kind of purpose. I still got a bunch of those commercial plastic flood control disposable ones though stored and put back with the rest of my preps I can spare some of. You need some empty sand bags for upgrading your security?” Donald said having a seat on the picnic table near the garden and mopping the sweat off his brow with a big olive drab bandana.

“Yea Donald, I got to thinking that my trailer walls offer no protection at all against bullets. I think I might just put a stack or two after I fill them under some of the windows at my house as an insurance policy. That is just in case they might get needed if some of those scenarios we discussed happen. I would be willing to help you fill some of YOURS, if you take my labor in trade for some of your extra sandbags.” Michael said accenting the YOURS a bit louder for Lowbuck's benefit and aggravation.

“Hey who is going to help me fill some then?” LowBuck jibbed back at him in a fake whiney tone and flourished a devilish grin.

“Get that big mutt of yours to help you!” Donald chuckled as Harley tried to get all in Bubba’s way, working at digging as he poked his nose into everything and was appearing to take great interest in his masters efforts. This was despite repeated commands and LowBuck's frustration to get the not so helpful canine back out of the way.

“Yea, Bubba, you need to teach him to dig or backfill holes so we can get some good extra help around here.” Michael offered, smirking.

“He has the hole digging part down pat already. That’s no problem for him at all. He just hasn’t quite figured out yet where to put them or where I want him to dig them yet. That’s the hard part of the concept he needs a little help with.” Bubba said taking a break and patting the panting dog like he could understand the conversation and would suddenly understand exactly what to do.

“You ever tried getting down on your knees and digging like a dog, Bubba, to teach him how it’s done?” Donald said snidely thinking that it might be possible to get LowBuck to try it and maybe give him something to laugh about today.

“Not yet? Hey Harley come here, watch daddy do some different style digging and we want the hole right here.” Low buck said strolling over to a dry area of dirt and squatting down to begin to dig with his hands and throw dirt out between his legs in a pretty good imitation of a giant bearded gopher digging a den.

“Go help Bubba and show him how it’s done Michael! Harley saw your Bulldog start doing it correctly when you started to dig like that and ask him to help and you got him to dig in the same place you wanted easily. Maybe Bubba`s pooch already has learned the general idea of the trick and will follow your lead.” Donald said, instigating the trio to do something that might just be amusing as to hell to watch or at least give him a personal excuse for a longer rest break from joining in the digging.

“Yea, Michael, come here for a min and see if he catches on and it works to see us demonstrating.” Bubba said getting interested in teaching Harley a new and possibly useful trick come planting time.

Both men were hilariously steadily throwing dirt between their legs with both hands and creating a dust cloud in back of them, all the while trying to coax an uncooperative Harley dog into imitating them, when Donald spied Amy and Cat carrying a pitcher of tea and a tray full of glasses up to where he was sitting. Donald carefully motioned silence with a finger across his lips to approach quietly and the three stood grinning in the background as observers and stealthily watching the spectacle of Harley curiously sniffing the hole LowBuck and Michael were digging, but not even having the least inclination to help dig it no matter how many times they demonstrated it or implored him to try and do it..

Amy broke the silence by asking Donald in a giggly sounding voice if the reason he was grinning so much was that him and the boys had found some more beer to get into this morning and then everyone started laughing at the way the scene looked as Bubba and Michael paused in their digging and popped their heads up to see the amused audience that had been observing the failed impromptu doggy digging school they had undertaken.

“Don’t forget now, when you all get done teaching Harley to dig a hole you need to work on the backfilling part of hole digging in an advanced class!” Donald said, smirking wickedly at Bubba while Cat handed him a glass of tea.

“Don’t you even think about trying to go get me to help them teach Harley to dig, you old instigator.” Cat said waving a scolding finger at Donald

“Spoil sport!” Donald replied in mock indignation and kicking himself for not having thought of that angle yet.

“I would have liked to have had a video of them doing that!” Amy declared going over to dust Michael off.

“Yea… you both were a digging like hell and creating a dust storm, while Donald was all kicked back on the table watching you back here with us enjoying a nice breeze and drinking tea while you were sweating in the dirt.” Cat said smiling and daubed some mud off LowBuck’s forehead.

“Ha! That would have been a good one to put on your http://realdaypreppers.com/ show LowBuck. Which reminds me Bubba by the way, I got a question to think about for you. Who do you think is the closest reliable prepper from here that has been on your show before? I am thinking about someone you might want to visit again? We ain’t going to be thinking about bugging out of here anytime soon, but it wouldn’t hurt to know where some other folks from the prepper community might be at if we needed some helpful like minded people along the way somewhere. I mean if we did have to leave from here because of some threat.” Donald said standing up to go retrieve his shovel and do his share of pitching back in on leveling the fort/shelter foundation.

“I have been thinking about that same question Donald some myself and drew a couple conclusions. I got a couple bug out/in routes that I could go home by, but I haven’t yet decided who to visit along the way to my Bug In place, or even when I should leave to go do it, or worse case if I should just stay here. Donald buddy, I figured that maybe in 6-8 weeks that me and Cat will be giving bugging back a try and maybe we will head on out for more familiar surroundings and recover the rest of my preps to settle in for the duration of this disaster which might just go on forever.” Bubba said, looking over at a worried wife Cat wringing her hands and who had already been happy to settle herself in somewhat comfortably at Donald’s and was enjoying the routine around this place as a bug out base camp that appeared to hereto be a workable and viable solution over trusting the road for future safety.

“Bubba, I can’t really see myself considering advising you and Cat on that question at all on the subject at the moment. This disaster is way too fresh in my mind for me to even speculate on when would be the safest or wisest time for you and Cat to attempt that. I think you should think through the situation more and maybe think about trying to take to the road, if at all, in the winter time when things might become more of a survivor’s routine or at least a generally predictable pattern of human behavior that might evolve with society or politics influencing the decision.” Donald appeared distant and slightly anguished that he was not capable of predicting with any degree of accuracy some pearl of wisdom or anything at the moment that would make any kind of good prepper sense.

“What’s more routine in a disaster than people dying off regularly and no gas for cars while conditions are getting worse and worse?” LowBuck said gloomily

“Could be that you’re right, Bubba. Hmmm, if you are thinking about bug out timing, well then maybe there will be different windows of time that can be viewed like a smaller or lesser chance of encountering food riots in bigger cities, or you maybe want to consider that there might be more of a chance for pockets of anarchy to spring up along the way in the smaller towns. I don’t know man, it’s very difficult to say or pinpoint any exact particular time and I all for just bugging in here. I just don’t know what to tell you at the moment, because there are so many abstract variables coming into play right now that can be a detriment to any decision.” Donald said looking sad and shaking his head worriedly as he went back to his labors of filling the wheelbarrow full of dirt and dwelling on the crucial questions presented for consideration.

21

PLOTTING AND SCHEMING

“Saddle up to the table gents and have a beer with me, guys, we earned us a few busting butt today. This is the last of the beer until we can find some more and that is if we can buy it and with what. Sorry that all I got to offer is hot, but my solar batteries are not all charged up yet to run that ice machine I got stored in the prep shed. I sure hope the sun don’t mess with my solar panels I got up and am risking at the moment. I will just use these small 10watt ones for now and not risk my higher wattage others until I am sure the sun has calmed down for a consistent bit. Anybody know what a solar storm does to batteries, if anything, if they are just sitting? I mean I still have several not connected to any type of device in that metal shed over there” Donald asked his fellow workers while sitting on the edge of the picnic table top sipping a hot but tasty beer.

“I got my own bottle of hooch I brought to this little confab get together, save your beer, Donald.” LowBuck said producing his own private stock of some kind of brain baking bourbon.

“And I got my last six-pack of beer. I guess its going to be like trying to buy beer on Sunday around here for sometime” Michael said setting his bottles of hot suds on the table.

“Do the girls have anything of the alcoholic persuasion to drink for themselves or is this all we got for libations? I believe I had best go offer them some of mine if its all there is before I put my neck in a noose.” Donald said relaxing after a long days work and sipping some hot suds that didn’t seem to taste to bad at the moment and frustrated that he might not get as many of them cans as he had planned on consuming this evening.

“Mamma has some various kinds of wine stored in the motor home that they are sharing while they make dinner and Amy brought some her own white wine down from her house to contribute.” LowBuck said, already having seen about their needs and what they were up to while the work crew declared it quitting and imbibing time and went off to have some guy talk.

“Cool, now we can officially hangout here and have us a little after work gets together while the girls cook supper for this group of off-grid retreaters. Thanks a lot guys for helping me out, that was a hell of a job to get finished in one day, but the three of us knocked it out pretty quickly. I think we all will benefit from having a shelter and defensive position in a week or so if our construction stays on schedule.” Donald concluded.

“It’s an outdoor cook house, too.” Michael said, beginning to drag over the now assembled smoker grill he had helped unpack and put together today.

“I got to sink me some kind of strong pylons in the ground for corner posts. They need to be sunk down in about two feet or so of packed dirt because I don’t have any concrete to do a proper job. It is a bummer we don’t have time to season or treat some fresh cut log butts. The ones I already got cut will now get buried in the ground long-term with no drying out or seasoning. Anybody seen any some what straight standing dead trees we might be able to cut down and use for the project? Hopefully hardwood ones that might be already seasoned somewhat, but not rotten or hollowed out at all?” Donald said, admiring the smooth and roughly shovel-even floor they had created from their collective labors at the dig.

“No, I haven’t seen anything much suitable in the way of some decent posts around lately, besides maybe that dead pine you took down for building the roof joists. I think that I still would have rather seen you use oak instead, even if it was green for that task. Ok, regarding the post holes, let’s just pour some charcoal from the fire pit into the holes and hope for the best to ward off insects when you set your corner beams in.” Michael said scratching his head and considering saying that maybe they should also add some used motor oil on the bottom of the beams for good preventative or preservative measure.

“Hey, guys now that I think of it, I got some copper sulfate in the shed, or as we call it out here in the country and down in the south “blue stone”. That is what some farmers keep around to add a small amount of it to the poultry yard water for the chicken’s health and wellbeing of the flock. We could throw some of that blue stone in the post holes also, because I don’t have an extra barrel to soak the ends of those beams in with a mixture of blue stone and water for a few days though or I would treat the wood proper. It ought to help preserve them regardless don’t you think?” Donald said, figuring out the next’s day’s plan of action to start on the field fortifications’

construction. Or he might take the time and delay it a few days so he didn’t have to worry about the supports giving way a few years down the road from rotting before their time.

“Do you have any black locust trees growing around here? A fence post made out of that kind of tough wood is supposed to last two years longer than the hole you put it in.” LowBuck said adding to the questions conversation and bringing up an old country saying about a wood that was supposedly legendary because folks said it could outlast cypress or cedar and it damn sure beat green oak for a fence pole even if it wasn’t bark peeled.

“Good question Bubba; I have always heard about that type of tree and wanted more info on them. I have never seen one before in the wild. Michael why don’t you ask Old Max or somebody else that grew up around here if they can identify one or knows where some are that we could harvest or trade for. These old country guys and gals around here got a whole lot of wisdom and country lore in their memories that we are going to need soon and we best be asking about it now while we got the chance. The problem we are facing is going to be keeping them older people alive long enough to bestow those centuries of wisdom and learning to us while they have some will and energy to share it.

I hate to even think about the situation we find ourselves in, my friends, but every one of them old-timers’ is on some kind of medication or another and is short on stored food and most likely in a position of no water supplies soon and being not well physically enough to go collect it, let alone carry it any distance at all from a source home.

Let’s be honest here guys, we need to talk a bit while we are away from the ladies on some important matters that we need to address and not burden them with doom and gloom of the moment. We now have on our plates some hard nasty plans and decisions we got to make regarding our neighbors wellbeing and quasi friendships with others around here. The thing is, we got to start planning now for the present, as well as the future. We need to begin establishing some kind of relationship with them because that super pooper of a solar storm has basically cut us off from the town, the world or whatever you want to call it for an indeterminate amount of time. No supplies, gas, medical, you name it. I doubt we will ever see sheriff, trooper or any other flavor of legal officialdom come around here for, how long do you think? It will be least 8 months or more, if we are lucky, before we see any kind of world that is ruled by a law enforcement presence and think about it for a moment. We are not even out in the boonies. We are living not that far out from a major town that we used to see some kind of cop car in the jurisdiction cruising around the roads in the area leading in our direction just a few weeks ago.

Oh, by the way folks, I want to give you and your significant others a quickie class in NBC (Nuclear, Biological and Chemical) emergency response or vehicle HazMat identification. Now, heed my words closely, this is important… If anybody sees or hears of a shitload of military, or any other uniform agency vehicles heading towards Dothan or out of it in our direction, we need to seriously think about bugging out immediately.

That convoy would mean that who ever they may be are having some kind of problems with that nuclear plant located there. It’s a bit over 80 miles away from here, so yea, maybe survivable for us if it melts down because they cant pump water to cool the reactor. And we might live for the rest of our lifetimes if it has a leak, but I don’t care to not have the opportunity to leave if I can, based on some real radiation risk info. That is if I receive it, which is if I can get any kind of warning at all. It would be a bitch to be living here in the dark and not know that an atomic plant right up the road was melting down in your vicinity, or that everyone started to get radiation sick a year after it started burning around here because the sucker blew some radioactive dust out and you didn’t even know it was a threat to your health from prevailing winds because there is no more news or timely notifications to be had.

I mean what would be the visual signs for that reactor meltdown to have happened anyway, that we would be able to detect from here? I suspect we are going to get our fair share of some really screwed up false alarms as cities burn around the country and the sky gets smoky and the horizon stays hazed up or burning red.

Hell, that great big swamp that is about 200 miles from here in Georgia caught fire once and we had a week of smoke, haze and smog on the horizon you would swear was not a mile away from your own city and moving fast towards you.

So I got to do me some thinking on that subject of reading the sky signs from here on in and then try to correct for different phenomenon to draw conclusions from.

I don’t have a Geiger counter or any other radiation detection device handy. However, I do have me a book around here somewhere that tells me how to improvise one using a paper plate if we get some type of fallout.” Donald said trying to some how get his head around all the additional “what if” possibilities he had been trained professionally to look for as a contributing hazard or threat in this type of disaster. Infrastructure has all kinds of cascading effects on everything when it goes down for any length of time.

“Damn, I had forgotten all about that nuclear plant up the road being a possible threat. I take it they got plenty of safety precautions and redundant mechanical safety systems in place, but there seems to be always something in the news about them having an unexpected problem they were not engineered or designed for that was occurring.” Michael said, stroking his grayish beard as Bubba mimicked the move with his own chin hair and begin considering his Bug In time frame in a more pressing decision making process that might require an earlier than desired departure by him and Cat away from the area.

“Anyway, back to them good old geezers and grandmas’ who are older than even our old butts, but are so full of wisdom about these particular woods we were discussing.” Donald said sitting back down on the table’s bench and unconsciously started digging for a cigarette pack in his shirt pocket, though he had stopped carrying any for many months since he’d quit, to possibly focus his thoughts with.

“About the only thing I can see clear to do at this point gents, that is if we are going to be able to live with ourselves in the future. We might need to share our preps with them. That is, until we reach a line in the sand where we can’t give up any more food and still can be able to survive ourselves.

It’s a hard hand and heart wrenching decision where to draw that line at, but draw it straight and firm in the sand somewhere it must be ours to do and we got to consider when and how we need to do it.” Donald said pausing and raising his eyebrow towards his survivor friends who did not want to particularly think on that subject either.

“We need to do this crap of talking to the residents of this street tactfully and oh so diplomatically. All of us need to remind each other at sometime over the coming months to interact with everyone that lives on this dead end road and do a little winning hearts and minds of the community talk like we used to give in the military when they send us to a different base or country in order to get the native peoples cooperation and following..

If we can get their hearts and minds supporting our efforts and intents through our own personal sharing of goods, actually priceless luxuries now, then we could depend on their friendship and protection in a pinch I hope.” Donald said starting to layout his inputs for the three of them to begin to somehow form a plan to get through this catastrophe in the best shape possible and a semblance of civilization in place.

“I can see that line of thinking, I just don’t like that it sounds a lot like what the military establishment proposed in Vietnam and we see how that worked out. “Win their Hearts and Minds’ I remember it's usage as pure propaganda that was used on the American people and also a way to bring about sometimes radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people supposed to be on our side..

Try expressing it differently Donald, I know you old special forces minded and instead of doing that Hollywood Rambo crap your job was basically to drop a 150 miles behind the lines and make friends with indigenous peoples who sided with the US and supply them with guns, ammo training and lead them on their first mission in support of them crazy bastards called Airborne Rangers who walked in 50 miles behind the lines most likely. I know you Green Beanie types are more of a teacher and friend sharing the same conditions as those oppressed, rather than cannon fodder infantry that gets wasted in a ridiculous frontal assault or feint on some enemy objective on a map. You were one of them odd only 7 man teams they send to a village to stir up folks huh and promote the western way? I guess that can get you a little bit unnerved at times. I can see you as to having to meet someone you never seen in a country before. Some group that don’t speak the same language as you and then you have depend on a interpreter to tell you the lowdown truthfully and not play two ends off the middle and sell you to the other side for ultimate torture and death.

I always knew someone who volunteered to jump out of perfectly good airplanes was a bit balmy, thanks Donald, you have now officially confirmed that!” Michael said, grinning at Don’s discomfiture of having to further explain some things some folks took for granted and some didn’t.

“Remind me not to tell you so many damn war stories next time we get close to the bottom of our adult beverage cups. We need to stay off that subject anyway, reminds me of drinking too much in general, but I would like to know for my own use who around this neck of the woods has served in the military, what branch and now that I am an old fart out of touch with the community are their any guard soldiers or vets from the Middle East theater in our general A.O. (Area Of Operations.)??” Donald asked, dodging any more reluctant explanations and voicing concerns about the general security issues if he could pull the community together or if he didn’t attempt it and it evolved or dissolved on its own, what was expected out of the Vets.

‘I WOULD SAY MOST LIKLEY, ANY MILITARY BOYS OR MEN WILL REVERT BACK TO their training in times of trouble and at first use the highest rank held or military skill school to figure out the community pecking order.” Michael said a bit louder than he meant at first to draw Donald’s attention and to take control of the conversation for a minute so that he could tell his threat assessment to the newcomers in the area of who they need to maybe worry about.

“Sorry, Mike, I am all ears buddy.” Donald said turning towards his friend and no longer letting his thoughts wander.

“We need to get back to that. Back to what you were saying about we need to somehow support the elderly around here while we sort out an existence for our own. Is there anything we can do collectively besides make up that damn death list you probably got going on inside your head as who is a “casualty” of a disaster? I know how you Emergency Mangers think, you explained it to me one time in the sense that a doctor must give a vaccine to someone based on their chances of recovery versus the productivity they guessed the person might have in life, or the chances of them personally being a benefit the community and not just be a burden.” These odd things or points of view Don would sometimes bring up in conversation unconsciously and they didn’t go past Michael a bit. No sir. He had a pretty firm grasp on how emergency management worked after hearing Mr. Don elaborate on the subject and in academic terms at that, often times referencing mental notes in his head from an academic paper he had written in his college years on the subject... Michael thought to himself as he enjoyed what was left of the beer.

“Although, Donald, I can’t agree with all of your reasoning on just numbering folks in an event like this. I can see some of your points are pretty valid about whom we should help, or how much we ourselves are willing to share. Or for that matter, how much we can afford to give other people before we jeopardize our own existence. I will be honest with you man, I got maybe a months worth of food on hand then I am SOL (Shit out of Luck). I would like to think I can subsidize me and Amy enough with my garden and some hunting, but after listening to you and weighing it out carefully I see cob webs forming in my asshole if you don’t share some of your food preps with me. I did start stocking some stuff up on my own after our many prepper talks, but that hyperinflation kicked my butt and buying power so I don’t have a lot to show for the effort and expense.

I always understood between us, that you and I would use some of the same traps, bait, guns, ammo and food to overcome some of this adversity. However, I never realized how many other people would not even have a half of our chances at getting by. I sort of see why you didn’t do the NatGeo Doomsday Prepper thing. You saw some warning signs and thought about this shit coming and wanted to maintain at least some secrecy, am I right?” Michael said, looking at Don intently.

“Something like that.” Donald said shrugging his shoulders.

“I think what Donald is saying is that we are in a situation now where we might have to play judge and jury in a live or die sense and before we let it get to our heads we better discuss it in the here and now.” Bubba said carefully watching Michael’s face for a reaction.

“I understand that, I say far be it from me to not defend the decision you preppers all made to prepare daily for something like this to occur. I can see the rock and hard places you are in now to share all them supplies you painstakingly gathered and probably had to do without other things people take for granted, in order to achieve this level of preparedness for your homes.” Michael related.

“Thing is boys, I probably only got a bit extra to feed some lucky adopt a family lightly for a month in extra preps before I start worrying about me cutting them off completely. I am thinking I will bag up some rice and beans, say a weeks worth for 1 in some baggies. Michael and I got our own deal on mutually shared survival going but, if anyone comes begging for food I can offer one of those prepackaged things and tell them right then I am willing to do this for them say…seven times and then no more. We are going to have to be real careful about letting on what we got, as well as a concern is, people will start watching each other and wondering what others got that they don’t. I need to share some vegetable seeds with these neighbors as soon as possible, but deciding when that conversation takes place is sort of tricky. We need to let everyone else’s little life dramas play out on their own I am thinking. Follow the same practices of trying to find food as they do, ask the same questions as they do to each other when we meet about how and where to obtain food. Be super careful with our garbage and always have someone guarding the preps 24/7. Thing is, we want to be blended into the community as best as we possibly can. Sharing crops with others is ok, but just donate the logical amount you can give away, if that is all supposedly you are surviving on.

I will get all of my herbal books out and inform Old Max that there is information in them on substituting some herbs for those medications that he and his wife may or may not have on hand or that they can’t replace from anywhere from now on.

Food wise, we really have barely enough to take care of our own I hate to say it but it’s a grim fact. Think about it as a math problem. If you have 8 buckets of grains and legumes stored, representing 1 years’ worth of food for one person at 1600 calories a day and we 6 human bodies tried to live off of that, it means we got exactly two months each to survive utilizing only that one resource. That means we don’t have any extra food rations to give away. One year of Mountain House for one person adds another two months living for us four, ok. So that puts us 4 months into this crap and dead in the middle of winter when the food stores run out. That’s my basic stash we got on hand. Yeah, I got some other stuff I call extra, but it’s really not extra in anyway you see?

I have got prepped maybe 5 (25lb) boxes of parboiled rice, a bucket of beans, a bucket of ABC soup mix and some other staples that I am going to dip into to help the neighbors maybe, or NOT! That’s probably another two months worth of food for each of us if we need to make it to summer and then we will be eating weeds and depending on catching wild game to survive any further.

We are kind of getting stuck with the concept of not offering anything at all to the neighbors and hoping it doesn’t get noticeable we aren’t getting any skinner as they are losing tons of weight. That can cause some conflicts for sure, particularly for me because since it’s known that I am a prepper. This is also not a bad thing in a way. People know I got some firepower in the way of some serious guns most likely on hand and they know it won’t be no walk in the park to come borrowing from me if they ain’t saying please and acting real nice.

Or, I give some food away, delay the inevitable into a longer slower starvation for the recipient and have to watch my back every moment after I say no more food can be shared. I would have no problem sharing say if the power was out for three weeks do to a hurricane but this event is far different. If we help the community, it’s got to be a full blown effort on our part and requires an unknown quantity of cooperation that we can maybe, just maybe, depend upon from them in reciprocation. We need to somehow get the people on this dead-end road planting vegetables and sharing hunts and labor together as a cooperative community bent on its survival as a community and not just an individual’s day to day nourishment or existence. If say for consideration, that the neighbors on my side of the road agrees that we are going to do a stalk or drive hunt simultaneously on a certain day and at a certain time, we are assuredly going to get at least one deer killed and the meat can be divided amongst us all. It’s a hell of a lot safer and more productive for everyone to do it that way, instead of every neighbor going hunting in their backyards so close together at all different times and spooking deer in different directions away from us.

I don’t know either if anyone has hunting dogs around here, but that’s another consideration to take into account. If someone is going hunting with dogs, everyone needs to be aware of this and safely watch out for them crisscrossing possible lanes of gun fire. Folks should be thinking about chaining their dogs up for their own protection now, too. I am going to be running a trap line for food procurement and I don’t want any tragic accidents or blame happen to me because somebody let their dog stray and it gets stuck in one of my trail sets. I got some extra 110 conibear traps some people can use to get their own dinners and I will share the catch of any animals requiring my larger traps if I set on their property. I can give a few classes on making a deadfall or a primitive snare, but I can do a better job without worrying about somebody else’s attempts at trapping cluttering up the game trails.

Getting this community to pull together cohesively is about the only way we are all going to make it the way I see it, of at least everyone getting one meal a day. Therefore, I might have to share some extra food preps now and then and maybe even some fresh meat if I can manage to fill all my traps. Petty jealousy or coveting my preps is always a danger, but it’s a danger that can be quantified possibly. I just need to add up the possibilities and reach my best solution.” Donald said to his deeply thinking audience who seemed both perplexed and challenged with figuring out options about the little debacle they all faced in sharing resources.

LowBuck looked up from studying his iceless drink and wore a serious look.

“You know once you offer to share some food and bring up those coordinated deer drive hunts, everybody is going to be thinking guns and hunting buddies. Guns and hunting buddies’ means everyone gets their gun out if they haven’t had them out already and thinks guns and ammo. So now we start the “Gun Culture” where it will be common for everyone to be carrying a hunting as well as defense tool in the form of a firearm on a daily basis. You might think it will be like the old west and everyone just expects to see a hunting rifle, but it won’t be like that. People are scared and scared people with guns get nervous around other scared people with guns. It’s kind of like lighting a fuse and you don’t know what it’s attached to at the other end that might hurt you. People are not thinking too straight at the moment and it’s harder for some than others, tempers might flare, somebody might just go off the deep end, etc., so we need to consider that.” Bubba declared and let his thoughts on the matter be considered as fair warning we might not like the playground we were considering making.

“I guess what I am saying to both of you, is when do we start showing the neighbors our black rifles versus regular hunting style guns.” Lowbuck said, referring to the media’s slang term “black” for any weapon that had some kind of accessory or mechanical feature that the ‘powers that be’ could label as an “assault weapon” and try to restrict it’s sale and possession with ridiculous regulations.

“I still remember the looks I got LowBuck using that old scoped SKS I got ,because that hunting club I happen to have screwed up and joined didn’t appreciate that the bayonet was still attached to it. It’s a great whitetail hunting gun with many a deer taken with it, and the thing is factory sighted by the military with the weight of that integral bayonet built in so why remove it? That’s the way you have to shoot one unless you restock the weapon and I see no reason to do it.” Donald said pondering when he was going to start to open carry his Smith and Wesson MP 15 AR.

“I told LowBuck you said I could borrow that SKS rifle.” Michael reminded Donald.

“Oh sure, he wouldn’t give it to ya huh? I knew you guys were being a bit standoffish to one another about something. Bubba, you did right by refusing him when I wasn’t here, but Michael can share ammo the same as you if he needs it. By the way what did you bring with you weapon wise, just that 9mm carbine or maybe you got an AR stashed somewhere?” Donald said reasonably sure of Lowbucks answer.

“I brought the kit and caboodle, as long as they in LEO safe mode and away from the ammunition most states say you can transport.” Bubba said grinning that Donald would ask such a dumb question, or not so dumb because some states would nail your butt regardless for a trumped up gun grabber charge.

“Well, in that case, I will lend you my AR, Michael, until I get back because you are familiar with it from the military, but when I return you most likely are going to get checked out on that Romanian AK and we swap back, Ok?” Donald told Michael, reasoning that it was a logical choice under the circumstances.

“Sure, that’s fine by me. I really appreciate it, thanks.” Michael responded, shaking Donald’s hand.

