by Ron Foster
“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.
