Not Dead in the Heart of Dixie

by R Kralik

  Mr. Hobbs asked if Luke, Larson, and Deuce could help him finish getting the fence around the garden after he help's Mick with the pool. Of course, Rona and I said yes.

  The boys moaned. They wanted to help the men and watch the trailer work. I guess you can never get the obsession with construction equipment out of the male human brain.

  Mick, Jason, and Dane will be backing trailers. Soo, Kevin, and Jeremy will be on log duty. They'll take the Jeep and can come home for lunch without having to drive the log truck.

  I just realized how many people we have here. Wow! I hope the garden explodes with goodness. The food Josie left will be a tremendous help, but we need to start looking for more canned food and doing more hunting.

  We need to build the outhouse very soon. The toilets are protesting. Marisa's and Elaine's are still good, but they don't have a gazillion people using their toilets. Mick said we'll use one of the little wooden buildings to make a "deluxe outhouse."

  I told him where two more of those display lots are located. We might have a hillside full of little wooden buildings next winter because everyone wants to be inside the fenced compound.

  We definitely need one for the piglets. Right now, they're in a barn stall and I swear they've grown every day since we got them. They get table scraps we don't save for leftovers.

  It's gonna be a long day. I better get started. See ya later.

  3:30 PM...

  Marisa, Rona, and I got the screens today. There was no HDI activity, thank goodness. We got every screen we could reach from both houses. Mick said we got more than enough to make the lid for the second pool. We also found food, sort of.

  Behind the canning jar house is a garden spot. On the edge was a tiered garden bed full of strawberry plants.

  We came back here to discuss with Mr. Hobbs and Pop how we should move the plants. Pop asked "Why move it at all?" I told him we want it inside the compound to keep the deer and rabbits from taking the fruit. He nodded in agreement.

  He said we could build a raised bed using the railroad ties we have along flower beds at the front of the house. We can fill it with bags of soil that we got from Lowe's.

  Pop said that now is the time to get it done because strawberries like cool(ish) weather. He said we should have moved them in February. I wish we’d found them in February.

  We're gonna try to get the strawberry bed put together tomorrow morning and get the plants in before supper. Pop said that the plants might be a little unhappy about the move and give us a small harvest this year, but next year should be good.

  In the backyard, we found two large apple trees, a peach tree, and a plum tree. There's a huge pecan tree a little further back. There's also a half-row of garlic in the garden that they must have planted last fall.

  Pop said to watch the garden for stray veggies that might come up from seeds dropped last year. We'll be checking that garden at least once a week. That little old man and woman must have God's ear, because they continue to bless us.

  I walked down to the trailer fence to see how it was going. Mick said they won't finish before dark, but should be done and ready to start filling it in before lunch tomorrow. It looks great. All the side doors on the trailers are facing the hill.

  Dane said he'd like to weld the trailers together somehow, but he'll worry about that later. With the wheels buried, the trailers won't be able to get pushed, turned over, or slide out of place easily. Smart men are awesome!

  The log crew came home laughing. The entire morning they got a total of eight logs loaded. Kevin says he got the hang of it right before they left. He said we'll be surprised at how many logs they bring back this afternoon. I hope he's right. It must be tricky learning to operate that crane.

  I can't remember who has supper duty, so I better head out there and check. See ya later.

  10:30 PM...

  I'm anxious to get the strawberry plants moved tomorrow. I hope Marisa and Rona are ready to start moving railroad ties right after breakfast. Jason said he and Jeremy will load up bags of garden soil and drive it around to the back so it'll be ready for us.

  Nana and Merry had supper duty. We had kielbasa, baked beans and mashed potatoes. It was delicious. Nana experimented and made fried blueberry pies with the dehydrated blueberries Josie left. They were good, but I'm partial to the apple ones.

  Kevin didn't let us down. He brought home a full load of logs. He says he'll unload them in the meadow tomorrow morning and go back for more. He can go up Marisa's driveway and across the meadow, but they'll have to use a pickup truck, the Kubota, or Buttercup to drag the logs the remaining 30 yards.