“We will talk later on what kind of firepower to lend Amy and how we are going to teach her to use a firearm.” Donald said not forgetting that security was about to get to be a paramount concern for everyone.

“I got that 20 gauge but I am a bit light in the shell department.” Michael mentioned.

“Well, check her out on it when you get a chance. I know you would need to let her fire it to do a good job of teaching her but if you’re light on ammo you best save it. There are going to be guns going off here and there in the woods over the coming weeks and with that comes people’s curiosity of the other people’s motives for shooting. I used to have another farm where I always shot a lot of ammo out on my land and probably freaked my neighbors out. I haven’t shot anything since I been here but have heard what they got in the way of pistols and rifles. No way have I shorted on storing ammo even if I felt like shooting everything I got all day long, but I don’t think I will advertise that little fact yet. Take my 12 gauge Mossberg and teach her the fundamentals of using it. I got 12 gauge shells stocked up out the wazzoo. I want it back though, if I end up going on a deer hunt with Bubba before I take off for town, I want to play point man with it. Some Federal 3 inch shells with no 1 buck are a hell of a lawnmower for a quick shot in the jungle or these woods.” Donald said thinking about the best combination of tactics and firepower if a three man team was going to be easing around the woods together.

“I guess we just carry our regular hunting rifles for awhile out and about while in the public’s eye and tote the main battle rifles around the house for awhile.” Lowbuck stated and tried to tempt Don into having a shot of whiskey with him.

“No thanks buddy, I am sticking to beer for now. I guess we just do the watch and wait over the next few weeks before we make any neighborly contact moves. I wonder what prices are going to do in the stores that can get things to sell? Seems like they would have to have hyperinflation effects eventually but there is plenty of price gouging during a disaster legislation on the books already that has been needed in the past to discourage it. Thing is if you don’t have some cash on hand prices already, it don’t matter and I have no idea how the banks will function if at all. I guess we try to spend all the green cash we got and then it’s going to be poke and hope on exchanging anything of value for food.” Donald commented while wondering how in the hell commerce would commence again like history tells us it always does or has previously in the past.

Bubba resumed his seat on the picnic table bench and offered his assessment.

“To say the least, it’s going to be a real interesting ride from now on. I guess the government will try to ration what goods they can as best they can, but this isn’t the 1930`s and I think society lacks the patience and morals to stand in a soup line without turning the gathering into a Wal-Mart riot to get something on sale. Now If the government and states can get the railroad trains running again, this country just might have a chance of surviving somewhat or else things will spin out of control all at once if we can’t move foodstuffs on a regular basis. I can’t see it immediately unraveling except probably in places like LA, no, it will be a slow decline where a little bit of food stuffs get through for not enough people and tense up from there. We got to figure out how to get the best out of that time we can before things get down to the primitive. I think that you are going to be the key to that advantage, Don, whether you want to take that job or not. If they do call you back to work, take it for awhile just so you can get some first hand knowledge of what will be going on.” Bubba said trying to help Don with his disaster reservist work decisions and improve everyone else’s chances to get some kind of inside track information on where and when help might be on the way if at all.

“Yea, I sort of agree with you there, but I think it will be sometime way in the future, if at all, they call in the disaster reserve. It will take all the logistics they got to just round up and feed the regular emergency responders. That is IF they report in, let alone worry about us. I am on it though. Consider me you all’s inside guy if it looks tempting enough to work for a response agency. I will stay in the City with my Mom and try to help rebuild, but I have no idea how or if that’s going to get done in my lifetime. It all depends on what I see going on, or want to be a part of. If they suspend the Constitution, it could well be that I will be forced to make some serious decisions as to my employability at that time and do the AWOL thing if I don’t like the options.

Well, I am hoping for the best though and will try to do my part to revitalize my country and provide for the common good, rest assured. Meantime we prep for the best and plan for the worst; it’s what we preppers do.” Donald said now resolved to work for DHS if called upon and still torn he couldn’t be at his bugout location trying to improve conditions there.

“Well guys, it will be your decision about what is fair treatment for those who did not plan for disaster or who were displaced even though they were prepared if I am not around to kick it conversationally with you. It would be nice to do some networking with the neighbors but it carries a lot of risks. We need to keep two things in mind if we decide to try the collaboration approach. When you seek collaboration through networking, don’t come emptyhanded, and especially not empty-headed. Showing our hand at this critical time is not in our best interests, but any length of time that passes before we do or don’t do something approach wise is against us.” Donald explained as he got ready to go check on how the girls were coming along with preparing dinner.

“I am starting to think that all our reserve resources must be set aside for ourselves to cover what is needed in the future for a calamity of this size. Donald, you can’t be thinking of being able to afford to give up anything at this point, we need it. Grocery stores only keep three-days worth of food in just-in-time inventory. When a disaster strikes and there is a run on supply, they can run out in a hurry as we all know by past experiences with hurricanes... When distribution is disrupted, the calamity compounds. The longer the event continues, the worse the

consequences can become as you already know.” Michael said, taking a sip of his beer before continuing.

“ Hell, I am pretty light on preps myself already and if you give any of yours away to others, we triple shorten the time when you might have to think about telling me your stretched too thin to keep sharing with me. Hard cold fact might be that we ain’t got shit to share with other folks, other than possibly some extra garden produce that might spoil before we use it maybe. We may have to just be secretive and unwilling to give but a few handouts here and there if it makes any sense because others are helping us in someway. Canned food is not barter material unless you are sitting on a warehouse full of cases and Bubba we ain’t. Now don’t get me wrong, I bet Donald would trade in a food for food situation, like I offer a fresh Deer hind quarter for some rice because he has a surplus of it, or maybe he will decide he has a bigger need for meat to change up the diet so he is willing to trade something else. But he isn’t even going to trade a can of baked beans for a silver dollar unless he has somewhere to trade it and can get more food to replace it in barter situation and then what? You could be as rich as old King Midas and not have any takers for an ounce of gold against your last can of beans, or that matter your first one out of stash of a case of 6, because you know that’s the only food you have and gold loses its luster if you think about it on the dinner menu. I ain’t trying to take advantage of our mutual alliance agreement Donald but it would make sense security as well as psychologically wise to move at least my whatever allocation might be you are willing to contribute and kind enough to donate to my house. Don’t keep all them eggs in one basket, as they say.”

22

Sorting the Prep Room

Janice looked around her kitchen while deciding what she would have for dinner tonight. The problem wasn’t food, she had plenty of that. It was how to cook it and how much that was the big pain that went into the menu decision process. She was cooking for one tonight and had her choice of various single burner heating methods to consider as well as what pot or pans to use.

“Funny” she thought to herself. I got about 6 small cans of propane and a whole case of denatured alcohol Don insisted I needed and now I’m wanting to save it all for a rainy day like it was gold and rather go to the trouble cook outside because I know I won’t be able to replace it. Depends what I am having I guess to warrant burning the fuel, but sticks and twigs ain’t that abundant around here either to put in the fuel efficient Stove Tec stove.

It had been a long day for Janice. She had been rearranging her preps into suitable boxes labeled breakfast, bread making, dinner etc and had put the cast iron tortilla press, mixes and cans of taco flavored TVP etc., into mental cook book order so everything would be handy to create whole meals. Everything still looked like a big jumble and not knowing if they were going to do a “bugout” added to her frustration in trying to properly organize everything.

Donald’s Mom had made some of the chore of packing up preps look easy at her house, but his Mom didn’t even come close to dealing with a quarter of the preps she had on hand that needed to be better organized and arranged for use.

Janice was really seriously considering just staying on at her house in familiar surroundings as long as she could. Leaving her house and possessions to go live in unfamiliar surroundings didn’t appeal to her at all. Her friends and family seemed ready to try to stick the city out for better or worst. She knew she wasn’t sustainable long term in the city and any number of things could send her reeling helter skelter looking for the safe haven she hoped Donald’s farmhouse would be if the city deteriorated as bad as he predicted it might. However, neither of them had thought about a less than all or none situation they were now confronted with as to the option of staying in the cities where some goods were still coming into. Her biggest conundrum was not being able to get any news to base a decision on. Everything was a guess or a second guess at what might be happening out in the current world. Don had reminded her many times that if you get too many of them second guesses wrong; it could be fatal, so live by your first instinct before you die by your last. It was kind of like taking a test he said. Your first answer is usually right. Your first instinct when the doctor spanks your butt is to breathe and your last will be to quit breathing, If you just follow your first instinct and don’t worry too much about the in-between ones then life is simpler and often more gratifying than with wrong second guesses.

There was just no wrong or right decision to make at the moment, Janice had decided thoughtfully and tried to put away her jittery nerves about being a day late and a dollar short in the future for an event yet to happen or an unforeseen complication undoing her preps.

Janice finally chose a can of soup and decided the small amount of propane needed to heat it wasn’t going to get missed that much later and saved her the trouble of building and scrounging sticks for a wood fire in the backyard tonight.

As she waited for the soup to come to a boil she decided to take stock of some of her medical supplies she had hanging on an organizer on the back of the hall closet door. She was the practicing registered nurse in real life but it was Don who had added the vast majority of the alternative medicine disaster preps she had on hand in her Prepper Pharmacy to call upon now.

“ Curcumin? Why do I have so much curcumin herb stored in here? Janice said to herself studying the labeled bottles in the closets door organizers pockets. That’s right she thought. Don had purchased it for an outbreak of possible bird flu epidemic but he had printed off some other sheets of its many uses as well as warnings not to combine it with some other drugs.

“I had better read over this uses and cautions sheet more carefully later, she mused and glanced at the references.

Curcumin, the bioactive anti-inflammatory compound found in the Indian curry spice turmeric. The immune system is normally our natural first line of defense against illness and bad health. However, sometimes immune systems function abnormally due to deficiencies and disorders where the body either loses its natural immunity or else the immune system turns against the body

Because it’s anti-inflammatory, curcumin reduces your immune system’s workload so it can be ready to address a flu virus.

Curcumin is also a powerful antioxidant, which reduces free radicals that can make you susceptible to disease.

It’s antibacterial, too, which has obvious benefits during cold and flu season.

No going to the grocery or drug store now for asprin or any other medicines.

Grocery stores usually keep about three-day worth of food in just-in-time inventory. When a disaster strikes and there is a run on supply and they sure can run out in a hurry. When distribution is disrupted, the calamity compounds. The longer the event continues, the worse the consequences can become. Janice hadn’t been to a grocery store since the geomagnetic storm hit, but she was sure that they were all empty by now if they even had opened their doors at all.

The idea that most likely the grocery stores would not have any resupply for quite some time was troubling enough, but the bits of AM emergency transmitter news she got now and then and what she could read between the lines on what she heard from the neighborhood ham operator who had shielded his radio, was that the whole world had taken a big hit from the geomagnetic storm but to varying degrees. Lots of places were harder hit than others as to the intensity of the storm and its effects.

The Carrington event of 1859 had set Telegraph offices on fire world wide in 1859 in some places similar things had happened worldwide this time, but to much more devastation than could even be imagined.

Raging uncontrolled fires were consuming whole cities as water pressure was lost from pump failures. Lack of communications hampered any relief efforts to try to contain the fires or direct evacuations out of the cities.

Disabled vehicles clogged the roads and lack of traffic signals compounded the troubles any working fire trucks had of navigating city streets. The city she lived in did well fighting the fires that sprung up haphazardly all over town at first. City and county bulldozers had displaced many people as their homes were leveled to create fire lanes in some areas to stop whole neighborhoods from going up in smoke, but the worst of that threat seemed to be over for now.

The haze and smog in the city was still noxious but a heaven sent rain had helped put the fires out and clear up the skies some.

Janice wondered should she go cover up her rain barrels, but figured it was too late now do anything about any ash contamination coming down from the sky. The food riots would start now soon she guessed. That rain brought hot sticky humidity and that always seemed to bring out the worst in people waiting in the food lines if there were any. They had the displaced people from the fires bedded down in the Coliseum so that place was most likely a ticking time bomb to be avoided.

Among the prepper population (one that is at least four times the membership of the Tea Party); there are those who are lone wolves... However, the ones that have the best chance of survival is the organized pack Donald had repeatedly pointed out. This concept was not lost on Janice. Thing is who was packing up and where and for what purpose?

Preppers" are pretty much like Tea Partiers or can be viewed as to align themselves with the goals of minimal government social intrusion into our lives, fiscal responsibility, and upholding the Constitution. They just take their own personal responsibilities to a higher level. This Prepper and Patriot fear of radical loss of

Constitutional rights under an unconstitutional Presidential Emergency Powers Directive are a legitimate concern.

They have not been preparing themselves and their families, investing in educating themselves in ways to become more self-reliant so that some Government give away part of a social welfare scheme or enforcement of some obscure hoarding law could take things from them.

The nature of a Prepper is that one must not wait to be educated; rather one must make the effort to educate oneself. Keyword here is tried to become self-reliant.

Knowing the need now to be more secretive, Janice was glad that although Donald was very open about being a Prepper he had decided not to go on a national show and advertise himself and his preps to the world.

A lot of preppers don’t like to publicize the fact that they are prepping, a whole lot of preppers try very hard to keep their prepping to themselves. Janice and Donald had often wrestled over the need to promote prepping and create more awareness in other people versus the need for secrecy and had opted for a tenuous balance of both. This created opportunities to share knowledge and network others, but it also allowed a lot opportunity to get targeted in a situation like this.

Janice wished she had Donald around to question on evolving events and get his inputs and opinions. He used to do something called “Red Teaming” in the military and in his college terrorism classes that required him to place himself in different scenarios as an opposing force and figure out basically what he would do in an opposite position to act or react to things. She had read a few of his papers and to be honest, she had difficulty in doing so because his outcomes were always so horrendous and plausible enough to show the holes and failures in the current response efforts planned.

The one outcome that worried her most was a fear that what he had previously predicted was happening now because the Ham operator had said there was a lot of Middle Eastern chatter on the radio.

Donald had a theory that he had described in a theoretical paper that had made her blood run cold to think about. He had said them crazy Iranians were going to use this Solar Storm as a sign to go run amok and start World War III.

What the sneaky bastards were going to do was say to soldiers and citizens that when this predictable storm happened, it was going to be a sort of religious or patriotic sign in the sky that it was time to start a little “Jihad”. Now all this information he had was based on many factual statements he could cite which the country had made published statements about their belief Muslim nations around the world should unite militarily in response to the imminent coming of Islam’s messianic savior – the Mahdi.

Janice remembered the Christian bible had its own thoughts about the signs that we should heed in the sky from Revelations but getting rid of the religious connotations, it made perfect sense to pick an astronomical phenomenon to set a date and time when you know the electrical grid was going to be down.

All it took was some patience and a bit of space weather predicting to bring about an uprising. Oh yea, the Iranian military already had plans on how to bring as they called America “The Great Satan” to its knees by taking the electrical grid out using the so called “scud in a bucket” technology they already possessed.

The ship-launched threat of the so-called "Scud in a bucket" scenariois is as simple as it is horrific. Explode a nuclear device in the air of our eastern seaboard coast. The explosion sends out an EMP, which shuts down all electrical systems in the broad, multistate region below the explosion. In the modern United States, hardly anything works when the electronics go down. No transportation, no heat, no lighting, no communications . . . no nothing. Hospitals cannot function. Food, medical and other supplies are immobilized. In a matter of days, masses of people start dying. EMP attacks could come in any number of ways. Iran's Shahab-3, an advanced scud variant, can carry a 10-kiloton warhead about 1,000 kilometers. It couldn't reach the United States from Tehran, but it doesn't have to. As Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) noted it: "A terrorist organization might have trouble putting a nuclear warhead "on target" with a Scud, but it would be much easier to simply launch and detonate in the atmosphere. . . . Just launch a cheap missile from a freighter in international waters -- al Qaeda is believed to own about 80 such vessels -- and make sure to get it a few miles in the air." Iran didn’t even have to do that or get North Korea to give them some help if a Solar Storm did a similar number.

This is no mere theoretical risk. Iran has simulated an EMP attack, conducting tests in the Caspian Sea to determine whether its ballistic missiles could be detonated at a high altitude by remote control. Currently, the United States does not have adequate missile defenses to protect against this type of attack. And that's not the only EMP threat we faced and they knew it.

Iran just cranked the rhetoric up in a little paper they decided to publish to get ready for today and mobilize some forces Donald had theorized. Nine years ago a Revolutionary Guards arm, the Holy Defense, published a book, “The Last Six Months,” in which it describes the conditions needed in the last six months prior to the reappearance of the last Islamic messiah. The book was distributed by the hundreds of thousands to all of their military army bases throughout the country. Islam’s Shiites have this belief that their 12th Imam, Mahdi, will reappear at the end of times and kill all the infidels, raising the flag of Islam in all four corners of the world.

The book, which relies on Islamic hadiths by the Prophet Mohammad and his descendants from centuries ago, describes the 9/11 attacks and the invasions of

Afghanistan and Iraq as signs that the time is near for this prediction to come true. But it also prophesies much more significant signs that would launch the six-month time frame for the reappearance of Mahdi: an attack on Syria and then an attack on Iran. The US is not the only one that can stir up some shit with a false flag or mess with folk’s patriotism or religious beliefs. Telling the masses a religious sign is coming to the poor or uncommitted, raising nationalist fervor, etc. is something the orator and chaplain Lindsey Williams said the worlds elite, Illuminati etc., were also capable of. He also said the elite had to warn us before they did it which they have been doing for years.

Janice often told Donald that he dwelled too much on the weird scenarios of his emergency management business too much, but what if he was right with the possibilities of this scenario? No wonder he got into deep dark thoughts or a sometimes anguished mood over what he saw might be possible or what was actually going to happen to his world based on his educated estimations.

Donald had told her as soon as the lights and power went out along with some kind of sign appearing in the sky, that that was when he expected the minions of doom to start dancing. The religious fantastic’s, the war hawks, the political wanna be hope riders would all start plans to put a spin on it and say only they could solve it if you gave up some more freedom.

Religious fervor, patriots, doomers, military and terrorists will start the big board game to snatch and grab the sustenance out of the mouth of humanity for themselves in border wars. Each faction has its own reasons, each has leaders devoted to causes but regular folks will be just struggling to tread water and survive as starvation knocks at their door.

Thousands of terrorist cells consisting of the most loyal nutcases have been placed throughout the world by the Islamic fundamentalists, and they believe Iran will be a key player in creating the circumstances for the coming of a “Jihad” leader all too many will follow.

The Islamic regime had fully expected to be attacked by Israel and the US before this event even occurred. The solar storm that just happened was the equivalent of the Sam Colt six-gun equalizer of men in the old American West and now had reduced the capabilities of the great armies of the world to level out the playing field a bit.

Iran’s leaders believed signs in the sky will happen as foretold in centuries-old hadiths and written in the book “The Last Six Months.” Response contingencies call for either seeing the signs or the country being attacked would call for simultaneous attacks on Israel, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, and attacks not only on U.S. bases in the region but the U.S. homeland itself.

THE SOLAR STORM WILL BE TAKEN BY SOME TERROIST GROUPS AS A TRIGGERING EVENT OR CALL TO ARMS!

The trigger has been pulled globally by this solar event and the entire world is now at risk. The sun had already pooped in our corn flakes, but now the friggin Muslims want a last holy war dance with us, not based on the teachings of a religious book but on a twisted political fanatic interpretation and we are in for hell in the near future. Donald had said to be warned of any kind of phenomenon somebody in power could but a supernatural spin or meaning behind.

What exactly did he mean by that warning? Janice thought, mentally flustered trying to recall the

conversation. Oh yea. He said it worked liked the “Goes into process” he used to fix an electronic problem in a radio. Something about a half split process in looking at things. Was that meaning start in the middle of circuit board? No it meant start with what you know. You got power in; you don’t worry about that you look for power out. You got sound in, but no sound out, look for the obvious.

So Iran already has some kind of insurgent cells here in the US to create some mischief and mayhem on a given cue. Stay away from Muslim places of worship during these times, that was a given, but she tended to avoid getting near them anyway. Donald had said many people’s minds were somewhat simplistic when following organized religions, people that believe in a higher power will act according to whatever religious leader guidance they take to be true.

He said people that are deceived by false prophets or leaders tend to believe their religious convictions or deceptions ultimately. There is nothing you can say that will change that persons sense of responsibility, but you must recognize it as a threat and attempt to plan for or work around it if its violence that is advocated as part of their belief system.

Planning was the key to awareness, who don’t like me, who wants what I got, what or who is threatening me and why they might think of these things is the education process one must undertake to know their enemies.

According to the Department of State, Hezbollah, with Iran as its state sponsor, is considered the `most technically capable terrorist group in the world’ with `thousands of supporters, several thousand members, and a few hundred terrorist operatives’, and officials from Iran’ has been working in concert with Hezbollah since the 1990s.

A hundred plus thousand yahoos with one bullet each against me in a best case scenario is nothing to sneeze at let alone who they are influencing or are bank rolling to do their dirty work.

Law enforcement can barely control the inner city and international gangs like MS 13 now that threaten us. If they go to work for a country like Iran we really got some problems on our hands.

23

Analyzing the Threats

Donald began sorting through his preps while trying to decide what holster and the pistols he was going to carry concealed for his trip back to town. It was open carry for long arms in the country, but not in the city by a long shot as of yet. There were still plenty of cops on the streets as far as he knew and he didn’t want to run the risk of getting stopped with a loaded shotgun or rifle at a checkpoint in his vehicle. He decided on wearing a belly band for his 9mm Astra A-100 and put a small 9mm Keltec in his pocket holster. Two extra 17 round magazines for the Astra fit in the pockets of the belly band and a extra mag for the Keltec resided in his front pants pocket He had an extra 20 rounds of 9mm stored in his get home bag and if all that ammo wasn’t sufficient to counter a threat, well then he wouldn’t have made it out alive most likely anyways.

LowBuck came into the gunroom and surveyed Donald’s collection of firearms. “Dang man, you got a pretty good assortment of weapons there. You got one for about any task I can dream up. I see you went all out on stocking ammo, too.” LowBuck said as he started reading what kind of shells were in the gun safe.

“Well, fortunately or unfortunately there are 7 full ammo cans out in the prep shed, too. I kind of over did the stockpiling ammo thing and couldn’t resist the latest greatest bullet or some great deal from Sportsman’s Guide or Ammunition to Go.” Donald replied.

“Why do you say unfortunately? I for one am glad you got that huge stash of ammo prepped. Weren’t you the one that said something about how easy it was to burn up several 30 round clips in a concentrated firefight?” LowBuck said looking confused at Donald’s negative thoughts on ammo.

“Well, I really doubt I will need to be burning up more than a mag of .223 or 7.62x39 if trouble starts and I got more 12 gauge double ought and no 4 Buck than I will ever have a use for. No, I wish about half that stash could be converted into food right now and no sane person is going to be trading ammunition for food unless the person holding the food is desperate for ammo and I am not sure I would want make that kind of a deal anyway. I should have spent a lot of that money on acquiring more food preps. The guns I got are all task oriented true enough, but it’s like how many do you need unless you are providing loners to someone and then you got caliber issues. I did do some serious thinking about each one in a task oriented fashion though. If I am going hog hunting I would rather be toting that Ruger Blackhawk .357 or that Sig .45 than a 9mm. I got that Blackhawk single action so I could see the big sights before I could finally afford to have eye surgery. It’s a bitch not having health insurance. It’s more of a bitch when you got to weigh buying food preps over saving up for some eye surgery because the asshole doctor won’t work with you on time payments. I figured it would take me at least a year to save up 3500 bucks and not be prepped or spend 300 a month on preps and be a blind ass prepper with food. I chose the latter and finally came up with a way to get my eye surgery done from doing a couple business deals. Man, I am glad I finally got that done and off my mind. It’s damn scary to have sight issues to begin with. But having that concern, while planning on the poo hitting the fan, can be downright nerve wracking. In a massive social collapse, law and public order break down and the truth about human rights is revealed: An individual has rights only as long as he can defend them. Second guessing ones marksmanship capabilities do not make for a very secure feeling.” Donald said fiddling with a leather sling he wanted to swap out for Michael on the SKS Chinese sniper rifle.

“I still say if we are going to survive the challenges and changes we are facing that all that ammo might come to be pretty handy. What are these used for? I never have seen 12 gauge ammo like this.” Bubba said holding up a box of shot shells.

“I bought those shells because I thought they were cool and might give me an extra edge when I was having vision problems for distance shooting. They have two sixty five caliber balls in them. It would put a hurting on something that’s for certain and has about a six inch spread at 75 yards, my favorite poison of choice though ended up being Centurion Buck and Ball. That is a 2 3/4 12 gauge shell with one .65 caliber lead ball, and six #1 buck pellets.” Donald said showing him an unopened box of them.

“Wicked, sounds like that shell is pretty handy for hunting deer or adjusting attitudes. Mind if I get me a few of those to load my own weapon with?” Lowbuck said holding up two boxes of shotgun shells.

“Sure take what you need, better yet, those extra camo nylon ammo pouches are full of them, that bandolier you got your shotgun carry ammo on will be dropping shells soon enough in this heat and as the elastic loses its stretch just from age or use. I got an extra pistol belt if you need it but I don’t have any extra suspenders. I guess if I am going hunting in these woods I might as well get back to being used to wearing full battle rattle in the field. I got my old military Load bearing gear which I prefer over the modern crap, it’s not as hot in this weather to wear as a vest.” Donald said going over to the corner of the room and pulling his field gear out of an old GI duffle bag.

“I have an extra military surplus canteen belt I can hang those pouches off of, but I think I will give Cat the use of your spare one if you don’t mind. She can use that Keltec 9mm carbine of mine and carry her mags on it. Does your Mom shoot, Donald?” LowBuck asked envisioning an elderly women wearing LBE if Donald had been crazy enough to talk her into dressing up in it.

‘No, she has got a thing about guns, but all that’s about to change I hope. I am going to attempt to lay the law down to her and tell her she is absolutely not going to stay in the city if I have to work and she not be armed. Hell, I want I want her armed down here also, but she can be pretty darn stubborn in her opinions.” Donald said, contemplating how that conversation was going to go when he told his mom some cold hard facts and the need for her to learn about firearms and safety.

“I don’t blame you, I think you would have a lot more peace of mind leaving her here with us, but I don’t know how she would fit in without you around to explain things to her.” Bubba said broaching a subject he knew Donald had a lot of concerns about.

“Well, she would be as safe, that is as safe as one can be these days, but she would most likely drive herself and you and me crazy until we got some kind of routine existence established that she could wrap her head around. She will be appearing around here eventually though to move in for the duration and I guess take over my bedroom and that puts me on the futon if you and Cat are using that trundle bed this winter in the other bedroom so you can stay warm by the wood heater unless that motor home of yours has some kind of alternative energy heater.

Our sleeping arrangements are going to get more than tight enough around here as it is, but Janice is also supposedly coming to bug out and maybe bring along whomever else she might feel to be necessary to consider taking in. You and Michael need to help me figure out how to install that Great Northern portable wood stove I got in the prep shed if we are going to be needing some extra gathering room or sleeping space. It was on my need to buy before doomsday list to get some fire retardant cement so the roof didn’t leak around the chimney pipe if I had to cut a hole in the roof to install it but that’s hind sight now. Man, I got about one million things missing some little extra part or item I didn’t prep, or wish I had been able to financially come up with, or maybe even had got around to trying out for usability or function possibly before it was needed. Well, we will just have to make do with what we got and I will be on the lookout for the rest of our needs when I am in town if I can find some way to acquire it, let alone purchase it with our limited cash or maybe I can find something extra or duplicate in my preps to barter with. We are kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place with a best of times, worst of times scenario going on here. On the one hand, we are sitting pretty for months to come regarding food stores, on the other hand unless that trap line we are running produces an overabundance and I doubt that it will, food will not be a barter item for me and I doubt for anyone else around here. Not for love, money, gold, guns or bullets, all the food available is now pretty much of a priceless and irreplaceable commodity.” Donald explained trying to impart a sense of how desperate of a situation it already was now, let alone what it was going to become in the future.

LowBuck had a serious thought on his mind he had been waiting for the right time to bring up and now was as good as ever he had decided.

“Donald, I was talking to Michael about another problem you might have not closely considered. Those neighbors of yours seem to be watching us walk back and forth between your homestead and his. A couple wheelbarrows of supplies heading in his direction the other day did not go unnoticed and he thinks it might be a security concern. He said that whole family has been to prison at one time or another and might be the sort of people to be thinking of stealing some supplies if you let your guard down. We don’t know if they are armed or not, but let’s just assume they got at least a Saturday night special pistol available and an inclination to try another armed robbery and are desperate for food. I don’t want to piss anyone off by being overly un-neighborly but we need to keep them at a distance so we don’t get a surprise stickup when they come around to pretend to talk about the weather. You know it won’t be just the food but your life they want to take in that scenario, so heads up and start planning how you are going to deal with them when they “just come to say hello”. Another thing is that I think you and Michael need to only travel between houses at agreed upon times. As short as the distance is between your houses is, if the two of you look out for each other you can’t get surprised very easily. That brings me to my next point; Cat and I are going to head out. Now don’t start the objections until you hear me out, Donald. I got a fellow prepper I can go see in South Carolina that has a hundred percent better prepped location to bug out to than you and has a standing invite for me and my wife to bug in there. You did well, better than most preppers trying to get yourself established here, but you don’t have enough food stores for yourself let alone all the adopt a puppies you’re still trying to pick up along the way. Man, don’t look so glum. I will be increasing your survival rate by months if you don’t have to share supplies with us and to be honest, increasing my own survivability by the same measure if I go move to a better location. Now then, down to the dirty and nitty gritty. Michael thinks you might want to consider a little preemptive dealing with them if you know what I mean before they get a chance to attempt to set you up. We both agreed to play grim reaper if they attempted anything more than petty thievery while you were gone as long as you went along with it and I told him that was highly unlikely you would agree, so what do you think.” Lowbuck said, looking like a farmer sharpening his ax for a turkey dinner and smiling at the gobbler that strutted about the yard unawares of the threat.

“Well, you got that right! I ain`t up for no cold blooded shit unless we are truly threatened and I don’t think neither of you are either, if we got any other possible way out. Let’s think about both scenarios for a min.” Donald said brooding.

“Well, Michael and I talked about just being firm and secretive with the neighbors. You ain’t ever met any of them Donald so you can be as bitchy as you want when first meeting them if they come around if you like. Problem is that first meeting most likely will have a note of desperation about it and it ain`t like they don’t smell your cooking some good food over here. You can smell their efforts to eat too and maybe predict when they run out of chow, so that you have some warning to get your guard further up. Here is another thing you ain`t thought of dumb ass, I mean that kindly by the way and I am sure you got some kind of contingency plans going on I am unaware of, but you been preaching preps and prepperdom in that bar up the street for the past year and them barmaids that live on the road leading in here and their boyfriends are going to be thinking about you when times get rough. As Michael tells it, they are all kin around here so you in prepper deep do do when they think of the last place they might be able to get a meal from. You might want to consider following me to S.C. and leaving this little place behind.” LowBuck said hoping to overcome Donald’s most likely blusterous refusal to do so and leave his home.

Donald looked at his old friend for a moment with quite a few mixed emotions furrowing his brow as they crossed his mind and then he settled his thoughts on the response he wanted to give to his now departing prepper buddy. It was a horribly tough decision to abide by because he could see many outcomes and sides in the conversation they were having that could mean life or death for him and his charges.

“That is some profound shit you laid on the table there Mr. Bubba and it is duly noted.” Donald replied. ” This is something Michael and I have given some thought and conversation about in the past and it basically boils down to a localized war of attrition amongst the neighbors. Who lasts longer because they had some food stored survives for a bit longer and then maybe there is some game left to hunt or it becomes more plentiful after a season. Let me tell you from a military viewpoint how I came to some of my conclusions. Starvation makes people stupid and weak. Desperation that tempts people to commit crimes comes to good people later than criminals who plan on having things before they are needed by any means possible, so we are on a timing thing. It’s like this end of the road is a big cell block but without a set schedule. I will draw water from that creek in back of us at certain times and if food is available most likely cook at certain times. That is when anything sneaky about attacking will come. If you want to take out the most soldiers, catch them at chow or crap time. Speaking of crap just to make you smile about my way of thinking, if I know you were my enemy collecting water downstream from me at a certain time and I ain’t wasting bullets and a devious yutz I can take a dump at a appropriate time. If you are too tired or crazy thirsty to boil water fully, I got you. Michael will be running that water wagon of his delivering to the community if we get proper support, enough said on toad stools and other plants that might somehow get into a threats water supply. Dysentery, food poisoning etc. is already going to be taking its natural toll on humanity and most are going to be too weak to present a threat once disabled by hunger and disease. You see that giant log I got positioned out there next to the orchard? It takes me 10 minutes with a machete to get myself a clear field of fire through that wood line for anyone approaching my encampment and they would never see me and I got solid cover to hide behind if I get a little bit of warning something is headed in my direction. Watch this shit, Bubba, I am about to wake up the neighborhood!” Donald declared as he picked up and “bump fired” the AK he was going to be lending to Michael towards the great pine log in question.

BRRRRRRRRRRRPPPPPP! Thirty rounds of 7.62x39 went thundering down range sounding exactly like full auto and breaking the stillness of the day.

“Ok, how about that? Now the whole world knows I can rock and roll and am well armed, so folks now are officially put on warning that I got some serious firepower around here. When Michael comes to visit me, he will be toting that Romanian AK 47 and I am pretty sure some convict armed with only a .25 caliber piece of junk pistol is not going to even think about popping a cap in his direction when he walks in front of their house carrying that thing. Now, if they got a rifle or shotgun, well then that’s another matter and one I can personally take care of if needed or I decide it to be required if I see things are going to get out of hand and am threatened. In that case, somebody just might forget to duck if they bother me too much, but I ain`t going out and playing sniper just to reduce chances of a confrontation. I got too much heart and soul for that, Bubba, and I know we all feel similar when it comes to avoiding harming anyone if it can be helped. I hate to say it, but I am hoping they just die off somewhat naturally, but it does take time to starve to death and I wouldn’t wish that painful horrible death on anybody.” Donald said gloomily and began to wander back to his house.

“Well, just be very careful. Wish I could stick around buddy but you how it is.” Bubba said regretfully.

“”Hey, I totally understand, man has got to do what a man has to do.” Donald concluded.

24

Prep Utilization

Donald said an emotional farewell to his prepper buddies, LowBuck and Cat, who would be most likely be leaving out in the next few days headed for South Carolina. He stopped at Michaels’ on the hill and gave him the spare keys to his kingdom so that he and Amy could guard the prep stash after Lowbuck left out. Even though it made perfect sense that Michael and Amy change houses temporarily to guard the bigger stash it vexed Donald a lot to have to suggest it, but he saw no other alternative for collective security and survival sake.

Michael wasn’t too pleased either about having to leave his house vacant and it also required moving his preps to this more centralized location. All of Michael and Amy’s food preps could easily fit in to his car and he and Donald had decided that even though it would be nice not to even unload the car for such a short period of time, they were worried the hot Alabama sun would play hell on them in a closed up car oven.

Donald was mildly pissed off that he had no control over how much he showed of his food stores, let alone let someone else decide the dinner menus and proportions they were going to be partaking of his food, but it was an all or none decision that had to be made. Giving someone a crash course in how best to utilize the preps on hand and telling someone that low calorie diets start now when what looked like a stash of plenty was available was hard.

The specialty items for a few meager holiday dinners and particularly the less plentiful expensive cans of meats had to be rationed strictly. Donald explained to him that the drink mixes and the Pilot crackers were the key to even being able to live off the Mountain House dehydrated foods. Two crackers equaled a 100 calories, one 8 ounce glass of drink mix was about 110. Everyone was limited to this once a day with a meal instead of twice because Donald just did not have enough stored to support such a large group. Vegetables from the garden and bread they baked would make up the second meal along with some rice and beans would have to do until he got back and started running trap line. Michael knew a lot of the basics already from his military training about how to survival snare, but Donald wanted him to leave his commercial traps snares alone until he had time to formally teach him a trick or two. He also had visions of someone catching their hand in a 220 conibear and in these days and times that could be damn near fatal to get a broke hand and no medical help to mend it.

Donald had checked out Amy on the two .22 rifles he had and he and Michael had decided she should have a Ruger 10/22 for her daily carry weapon. It was light, fast and she was pretty accurate with it. Amy was often out by the garden or just sitting outside doing some quasi guard duty watching the neighborhood while Michael worked on a project and she could take a pot shot at squirrels when they decided to come out in the open and offer a target. Michael had told her though to try to leave the ones in the front yard alone and just concentrate on the orchard and garden areas for collecting a squirrel dinner. The ones living in the front yard were tamer and likely candidates for a slingshot if the need arose and it saved ammo and noise. This type of hunting intrigued her and she tried to practice with one of the wrist rockets Donald had stowed until much to his dismay the band broke from dry rot and he couldn’t remember where he had stowed his replacement bands. That’s the problems with preps, crap deteriorates and is unknown until needed if you don’t try out or check on your supplies regularly.

“Hey Man, hurry back, I want in that dehydrated gulf shrimp you got.” Michael said jokingly.

“You stay out of my Shrimp! That stuff is a delicacy we might not ever see again for sometime. If you are good, I might give you some for your birthday,” Donald said laughing.

“Ok then, gimme a can of that turkey flavored Spam you got as a going away present for guarding your stuff. You are the one that said we needed to watch how much we are using the cook fire and that stuff tastes good cold.” Michael said grinning.

“You got it! We only got a dozen cans of that though. It’s going to put a new meaning to club sandwiches when four or 5 of us have to divvy up a can. I know you hate oatmeal but that shit is a lot better if I cube up some spam or ham flavored TVP in it upon occasion. That won’t be very often, we are down to having rolled oats for breakfast or six grain cereals to start a day with if we are working out on the farm. That’s the thing; we got to think like we are living in a fallout shelter back in civil defense cold war times. Do you know they only had you eating 800 calories a day back then? The Government stored a wheat based biscuit and cans of water back then and that was it. The reasoning being they figured was that if you were sitting on your ass in a shelter you were not burning calories so it sufficed. We got to think about the energy we expend from now on and do or not do things based on calorie expenditures. That is going to be a bitch when food gets low. Can you tell Amy she can’t have breakfast because me and you gotta go cut firewood and we need the calories more than her?” I certainly got a problem telling my Mom that but I see it coming this winter.” Donald said ominously.

“Shit, I ain`t thought about that. I sure hope that wheat we are planting makes a good crop. She could be real understanding about something like that right now, but later on it might not be so easy to bring that fact up. Could be we just share our food equal anyway, Donald?” Michael asked hating to contemplate such a scenario of denying food to his lover for any reason.

“Brother, I hate it also but me and you can’t be getting starvation stupid and swinging an axe while burning twice or three times the calories of our loved ones because we are trying to keep them warm next season. We are going to be getting weak enough in mind and body to do the task anyway. With no fat reserves the body burns muscle. That’s why some hunter gathers let the men adults eat first, then the women, then the children. It seems cruel but it was based on starvation survival. Men had to hike to hunt. Women could eat while they gathered roots and herbs and also put aside food for the men folk to carry with them on hunting and trapping trips. Young children that were not useful for tasks of food gathering or raising unfortunately had the hardest burden or suffering when it came to sharing food in hard times. A sentient lifestyle of only working about 4 hours a day and having lots of leisure time for other pursuits was how we both became civilized as well as survived in prehistoric times. The more meat the body takes in the smarter a human brain becomes. When we domesticated animals and became more agriculture oriented we became smarter and burned fewer calories to obtain meat for proteins. More time on our hands and smarter brains created the arts and philosophy, etc.” Donald said, laying out a bit of history to contemplate.

“Well as hot as it is and it will be getting a lot worse, I can’t see us even wanting to do more than water the garden let alone be cutting timber for winter. However, just daily living of hauling water, getting wood to cook with, washing clothes, etc., is a chore in itself that is time consuming. That reminds me, that creek is too shallow to do more than take a wash cloth bath in and I don’t see Bernie letting everyone jump in his fish pond for a bath when ever we like. That solar shower we got is 5 gallons so that’s 35lbs or so of water to tote every time and excuse me if we are going hunting before you take off, we are both getting kind of smelly.” Michael said stating the obvious about their hygiene.

“I got a couple cans of that rock crystal based 30 day deodorant the Russians come up with for their troops but it won’t last long amongst this group. Telling the girls to quit using regular deodorant didn’t work no matter how much I explained that shit closes your pores off and if you quit it you stink less. That’s homeless knowledge 101. We get in tight quarters this winter is going to get funky anyway. We cant get enough tallow to make soap so I add that to my list of to find stuff but if we’re hunting a lot, they going to have to get used to a wood smoked animal scent for everyone and no perfumes unless it’s a long holiday and the larder is full. That’s another thing, if you ain’t noticed your sniffer has gone back to war sense mode. The Vietnamese could smell that Aqua Velva or American cigarettes and we could smell that damn fish sauce they put on everything in their rice bowl. Talk to the women and explain it is like a dog smelling a stranger if some different human sweat comes to their noses as well as frigging snakes. I don’t care what anyone says, I usually smell a rattler before I see one.” Donald responded and offered to split a last cigarette he tripped over when checking out his prep cabinet in the house.

“No thanks, Ah hell, I might as well. Weird how even if you quit smoking you still get tempted to want one of those damn things.” Michael said taking a couple drags off the proffered cigarette.

“I haven’t thought about the sights and smells of things in years. You know that A-1 steak sauce has anchovies in it?” Donald asked, retrieving his cancer stick.

“Yea, I read the label one day, but it doesn’t stink like that fermented Vietnamese Moc sauce. I noticed you got a bunch of hot sauce prepped in your stores. Tabasco is the soldier’s cure all too bland or repetitive food, huh?” Donald said grinning.

“I ain’t one for hot stuff but it damn sure changes up the palate or lets you choke something down easier. That rosemary bush needs trimming by the way if you can get Amy to see to it while I am gone. I ain’t keen on the taste of wild food and anything I can do to disguise the taste is fine by me and the spice rack will get depleted sooner than I would care to contemplate. By the way force yourself to eat some of that Wheat. You have to get yourself and your stomach to tolerate it if you are not used to it in your diet. There is a book on cooking it in there. Did you know you can make it taste like meat?” Donald said, wistfully stubbing out the last cigarette he might ever see but not necessarily ever want.

“No, I never heard of that. Does it actually resemble meat?” Michael asked.

Wheat Meat Patties

These wheat meat patties are vegetarian burgers. Try using a meat substitute. It’s a delicious, inexpensive way to use your food storage.

By Dean Wilding

Ingredients:

• butter

• 2 medium diced onions

• 1 clove garlic or garlic salt

• 1 tablespoon parsley

• ½ teaspoon basil

• ½ teaspoon marjoram

• ¼ teaspoon thyme

• ½ teaspoon salt

• black pepper to taste

• 2 teaspoons soy sauce

• ¾ cup whole wheat

• ½ cup whole wheat bread crumbs

• 6 eggs

• 1 cup of grated zucchini (optional)

Preparing the Wheat:

The night before you make the wheat patties start preparing the wheat.

Put ¾ cup of wheat in the bottom of a thermos. Fill the rest of the thermos with boiling water. Put the lid on the thermos and let the wheat cook overnight. These are also known as wheat berries or flask wheat.

Cooking the wheat this way gives it a chewy, meat texture.

Note: You'll need a thermos that's about 32 oz (1 quart). If you have a large family, you might want to get a larger thermos so you can make a double batch.

Making the Patties

Sauté onions in a little bit of butter and add herbs, salt, and pepper.

Add cooked wheat, breadcrumbs, eggs, and zucchini.

Form into patties and fry in a pan. Brown well.

Enjoy!

“Hey man, anything fried is count to me, lol I am a southern boy. It beats hot water and wheat berries for cereal, learn to do it while we got some cooking oil and get your innards used to it, some folks are allergic to wheat but even the best of us got to get our guts used to digesting it if it’s not a regular staple in our diet.” Donald told him knowing that sharp changes in diet would bring on some peculiar results in digestion that lack of a normal toilet would complicate most likely.

“I got it, start eating a bit here and there of it, thanks for the advice. I assume we got plenty of salt and sugar or do you have any holes in your preps I need to consider?” Michael said getting on the bandwagon of mixing iron rations with normal food as an extender.

“I probably got lots but let me think for a second… Peanut butter, I got a few jars of ready made and have one can of dehydrated and no oil to add to that to make it more like store bought. That’s my also my universal animal bait so don’t eat it all up, wait for me to catch something with it instead. Do you know what’s nasty? Cleaning a damn animal without free access to wash water is pretty gruesome. Be careful about your fingernails, Man. You can poison yourself handling food and if you think about getting intimate with your wife, don’t go there unless you scrubbed up real good. Be exceedingly careful what you touch and might cook on some not so clean surfaces, diarrhea can dehydrate you quicker than anything else and lord forbid if anyone gets contagious dysentery.” Donald said, thinking of the myriad of things he knew but had not related in his many short preparedness discussions. He had several pairs of those big rubber chemical suit gloves from an online military surplus store to do the task with but they get nasty quick also and need to be cleaned.

“Old man, you have always said that you were a wealth of useless or useful information, but I had not thought of that one before. What do you do for that anyway? Dysentery disease, I mean.” Michael asked, regarding Don going to one of his prep cabinets to get several bottles of hand sanitizer to distribute to the house guests.

“I am not sure, but Janice can tell you if she makes it up here. Me, I say depend on the universal dehydration sickness cure all because that diarrhea will dehydrate you. Rehydration of the body is the key to many illnesses.

What is Dehydration?

Most of us can be dehydrated on a daily basis. We just don’t drink enough water….and the Diet Coke doesn't count! Water is essential to good health. Dehydration can occur when the total fluid loss is just 5%!

Signs of Dehydration

Mild to moderate dehydration is likely to cause:

• Dry sticky mouth

• Sleepiness or tiredness — children are likely to be less active than usual

• Thirst

• Decreased urine output — fewer than six wet diapers a day for infants and eight hours or more without urination for older children and teens

• Few or no tears when crying

• Muscle weakness

• Headache

• Dizziness or lightheadedness

Severe dehydration, a medical emergency, can cause:

• Extreme thirst

• Extreme fussiness or sleepiness in infants and children; irritability and confusion in adults

• Very dry mouth, skin and mucous membranes

• Lack of sweating

• Little or no urination — any urine that is produced will be dark yellow or amber

• Sunken eyes

• Shriveled and dry skin that lacks elasticity and doesn't "bounce back" when pinched into a fold

• In infants, sunken fontanels — the soft spots on the top of a baby's head

• Low blood pressure

• Rapid heartbeat

• Fever

• In the most serious cases, delirium or unconsciousness.

Unfortunately, thirst isn't always a reliable gauge of the body's need for water, especially in children and older adults. A better barometer is the color of your urine: Clear or light-colored urine means you're well hydrated, whereas a dark yellow or amber color usually signals dehydration. Mayo Clinic

What to do if someone is showing symptoms:

Immediately start getting fluids down the person. In hospitals they use solutions to replace lost fluids. You can use a formula that is similar for reducing the severity of dehydration by having present in a solution the salts that are lost during a sickness which include a fever, diarrhea or vomiting which would deplete the body of necessary fluids to keep hydrated. It is dangerous to be dehydrated to the point of symptoms occurring, especially in children.

Prevention is the best way to handle dehydration!

It would be wise to have the formulas put together, (or at least have the supplies) on hand and use it during the illness, especially if no help is available. Just getting small sips down the person to PREVENT dehydration would be better than trying to fix it. These usually have salt in them to replace salts lost and balance electrolytes. The salts in the solution allow the cells to more readily absorb fluids.

If someone has two or more of the signs of dehydration, it is important to restore fluids as soon as possible. A simple oral dehydration solution can be made by mixing the following ingredients and putting in separate bags then in a first aid kit for immediate use when needed.

REHYDRATION FORMULA

• ¼ tsp real salt

• ¼ tsp no salt

(potassium chloride)

• ¼ tsp baking

soda

• 2 ½ tsp sugar

Mix into 4 cups of

water. Give the person small

sips of the solution every five

minutes, even if he vomits,

until he begins to urinate normally. The drink can be given with fruit juices as a flavoring.

The person may also drink thin vegetable soup, or the water in which rice or barley has been cooked.

(Lana said that we need to use all four items in this rehydration formula to balance our electrolytes. She got this formula from a nurse at the LDS hospital.)

-Taken from “Emergencies! And How to Prepare for Them” by Lana Richardson with her permission, pp. 19-22

Note: This rehydration formula can also be used to PREVENT dehydration when water is scarce. Put it in the water you do have. Your cells will absorb the water more readily with salts present and reduce the onset of becoming dehydrated rather than fluids being “flushed” through your kidneys. Prevention is always better than the cure!

Rehydration Formula Saves Lives

Information about Rehydration formula from World Health Organization Website:

NEW FORMULA FOR ORAL REHYDRATION SALTS WILL SAVE MILLIONS OF LIVES

- Number of deaths and severity of illness will be reduced.

The new formula Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS), released by the World Health Organization (WHO), will save millions of lives and reduce the severity of illness of those suffering from acute diarrhea. ORS is a sodium and glucose solution that is widely used to treat children with acute diarrhea, a serious killer of children under five worldwide. The new formula ORS will reduce the severity of diarrhea and vomiting, the number of hospitalizations, the need for costly intravenous (IV) fluid treatment and the length of illness.

The use of ORS is responsible for saving the lives of millions of children worldwide. This inexpensive and readily available intervention reduces death and suffering from dehydration caused by diarrhea. Since WHO adopted ORS in 1978 as its primary tool to fight diarrhea, the mortality rate for children suffering from acute diarrhea has fallen from 5 million to 1.3 million deaths annually.

Note: These statements have not been reviewed by the Food & Drug Administration. These products are not intended to prevent, diagnose, treat, or cure any disease.

“What the hell is ¼ tsp no salt (potassium chloride)? That makes no sense to me. Think fast. If I say, “potassium,” what’s the first thing that comes to mind? I think from my high school days it was bananas or something somebody said about being good for muscles.” remarked Michael.

“Some people have found that potassium chloride, which is a salt substitute (such as the brand No Salt), is an acceptable alternative to its sodium-touting cousin... Well… Unfortunately, I must say that raw potassium chloride may not be the tastiest spice in the grocer’s aisle or on your pantry shelf to the uninitiated. (Though some people I have been around get used to it and love it!) However, when you use it in your cooking, the bitter, tangy taste does often subside. And most people find that after a week or two with less salt in the diet, the penchant for all things salty is gone so that’s a good thing.

You know we need to talk to that wise woman on the hill Catherine. She told me the simplest formula is 3 Tablespoons of sugar, and 1 teaspoon of salt, dissolved in 1 quart of potable water.” Donald said, clearing up the matter.

25

Incoming

Donald’s trip into town to get to his moms place was pretty uneventful. He really had no idea what to expect out on the road. Lots of trucks and a few cars broke down on the highway but most drivers had gotten themselves pulled over to the side of the road ok on their own when the geomagnetic storm had fried there onboard computers. He did notice, however, that several vehicles appeared to have been moved out of the road way with a wrecker or pushed to the side by a fire engine or something. That meant state or local infrastructure was most likely still functioning in some form or fashion the last few days he had been gone. Very light traffic, he had maybe only seen 10 moving cars in the last 20 miles or so he had travelled. No hitchhikers though, that surprised him but not really because it had been over a week and a half since the geomagnetic storm had hit. Most likely folks just got off the highway in some form or fashion and were either still trying to get to their destination or had long since arrived at what ever support group they had chosen to ride this disaster out. Most likely, Donald figured, they would have cops directing traffic at the main intersections coming into town. I imagine someone in government has already thought about salvaging those broke down trucks’ cargos because the doors had been open on a few and it didn’t appear they had been looted, just unloaded.

“Maybe this shit won’t be as bad as I think.” Donald mused as he pulled into his Mom’s driveway.

“I am so glad you’re home, Donald. I have been so worried about you since you been gone.” Donald’s Mom said as she came out the side door and hugged him as he exited the vehicle.

“I missed you too, Mom, everything as well as can be expected around here?” Donald asked after returning the hug and began walking towards the houses side door.

“Not really, I think you were right about having to leave from here soon. Some people in the area have been shooting guns in the nearby neighborhoods most every night since you left. Sounded like a bad New Year's gang banger party and I have only heard the police sirens a few times around here. No way to call the police anyway even if you needed to and had someone beating down your door trying to get in. Are we leaving soon?” Betty asked, quite flustered and worried as she glanced around the backyards facing her home while gripping a small tear gas dispenser for protection.

“We are going to leave soon but I had not set a date on just when, as of yet. Tell me more about what’s going on. You hear any kind of news or announcements while I have been gone?” Donald asked, knowing she probably had not because he had told her specifically not to go out for any reason while he was gone.

“No, not a word; my radio does not work. I talked to the neighbor once when I saw them out and they are staying close to home also after they almost got hurt in a mob trying to buy groceries. It’s getting bad just like you said it would, Donald.” His Mom told him worriedly.

“I will check it out on my way to downtown tomorrow. I am going to see if my boss showed up at his government office or is not even bothering to come in. Most likely it will be a wasted trip and no one will be there at all. If no one is there, I will make one more plea to Janice to bugout and leave in the next day or so depending on what I find out.” Donald replied and thanked his Mom for the glass of warm lemonade she offered to him.

“I was going to put all the boxes by the door for you to load in the cars but Janice said to leave it spread out through the house. She came by and checked on me this morning. That was so nice of her. She told me that her sister had moved in with her mom for now and she had shared some food with them. We didn’t talk about if they are leaving or not, I guess neither one of us wanted to bring that subject up. I think if they do go, they will go to Ramer and the rest of their kinfolk.” Betty said filling her own glass with tepid lemonade.

“Well, I guess it will be just you and me then. Lowbuck is leaving out in a couple days and I got Michael and Amy guarding the food stores in my prep shed until we get back. I guess I haven’t told you yet about our little neighborly agreement. You see it takes community or some kind of support group to survive long term. I offered to share preps, but not adopt the two of them in exchange for some mutually shared assistance. Michael and Amy know I will stretch what I got to the limit to help them and then we will have to make some other arrangements so don’t worry yourself over that. I think we all are going to do just fine after getting into the routine of being more selfsufficient over the coming months. We got plenty of stored food for that transition.” Donald said hopefully.

“I think Janice really wants to come to your place but doesn’t want to decide just yet.” Betty offered.

“We shall see. I hope she does; we need the extra preps and help. Her sister always turned her nose up at us prepping and now Janice has to decide to giveaway some of her food to her and her Mom. We each had a whole personal years worth we accumulated over the years but now we will soon be reduced in a couple months to a box of traps and a .22 to survive much longer. Food procurement is going to be a 24/7 thing and it will get more dangerous and difficult before it gets any better. Unfortunately, it only gets better as the population reduces that is competing for the same resources. We probably already got zombies wandering around. By that zombie label I mean mindless ravenous people wandering the earth in search of food. Horrible sights are on the horizon of walking skeletons that starvation has yet to claim and it’s going to be pitiful. No, we are not staying around here for that and I don’t see any other choice for us but to settle in and try to defend ourselves a little patch of ground. It will level off eventually, transport is moving somewhat but the city is not the place for me to be hanging around.” Donald remarked assuredly.

“I got my bags packed and extra towels and linens already boxed up.” Betty said trying to coax her son into making a definitive decision on when they were leaving what might soon be a hell-hole existence.

“Let me go by the local agency office tomorrow and then hopefully I will meet up with Janice and after that I will make a quick decision to most likely leave the morning after. I wouldn’t mind spending some more time with Lowbuck and Cat before they have to go. I don’t know why I am going to waste the gas to go down to the office, but I suppose it’s just an effort to say I tried to report in. By the way, have you smelled very much grilling going on? It’s been almost two weeks and folks that don’t have natural gas stoves likely have burned up what charcoal they had on hand.” Donald asked trying to gauge the city populace’s conditions.