  Mr. Hobbs plans to help us build the strawberry bed. He said we can drag the railroad ties in place with the Kubota if we need to. I voted on saving our backs and doing it that way from the start. Rona and Marisa agreed.

  Mick, Dane, and Deuce are going to experiment splitting logs lengthwise while Jason works with the backhoe tomorrow. He told Luke and Larson that they could be his guards and make sure no HDI's sneak up on him while he's going back and forth.

  Carisa and Merry will be on laundry duty. We'll try to help them a little while we work on the strawberry bed. Hopefully, they can finish it all before supper.

  Carisa plans to keep an eye on Jesse while Elaine and Rebecca make breakfast in the morning. I made sure that Hisa will be with them. Yep, I'm too paranoid to leave them alone together.

  Valerie has babysitting duty. She loves being with the kids. She'll be a great Mom someday.

  Hisa told Pop that he could try using the walker to go to the greenhouses tomorrow, but to make sure he sits while he's in there. Mick already put lawn chairs in both greenhouses. I'm sure Nana will be with him the whole time.

  I’m having trouble keeping up with everyone.

  Yesterday I asked Elaine to make sour cream. I have supper duty tomorrow night and I wanna make my famous beef stroganoff. I hope everyone likes it as much as I think they will. I'll make Carisa's birthday cake after she goes to bed.

  Tomorrow will be a long day, so I better get some rest.

  Bye for now.

  Friday, March 14

  Good morning to those that have read this far!

  I have the crockpot plugged into the power strip and I have stew beef, two cans of mushroom soup and a couple of handfuls of dehydrated mushrooms along with a little ground pepper, salt, and secret spices. I put the gauge on “warm” so it will slow-cook 'til about 3:00 this afternoon. Then, I'll turn the heat up to “low.” I'll be serving beef stroganoff over egg noodles around 5:00 tonight.

  We had banana-nut muffins and milk for breakfast. Yum!

  I asked Carisa what she wants for her birthday supper tomorrow night, and she wants chicken nuggets and french fries. That sounds good to me, and it'll be easy to make since we still have the bag of chicken nuggets we got from Josie.

  I'm getting ready to head out and work on our strawberry bed. Hopefully, we can get the plants moved this afternoon. It's drizzling rain outside but we're not gonna let that stop us.

  Mick said they won't go to the lumberyard today because it was already a little muddy and the rain is probably making it worse.

  Mick and Soo will be using the backhoe to dig the outhouse a few yards from the tree-line on the right. There's a flat spot there that should work well.

  I fear someone getting hurt when they take the little wooden building off the flatbed and place it on top of the hole. None of us have “outhouse building experience.”

  Pop's stuck in the motorhome, but he'll watch them through the window and scream directions their way. Hisa doesn't want him out in the rain because he is still in bed a lot of the day and she doesn't want him to catch pneumonia.

  Mr. Hobbs won't have to worry about watering the garden and plans to be on backhoe duty after the outhouse is dug. The backhoe has an enclosed cab. I just hope he doesn't get it stuck. He'll be picking up dirt behind the Masterson house. The road has lots of packed down gravel, and he plans to stay on it a
s much as possible. Deuce said the road goes all the way back behind the horse barn.

  Jesse was gonna go back to the Hobbs house today, but Hisa doesn't want him out in the rain either. I expect Carisa to spend a lot of time with him at Clinic Diane since she and the girls can't do laundry in the rain.

  Dane wants to take Jeremy and Rebecca to loot the remaining houses on the other side of the woods. Maybe it's a good thing that it's raining today. We can get a few things done other than working on the fence.

  Marisa's calling my name. I guess it's time to get wet and get strawberries planted. See ya later.

  3:30 PM...

  I came in to stir the stroganoff and turn the temperature up. Everything is looking, and smelling, really good.

  We had PB &J sandwiches for lunch. Nana had to make three loaves of bread to feed us all. Homemade bread loaves are not as long as store bought bread and it's hard to slice it as thin. We ate two large bags of Ruffles Potato chips with our sandwiches.