“Now that you mention it, it smells more like wood smoke and burnt paper around here. No cooking meat smells. The first week it smelled like one big barbecue joint around here. Guess everyone is cooking can goods by now with no ice or refrigeration. Water and gas are still on thank God, though. I have been boiling the water like you said just to be on the safe side after the first week. By the way, that PVC access hole you showed me for the sewer connection outside is too tight for me to open. That would have been a real mess if I hadn’t been able to stuff it full of rags if the sewers started to backup after the water went off. I want you to fix that before we leave; I don’t want to have a mess to come back to.” Donald’s Mom said positively and he flinched because he doubted it would ever happen in her lifetime that a return trip might be considered.

“I bet she makes the beds before we leave also.” Donald mused to himself with a half smile she was taking it so well.

Donald didn’t know it, but back on his other home front Michael and LowBuck were making some serious progress on his little field fortification.

LowBuck and Michael were straining to set the large log center pole onto its posts for Donald’s cookhouse bunker when Amy and Cat wandered up from the house.

“Damn that Donald, here we are we two bad backs and that sucker probably has found the only bar open this side of the Mason Dixon Line open and is having a good old time.” Michael said trying to wiggle the beam closer to the notch it was supposed to sit in.

“I hope he is at that, means he might be toting back some booze before I take off. Ok, hold what you got.” Bubba said, heaving the heavy beam the last few inches it needed to go in on his side.

“Good deal!” Michael exclaimed as his end settled into its mortise and tenon placement.

“You boys been working up a sweat, take a break.” Amy said, settling down on the picnic table to have a chat with them.

“We got an idea we want to discuss with you.” Cat said smiling and sitting down next to Amy.

“What’s up?’ I hope it’s not more work.” LowBuck grumbled.

“No, it’s not work for you.” Cat scolded, still smiling.

“I think you might even like the idea.” She said snidely.

“What is it then?” LowBuck responded still skeptical and sweating profusely from the heat and the physical labor he had just finished putting out.

“We were digging around in Don’s preps and found out he has two 45 lb buckets of sugar. Evidently he had wine or booze making on his mind because he has the bucket setups for making wine or mash. His birthday is in two weeks so what do you all say to converting some of that sugar into some kind of adult beverages?” Amy asked.

“But we were planning on leaving out in the next couple days. I would love to stay around for a party but we really need to be on the road.” Bubba began protesting before Cat held up what appeared to be a dark bronze grape.

“What’s that?” Bubba said reaching for the proffered fruit.

“Muscadine, it’s an indigenous wild grape that grows all over this place. We picked a bucketful today and there is a ton more of it around here in the woods to harvest.” Amy advised.

“Lots of wine to be made...” Michael said with a smiling glint in his eye at LowBuck.

“Hell with that, think brandy.” Bubba said looking at the large grape and thinking of different beverages to be had.

“Brandy is dandy.” giggled Cat smiling at everyone.

“Still and all we need to get moving on unless you got something in mind besides just letting Donald get cross-eyed on his birthday at a little post apocalyptic birthday party. “ Bubba said regretfully handing back the makings of some fine Bubba Brews and other concoctions of the alcoholic nature that any gut but his would take for paint thinner when swallowed.

Amy excitedly chimed in and explained she had found a big bag of something called zeolite in Donald’s preps that Cat had identified as the number one component needed to easily make some ethanol alcohol fuel.

“That stuff is reusable. How much does he have of it? Michael, we now have means of producing some very high quality alcohol, but if you plan to use it as fuel you must further purify it by running it through a still a second time if it ain’t for drinking. You should now have ethanol near 98% pure, if I did a hell of a job the first few times. By soaking it in or filtering it through 'Zeolite' you can have pure alcohol. This product will absorb the water out of the alcohol leaving you with 100%, 200 proof. I think these two ladies figured out a way to turn Donald’s place into a gas station of sorts. Hell, any vehicle after 1980 can run the stuff 50/50 without any kind of engine conversion. For lack of a better word, I am a pretty good brew master or moonshiner. I like this angle! I can get about a gallon a run off what is around here to use for a still. With your welding skills, Michael, and depending on what we can find to build a bigger still, we can produce enough alcohol to run the neighbors tractors to produce pretty much anything we want if we got some seeds to plant.” LowBuck said with thoughts of becoming a land baron of sorts and allowing a shit eating grin to pass his face at the prospect.

“Hey, I looked into that once. I dig alternative fuels.

You used to be able to get free licenses to produce ethanol. The sugar will run out quick enough but with his fruit trees we should be ok. Oh yea, Bernie has a patch of sugar cane he keeps around for the grand kids’ entertainment that can be expanded upon and we might can find some sugar beet seeds. You might just want to stay on awhile there Bubba and establish us a gas station around this neck of the woods.” Michael said, excited at the prospect of being able to use machines to take the toil off of some agricultural work and have some home brew to profit and party down with.

“Donald’s has got the means to run a still either electrically or by wood fire. He has got a library full of books on the subject, but it sounds like you got the practical experience to make it all happen, LowBuck.” Amy said charmingly.

“He has the makings of a good mash in fruit and other resources to at least provide for our needs to run a rototiller and to cut firewood without the need of using hand tools for the tasks. If we can produce more alcohol fuel than that, we can most likely save a bunch of lives with community agriculture by providing for those neighbors with tractors the fuel to plow some fields and plant some crops.” Michael said supporting her assessment of practicalities.

“This is a difficult decision, on the one hand my S.C. prepper has meat on the hoof grazing, but I am basically a border guard flunky there. On the other hand, I am a gas producer and a whiskey distiller here; I think I just convinced myself.” Low Buck said chagrined at the aspect of doing without a steak for a bottle of shine.

“So it’s settled then!” Amy said hugging a grinning

Michael. “You can settle down here and grow your beard long with my old man doing what you all do best.” Amy said grinning at Cat and the rest of the crew for confirmation.

“Makes total sense to me! Ha! Ha! Never thought I would help build a gas pump I could drink out of. If times were not so hard at the moment I can envision crazy Don suggesting we open a possum burger stand along with a gas station bar with drinks being served in the rear on a 2x12 bar and tree stumps for stools!” LowBuck exclaimed, giving Michael a high five and hugging Cat while Amy and Michael slid closer together.

“That is the damndest plan I ever heard of !” squealed Cat as Amy reached out to hug her new found friend in admiration that the ladies had solved all the practicalities without the consultation of the men huffing and puffing their dire warnings as they were wont to do.

“Won't Don be surprised when he gets back?” Amy gushed.

“Damn straight. That boy won’t know up from down when it comes to thinking of all the possibilities he can use it in his barter schemes.” LowBuck glowed at the thought and added his enthusiasms.

“That old sot is going to be in hog heaven once he realizes the potential of our planning. He isn’t going to know what to do with himself at all with that prepper brain of his by the time he considers all the various possibilities. No way can we keep it a surprise until his birthday. What do you all suggest?” Michael said smiling.

“I think that we need to keep him distracted and away from the house as much as possible in order to surprise him. Bug him with redundant questions and keep him swinging a pick axe down at Bernie’s to put in that wheat field you been discussing. I doubt that will work for long though because he will want to start trapping and get out of what he would call grunt work or ditch digging. Tell him there is a shit load of game a days walk from here and if it’s safe for him to be stomping around in the area, go on a hunt/camping trip with him. Michael, you take him out and Bubba can stay as guard on the prepper plantation. He will go along with that because he respects your many years of living here to have that kind of local game location knowledge you two can apply. Bring him back after we manage to get the mash cooking well and introduce the concept of what we talked about to him then. Meantime, we will be getting a party ready at my house for later.” Amy said taking charge of some possibly highly interesting festivities.

“If it were normal times, I would stick around and see the whole gas and alcohol scheme through but we still need to get on the road right after the party. I wouldn’t be waiting that long, but I think we will be even better received if we topped out our alcohol supplies from a couple still runs Donald and I can share. I will write down the recipes and show Michael a few of my tricks of the trade, but having access to good grass fed beef is going to trump my love of moon shining in practicality I am afraid. I got to trade him out of some of that zeolite though; I got another one of those cool kitchen counter stills on the trailer. Ha! I could tell him that he was starting a franchise by investing some of that zeolite with me, he would probably go for that.” Bubba said, grinning.

“Darn, I had really thought that me and Amy had come up with a way for us to stay around here.” pouted Cat.

“Honey, I sure wish that we could stay long term. But the food supplies are going to run out long before a crop comes in, or if Donald manages to find a way of trading any booze or ethanol.” Bubba said apologetically.

“I suppose you are right, though damn it if I wish you were not! I just got all excited for the moment. I wonder what Harley dog is going to think of a Cow? He is hard enough to control when he even smells a deer let alone having a herd of hoofed critters to maybe want to chase or possibly try to gnaw on he gets to see standing in a field everyday.” Cat replied.

“He will learn to leave them cows alone eventually. I will probably have to keep him tied up for awhile is all I will have to do until the newness of them wears off, I hope.” Bubba said, not entirely certain of how Harley pooch would take to being a cattle dog guarding the stock instead of chasing them and trying to chomp a tasty looking cows hindquarters.

“I will see what kind of spare bottles or jugs I can come up with to put the finished alcohol products in. We need to be thinking about using a screw jack or building something to mash all those grapes and black berries around here into some kind of usable juice. You think now is the time to try and trade the neighbors out of some sugar before they eat it all up or just make do with what we got?” Michael inquired of Bubba.

“We just make do with what he has stored here, best to just stay low profile as long as you can. I doubt anyone be in mind of coming around here asking to borrow a cup of sugar neither.” Guffawed LowBuck.

“How set are we for yeast?” Michael asked, knowing it had short shelf life.

“We got plenty of yeast on hand for now, but we will have to make our own later. Before yeast was available in grocery stores, bakers used to keep colonies of yeast for making bread. These colonies were known as starters, and were sometimes passed on from generation to generation. You can make your own starter using commercial yeast, by using potato water (from boiled potatoes) to attract and feed wild yeasts present in the air around us, or by using the yeast found on the skins of organic grapes or organic raisins. Then you just keep the starter in a one-quart crock, jar, or airtight container. I been collecting articles I have researched in a notebook for sometime. I got a good explanation from writer Samara on Off Grid News.” Bubba said going to get his notebook.

Knowing how to replace the staples in the kitchen in some other way than a trip to the store is an important prepper skill. One of those things is bread. The first step is taking the time to learn to bake, which unfortunately is becoming a lost art in and of itself. The second step is to learn how to obtain the components of bread, such as flour, water, and yeast.

If you are ready to go beyond the basic sourdough starter, try these yeast procurement methods for all new flavors and textures in your baking.

Feeding the Starter

Whether you are talking about a standard sourdough starter, or one of those listed below, you will see many recipes talking about “feeding” the starter. This means adding 1 cup flour and 1 cup water to the mix so that the yeast can keep growing. You will need to feed the starter daily if it is at room temperature, or weekly if it is in the fridge. If you don’t bake bread that day, you will also need to toss out one cup of the starter so that the ratios stay the same. This is an important step—and can be a great motivator to bake regularly so that none of your hard work goes to waste! Yeast starters are one thing you will not want to throw in the compost pile, as the bacteria can grow out of control and give you a very unpleasant result.

Grape Starter

Grapes, along with many other types of fruits (including apples, oranges, and grapefruit, to name some examples), contain natural yeast spores in the skin or peel of the fruit.

For grapes, stem them (do not wash them, as this will wash off the yeast that you are trying to grow), crush by hand, and place in a container covered with

cheesecloth. Leave undisturbed for three days. You should start to see the liquid bubble, indicating that the yeast is growing. Strain the liquid (which now contains the yeast), and stir in 1 cup of whole wheat flour.

Leave your grape starter at room temperature for 24 hours. Save only one cup of the mixture, and then add another cup of flour and a cup of water. Do the same thing for another day or two. You should have a very bubbly starter at this point. After this, just keep feeding it so you will always have some ready for your next loaf of bread.

As you experiment with different fruits (and even tomatoes!) you will find that each kind of starter has a bit of a different flavor. Find which ones you like best. Just remember, you need to use homegrown or wild fruits, since the store-bought ones will be covered with pesticides, wax, and who knows what else—probably not much yeast left to be found there. And don’t wash it off before starting.

Potato Starter

It is amazing the things that we throw away that are more useful than we know. In this case, that water you boiled potatoes in for dinner is one of the fastest ways to make a starter for your bread. Simply take a cup and a half of the potato water, add a tablespoon of sugar, and stir in flour until stiff. Cover and leave overnight in a warm place. If it is nice and bubbly the next morning it is ready to use. If not—start over.

Alternatively, if you do not usually boil your potatoes, or just want to try something different, cheat a little. Use one packet of store bought yeast (1 tablespoon); mix with a cup of water, a half-cup of sugar, and three tablespoons of instant potato flakes. Let it stand for 24 hours, and then put it in the fridge. Feed every four days, but instead of the usual flour and water combo, use the same amounts of sugar, potato flakes, and water that you used to create the starter.

Drying Your Yeast for Storage

One practical challenge with creating and using your own yeast is storing and transporting it. We see this in one very practical example, when Israel left Egypt in a hurry during the Exodus, and did not have time for their bread to rise. Jews to this day commemorate God’s deliverance by abstaining from products with leavening during Passover.

If you want to be able to bake bread the instant you arrive at your bug-out location (if you ever need to take your own personal Exodus), then you will want to dry some yeast for use later.

Take any of your starters, spread very thin on a cookie sheet or baking stone, and then dehydrate as you would anything else. If you live in a hot and dry climate, you may just be able to cover it with a cheese cloth and place in the sun. Otherwise, put on the lowest temp in your oven and dry it that way. Once the yeast is dry (not cooked, if it cooks, the active yeast will be killed and rendered useless), you can crumble it and store in an air tight container. Just like store-bought yeast, it will last longer in the fridge or freezer.

Play around with amounts you use in recipes once the yeast is ready, as the potency of homemade yeast will be a little different than the store-bought version and you will probably need more of it for the same amount of bread (typically about a cup of starter in place of 1 packet of yeast, if using wet starter. If you’re using dry yeast, try just doubling the amount to start).

What you lose in time, you may find you make up for in flavor and fun. There is nothing quite like the smell of fresh baked bread to make you feel at home.

“That’s a good article, it’s amazing all the knowledge you preppers pass around and store that most folks never even think about.” Michael said quite impressed with Bubba`s Big Book of prepper practicalities and formulas he had put together.

“That’s what the prepper community is all about. It’s sharing knowledge and developing skills.” Bubba said proudly, but wishing that he and Donald had sat down and taken the time to get his collective book of wisdom published so more people could be sharing this knowledge.

26

City Survey

Donald double locked his mom’s house door and started up his truck to head downtown and went to see about his job. He decided he would drive by Janice’s house on the way and just give it a visual check before stopping for a conversation with her on the way back regarding getting out of town. He had been relatively sure the small gas station and convenience store on the corner of the road going towards her house had already been burglarized and the broken glass he saw in front of it confirmed his suspicions as he drove by. He was sure Janice was already aware of its condition, but he made a mental note to ask her how long it had been since it was broke into. This was as much of an intelligence gathering trip on city conditions as it was taking care of business for him. He watched carefully a group of teens in baggy assshowing pants walking down the street and they seemed in his opinion to stare openly at him a bit more than usual.

“Probably feeling a bit braver these days, they are going to wish they had some pants that were not already falling off their asses soon enough.” Donald laughed to himself wondering if they were going to have to trade with one another to try and get something to fit even a little as they lost weight from the starvation that probably had already begun.

“Hell, my fat brother is going to be digging around in his old clothes soon enough for a smaller size, but he had been stout for so long he bet Jimmy didn’t have much in the way of normal sized clothes. I wonder how he is making out. He had boo coo preps as far as Donald knew to make it for a while. What he had besides expensive guns and knives and such Donald didn’t know but suspected he had a very decent supply of food. Weird how different brothers could be and both be preppers. Jimmy was in Texas and had not divulged much in the way of what he was going to do when the SHTF. Donald knew even though he was an apartment prepper, he was pretty well networked in with a lot of people, so most likely Jim had a bug out location he could get to. Wish I knew more about his plans.” Donald mused as he slowly drove by Janice’s house. He didn’t see anything out of order but he did notice she had rigged herself some blackout curtains. Good girl! Still he needed to tell her she should either make them less obvious or take them down during the day. No sense advertising the fact you were hiding something to all the prying eyes that were most likely looking for targets of opportunity about right now.” Donald thought as he speeded up and continued on his mission.

Donald drove his old truck through an affluent neighborhood of older mansion like houses inhabited by mostly older rich people and wondered how they were fairing with a massive amount of welfare and food stamp recipients living just a few blocks away. The governor’s mansion was stuck in this old southern neighborhood a few streets over and was probably a likely target for an out of control protest, but he bet the Governor was not even there and had moved to some undisclosed command center day one. Donald had warned Janice about the possibility of uncontrolled fires springing up in the area if a full blown riot took off, which it would. Donald decided he would not go by the mansion but would instead try to see if anything was going on from the side streets leading to it on his left.

“Now you some dumbasses, he declared to himself as he viewed a bunch of white yuppies and elderly people looking like they were having some kind of a rally and making protest signs in a church parking lot. Wish I could see what the hell were on those signs.” Donald said to himself while slowing down and craning his neck to try to get a better glimpse.

“Do they think a news crew is going to come to see them or that an inevitable food stamp protest/riot that was going to be going on soon enough up the street would welcome them with open arms and not chew them up and spit them out? People didn’t have sense God gave a Goat if they thought any kind of demonstration was going to get food in their bellies. Hell, those signs might just of said “the end is near” or “repent ye sinners” or some other religious doomed crap. Note to self, watch out for a rise in religious fanatics of every ilk and demonstration. Uh oh! That can’t be good, Donald said to himself as he noticed police blue lights up ahead. Oh yea, that old neighborhood grocery store was up on the left there.” Donald said to himself as he made sure he got to the far side of the one way street he was on.

Two patrol cars and two bicycle cops had about eight suspects, most likely looters, arranged around the small parking lot to it.

“Boys you think you got it bad now, I can’t even imagine what the city or county jail is like. What the hell? Here comes a National Guard truck, are they transporting prisoners for the local law? I ain`t sticking around to find out and I wish I had thought this little trip through a bit better. Ok, time to take an alternate route. What is it I want to avoid? The court house, the sheriff department, the food stamp office, pardons and paroles, the mental health center, the bus station, also any high schools. Shit I will just have to evaluate my risks, too hard to list all the places in a downtown area that might be a hotspot to avoid. The hell with it, I am turning my butt around now before I get some kind of surprise I don’t need! Every one of these roads leads to the state capitol someway or another and I got the LA riots fresh in my mind of people getting dragged out of cars and beaten.” Donald thought as he reassured himself he could easily reach his pistol from a sitting position.

Donald turned his truck around and headed back towards Janices as soon as he could and gave up any notion of checking in as a disaster reservist at his Federal Agency.

That damn girl had better of made her mind up by now what she wants to do. I got my Mom to contend with and I am not going to stay around here and wait until the city is on fire to try and leave. She can go to Ramer, She can come with me or she can go to hell because I am not waiting any longer!” Donald fumed to himself as he angrily surveyed the streets in front of him for any indications of how desperate people now were.

27

The Great Unraveling

“Hey Michael, the savages from next door came visiting today. Well, the two brothers did by themselves anyway. I was out back mushing up some grapes in a bucket and Harley and Cat were out front just watching out what was going on in the neighborhood. I heard Harley barking and came around from the back of the house and Cat was yelling at them and asking what they wanted around here. They didn’t even make it part way down the drive. They hollered down to us that they were neighbors and just wanted to talk and I went up asked them what was it they wanted to talk about. They said they were out of food and could we find it in our hearts to spare some. I was civil but said we didn’t have enough for ourselves and was sorry I couldn’t give them any, but you should of seen the pie eyed look they had on their faces when looking at the AR I was carrying the whole time. They went home rather quickly and quietly soon enough though when I told them no and hell no they were not going to be getting any food from here.” LowBuck told Donald’s friend.

“Yea, I had a little talk with them on the way down here. They asked why we were all carrying guns now and I told them because we can and we sorta declared open hunting season on most everything that moved.” Michael replied mirthlessly.

“That idea about community hunts Donald had needs to be considered once again, but I ain’t arming them unsavory looking neighbors to participate.” LowBuck replied just as seriously.

“Me neither. Amy and Cat can guard the shed while we go talk to Bernie and old Mac about whets what today. Bubba, there are a few other folks on this road you don’t know about. We got us a hermit that lives in the woods and another family with teenage kids that are pretty good folks but I am having no earthly idea what they got in the way of food stuffs on hand now. I gave this a bit of thought last night and concluded that we are sort of damned if we do and damned if we don’t when it comes to contacting them. Everybody on this dead end street is going to be thinking the most likely place to get a meal or water is at Bernie’s. Those fish ponds of his are a magnet for the thirsty and hungry residents of this community. Those ponds are too small to support all of us with fish and he has some decent firepower down there to protect his interests somewhat, but he has said before he is not allowing the free taking of his resources without something in return for the privilege of allowing others to fish. Two things that are relevant that came out of Donald and his talking about the prepper community is, “You will get no warning if Bernie has the ass with you and he also knows Donald has some kind of food stored at his home, but Bernie does not how much Donald actually has. Bernie even started watching DoomsDay Preppers after talking to Donald and thinking about storing some food for himself and family so that’s a good thing I guess. The planting of wheat on his property in a SHTF situation Donald and he worked out long ago, but not much else in the way of being mutually supportive. That wheat won’t be up in time to save those who are not somewhat prepared already. There is not enough wheat seed to provide sprouts for folks to eat and thinning out the deer herd just makes good sense if we are going to be planting every patch of land we can clear to reduce their depredation. Labor to do all these tasks is one thing Donald knew he couldn’t prep for, so those neighbors of his might not be as useless as we think. I think organizing the community in some way is our best bet, because it appears we lack resources the same as the rest of them, but we do offer or have a tangible solution to a mutual problem as well as a civilized approach to avoid mass starvation. Lots of deer hunting savvy as well as scents and lures can be shared around here, as we have got lots of hunters in the community with that stuff around the house from their traditional hobbies. Neighbor helping neighbor is the way to go, but we still got to keep this place and most of the preps private so we look equal in food resources in the eyes of the community. We can’t be talking about those commercial snares and traps Donald has invested in he will be breaking out soon. We just got to look like successful trappers and an asset to the community because they think we use the primitive snares and traps to source food like Donald writes about. You know what? I wish he had just made a bunch of paper handout copies of how to build them instead of the drawings he has in his books he has on hand. We could have distributed them instructions and been done with it. Kids have been trapping and snaring for centuries and we need to teach these new ones the art so we all can eat, while they can use up some of that youthful energy they are blessed with in a positive manner.” Michael concluded.

“I think you have might have something there, most everybody will stay to themselves pretty much unless they are going on a community hunt or work detail for the gardens. Probably most folks will tend to not to stray far on to each others properties either as from what Donald has said hunting boundaries is ingrained taboo, as a way of life around here and not to be trifled with by blatantly trespassing.” LowBuck said in agreement to Michael’s conclusions.

“We ought to see if Catherine will go visiting with us. She is sort of the country matriarch around here and noted for knowing old style healing methods with roots and herbs. She is a sweet woman, but don’t let that fool ya; she has got a double barrel shotgun and the tenacity of granny on Beverly Hills to point it in your direction if family or friends are threatened. Neat gal though, has tons of interesting stories. She told me about the time her mother and little sister were about 6 and 4 years old, individually. They decided they wanted to go after a particularly appealing sweet gum tree way back when. This tree had a scar that was just a oozing sweet milky sap out and big sister took the little one out to collect it for themselves. Their Mama was doing laundry in the backyard of the house in one of those big old cast iron hog boiler kettles and didn’t see the two younguns run off. In particular she didn’t see the 6 yr old grab a garden hoe to take care of the task. Well anyway, that sap was dripping way out of reach of the children in the tree and the oldest needed it to get that what they called a treat, country chewing gum. She swung at where the sap had accumulated and hardened a few times with that hoe and then missed the tree entirely and accidentally hit the baby in the forehead with the hoe as it came down. Knocked the littlest child out and sent her older sister screaming in fits to find her daddy that was plowing with a mule on the far side of a cotton field bordering where the sweet gum tree stood.

“Daddy! Daddy!” Catherine cried as she run towards her unaware sweating lanky father in overalls plowing up some red clay soil.

“”Little sister is hurt! She is bleeding and won’t wake up!” the horrified child cried.

“Where baby? Tell daddy where!” her father had asked trying to fathom what just happened.

“At the sweet gum!” Catherine choked out pointing with a childlike trembling stick of a finger.

To his horror, Buck can barely see an unmoving tiny mound in a snow white dress off in the distance.

“Where’s your ma at darling?” her Father asked as he hastily unhitched the mule.

“She's doing the washing Daddy. I sorry I did bad but little sis needs you!” the distraught child tearfully admonished her Pa Pa to hurry.

“Sugar, Daddy’s coming. Is she bleeding?” Buck said as he wrestled the traces off the mule.

“”She red DADDY! She red! Look's a fright.” The little girl said shivering and looking towards her sibling’s silhouette.

“Come on, girl!” Buck said snatching up Catherine and almost in the same movement mounting the mule bareback.

“HA! Get up mule!” Her daddy cried as he dug some well worn leather boot heels into the animal’s sides.

“Run, Ginger!” Catherine squealed as they galloped across the cotton patch in the direction of her beloved “special” sister.

It would have been comical if it was not so tragic of an event to have witnessed. Buck had become

overwhelmed with worry and had Catherine tucked under his arm like a forgotten sack of potatoes and was hollering like a rebel trying to take Chandlerville to spur the old mule to greater speeds as he dodged tree stumps and mole holes along the way. He jumped off the mule and didn’t give the little girl tucked under his arm a moment of thought as he rushed over to the base of the tree to see about his bleeding baby.

“Vicky darlin? Sweet heart?” He tentatively checked out one of the sunshine’s of his life wound with dread in his heart.

The little girl murmured something close to ‘daddy’ and within seconds an elated old sharecropper had carefully picked her up and after finally acknowledging his other daughter under his arm seated them both in front of him on the old mule and took off hell bent for leather to the small shack they all called home. The nearest doctor was 40 miles away and Buck was beside himself on how he was going to get his little darling there in time. Maybe Sibly would lend him his buckboard and Tennessee Walking horse.

“MARTHAAA! Martha!” He called as he got close to the house.

“A shrill sharp whistle and a yodel answered him back as Martha heard him and she came a running.

“Oh hell, I hope nobody's snake bit" she thought as she gathered up her dresses and hightailed it to the front of the shack her husband had built. Granny Parsons had just depleted her stock of snakeroot to treat old man Cummings and they lived far from modern medicine. Damn rattlers were as thick as thieves here abouts lately and the pygmy rattlers were just as dangerous as their giant timber rattler cousins except for fang size. Copperhead snake maybe? She hoped it was one of those; they ain’t nearly as deadly or destructive to skin tissue. Cottonmouth water moccasin? No, Lord the saints be praised, shouldn’t have been anyone at the creek she figured.

“What happened? Gimme the babies.” Said a shocked momma as she was handed her two blood soaked daughters.

“Cathrine is alright, it’s little Vicky that is hurt sore. She got a nasty gash on her forehead from something; I think it was a hoe.” Buck said beside himself in anguish and reaching gnarly red clay stained finger towards the wound.

“Get your grimy paws back, you are dirty as sin, let me see about this and I will tell you in a minute if you need to go borrow a horse. Sweetie, Mama Ma is here, Vicky do you hear me?” She said looking at a 3 inch gash in her beauty’s face as she tenderly explored the wound on her child’s forehead.

“MMGUGF… Mam Ma?” the child spoke. “Yes, baby it’s me. You stay still Me Ma make you all right. Your head hurt peanut?” Catherine’s momma said as she stroked the soft hair curls away from the wound.

“I didn’t mean it!” Catherine wailed. “ I really didn’t!”

“I know baby, you and Daddy go talk about it while I see to little sister. Find out what happened, Buck, if you can. Looks like she is going to need a stitch or two, but Vicky will be alright with a bit of care and time to heal up. Go find me a big spider's web under the porch so she doesn’t scar much and I can stop some of this bleeding. We going to pack the wound with it like my granny taught me.” Myra said rushing off her interfering husband and daughter who reluctantly left her patients’ bedside.

“You know that woman never had a scar or went to the emergency room or that country doctor?” Michael concluded.

“Wow, man that was interesting, so this old woman can serve as a paramedic of sorts if need be based on her learning of some home remedy tricks from the past?” LowBuck asked.

“That and she has been researching and studying for years both modern and ancient herbalism. She is wise in more ways than one too, almost psychic about some things. It’s kind of spooky, but she sees things or feels things. Folks around here hold her in high regard.” Michael said, finishing his thoughts.

“Well, believe you me, I can relate to that and say please get her to join us. A witchy woman is just what the doctor ordered as far as I am concerned. Wise women are a gift to a community, but keep in mind we got some freaky religious rascals around here that may not view that talent in the best light. Yeah…probably ought not to refer to her as witchy, huh?” Bubba replied.

“In a crisis it isn’t irrational to expect an attack but on the same hand you don’t want to get negatively irrational about it. We got to try to realize most folks won’t have mayhem on their mind when they come by to ask for a handout of food. We would probably be thinking of doing the same thing if Donald hadn’t thought to provide a little insurance we could rely upon.” Michael cautioned wisely.

28

Zombie Arguments

“Damn it, Janice, sit your ass down and listen to me.” Donald said, worn out from the last hour and half or so of bickering with her to just bug out now before it was too late in his opinion.

“You got 10 minutes, and then I got to go over to my mother’s house.” Janice said finding a plausible reason to get rid of him and his foul doomer mood until the morning when they could talk things out more calmly after some well thought out self reflections.

“Now then, this explanation of why I am packing my mom up and leaving in the morning will become self apparent if you just bear with me and listen for a few minutes okay?” Donald replied watching the tone of his voice this time so not to get into an argument with his best friend.

“Ok. But I still need to get over to mom’s and my sister. I am listening.” Janice said taking a seat and folding her hands in impatience waiting on his response.

“There is an expression, coined by Lord Cameron of Dillington in the UK, which states, "We are nine meals away from anarchy." It was Lord Cameron's estimation that it would take just nine meals - three full days without food on supermarket shelves - before law and order started to break down, and British streets descended into chaos.Cameron's quote expressly depicts how quickly a population can descend into anarchy if supermarket and grocery store shelves remain barren for three days.

We already know this from previous studies that Ethics, morals, self-value systems, religious beliefs, and lawfulness will quickly disappear, as the need to feed will completely overwhelm the affected individual or a group of people’s minds.” Donald began.

“What studies?” You mean something like the holocaust?” Janice said not wanting to hear anything from that horrible era.

“Hard to answer that question directly but it was to help folks after WW2... At the end of the WW2 a nowclassic study was undertaken to prepare to re-feed the starving millions of people in Europe in the best possible way. The Minnesota Starvation Study set out to create a controlled starving population, and then find the best ways to return them to good health as fast as possible. The team of scientists studied 36 physically and emotionally strong and healthy young men over 12 months, who moved onto the campus of the University of Minnesota for the duration of the study.

The first three months of the study closely monitored the men’s normal eating and activity patterns. For the next six months, they followed a semi-starvation diet of around 1500 calories a day, and the final three months involved re-feeding.

During the six months of semi-starvation the men lost around 25% of their body weight, and some startling patterns emerged:

• They became obsessed with food, it was the major topic of conversation and reading, several so much so that after the study they changed their career plans and became chefs. They dawdled over their meals for up to two hours.

• They ate every last crumb and many even licked their plates.

• They drank more tea and coffee and ate more gum.

• They smoked more, some non-smokers became smokers.

• Their weight loss was also an endless topic of conversation. Several reported being annoyed about it in others, but were unable to stop themselves doing it.

• They became highly nervous, restless, anxious, apathetic, moody, tired, and depressed.

• Mood swings were common.

• They were unable to concentrate and their interests narrowed.

• They became very self-centered and antisocial, looking out only for themselves; their sense of compassion for others faded along with their idealism, previously a driving force in their lives.

• They lost their ambition.

• They neglected their personal appearance.

• They lost interest in their girlfriends, replacing their pictures with pictures of food. They seemed to lose their libidos.

• Psychological tests confirmed that their hypochondria, hysteria, and depression had all increased markedly.

• Their metabolisms dropped by almost 40%, saving 600 calories per day.

• Their heart volumes shrank by about 20%. Their pulses slowed and they felt cold.

Many other physical symptoms rose: skin ulcers, thinning hair, aching eyes, ringing in the ears, insomnia, dizziness, stomach pains, headaches, muscle cramps, tingling in their extremities, frequent urination, and they reported feeling old.

There were extreme reactions to the psychological effects during the experiment including self-mutilation (one subject amputated three fingers of his hand with an axe, though the subject was unsure if he had done so intentionally or accidentally). The participants reported a decline in concentration, comprehension and judgment capabilities, although the standardized tests administered showed no actual signs of diminished capacity.” Donald advised before getting to a more gruesome point needing to be addressed.

“I am not trying to shock or scare you any more than necessary to make you aware of a situation developing; well maybe I guess I am, in a way. I am doing it so that you become fully aware of the gravity of the situation we are in as well as a horrific danger. These previously so called well adjusted people in that experiment all had one thing in common. They all thought about how cannibalism is a terrible option for a starving person, and tried to put it out of their minds, but they couldn’t seem to stop thinking about it and contemplating who to eat. Keep in mind these people that volunteered for this were religious conscientious war objectors who volunteered to ”do their part” and knew that it was a controlled experiment and that they would not die from starvation. The men had responded to a brochure that asked: “Will You Starve That They Be Better Fed?” to help malnutrition and starvation in people in war torn Europe.

They all complained to the man, that thinking about Cannibalism, death through starvation, grass salads and eating garbage were more than fleeting thoughts to them and that’s the crux of the problem. WE got people now in this city that are sinking into some very nasty mind frames and it’s not safe for us here even if it’s only a dozen or thousands that are becoming unpredictable as to when they might go over the edge. There is a saying, that when people lose everything, they lose it. I think lots of people didn’t have but three days worth of food in their houses weeks ago and I bet the atrocities have already started with missing pets etc. first, and maybe for some people, it might be a missing neighbor next that is considered as a menu item. We already have a population segment dependant on psychotropic drugs to get rid of “bad thoughts” or voices in their heads and I don’t want to hang around to find out what that might mean about right now to my safety, so I am leaving, it’s as simple as that. People are becoming very mentally ill and desperate. You got anything to needing to go to my place, make up your mind now. I doubt I will be coming back this way for sometime to come.” Donald said laying it all on the line while presenting a heart rending choice for both of them to separate a beautiful friendship.

Janice looked at him a moment and then broke down in tears as he sought to comfort her.

“I can’t leave now! Momma and my sister haven’t said what they are going to be doing yet in regards to bugging out. Stay another day PLEASE! I will talk to them and tell them the dangers of staying here, I promise. Oh Donald, this is too hard of a decision to make a snap judgment on. Come by here in the morning. I want you to take some stuff with you now because I WILL be coming by your place one day to stay, but let’s not end us like this. There has to be something we haven’t thought of yet or figure out how to bug in here longer.” Janice wailed all the while soaking his shoulder and chest with salty tears.

“I don’t see it sweetie, I got to see to my preps and family right now and a delay is not an option I care to consider. My door’s always open to you, as you well know, but I am kind of like a guy that has seen a fuse lit leading to a whole keg of dynamite and decided to make tracks. I can’t get out of the area fast enough to suit me or wait on any stragglers that haven’t started running for cover yet. You decide and I will abide, but my truck and my mom will be packed in the morning when I come by and you know how I am when I am in a hurry.” Donald somberly related.

“Sandy and I talked about this whole thing of leaving in a hurry some while you were gone and we decided that when it was time to absolutely go, we are going to basically kidnap momma. Here is the plan. I am going to go over there and try my damndest to get her to leave on her own. If she doesn’t listen to us, Sandy and I are going to spike her tea with sleeping pills or something and carry her out of the house and to the country. We will drop her off with the Kin folk in Ramer and we will both see you in two days at your farmstead.” Janice said now dry eyed and looking as confident as she could under the circumstances.

“Let me get this straight, Janice. Are you actually saying that you and your sister are actually going to drug your Mama and drop her off with relatives and then you and your sister are moving in with me?” Donald said, both confused and alarmed at the prospect.

“You got it; we will hang around until she wakes up in Ramer with the relatives and have another talk with her but not for long. Sandy will help me settle in with you and may or may not go back and stay with her depending on how the whole kidnapping thing goes over. Mamma has got lots of relatives her age around there that she grew up with and is tight with them younger cousins, nephews and nieces of mine she has got around that community to take care of her and we think that will be the best thing for her survival. You take that batch of preps I got sitting over in the corner of the living room by the TV and Sandy and I will load our two cars with the rest of what’s in the second bedroom.” Janice said resolutely and motioned towards 8 large cardboard boxes.

“Damn. I got crap of my own to move, but the old lady will have her car, too, to carry some of the overflow of it. That ought to be cute getting her to follow me in her car on that interstate to my place. She is going to be upset and constantly falling behind in back of me no matter what I do. Ok, what’s in those boxes and don’t tell me it’s just heavy shit like ammo cans and camping equipment. If you are coming to stay with me long-term, then you best be food heavy in what you are bringing.” Donald said not at all pleased the sister was now one of his charges. She was nice enough but she was also moody as hell on a good day in his opinion and he dreaded having her in the close confines of his home when he wouldn’t have the patience for her to decide on her own to go to her own house to satisfy her realization about how aggravating the three of them could be to one another.

“She can work harder in the garden than me because of my back and is a good shot with no qualms about using a gun if necessary. She is an asset we have already thought of this and discussed the possibility.” Janice began before Donald cut her off.

“I said I would take her in, I didn’t say I had to like it or she didn’t have to change her attitude some. I am not worried about her. What I am worried about is you separating your guns and ammo in a move. I know you are keeping a certain amount of shells or bullets with each weapon, but in spite of yourself you never really picked up on the difference between all the different rounds I bought for you and what purpose they do best.” Donald complained.

“Yes, I did too listen, remember I marked the cartridge boxes so I could remember later what was best to load and for what purpose.” Janice said as she started to go open a cardboard box with two ammo cans in it that probably weighed 45 lbs at least.

“You don’t have to show me. I remember your ammo filing system.” Donald grumbled reminiscing that after 5 years of trying to explain the differences in ammo specifications none of it had sunk in. The boxes were basically marked, practice, hunting and defense and he doubted she had a clue which to use for what in spite of long conversations that NATO ball 9mm was hotter than regular practice full metal jacket 9mm or that ball ammo might be a better choice to shoot through winter multiple layers of clothes than hollow point defense ammo. Or that the 9mm carbine fed better with one round or another and increased bullet speed where a soft point was better so they didn’t break up when hunting deer but use Ball on a big hog’s armor plated by gristle shoulder that could take small buckshot with little damage at a distance.

“I do know too, I shot better than you before you got your eyes fixed, remember and you told me bullet placement was the key anyway no matter what type of bullet I was shooting.” Janice demanded.

“Yea, you are right about that, but some of that stuff is a safety issue to remember. You remember the difference between high brass and low brass shotgun shells or not to shoot those damn viper 22 rounds in my charter arms survival rifle but CCI mini mags were fine and that target pistol of yours Ruger could shoot anything you got in the .22 caliber selection you have?” Donald fired back.

“Well, I remember most of what you said and marked all different boxes back then for daily carry or hunting. Every gun I got that I am carrying in the car has 50 rounds with it split down the middle. Those guns are already loaded and Sandy knows where they are at if needed. I am not a gun Prepper, I told you that many times before, it’s not interesting to remember all those facts you told me as you acquired those bullets way back then.” Janice told Donald to his exasperation and he had to renew this education once again and for everyone in the circle of friends that might inadvertently try to load some of the exotic but practical ammo he had been a connoisseur about buying for Janice to increase each weapons potential or usefulness according to his research in applications.

“Take the extra ammo and heavy stuff, Donald. It was your crazy ass that duplicated things like two sets of cast iron cookware or needing a tripod for them to sit over a fire, but I know why you did it so we both were equal in preps and have already given you my thanks. Do you want me to offer those types of items and duplicate preps if I stay with you to the neighbors or my family so you don’t have to haul them with you, or are you going to bitch and ask me where something is at if we leave preps behind?” Janice said doing the damned if I do and damned if I don’t look at Donald.

“I can see your point. Damn this house was prepped for a stand alone bug in plan and it would take a U-Haul to carry everything you got around here. Think about it this way to load that damn little Honda skateboard car of yours. I will fit and secure on your car that roof rack bag I bought you at the Wal-Mart clearance sale. Those three big black nylon footlocker sized bags full of Mountain House cases of food will take up your backseat and maybe if you pack well, you could fit another 6-8 individual box cases in that tiny vehicle plus your bugout bag in the front seat. The trunk, if it was left open and tied with a cord, you might get a few pillow cases of canned goods from your pantry and a few more boxes of food and your winter clothes stuffed in as well as your Stove Tec stove. No other tools, no linens and minimal personal crap. That means before you start whining, take your portable easel and paints even though I doubt you will have time to be painting pics anytime soon. Get your sensible clothes together but don’t be packing a bunch of bulky suitcases full. You remember how you tried to load that booger just to go on vacation for 3 days with me? Now, I hope like hell you listened to me about practicality as well as timing. Don’t be spending three days talking and thinking about what to load. Just do it and be done with it! Its Beans, bullets, and bandages and light on the med preps except all your moms prescription medicines you need to be sure to gather. If you can’t eat it and/or make your load lighter by not taking it, don’t tote it. We are in Solar Max space weather event and if we get another CME of this size or larger it will be within the next 90 days. We are very, very lucky cars are still working now to transport some of this crap we are going to need. If a Geomagnetic solar storm hits again, which by the way is entirely possible in the next few days and your vehicle don’t work, you remember what I told you.” Donald gave as his final advice to his close friend before he had to leave and see to his other plans and preparations.

“I will be on time, don’t you worry; you are scaring the crap out of me. You be careful, too. Lets get your truck loaded and you can help me load up my car some too.” Janice said showing him she was committed to the idea of getting the hell out of dodge too.

An hour or so later, Donald then drove his heavily laden truck to his moms’ house so he could begin packing her car and ready for the big bug out he contemplated undertaking the next day.

29

Final Destination

“Hi Mom, I am back!” Donald declared as he entered his mom’s house.

“You got back a little quicker than I thought you would. Nobody was at the office, Donald?”? His mom inquired of him.

“I didn’t go there, Mom. I got a little bit nervous about going downtown for no particular reason other than all those side streets crossing my direction of travel with no traffic signals and came back directly after visiting Janice. Streets were not too bad out in the city, all in all, and I made good time. I saw a few looted stores which is to be expected, times being what they are and told Janice that I thought it might be time for her to be thinking of leaving the city.” Donald said carefully broaching the subject of leaving in the morning.

“Do the stores being looted mean it’s getting too dangerous to stay?” His mom asked fearfully.

“No, just an indication it’s getting harder for the law to control folks from taking what they want or need. Looting will be eventually less localized and more widespread and when there is nothing more for them to loot in the stores is when you really got to worry about any unwanted visitors. No one will be trying to go house to house or anything for some time thinking of robbing or stealing I don’t think for a few weeks so we will be ok.” Donald said only mildly assuaging her fears.

“Well, if you didn’t go to the office, I must assume we are leaving soon for your country place, am I right?” Mom queried resolved that escape seemed to be the best option right about now.

“Yes, we go in the morning. We may as well start living the country life for a while and I got lots of projects that need me seeing to about there.” Donald replied keeping the conversation calm so as to not alarm his mother about anything unduly.

“What does Janice say? Do her Mom and sister want to leave the city soon, too?” Mom said fishing for outside confirmation that somebody besides Donald thought leaving was a good idea.

“She was heading over to talk to her Mom when I left. Evidently her Mom is willing to go because she said she would be at my place in two days time. They are going to drop her Mom off in Ramer and move some supplies up to my location; I got a partial load of Janice’s preps in my truck... Her Mom will arrive with her own supplies to stay in Ramer with the relatives and Janice and her sister will be moving in with us for a while to help me get my place running. Lots of garden work and other things to do.” Donald said twisting the truth a little and trying to make the move as casual as possible for his mother.

“I take it you are going to be sleeping on the futon. How long are they planning on staying?” Mom asked suspiciously

“That I can’t really say for certain as for what time frame they have in mind. It’s always been Janice’s and my thing to supposedly Bug out together but considerations do change, unfortunately. I hadn’t counted on her sister joining us though, long term under my roof. She has hinted that thankfully, her sister would most likely be going back to Ramer and stay with her mom later on in a few weeks at her uncle’s house. He has a goat farm so that’s a good idea and I am going to try to buy a few goats off him in the coming weeks. As you know there is no more gas for a while so that most likely will be the last gas powered road trip I will ever take for some time. I wouldn’t even be thinking about it if were not for needing to try to start raising some of our own livestock. You ready to try to make some goat cheese?” Donald laughed at the disinterest his mom's features belayed.

“Well, I might help you make it if you got good instructions on how, like a cook book, but I am not milking a goat myself, period. I am not too keen on even eating it if we can make it ourselves. I still remember that nasty stinking goat of yours, Lucifer. Those are some foul animals.” Mom said making a face and showing her disdain for goats in general.

“That particular goat sure was a handful, but most goats are a lot more docile than he was and a lot more intelligent.” Donald laughed, remembering how the troublesome goat got his name. Donald’s stepfather was a Wing Chaplin for the Air Force and he had been the one to stick that name on that four footed smelly demon. That had to be the dumbest and meanest goat in existence when Donald had received him free from a neighbor that lived next to his last farmstead he owned many years back. Donald should have known something was up when that old goat roper neighbor of his offered it to him for free for the taking. Jake was the name of that old farmer that resembled his herd. Jake had quickly wrestled that cantankerous goat to the ground and trussed him up as only an old rodeo cowboy could do with one hand holding and the other whipping a cord around all four feet and he and Donald had thrown the trussed up goat in the back of his pickup so he could carry him to the house. Damn goats have evil eyes but this one was a mixture of reptile green and yellow with a tinge of red that said he was pissed off at both men for man handling him so. Goats have that funky slanted line in their eyes like snakes that normally don’t betray much in the emotion department.

“I better go with you to untie him. That son of a bitch likes to kick.” Was all Jake said as he got in Donald’s pickup for the ride to the neighbors house.

“Hold him down from his back while I untie him and don’t let him up until I say so and confirm it.” Jake said as he started to untie some potent looking sharp hooves while Billy the goat sounded like he was telling them he would whip both their asses if he ever got loose.

“Damn, this thing stinks. Did you just keep him in the barn? You needed to let him out in the rain sometime and get him washed off.” Donald exclaimed.

“Don’t be a smartass greenhorn. Male goats like this idiot here piss on their beards to attract females or repel other males as a dominance thing. He will probably do it as soon as you let him up. No, don’t let him go yet!” Jake exclaimed as the goat tried to do a half lurch and a kick at the same time before he had got himself out of the way. “Ok, you can release him now but watch him.” Jake said as he backed up quickly.

Sure enough after the goat regained his feet and had a short staring match with his two abductors he cranked his head around and pissed on his beard.

“I see now where ‘smells like a goat’ comes from.” Donald exclaimed never having seen such odd behavior in an animal before.

“It does kind of get rancid smelling if he doesn’t get some kind of bath.” Jake said pointing a 'don’t go there' finger at Billy as he started to paw the ground like he was a bull or something.

“By the way, don’t turn your back on that goat. Billy thinks its fun to head butt you if you ain’t watching him. That’s why he don’t have no horns. I polled him awhile back when he decided he might try me when I was looking at him.” Jake said spitting a stream of tobacco in the goat’s direction and forcing him to backup.

“He doesn’t bite, does he?” Donald said of his not so good now free acquisition that was giving him second thoughts and an uneasy feeling.

“No, but mind you he kicks and butts if he decides to get riled up. Run me back to the house and I will give you some sweet feed so you can calm him down some and get acquainted together.

Donald had tied the goat next to his empty old hog parlor in hopes that the beast would eat down some of the honey suckle around it, but it seemed the ignorant animal only wanted to stick its head through one broken part of the fence he could possibly find and bleat bloody murder when it got its head stuck. There was not one damn thing that should have interested that goat so much on the other side of the fence, but it seemed like it only took him an hour or so to stick his head back through the hole and get stuck again. Donald extricated that damn goat from the clutches of that fence at least 10 times over the next three days and his stepfather who would come to help play and work on the farm gave up after three times of trying himself and having to fight the goat all the way.

That goat had a routine, kick the water over and try to head butt you when you bent over to pick up the bucket to refill it for that mean old bastard. Get its head stuck in the fence and try to kick you when trying to release it and cuss you in goat talk the whole time. Donald finally moved him to an old clothes line pole he had moved to a likely area for grazing but the beast would wind around and around it and then start screaming bloody murder again to be released. It took him and his buddy George, a south Alabama professional wrestling tag team effort to loose him and that damn goat would fight the whole process of humans trying to help him every time like he was a bucking bronco.

The last straw for Billy the goat “AKA Lucifer” was when Donald was unraveling one end of the rope while George was holding the goats lead and it reared up on its hind legs and planted both front feet cloven hoofs with 95 lbs worth of weight behind it dead in Donald’s chest drawing a little blood and a lot of four letter words from him.

“That son of a bitch is about to become 4thof July barbecue.” Donald said rubbing his chest and avoiding the temptation to ball up his fist and smack the goat back on his dehorned head.

“We haven’t had us a goat roast in sometime, Donald, but that old bastard is going to be tough eating most likely. You can’t just give him back?” George asked him.

“No, me and Mr. Goat need a parting of the ways and I know exactly what to do about this. Bo`s pulp wood crew asked me to sell them that big bastard the other day. If they want him for eating instead of mating I am going to cut a deal and save me a lot of time and trouble. Let’s go see him and get rid of this bastard before he hurts one of us worse. Damn dumbass goat!” Donald said wincing at some sore ribs and pulling off his perforated T shirt.

Bo agreed to butcher the goat for free if they shared and gave Donald his half later in the day. He must of used an electric saw on the carcass because it was exactly one half of the goat he got back, split lengthwise from head to tail and ready for the spit.

Donald’s reminiscing about the animal brought to mind for both of Him and his Mom an era of simpler and better times they had enjoyed.

Donald spent the remainder of the afternoon loading up the vehicles to the head liners and gave his mom many reassurances in the morning they would be all right and hadn’t forgotten anything before leaving out to his farmstead.

Donald was very happy to be out of the city and on his way to his bug out location in a most likely permanent move. No traffic on the highway was wonderful and he went well below the speed limit so his mom had no trouble keeping up with him. The old adage any port in the storm sure was holding true. Donald’s place was far from perfect but he was proud of all his efforts to get the place prepped as best he could and provide a safer haven for his mom. Sure, he could have done more assuredly, but he had a life beyond being a prepper and he took time to have a lot of fun as well as take care of day to day business of playing farmer. He wasn’t looking back with regret though; it was time to make do with what he had as best as he could with not too many regrets. Having his mom around all the time was definitely going to be hard and cramp his lifestyle somewhat, but perhaps she could accept that the roles of mother and son needed adjusting to him being the provider and man of the house that made whatever decisions he deemed appropriate without her

remonstrations. He could see some fights between them about him drinking, she never had understood him seeing the fun in needing to party like that, but he wasn’t going to be doing much of that anymore anyway. A whole lot of dominance roles were going to be changing in the world right now. Bubba and Michael were going to be quite surprised to see him back so soon. Donald wondered what they had decided to do about the community relations. If they had fully engaged the community, he would go along with whatever they decided but he hoped that they were still in watch and wait mode.

Idealistically the community approach sounded good, realistically though, he felt like that particular course might be courting disastrous outcome. He didn’t see how he could remain secretive about his food preps and be trying to appear the same as his less fortunate neighbors. He barely knew anyone on the road and it wasn’t like they had any advantage he needed or could count on their cooperation to help his own unfettered survival. Time was against the community approach except for hunting. People would be starved before any crops came in and his little garden was not sufficient for much more than his own needs. It was a precarious position he was placed in a leadership role was not something he felt like he wanted to wear the mantle of at this particular time. It was time to get back to nature and the land once again. Not the friend bear and brother snake some Native Americans spoke of. No myths about existence or how we came to be put on earth now for Donald. No, there was universal truths to get back attuned with like don’t beat at a bee and he won’t sting you. Waving your hands around crazily with no direction at a critter with a stinger will get you stung. Talk to nature, tell that honey or bumble bee to go about his bee business and leave you alone. He will leave most times like he understands. That was restraint of actions and interactions of species that agreed to a mutual respect of ways that allowed both keeping the peace without pain and being a coexisting symbiotic existence. Donald smiled as the bees visited his flowers on the vegetables in his garden and had patience with them to a certain extent even if they wanted to investigate something around him while he was busy with it like putting a picnic table together, even if they seemed to not notice he found something else to do if they were on a vegetable plant he had some business with and he was respectful and left them alone. The bee he knew would move on to another flower eventually and that was fine by him. Most of the animal world would allow him to be unmolested as he did his normal routines if they or he were not threatened and many animals like squirrels seemed to enjoy letting humans watch them and interact with each other on different planes.

Donald could not help but think he was not the only new animal in the neighborhood. About two months ago he spied what could be termed a “what the #%@* is that crossing the road” as some kind of unknown varmint hurried from the left hand of the road to the right and down a short embankment to the woods as he slowed down to a crawl to watch it on the way to Michael’s house on the hill. The damned thing looked kind of weasel like but it was too big to classify as one even if you thought about a 4 lb. mink.

“Nothing lives in Alabama that looks like this thing, Donald had said to himself and thought about trying to get out of his truck and follow the animal into the wood line to attempt to identify it. Hell, if I was up North Canada I would holler Pine Martin. But that is the weirdest colored thing I have ever seen and I got a good trappers eyeful. It was maybe 3 foot long, maybe a bit longer. What was weird was it had reddish hair on its head and reddish hind quarters and tail but it’s back was a grey black color like a beagle with long hair and the tips of that grey fur were white like a porcupine quill. The face was roundish and had a big nose that was kind of pinkish like a Weimaraner dogs and the ears were short pointed and folded at the tips. It had short legs and ran rodent-like, but had muscular shoulders and hips like a cat running close to the ground getting ready to pounce. No where near wolverines’ strength and girth and not round sleekness of a river otter. Janice had got spooked by one watching her from the opposite side of the garden fence when she was weeding and had hurried back to the house to get a pair of binoculars and Donald with his gun for protection, lol. Donald had caught a glimpse of its hindquarters and tail sneaking off in the woods and told Janice “see I am not crazy you saw the weird animal too” and informed Michael and Amy about another confirmed sighting. It was hard to tell from the brief look Donald got of it this time moving from sunlight to the forest shadows but this one seemed browner and bigger than his first sighting of one of the weird creatures. Janice said it had a cat like face to her, but I think that had something to do with Michael describing the differences between a panther and a cougar etc. to her. Donald told them all the closest thing he could say was it was a Cotimundi that had either migrated over from Texas or somebody had released some exotic pet. Donald had carefully asked other neighbors about it when he bumped into them in the bar up the road and they didn’t seem surprised at all about it. The general answer was it was a “Kings Mountain Critter” and said some odd things lived in our woods that avid outdoorsmen couldn’t even explain.