  Dane, Jeremy, and Rebecca brought the chips home from a house they looted. They brought home quite a bit of canned food. They also got a 10 pound bag of flour and a four pound bag of sugar along with salt and other spices. There were several unopened condiments in the pantry.

  They also brought home a generator the same size as ours. No one has laid claim to it yet.

  The strawberry bed is together and filled with soil. Rona and Marisa are across the woods, getting the strawberry plants right now. They took Luke and Larson to keep watch.

  Kevin and Deuce are in the meadow, trying to teach Buttercup to pull logs. They're wearing rain slickers that Rona had in the motorhome.

  During lunch, Dane told us that refrigerated trailers don't need big rigs to run. They have their own independent fuel tanks and switches on the outside to turn them on and off. Mick immediately decided that we need one of the refrigerated trailers from the trucking company. They plan to go out for it this afternoon if the outhouse is finished.

  They have the backhoe and flatbed trailer with the two little buildings on top up here now. I'm not watching.

  I think I hear Rona, back with the strawberry plants.

  See ya later.

  11:30 PM

  The beef stroganoff was a big hit. Everyone loved it and nothing was left. That was good for my ego.

  Buttercup is a natural “log pullin’ horse.” Kevin said they got half the load moved over to the fence area this afternoon. That's a good thing. It'll save our gasoline and fuel. We need to take very good care of her and not work her too hard.

  I have no idea how to trim horse feet but I watched it happen many times when my grandfather had horses. I might have to use my goat hoof trimmers to get the job done. I think I have a file in with my goat supplies as well. Deuce adores her. He's been riding her bareback the past few days. I think she likes it too.

  We have a deluxe outhouse. It's in place and we need to cut the hole in the floor and make the “sittin' bench.” Jeremy and Mr. Hobbs can work on it tomorrow. It looks huge for an outhouse. I guess we can store other non-edible things if we have to.

  I am scared to death that I'll see a snake in there when spring comes. I will freak out. I hate snakes of any kind and I'm extremely worried about flies, especially killer HDI flies.

  Mick says there will be barrels in the bottom of the holes beneath the seats. The barrels will be changed out at least once a week, maybe twice a week in summer. So, I guess we'll need at least two more barrels 'cause I'm not giving up any of the water barrels.

  The waste will be taken away and burned. The barrels will be bleached in water from the creek before they bring them back. I don't know how to burn human waste. I'm glad the men will be taking care of it. Mick says they’ll dispose of it down at the power lines where we've been burning HDI bodies.

  We need lime so we can sprinkle dirt and lime into the barrel every day or two. Maybe flies hate lime. Mick and Dane said there's lime at TSC and Lowe's. I guess we'll be making a trip.

  Mick is hoping for nice weather tomorrow 'cause it's his turn to operate the backhoe.

  Dane found nothing in two of the house trailers across the woods. He said they were empty of furniture and everything else. There's one more house over there and I'm sure we'll get to it soon.

  I finished putting the cherries on Carisa's cake a few minutes ago. It's ready for her birthday tomorrow. I set it on the buffet with her presents around it so she'll see it when she walks down the hall. It's not every day that your baby turns sweet sixteen.

  The strawberry plants are in the ground. That strawberry bed looks so pretty. We put straw around the base of the plants to keep the moisture in and the weeds out. We didn't need to water them since it was raining.

  I finally got dried off after supper. Dry clothes are wonderful things. Everyone went home right after supper. I don't think anyone wanted to sit around and talk in wet clothes.

  I'm pleasantly exhausted and would have been asleep already if I didn't make the birthday cake. I guess I could have made it tomorrow morning. Oh well, it's done and I'm headed to bed.

  Bye for now.

  Saturday, March 15

  I'll do anything for my sweet sixteen, and I'll do anything for little run away child. Oh sweet sixteen. Oh sweet sixteen – Billy Idol

  Happy Birthday to Carisa! She's still sleeping because it's her birthday and because she can. It's hard, waiting for her to get up. I'm anxious to see if she likes her presents.

  I had to “fix” the cake this morning because I caught Carisa's cat licking frosting off the side. Shhh, don't tell anyone.