Donald remained curious about them and wished he knew their habits better. Coatis are very curious and intelligent. People that keep them as pets say it’s like having a rambunctious 2 yr. old furry child for a pet. No way to keep them rascals out of his traps then, he had already decided. He could dog proof a trap set but there was no way to rig something that would deter something with more curiosity than a raccoon that sees a piece of shiny tinfoil if it wants to investigate a treasure with them monkey like paw hands they got. He didn’t want to kill such a unique and beautiful creature if he could help it but he had family to feed.

“I know what! Donald thought excitedly to himself. I will get out my havahart style live traps and teach LowBuck a thing or two about trapping as we go on a Deer hunt. I only got maybe two big enough catch one traps in my stores, but I can set them where I last saw one of those critters and hopefully catch them instead of a possum. Possum wasn’t bad eating, but not on Donald's menu as of yet. With a possum, since they eat such nasty crap as well as have been known to eat each other if their brother or sister ended up as road kill, it had always been the country practice to trap them live and purge them of some of that foul crap they been eating. You would catch a possum and feed it cracked corn and plenty of clean water for several days before you decided to butcher it. Well, folks around here might as well learn to eat one if they were not already doing so, it wouldn’t go to waste if one wandered in instead of that odd animal.

Now catching a wild Coatimundi would be quite an interesting project to undertake. Folks would want to see the critter and Donald could see him and Michael carrying the cage around to the various neighbors as an ice breaker that would insure a welcome from even the most cantankerous old curmudgeons around here. Who could resist the sight of callers carrying a cage with an unidentifiable animal in it? The curiosity factor would be too overwhelming to be scared of the armed duo coming up a driveway, and with a great intro like that, even if he and Michael looked like they were armed for alien bears it wouldn’t matter. We could get that old wise woman Catherine to go along with us also. Ha! If I catch one of them weird beasties, that’s the first person I am going to go see and find out what she makes of it. My friend, Linda who goes by MorningMayan on YouTube, would sure get a kick out of seeing one of those weird varmits from the neighborhood as well as She would enjoy sharing knowledge with Catherine. Linda had always told Donald and her subscribers that 2012 would be a time of new beginnings and new mental awareness. Linda was sort of what Donald called a “New Age” prepper. Quite an interesting and beautiful lady. She accepted and prepped for all the disasters that normal preppers do, however she was also very well versed in esoteric theories and astronomical possible influences that might just allow us possibly to be able to use more of our brains on some kind of telepathic mystical order which Donald never quite understood, but liked to hear her occasionally expound upon it and give relevant facts to support various theories. Maybe, that was the answer to the neighbor dilemma for us all. Take a page from Linda’s book and look at the earth changes in a different and more humanistic and engaging light. “Transition with knowledge or through knowledge,” I think she was quoted as saying once. I wish I had her around to explain the differences in those concepts to me better, but basically I think we all can arrive at the same transitional point of change, if we just have some kind of understanding about it through a universal awareness of shared knowledge and influence.

Speaking of sharing, I wonder what Michael and LowBuck have decided to do about the community preparedness situation. I will see what they have to say when I get settled back in, but I sort of got my game plan ready and I am willing to try it if I can see some cooperation versus creating serious dangers by getting too familiar with the folks on this street. I think Me, Michael, and LowBuck wil take the first deer from our hunt over to my biggest threat or convert and do like I did with that damn Billy goat and let them have half the carcass for butchering it. I will have to ask Michael about if they got any deer rifles or a shotgun first though, could be a redundant move. If they don’t have hunting arms, I just might have an ideal situation I can develop upon. An “I kill it, you clean it and cook it” understanding would work for everyone if those boys will go along with the concept and see the method to my madness.

“I can get Michael to tell them that we are some odd and dangerously moody folks that don’t play well with folks we don’t know and stay away from our house, but also that I am a good hunter and trapper that is willing to make a business deal with them if he brokers it. They pretty much only have to deal with him on the personal neighbor level and in return they will be provided with fresh meat if they agree to the deal proposed and mind their Ps and Qs about not bothering anyone. The deal is, they are now in the meat butchering biz and are going to be working like a deer processing plant for the community as they learn to cut steaks and process meat for part of the catch. No money to be exchanged, just food for labor. The offal piles that come from community Deer hunts and my trap line will be used as dog food and bait for other critters. If they got a gut pile on their property, I am basically willing to lend a few conibear traps to take advantage of that attractant of innards and they can use that meat and fur pelts any old way they want as long as they see to the welfare of the old folks in this community with a part of it. Community service as some might call it, but a fair exchange in Donald’s mind.

Someone around here had to walk up and down the road after a long day of running trap line and butcher the catch to prepare it for cooking and it wasn’t going to be him if he could help it. You got to use what you got and barter for what you deliver in this society. Donald had traps, the knowledge to use them, and security of his weaponry to offer to them. They had not much more than hungry mouths, empty bellies and willingness most likely now to do most anything they could to avoid starvation to assist him. Shit, might as well put the possum pens over there too and let them feed and water the animals as he brought them in. Let the old folks decide who was doing community potluck suppers when them boys delivered a portion to them and everyone’s hopes of dying from old age might just be realized.

I need to go talk to that old guy up the county highway that parks that gravel hauling looking truck up on the side of the road from me. The guy that cleared my property told me that he uses it to haul feed for his cattle on some property he owns on the county line. That contractor said he was a pretty good old guy and allowed him to dump stumps and brush on his property to use as landfill when he cleared my place, so at least we got something in common to introduce ourselves by. That is Catherine’s neighbor, well a 4 door down country mile neighbor. If he will let us local boys guard that cow herd of his some in exchange for some good beef steaks occasionally, I might just be able to get LowBuck to stick around. Myself, Michael and him could swap out cattle guard duties amongst themselves, one week on, one week off as long as the gas lasts for them to travel to work. Then we could use the two bicycles we got to swap out relieving each other for transport to and from our duty stations. If need be the three of us are a formidable force to be reckoned with and the girls could more than hold their own as a defensive force for the farmsteads particularly if Catherine would lead them as the head “mamma with a gun” if the squad was needed to take care of a situation requiring a bit more firepower if someone else organized a cattle rustling crew that threatened our benefactor or attempted a raid.

The three men could stay individually or collectively in a tent near the cow herd’s pasture and exchange their vigilance for some farmer chow daily as well as some meat to carry back and smoke for the families.

Could be this was all a pipe dream for Donald. He had added hundreds of dollars worth of commercial traps, aircraft cable snares, various baits and lures to his preps over the years for just this sort of an occasion. That damned book the Rural Ranger he had read long ago had got his mind thinking about how to approach just such a situation as he was presented with and he had bought a few 110 conibears in lieu of storage food because it made more sense to have them, than 10 bucks worth of canned goods that served no purpose after they were consumed in a few days. He had something nobody else did to acquire his next meal that would work 24/7 and also learned the trapping trade as best he could from Prepper Archeology books and other references so he became an expert in the trade of food procurement he could offer to strangers in trade for a meal that would give him the energy to replace it if he was on the move.

This state was like one big pool table about right now. There would be pockets of those that survived and thrived out here in the country and places that no matter which pocket you made it would be a scratch shot or eight ball loser if you miscalculated your luck.

Donald always hated thinking in terms of a pool game. He was busily engaged in his new game that didn’t have many rules called survival.

THE END Book 2 THE SOLITARY MAN: IN DEFENCE OF PREPPERS!

Begin Novella Book 3

The Solitary Man`s Post-Apocalyptic Grid

30 Fading Fast

“Any thoughts on what are we going to do now Donald?” Michael said as he aimlessly moved his pawn across the board of what seemed to be a never ending chess game that neither one was having much interest in. It had been raining on and off for days and this had proved to be a mixed blessing to the survivors of the geomagnetic storm that forced them to stay indoors in close quarters and boredom the past week from the depressing weather.

“Well as far as I know the wild fires are finally out, but they sure got damn close. I have no idea what they did to the town, but that’s even more homeless that’s going to be moving around. At least we got two good houses for now. Which reminds me, what’s up with them folks that moved in next to you? All they got down there is that old barn and the tents they brought. I know they are going to be suffering some after a week of bugging out of the big city and then being forced to live under those miserable conditions. Have you seen or talked to them the last few days?” Donald asked and countered Michaels move to open up his chess pieces ranks with a knight.

“I have seen them a few times but that was inbetween rain downpours and only because me or Amy was watching for them from the trailer windows. They brought boxes of supplies with them it appeared, but I haven’t socialized with them except the one brief meeting when they pulled in and after they unloaded. Apparently one of them was going to build cabin over there before the solar storm and Birmingham got to screwed up to stay in. They said the looting and riots were rampant already so they headed this way. They got lots of deer rifles but they ain’t carrying them at the moment.” Michael concluded and threatened Donald’s knight with his bishop.

“Good move there Michael!” Donald replied looking over the board with renewed interest.

“I don’t particularly like leaving my house unguarded to visit you down here but if it did get raided they wouldn’t get much. Ever since I noticed all the extra folks moving into the neighborhood I have been kind of jumpy lately.” Michael said pondering the countermove Donald had come up with.

“I think everyone had relatives move in down this way and most of them younger kids appear to be Meth Heads. Somebody must have been making that shit around here because they are high when you see them and also got that bad habit of walking this road late at night.” Donald said looking over at his Mom who was looking out the front window at the rain while standing a 4 hour guard shift in case of any unwanted visitors decided to come down the driveways. LowBuck and Cat were in the backroom add on doing the same and playing crazy eights or something and depending more on their dog to alert them to any intruders.

“It’s probably them SOBs up on the left but there is no telling. I am with you though they either brought it with them or a neighbor is supplying. Them rapscallion neighbors of yours were out on the road talking to some of them freaks the other night but didn’t stay out long. Still it was 2am and misting rain so something was up. You in “Check” Donald. “ Michael said grinning and not thinking that Donald could get out from under the threat to his king.

“I don’t think there is any hope for any of them speed freaks. One thing for sure is I don’t want to be worrying about them every minute which is why we are having this little meeting. I saw old Max’s grandson out on the road last night and kind of screwed up by introducing myself to him and later his girlfriend. The boy was buzzed and I kind of friendly like interrogated him as to who is who around here. He didn’t say a lot but I got what I needed. There are a lot more meth freaks around here than I thought. I am pretty sure one or both of those houses running a generator on this road has them a meth lab. We could run the creeks on both sides of the road to figure out maybe which one it is, but I bet both creeks will be so polluted now with chemicals ,whether from them or from that chemical plant that burned up the road that we need to be moving on.” Donald said ominously and checkmated Michael’s king.

“Damn boy, you distracted me.” Michael said looking for any way out of the fix he was in that would end the chess game.

“Donald, exactly what do you mean by moving on? I ain`t letting them son of a bitches run us off. I already told you, if you didn’t have the heart to dispose of the problem I would…” Michael said looking stern.

“I second that!” LowBuck said suddenly appearing in the doorway.

“That’s a solution guys, but it don’t solve the problem. Our water supply is probably contaminated with some shit that my filters won’t remove like heavy metals or something. I am still on stored water, no telling what is in this rain we got falling on us and the crops and don’t forget about that damn nuke plant down the road. I ain’t comfortable with the possibilities they got that thing shutdown or not already. Besides, Bernie already shot two folks for shooting one of his dogs and that sucker is even getting crazy eyed if I mention much about the problems to come. We going to get back to him later, but right now, let’s consider an option I came up with. I know where there is an old youth camp up at the lake that is vacant and was for sale before the SHTF. It’s got plenty of room for everyone and also has its own 8 acre stocked fish pond. The thing is a dream come true for us, it has everything you would think one of those places has, like canoes, docks, chow hall, cabins etc. It was being sold as is with the bush hog tractors etc. so we got garden equipment already on sight and better than we got here that doesn’t need to be shared. “Donald said excitedly trying to win his friends over and give them the jest of what he thought was a fine proposal.

“How far and how big is this lake you talking about? Wait a minute, it has a pond and a lake on the property?” said a befuddled LowBuck.

“Yea, Man, remember I showed it to you on the internet. I said if we won the lotto or I closed that mega deal I was working on that it would be a great place to have to run prepper conferences or teaching retreats at. Donald said referring to past plots and schemes they had had over the years.

“ Oh yea. That big place built like a steel ready built school with the cabins surrounding it.” Bubba began.

“Hang on Donald and Bubba, You never mentioned this before. Bring me up to speed. This was some kind of summer camp in the past? A recreational facility of sorts?” Michael said waving a finger at Amy to still keep watch no matter how interesting this conversation was getting. Donald had no luck doing the same with his mother and instead moved to the same lookout window as hers and carried on the conversation from across the room.

“It was a project that me Goat Hollow and LowBuck discussed awhile back. It has a huge commercial kitchen run on a giant propane tank. Probably still has some fuel in it, horse trails and stables, no horses though. Very few neighbors, craft classrooms, bunks you know like a little rich boys summer camp. I say we move there and the hell with this place and whoever is now living here.” Donald said anticipating compliance in the group.

“You think it’s still vacant then?” Michael asked pointedly at Donald.

“Should be, it wasn’t sold, but gentleman and ladies.. If it’s not … we got to take it because we will be out of gas and out of options by the time we arrive.” Donald said searching the faces of his survivors group for recognition of the realization that he was proposing something pretty possibly dangerous and nasty.

“You mean to tell me that if the place is occupied we just kick the residents out?” LowBuck said confused that his normally peaceful friend would propose such an operation.

“Sorry to say that’s exactly what I mean. I ain’t staying in the woods fulltime being sweet and nice looking for a vacant house while being within sight of my target stranded. Cold hard fact, they join us, fight us, or leave. I say its vacant still, if not, get your war face on and we give an ultimatum. I am not advocating going in guns a blazing but there be smoke on the water if we get the wrong answer. We got a lot to offer someone if they want to ally themselves and I don’t see a reasonable alternative do you?” Donald said in that strange matter of fact voice he got into when threatened with over whelming odds.

“Shit we can take it!” Michael said already committed before the hen party of ladies started objections of “What if there were children? What if there were mothers etc.?”

“My Truck will be loaded with at least ¾ of a ton of our supplies and I might even start to run out of gas before we get there. If I break down on their doorstep what do you think I should be doing? Not like I can walk up and ask them to call Triple A to send a wrecker to rescue me. We got enough gas in all vehicles to get there and have a little bit, a very little bit, leftover to move to another area or end up basically dying in place without our destinations resources and shelter. I would actually welcome them receiving us with open arms and being and becoming a defensible community but who knows who or what types of people we find there? Think about it, the two other camps I know of in the area are about 50 miles apart and one is for retarded kids and the other is Youth offender schools, oh and a hospice. It is going to be vacant I tell you and the only people we are liable to trip across is locals searching it for food.” Donald said adamantly.

“I am in, the hell with this place” Michael said reaching for his AK and going to make the houses perimeter rounds.

“I will be back.” Amy said grabbing the SKS and following Mike to talk about in private the decision that sounded like it was already made.

“Can we recon it without too much trouble?” LowBuck said watching the pair start to go out on roving guard.

“It looks like it from the pictures but pictures been known to lie.” Donald said admittedly

“Sweetie, we in?” Bubba said to a worried Cat that was sitting with and consoling Donald’s distraught Mother.

“I don’t want nobody hurt, Donald it sounds safe enough. We won’t be required to do anything too bad will we if we are forced to take that camp I hope ?” Cat said patting his mom’s hand to consoler herself as the elderly women.

“I certainly hope not. It’s all going to depend on just who it is that might be there. It shouldn’t be too hard to scare off a few people if they were assured they could go in peace. The place is big enough for all of us if they want to stay. We will approach anyone we meet friendly enough and try to have a parlay. It’s all going to depend on how desperate their conditions are, or that they think they are. The pond and lake have plenty of fish so they shouldn’t be totally starving. But like I said it should be vacant. “Donald said diplomatically so as not to alarm anyone further of his intentions.

“Unless they are locals and hunters, I doubt they would have more than a few pistols.” Michael said giving his assessment.

“You are probably right Mike. There might be a few 22 rifles still there. That place has a small marksmanship range as I remember. Whether the rifles would still be around or how they are secured is debatable. I say they are gone because it would take a ATF license to transfer them to a new owner unless you somehow made it just a private sale, but most people would be bank financing the property and including them in a mortgage would be too big of a hassle for too little money I would suspect.” Donald concluded.

“Is there any other building or houses in that area that might be suitable, say if for whatever reason that place isn’t feasible to occupy once we get there? That’s a big risk you are asking us to take Donald. What if when we get there and the place is burned down like probably half of town is by now? Then what?” Amy said accusingly

“Good point Amy. That hadn’t crossed my mind yet. We would be up the creek that far out without a paddle to get back. Ok, we should see signs of wildfire long before we get there if there is a problem, so we would get some warning on whether or not to go on to our destination. Shit, I don’t know that area well, no readily available objectives or destinations other than that come to mind. That lake has 750 miles of coastline so we divert and go looking for a vacant vacation cabin somewhere is all I can come up with…” Donald replied pondering what he might be getting himself and his friends into if his former bright idea was inaccessible for any reason.

“That still leaves forcing ourselves on another community as squatters or occupiers and if we going to have us a little war of wills I just soon have it on the ground around here I know versus someone else’s backyard. You know what I mean Donald.” Michael said going to go have a peek at the unwatched window that covered the woods in back of the house.

“We a tribe now folks, that’s what tribal people do is have disputes with other tribes over resources. This has been going on for millions of years and the veil of civilized society right now has got a lot thinner. If we got to run around like a pack of dogs to get by we will, but even dogs respect each other’s boundaries to some extent. The reasoning behind that is not based on some human concept of morality and respect; it is based on animal commonsense. If an animal gets hurt in a fight it can’t hunt as well and its chances of survival are diminished, so you avoid fights or you get into it for dominance with minimal injuries with another animal because you both know the whole point of it is to make the other animal move out of your territory. They don’t fight to kill or maim usually, they fight until one backs down and is allowed to leave. We won’t be cornering anyone, routes for unfettered escape will always be available unless it’s a do or die situation. Then its Katy bar the door and let hell come out and play.” Donald said trying to express his logic.

“ Well either I got to get them folks next door to me in agreement on mutually acceptable terms or drive them off is that what you are saying?” Michael said irritably.

“Brother, I respect you and pretty soon me and you need to start teaching our tribe some basic infantry tactics but we aren’t at war with anyone in particular and we need alliances for mutual defense. I was sort of half ass thinking of bringing them with us on this little road trip if they seemed civilized and useful after we had some more conversations.’ Donald said carefully studying everyone’s reactions.

“Screw that, we already had this conversation on the need to keep our own supplies for ourselves. If we need an extra gun or two if we staying around here that’s one thing, otherwise I say we go with what we got.” Michael replied getting agitated.

“Just a suggestion, but like we said before, its best to be the club owner that teaches his bouncers to talk patrons out versus beat them out. I am adverse about taking in anything other than a stray dog maybe at the moment to increase my security, because at least with them you know where their loyalties lay somewhat. Hell, applying the same principle of evaluating the expense and care of a dog in terms of food out of our mouths don’t make sense, so neither does taking on an extra warrior or two or three doesn’t either. That is unless he or she can provide their own food. That’s also my point, those folks been hunting deer their whole lives based upon the way you described their guns when they settled in. let them hunt for us and protect the clan and in return we feed them until we get settled?” Donald stated so the room listeners could consider this wisdom.

“ Well based on that logic we should organize with them deadbeat deer skinners next door you put to work, but I am not having them meth head freaks anywhere near my house or have them sleeping with me in the same campsite.” Michael said threatening some attitude adjustment and said “Unh! And adjusted his pistol belt of mags for the AK he had been fidgeting with.

“That isn’t ever going to happen for sure. I was just saying we got to be open to possible alliances, Anyway, I will go tell Janice and her sister our latest plans, they can go with us or get dropped off in Ramer with their kinfolks.” Donald said rising and heading for the prep shed.

31 Bugging Out

It took the make do prepper tribe a few days to load everything up and prepare for the bug out to the lake. Every bit of trunk and roof space was taken up on all the vehicles and stuff was tied on as best they could. The sight of the piled up roofs and roped bumpers reminded Donald of the old cars and trucks you see in old photos of the depression where a family had gathered up every possible item of their household and headed out for parts unknown. The last thing loaded was the roof of LowBuck`s motorhome, if it hadn’t been for all space Donald wouldn’t have ever been able to dig up his orchard and hopefully transfer all his trees to their new locations. All though he was joking and running around humming a country western song “ Where are you going to live at when you get home” everyone could tell destroying his garden and orchard really bugged him. They left the vegetable annuals for Old Max and dug up three boxes of asparagus and two boxes of root crops to try transplanting. The two wood stoves and all the solar equipment filled up the back of Lowbucks motorhome.

The most important and cherished prep Donald owned was a SUNRNR power generator.

FOR 5% OFF YOUR OWN SUNR OR A EXTRA FREE PANEL ENTER COUPON CODE PREPPER1

This thing was awesome! It was the Cadillac of all portable solar powered generators. Portable it was, but that meant two strong men were required if it had to be lifted for any reason. The thing was built like a tank out of 12 and 14 gauge metals and had a very durable powder coat paint finish. I have had frying pans that were made of much thinner metal than that. It had 4 inch caster wheels that made it easy to move around on the floor but the kicker was it weighed 260lbs complete. Those handles on it were over built for durability and technologically advanced also. One of them could easily support the full sustained weight of the unit but they were also made from a special conductive steel alloy that acted sort of like a Faraday cage to protect it from a Solar Flares effects. Not being privy to the proprietary process or an electrical engineer, this special feature was always an enigma to Donald. A very useful enigma though and he felt blessed to have had the foresight to choose such a unit.

Fortunately he had the thing turned off when the solar storm hit, but it was connected to the solar panels on his roof. He hadn’t put it to a full test of a major

geomagnetic storm but he was very grateful that high survivability was built into it by the geniuses at SUNRNR (Sun Runner). As near as he could explain the protection in layman’s terms was something similar to the old gas trucks that used to drop a steel chain from their bumpers to dissipate static electricity before they filled the tanks at a gas station. The company said it was more of an isolation issue but that was as far as his understanding went. A long discussion with the friendly and informative SUNRNR General Manager Scott French had been very beneficial to Donald. In doing his research Donald had come across MySolarBackup, PowerHub, Ecotricity®,

BackupPowerSource, Xantrex™, SolMan®, GoalZero, and possibly avoided many others in his quest for a ultimate solution to a off grid affordable solution. Based on these companies or related websites as of May 2012, many are less expensive than SUNRNR, but he also noted that they offer one-third to one-half the power output and most offer less than half the storage capability (which limits solar input capability). They are also enclosed in plastic or aluminum while a SUNRNR chassis is steel and protects the user from the battery. Yes my reader, this is a major consideration you must understand for the safety and the wellbeing of your family. A battery under certain conditions can go BOOM! This craftsman made in the U.S.A. product is not some flimsy cheap and dangerous Chinese knock off dumped on the market to achieve a price point, no, it’s a quality made solution that is well thought out and exhibits a reasonable price for pretty much Mil-Spec survivability.

No short cuts or flimsy crap went into this patented design. Features such as a Rugged master on/off disconnect switch, Steel enclosure for ruggedness and safety, Sturdy and unique handles for lifting had already pretty much sold Donald to invest in the unit but the tipping point came when Scott had explained to him that the highly efficient solar panels that shipped with the product could be expected to lose only 12% of their power if exposed to a solar storm and that was if you didn’t shield or protect them with wood if you had some warning a sun flare was going off from the many available resources @SolarPrepper on Twitter were given as a “heads up “ to take some precautions. The best “Rock Solid” science and dependability was built into this thing, hell they even had KVK Precision in Shenandoah, VA who was selected by American Machinist as one of the top 10 US machine shops build some of its components.

“What is the convoy order we are going to use today?” Michael asked.

“Good question, I gave it some thought but give me some of your` thoughts too. I figure that since I know the way to the lake I go first, but I don’t know Ramer too well so I am going to let Janice lead to there. I think we are dropping off her sister to stay with her mom but that’s going to depend on reception and conditions there. I sort of considered seeing if her uncle would sell us a goat for butchering but changed my mind because we need to stay moving I think.” Donald advised.

“Extra food is always good to acquire, any particular reason that we are not laying over? That is, I mean other than you wanting to get bugged in somewhere?” Michael said arching an eyebrow.

“Well I don’t have much sympathy for folks that got warned to prepare and didn’t do anything for themselves or their families. When does another’s neglect become my responsibility? We got way too much stuff showing and I don’t want to be asked to lend, barter or be asked if anyone can follow us at the moment. So, we are not stopping more than maybe ten minutes before we move on. I also want all the daylight we can have to get moved in when we get to the lake camp. Donald responded and no longer second guessed the evacuation he had undertaken to insure their survivability.

“I agree, no sense hanging around if it’s possible it could cost us in anyway. That route you are going by skirts the major towns but what do you think status of the law enforcement is at the moment?” LowBuck added

“The ones that are functioning at all are already probably thinking of dividing up the last of the

commandeered gas and food and staying home to protect their families by now. I am guessing some of them will be forming up their own little rogue survival and defense communities and that can be dangerous to whoever lives near them. Cops are outnumbered at least a 100 to 1 as for hungry folks being armed now so

I doubt anyone will want to be wearing a uniform anymore. There are a lot of cops that are preppers to remember. They all are probably bugging out or have already done so. We are in dark and desperate times now, we protect our convoy and tribe and its full steam ahead from now on until we can find a reasonable refuge. It sucks that we can’t stay around here but with who knows how many thousands of acres burned around us, bad water and too many possibly violent and armed folks heading our way it’s time to go I must say.” Donald concluded looking over the heavily armed group listening to him.

“Janice might know the way better, but I call point man” Michael said. “ I can recognize a roadblock or ambush quicker than her and can be out ahead of you all on my motorcycle but still keep her insight and she can signal me if I am about to miss a turn. You should follow her leading the rest of the cars and LowBuck can take up the rear with that battle wagon of his. I would put him in the middle or up front but you can’t see around that motorhome and I don’t want anyone straggling or not knowing what going on in front of us.” Michael advised from an experienced military point of view.

“Well if you’re going to be up scouting ahead, how about putting Janice in the Motorhome to direct him. All those damn sand bags he has in that thing makes it sort of like a tank and if for some reason we got to turn around he needs the most room and I would rather have a tank in front of me to bust through or behind me to protect my rear if we happen to run into a problem.” Donald suggested.

“So are you going to take rear guard?” Michael said rubbing his beard?

“Yea that way if you see something disturbing up ahead you can get him turned around and then zip back around him and pick point position back up in front of me.” Donald offered.

“Sounds reasonable I think Donald. Swap guns with me and Amy though. That AR of yours is lighter to carry than this AK and give Amy that short Mossberg cruiser model 12 gauge you got. She is riding with me on the bike until we clear the town of Ramer. Who is driving in back of Bubba?” Michael asked Donald.

“Good question, we got to keep in mind that for this kind of driving we need somebody other than my mom driving her car. If Janice’s sister is driving her car, that only leaves Cat or Amy to drive my Mom`s . If Bubba is playing tank we need Cat in there with him and Janice for the extra firepower so that leaves Amy needing to do it. I know you would appreciate her extra firepower with you but we can’t drop a vehicle full of preps and she is our only extra driver.” Donald reasoned.

“Sorry Babe, you just got drafted.” Michael remarked to Amy.

“That’s Ok, Donald can let his Mom ride with him and he can protect her.” Amy said thinking it was nice that Donald could take care of his Mom.

“ I got a bit of a problem maybe with Mom riding with me I am sorry to say. Sorry Mom, I got to think something through here out load for a minute. The two most dangerous positions in this convoy are point and drag. I might get a bit compromised to put it delicately to do my job in either position if necessary if I was looking out for her as a son instead of soldier. I am not expecting any trouble but, knock wood, if I do need to respond to something I don’t want to have you freaking out dodging hot brass from my rifle and me trying to drive at the same time. I know Mom you are tough and resilient but I would rather have you riding in one of the other vehicles if you don’t mind.” Donald said with some trepidation.

“ I understand.” Donald’s Mom said a bit meekly and a bit horrified that her son was talking so freely about maybe shooting someone.

“You ride with me.” Amy said smiling at his Mom and drawing her attention.

“Thanks” Mom said showing a small smile despite her anguish over yet another bug out trip amongst all the health problems she was concerned with. She had another thirty day of meds left and she had overheard Donald talking to Janice about a little known fact that geomagnetic storms affected a lot of heart patients adversely for some yet unidentified reasons.

Donald had stocked some substitute herbals for her but no one knew their effectiveness and he had just winged it as for how to wean her off the prescription meds by slowly introducing some alternatives he hoped could sustain her.

“ Bugging out was always a stupid proposition unless you were going to a prepared place to bug in at. Bugging out and planning to run out of gas going to an unknown destination was just plain ludicrous. But what choice did he have? Donald mused to himself. He had no intention of actually forcing anybody out of the summer camp and hated that he had even brought the subject up. He had just wanted to make everyone aware of how desperate they were going to be once they undertook this desperate journey. Upon arrival they would have to be seeing things quite differently from having their own deeded land under them.” Donald considered.

“Hey I forgot to pack all those solar driveway markers at my place. LowBuck stop at my house on the way out and we can put them on the roof of your motorhome with the trees. I also got a box of tools we need to tie on up there somewhere.” Michael said while going over a mental checklist of last minute items to load.

“I got a little bit of room left, hey Donald you got anything else to put up on the roof?” LowBuck inquired.

“Yea I need to take down my solar garden lights but that’s it.” Donald responded and went to fetch them.

32 The Church Yard

Donald didn’t expect much trouble on this trip. He figured it would be pretty much like driving after a hurricane without the storm damage to worry about. A lot of peoples blank stares, barely any traffic and folks just going about the daily business of surviving and trying to recover. This time was different though and the caravan was prepped for everything imaginable. Donald had driven himself crazy thinking about and trying to prepare for all the “What If`s” that might threaten them on this trip.

What if the military, the cops, a town militia or even just some bunch of criminal yahoos had a road block up somewhere? He doubted any official roadblocks would be up but you can’t tell about some of these small towns or community neighborhood organizations forming up for protection or scavenging and looting. Everything loot able was probably gone by now. Starving folks would most likely be watching the highways in hopes of seeing a food truck or relief convoy. Donald had no plans for being mistaken for either. Protecting his supplies against normal desperate people was bad enough but he wondered how many official types were out and about “confiscating “food stuffs under obscure emergency power acts? He was hopeful they had plenty of forewarning if they run up on any organized road block so he could try to save at least some of the supplies. If it was a National Guard Unit or something they didn’t stand a chance if they tried to defend their food. Donald and Michael had chosen the most back woods , obscure country route they could design to avoid any possible or likely “Hot Spots” that could jeopardize this bug out.

The big scary what if was ,what do they do if the summer camp was burned down by wildfire already? What do they do then? Depends on how far they got before they found out any kind of devastating fact like that. Gas was the big “What If” then. They could limp back to Ramer maybe and set up some kind of living. Janice’s relatives owned a small country family church and cemetery. Maybe they could bunk there until they made a better

arrangement in a pinch. Nothing worse to get yourself into than ending up a displaced prepper or road refugee about right now Donald had pondered. The lake wasn’t an ideal place to be bugging to in this situation. Most folks if they had a Lake house would have already bugged in by now thinking that at least they could fish for some food. Most of those people too probably had an arsenal of heavily used fine deer rifles and shotguns that had been carried to many a hunting trip. Having that many avid sportsmen around was problematic to think about. Most families know their neighbors on the lake and have interacted over a many hot summer. Donald’s little tribe of travelers would be considered outsiders, interlopers or even possibly criminals of some sort by the communities unless they chose some uncontested place to bug in at. On the bright side though folks up at the lake are generally educated and friendly in meeting and greeting strangers. Donald had about 5 other spots marked out on their lake map that might be suitable bug in locations and worst case was the state park or a Lake RV area.

“Just too many things to think about, it was all or none now. Donald mused as they convoyed out the back way towards Ramer. The trip had been smooth so far and they hadn’t really seen anyone out on the road. It had been decided that Janice would take the lead 5 miles before town with the walkie talkie. She could radio back to LowBuck if she spotted any trouble and her being related to darn near everyone in town would help out if there was a need for introductions.

LowBuck cursed the solar storm taking out his and Donald’s CB radios. Donald and he had worked out a few hand signals but it was starting to rain and this last half mile was going to be a bitch because he had to be on his guard looking around as well as have his window down to signal at a moment’s notice. He was already getting soaked as he followed Janice and Michael into town. Well maybe he didn’t have so much to grouse about after all. Poor Michael on that motorcycle must be catching hell but decided to push on. What’s this? They turning in? We got here a lot quicker than I thought we would of LowBuck mused as he turned the motorhome into a small white country churchyard.

Janice got out of her car and explained to the group quickly that she and her sister were going up to her uncles house to get the church key and tell everyone we were in the area. Michael sat in Donald’s truck out of the rain awaiting her return.

“Looks like we are going to be stuck here until this weather blows over some. You are going to call me a dumbass but I forgot to get that trap out of the culvert we set for that raccoon. I didn’t even think about it until I got part way down the road.” Donald remarked.

“Me and LowBuck went out and got it on the way by when we were getting my solar fence and driveway lights. I am still amazed most of them still work after that solar event. “Michael replied grinning that he had covered Donald`s butt in retrieving the valuable trap.

“Man, I really appreciate that. The loss of that one 220 conibear trap these days is about the most bone headed thing I could have done. One trap can be one meal, one chance at a meal, the only chance etc. Well I appreciate you running a bit of due diligence, water under the bridge now. I guess trying to wear too many hats and plotting and scheming is making me careless. I guess we just be back in hunter gather mode soon enough right Michael?” Donald replied smiling and starting to look forward to just concentrating on foraging and not speculating what might go wrong next but he knew it was illusionary to think that way.

Having had to suffer through years of emergency management academia as well as first responder duties Donald knew in his heart that it was too much of an ingrained trait by now not to wonder and worry about what he could have done better with his planning or prepping. Best to listen to LowBuck`s prepper credo of “Prep to live, don’t live to Prep” philosophy. You can only do what your brains, pocketbook and social network will allow you to do to prepare for a calamity. Over worrying was the opposite of prepping and reduced your capabilities to deal with shortfalls or life in general. Life is good! As the You Tuber GoatHollow always signed off his shows with, “We will get through this!”. It was the idea that we did something, we took time to care about and learn from and interact with other preppers that was ultimately the most important thing. Change one life or prepare one more person was the fun and glory in it for the prepper community. We were the lucky ones, blessed in preps and knowledge during these hard times! Good people, intelligent and inquisitive people. Ones that were patriotic but designed their own destinies. Yea the movement had some wack jobs in it but 95% of folks in it had the same pioneer can do spirit that surmounted mountains and forded rivers in the great go west expansion their forbears had. Overcoming adversity was a trait born or learned in every prepper. You overcome life’s pitfalls by anticipating them and avoiding them the best you can. You try to not let history repeat itself and spend time learning lessons from the past about disasters. Positive energy is directed at what you can do to create positive progress in your preps . That negative energy needs to be channeled and controlled.

33

LAYOVER

Janice and her uncle unlocked the church and motioned for everyone to come inside.

“You all come right on in!” Her smiling uncle called out to wet travelers hurrying towards its doors.

“I was telling Janice you picked a good day to come around. I am cooking goat in the ground today and we got enough to feed your bunch if you got time to hang around a few hours.

Goat is the most popular meat in the world, according to a recent article in the New York Times. And cooking a whole goat or kid is common at celebrations in North Africa, the Middle East, India and Jamaica. Roasting goat in a pit in the ground works well because goat is lean and slow roasting in an enclosed pit keeps the meat moist. Most pit cooking involves lining the pit with moist vegetation. Clambakes use seaweed, luaus use Ti leaves, and in Mexico, where they call this way to prepare goat "barbacoa de cordero," it is common to use banana leaves. Her uncle was pretty secretive about how he did it but Donald had seen him add sassafras leaves to his cooking pit before as well as some kind of mint.

“Oh we definitely are hanging around for that! How you been Lomax? Things going ok for you?” Donald asked shaking his hand.

“Doing the best we can Donald, how about you? Janice said you had some kind of trouble down your way and was moving to the lake?” the old man said questionably.

“Yea we had some wildfire do a lot of damage and a few neighbors I didn’t trust much making me nervous. Anyway, the lake seemed our best option so I am going to do a huge roll of the dice and move this little clan that way.” Donald concluded.

“ I told Janice that since you all are all prepped and be an asset for the community you could move in down here. The church will just be temporary until we get you settled in. Some of the relative’s ain`t too keen on turning a house of God into a house of humans long-term. By the way the toilet don’t work unless you pour a bucket of water into it. Water been shut off since last week and they say it aint coming back on, no fuel and too much damage to the generators they say.” Lomax said sighing and looking over the rain soaked group trying to get a bit dried out.

“ Catherine is that you? Well I’ll be , I haven’t seen you in a month of Sundays. How did you throw in with this herd of folks?” Lomax said brightening and hurrying over to help her with her rain jacket.

“ Lomax you old Jabberwocky, seems like I haven’t seen you since Buddha got fat! “ Catharine said giving him a hug.

“Hey is that saying I gained a few pounds!” Lomax said smiling and happily patting his lop of a beer belly.

“Well you aint that gangly farm boy that used to try to spark every girl on this highway anymore. How is your wife Jackie these days.” Catharine said regarding his still sparkling blue eyes.

“ Oh the missus is doing ok, you can see her later on today at suppertime. She has got all the Grandkids gathering Polk Salad and Fiddleneck ferns for today’s Barbecue. She sure will be surprised to see ya.” Lomax said watching everyone trying to figure out what to do with all those guns they were toting in the confines of the small church.

“ Now folks you all know I ain`t no Bible thumper but them weapons ain`t going to sit well with some of the church members if they come visiting. I know they a necessary evil about right now but could you dream up some way to sort of store them out of sight so they won’t be so obvious?” Lomax said looking at the armory of personal weapons that had just got dragged into the holy place.

“ If you are saying its safe around here and nothing to worry about we would be happy to put them up wouldn’t` we?” Catharine said heading towards the broom closet with her own Marlin 30-30 lever action rifle. Catherine remembered the layout of the church from attending a couple “Hopeview” celebrations she had attended many years past. This was a family reunion type thing held every mother’s day to celebrate and honor the women of the linage as well as get about 5 generations to help mow and tend to the family cemetery. Friends and relatives came from miles around to share in the festivities and catch up on who was doing what. Donald hated attending these things and had managed to avoid them. Too much passing approval and being interrogated by various relatives of Janice for his taste. About right now though he wished he had participated more in that tradition though. He felt out of place even though he had occasionally met many of the relatives over the years that formed a couple hundred years of “ Fraziers” occupying this county.

“ Donald when you get settled in and put your guns up, I got a little deal I want to discuss with you that I been thinking about since you were here last.” Lomax said as Donald placed his AR 15 and shoulder pouch of mags in the closet and began undoing his pistol belt.

“Oh shit, here it comes. That old man must be wanting to trade goats for guns or food.” Donald thought kicking himself for anticipating being asked but not having a plan for the old codger to wear him down if he had to stay over longer than the 10 minutes he had planned before carrying on to the lake.

“Sure Lomax, what do you have in mind? “ Donald said carefully and added his 9mm to the growing pile. He still had his .380 pistol in his pocket as well as the rest of his group concealing various weapons so he was not put off by the action at all.

“ I had in mind before Janice told me you don’t know how to ride a horse to trade you that old nag of mine and a horse trailer for that .45 and shoulder holster you got. You remember I used to tote one and wouldn’t mind acquiring another.” Lomax said getting ready to do a little dickering.

You couldn’t really call Donald a “Gun Prepper”, but he did have more guns than he could carry and extra holsters for his pistols to fulfill a variety of situations. This was his under coat winter carry piece. A really nice Sig with night sights. He wasn’t too keen to trade it off. This is the pistol that can fire off 10,000 rounds in a day, without a single failure. It is the one that earned the trust of professionals who demanded a .45ACP that would always come through when the stakes were high. But for the right trade he might let it go, he preferred his 17 shot 9mm for everyday carry now. His 45 wasn’t a 1911 style but he remembered how much Lomax had treasured his when he fought in Korea and Vietnam. Well if Lomax had a decent trade it couldn’t go to a better home Donald figured.

“I can ride a horse! I can RIDE a horse! Amy squealed excitedly.

“Hang on a minute. I got to wrap my head around this having a horse thing. We going to be hard pressed to feed ourselves let alone a horse. Although owning a horse might come in awful handy. What do you think Catherine?” Donald replied pondering the odd trade.

“I used to ride when I was younger and know a thing or two about taking care of one.” Catherine began

“I can take care of it! There will be plenty of grass around at that camp wont their be Donald that the horse can eat. I can use the sling blade to cut hay for the winter maybe.” Amy gushed like a little girl asking for a pony.

“ LowBuck get my 45 out your motor home if you don’t mind. Hey what do you think of us acquiring a horse? Good idea or not?” Donald questioned.

“ I don’t know much about them, you wanting a horse now?” LowBuck responded before Amy jumped back in the conversation.

“Oh we need a horse! Horses are handy for all sorts of things. You will see it won’t be any trouble at all! Get the horse Donald, you won’t have to do a thing. I will take care of it. I could teach you to ride if you wanted also.” Amy chimed in excitedly trying to sway Donald’s decision with anything she could think of.

“I guess we getting a horse.” Donald said smiling at Michael and Amy.

“ Good deal! Amy said giving Donald a hug and then hugging Michael overjoyed she was sort of getting her childhood dream.

“ I actually got three I would be willing to trade.” Lomax began

“No one’s enough for now.” Donald fired back grinning.

“ Amy go with Lomax and pick the one you want. I hope I don’t regret this.” Donald said already missing his 45 even if he didn’t carry it all the time.

“ Oh you won’t regret it. Come on Lomax.” Amy said hurrying the man before Donald had a chance to change his mind.

“ Hang on girl we ain`t made ourselves a deal yet! Let me see that shooting iron Buck Low , Buffalo? What was your name again?” Lomax said to LowBuck and Amy

“ LOW BUCK” Bubba said to Lomax as Michael and Donald sniggered in the background over the

mispronunciations and confusion.

“ As in LowBuckPrepper it’s my handle and nickname on the internet” Bubba said looking irritated and wondering how long it was going to be before Michael started with the buffalo jokes to remind him of the encounter.

“ Nice leather, so the gun the shoulder rig, three mags and how much ammo you offering?” Lomax said admiring the piece.

“ Uh hum, I got maybe 500 rounds of .45 caliber and nothing else to shoot it in. Buck Low you got anything in 45 ACP?” Donald responded taking the opportunity to needle his friend a bit.

“ Don’t be starting no crap.” LowBuck said grinning back evilly at Donald`s smirk.

“I don’t have anything to use it in, trade it off if you want.” LowBuck advised

“Ok, Lomax I have that and a two hip holsters for it, ones Kydex and ones nylon.” Donald offered.

“ That would be a mighty good trade. I didn’t expect so much ammo. Can I see it? It isn’t all military surplus is it?” Lomax said skeptically raising an eyebrow.

“Hell no, none of its surplus. I only got maybe 100 rounds of fresh made NATO military ball, the rest of its quality hollow points of various weights and types. I even got 50 rounds of that neat Triton stuff, that’s a bullet that breaks into 3 pieces once it enters the body. Bubba I hate to keep you running back and forth, you mind getting all the 45 Cal we got together while I horse trade with Lomax?” Donald asked

“Sure no problem.” LowBuck said and went to sort through the ammo cans.

“How many names that boy got?” Lomax said confused

“I can think of a few more.” Michael said laughing

“We call him by both Bubba and LowBuck.” Donald explained.

“I guess.” Lomax said and sort of grunted and then offered his end of the deal.

“I will trade you even for your pick of the three horses, a two horse trailer, a few bags of oats and as much hay as you can fit in that spare stall. Janice said she wanted a couple of those weaned kids I got so

I don’t know how much room that will leave with them two small goats but

I will load it up to the top.” Lomax offered.

“ So Janice already had this deal planned huh?” Donald said looking over at her trying to look innocent.

“Well she did mention you didn’t ride and might not want the trade.” Lomax offered.

“ Hey Janice, don’t you want to ride a pair of goats in your car? Since your sister is staying you got room.” Donald said smiling and thinking that leaving her sister behind and taking two goat kids instead was even trade for that situation.

“ Don’t be so mean about her and ridiculous to me Donald. I am not riding with them goats if they can fit in the trailer.” Janice said indignantly.

“I was just playing with you, calm down Janice. Hey Lomax, you are offering a pretty fair deal but I think it would be even fairer if you threw in a couple more bags of horse feed. We don’t have the pasture land you got and the last thing I need is poorly looking horse.” Donald countered.

“Deal!” Lomax said and extended his firm handshake to Donald to seal the transaction as gentleman of their word.

“You coming along with us Donald or are you just going to let Amy pick the one she likes for you?” Lomax asked.

“ I figure Catharine should be there to help her choose since she knows horse flesh some and we need her truck to pull the trailer. Michael is loadmaster and mechanic for this convoy so I guess he needs to ride with her to check out the trailer. Plus he needs to ride herd on Amy before she worries that old man to death with questions. Janice has got to get them damn goats. I doubt we could talk Cat out of the fun of watching everyone so me and the Buffalo errr LowBuck will stay here and watch the camp...” Donald almost finished before the playful punch to the shoulder Bubba gave him caused him to finish his sentence quicker than he had planned.

“ Damn Bubba that hurt! You got to quit eating so many Wheaties.” Donald said pretending his shoulder hurt a lot more than it did and rubbing it.

Bubba just smiled and asked Lomax could he talk to him in private a second.

Lomax agreed and everyone looked perplexed what Bubba wanted to talk to Lomax about . As the pair walked away Donald looked after them.

“I wonder what he is up to. We don’t need any more goats or horses and..” Donald was saying before Cat broke in. “Says who?” Cat said looking fierce and then melting and looking apologetic for her quick outburst

Catharine looked at him knowingly until Donald’s brain light bulb finally turned on and recognized the coalition of ladies probably had figured out what was up.

“ Oh so he wanted a horse for his wife Cat you think? Why didn’t he just say so and we could of maybe negotiated a better deal for a pair?” Donald inquired of the group.

“ I think its sweet.” Amy said looking google eyed.

“I am not sure that’s what he is doing but I hope so. I like horses” Cat said staring dreamy eyed at the hushed conversation going on between the two men over by the graveyard.

“And you are outnumbered!” Catharine said smiling like a southern belle with her cat herd to back her up.

“Ok! Two Horseys!” Donald said putting his hands up in mock surrender to her.

The laughter and twitters from the group made Lomax and LowBuck turn and look but didn’t seem to affect their haggling none.

“I still get first choice though! Donald traded first. He said my choice!” Amy said asserting her dominion in the choosing of an animal.

“ Of course!” Cat assured her

“ Damn Michael, how did we get outnumbered !” Donald said joking with his trail stomping buddy.

“You aint figured out by now boy if two women agree to get one or a hundred men to do something we outnumbered?” Michael jibbed back.

“ Yea it sort of seems that I have found myself in this position before.” Donald said smiling and winking at Janice who gave him a beaming smile back.

“What’s he got to trade Cat? I hope he aint talking booze because these folks got moonshiners tucked away everywhere that I don’t even know about.” Donald asked.

“Damn, then I really don’t know. They look like they already hot and heavy into negotiations though about something.” Cat said looking concerned at the parlay going on.

“I wish he had of asked us first no matter how romantic his intentions were.” Michael said trying to figure out what piece of equipment they might need might be on the block.

“Me too, uh guys they noticing we watching.” Donald said lowering his voice so only they could hear and reminding everyone that when they went quite those two greybeards turned to watch and listen.

“No Shit!” Lomax said loudly and reached to squeeze LowBucks shoulder as they both started to laugh uproariously and glance towards the little prepper group.

“Sounds good so far!” Cat said hesitantly

“Seems they reaching agreement.” Amy said hopefully

“ Lomax is a smart cookie and a hard trader, maybe I better go ask some questions.” Janice said concerned and starting towards the cemetery conversation.

“ Don’t bother them Janice, it is their deal and they doing it in private. It’s none of our business until they decide it and get around to telling it to us about it, if and when they do, I doubt they be asking us for any advice.”

“Your right. I shouldn’t interfere, it’s just that I know Lomax is a slick old horse trader from way back and don’t mind taking advantage of someone in a deal.” Janice replied looking a bit worried.

“ LowBuck can hold his own, don’t worry about him.” Donald advised.

The two men shook hands over by the cemetery fence and walked back to LowBucks motor home to check out whatever it was Bubba was offering for the deal. After a few moments inside the motor home they exited and returned to the group.

“ Hey Donald, hope you don’t mind. I just traded off that small 4 led lighting system that you gave me to evaluate and review awhile back. Lomax said he would give a horse and tack for Cat.” LowBuck said hugging a very happy wife.

“ No problem, that SUNRNR solar generator of mine can run pretty much anything I can dream up and I still got a couple small motorcycle battery sized solar lighting units anyway. Good trade! Lomax those got to be some sorry horses or you getting old giving LowBuck such a sweet deal.” Donald said skeptically.

“ No Donald it’s a matter of value. I don’t have a light system like that and can’t buy one and LowBuck and I thought it was worth one of those hay burners. Besides I need the stall space for my goats. Having to keep some of them indoors at the moment if you know what I mean. “Lomax said fondling the black leather 45 shoulder rig he was now proudly wearing.

“Damn LowBuck, I should of let you negotiate for me. I Think I got the short end of the trade now.” Donald said while mock grumbling and smiling at the pair of traders.

“ No you didn’t, you got first pick of the horses, a trailer plus the hay and oats, by the way our deal needs to get adjusted a little if you want. I will give you a hundred bullets back if you share that hay and oats with LowBuck. He is a good trader , part of our deal rests on you being willing to settle on some new terms. Them hay bales are cumbersome and if you giving his horse a ride in your trailer you are going to have to hang them off the sides of the trailer and play wide load.

“You agree? “ Lomax said extending his hand before Donald could even think about it

Donald took it without pause just like he would do to most men when a handshake was offered.

“By the way, them goats Janice has need some medicine so I will trade you them bullets back for some.” Lomax managed to get in before releasing his hand.

“What the hell Lomax? That was sneaky but I don’t have a use for that caliber. Still seems an awful stiff price for some goat medicine.” Donald grumbled

“No its value for value, I got plenty of bullets but I am light on goat medicine so I value it more. You aint got any use for the bullets but need the goat medicine. Simple economics.” Lomax said matter of factly.

Donald made a wrinkly face at LowBuck and Michael who were grinning in his direction that Lomax had one upped him again as well as LowBuck profiting from it.

“Alright Lomax, you win. While you are gone I am going to dream me up something simply economical to trade you.” Donald said pretty much good naturedly.

“Sounds like fun, see you in a bit.” Lomax declared and he and Amy headed off for his truck.

“Dang looks like I am going to be riding goats in my car.” Janice fumed

“Ha! I forgot about that! And you owe me for some goat medicine sometime in the future.” Donald said laughing.

“ BAAAAAAAAAAA!” LowBuck bleated as he was started chuckling and pretended to watch Cat and Catharine getting in the truck that would be pulling the horse trailer.

“Hey Mom, why don’t you and Michael take your car and follow them. Catharine has too much stuff in that duallie`s backseat to carry any passengers.” Donald suggested.

“Ok! Here Michael you drive.” She said handing him the keys.

“ Damn LowBuck, that was a very nice thing to do for Cat but you should of told me you wanted a horse while I was negotiating with Lomax`s for Amy’s ride.” Donald complained.

“Well I hadn’t really decided to do it or what I would trade for it yet. You all did that deal pretty quick. I figured it would be nice for Cat and Amy to go riding together and besides you haven’t heard the rest of the deal yet!” LowBuck said with a Cheshire cat grin.

“Will I like it?” Donald said warily and thinking it might cost him some more.

“Dang straight, you going to love it! “ LowBuck guffawed

“What’s up?” Donald said grinning evilly and leaning forward to hear the low down on whatever deal LowBuck had cut with Lomax.

“You remember you told me one time the only thing Lomax liked better than trading was a good joke?” Bubba began.

“Yea, So?” Donald said getting real interested.

“Well I studied your little situation and came to the conclusion you were most likely going to give that horse to Amy anyway and might have forgot about getting Michael to do something for it so he could give it to her, so I saved you the trouble and made another little side deal with Lomax. You know how they train you in vacuum cleaner sales 101 to keep asking people yes questions and nodding your head yes until you say would you like to buy one? That’s funny as hell, try it with someone who isn’t expecting it sometime. They will start nodding their heads yes with you. Anyway Lomax got you on that handshake thing a few minutes ago but you won’t believe what Michael has in store for him.” LowBuck said and then did his best Earnest T Bass interpretation from the Andy Griffith show and said “It’s Me! It’s Me. It’s Bubba the Barterer! “ LowBuck chocked out laughing.

“ Ah Hell! What did you do to Michael now?” Donald said grinning

“Well Lomax is going to do that handshake is your word thing on Michael and he aint going to like it.” LowBuck said laughing and slapping his thigh.

“Ok give brother, what kind of crap you going to pull on him.” Donald said laughing already with his friend even though he didn’t know what was up yet.

“ Lomax is going to be doing that asking only questions that can be answered yes thing and nodding his head at Michael and cut a little deal for us.” Bubba said exaggerating the mystery of it all.

“Shit man, you are killing me! What’s he going to trade or do?” Donald said sitting on the edge of his chair.

“All in good time. Them women folk are going to be gushing over and patting them horses while Lomax and Michael look over the trailer. Lomax will have Michael primed with them yes questions and when they get back to all them excited ladies Lomax is going to announce that you said Amy could have her horse pick if Michael agrees to help with the two ladies horses by hauling water and such. You know Michael going to shake his hand and agree and that’s where it gets fun. After the handshake, Lomax is going to say here you need this and hand him a manure shovel! And say LowBuck said he didn’t think he had one yet!” LowBuck described before he and Donald both broke out in peals of laughter that required them to go to LowBuck`s motorhome and fix a drink.

“So you assigned him Latrine room orderly for them damn horses? That is funny as hell. Won’t last long but it’s still funnier than shit. Let’s start calling him the lucky man or the optimist. You remember the punch line of that joke that had somebody shoveling shit out of a stall saying “There has to be a pony in here somewhere.” Donald quipped and laughed as LowBuck choked on his drink.

“I guess I get to talk about his pony tail now!” LowBuck declared

“Ahh come on man, I am threatening to grow my hair backout and don’t need to hear that. Not that you would have that problem. Don’t you comb your hair with a washcloth?” Donald said smiling.

“Watch it sucker. I did you a favor today.” LowBuck said grinning.

“Man he is going to have the ass with us! We got to quit screwing around with these fun feuds or we going to get distracted from our routines. He is going to get even, that you can engrave in stone and I don’t like the idea of having to check my sleeping bag every night for snakes or whatever else he might dream up.” Donald said dreading the vendetta that LowBuck had probably unleashed by playing a prank on Michael.

“ All in good fun my boy, all in good fun. But that snake in the sleeping bag thing got me spooked. You damn country boys are nasty spirited. I hate snakes.” LowBuck said grimacing.

“ You better worry about me too, I owe you one for that commandeering my horse feed.” Donald said poking at his buddies snake alarm.

“ Now damn it Donald that aint funny. Me and snakes don’t get along if we got to share space together. Don’t be doing nothing like that or mentioning it to Michael. You got to promise me on that. You said yourself we got to get more serious these days.” LowBuck concluded looking worried.