  We all got a gift this morning. Jeremy went to take hay to the cows and found one of them in labor. It was Geraldine, and she looked like she was having a tough time.

  We had to help by pulling the calf. Man, it's a lot different than pulling a baby goat. For a few minutes there, I was convinced that the cow had a magic, sucking, black hole of a vagina. It was hard to get the baby out of there, and it took two of the men to do it.

  The calf is already the same size as our little miniature does. I'm extremely glad that we prepped with goats instead of cattle.

  Anyway, it's a bull. This means we can breed our cows for milk and meat. I don't even know the gestation period for cattle. I'll have to ask Pop. He worked on a cattle farm when he was a teenager.

  Cows eat a huge amount hay. I'm getting paranoid about the hay situation and I don't know how we are gonna keep these huge critters fed. I need Jesse to get well and get back on barn lootin' duty.

  The sun is shining and that means Mick gets to take his turn on the backhoe. He's in the living room, pacing, while Rebecca and Rona make breakfast. I think they're making muffins because all the men are ready to get to work and will probably want their breakfast to go.

  Laundry is on the agenda for today. Carisa will be excused from work, so I'll take her turn on laundry duty. We plan to have a little dance after supper to celebrate her birthday. Hisa says we can bring Jesse over from Clinic Diane but he'll have to stay on the couch. No slow-dancing for Carisa and Jesse, thank goodness.

  Dane says he'll be in the meadow, splitting logs and drilling holes. He and Jason plan to go out this afternoon and work on taking bolts from utility poles. They wanted to take Luke and Larson, but Rona almost smacked them in the head for even asking. She doesn't want the boys that far off the compound yet. She's a little paranoid about losing them again. I don't blame her.

  Deuce wants to go to the meadow and finish getting the logs Kevin brought home dragged over to the fence area. I think he wants to ride Buttercup for a little while as well. We have the saddles we got from the prisoners, but he prefers to ride bareback.

  Jason rode one of the prisoner horses and said it was well trained and well behaved. Buttercup gets along with them.

  I should stop calling them “prisoner horses” because they were victims along with the farmer to whom they belonged. They don't leave the meadow, even though there's no fence around it.

 
; I guess I'm just partial to Buttercup since she saved Mick's life. She's getting fatter. I hope she's pregnant, and I hope she has an easy time delivering. Please Lord, don't make us have to pull a baby horse out of Buttercup!

  I'm surprised the kids haven't named the other horses. Mick wants to name two of them “Peaches and Herb.” Maybe I’ll name the other one “Madonna.” Hey, it's not as bad as Pop naming the chickens “Larry, Moe, and Curly.”

  Horses are also hay-eating machines. Pop said we need to be careful about how much we feed them because we don't want them to founder. Good Lord, we need hay! And lots of it, please!

  I hear Rona bellowing that breakfast is ready. I hope Carisa gets out of bed soon. See ya later.

  3:30 PM...

  A lot happened.

  Carisa was opening presents when Mr. Hobbs sounded the danger alarm.

  At first, I was ticked off because something was interrupting Carisa's present-opening time. I quickly forgot about that when Mr. Hobbs added the words “There's five HDI's by the outhouse.”

  Everyone ran for their weapons and Valerie herded the kids into the basement.

  Mr. Hobbs was shooting HDI's when we stepped out on the porch. Mick yelled “They're comin' from the back.” I was relieved that no one had yet gone to the meadow.

  Elaine started running for Clinic Diane because Jesse and Hisa were there alone. Dane had to pull her back when she almost ran smack dab into an HDI coming out of the trees along the path.

  She raised her pistol, shot the HDI through the right eye, and continued down the path toward Clinic Diane and her son.

  She made it about ten feet before a rotting hand and arm came out of the tree-line. The hand grabbed her shooting arm and she quickly yanked it back towards her. She started screaming like a banshee. Her sudden jerk detached the rotten hand from its rotten arm and it fell at her feet.

  A second arm came out of the tree-line, and it was attached to the rotting body of a hungry, drooling HDI.