“ I aint never going to do something like that Man but you pulled the pin on the hand grenade with Michael so watch out.” Donald said while reminiscing mentally about a National Guard Lieutenant that came into his unit from a supply depot trying to make captain in a combat arms artillery unit. That boy was green to the woods and scared of everything that creeped or crawled. Back in the day the Fire Direction Center (FDC) was pretty primitive by today’s standards but still managed to be able to mathematically compute how to put a 155 howitzer round in a garbage can 15 miles away. They called it “charts and darts” back then and used slide rules, charts, and a big aluminum range deflection protractor (RDP) about 2’1/2 foot long to figure out how to put steel on target.

The big architect style tables that gridded out the battlefields were taboo back then if you were not an operator and that asshole lieutenant had the bad habit of always putting his helmet or dust goggles on Donald’s chart table. Army regs said you were allowed to knock anything off your table that could interfere with your work but that was always questionable when dealing with a uninitiated LT. He probably got rid of his 90 day wonder butter bar quickly and hadn’t had the chrome one on long before he decided the only way to make captain was to go combat arms. Donald didn’t respect the type writer jockeys or supply specialists that had no experience in his world that just wanted to make rank. They were dangerous and had too much control until you broke them in. Donald and Private Rafferty chased down a baby armadillo one day and Donald got sneaky and placed it under the offending LT`s steel pot helmet that was sitting on his chart. When the pasty faced officer reached over and started to drag his helmet off Donald`s chart table that danged baby armadillo started to run up his arm with them long clawed feet and mayhem set in as it clung to his fatigues and skin not to be shaken off.

It was one of the funniest sights Donald had ever witnessed as the LT run out of the tent of the CP carrier (Command post carrier armored track, which is basically a 6 inch aluminum armored office ) that carries a tent on its back to extend the work area. That boy squealed like a stuck hog as the armadillo tried to make tracks up his flailing arm and dancing around.

Thank god his captain saw the humor in it and told the LT that was a reminder from a “ Red Leg” ( someone who is Airborne and wears a red stripes on the side of their pants as well as jump wings on their chest” to not disrespect the chart table or them. Donald had been the only “Red Leg” in the ground unit and the only one who had jumped with tons of ammo and cannons falling through the sky with him. Donald could be a dickhead about this in the back when and depended on his glory days to keep him out of trouble. Nobody was going to tell the newbie officer that an armadillo curls up in a ball when threatened and that Donald had carefully held that baby one together in a ball and placed it under that fool of an officers steel pot helmet. Earlier he had got himself in Dutch with the commander by telling a British naval officer on an exchange program that if you pissed on an electric fence green smoke would come off. The idiot tried it while Donald was up on top of the track putting up a 2 niner two radio antennae about dusk and he had been treated to the sight of a very large spark heading for that man’s tally whacker. When the Brit went to report him for the prank to the commander, the poor guy pissed himself once again and the Captain who was CPT.Marles at the time just laughed a little and told him to clean himself up before giving Donald a lightweight and humorous tongue lashing.

“ I am serious, I don’t know these Alabama snakes the way you do and no screwing around with bugs or spiders neither. Do you have scorpions here? No he wouldn’t do that.” LowBuck said exasperated at the possibilities.

“Actually I hear we do in regards to scorpions, but I aint never seen one. He aint either I am sure and wouldn’t even mess with one. What he most likely would do if he wanted some animal payback is try to catch a skunk in a bag and throw it in your room. I doubt he would try that though I told him how much we ostracized those boys that tried to put a bag over one end of a culvert and chase the skunk in so they could throw it in the neighboring units CQ room (Command Quarters). Them boys got sprayed first and were last ones in line for the chow hall for weeks. “Donald said grinning at the memory.

“Uh oh, Harley dog has found himself something” LowBuck stated watching his hound beginning a chase.

“ That dog never caught a rabbit in its life but he is fun to watch.” Donald commented observing.

“He ain`t built for that kind of chase, but he sees something. By the way Lomax told me to look out for Strychnine baits. Said they look like donuts, they had a rabid fox scare down here and the county warned everyone to keep the pets inside the house while they were solving it.” LowBuck declared looking concerned.

“Tie his ass up, we are not staying here long. I didn’t know about that. Lomax said they were also hunting some damn sex offender that might of got bit by a rabid dog. I aint shitting you, I haven’t said anything yet to the ladies because that’s too weird to imagine but he says a posse is in the area.” Donald said showing all his cards.

“And for some reason you aint informed me of that?” LowBuck said angrily while rising to go get his AR 15.

“Calm down bro, we got enough fire power in our pistols to take care of that situation if it presents itself. If it’s true that man is a wack job and not thinking clear. He is more scared of water than causing harm and is wandering aimlessly.” Donald concluded.

“ As long as he don’t wander this way.” LowBuck said obviously put out that Donald had not mentioned this apparent danger yet to anyone else.

“ Hey Man this is just a layover, You can’t shoot a man for what he might do.” Donald attempted to rationalize.

“Thinking is not knowing Donald. If there is a weird threat like this about we all need to know it!. You letting me down Man.” LowBuck said intensely.

“Didn’t mean too. I figured sacred ground and all the folks hunting him we be safe for the moment. Guess I was wrong. That level of insanity I can’t imagine but didn’t want to scare the girls unduly. Lomax said not to bring it up if I didn’t have to. We got our pocket pistols, I thought we could easily handle a confrontation.” Donald began.

“Screw that, everyone should be on high alert! Armed and ready. The girls put up their guns and are not expecting this kind of shit. I still can’t believe you let that warning slide. We should bring them practical pistols and long arms to them NOW! LowBuck said disgustedly.

“Ok I am already worn the hell out and this jitterbug doesn’t have all the answers.” Donald fired back.

“You are doing a good job so far making us a family, but Bro? You aint found the time to inform us yet?” LowBuck said concerned.

“Lomax is deadly with a 45, Janice has her 380 and Catharine got that 30-30 there is no risk MAN! “ Donald concluded

“Maybe so, but I wished you had talked about it more instead of keeping it to yourself so long.” LowBuck Concluded.

34

THE LAKE CAMP

After a day of eating well on barbecued goat and garden vegetables, much laughter at Michael’s expense for the prank Lomax and LowBuck played on him and the joy of the two girl’s acquisition of the horses the prepper tribe settled in wearily for the night at the church and got ready to head out in the morning.

Traveling slowly down backcountry dirt roads and county highways seemed to be taking forever but it was a safe and necessary way. They saw very few people and fewer cars out on the road. Miles and miles of probably starving desperate people lived on these roads; it was hard for the caravan of travelers to wrap their minds around the magnitude of this disaster. The discussion last night about the possibility of staying in Lomax’s community was very tempting but in the end it was decided that it would be best to try to ride the worst of the disaster out in the secluded summer camp at the lake if they could. If need be and they could somehow find the gas they could always try coming back.

Donald had taken the point position and was nearing his objective. They had decided they would all just drive in at once depending on how it looked from the road. The camp had a huge front parking lot so turning around wasn’t a big deal and the long driveway to it assured that they wouldn’t have to bunch up traveling in. Donald slowed and pointed to his right indicating they would be turning into their destination now. Big pines obscured the roads view of the actual camp but soon thinned out and as far as Donald could see the place appeared abandoned. His suspicions were confirmed when he noted the empty parking lot.

“Alright!” Donald thought as elation flooded over him. The perfect bug-in location was open for squatting and it was all theirs!

The convoy pulled directly to the front of the building and parked next to the for sale real estate sign.

Everyone got out of their vehicles greatly relieved the place was unoccupied and happily babbling to each other as they got organized to explore the area and find a way into the main building.

“Let’s see if we can find an open window or something. I would rather not damage the doors if we don’t have to.” Donald declared.

“Ok, we going right so you go left.” LowBuck said as he walked off with Cat and Catharine.

“We are going to go check out the out buildings.” Michael said and he and Amy left to check out what looked like a big tractor shed and a storage building.

“Mom you want to hang out here or go along with me and Janice?” Donald asked.

“I will stay here, just be careful.” she said

Donald and Janice checked all the front windows and peered into the interior whenever they could. This place was Huge! It had a grand hall as well as separate classrooms and a cafeteria. It was at the cafeteria that Donald noticed a partially open window and waved to LowBuck exploring the rear of the buildings windows to come over and help him.

“Give me a leg up buddy and I will see if I can get in here.” Donald said pointing at a vent window over another large paned window.

“I think you going to have a hard time getting through there unless you can somehow reach the latch for the bottom pane and open it.” LowBuck said studying it.

“That’s my plan exactly. If I can somehow stand on the ledge then we can maybe figure out a way to open it.” Donald said stepping in the stirrup LowBuck made with his hands to boost him up.

“Hell yea!” Donald said standing on the ledge and clinging to the edge of the vent windows metal frame.

“Get me a stick or broom handle or something and I can open the latch.” Donald called down.

“We got a broom in the motor home. I will be back in a minute.” Cat said hurrying towards it.

“Man you ain`t going to believe this kitchen. If that big propane tank next to us has any gas in it we all set. Damn thing is big enough to run a steakhouse.” Donald said peering around as best he could.

“If you are alright up there, I will go check it out.” LowBuck said

“Yea, go have a look.” Donald said while waiting for Cat to return.

“I can’t quite figure out how to read this tank gauge but we got about a 1/3 of a tank whatever that translates too.” LowBuck called out.

“Cool! That’s a big ass tank. I will figure out how much we actually got later.” Donald said excitedly as he looked at all the gleaming stainless steel ovens and ranges.

“We even got a pizza oven Bubba!” Donald said looking down at him with a big grin.

“I don’t have any pepperoni but I got a couple summer sausages and hard salami. Wonder what that would taste like?” Bubba said thinking about tonight’s dinner.

“Probably damn good if you add some onions. I got chicken and beef but I doubt we see anything close to pepperoni again. I wonder how ham TVP would taste on one?” Donald mused.

“Or Taco flavor TVP might be good. Let’s have a pizza party tonight. Haven’t ever made a dough from scratch but shouldn’t be too hard.” LowBuck said and then handed up the broom Cat had brought back.

After several tries Donald finally got the latch open and then proceeded to enter the window.

“Go around front and I will open the door.” Donald said as he entered the window and stepped into the sink below.

Kind of spooky but exciting to be creeping around in here. Nobody is home but he wasn’t letting his guard down.” Donald thought as he exited the kitchen and entered the cafeteria.

“Probably could seat 75 or more folks in here. Cool, lot easier doing one big community meal instead of several individual dinners. Ah you’re kidding me! “Donald thought as he exited the cafeteria and saw` what looked like a sort of boy scout supplies and convenience store. Most of the shelves were empty but there was still a lot of crap in there. Damn the door was locked. Oh, well see about it later.” Donald mused as went down the hall and entered the lodge’s main room and went to open the front door.

“Fancy digs!” LowBuck said as he entered the main lobby with its great fireplace and reception area. “We need to check that front desk and administration for some keys” Donald said

“That looks like a key box next to that picture.” Janice said pointing at a green metal box next to a picture in back of the reception desk.

“I think you are right. Hope it’s not locked.” Donald said and walked over and tried it.

“Damn, it is locked. Got to be a mangers office around here somewhere maybe there is a key to it. It doesn’t matter much though I can just take a crowbar to it if not.” Donald said.

“Managers office this way.” Cat called from the hall before entering it and beginning to pull out drawers in the desk.

“Got some keys!” Cat called out before everyone got there.

“Try them out!” Janice said excitedly.

Cat put first one then another key in the lockbox until finally success! They had the keys to their little prepper kingdom.

“Hey we better tell Michael and Amy we got keys in case they decide to force a lock.” Bubba said heading for the front door.

“What the hell? Come here you all, you got to see this.” LowBuck said laughing

“What is it?” Cat said hurrying his way with the rest of the group to the door.

The group looked stunned for a second as they watched Michael and Amy apparently having a lawnmower race of some kind towards them. Damn weird looking lawnmowers. They had LPG tanks on them and you stood in back of them to drive. Looked like a chariot race almost.

“What did you find?” Donald called out as they got closer.

“A new form of transportation.” Michael said grinning as he and Amy shut down their machines.

“Cool, was it open?” Donald said waving the keys.

“Is now, I used my Kabar knife on the padlock hasp. Didn’t know we had keys. What’s cool about it is they got 3 spare tanks for each of four of these!” Michael exclaimed.

“No shit? I am going to build a trike out of one then, hell with mowing the lawn I am going to make some new transport” LowBuck said getting interested.

“I was thinking the same thing” Michael responded.

“There is a barn back there also. They must have had horses here at one time. We can unload the horses now and get them settled in.” Amy said to Cat.

“Wow this place just gets better and better!” Cat replied smiling.

“Hey if you guys want to check in your cabins I can give out some keys?” Janice said and proceeded back in the door to go to the registration desk and pretend to be a check in clerk.

The camp had 15 cabins and a staff dorm. Now where were they going to all choose to stay was the main topic of conversation.

“Let’s all stay in the main building tonight. I will figure out how we going to power those cabins tomorrow unless somebody want to borrow one of the small solar units and have a cabin. We move that SUNRNR in the lodge now, then we can have fans, lights and a movie tonight as well as some ice and do a pizza party.” Donald suggested.

“That sounds like a plan “That sounds like a plan. We settle in and unload tomorrow. We can drag some mattresses in from those cabins for tonight. We need to heel in those fruit and nut trees until we get to them.” Michael responded

"Heeling-in" is a technique for storing bare-root fruit trees if you are unable to plant them right away. There are times when we gardeners simply run out of time to properly plant everything in the garden that we bought or in this case needed to transplant.

If you are heeling in plants in the summer, they can be left in the trench for about a month. If you are heeling in plants for the winter, they can be left in the trench for the winter, but should be dug up as soon as possible in the spring for their permanent planting. Basically all it entails is digging a shallow trench deep enough to cover the roots and placing the trees in the trench at about a 45 degree angle and filling it in with dirt.

“That won’t take us long if we all pitch in. LowBuck drive your motorhome around to the back of that little shed if you would. Michael said it looks like the camp used it for a garden area at one time.” Donald said getting ready to do some quick and necessary work to protect the precious trees and seedlings.

“No problem, I might just leave the motorhome over there. There is a couple of those park shelters with concrete tables I can see from here and a power pole I might be able to rig up that homemade marine alternator windmill I got. What do you think?” LowBuck said surveying the fields and trails that made up the recreation area for the facility.

“Yea leave it there until you pick your new quarters and we unload some stuff out of it. It’s not far from the building and we can keep an eye on it easy enough. There aint no double beds in any of the cabins, just them old wooden bunk beds and not much room. You would actually have the best living setup until we make some changes for everyone’s comfort around here.” Donald told him.

“I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea. That motor home sticks out like a sore thumb in the parking lot and it’s hard to see around. It would look like your just camping out over there. Hey Donald does this place have any RV hookups? I bet it does. Michael queried and then went over to the plastic box on the reality sign and got a brochure.

“I don’t remember but I think your right. Hey cool, grab me and LowBuck one of those pamphlets. “Donald said heading towards him.

The brochure was quite informative as to what amenities remained with the summer camp. The map of the place showed them they had their own little Shangri la of a lake with campsites. Two small piers, a floating swimming platform.

“Swimming! That’s the ticket!” Donald thought.

“Hey folks, just found out we got us a swimming area with a poured sand beach.” Donald said excitedly.

Everyone was feeling kind of grungy and Janice`s ride with the goats hadn’t helped any.

“Can we go swimming?” Janice said grinning ear to ear

“Place seems safe enough but we got too many preps to guard to all go swimming at once. We need to check out the swim area for safety first and then do it in shifts. Hey Amy, check out this brochure. There are riding trails here but no telling what condition they are in now.” Donald said handing the glossy flyer to her.

“Me and Michael can heel in those trees and LowBuck can sit guard for you all while you swim some. Then you all can swap out and someone come back to relive us from guard duty.” Donald offered.

“Darn! Be more fun if we all went.” Amy groused

“Yea, well maybe someday, just not right now.” Michael replied giving her an affectionate pat.

“Hey Janice let me talk to you a minute.” Donald said motioning her aside.

“Janice, don’t scare the hell out of yourself or anyone else but look for signs of gators before you all go swimming. Remember Eufaula?” Donald said in a low voice.

“Oh shit, you mean they should have called it Gator Point? Yea, I remember. There won’t be any alligators around here though I don’t think. It’s rare to hear about one on this lake even in the swampy sloughs the lake drains into.” Janice said looking very concerned.

“I doubt there will be any, but not far from here we got one that migrated into the pond of our Boy Scout summer camp pond so just heads up. You already know from being raised on the lake about Water Moccasin and Poisonous Copperhead snakes so look out for everyone. Don’t let them be reaching under a canoe to turn it over etc. These folks don’t know the nature laws of the lake yet and everything from old fish lines with hooks to not wiping their butt with poison ivy or oak needs to be taught to them.” Donald said confidently.

“I got ya! I will keep a close eye on your Ma too. When is the last time she ever went swimming?” Janice asked.

“Oh hell, as far as I know it’s been 40 years.” Donald replied looking over at his Mom with concern.

“I doubt she packed a swimsuit Donald. You better get Catharine or us girls to find her something suitable if she wants to get in.” Janice told him.

“Get Catharine to talk to her. They relate well. Mom is not that steady on her feet and walking on pond bottom might not make sense. Catharine and you can decide if you want to humor her into taking a dip. We still got 4 hours of daylight so hang one of those solar showers up and offer that to her if she doesn’t want to go wading.” Donald said relived to give up the chore of looking out for his parent to somebody else for a while that could probably do it better.

“Don’t worry Donald, we will take good care of her and I will check the lake out myself before anyone goes jumping in.” Janice said and gave his arm a playful squeeze and went back to the happily chatting group.

Hey LowBuck, see if you can get that hound of yours to do a dog paddle or two.” Michael recommended.

“Get them dogs of yours in too!” LowBuck fired back grinning.

“I guess everyone going to get a good wash-down today. Amy take junior and I will bring Scruff and Melissa dogs down later. Hell take the goats.” Michael said poking fun at Janice.

“I meant them big old pontoon feet of yours Michael.’ LowBuck chided him to Janice’s evident pleasure LowBuck had sorta of supported her with a humorous jibe.

“Well wash them skids of yours anyway, we got to share a bunkhouse tonight.’ Michael laughed back

“Enough now you two, come on Michael let’s get about our task.” Donald said chuckling at the banter. .

35

INTRUDERS

The swim and pizza party was a major success. Clean clothes and clean bodies had greatly revitalized the little group. Spirits were high and the future looked bright. Catharine was having her patience tried by attempting to teach Donald’s mother how to run a computer but you would never know it. What a resource they still had even without the internet. Donald had encyclopedias, Atlases, those prepper CD`s with 100`s of manuals, and the entire Netflix looking library of DVD movies that he and LowBuck had plus what was stocked in the store at the camp. Because of the fantastic SUNRNR solar generator they could watch a movie, bake bread, pump water, shine some lights, run a few fans or access on the laptop the answers to most questions to name just a few things that no other survivors but them possessed or had access to these days. A pretty good selection of paperback books completed their library on various skills as well as fictional reading to pass the time.

The survivalists had already fallen into a routine of guard duty and odd sleeping schedules. First watch was Janice and Cat tonight. 4 hours on, 4 off in hot zones. Pretty much regular sleep if the number of folks to stand duty were relaxed enough to service the need. The radios needed charging tonight so Donald had offered a simple commo solution of a few tugs on a rope for the guards to communicate with. Janice was at the far right corner of the main building in the front and Catharine was at the far back left corner of the building. Any cause for alarm was communicated through a few jerks on a line to alert the other post to be on high alert.

If it had not been so oppressively hot and humid they would of cranked up the fireplace for its light and ambiance. As it was. Two fans, a computer and a string of LED lights was getting plenty of power from the innovative SUNRNR solar generator and this was a blessing beyond belief. Donald had been kidded that his little portable mini grid setup was a prepper extreme no one but him could of pulled off, but it was all in fun. Jealousy or coveting preps didn’t exist in this little prepper group, it was combined assets and by the grace of God and a great corporation`s benevolence Donald had managed to acquire a unit. Having your own off grid set up these days with a lap top computer was tantamount to having your own Professor Einstein at your disposal. you were left with unlimited possibilities to add technology to an austere life.

The two girls were on guard duty as the sun began to go down and the rest of the group was gathered in the main lodge and just kicking back after a full day of activities.

Janice was already bored after the first hour of standing watch. She could wander out of the classroom she was posted in some and she had popped out for a moment to see if anyone felt like keeping her company for a bit. Catharine said she would be around shortly after the coffee finished brewing on the StoveTec and bring her some.

Everybody was pretty laid back and lax about security because there was no indication of any threats in the immediate area.

Oh shit! Hang on what was that? There were flashlights shining around the back of LowBucks motorhome. She couldn’t tell how many but it looked like at least three.

YANK! YANK! Cat felt on her rope.

“Oh hell! Cat thought as she fumbled with her shotgun and began moving about her classroom peering over the windowsills for any movement.

“Janice felt the one yank on the rope

ackno2wledgement on the rope from Cat and scanned both the incoming road and the lights in back of the motorhome.

They must be trying to break in it she thought.

“What do you have? Donald said staying low and rushing into the room his AR at the ready.

“Flashlights in around the back of the motorhome.” Janice replied trying to get a better look.

“Everyone’s in the main hall so it aint any of us poking around.” Donald said crouching down next to her and having a look for himself.

“How long they been out there?” Donald asked.

“I am not sure, I was only gone a few minutes and noticed them when I got back. I have been watching them only a few minutes. They are not moving around much. Whoever it is must be trying to get in the side door. “Janice said.

“Keep an eye on them but no shooting. LowBuck and I will go out the backdoor and try to sneak up on them.” Donald told her.

“Oh Donald do you have to go out there? Why not just fire off a warning shot? Janice suggested.

“That’s not a bad idea but I don’t warn off or shoot at what I don’t know what it is first.” Donald responded.

Michael and Catharine are in the main hall. Fallback there if you need to.” Donald told her and then was off to check with Cat before he and LowBuck snuck out the backdoor.

“Anything moving Cat?” Donald whispered to her from the hallway.

“I can’t see anything in this dark. What’s going on?” Cat asked in a hushed voice.

“”Janice saw some lights over by your motorhome. I am going to get LowBuck and sneak out the backdoor and check them out. Hang tight unless Janice signals you to come.” Donald said moving back down the hall.

“Ok LowBuck saddle up we going out back, there are lights moving around in back of your motorhome.” Donald said while turning off several of the indoor lights they had on.

“Michael come lock us out.” Donald said moving towards the backdoor.

“Bubba and Donald crept up to the corner of the building and Donald looked towards the motorhome.

“See anything?” LowBuck whispered

“Yea. Two dang fools sneaking up on some solar lights. That be us LowBuck.’” Donald said relived.

“Who hung up the lights? Wasn’t me.” LowBuck said stepping out and observing a few lights swinging in the breeze and hanging a few inches from his roof.

“I bet when we unloaded those trees we either accidently turned them on or I never turned them off. They are my solar LED garden lights; they come on at night and off at dawn.” Donald said laughing.

“Let’s go give everyone the all clear before we go turn them off. That was kind of hairy there for a moment. I don’t blame Janice for the false alarm, damn sure looked like some folks waving flashlights around for a minute.” LowBuck concluded.

“I hope it’s the only scare we ever get up here.” Donald replied and did the coded knock on the backdoor to be let back in.

“All clear Michael, it was my freaking garden lights!” Donald said laughing coming into the man hall.

End Novella book 3 of the Solitary Man series I enjoyed writing this series and sometime in the future will be adding to it so we can see what LowBuck and friends are up to.

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, it’s 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 helps 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 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 an 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?

Introducing a new series of books for the home library. These books will be consolidated under the Prepper Archeology Project. Website will be up soon.

The Prepper Archaeology project is a joint venture between Ron Foster, Cheryl Chamlies, Goat Hollow Press and Elemental publishing to establish a collection of historic preparedness research and information books under the banner of Elemental Publishing. We search the antique book stores and the archives for old tomes of forgotten knowledge contained in out of print or forgotten books and make arrangements to republish them as a resurrection into good quality modern books.

Meticulous care and detail in reproduction is undertaken to preserve and honor the author’s original works and preserve the old time secrets and methods used by great pioneers and woodsmen.

The republishing process utilizes good quality low acid crème colored paper and modernized high gloss book covers for durability.

The books included in the collection are hand selected by experts in their field for the Prepper community’s enjoyment, so that this historical lore will not be lost and may be reused again to face the disasters of an uneasy world once more.

A BLOCKADED FAMILY: Life in Southern Alabama During the Civil War

(Elemental Historic Preparedness Collection)

A Blockaded Family by Parthenia A. Hague is a testament to the ingenuity, adaptability and inventiveness with which a community cut off from outside resources resorts to fending for themselves and utilizing nature’s bounty. Less about politics and more about enduring, it contains tips on surviving and making do. From making a coffee substitute from okra seeds, watermelon syrup for sugar substitute, and persimmon seeds for buttons, this book captivates the reader with timeless wisdom.

Deadfalls And Snares (Elemental Historic Preparedness Collection) Annotated (Prepper Archaeology Project)

The old ways of trapping and snaring are forgotten by most today and the times to remember them are once again upon us in these times of economic and disaster uncertainty. This old style survival book of trapping and snaring lore contains one of the greatest descriptive and applicable primitive and modern ways of acquiring game for food and sustenance. The book that was originally published in 1907 has been digitalized painstakingly, not a cheap scan like some offer that is blurry and hard to read. This volume contains information on building deadfalls, snaring with the bits of string you can find or using commercial grade wire snares, portable traps, bear and raccoon deadfalls to name a few. Specific animals are covered and their habits which include, Otter deadfall, Marten Deadfall, Stone Deadfall, The Bear Pen, Portable Traps, various trap and Snare Triggers, Trip Triggers, How to Set, When to Build, Where to Build, The Proper Bait, what to do about traps knocked down, Spring Pole Snare, Trail Set Snare, Bait Set Snares, The Box Trap, The Coop Trap, The Pit Trap, Number of Traps, When to Trap, Season's Catch, General Information, Skinning and Stretching, Handling and Grading, and From Animal to Market.

This is a classic collection from Harding who was one of the first national advocates of scientific wildlife

management, conservation and good sportsmanship in the 1900`s. This early work is a fascinating look at a vanished era and skills we can still use today

Shelters, Shacks, and Shanties (Elemental Historic Preparedness Collection) [Kindle Edition]

Although this fine book was meant originally for boys to build something beyond a scrap lumber club house, or create something more interesting out of a pile of loose brush, than a child's imagined fort, the wisdom is ageless for all to apply as a survival skill, or a temporary refuge. This is a practical, hands-on guide by one of the founders of the Boy Scouts of America and a joy to read. Over 332 illustrations and clear, easy-to-follow text makes this an invaluable book.

Basement Bunker, cans against wall protect Above ground bunker

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

1 Countdown To Prepperdom

2 Fair Warnings

3 A Bit Of Permaculture

4 Getting the Itch to Travel

5 Getting Ready For A Break

6 The Old Man

7 Florida Bound

8 The Real Day Prepper Show

9 Cat and Bubba

10 The Morning After

11 Motoring The Motor Home

12 Janice Has A Wake Up Call

13 Speculations

14 Reflections

15 Doggy Delights

16 Fair Thee Wells

17 Mental Misery

18 We Have Arrived!

19 Mom’s House

The Solitary Man In Defense Of Preppers

20 The Bunker Boys

21 PLOTTING AND SCHEMING

22 Sorting the Prep Room

23 Analyzing the Threats

24 Prep Utilization

25 Incoming

26 City Survey

27 The Great Unraveling

28 Zombie Arguments

29 Final Destination

The Solitary Man ` s Post-Apocalyptic Grid

30 Fading Fast

31 Bugging Out

32 The Church Yard

33 LAYOVER

34 THE LAKE CAMP

35 INTRUDERS

My Readers Might Also Enjoy: