Would You Rather...

Prolog

Life isn’t a movie or a fiction story. Life is sometimes rather boring depending on one’s
viewpoint. People are born, live and die with nothing more exciting in their life than win-
ning the Homecoming Football game or having a fender bender. That’s not always the
case for some. For the majority, however, it’s probably true. A life such as this, if not
mundane, is not very exciting. The tale I’m about to weave comes straight from my dia-
ry.

The diary didn’t note each and every event that happened over the years. I did try to
mention events when they occurred. But, I’m human and prone to all the failings of the
average human being. Some events of interest were noted out of order, sue me. The
wife and I obviously survived what happened. Our survival was largely due to our prepa-
rations. It would be more accurate to say the preparations that my wife’s father provided
for us.

Some the entries were fill-ins where information learned after the fact was recorded in
the blank space I left for it until I/we really knew what happened. Those entries should
be obvious because they refer to events that we were unaware of when they happened
or who was involved.

Never marry a woman whose family is rolling in money; especially if she’s an only child.
If you do, you’d better learn to swallow your pride because pride goes before destruc-
tion, a haughty spirit before a fall. The tale begins with the Springfield Armory M1A, but
changes when other alternatives become available.

Hi, my name is Alan Bourdillion Traherne. The family name is Traherne; the rest of it
came from the John Wayne movie ‘El Dorado’, as it was explained to me. I was named
after a James Caan character in a movie? I was born July 21, 1969. The date is signifi-
cant to me because it’s my birthday. It’s important to the country because that’s the first
day that man walked on the Moon.

My early years aren’t much different than any kid growing up, so far as I can remember.
Mom and Dad ran Grandpa’s ranch during my early years and inherited when Grandpa
died from a heart attack. It happened on a school day when I was in second grade. I
sure can remember finding out about it. My sister and I were called to the office. Mom
was there and had been crying.

“Kids, I’m afraid I have some bad news. Your Grandpa was out helping your Dad move
some horses. Anyway, he fell out of the saddle and your Dad rushed to see what had
happened. He was dead. You know how we’ve told you that your Grandpa had a bad
heart? We think that’s what happened. Gather your things and we’ll go home.”

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Dad wasn’t home when we got there. He returned about an hour or so later and it
looked to me like he’d been crying. He more or less repeated what Mom had told us. Let
me explain the ‘us’ part. Julie is my older sister, by two years. I was seven when Grand-
pa died and she was nine.

I said we lived on a ranch. Specifically, it was a horse ranch. It wasn’t only a ranch ei-
ther. It was a full section with 320 acres devoted to crops, ten acres to the homestead
and the remaining 310 acres permanent pasture. We grew wheat, corn, oats, barley,
alfalfa and timothy. The homestead had a huge old barn, the house, the well shed, a
machine shed, a gas tank, a diesel tank and a very large garden area.

We had an old Ford tractor, a 961 with a diesel engine, to pull wagons and other gen-
eral farm work like planting, cultivating and pulling wagons. Grandpa’s Ford self-
propelled combine had all kinds of different heads and could harvest all of the field
crops except the hay. He had a twine baler for the alfalfa and timothy plus a mower and
rake for the Ford.

Five years later, when I was in seventh grade and Julie was in ninth, we learned more
about life, and death. We didn’t get out of school early that day. When we got off the
bus and got into the house, Mom and Dad were sitting at the kitchen table and Mom
was crying, again. More about that in a minute.

Our Grandpa and Grandma Henry lived in Pennsylvania and we lived in eastern Colo-
rado. We didn’t see much of Grandpa and Grandma Henry. Grandpa Henry had a
stroke the previous year and was in a convalescent home. Grandma Henry wouldn’t
leave home to visit and spent her time visiting Grandpa in the home.

Mom and Dad didn’t get married until they were in their late twenties or early thirties.
Mom was thirty three when Julie was born and thirty five when I came along. Dad was
two years older than Mom.

“What’s wrong?” Julie asked.

“Sit down for a moment kids, we have something to explain. We went to the doctor last
week because your father hasn’t been feeling right for some time. The doctor did some
tests and took a chest X-Ray. Your Dad had to go back for a biopsy and we got the re-
sults today. It confirmed what the doctor suspected from the X-Ray, your Dad has lung
cancer.”

“But,” I asked, “They can operate, right?”

Dad replied, “No Alan, it’s too advanced and is spreading throughout my body. The doc-
tor said that it’s in stage four. I don’t have much time left. Your mother and I have been
talking and we’re going to get the ranch title put into a trust fund for you and your sister.
Your Mom and our hired man, Mac, will run the operation until you’re both old enough to
run it for yourselves. It will only be the title; the income from the operations will go to

2
whoever is operating the ranch. When you turn 21, Alan, the trust will be dissolved and
you two will own the ranch.”

That memory is plain as day. Dad died four months later and was buried in the family
plot alongside Grandpa and Grandma. At that point in our growing up, Julie and I start-
ed to do a lot more chores. I hated mucking the barn; I mean I truly hated it. Julie had to
help Mom can the produce from the garden and because of the change in our family
makeup she did most of it after that by herself. We got an allowance based on how
much work we were doing, something like a wage.

Mom never remarried and Mac stuck with the ranch through the years. Before he died,
Dad got out all of his firearms and put them on the kitchen table.

“This rifle is the Springfield 1903. It belonged to your Great Grandpa. It shoots .30-06
and was his rifle when he fought in the war. This rifle is a Garand. It’s a semi-automatic
rather than a bolt action. It uses an enbloc clip holding eight .30-06 rounds. It was your
Grandpa’s. This one was one I bought when they were available. It’s an M-1 .30 caliber
carbine. There are the standard issue 15 round magazines and some 30 round maga-
zines they used on the M-2. The bolt action rifle with the scope is a Winchester Model
70 in .30-06.

“Those handguns you see are your Great Grandfather’s M1911 and your Grandfather’s
M1911A1. They shoot .45ACP cartridges and the magazines hold seven rounds. This
one here is a Ruger Standard in .22LR. That revolver over there is a Smith and Wesson
model 29. It’s a double action revolver and I have speed loaders for it.

“Now, I suppose you’re wondering about the lever action rifles and single action revolv-
ers. There’s a Winchester model 9422 and a Single Six revolver. There is a Marlin
1894C in .357 magnum and a matching Ruger Blackhawk in the same caliber. You’ve
seen me wearing the revolver and carrying the rifle in a scabbard, occasionally.

“The other Marlin rifle is an 1894 in .44 magnum, same as the Smith and Wesson. It has
a matching Super Blackhawk in .44 magnum.

“Let’s see. Ah, the shotguns. The one with the hammer was your Great Grandfather’s
and it’s a Winchester Model 1897 trench gun. The one next to it was your Grandfather’s
model 12. Both are 12 gauge. My shotgun as a boy was that Remington 870 pump in 20
gauge. When I graduated from high school, your Grandfather gave me an 870 in 12
gauge.

“That final pistol belonged to your Grandmother Henry. It’s slightly different from your
typical Browning Hi-Power because it has the lanyard ring. Your Grandfather Henry got
it in Europe during the Second War. Your Uncle David got all of your Grandfather Hen-
ry’s firearms except for that pistol which he gave to your Mother, Ruth. She, in turn,
gave it to me because she doesn’t like firearms.

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“When the two of you are old enough, I expect you to divide the firearms and Julie
should get at least the 20 gauge, the carbine and the Browning. Would you wipe them
down with the silicon gun cloth, put them back in their socks and cases and put them
back in the gun cabinet, please?”

Eventually, I went through the ammo that Dad had for each of the firearms. He had a lot
of the .30-06, obviously. Much of it was surplus, full metal jacket. Some was on five
round stripper clips and some was those eight round enbloc clips. There was a large
assortment of .30-06 for the model 70, too. There was everything from 150gr up to
220gr. There wasn’t a firearm in the collection that Dad had less than 1,000 rounds of
ammo for.

I graduated last week. I have nothing against the military but it’s not the life for me.
Ranching and farming is going to be a full time job. Julie married her high school sweet-
heart three weeks after she graduated. He had a job lined up with Monsanto and they
moved to Illinois. I honored Dad’s wishes and offered her the Browning, 20 gauge and
carbine. She didn’t want any of the three, citing bad memories and a dislike of firearms.

In three more years, Julie and I get the farm from the trust. She told me that gave me
three years to line up financing and she’d sell her share to me at market value. That
was the tail end of a conversation we had when she called Mom and me to announce
she was expecting.

I started a journal in a composition book I had left over from high school. I’ve reviewed it
and it’s a little boring. It does tell how I/we got here from there.

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 Would You Rather... One

Mona and the Ranch.

Mom and I divided the income from the ranch equally this year. I banked most of my
share and have enough for about five acres. We sold about the average number of
horses and tack. We had to pay Mac for his time and buy seed for next year’s crops. I
decided to buy heirloom seeds instead of the usual hybrids. They were a little harder to
find and cost a bit more.

In the long run, though, the ranch should recover the investment and more. It will mean
letting some of the alfalfa and timothy go to seed, but should be worth it. We added a
bull and three milk cows and a boar and four sows to our livestock pool this year. We’ll
have a market crop of hogs this fall.

Mona Freeman and I had dated occasionally during high school. She turned me down
when I asked her to go to the Senior Prom with me and I didn’t see much of her after
that. I actually ended up not going to the Prom. After high school, she took a job at the
local extension office. That’s where I ran into her.

“Uh, hi Mona. I didn’t know you worked here.”

“Got the job right after graduation. How are you doing?”

“Same as always, I guess. More work than normal. Julie called Mom and me and
they’re going to have a baby.”

“Congratulations. Haven’t seen much of you since I turned you down on the Prom. You
weren’t even there. But Jeff asked me first and I accepted when I didn’t hear from you.
Boy was that a mistake.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t want to talk about it here in the office. Want to get a pizza or something for sup-
per? I can tell you then.”

“It will be a little late; I have to milk the cows. Yes, Pizza Hut ok?”

“Pick me up?”

“Do you still live at home?”

“Yes.”

“Mom and Dad went out for dinner. Would you like a beer?”

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“Thanks, but no thanks. Ready to go?”

“Let me get my jacket and purse.”

We found a table at Pizza Hut because it was just after the regular rush hour. We or-
dered a large pizza and Pepsi’s. That’s when Mona told me about the Prom.

“I should have waited for you to ask. You waited too long and I was afraid I wouldn’t
have a date so I told Jeff yes. You can’t imagine what it was like. They should call him
‘The Octopus’. He had his hands all over me and ignored me every time I told him to
stop.

“I kept looking for you to show up and rescue me. I know it’s not proper to leave with
someone other the guy that brought you. In this case, I would have made an exception.
I insisted we leave early and do you know what? He thought I wanted to leave early so
we could go to a motel. I set him straight in a hurry and was home before eleven.”

“I’m sorry about that, Mona. If you would have called, I would have dressed up in my
suit and been there ASAP.”

“So, are you going to forgive me for going to the Prom with Jeff rather than you?”

“Nothing to forgive, but I’m not angry or anything.”

“Would you be interested in dating again?”

“Would you?”

“Yes, really.”

“I have to tell you that it will be mostly weekend dates. Mac is getting older and not real-
ly pulling his weight. I sometimes think that maybe Mom and he are more than employ-
er-employee. Nothing has been said, but he’s been hinting around about getting a job in
town. I mentioned it to Mom and she said she was thinking of moving to town herself. I
let it go at that.”

“I noticed that you smoke now. When did you start?”

“After the Prom.”

“I never thought I’d see you smoking, what with your father dying of lung cancer. After
the Prom? Am I responsible?”

“No, Mona, it was an individual decision. I do plan to wait until it’s legal before I start
drinking. Mom keeps some 3.2 around but I’ve never been tempted. I can’t afford to lose

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my driver’s license because of bad judgment and drunk driving. I’ll be happy to wait. I’m
full; do you want to take the leftovers?”

“No, you take them.”

That was the beginning. Mona and I started dating again. It was mostly movies on Sat-
urday or Church on Sundays. Once in a while, I would get tickets for a concert in Den-
ver and we’d drive in. The problem was that the concerts usually ran long and it was
early morning before we got home. She had suggested we get a motel room with twin
beds. By then, my feelings were getting pretty strong and I politely refused, afraid I’d
end up being like Jeff.

Julie had a baby boy who they named Alan. About a year later, she also had a baby girl
who they named Ruth. She called one day to discuss the ranch.

“Have you lined up financing?”

“Not yet. I do have some money set aside for a down payment. It would only be enough
for fifty acres. Would you be interested in a land sale contract?”

“What’s that?”

“Basically, you provide the financing and I pay you interest and principal for a set
amount of time at a set rate of interest. You retain title to the land until you are paid in
full.”

“Does it include a down payment?”

“Yes, the money I have set aside that would pay for the fifty acres.”

“We’ll talk it over and I’ll get back to you. What interest rate?”

“Prime rate at the time we enter into the contract.”

“Isn’t that lower than normal?”

“Yes, it’s the rate banks charge each other.”

“Mom says Mona and you are dating again.”

“We have been for nearly three years.”

“You two plan on getting married?”

“Maybe, someday.”

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“You’re smart not rushing into anything. Trust me on that.”

“Something wrong?”

“Not really. I’ll call back when I’ve decided.”

I noticed she went from ‘we’ll talk it over’ to ‘when I’ve decided’.

Not my business, but…

“Mom, what’s up from Julie?”

“What do you mean Alan?”

“I just talked to her about my buying the ranch. I offered to buy it on a land sale contract
putting down all my savings as a down payment. When I first mentioned the contract,
she said ‘we’ll talk about it’. Then, after we discussed the interest rate, she said she’d let
me know ‘when she decided’. She also brought up Mona and asked if we were planning
on getting married. I told her maybe and she said, ‘You’re smart not rushing into any-
thing. Trust me on that.’ What’s up?’”

“She thinks he got the seven year itch early.”

“Oh? Is she guessing or is it a fact?”

“She’s guessing, for now. They’ve been married five years so… well, I don’t know what
to think.”

“Should we do something?”

“Butt out unless she asks for help. I pressed as far as I dared and she says that he’s not
abusing her.”

“Do you have her address?”

“Yes, why? You aren’t planning on going to Illinois and check on her are you?”

“She’s my sister. I’m going to check on her. I’ll tell her I wanted to meet with her and iron
out the details on the land contract if she’s agreeable. I’ll have the contract and down
payment with me.”

“Are you going to take Mona with you?”

“Mom, our relationship isn’t at a point where I’m willing to do that. I did buy a set of
rings. When the time is right, I will ask her. When I’m ready, ok? Please don’t call Julie
and tell her I’m coming.”

8
“Ok. Mac and I are getting married. He has that house in town and I’ll be moving when
we get married. He will work for you only until you can find a new hired man. Mac has a
job waiting for him so don’t take too long to hire someone.”

“You’ll wait until I get back?”

“Yes, but make it quick.”

That made a change in my plans and after I packed a suitcase, I called Mona at work.

“Mona, I have to make a trip to Illinois. There’s something I want to ask you before I
leave. Could we have dinner at Pizza Hut when you get off from work?”

“Sure. Why are you going to Illinois?”

“I’ll explain at dinner.”

First off, I planned to tell Mona that Mom and Mac were getting married and Mom would
be moving off the ranch into town. Second, I wanted to explain why I had to go to Illi-
nois. Finally, I decided to pop the question. Not in Pizza Hut, but before we went in or
after we left. It wasn’t the romantic situation I had wanted to create; I’d passed up too
many of those already.

I figured she’d say yes, despite the circumstances since she indicated a willingness to
share a motel room when we went to Denver. Whatever, I figured the odds were in favor
of yes. I was held up and by the time I got to Pizza Hut, Mona was already inside and
had ordered for us.

“Hi, sorry I’m late. Mom and Mac are getting married and she’s moving to town. The
reason I’m going to Illinois is to check on Julie and see if we can work out a contract for
me to buy her half of the ranch.”

“That’s surprising, I wondered if your Mom would remarry. The hired man, huh?”

“Not for long, he’s been hinting and Mom said he had a new job waiting here in town.
There is something I want to ask you but it will have to wait until after dinner.”

“Why?”

“Uh…”

“You didn’t! Pizza Hut isn’t exactly what I had in mind but yes.”

“Yes what?”

9
“Yes, I will marry you Alan. Did you buy rings?”

“I did. That’s why I got you the friendship ring, to get your ring size.”

“Can I see it?”

“Oh, sorry. Mona, will you marry me?”

“I already answered, don’t you believe me? So I’m going the mistress of the house and
get to fool around with the new hired man, right?”

“What?”

“I’m teasing. I bet I’ll be working harder than ever. You’re just lucky we raised a garden
every year and my Mother taught me to can. You want me to go on the trip to Illinois
with you?”

“Of course I’d like it, but it wouldn’t be proper, don’t you see. You need time to give no-
tice and plan our wedding. I didn’t ask your father for permission so I hope that’s not re-
quired.”

“They’ve been wondering when you’d finally get around to it. They do approve, you
know.”

“How would I know that?”

“Daddy would have told you if they didn’t. He might have even run you off with a shot-
gun.”

I didn’t get to seal the deal with a kiss until we left the restaurant. I won’t be forgetting
that kiss for a while. The ranch is outside Sterling and I-76 runs just east of town. I didn’t
want drive into Denver to pick up I-70 so I only took I-76 partway to Denver and turned
south to pick up I-70. I then headed east across Colorado and into Kansas. I wasn’t re-
ally tired and just kept driving. I got to Lawrence before I was too tired to drive further.

Around 3pm, I got up and got a shower and shaved. There was a McDonalds nearby
and I got a bite to eat and topped off the pickup’s tank. My destination was Sauget, Illi-
nois, near East St. Louis. By the time I reached the western suburbs of St. Louis, it was
time to stop and get a motel room and something to eat besides fast food. Why is it,
when you get close to a large city the motel rates are so darned high? When I checked
in, I asked about an affordable restaurant and was told McDonalds, Taco Bell and a
Pizza Hut were nearby.

After choking down a Quarter Pounder with cheese, a medium fries and a large Coke, I
went back to the room to watch TV. It was the Central Time Zone and all the programs
aired an hour earlier. The counter had local maps and I bought one to determine exactly

10
where Sauget was. The address Mom gave me wasn’t for Sauget when I looked closer
it was in Cahokia, south of Sauget. I showered and shaved again before turning in.

I’m just a farm boy and driving through St. Louis was a nightmare. When I got east of
the river, I didn’t like the looks of the neighborhoods. I also noticed that there were more
black citizens in Cahokia than I was used to. I found a payphone and called Julie.

“Julie, this is Alan. I’m in town and wondered if it was ok for me to stop by to see you?”

“What are you doing here?”

“I brought the land contract and the down payment if you’ve decided to agree. I also
brought some news from home.”

“Do you have the address?”

“Mom gave it to me and I have a map so it shouldn’t take me more than a half hour.
Sorry to show up on short notice.”

“Then, I’ll see you in a half an hour. Could you stop by a grocery store and pickup two
loaves of bread and a gallon of milk? I won’t have time before you get here.”

“Sure, no problem. Wonder bread?”

“Perfect and get the large loaves.”

Hmm, money problems? I got the bread, milk, Lays Classic Chips and a package of bo-
logna to cover my lunch, just in case.

“Come on in. You could have knocked me over with a feather when you called and said
you were in town.”

“I talked to Mom. Is everything ok here? Mom didn’t tell me much but gave a few hints.”

“Are you referring to Bob? He claimed he was working overtime and I was skeptical.
When I saw his next paycheck, he really was putting in overtime. Let me pay you for the
groceries. I really was going grocery shopping this morning. You said you had some
news.”

“Mom and Mac are getting married.”

“It’s about time. I’ve told her more than once than once that she should remarry. She
called and told me about getting married but didn’t mention you were headed this way.”

“I asked her not to tell you, so don’t blame her.”

11
“So, you drove all that way to check up on me and to tell me Mom’s getting married?”

“One more thing; I asked Mona to marry me.”

“She said yes, right?”

“When I think about it, she said yes before I asked her.”

“She proposed to you?”

“Not exactly. I met her after work at Pizza Hut for dinner. I was going to wait until after
dinner, but I mentioned there was something I wanted to ask her and she said yes be-
fore I got a chance to ask.”

“Did you set a date?”

“I left that up to her.”

“Smart man. I think maybe I gave you the wrong impression about not rushing into
things. If I did, I’m sorry.”

“I wouldn’t mind meeting my nephew and niece.”

“As soon as they get up from their naps. What’s with the lunch meat and chips?”

“Something for lunch.”

“Are you hungry?”

“I didn’t have breakfast.”

“Bologna and cheese with lettuce and mayo?”

“Yes please and a Coke if you have it.”

“It will have to be Seven-up or coffee.”

“Seven-up, please.”

“Will you be in town long?”

“Only as long as it takes to get your decision on the Land Contract and get our signa-
tures notarized if you agree to the terms.”

12
“I discussed it with Bob and he said it’s my decision since it isn’t community property.
The property was in trust for the two of us before Bob and I got married so the money
from the sale is mine. I think I’ll invest it for the kids’ educations.”

“Then you’re agreeable?”

“How long is it for?”

“Fifteen years.”

“We’ll have to wait until the kids are up, cleaned up and fed. We can get it notarized at
my bank. How much is the down payment?”

“I have thirty thousand in a cashier’s check.”

“What’s the ranch worth?”

“The current median price is $525 per acre, a total for your half section is $168,000.”

“That’s all?”

“Yep. But that is median price and I’m willing to go $600 per acre or $192,000.”

“You cover the taxes?”

“Yes.”

“What’s the prime interest rate?”

“As of July 1, 1990, 10 percent.”

“How much are the annual payments?”

“Ten thousand-eight hundred plus interest, paid once a year.”

“And the first year payment in total?”

“An even twenty seven thousand. The principal payments are the same every year. Ob-
viously the amount of interest declines every year.”

“Have you done a spreadsheet?”

“Sure did, here’s a copy.”

“Oh yeah, you definitely have a deal. Can you stay for supper?”

13
“I planned to take off as soon as the papers are signed, if you don’t mind. Don’t forget
that the interest income is taxable. Also, if we can make larger principal payments, the
interest will be less in total.”

We had a bite to eat, got the documents notarized and she headed to a different bank to
open a saving account in her and the kids’ names only. I struggled through the St. Louis
traffic and made it to Columbia when I stopped for the night. I had a good meal in a local
café and got a good night’s sleep. When I left early the next morning, I decided to drive
straight through. When I pulled into the ranch, Mona’s car was there.

“Hi, good trip?”

“Actually, it was. Bob isn’t cheating on Julie, just putting in overtime. She agreed to the
land contract. What are you doing here, and why aren’t you at work?”

“Vacation day. Your sister called your Mom and your Mom called me. I didn’t tell her you
proposed or I accepted; she’s sharp and I couldn’t get anything past her. The first thing
she noticed was my engagement ring. I couldn’t lie to her. All she said was something
like, ‘about time’.”

“I honestly never believed she’d remarry. I’m happy for her, Mac is ok but not up to
some of the harder work.”

“That’s one of the reasons I’m here. The other includes finishing the kiss we started the
other night and to check out the home and ranch. A guy came by the extension office
asking if we knew of any farmers or ranchers looking for a hired hand. I gathered a little
information about him during the conversation. He had two years of college studying an-
imal husbandry. He took a job as a hired hand to earn money to finish his degree. It
took him about six years working and going to school before he graduated.

“He stayed on as a hired hand while looking for a job where he could use his education
better. Apparently, that took him some time before a rancher hired him for his brain ra-
ther than his brawn, as a hired hand. The rancher sold his ranch and retired. The new
owner didn’t need a hired hand. He’s about forty and married. They live in a singlewide
mobile home.”

“Did you get his number?”

“You betcha. Interested?”

“I’ll call him after we finish up that kiss.”

14
“Ok, let me have his name and number.”

“You’ll have to wait to call him until after six. He told me that when he gave me his num-
ber. He will be available to start working after the end of next week. His name is Harry
Hanson and I didn’t get his wife or kid’s names. They have two, both boys.”

“Did you find out how old they are?”

“Teens. How about a tour of the ranch?”

“Sure, let’s go. The building behind us is the house, of course. That small building over
there is the well house. Over there to your left is the chicken yard and hen house.
They’re empty as you can see. Over there to your right is the garden area. Next to it is
the new hog house slash cattle barn. To the left of that is the horse barn. Across from it
is the machine shed where we store all of our farming equipment. At the end of the ma-
chine shed are the diesel and gas tanks on stands. Gas is the smaller tank.

“Behind the house is the propane tank and it’s a big one. Don’t ask me how Dad got
them, but there’s a buried 3,000 gallon tank and an above ground 3,000 gallon tank.
You know, maybe Dad didn’t get them; it could have been Grandpa. Let’s saddle a cou-
ple of horses and ride the range, so to speak.”

“I haven’t ridden much.”

“Then you get the gentler of the geldings.”

I saddled the horses and we rode back to the house.

“Hold my reins, I’ll be right back.”

I got the 1894 and strapped on the Super Blackhawk. Returning to my horse, I slipped
the rifle into the empty scabbard and mounted.

“Ready to go?”

“Are you expecting an Indian attack?”

“Mostly habit and rarely we’ll run into a rattler. The rifle and revolver are.44 magnum
caliber. I normally carry .44 magnum in the rifle and .44 special in the revolver.”

“Do you have more rifles and revolvers?”

“Quite a few. Most are family heirlooms dating all the way back to the First World War. I
haven’t added firearms from my generation, yet.”

“I’m curious. What firearms do you consider our generation?”

15
“In the military style firearms, the M-14 and the M-16. I won’t be buying them right away.
I’ve looked at the Springfield Armory M1A and I like it. It just looks like an American rifle.
They’re sort of a reengineered Garand with a box magazine. As far as the M-16, I’d get
a civilian produced semi-auto equivalent. Probably add a Beretta 9mm pistol and the
Mossberg pump. The four are all currently in use by our armed forces.”

“What’s this field?”

“Alfalfa. The next on your right is Timothy. Timothy is commonly grown for cattle feed
and, in particular, as hay for horses. It is relatively high in fiber, especially when cut late.
It is considered part of the standard mix for grass hay and provides quality nutrition for
horses.”

“I didn’t know you had cattle and hogs.”

“Recent additions. Next spring, we’ll be adding chickens. The old home place is going to
be more of a farm than a horse ranch. We’ll fence off a portion of the pasture for the cat-
tle and hogs when I can figure out how to do that. The horse pasture has wooden fenc-
es. The pasture for the cattle and hogs should be woven wire on the bottom and barbed
wire on the top. I don’t want the horses’ anywhere near barbed wire and I don’t want the
cattle anywhere near the wooden fences. It’s a puzzle for sure.”

“You could move the wooden fence first. Then, you could put up the woven wire slash
barbed wire fence. You could do the roadside and back end first. That would allow the
cattle and hogs to get out. Meanwhile, you and the new hired man could erect the last
fence inside of the wooden fence. If you made the distance far enough, you could cre-
ate a lane to some of the fields.”

“Pretty good plan Mona. Remind me to get that down on paper. Ok, this field here to the
far right is six row hulless barley, next to it is wheat, the one in the center is obviously
corn and the last on your left are oats.”

“You mentioned rattlesnakes. What kind?”

“Massassauga. They are rather shy and avoid humans when they can. You don’t see
many. If you do see one, walk away if you can; otherwise let it leave on its own accord.
Western Colorado has a high population of prairie rattlesnakes. I’ve heard stories about
Western Diamondbacks but I’ve never seen one. I think it’s doubtful, but unlike the
Massassauga, the Western Diamondback is aggressive.

“I think you might want to carry a .22 caliber pistol, just in case. I’ve been carrying my
rifle and revolver for years and have yet to need either. I heard someone say, ‘would
you rather have it and not need it or need it and not have it’? Carried ever since on the
ranch. I got a concealed carry permit when I turned 21. I haven’t carried though be-

16
cause I haven’t decided what I’d want to carry. I might get a Glock 21 when I buy the
other firearms I told you about.”

“Can I get a CCW?”

“I don’t see why not. Do you shoot?”

“I can learn.”

17
 Would You Rather... Two

Weddings and new lives.

“Mac and I would like you and Mona to stand up with us. It’s just a civil ceremony in
front of a Judge and we need witnesses.”

“I will, I’ll have to ask Mona. When do you need to know?”

“Day after tomorrow before noon. Our appointment is at 2pm.”

“Mona, Alan. Mom asked if you and I would stand up with them. The day after tomorrow
at 2pm. You will? Great I’ll tell her. Just a nice dress and I’ll be wearing my suit. Gray, I
only have one. Yes, that dress would be perfect. Ok. Ok. Bye.”

“You have your witnesses. Can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead. I might not answer if it’s none of your business.”

“I wasn’t going to ask that. I guess I’ve always sensed that you were angry over some-
thing when Dad died. Were you? Can you tell me about it?”

“Your Grandfather transferred the title to the ranch to your Dad rather than to us as
husband and wife. That made me angry when I found out about it. On top of that, I tried
so hard to get your Dad to stop smoking. I don’t know why you picked up the habit, but I
sure wish you would quit before it kills you too.”

“I don’t smoke that much!”

“Then, it should be easy for you to quit.”

“Mona said the same thing.”

“Well?”

“Ok.”

“I quit smoking.”

“How long has it been?”

“Two days.”

“Let me smell your breath. You did! Good for you.”

18
Mona and I were married in our church a few weeks later. My Best Man and I had to
rent Tuxedos (black tie). Mona’s father must be broke if he paid for that wedding dress,
it was spectacular. The Maid of Honor wore a floor length gown and looked pretty good
too. We had a ring bearer, but no flower girl tossing rose petals down the aisle (she got
sick). It was a formal wedding, usually called a White Wedding.

The Best Man and Maid of Honor were each of our best friends from high school. I
wonder if she sent Jeff an invitation. Probably not, he still has all of his teeth as far as I
know. The reception was held in the Church basement.

I was apprehensive that I’d gone overboard on my wedding gift for Mona. It was a nice
string of cultured pearls with matching pearl ear studs. I had to choose between collar,
choker, princess, matinee and opera and between a uniform strand and graduated
strand. I chose a uniform princess strand of white pearls. She was delighted. In turn,
she handed me an envelope containing a card with a number written on it.

“What’s this?”

“Oh, you mentioned buying those firearms for your generation of the family and Daddy
and I talked it over and bought you one. That’s the serial number. You’re just going to
have to wait until we get home to see what we bought. I’m telling you right now, new
husband of mine, if you don’t like it, I’ll ring your neck. It’s custom.”

“A custom rifle? Jeez, I hope it’s not an AR-15,” I thought. I slipped the envelope into
her purse. I had to borrow a car because all I had was the pickup and she isn’t my
cousin. Can you see a bride in a white wedding dress and a man in black tie in a
pickup? I didn’t think so.

We finally got away from the reception around 8pm. We got out of the fancy dress
clothes and put on robes. I asked if I could see my wedding present before we got to the
important stuff. It most certainly seemed custom. Springfield Armory doesn’t sell a Su-
per Match with a black fiberglass stock and a carbon barrel. Obviously they can build
anything you want. They included the test firing target containing one oversized hole.

“Oh, thank you Mona. A Super Match was beyond my wildest dreams.”

“There is a box of 25 new USGI 20-round magazines. The scope mount was
backordered so you’ll have to wait for it to come in to have the scope mounted. It’s a
Leupold variable power scope (3-9×50mm) that Daddy picked out. We didn’t buy you
any ammunition. The mount and rings are coming from Arms (A.R.M.S.) and include
their #18 mount and the throw lever rings that match the scope.”

“Thanks again. You realize that I haven’t done what we’re about to do before. I don’t
think I’ll have any problem figuring it out though.”

19
“That’s good; I haven’t either. I guess we figure it out together.”

Hey, it’s not rocket science, we did just fine, thank you very much.

“I’m going to finish putting my things away and distribute the wedding gifts to their prop-
er locations after I fix you your first breakfast.”

“I started the coffee and the tea kettle should be getting hot. We’ll hear it when it whis-
tles.”

“Do you always get up this early?”

“No, I slept in and Harry did the milking and feeding the livestock. Normally, I milk the
cows around 5am and 5pm.”

“How much did it cost to move their mobile home and get it hooked up to everything?”

“Just the going rate for the move based on a flat charge plus mileage. The plumber was
another thing all together. He had to run a water line, a line to the septic system and a
line to the propane tank. So, naturally, he had to use a trencher and so forth. Plus they
charge a pretty good hourly rate. Before I forget, we don’t have a garbage disposal be-
cause of being on septic.

“Excessive dumping of cooking oils and grease can cause the inlet drains to block. Oils
and grease are often difficult to degrade and can cause odor problems and difficulties
with the periodic emptying. So, don’t pour oil down the drain. Flushing non-
biodegradable items like hygiene products such as sanitary napkins and tampons will
rapidly fill or clog a septic tank; these materials should not be disposed of in this way.
We use Rid-X on the first day of every month.”

“I didn’t know that, thanks for the warning.”

“They just pumped the tank out last month so we’ll be good for a while. If we’re very
careful, we won’t need it pumped out often. Anyway, this isn’t an appetizing conversa-
tion to be discussing at breakfast time. What’s on the menu?”

“Bacon, eggs and toast.”

It was early summer and the crops were coming up and the female livestock were all
mothers-to-be. Harry and I had a discussion about the fencing before he went out to cul-
tivate the corn and soy beans for the first time. Soybeans were a new crop for me. I had
been looking into biodiesel production as a way of cutting costs. It looked like it took as
much energy to produce it as you got from the finished product. Maybe one of these
days.

20
This year, 1990, was a good year for the most part. We had good crop yields and for the
first time I harvested seed to plant the following year. I also picked up some food grade
pails, Mylar bags, a sealer and oxygen absorbers. We put up 3 pails of wheat, two of
corn and one each of oats and barley. We butchered one of the previous year’s feeder
cattle and two hogs. We also bought a 25ft³ chest type freezer. We sold the rest, one
beef and a lot of hogs.

In a way, producing pork is a money machine. The sows produce two litters per year
and it doesn’t take that much to get them to market weight. Assuming the sows produce
litters with a dozen surviving pigs and the pigs are 50-50 gender wise. Starting with four
sows, you could end up with 28 sows after the first birthing. Selecting the four to six best
gilts out of each litter and selling the remainder increases the herd and financial income.
It’s limited by how much space you have and how much feed you can produce. Pigs are
omnivores and eat anything. They love the kitchen garbage that Mona throws to them
over the fence.

There was that Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. An SR-71 set a transcontinental speed
record of 1 hour 8 minutes 17 seconds. They put up the Hubble telescope and it didn’t
work. Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. The USSR broke up. East and West Germany
reunified. We were left hanging by that thing in Kuwait. Big military buildup and it looks
like George Bush isn’t fooling around. He is going to take names and kick butt.

Let me tell you, it came as a shock when the bombing campaign began on January 17,
1991. And then on February 27, the ground campaign began. It was over almost before
it started. One hundred hours! The coalition sort of kicked butts and took names. Oh,
they encouraged a Kurdish uprising, but didn’t support it and Saddam’s Generals did a
job on the Kurds.

Then there was that Shi’ite uprising that went unsupported. The rebellions were encour-
aged by an airing of "The Voice of Free Iraq" on 2 February 1991, which was broadcast
from a CIA run radio station out of Saudi Arabia. The Arabic service of the Voice of
America supported the uprising by stating that the rebellion was large, and that they
soon would be liberated from Saddam.

Bush didn’t get Saddam. There was some criticism of the Bush administration, as they
chose to allow Saddam Hussein to remain in power instead of pushing on to capture
Baghdad and overthrowing his government. Some??? Might cost him the election in
1992…some, hah.

The remainder of 1991 was memorable in some ways and not so in others. A year after
the wedding, Mona announced she was late and she drove into town to get one of those
drug store pregnancy tests. As a matter of fact, she bought three. If you’re raised
around livestock and haven’t figured out ‘the birds and the bees’, you’re mother has
worn herself out trying to cover your eyes or maybe, you’re just plain stupid. Mommy
can’t be there ALL of the time.

21
So, you must know who the second person to know she was pregnant, right? Her moth-
er since she was first. I guess third isn’t too bad, you still get a ribbon or bronze medal.
Harry and I were still in the process of moving the wood fence over fifteen feet. We’d
later install a woven wire/barbed wire fence fifteen feet the other way creating a thirty
foot wide lane. We bought enough wooden posts for the wire fence to have a wooden
post as every third post. We used as much of the old fence as possible and some of the
new posts for the new wooden fence.

Some of the old posts hadn’t had sufficient protection against the weather and needed
to be replaced. The same applied to a small portion of the boards. We did as much as
time permitted and rigged a barrier between the old fence and new. I’d do the painting
on the weekends using a sprayer.

“Guess what?”

“You’re pregnant.”

“Spoil sport.”

“Simple logic one plus one equals three.”

“That’s not logic, that’s math and one plus one equal two.”

“Want to rethink that?”

“Oh. Ok, one plus one equals three.”

“Or more.”

“How’s the fence coming?”

“We’re putting in about 12 to 15 posts a day. Some of the old posts are pretty much rot-
ted so we’ll need more posts eventually. The regular work didn’t stop just because we’re
building a fence. Both Harry and I have been starting at four rather than five and work-
ing an hour later in the evenings. And the corn and beans need to be cultivated. I’ve got
his boys James and Harry Jr. working the horses. How are you doing with the garden?”

“I need more jars, rings and lids plus lids for the empty jars from last year.”

“Mom says she needs her canner back. There’s a place in Utah called Canning Pantry.
How about you get an All American 41.5 quart canner? It does something like nineteen
quarts and thirty two pints. They sell jars by the case too. What size of lids, regular or
wide mouth?”

“Both.”

22
“They sell those by the case too. You’d better get a case of each. They also have pick-
ling spices, tomato sauce mixes, pectin and other supplies. Use the debit card.”

“Are we going to be able to make the loan payment this year?”

“No problem, we can make it. I checked the prime rate and it has fallen 1.5%. Didn’t re-
ally have a choice, Julie would have never agreed to an ARM. Anyway, ARMs are gen-
erally 3% above prime and that would increase the payment. See if you can find some-
one who sells ‘Long Term Storage Foods’ and write it down.”

“When are you going to teach me how to shoot so I can get a CCW?”

“How about Sunday afternoon? I’ll do the painting Saturday.”

“It’s a date.”

“Ok, but don’t tell my wife, she’s insanely jealous.”

“What do you want for supper?”

“A cold Coors and some hot food. Lady’s choice.”

“You’re no help.”

“What do you have thawed out?”

“I could probably get steaks thawed in time. Steaks, baked potatoes and a salad?”

“Sounds good. Give me a kiss and get busy.”

“Hey honey, Lincoln freed the slaves.”

“Doesn’t apply to white homemakers.”

“If I wasn’t horny, you’d pay for that. I know what I want for a concealed carry handgun.”

“What?”

“A compact .45ACP.”

“Good. If it turns out to be too much gun for you, you can give it to me and get a 9mm
like you should have chosen in the first place. Before we buy you a handgun, you can
try all of them in my collection. I suspect I already know what you’ll choose.”

“You’d better get busy too, Harry has the last post tamped.”

23
“Got them all tamped down solid?”

“As tight as I can get them.”

“Ok, let’s get the boards up and put the barrier back up. It’s getting close to milking time.
Want to milk or feed them.”

“You milk, that one cow doesn’t like me and likes to kick.”

“Mona’s pregnant.”

“I’ll tell Maria.”

“It’s not official until she sees the doctor. The testing kits are pretty accurate though.”

“You’ve been married a year, it’s about time. That’s a big old house. You could raise
your own football team and put me out of a job.”

“I don’t think so. Two would be about right and three the final straw. Somebody would
get clipped after three.”

“Best it be her. If something happened and you decided to have another, it’s easier to
hook up her tubes than yours.”

“You never know, maybe some drug company will develop a shot to replace the pill and
nobody will need to submit to an invasive procedure.”

“That’s got it. I’ll get the cows milked.”

“We’re getting low on eggs.”

“Ask Mona. She can give you a tray from the egg case.”

“I’ll tell Maria. I’d probably dump them halfway home.”

“We’re going to be shooting on Sunday afternoon if anyone in your family wants to par-
ticipate.”

“We might just do that. I bought a used M1A standard model and have been itching to
try it out.”

“Really? Mona got me an M1A as my wedding present.”

“Which model?”

24
“It’s a Super Match with the Douglas barrel and fiberglass stock.”

“Scope?”

“Leupold 3-9×50mm.”

“Nice. Best use Match ammo in that rifle.”

“Oh?”

“Hell yes. It’s the same rifle as their M21.”

It turned out that my custom rifle wasn’t all that custom. Springfield Armory offered the
Super Match with the Douglas barrel with your choice of stocks. However, my receiver
had both the front and rear lugs…

From 1991 onward, Super Match M1A receivers were manufactured with a rear lug as a
standard feature. A front lug was added per customer request. The Super Match M1A
was fitted with a 1:10 twist heavyweight Douglas barrel unless the customer selected
another brand of barrel. Regardless of the barrel make, the operating rod will slide
through an oversized operating rod guide made to fit the barrel’s larger diameter at that
area. The buyer also had the choice of an oversized walnut, fancy burley walnut, lami-
nated walnut/maple, McMillan camouflage or black fiberglass stock.

So, I bought a case of Match BTHP ammo in Denver. It was expensive at half the price.
On the other hand, it didn’t take all that long after I had the scope fine turned before I
was shooting groups of ½ MOA. I’d have danced a jig, if I’d known how.

Mona started on the Ruger Single Six, graduated to the Ruger Standard and then the
Browning Hi-Power. Based on the size of the grin on her face, I knew I’d been right. We
went on up through the .38 Special, .357 magnum, both .44 magnums shooting .44
specials and .44 magnums and then the .45 ACP. One shot of .44 magnum from each
was all it took to decide the magnums weren’t for her. She tried the M1911A1 a second
time and then the Browning.

“This one.”

“That’s what I thought. Colorado, at the moment, is a may issue state. If you jump
through the hoops and remain patient, you should be able to get the permit. What do
you want for open carry and concealed carry?”

“Why not just this pistol?”

“No reason. You’ll need a purse designed to carry a handgun, probably a Galco.”

25
“I’d love a new purse.”

“We need to have a serious discussion about some things. How about after supper?”

“What kind of things?”

“Financial matters.”

“Is the purse that expensive?”

“It’s not about the purse, honestly. It’s private and we have an audience so it’ll keep.”

“Ok, our audience is gone so fill me in.”

“When I signed the land contract, the prime rate was 10%. Good rate for both us at the
time. However, the rate is sliding and we’re locked into 10%. It’s not going to bankrupt
us or anything. And, you know that last year we paid a double principal payment for a
total payment of $37,800, reducing the unpaid principal to $140,400.

“I’d like to make a double principal payment again this year. It will total $35,640. That
means it’s going to be tight and we have to watch our spending carefully. In the long
run, we’ll save a huge amount of interest. Plus, if we have a bad year, having smaller
payments will help.”

“But the interest is deductible, right? That means less taxable income.”

“Yes, it is, thank God.”

“I can wait on the purse. There’s Christmas and my birthday.”

“I knew you’d understand. I can pick ‘em can’t I?”

“I had a say in that too.”

“Yes, of course. We done good.”

I took her to a dealer and she picked out the purse she wanted and I put it up for her
birthday. Her Christmas present was a matching pearl necklace of matinee length. In
the end, 1992 produced substantial profits and the double payment wasn’t a problem.

26
I did buy more Match ammo for my Super Match. And replaced all that we’d shot up
during the year. While no Annie Oakley, Mona was becoming a good shot. She didn’t
mind shooting the M1A, although her weapon of choice was the carbine.

The wooden fence wasn’t completed until early fall. We took a different approach to the
wire fence. We strung a line and put in the posts at ten foot intervals, two T posts and
one wooden post with two wooden posts and a brace at each end. When we were fin-
ished, we strung the wire using the Ford to pull it tight. With an addition of a chain link
gate for the lane, we were finally finished. Our tax return would show a net loss and
we’d get our estimated payments back. With the double principal payments, the princi-
pal balance was down to $118,800.

I called Julie to visit and explain that as long as we were able, we’d be making double
principal payments and sometime in February she’d be an aunt. She told me Mom had
told her. We discussed the money she was setting aside for the kids’ education. She
said that the taxes had gobbled up some but the funds were safely tucked away in safe
investments in the children’s’ and her name.

There was that old issue. “Why in the children’s and your name?” I asked.

“I told you that Bob considers the land and subsequent land contract to be my business
and wants no part of it. I have to pay my share of the taxes. We do that with Turbo Tax,
computing the taxes with and without the interest income and I pay the difference.”

“And you don’t mind the double principal payments?”

“Well, I reread the contract and it only establishes the minimum principal payment. So, I
guess you can pay as much principal each year as you can afford.”

We chatted a bit more about the kids and Mom and Mac before ending the call. My pre-
diction that Bush not getting Saddam was a mistake had been right on the money. He
lost the election and the Governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton, would be our new Presi-
dent.

On February 14, Paul Alan Traherne was born. He weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces and
was 20 inches long. I didn’t participate in the delivery. He squinted a lot but had all the
working parts. Mona said she was going to nurse him so I’d just better get used to the
idea. Wow, a boy.

On February 28th, the BATF raided the Branch Davidian compound outside Waco, Tex-
as. That would turn into a siege that lasted almost two months. It seemed to us that the
BATF was heavy handed. On April 19, the government attacked and the compound
burned with 76 people dying. The crazy Unabomber is still sending mail bombs. It just
gets so confusing trying to remember. Rodney King Riots, no, that was 1992. Oh yeah,
Ruby Ridge and Blackhawk Down. Oops, Ruby Ridge was 1992 too.

27
There was a big earthquake in Japan and some disgruntled homemaker clipped her
husband big time; cut the whole thing off. Our President said we shouldn’t ask and they
shouldn’t tell. Finally, late in the year, they got the Hubble fixed.

We were up to sixteen breeding sows and six milk cows. Anymore and we’d have to
look into a milking machine because milking was taking too long. The spring pig litters
produced 194 pigs that survived. We also had six new calves and 24 new foals. One
colt in particular caught my eye and I considered keeping him as a stallion.

That new lane sure cut our time to and from the fields. It surely was expensive but we
had separate pastures for the livestock and the fencing may pay for itself in the long run
because we would have had to replace the posts and boards anyway.

I haven’t decided on biodiesel yet. Maybe when the ranch is paid off. You know, work
on a farm or ranch is mostly routine hard work. Our horse herd numbered 63 including
the 2 stallions. That’s a lot of mouths to feed although our field production was enough
and more.

When the time came to make the land contract payment, we knew we had to pay
$10,800 in principal and $11,880 in interest. We had a shade over forty grand in the
bank and decided we would just notch the belt a little tighter and double pay the princi-
pal again. Our payment, totaling $33,480, brought the principal balance down to
$97,200 or slightly more than half the purchase price.

Paul was almost able to pull himself up on my recliner by Thanksgiving and had accom-
plished it by Christmas. He got Christmas presents. Most were things he needed any-
way, like clothing. A couple of inexpensive toys and a teddy bear made his first Christ-
mas a happy event. Due to our belt tightening, I didn’t get Mona the pearl choker I had
hoped to get her and she didn’t tell me what she didn’t buy for me. I suspected it went
bang.

We were taking precautions to prevent having two children in diapers and agreed we’d
wait until late 1994 before we tried to increase our family with number two. Ninety four
was the first time our home computer was connected to the outside world. The VP was
pushing an information superhighway. No, he didn’t invent it even if he did claim credit.
It was strictly dialup using a 28.8k modem. LA had a big earthquake that was even
worse than Loma Prieta. Then, in his first State of the Union address, Clinton called for
an Assault Weapons Ban.

“What does he mean by ‘Assault Weapons Ban’?”

“I’m not sure. Obviously, he’s referring to military style rifles like the AR-15 and those
imported AK types and SKS. I don’t know why he would want to limit the magazine ca-
pacity. The Super Match is really just an upgrade M-14 semi-auto only rifle. But if
they’re going to assign point values to each feature and limit the total, I could have a
problem. If we’re going to do anything about it, we’d better get it done before the law is

28
passed and signed. One thing we can do is get some of those 30-round AR-15 maga-
zines and put them up.

“I don’t believe it will affect pump shotguns. Rather than take a chance, maybe we
should buy the Mossberg. We’ll also get the Beretta 92FS and some of the military
magazines.”

“Do you want to buy an AR-15 too?”

“I guess we’d better because that will round out the collection. We might only make a
single principal payment this year instead of a double. That law might not pass either
and we’ll have accelerated our weapons acquisition program over nothing. The con-
servative approach to take would be to assume the law passes.”

Mona and I went shopping and allowed Grandma to spend the day with her Grandson.
At least, that’s what we told her. We had the extra money from the sale of two non-
gelded 3-year-old colts and it was more than enough for what we wanted. We located a
dealer in Denver who seemed to specialize in military arms. That’s not all he sold, but
he represented Springfield Armory, Colt, Beretta and Mossberg among others.

It was one stop shopping. We selected two 590A1s, a Colt AR-15, a Beretta 92FS and
bought extra magazines so we had a total of 25 for the Colt and 7 for the Beretta. We
added a side saddle, butt cuff and fifteen round slings plus swivels to the shotguns. We
got the Bianchi UM-84 Universal Military Holster in Olive Drab.

He had Remington 3” 15-pellet 00 buckshot on sale along with 3” Brenneke Black Magic
1⅜” slugs. The Brenneke slugs were imported. We bought 2 cases of each since they
were marked down substantially. I asked when they were planning a sale on #4 buck-
shot but the salesman didn’t know.

We didn’t spend all of the horse money; close but not all. But that also included stopping
by a surplus store and getting full sets of ALICE gear with stainless canteen, cup and
stove, ET and cover, twin ammo pouches, belt and suspenders. The standard issue
canteen was plastic but we wanted and got stainless. About the only things we didn’t
get was a mess kit or pack.

The US military had adopted the Meal-Ready-to-Eat. There were about four companies
producing them and they also made civilian versions. I tried one once and didn’t really
care for it. In a pinch, it was way better than nothing. They came in several different va-
rieties and maybe I just happened to get one that wasn’t as good as the others.

“You know, Mona, we’ve been putting up pails of grain every year. I just realized that we
don’t have a grinder. And oats are flaked and we don’t have a flaker. Did Canning Pan-
try include a catalog with that order?”

29
“Yes they did. I looked through it and they have all kinds of things including both of
those. There is about every kind of widget and gadget a person could want. I’m glad we
have that huge canner. It’s really heavy fully loaded, but it’s so much faster and most
days, I don’t have to do more than one or two loads.”

“If we’re going to store large amounts of food, we really should have a root cellar. We
have the storm shelter in case of tornadoes and we could probably use that.”

“I’ve never been in it. What’s it like?”

“It’s big, maybe ten foot square. It’s mounded over with soil maybe six foot thick where
it’s thinnest. There’s a slanted door at the top of the stairs, the stairs and another door
at the bottom landing. The top door opens out and the bottom door opens in. Let’s see,
it’s lined with two by twelve treated planking and there’s a support beam running left to
right to support the ceiling planks that run from front to back. It has a dirt floor and intake
and outlet vents. I’m not so sure that Grandpa didn’t use it as a root cellar, now that I
think about it. It doesn’t have any shelving and that’s why I always assumed it was a
storm cellar.”

“Didn’t your Dad or Mom ever tell you?”

“Grandpa died when I was seven and Dad died when I was twelve. You know, I can’t
remember ever going down there except when there was a tornado warning.”

“Have you ever heard of a guy named Kurt Saxon or read the book ‘Life After Dooms-
day’ by Bruce Clayton?”

“I haven’t read the books, for sure. I’ve heard the name Kurt Saxon although I can’t re-
call in what context.”

“Saxon is a self-described Survivalist. Clayton’s book was focused on a possible nucle-

ar war. You know way back in 1962, we had that Cuban Missile Crisis. Dad has some
books on the subject and he lived through it. He’s told me that we were lucky we didn’t
go to war with Cuba because it would have ended up being a nuclear war.”

“Is your father a survivalist?”

“I suppose so although there’s another term I’ve heard him use, ‘Prepper’. They have a
real shelter in the backyard, food stored in the shelter and the basement, a firearms col-
lection that rivals yours and an unusual lighting system. It’s all 12vdc and runs off of a
battery bank that he can recharge with a small China Diesel generator.

Their air filtration system and blast valves were a more recent addition. There is a com-
pany in Utah named Utah Shelter Systems and they’ve been in business since 1987.
They sell shelters of their own design and also sell shelter equipment separately. My

30
father bought a LUWA Andair AG filter model VA 150 with 3 bar (a centimeter-gram-
second unit, an SI unit) blast valves. If you’re serious about this, talk to him.”

“Let’s pickup Paul and stop by your parents so they can see him too. I’ll talk to your fa-
ther and get some ideas of what we’re facing.”

“Stop at the next service station and I’ll call ahead to confirm.”

“What did they say?”

“Come on down and have dinner with them. My father loves to talk on the subject of
prepping. How much will be available this year to start the project?”

“That $10,800 for sure and possibly more.”

“Did he give you any trouble?”

“He’s a very good little boy when you’re firm with him. Planning on another?”

“The next will probably be born next year; we’re going to wait a while before we try for
the second.”

“Find everything you were looking for?”

“Sure did. Thanks Mom.”

“He’s sure grown.”

“He’s pulling up on furniture and will be walking soon. I’m not sure when he’ll figure out
the potty chair. I like to talk to you when you can spare a few minutes about ‘Preps’.”

“A subject near and dear to my heart. Tell me what you done up until now.”

“Mona cans and we have over a year supply canned goods. I’ve been saving up 6 gal-
lon pails of wheat, corn, oats and barley. It’s the same each year, three pails of wheat,
two of corn and one each of oats and one of barley.”

“Do you can any meat?”

“We have a freezer.”

“You should still can meat. It makes for a quick meal and doesn’t depend of a generator
to it keep frozen. Supper will be awhile so let me show you our preps. We can start in
the basement.”

31
“You have a lot of food.”

“Everything combined, at least ten years for three people. The shelter is connected to
the basement.”

John picked up a garage remote and pressed the button. A cabinet on the far wall be-
gan to roll to the right. Behind the cabinet was a blast door.

“The power for the motors to drive the cabinet comes from the battery bank in the shel-
ter. Let me get this door open and we’ll walk down the tunnel to the shelter. There’s a
slight downward slope because the shelter floor is nineteen feet deep.”

The tunnel was lighted by small bulbs, probably those 12vdc. At the bottom of the ramp,
there was another door. In front of it was a landing with a floor drain. Above the floor
drain was a shower head.

“This is the decontamination area. The locker contains some light weight coveralls that
you can switch into after you’re completely decontaminated. The door is identical to the
one above. We could have gotten by with a single door. I wanted the protection of two
and each is rated at 3 bar in case of a nuke attack.”

He opened the door to a good sized shelter.

“The shelter has 1,600ft² floor space and a 9’ ceiling. It’s poured concrete ten inches
thick because of the blast door in the wall and overhead. Above the overhead is 120
inches of compacted earth. Care to guess the protection factor of the shelter?”

“I have no idea. It’s probably high.”

“Yep, it’s about 29 million. The overhead is supported by those steel I-beams to support
the weight of the concrete, the ground above it and any blast pressure. That’s half inch
steel plate supporting the ten inches of concrete and it’s welded to the I-beams for add-
ed rigidity. Believe it or not, those ½ steel plates raised the protection factor from 22 mil-
lion to 29 million.

“You must have a bunch of money in this setup.”

“Not as much as you think; after all I am a general contractor. There is a master bed-
room and two bunk rooms each capable of supporting 6 males or 6 females. There’s a
¾ bath over there and you can see the kitchen. The door behind you is the access to
the generator room while the door to your front is the door to the storage room where
we store food, equipment and my armory.”

“Mona said that you had an armory that rivals ours.”

32
“It’s not that large in terms of numbers. There are six select fire G-3s, six select fire
Steyr AUG bullpups, one M21 and a Barrett M82A1M. We also have some M1911 style
pistols and 12 gauge pumps. For PAW hunting, we have two 10/22s and two Remington
Express Combos.

We have a large supply of ammo, load bearing equipment, 14 MSA Millennium gas
masks with the voice boxes and other accessories like extra lenses and so forth plus
one unit for a baby and one for a child. The Tyvek protection suits are level B and there
are boots, gloves and tape. That storage room contains enough food for sixteen people
for one year. Both use the same method of construction as the shelter.”

“You built that for a small China Diesel generator?”

“We’ve upgraded. I’m now running a Koehler 30kw with an output of 125 amps of prime
power. We have a dual lighting system now, 12vdc running off the batteries and regular
house wiring, 110vac. The China Diesel is mostly for backup.”

“Since we’re just outside of town, I was able to put in a Containment Solutions 30,000
gallon diesel tank and bought and buried a 10,000 gallon propane tank. The gas tank is
much smaller, 2,000 gallons. The farm tank you see on the stand holds 500 gallons of
kerosene. We use Product Research, Inc. fuel stabilizers. That table over there is the
ham shack and the grounded cabinet contains the radios, radiation equipment and med-
ical supplies.”

“Wow.”

“You were expecting a smaller shelter built of concrete block, I’ll bet.”

“I’m not really sure what I expected, but not this.”

“What brought this up? You said you store some grain in six gallon pails and there are
boxes of home canned goods in your basement.”

“I observed that despite having grain stored we didn’t have a grinder or flaker. Anyway,
that started the conversation. There is a small storm shelter which I now believe may
have been a root cellar at some time in the past. We bought some canning supplies
from Canning Pantry and they sent along a catalog. Mona says they have a large line of
products.”

“They do. Reasonable prices, too. It’s the shipping that makes what you buy expensive.
We buy from them, Emergency Essentials, Walton Feed, Nitro Pak and Mountain
House. We have the money to spend and have been at this for quite a while. If you’re
thinking about putting in a real shelter, talk to me before you do it. If it happens that
we’re in between jobs or things are slow, I might be able to help you out with the labor.
You’d still have to pay for the materials though. You just might have something to com-
pensate me for the labor.”

33
“Thanks John, we’ll talk about it. What kind of compensation?”

“You raise beef, pork and chicken. You have horses and tack. We might be able to bar-
ter. Maybe like keeping us in meat and eggs. Maybe some horses with tack that you
keep and feed. How many are there living on your ranch at present?”

“Seven. There are three of us plus Harry Hanson and his family totaling four.”

“You’d need seven hundred square feet of useable space. That’s 100ft² per person.
Personally, I wouldn’t go less than 1,000 to 1,200ft² not including the storage room or
generator room. There’s nothing much stirring in the world at the moment so you
wouldn’t have to do it all at once.”

34
 Would You Rather... Three

New Preppers.

“That’s quite the shelter your father has. It’s spacious, well stocked and very well
equipped.”

“Yes, Mom said that he added a 30kw diesel generator.”

“He told me about it but we didn’t look at it. Your family must be pretty well off. That
wedding wasn’t inexpensive and neither was my wedding present. That shelter must
have set him back a bunch.”

“It was expensive I’ll admit, but not as expensive as you may imagine. He guarantees
every employee 40 hours of pay even if they’re not working. He claims that if they’re not
working, it’s his poor planning and not their fault. So, it was constructed when they’d just
be sitting around, due to his poor planning. I’m not so sure it was all poor planning, if
you must know.”

“There is a lot of concrete in that shelter.”

“I know. USS gives the criteria to properly install their blast doors and that required ten
inch thick walls. One door would probably be enough if a person were to put a good
steel door in the basement wall. You would connect the shelter to the basement,
wouldn’t you?”

“I hadn’t thought about it. Yes, probably because that would conceal the shelter en-
trance. If we built a shelter, we’d have our people protected. We make our living raising
livestock. We’d have to find some way to protect them too. I doubt that they sell nuclear
war insurance and if they did, who would be around to collect from?”

“Are you aware of earth sheltering?”

“Your Dad said there was ten feet of earth above the shelter. It has a protection factor of
something like 29 million.”

“Same idea, but different. That big old barn is still pretty solid isn’t it?”

“Like a tank.”

“Hear me out on this. What if you were to dismantle the barn and use the materials to
construct it in a different fashion? Sort of a dome shape that you could coat with a pre-
servative, like tar, and cover it with six feet of earth. Two inches of wood and 6 feet of
earth would give you a protection factor close to ten thousand. The barn is all rough
sawn 2” wood isn’t it?”

35
“It is and that’s why I called it a tank. Honey, it would be a lot of work and it would take
Harry, his boys and me years to dismantle it and rebuild it.”

“I know. Are you aware that there’s a market for used wood? It frequently sells for multi-
ples over the price of new wood. I’m just speculating here so don’t hold me to it; I be-
lieve you could get enough money from the old wood to put in a concrete dome for the
livestock. You might even be able to find a used wood dealer willing to dismantle the
barn just to get the wood for little or no cost to us.”

“You should check that out.”

“Ok. You should also think about connecting the shelter to the new dome so, if needed,
we could tend to the livestock. We could get Daddy to build the shelter and sub the
dome.”

“I’m with you so far but what about air filtration for the barn? The livestock would need
clean air the same as we would.”

“When Daddy was shopping for an air filtration system, he found an Israeli firm that
manufactured large units sold through an American dealer. You’d have to ask him; I
think the company is in Washington or Oregon.”

“I was just thinking about the dome idea. You know a dome with a radius of sixty feet
would also be sixty feet high. If the internal structure were properly designed and built,
we could have the stories connected by ramps. We could have horses on the first story,
hogs on the second story, the beef on the third story, chickens on the fourth and store
hay in the twenty feet above the chickens.”

“Ten foot stories?”

“That was what I was thinking. I allocated the floors based on how much of each kind of
livestock we have. We have an ongoing herd above sixty horses most times, and when
the sows farrow, a lot of hogs. We haven’t been increasing the beef herd all that much
and the chickens are small.”

“So, you’re interested?”

“I’m curious to say the least. We could probably invest $12,000 a year in a shelter pro-
ject by not making double principal payments. We could barter with your father for the
labor.”

“Yes we could. The shelter wouldn’t go in our backyard though. That would put the
house between the shelter and the barn. It will have to go to the side of the house di-
rectly across from the location of the dome. Something just occurred to me. I said he
could sub the dome. He might just hire an experienced dome crew and expand his line
of contracting services.”

36
After we got home and I had free time, I made some calculations. Using the formula for
the area of a circle, I found that a sixty foot radius would produce an area of 11,310
square feet; way too big. After a few calculations, I determined that a 40 foot radius pro-
duced over five thousand square feet which would be about equal to 50 times one hun-
dred foot area which should be enough for the horses. A dome of those dimensions
would have space for the livestock but none for feed.

The tunnel connecting the shelter to the barn would be buried deep and perhaps a
basement for the barn and another ramp would work. It would give the livestock more
space, an extra five thousand plus square feet and make room for hay on the top twenty
feet. It wasn’t so much an engineering problem as a matter of careful reflection. As it
was, we’d have to put in a set of stairs to get from the tunnel bottom up to the barn
basement. This would last for centuries so we’d better put in steel stairs. Centuries?
Where did that come from?

The next afternoon, I called John. “John, Mona and I continued discussing the subject. I
raised a point about the livestock and we eventually got around to discussing a mono-
lithic dome. I did some calculations and a dome with a forty foot radius would be about
perfect for our operation. What do you think?”

“I don’t build domes.”

“I realize that. Mona observed that you could hire a crew of trained dome builders and
expand your business. She also thought that the job could be given to a sub. The dome
could be covered with earth six feet thick.”

“Then you’re serious about this?”

“Yes. The more I think about it, the more serious I get. With the USSR breaking up, the
Cold War may be over. On the other hand China seems to be an emerging power and
they have nukes too. It would an awfully expensive storm shelter, but there are all kinds
of potential disasters. If I remember something my Science teacher said correctly, Yel-
lowstone caldera is overdue for another eruption.

“We would only have about $12,000 per year to invest. We could barter you all the beef,
pork, chicken and eggs you want. You could have your choice of our geldings with their
tack. Maybe I could write them off as advertising or something.”

“You sound serious. You’ve given this some thought?”

“That was joint project and we put our heads together to come up with ideas. That barn
may be old but it was built like a tank with rough sawn two inch lumber. Mona thinks we
could sell the barn to a used lumber dealer and get quite a bit for it. That money could
be added to what we’d have available at the end of the year. Around spring next year,
we could begin working on the project.”

37
“My daughter and grandson live on the ranch. You won’t have to worry too much about
me making contributions to improve their safety. If you pay for the materials, all I’m out
are the labor costs. I’d only have to put one crew on the project and I could absorb that
cost. Waiting until next spring will give me a year to figure out what to do about the
dome. I know who I could sub, an outfit in Texas. I need to think about it some, though.”

“I have a question.”

“Yes?”

“If we tear down the barn, how are you going to shelter the horses?”

“I’ve been thinking about that. We could erect permanent shelters using poles and gal-
vanized corrugated metal panels out in the pasture. They would provide shade from the
sun and cover from rain. More importantly, they wouldn’t be all that expensive to put up.
It would take little time or labor and only four or five poles per structure and some fram-
ing lumber to support the roof.”

“Could they winter over out there?”

“Probably. It wouldn’t be my first choice. Ideally, the barn would be dismantled between
March 1st and June 1st next year. It would be ideal timing for the construction to begin
around June 1st. We’ll have one principal payment of $10,800 socked away and more. I
told John we’d have $12,000 plus the proceeds from selling the wood. Hopefully that will
cover all the building materials costs.

“With that many animals in the dome, we’ll need dehumidifiers and maybe some air
conditioning. They generate a lot of moisture and heat. We’re talking 100 large animals
plus the chickens.”

“Besides the construction materials, we’ll need the two air cleaners with blast valves
and filters. I don’t know what a Koehler generator costs; probably somewhere between
ten and fifteen thousand, installed. I also think we’d be better off moving the large freez-
er to the shelter storage room and replace it with an upright in the basement.

“We’ll need bunks beds like those in your family’s shelter. We could move the old mas-
ter bedroom furniture to the shelter and replace it with new. John said that the radio
equipment and radiological equipment was in a grounded cabinet. I think I’ll take three
Tylenol and go to bed. My head is swimming and I’m developing a headache.”

“Alan, slow down. You’re trying to do it too fast and you’re going to drive yourself nuts.
For now concentrate on the shelter and the new barn. I can work with Mom and develop
a phased in approach to equipping the shelter. I’m sure Dad will have some good ideas

38
about constructing the dome. A journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single
step and you’ve made that step by deciding to get involved with preparing. Above all
else, keep the plans flexible. Although the barn will contain all of the animals, let’s keep
the beef, hogs and chickens where they are for now.”

“Ok. Where’s the Tylenol?”

“Medicine cabinet.”

As I tried to drift off to sleep, I realized that those double principal payments had made
funding this project much easier. Our three car garage was detached and wouldn’t be in
the way. My last thought was to set a deadline to finish it up before 2000.

“You were sleeping so sound I hated to wake you up.”

“I had some trouble getting to sleep. I agree about putting the shelter on the side of
house. This old house is pretty much square so it doesn’t really have ends; just sides
and corners. We don’t use the front porch and the back door is the primary entrance. It’s
actually on the side of the house perpendicular to the front side and faces the buildings.
I’d like to see this accomplished before 2000. I’m glad now we made the double pay-
ments, the interest will be less than $10,000 per year.”

“The first step I plan to take is double buying when I get groceries. It will mostly be sale
items that are a normal part of our diet. I haven’t tried home canning pasta sauce and
I’m going to get Mom’s recipe. We should also get a membership for that discount
warehouse in Denver.”

Mona found a used lumber dealer that would buy the lumber from the barn. He would
dismantle it, lowering the price slightly to reflect his costs. He was buying it by the board
foot and planning on sawing the two by twelve’s into one by twelve’s. It would still have
one aged rough sawn side showing. It was a big barn with much of the lumber in near
pristine condition given its age.

Even at his wholesale buying price, we got a lot of money for the barn. They didn’t want
to wait and began dismantling it almost immediately. Harry, his boys and I hurriedly
erected the shelters in the horse pasture. With the money in hand from the sale of the
barn, we gave John the green light to do the shelter and tunnel to the new dome.

I helped Mona modify the old storm shelter into a proper root cellar. I hadn’t really seen
a lot of John because, frankly, I was afraid of him. He always gave me ‘the eye’ when I
picked up Mona for a date. That changed some when he walked her down the aisle. It
changed a lot more when Paul came along. He was downright friendly as opposed to
being civil. When the decision was made to become Preppers, I swear that he became
my best friend. And while money came slowly from the ranch, he was literally rolling in
it.

39
John had Monolithic Domes of Texas design and install the dome barn per the specifi-
cations he and I developed. Just after the crops were harvested, the horses were
moved to their new home. I’ll have to say that John didn’t cut corners or scrimp; we now
had a milking machine set up to handle 30 cows. For the moment, the horses were
housed on the first floor. While the flooring was concrete with a stiff brush finish it pre-
sented problems. In time, the horses walking up and down the aisles would wear the
concrete smooth. The stalls had to have some kind of flooring anyway.

The final decision was made to cover the entire floor of the horse level with ¾” rubber
mats. Walls were erected inside to conceal the slope of the dome. We could access the
area behind the walls for storage and used it to store the tack, a farrier shop, vet sup-
plies and even feed supplements. There was more than enough unused space to allow
expansion. We only did that on the first level.

Our shelter had two bedrooms and two bunk rooms. It seemed larger than we dis-
cussed so I got a tape and measured it. John snuck one by us; our shelter was bigger
than theirs, fifty by forty or 2,000 square feet. The storage room was slightly larger than
theirs and the generator he installed was Kohler all right. But, it wasn’t a 30kw. It was
actually a 60kw single phase unit. I read the book and it would put out 200 amps plus of
prime power. I checked the ATS and it, too, was a 200 amp. The ranch’s power feed
line had been buried and connected directly to a heavy ATS. A new service panel was
in the power room and one set of breakers fed the house and shelter while the other set
fed the other buildings.

Clinton signed the new federal assault weapons ban on September 13 th.

“We need to go talk to your Father and Mother.”

“Is something wrong? You look upset.”

“I am upset. The shelter is bigger than planned, the generator is double the size of your
Father’s and that store room is better stocked than it should be. Darn it, it’s half full and
it’s bigger than the one they have.”

“I’m sorry Alan, I couldn’t say no.”

“You knew about this?”

“Please don’t be angry with me. Yes, I knew about it and did nothing to encourage
them. I tried to talk both of them out of what they did and neither would listen so I gave
up. Daddy did say they’d like four geldings with tack. He went on to say that we could
continue to make single principal payments and repay him, if we insisted.”

“How much did they spend?”

“Less than you think, he’s a contractor, remember.”

40
“It was probably more than you think, too, Mona. For example, that gun safe in the stor-
age room is brand spanking new and the largest size the company makes. I suppose
that it’s filled with several new guns, too.”

“Not yet.”

“Yet?”

“Yes. At the moment it has all of the guns you and I own stored in it. He said he plans to
add a few new firearms to his safe and would be double buying to stock us too. Uh,
there’s more ammo for your M1A. He increased your supply for every rifle to 6,000
rounds and every shotgun and handgun to 2,000 rounds. He buys in volume and gets
ammo just slightly above cost.”

“Are they home?”

“Yes, I just talked to Mom.”

“Get Paul around and let’s go.”

“Don’t start a fight.”

“I won’t, I promise. But John and I are going to discuss this. You have no idea how it
makes me feel. Inadequate doesn’t begin to describe it.”

I was steamed. As I thought about it, I came to realize how much better off we were in
terms of protection. Doing it on our own would have taken years. The drive over oc-
curred in total silence as Mona glanced at me while I worked it out in my head.

“You’ll stay for supper, of course. June just started the potatoes in the oven and we
have some nice top sirloins.”

“You knew we were coming?”

“I called Mom and gave her a heads up.”

“You’ve looked it all over by now and noticed the changes we made, right?”

“As a matter of fact, yes.”

“And, you’re steaming. You’re angry because of what was done and feeling inade-
quate.”

“I was when we left. I thought about it and I’m down to being upset.”

41
“Let me set your mind to ease about a few things and upset you with more. The sup-
plies in your storeroom aren’t new. They’re our supplies. We rotated, lock, stock and
barrel. I’d wanted to do it for some time and didn’t have anyone to give or sell the LTS
foods to. Everything is dated and good for a minimum of fifteen years.

“I made the shelter bigger because, despite appearances and the setup, our shelter was
only intended for three, Mona, June and me. When Mona pointed out that your collec-
tion included lever action rifles and single action handguns, I bought several new Ruger
SAA revolvers and a complete collection of Marlin lever action rifles. It occurred to me
that you had me at a disadvantage.”

“In what way?”

“Well, not directly at a disadvantage, maybe indirectly. The single action firearms and
lever action rifles originally used black powder cartridges. I bought the magnum calibers
and also bought the black powder calibers. I can reload, but there a limit to how many
components I want to store. I bought a few blocks of lead and casting equipment to
make bullets. Pyrodex is a good black powder substitute and I simply increased my
supply of primers and loading dies.

“The gun safe is new and I bought it to protect Paul and any more children you might
have. I have some guns that haven’t come in yet. Some are for you and Mona and
some for Paul. If you have another child, I intend to buy more. The combination to the
gun safe is in that storage cabinet with the radio equipment and radiation equipment. I
gave you the stuff I got from KI4U and replaced it with stuff from Arrow Tech. The stuff I
gave you includes the AMP 200 from Arrow Tech that we had. It’s a high reading Geiger
counter that goes up to 10,000 Rads. You look like you need a drink. Coors ok?”

“Uh...”

“Right, I’ll be right back.”

“How’s it going Daddy?”

“He just said ‘Uh...’. I think he is in shock. And, I haven’t got to the good stuff yet.”

I was sitting there thinking how inadequate my inspection had been. I hadn’t looked in
the cabinet. I intended to, but got upset before I got that far. And then, I began to won-
der what else he’d done that I didn’t know about. I was shaking my head when he re-
turned with the beers.

“Here you go. Salute.”

“Uh, salute.”

“Are you ready for the rest or should I stop now?”

42
“There’s more?”

“A bit.”

“Go ahead.”

“The diesel tank I have is 30,000 gallons, the largest they made at the time. The largest
they make now is 40,000 gallons and more is better since the generator uses more
fuel.”

“Why 60kw?”

“The service panel in your well house is a 200 amp panel. We used that as a guide.
Didn’t you know that?”

“Nope.”

“Of course you knew I added an additional Propane tank, right?”

“You did?”

“All you have is that 3,000 gallon tank.”

“Above ground. There is another 3,000 gallon tank below ground and they’re plumbed
together.”

“Really? I didn’t know that. Be that as it may, I added a new tank, buried of course. I
may come to you to get propane.”

“How big of a tank?”

“It’s a used recertified 30,000 gallon tank and it’s as full as they’ll fill it.”

“Wait a minute; did you fill the diesel tank too?”

“Naturally. That was a rather large check, but we can afford it. The company paid for it
and technically the contents and tank belong to the company. The same applies to the
propane tank and propane. They’re set up on the books as remote storage locations.
That’s why the propane tank has a wet leg and you have a diesel/gasoline pump. The
gas tank is small, only 4,000 gallons. We emptied your two farm tanks and refilled them
with kerosene.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“You will pick out four good horses, won’t you?”

43
“Our best. Plus a beef and two hogs a year forever. You have a lifetime supply of chick-
en and eggs, too. Do you want milk?”

“Not now. Maybe later. Now, about paying us back.”

“It will be limited to $10,800 per year for sure.”

“Please let me finish. The problem with our government is they tax a person to death.
And then when you die, they take a portion of the estate. Doing what we’ve done
amounts to tax avoidance, which is sometimes legal and sometimes not. That’s why the
company technically owns the fuel and tanks. It also owns the generator because power
is needed for the fuel pumps. Those pumps aren’t three phase; they’re single phase. It’s
no big deal. The pump is driven by an electric motor and you can get single or three
phase motors.

“What I’m trying to say is, you don’t owe anything. You put good money up front and it
covered the special items like the blast doors and the AV 150. We made a gift of
$20,000 to the two of you to cover most of the other material costs. We will continue to
make a gift of $20,000 per year to the two of you until everything is covered. It’s perfect-
ly legal and avoids a lot of inheritance taxes. The twenty grand will be applied to the
balance of the loan, including interest. We can’t do it interest free, it’s illegal. We’ll use
the minimum rate required by the IRS, six percent.”

“Thank you.”

“Glad to do it, believe me.”

That was all I could think to say. I was literally dumbstruck. My mind was racing, trying
to come with a figure representing how much they must have spent.

“Care for another beer?”

“I’m sorry, did you say something?”

“I asked if you wanted another beer.”

“Oh, sorry, no thank you.”

“Perhaps something a little stronger?”

“Ah, I’ve never had anything stronger than 3.2 Coors except at our wedding when we
had Champagne.”

“You definitely need something, I’ll be right back.”

44
“How’s he doing?”

“Total shock and dumbstruck to boot. I could almost hear the gears churning while his
mind raced. He needs something else to concentrate on. Which do think he’d prefer,
Rye, bourbon, Jack, Canadian or scotch?”

“I’ve never seen him drink anything stronger than 3.2 except at our wedding.”

“Ok, bourbon and branch then.”

“Wait. Give him Canadian and ginger ale.”

“Break him in easy?”

“Yes. Did you mention the truck?”

“I plumb forgot. One drink won’t get him drunk with supper on top of it.”

“Ok Daddy, but only one.”

“Hey kid, that old truck and I have a history. It was my first six passenger pickup, a 19
and 63 Dodge Crew Cab with four wheel drive. Small engine, too, one hundred and
seventy cubic inches. “

John came back in carrying two glasses of something. He handed me one and I took a
sip. It was ginger ale, but it had something in it. It really didn’t taste bad. Then, he
flipped me a key ring.

“Those are the keys to your new truck.”

“New truck?”

“Well, new to you. It’s 1963 Dodge Crew Cab with four wheel drive.”

“It’s older than I am.”

“True, but it’s well cared for. It has a few advantages being old like it is. One is that if
there happened to be an EMP, a few parts would get it running in short order. It came
with an alternator but when that burned out, I had it replaced with a good old fashioned
1962 generator. Engine was rebuilt last year and it has about 6,000 miles on it. Road
miles, not Sunday Go To Meeting miles. There’s a box of spare parts in the back seat
with plugs, points, condenser, rotor, cap, thermostat and a set of plug wires.”

“What’s an EMP?”

45
“Electro Magnetic Pulse. Nukes produce a surge of electricity when they detonate. If
they’re detonated at high altitude, they can wipe out most electrical items attached to
long wires that aren’t protected. You may have noticed that all the new wiring is in
grounded conduit.”

“Thank you again.”

“That was my first six passenger pickup. You treat her good and she’ll treat you good.
Not much to break on the older vehicles.”

“John, I’m a bit overwhelmed here. I can’t think of anything to say except thank you and
that you’ll get everything I promised you. Our four best geldings with their tack which is
nearly new plus the beef and pork. If you store your own grain, we produce corn, oats,
wheat and barley and you’re welcome to as much as you need.”

“I noticed you didn’t say want.”

“It’s our livelihood. A few bushels more or less wouldn’t be missed. More would be.”

“I think Mona did well you latching onto you. You’re young and inexperienced in some
things. You have an open mind and are willing to learn. Most of all, you know to just say
thank you at the appropriate times. I take that as having good common sense. June tells
me that Mona told her that you were the more reserved of the two of you and never got
involved in inappropriate behavior for an unmarried couple.”

“I guess it was just the way my folks raised me. My mother remained a widow until I
turned of age. I knew her new husband from a young age and he’s a good man. He’s
slowing down due to his age, but that’s to be expected.”

“Supper’s ready...”

“Let’s wash up and eat.”

That wasn’t plain ginger ale as I said and I still had half a glass left. I might have gulped
it down had it been plain. I sure wasn’t going to gulp a mixed drink on an empty stom-
ach. We washed up and sat down to a nice dinner; charcoal grilled steaks, a baked po-
tato and Caesar salad.

“The car seat is in our pickup. Why don’t you drive it and I’ll drive the new old pickup
home?”

“Ok. You lead, I’ll follow.”

It really wasn’t that much of a drive since we weren’t very far outside town. It was a five
minute drive. Mona unstrapped Paul and handed him to me. She got her purse and we
went in to put Paul in bed.

46
Looking back on it, I’m sure that’s the night that Mona got pregnant with our second
child. We were in fact able to make a double principal payment, bringing the balance
down from $97,200 to $75,600. All in all 1994 had been a very busy year and that’s a
major understatement.

The following year began with the Republican Party being in control of both houses of
Congress. Later that month, Norway launched a rocket that Russia first thought was an
attack. Yeltsin had the nuclear suitcase in hand but didn’t launch. The new airport they
were building in Denver was opened and Stapleton closed.

There was a gas attack in a Tokyo subway using Sarin. Selena was killed by the Presi-
dent of her fan club. In mid-April, a huge bomb blew up the federal building in Oklahoma
City killing 168 people. Within 90 minutes, they had a suspect in custody. A few days
later the Unabomber struck again. And, some guy stole a tank and ran it around on San
Diego streets. Superman broke his neck and was paralyzed from the neck down.

An F-16 was shot down over Bosnia. The pilot was rescued six days later. Kobe, Japan
had an earthquake and China attacked Taiwan with missiles. We bought a new com-
puter that had the Windows 95 operating system and a much better modem.

When that lawyer said, ‘If the glove don’t fit, you can’t convict’, he got OJ acquitted. I
think he was guilty as sin. Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated late in the year. Those were
some of the high and low points around the year 1995 around the world.

Dean John Traherne was born on the Fourth of July. The crops were looking good and
we decided to keep the heifers born since we could milk 30 cows. The boar needed to
be replaced so we shopped around and bought a much younger one. The one we had
was turned into sausage except for the loins which became Canadian bacon and the
tenderloins which became breaded tenderloins. They wet rendered the extra lard and
we put it up in the freezer.

Harry Jr. graduated from high school and asked if I was willing to hire him full time to
tend to the horses. Mona and I discussed it and since the herd had grown to 75 head,
we hired him. He later began to apprentice with the farrier. Farriers are frequently
school trained before they apprentice but Harry Jr. had worked with the farrier for a
while already and was actually fairly well skilled. We monitored his skills and in 1996,
enrolled him in the ELPO Farrier School in Penrose, Colorado for the eight week
course. He did very well in school and was eligible for the next course a year later.

But back to family matters. Dean was like Alan in terms of working parts and again Mo-
na nursed him. His big brother was potty trained and only had a few accidents. We got
him cowboy shirts, roper boots, jeans and a hat. Grandpa saw to it that he had the belt
and buckle. Grandpa also purchased another single six and a 9422. As a matter of fact,
he bought a pair of each. Mona loved Dean but truly wanted a daughter. We agreed to
try one more time two years in the future.

47
Our crops produced well above expectations and we stored the grain until the glut was
over to get better prices. We butchered two steers and four hogs, selling the other
steers and keeping the heifers. We also sold 26 horses including 8 mares and 18 geld-
ings, all with tack. One of our selling points had always been that we included quality,
well fitted saddles and bridles. We made a nominal profit on the tack due to our buying
power.

We had a small garden this year and Maria did the weeding, harvesting and canning.
She shanghaied which ever boy was closest, to put the canner on the stove and take it
back off. We just about evenly divided the garden output between us and Harry’s family.
They also got a side of beef and a hog. The grain moved before the first of the year and
we made a double principal payment plus the interest, bringing the loan balance down
from $75,600 to $54,000. We’d have the loan paid off in two more years, or sooner, de-
pending on ranch profits. The total payment had been $29,160.

I made a point to spend time with Paul to overcome the amount of attention Dean was
receiving. John joined me in that. My mother raised the question if we were planning on
stopping at two or going to try for a daughter. Mona’s response tickled her when she
said, “One more time in about two years.”

John’s purchases had been placed in the gun safe and he observed that it was a fine
collection. He told me he didn’t like the AR-15 because its operating system. They were,
he said a good light rifle if you could keep them clean enough. His purchase of the
AUGs overcame came that deficiently because the AUGs use a gas piston. He had
started to acquire large capacity magazines for both rifles, the 100 round Beta C for the
AUGs and HK 50-round drum magazines for the G3A3s.

When Christmas rolled around, I was able to get Mona both the choker and the collar
strand. She gave me a Glock 21 and a Glock 30 with ankle holster and ankle dual mag-
azine pouch. John and June had a nice selection of Christmas presents for the children.
They gave me spare magazines and a paddle style holster for the G21 and a pair of du-
al paddle style magazine pouches. Mona received the opera string of pearls, giving her
the full five strings.

John slipped me a piece of paper showing the interest they would report to the IRS so
we could deduct it on our tax return since it was the interest on a home improvement
loan. He said they would make the $20,000 reduction on the loan balance after the first
of the year.

Soon after the first of the year, I had all the tanks topped off. That included the diesel,
backyard propane, gasoline and the kerosene tanks. Tractor supply was a source for
gate openers for all the lane gates including both the old lane and the new lane. Harry
and I also got salt blocks and mineral blocks for the pastures. And, since the hogs and
cattle were still in the separate barn, we bought a pair of 70,000 BTU kerosene heaters.

48
“Buy much?”

“A few things, remote gate openers, salt and mineral blocks and kerosene heaters.”

“I’ve been sorting through the inventory in the shelter storage room and getting things
arranged. I’m sorting by item category and by age. I’m making a list of things we’ll need
to acquire; some in the near future and those that can wait. The food is all good and has
at least fifteen years before we need to replace it. As soon as we get the ranch paid off,
I’d like very much to add to our stores.”

“Anything in particular for the near future?”

“Yes. We can get all of that in Denver.”

“That drink your Dad fixed me was good. What was in it besides ginger ale?”

“Canadian Club. Why, do you want to buy some liquor?”

“A little. It would allow us to offer a drink to visitors like your mother and father.”

“Want me to make up a list of what he keeps on hand?”

“When you get time, no rush.”

“Let me warn you, Daddy has expensive tastes. I can make the list now. Canadian Club
whisky, and since Canadian Club is rye whisky, we won’t need any American rye. Mak-
er’s Mark Bourbon, Jack Daniels’ Gentleman Jack, that’s a Tennessee sipping whiskey.
Johnny Walker black or Chivas Regal 18, Bombay Sapphire Gin, Jose Cuervo 1800 te-
quila and Grand Marnier for margaritas, any good brand of vodka. We can get all of
those at Costco.

“All the rice they gave us is long grain or brown rice. I prefer Jasmine rice, also available
from Costco. They only had pinto and navy beans and we can get some great northern
and kidney beans at Sam’s Club. Costco sell Folgers coffee and large bundles of
Charmin.”

“Are you getting that all down?”

“Yep. A good source for spices is Costco. They also carry bulk packages of muffin,
cookie and pancake mixes. They also sell Aunt Jemima in twin packs. They have good
prices on soft drinks and personal hygiene items like tooth brushes, paste, razors and
shaving cream Some stores carry canned chicken and canned beef and they all carry
canned tuna. Sam’s has good pasta selections and sauces. We can supplement that
with my homemade pasta sauce. I would like to add tomato paste and tomato sauce. I’ll
hang onto this list and add to it as things come to mind.”

49
Mona continued to sort and inventory, slowly adding to the list. It took her about two
weeks because of the children and the demands on her time. On several occasions,
she’d take notes and have me move things for her. I helped all I could because with
Harry Jr. working fulltime and Maria doing the gardening I had more free time.

“Is this going to be a good year in terms of income?”

“It looks good; we’re sold out of four-year-olds. The crops look healthy and we should
get good yields. We have cattle to sell in the fall and a large crop of hogs. We’re provid-
ing your folks, ourselves and Mac with eggs and still selling an average of 1½ cases a
week. I’m not going to jinx us, but to quote Maverick, ‘it’s looking good so far’.”

“Are you going to try and pay the loan off or just make a double payment?”

“A double payment. We could probably pay it off, but that would leave us short of cash
for wages and prepping. It will bring the balance down to $32,400 and the final year’s
payment will be $35,640 including interest.”

“How many three year olds do we have?”

“Twenty eight.”

“So the ranch will be free and clear at the end of next year?”

“Absolutely. As soon as the cashier’s check clears, Julie will mail us the title. It’s
strange, we haven’t heard from her in a while. Mom says she calls her. Do you suppose
she’s miffed about something? I made a spreadsheet back when showing the principal
payments, interest and resulting balance. I totaled the payment showing she’d receive
the financed principal and the projected interest at the stated rate, also showing the to-
tal.

“She hasn’t received nearly as much interest as the spreadsheet showed because the
double payments. The last time I talked to her about she agreed that the contract only
specified minimum principal payments. She’s earned a lot less interest than the spread-
sheet shows.”

“She’s investing the money isn’t she?”

“Yes; all but the taxes she has to pay on the interest. Maybe she made some bad in-
vestments although I doubt that. The prime rate has fallen quite a bit though and even
good investments don’t always return ten percent.”

“We’re going to have to take a short vacation. I’d like a nice dress that will let me show
off my pearls and have a fancy meal in a Denver restaurant. It would just be an over-
night trip and we can borrow Mom’s car.”

50
“Figure out where you want to go and we’ll drive down, buy you that dress and go out to
eat. Maybe take in a stage show and spend the night in a nice hotel.”

“You’re too good to me.”

“Yeah, I know.”

I talked to Harry and put him in charge for the two days we’d be gone. Mona talked to
my Mom and her Mom and June would be watching the kids. John asked me to do him
a favor and stop by a gun store and pick up some ammo he had ordered. It was paid for
and he’d save shipping. Since we’d probably get back late, just store it in our shelter
storeroom. We left the following morning and Mona had several bottles of milk ex-
pressed. We took that and some baby food when we dropped off the kids.

The trip in took a little over two hours. We stopped at the hotel where she’d made reser-
vations and checked in. Her pearls went into a hotel lockbox. She tried on several
dresses before she found one she liked, a fancy cocktail dress.

We had time and we went to the gun store to pick up John’s ammo which turned out to
be 10,000 rounds of full power Colt .45 and 4,000 rounds of .45-70-405 full power loads.
I stacked as much of it in the back seat of the car that would fit and the rest in the trunk.
At least the car was reasonably level and we wouldn’t be shining lights into to the faces
of oncoming traffic.

Nevertheless, we took a cab to the restaurant. Dinner consisted of a shrimp cocktail,

Caesar salad, baked potato, lobster tails and Chateaubriand with chocolate mousse for
desert. It was an excellent meal, if not very pricey. Saturday morning we slept in. After
we cleaned up and dressed, we checked out of the hotel and put our suitcase in the car.
I’m happy it was a fold over garment bag, space was at a premium. We returned to the
hotel dining room for breakfast and pointed the car northeast.

“You’re back early.”

“We had a good time Harry. We’ve never done something like that before. It’s about the
fanciest meal I’ve ever eaten. You have a look on your face, is something wrong?”

“Well, not wrong exactly. I’ll tell you, I’m having trouble getting used to all the changes
you made during the past year. Who ever heard of a multilevel concrete barn? I ran the
milk cows in and up the ramp and used that fancy new milking machine. It’s a good
thing those ramps between the floors are long; the cows weren’t too keen about climb-
ing up them. And you have your own service station pump. I have to stop and think be-
fore I fill the fuel tanks, is this gas or diesel?”

51
“All we have is the combine and tractor and both are diesel. My pickup is diesel and that
old Dodge is gasoline. I think we’re going to have to look into buying a car.”

“I meant to tell you, your pickup wouldn’t start. It cranks ok but wouldn’t fire. I think
you’re going to need it towed.”

Mona and I got the old pickup around with the child seats and headed to John and
June’s to pick up Paul and Dean.

“The ammo is in your car.”

“I thought I told you to store it in your store room.”

“You did. What do you want me to do?”

“Move it to the pickup and store it in your storage room. What do you think of the
pickup?”

“I’m happy we have it. My pickup won’t start and we don’t own a car.”

“What’s wrong with your pickup?”

“I have no idea.”

“You should think about getting a Dodge Ram with that Cummins 6BT engine.”

“New or used?”

“Used should be ok. Maybe a trade-in with low mileage.”

“Even a low mileage trade-in would be expensive. I was thinking about buying a car.
Maybe that will have to wait and we’ll replace the pickup.”

“Want me to have one of our guys pick it up and haul it to the dealer so they can check
it out?”

“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, thanks.”

They picked up the pickup the next morning and hauled it to the dealer. The dealer
called late in the day and said he doubted the vehicle was worth fixing. Would I be in-
terest in a new pickup? I told him I might be in the market for a used, low mileage
Dodge Ram with the 6BT engine. My old pickup was a Ford F-150, a popular model.

“I had a customer who was a diehard Ford man for years. Bought himself a ’93 Dodge
Ram and absolutely hated it. He traded it in for an F-250. I low balled the trade-in price
and I’ll be darned if he didn’t take it. It’s mechanically sound, but he didn’t treat it well. I’ll

52
have to tell you, it’s rough looking. If you’d be interested in it as is, I’d give you a good
price.”

“How much?”

“You’d better come in and look at it first and then we can dicker.”

I didn’t have any experience dickering or buying pickups. I called John and basically re-
peated what the dealer told me. He said to call the dealer back and tell him I was inter-
ested but wanted a mechanic to check it out. He’d send his mechanic over to check out
the vehicle and if it was worth purchasing, he’d go with me to help me negotiate. I called
the dealer back and explained. He said that was a good approach because I wouldn’t
have to take his word about vehicle.

When the mechanic said the vehicle was ok but a cosmetic disaster, John and I went to
negotiate. The pickup needed a lot of body work. The box really should have been re-
placed. The front of the truck looked good. John suggested we get it as cheaply as pos-
sible and check junkyards for a replacement box. We might even find one the same col-
or and his mechanic was a whiz.

It turned into a back and forth between the dealer and John with me on the sidelines.
John made a good deal and all I had to do was write the check and sign papers. The
dealer gave me a reasonable trade-in for my old pickup. I half wondered if he might
have a rebuilt engine on hand to stick in my pickup and sell it. The pickup ran well
enough and I drove home. John said they get on the network and find a box. He ex-
plained that auto salvagers had their own network and you put out a request. The local
guy would search for you.

Mona thought I’d been gypped. Maybe. The odometer had 17 thousand plus miles on it.
The truck ran very good and I had trouble figuring out what the previous owner hadn’t
liked. It took two days to find a box and it didn’t arrive for a week. I drove the pickup to
John’s construction company and Mona picked me up. Three weeks later, the mechanic
delivered the pickup.

It sure looked different. He went over the features. The new front bumper had a Warn
12k electric winch. There was a second fuel tank holding the same amount as the origi-
nal. It was an original tank mounted in a different location and you could switch between
tanks with a dashboard switch. The bed had a new lining and a Transfer Flow 98 gallon
tank. Finally, there were 2”, class IV tow hitch receivers front and rear. The tow ball was
installed in the rear receiver. It even ran better because he’d cleaned the injectors.

“Still think I got gypped?”

“It does look much better. No car this year, huh?”

“I’m afraid not. As soon as that ranch is paid off, it will go to the top of the list.”

53
 Would You Rather... Four

Moving on.

It’s Valentine’s Day 1997, Paul’s fourth birthday. Mona is pregnant with our third. Mo-
na’s birthday is in March and Dean’s and mine in July. It’s complicated when a birthday
coincides with a holiday and both Paul and Dean’s birthdays happened on holidays. I
got Mona a dozen roses and a box of chocolates. Paul’s birthday present was a yearling
colt. He got other presents, a good tricycle and a football he wanted.

We now own the farm free and clear. Mac passed in January, heart attack. Harry Jr.
completed the farrier school with very high marks. He’s going to be a good one. We’ll
either buy a car late this year or early next year; probably early next year when the
dealers are hurting for sales.

The Dodge is quite the pickup. It’s not a Ford but I believe I may become a Dodge man.
That old Crew Cab John gave us is like a Timex watch, it just keeps ticking. I’m half
tempted to put a diesel engine in it and go all diesel. I priced the engines and changed
my mind. When I mentioned it to John, he gave me a ‘strange’ look. I have no idea what
it meant.

During the past year, several unusual things happened. They caught the Unabomber,
finally. In early spring, the three month standoff ended in Montana. Midsummer, TWA
flight 800 exploded shortly after takeoff, killing 230. The Olympic Summer Games took
place in Atlanta and six days later, someone set off a bomb. Charles and Dianna got
divorced. Clinton was reelected and JonBenét Ramsey was murdered in Boulder. She
was only six.

This year, we had the North Hollywood shootout towards the end of February. Harry is
finally becoming accustomed to the new dome. He still thinks a dome barn is ‘unnatu-
ral’. We had a really good birthing season, well over 300 pigs, 32 foals and eight calves.
The animals produce a good volume of manure and we continue to use it on the fields.
The additional manure had helped increase our yields slightly. Going to heirloom seed
may have been a good idea, but they don’t seem to produce as much as hybrids. I’m
thinking about saving the seeds and planting hybrids this year.

On March 23, Sara June Traherne joined the family. It was Mona’s birthday and her
present was the daughter we wanted. I had a present, but I’d wait until she came home
from the hospital. She informed me she was going to stay an extra day for something to
do with her belly button. I found out it was a postpartum tubal ligation. The night before,
lights in formation were seen over Phoenix and speculation was that it was UFOs.

We had the crops in when a decision was reached about the Oklahoma City Bomber,
Timothy McVeigh, in Denver. Guilty on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy. The jury
sentenced him to death. Later this year, Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris. On the
ranch, it was the same old, same old. Maria is doing the garden again this year and

54
June is helping out. As a result, the garden is full sized. It had been two years since the
fuel was put in the tank and I added 20 gallons of the PRI-D to the diesel and 2 gallons
of the PRI-G to the gas and a quart of PRI-D to the kerosene before I had the tanks
topped off. We didn’t use much kerosene, only 46 gallons. We still hadn’t bought a car.

The generator was set up to exercise automatically and that didn’t use much of the die-
sel. We did fill our vehicles from the diesel and the gas tanks and we had the money.
Prices of everything were rising; fuel, food and everything we consumed. Commodities
like grain, beef and pork were a seesaw of prices, up and down like a yoyo. Planting the
hybrid corn, soy beans, oats, barley and wheat had increased our crop yields and we
were forced to add more storage space. We put in round galvanized grain bins to the
left of the dome, looking out of the back door of the house. The elevator raised their
rates this year for processing and mixing our COB. Grain prices were up and beef and
hog prices down, depending on the market.

Not only did we get our daughter for Mona’s birthday, John gave Mona a Marlin 1895
Cowboy. He said the ammo in the storage room was for her rifle. On my birthday, I re-
ceived the second of the pair of 1895 Cowboys he’d purchased for us. They’d be great if
a buffalo drifted by the ranch. The other shoe fell at Christmas. We each received 1894
Cowboys in .45 Colt.

“What’s next, Mona, SAA in .45 Colt in all three barrel lengths?”

“He told you?”

“Told me? No, I was being facetious. Are you trying to tell me something? I had to ask
around to find out what you meant when you said you had a belly button procedure. Are
you telling me that we’re going to receive Colt revolvers?”

“Yes, the Cavalry models for our birthdays in Paladin holsters and the shorter barrel
models in Laredoan Crossdraw rigs for Christmas.”

“Mona, it will be the 21st Century in two more years. I’m not being ungrateful and I ap-
preciate the sentiment, but really!”

“Did you ever stop and think that these gifts are part of our preps? Haven’t you listened
to my father discussing the merits of firearms in ‘black powder’ calibers?”

“That was when I was so angry with him over his upgrades to the shelter. Should we
buy some lead?”

“Monty at the tire store has been saving used wheel weights for me since the two of you
had that conversation. They’re stored in that first floor storage space behind the walls in
the dome.”

“How much do you have?”

55
“I really don’t know. Bob or Harry Jr. hauled them from the pickup to the storage and al-
ways complain about me causing them to get hernias. I think it must be a lot. But wheel
weights are heavy.”

“This, I’ve got to see.”

I went into the tack/storage room in the dome and found 9 pails full of wheel weights. I
tried to pick one up and almost gave myself a hernia because it wouldn’t budge. How
did the boys move those heavy pails?

“Did you find them?”

“Yes. We have nine pails full. I tried to pick one up and couldn’t do it. How do the boys
move pails that heavy?”

“They don’t. I get the weights in fifty pound pails. They dump them together and give me
back the empty pails. The next time I’m in town, I return the empty pails to Marty. Lead
weighs, what, about 708 pounds per cubic foot and the pails are six gallons which is
eight tenths of a cubic foot. That pail you tried to pick up weighs around 565 pounds,
give or take.”

“I’m happy I didn’t try to kick it.”

“Temper, temper. You would have broken your foot. She’s done eating and from the
smell of it, dirty. I’m going to give her a bath and put her down.”

Nine pails of lead at 565 pounds per pail are 5,085 pounds of lead. One pound of lead is
7,000gr. We have enough wheel weights to make 36 million grains worth of bullets. The
.45 Colt bullet is usually 250gr and the .45-70 Government bullets we have are 405gr. I
think we’ll stop after we have another pail filled. If anything ever happens, we can sup-
ply the state of Colorado with lead bullets. I’d better tell John that he doesn’t need to
buy any more lead.

I knew that John had been buying Pyrodex granular manufactured by Hodgdon. He had
powder measures, one each for the volumetric of 20gr through 70gr in 5 grain incre-
ments. Knowing how he’s been doing things, I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a second
casting setup and powder measures for us. The original black powder loads for .45 Colt
called for 28 to 40 grains (1.8 to 2.6 g) of black powder behind a 230-to-255-grain (15 to
16.5 g) lead bullet. Original loads used a 40-grain (2.6 g) powder charge and 250-grain
(16 g) bullet. This was reduced to 35-grains (2.3 g) of powder, and later, by the Army, to
28-grains (1.8 g).

The SAAs, came in three barrel lengths. The 7½” was the Cavalry model. The 5½” was
the Artillery model and the 4¾” the Gunfighter/civilian model. With the adoption of the
Colt Single Action Army revolver in 1873, the service cartridges were copper cased .45

56
center fire Benét inside primed “Colt’s Revolver Cartridges” loaded with 30 grains of
black powder and an inside lubricated bullet of 250 grains.

Reasonably sure that we’d be getting the firearms and gun leather Mona described, I
studied up on the subject of loading the modern smokeless powder firearms with black
powder/Pyrodex. [A common style of inside-primed cartridge developed by Col. S V
Benét commander of Frankford Arsenal in the late 1860s. It was used extensively in
early US military ammunition. A copper or iron cup was secured inside the head of the
case by characteristic crimps. This cup served as an anvil to enable the firing pin to ac-
tivate the priming mixture and also to reinforce the head of the case.]

During 1998, January was an especially bad month for Bill Clinton. Mid-month, Paula
Jones accused him of sexual harassment. Monica Lewinsky signed an affidavit in the
Jones case denying that she and Bill a relationship, a friend who she told otherwise
turned tapes of the phone conversations over to the Independent Counsel who was in-
vestigating Clinton. There’s more but let me keep it in sequence.

The Unabomber pled guilty and accepted a sentence of life without the possibility of pa-
role. An earthquake killed more than 5,000 in Afghanistan. Dale won the Dayton 500 on
his 20th try. In mid-February there was a tornado outbreak in Florida killing 42. A heavy
earthquake hit Iran in mid-March, but who cares? There was the Jonesboro massacre
with five killed. The shooters were 2 kids. During April, tornadoes hit Birmingham, Ala-
bama and Nashville, Tennessee. During May, India and Pakistan took turns exploding
nukes and Afghanistan had another earthquake killing another 5,000.

On the girls’ birthday, Sara got clothing and a doll. Mona got her Paladin rig, complete
with sterling silver Paladin. I’ll have to admit, I drooled. I had to be careful and not let it
show. Harry and I had been discussing this year’s crops and decided to plant the heir-
looms for new seed. We had all of the crops in before they made Ben Hur the President
of the NRA.

July brought a new disaster, a tsunami, striking New Guinea and killing 1,500. Of course
we’re paying attention to disasters, we’re Preppers. Some nutcase kills two cops in the
Capitol and Monica is granted immunity. Poor Bill. In August with our crops looking
good, bombs are exploded in two of our embassies killing 224 and injuring 4,500. Fol-
lowing reports said the bombing are linked to a guy named bin Laden, a Saudi.

My revolver and holster are identical to Mona’s except for waist size and date of receipt.
Paul was allowed to ride his yearling for a few seconds on Independence Day, his birth-
day. Bill Clinton finally came clean on August 19. I knew it all the time. The following
day, we launched Tomahawk cruise missiles against al Qaeda in Afghanistan and
against a chemical factory in the Sudan. It was a good strike, no one killed in Afghani-
stan, apparently, and we destroyed a pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum.

Richard Jewell, the guard suspected of the Atlanta bombing during the Olympics in ’96
is beginning to look innocent. Someone else is charged with that bombing and three

57
others. Jesse Ventura is elected as the Governor of Minnesota. I thought the Predator
killed him (not really). And, finally Bill is impeached by the House.

We had a very good year. The crops yields were the highest they’d ever been for the
heirloom seeds. We sold all of our four-year-olds and two three-year olds. We did well
on beef and pork sales too. We ended the year with the best bank balance we’d had
since we’d married. Just before Christmas John called and was excited. The spot price
of gold was the lowest it had been all year. We invested about $29 thousand and
bought one hundred ounces in the one ounce bar form. By May of the following year, it
was down to $268 and we bought another 100 bars.

By September, it was around $255 an ounce and we ignored him when he said ‘Buy
more, it will go up.” I started to watch the commodity markets for more than the price of
grain and livestock. The gold price was a worse yoyo than grain or livestock. We held.

Sorry about that. Back to the previous Christmas, the gun rigs were more impressive
than I had imagined. It was too cold to go shooting, unfortunately. We hadn’t been prac-
ticing as we should have, limiting it to once per quarter. We simply hadn’t had the time.
Bob had graduated the previous year and he was on the payroll too. Maria agreed to
continue helping with the garden and canning in exchange for a portion and the beef,
pork and canned goods. We already gave them a side of beef and a hog plus milk and
eggs. We agreed if she would return the empty jars.

It’s hard to do much on a ranch during a Colorado winter. You mostly tend to the stock,
milk, collect eggs, wash eggs and so forth. By now we produced enough milk that the
dairy picked it up. We had to run a stainless steel line through the wall of the dome and
build a housing around it to keep it clean. It wasn’t much additional trouble to drill a hole
for a hot water line so the driver could wash everything with hot water before he hooked
up and flipped the switch to pump the milk.

Between when the shelter was built and early 1999, we had finished stocking the store-
room. We didn’t limit the stocking to food. We had all the disposables, like tissue, cloth-
ing in sizes from baby to full growth. Mostly jeans, shirts, socks, underwear and sneak-
ers. We didn’t stock boots due to the cost and the uncertainty about the choice of heel,
etc. Mona and I had spare boots but only because we were full size. We added to the
medical supplies too, including blood stoppers.

All through the years, she maintained her weight. If she had put on extra weight during a
pregnancy, nursing, diet and exercise saw her back in form by the time she finished
nursing. The good side of that coin was she had several sizes of clothing and the bad
side was she had several sizes of clothing. I know; it doesn’t make sense when I read
what I wrote. I preferred the smaller sized clothing. I had the perfect program to stay in
shape, we owned a ranch. I need say nothing more.

In late January 2000, an earthquake hit Columbia killing over 1,000. King Hussein of
Jordan died of cancer and the glove didn’t fit, Bill was acquitted. We were in a peace-

58
keeping role in Kosovo and on March 27, an F-117 Nighthawk was shot down. A sec-
ond was later hit and damaged but returned to base. It never flew again.

We had our own Jonesboro in Littleton when two punks opened fire on their classmates
and teachers. They killed 12 fellow students, 1 teacher and themselves. The DJIA
closed above 11,000 for the first time on May 3 rd and on the same day, a tornado out-
break occurred, lasting three days and spawning 140 tornadoes. An F5 hit Moore Okla-
homa. Moore seemed to be a tornado target and this one killed 38 people. George
Bush, Jr. announced he’ll run for President and the Phillips explosion in Pasadena,
Texas killed three. In July, a flash flood in Las Vegas killed two.

JFK Jr. was killed in a plane crash. His passengers included his wife and his sister-in-
law. The Mercury capsule that Gus Grissom lost was recovered from the Atlantic
Ocean. Supposedly the last flight of the SR-71 occurred. NASA has some at Edwards
AFB in California and they’re still flying. In total there are something like six of the
planes in flight worthy condition. They not often flown because a single flight costs
about $350,000,

During the same month, October, an Egypt Air flight is flown into the Atlantic by the co-
pilot killing 217. Let me explain my intention in recounting current events. Most are dis-
asters of one kind of another, highlighting the propriety of our becoming Preppers. Oth-
ers are simply interesting, unusual occurrences. Like when the Texas Aggie bonfire col-
lapsed killing 12. People die every day and it’s not always some tragic event. Joe Di-
Maggio died of lung cancer at age 84.

This year wasn’t quite as good as the previous. We sold fewer horses, and began to
give thoughts to expanding our services to include a riding stable. After a serious finan-
cial analysis and examining our potential market, we discarded the plan. We did begin
boarding horses, preferably those we raised and sold. That would discriminate against
people who had bought from other breeders and we opened it up to any horse regard-
less of source. We put Bob in charge of the stable operations which were slow to build.

The constant news was this Y2K computer bug. The problem, it seemed, was that data-
bases had been set up with two digits for the year number. Therefore the field had to be
expanded to three digits. The simple explanation was that the base year had been 1900
and the year 2000 would require three digits, if I understand it right. Those that used the
YYYYMMDD format avoided the problem.

The Huntley was raised. Clive Cussler, an author, was deeply involved in the project.
He was the author of several Dirk Pitt novels. On other naval matters, the USS Cole
was bombed in Yemen, killing 17 crew members and injuring an additional 39. Hillary
runs for and is elected as a Senator from New York. Bill opens an office in Harlem. The
election results in the Presidential race between Bush Jr. and Gore are uncertain and
pertain to votes cast in Florida. It goes all the way to SCOTUS where the court stops the
recount giving the election to Bush. I don’t recall mentioning the Chernobyl disaster

59
back in 1986. Everyone knows what happened, I’m sure. The plant was fully shut down
on December 15th.

Despite the lower income this year, I was considering a new sniping rifle. The company
in Phoenix that makes the fiberglass stocks for Springfield Armory, McMillan, is reported
close to releasing a bolt action .50BMG caliber rifle that rumored to be the most accu-
rate of all rifles of that type.

“I found your diary. I talked myself into reading it, sorry.”

“It wasn’t secret. I tried to go back and remember important events that would justify our
new lifestyle. Natural and human caused disasters. There was no shortage of either. It’s
our insurance against just about any kind of disaster we could possibly face and some
we won’t.

“For example, we have very little risk of a hurricane in northeastern Colorado. I realize
now that John’s primary focus is WW III. And the preps we’ve made will cover that and
close to every other kind of disaster we might face. If you’re asking if I’m fully involved in
the Preparation lifestyle it’s an unequivocal yes. Despite all of the guns in our collection,
I’m thinking about one addition, a .50 caliber sniper rifle.”

“A Barrett?”

“No, your father has one of those. I heard on the grapevine that a company in Phoenix
is about to release a new rifle in .50BMG, called the Tac-50. It’s supposed to be re-
leased this year.”

”How’s it compare with Barrett?”

“I heard that the company guarantees it will shoot 0.5 MOA or less using Match ammo.”

“Ok. The $64 question. How much?”

“I don’t know for sure. The rumor mill says the rifle is available as a standalone or in a
package, which includes some freebies.”

“Remember the dealer where we went for the shotguns, Beretta and AR-15?”

“Right, he seemed to specialize in military rifles. I’ll find the invoice and call to see if they
can get one and if they can’t when it will be available.”

“Any other firearms on your must have list?”

“Not at the moment, but you never know. That Y2K deal fizzled. I’m guessing that some
people, who bought gold as a hedge, might be selling, dropping the price again. On an-
other subject, we should melt down those wheel weights and cast the lead into ingots.”

60
“Did you ever decide on biodiesel?”

“No, I haven’t. It seems that many more people are growing either soy beans or rape
seed for raw materials. We might get a small processor and give it a try. It’s not some-
thing I want to tie up a lot of our capital in and not use it.”

I didn’t tell Mona that I really liked those Steyr AUGs John had. I liked them for several
reasons, first and foremost the gas piston. Gas pistons were a proven technology. At
one time, I almost bought a Ruger Mini-14 based solely on that fact. I tried a friend’s
and found it to be compact, comfortable to carry and somewhat inaccurate. In the end, I
couldn’t bring myself to buy one because of the accuracy issue. If Ruger ever overcame
that problem, I might buy one.

Considering the number of folks who liked the AR-15, I wondered if I was being irration-
al. It shot well enough and it got a thorough cleaning every time we fired it. Mona espe-
cially liked it because the low recoil. While an unnecessary expense, I bought a loaded
version M1A in ’97, the year after the model came out. It was primarily a backup rifle
that Mona could use if she felt she needed more firepower than the M1 Carbine pro-
duced.

We weren’t ‘gun poor’ because most of what we had had been inherited from my late
father. Those that weren’t inherited were occasional purchases or gifts. The number of
gift firearms outnumbered the purchased firearms. If we bought a .50 caliber, we’d
probably start out using surplus ball ammo. We’d go with Lake City if it was available.
The other choices included the M33 Barrett sold and any Match grade ammo on the
market.

Each of our children had firearms put up for them when they were old enough to shoot,
all lever action rifles and single action revolvers in .22LR. Both boys had his own horse
and from Paul’s 5th birthday forward, he was allowed to ride as long as he had an es-
cort. Dean turned 3 in 2000. Because neither boy was deemed to be old enough, the
rifle scabbards on their saddles remained empty and only Paul was learning to ride.

We had selected a third colt for Sara. Paul, Dean and Sara were each two years apart.
If you’ll recall, they were born in ’93, ’95 and ’97. Our babies were growing. Paul would
turn 8, Dean 6 and Sara 4. It will be only one more year before she learns to ride too.
Paul had entered kindergarten in 98 and Dean this past year. Sara will start at the be-
ginning of the 2002 school year.

Despite the Movie 2001, we weren’t on our way to Jupiter. However, on January 1st, a
black monolith was placed in a Seattle park by an unknown artist. We agreed to buy
Paul and Dean the same M1A model I bought for Mona and as a backup. We discussed
doing the same for Sara. Mona suggested we wait awhile before deciding between a
five-five-six and a seven-six-two. When I ordered the rifles for the boys, I ordered three

61
rather than two. Despite what I’ve said, I’ll not buy another AR-15 until they’re available
with a piston. It’s just a matter of time before someone starts building them.

This time the large earthquake occurred in El Salvador killing 800+ and another oc-
curred in India killing 12,000+. One of our subs struck a Japanese trawler, sinking it and
El Salvador has a second earthquake killing 400+. Houston was hit by a tropical storm
killing 22 and causing $5 billion worth of damage.

On Tuesday, September 11th, two hijacked jet airliners struck the World Trade Center
Towers in New York, killing nearly 3,000. A third struck the Pentagon and a fourth
crashed in Pennsylvania. A week later, anthrax attacks begin on selected individuals. It
took the US less than a month to attack Afghanistan looking for bin Laden, the master-
mind behind the attacks. In addition, Bush signed the USA PATRIOT Act.

Mona taped the coverage of 9/11. We were absolutely horrified. As the details came out
about the crash in Shanksville, we were gratified to know that America still produced he-
roes. There were so many heroes on 9/11, airline passengers, New York City Fireman
and Policeman.

Dale died in a last lap crash during his 21st Dayton 500 appearance. Over the course of
this year, the number of deaths a famous people skyrocketed.

I bought Mona her first string of black pearls, a uniform princess strand, and matching
black pearl studs. She reciprocated on my birthday with a Tac-50. Black pearls are ex-
pensive but didn’t cost nearly as much as the rifle. It was the complete set they sell for
around nine grand. She paid extra for the Night Force scope and applied for the tax
stamp for a Jet titanium suppressor. She included five ten-round boxes of 750gr Horna-
dy A-MAX Match.

It was October and we spent one Saturday firing all of the ‘cowboy guns’, the Tac-50
and refreshing our skills with our primary carry firearms. It was a family day that includ-
ed us and John and June. John was suitably impressed with the new .50 caliber rifle.

“You’ve done well out here on the ranch, you two. I had some doubts in the beginning
and am thankful there was no reason for those doubts. You’re soul mates if there ever
was such a thing. We have three wonderful grandchildren, each special in his or her
way. We’ve nearly completed writing off the personal loan and when that’s done, we’re
going to start in on those things we put in the company name. I’ll ‘buy’ them from the
company as gifts for your family.

“We’ll probably do the generator first and then the tanks. It’s going to take some time to
buy the fuel, so be patient. Mona says you’re keeping the tanks topped off. That was my
intention. Sometimes I simply forget the fine print. Alan, since you’ve provided the kids
with battle rifles, June and I are going to continue in our own way with the old time fire-
arms; one complete set for each grandchild. What happened last month proved to us

62
that a person has to prepare for the future. We’re very grateful you joined the communi-
ty of Preppers.”

“John, you know I meant what I said that day. You have a lifetime supply of anything we
produce our here on the ranch. When your geldings get beyond their prime, we’ll re-
place them and shift your old ones to the riding stable.”

“I thought you abandoned those plans.”

“We did and went to boarding horses. That hasn’t proven to amount to much and we do
get an occasional request to rent a horse for a ride. Mona and I haven’t discussed it,
yet. From the look in her eye, that will happen tonight, before any final decision is
reached.”

“She does have ‘that look’ as you posed it.”

“She made arrangements to collect used wheel weights. That’s why I called and asked
you to hold off on buying more lead. If we could, I’d like to borrow your casting equip-
ment and turn those weights into ingots.”

“I’ll just give you the equipment we bought for the two of you. Would that be ok?”

“I’ve come to know you pretty well. I suspected you had purchased casting equipment.
You can’t help yourself, can you?”

“Not really. You married the apple of my eye, Daddy’s little girl, and gave us our only
grandchildren.”

“Did you spoil her bringing her up?”

“I don’t think we did. Does she seem spoiled to you?”

“Only once and that was years back.”

“The Prom?”

“Yes. You know what happened?”

“She told June and June told me. I was really tempted to teach Jeff some manners.
He’s lucky June restrained me. In a way, it’s funny how things turn out. Not long after,
Jeff’s father lost his job and came to me looking for work. I suppose I must have
thought, ‘like father, like son’. I didn’t hire him. I’ve wondered a time or two whether I did
the right thing. No matter, Jeff was what his parents raised him to be and I have no re-
grets.”

63
“We planned an indoor picnic. There’re slow cooking baby back ribs in the oven. You
will stay for the picnic, won’t you?”

“I don’t know. June?”

“Mona said they have a small liquor cabinet stocked with your favorites, if that’s holding
you back. I’d like to try those ribs.”

“Sure, we’ll stay, because of the ribs, not the liquor. When did you start buying liquor?”

“After you gave me my first mixed drink. We didn’t limit it Canadian Club, either. I just
recently bought six bottles of Jack Daniels Single Barrel. We actually have Jack Black,
Gentleman Jack and Single Barrel. Our liquor supply will last us for years.”

“I’d like to try that Single Barrel. You finished filling the storeroom, I understand?”

“Yes sir, food, clothing, disposables and medical supplies including some of those new
blood stoppers.”

“It’s good that you did it now that we’re at war in Afghanistan. I wonder if Junior is going
to clean up after his father.”

“Are you referring to Iraq?”

“I most certainly am. You know we have those no fly zones in the north and south. The
northern is areas of Iraq north of the 36th parallel and the southern is the areas south of
the 33rd parallel. Saddam has a standing reward offer of $14,000 for anyone who shoots
down a British or American plane. Mark my words, our government is up to something
and I believe it will lead to an invasion of Iraq.”

We returned to the house and cleaned up. After getting drinks for June and Mona, John
and I opened the first bottle of Single Barrel. The flavor was unique and very smooth. I
read up on the product at their website and no two barrels were exactly the same. I in-
tended to see if the liquor store had, or could get, another 6 bottle case from the same
lot.

After dinner, the children were bathed and sent to bed. Mona had opened a bottle of the
Grand Marnier and poured us each a small after dinner drink.

“Where did you get those Steyr AUGs?”

“The same place I got the G3s. Beyond that, I’d rather not say. I will tell you that they
aren’t on any registry, at least in this country. Are you looking to get an AUG?”

“I’d like to have a five-five-six with a gas piston that isn’t a Mini-14.”

64
“H&K makes that G-36.”

“In the US?”

“No, I believe they’re made in Germany.”

“That means that the only select fire versions that can be imported are for the military
and law enforcement.”

“Why would you want select fire versions?”

“From my reading, I understand that 95% of the time, you don’t need full auto. The other
5% of the time, it’s used when you’re ambushed, ambushing or as suppressive fire.”

“Figured that out, did you?”

“Yes sir. If something were to ever happen, it might be one of those cases of ‘would you
rather have it and not need it, or need it and not have it’?”

“You read the Prep forums?”

“What forums?”

“Websites dedicated to preparedness and related subjects.”

“I haven’t heard about them.”

“Do a search using the term preparedness websites. There are some that come up with
lists of sites. That expression you used frequently appears on those websites.”

“I heard the expression a few years back. I don’t remember where or from whom.”

“Registered full auto weapons are a hassle. On the other hand, get caught with an un-
register NFA firearm can get you ten years.”

“NFA?”

“The National Firearms Act of 1934; the law that was passed to control automatic
weapons, sawed off shotguns and silencers, among other things.”

“The tax stamp that Mona had to get to buy the suppressor?”

“That’s right. In 1934, $200 was a large sum of money as opposed to the present time.
You could always get a Mini-14 and have a gunsmith accurize it.”

65
“I’ll wait until someone develops something like gas piston for the AR-15. I may get my
rifle converted and if it’s what I want, we’ll buy more of the same.”

“You could always by a Ruger AC-556.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s the select fire Mini-14. They have as many bad points as good points. For example,
they’re semi-auto, 3 round burst and full-auto. They use a piston. They come in the 18”
and 13” barrels. The safety is the same as the one on the Mini-14. They overheat, bad-
ly, if fired for extended periods. Ruger only sells them to law enforcement and military.
And, last but not least, they’re expensive.”

“What do you recommend?”

“I think you’re probably right, someone will offer a piston rifle or conversion kit one of
these days. Your AR has the 20” barrel, flashhider and bayonet lug. Wait for the con-
version. Other than that, you’d have to get on the black market and buy a G-36. That’s
where I got my rifles. You never know who might have what you need.

“The guy who sold me mine got caught and is doing time. I only knew his name by acci-
dent and he didn’t know mine. It’s probably not a good time to be shopping around to
find the black market, either. Wait and see if the Assault Weapons Ban sunsets in 2004.
If it does, you’ll probably see all kinds of semi-autos that fit the bill.”

“I’ll probably do that John. I’m tempted to ask you to sell me two of your G-3s and two of
your AUGs. I won’t ask because if the time ever comes we need one, we’ll know where
to go.”

“Very good thinking.”

I was thinking something different, “It will be a long time before we’ll ever need these
preparations. When we do, there’ll probably half a dozen or more short stroke piston ri-
fles on the market and we’ll have our own. If not, Mona will have probably have inherit-
ed her father’s. Just be patient, Alan, it’s a win-win situation.”

“There for a minute I thought you were trying to talk Daddy into selling you four rifles.”

“Nope, we’ll buy our own when they’re available.”

“So you meant what you said?”

“Oh, I had a couple of other thoughts, but they’re not important for now.”

There was an ongoing dialogue about whether the US and/or Britain would take on Iraq.
The US activities were notched up a bit in the southern no fly zone and some wondered

66
if the US and Britain coalition was softening up Iraq as a prelude to war. Much of the fol-
lowing year, 2002, saw more and more rhetoric. Based on faulty intelligence, Colin
Powell made a presentation to the United Nations on February 5, 2003 to argue in favor
of military actions. He asserted that “there can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has
biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more.”

On March 20, only six weeks later, Operation Iraqi Freedom began. The Iraqi Survey
Group failed to find any weapons of mass destruction. Some weapons were found,
however they proved to be abandoned chemical weapons predating 1991. The coalition
forces completed the occupation of the country by May.

Junior flew to the Abraham Lincoln and announced the end of combat operations. His
statement was overconfident and it was more like the beginning than the end. Clearly
visible in the background was a banner stating “Mission Accomplished” prepared by the
White House staff and supplied at the request of the Navy. I doubt there is anyone alive
who was unaware of what a major blunder that was.

It was only correct that Baghdad had been captured along with some major cities.
Phase two of the operation was the occupation. The British occupied Basra and the re-
maining coalition members the remainder of Iraq. Compared to the First Gulf War, this
coalition could be properly termed ‘the coalition of the few’.

Several nations declined to participate and Turkey declined use of their territory to allow
movement of troops from the north. As the occupation continued, guerilla forces mount-
ed a series of ongoing attacks and developed a new weapon to use against coalition
forces, the Improvised Explosive Device (IED). Military Explosive Ordnance Disposal
teams were working overtime and the body count continued to rise.

In the late 20th and early 21st Centuries, the folks back home no longer accepted mas-
sive body counts like we had in Vietnam. Additionally, pressure was quickly brought by
the population and the Congress against the war. Unlike Vietnam, there were no mass
shootings of college students or draft card burning. This time around, the protests were
more controlled and we learned of Cindy Sheehan and the Westboro Baptist Church.
Mrs. Sheehan son’s Casey was killed in 2004 by the Mahdi Army established by a cleric
name al-Sadr.

There’s no reason to relate more because as of January 2011, we haven’t completed

the drawdown. Operation Enduring Freedom, the operation in Afghanistan and other
locations is also ongoing and they simply can’t find bin Laden. Saddam was located in
late 2003 and found hiding in an underground shelter (Operation Red Dawn). He was
tried and convicted of War Crimes and executed on December 30, 2006, three years
after his capture.

67
Back to the present, 2002. There’s an expression used to describe combat and other
activities; hours of boredom followed/interspersed with moments of sheer terror. It’s a
good description of ranching if you omit the moments of sheer terror. Ranching is hard
work even if you have a small staff of hardworking hired hands. We basically had 3½
hired hands; three fulltime and one parttime (Maria).

Harry Jr. had been dating a lovely young lady from Sterling and when he proposed, she
accepted. He was a good hand and when he approached us about adding a second
singlewide next to his folks, we checked the available space and agreed.

I made him rent the trencher for the plumbing and electrical trenches. When he had that
finished, I gave him the number of the plumber we used. One of his high school class-
mates was an apprentice plumber and he hired him instead. Since Bob would probably
find himself in the same position in 2-3 years, we paid for the materials to run the septic,
water and propane lines for two mobile homes.

It still cost him an hour’s labor for the journeyman plumber training his friend to check
everything out and sign off on the installations. We had good yields from both the gar-
den and field crops. We sold two batches of hogs, just shy to 500 in total, keeping back
seven. We also sold 19 cattle, keeping back three. The cattle and hogs went to the
butcher plant and the meat was divided with John and June, and each of us getting a
side, and Harry and Maria, Harry Jr. and Bob each getting a side and a hog.

Harry and Maria dug into their savings and helped each of the boys buy a good, used
singlewide. The boys still ate most of their meals with their parents but supplied meat
and eggs from their shares. Harry Jr. and Crystal were married in late June and she
helped Maria with the garden for a share of the produce. When Mona began planning to
make her mother’s pasta sauce, she added Roma tomatoes to the garden crops.

We had expanded our chicken flock and were selling a case a week of eggs after divid-
ing them up. We gave Harry and Maria and each of the boys a dozen per week. John
and June got a tray (18) as did we.

We butchered broilers early and the layers towards the end of the year as baking hens.

Our fall grain harvest was the best we’d had to date. We had expanded the garden by
25% and the canned goods were also shared. Paul turned 9 and we gave him his 9422.
We’d give him the Single Six for Christmas and the shotgun on his following birthday.
We’d selected Remington Express combos and had them put up. I gave Mona the Mat-
inee strand of black pearls for her birthday. Paul was becoming a skilled rider and Dean
was on the way as was Sara who was allowed to ride escorted.

Towards the end of the year, we converted our two hundred ounces of gold bars to gold
coins. We got American Eagles, 50 ounces of each denomination. We added $1000
face of mixed silver junk coins and 200 Silver Eagles. Back when we hired Harry Jr., we
decided to use a local bookkeeping service to handle the payroll, payroll taxes and

68
ranch accounting records. She also prepared the estimated taxes and deposited the
payments at the bank.

I haven’t mentioned Mom much because after Mac died she moved to the same area
where Julie and Bob lived. Monsanto had disposed of that facility and Bob was working
at another plant. I think it’s in Alabama or Louisiana. Wherever it is, Mom bought the
house and they live with her or vice versa. Mac’s home brought a good price and he
had a large insurance policy on the order of $100,000 and a separate $10,000 policy to
cover burial costs.

Mom called regularly to check up on the kids and check on ranch operations. She
seemed to time her calls to when I was working in the barns or fields. I was too busy to
worry about it and Mona was filling me in on each call.

“You’ve got a gray hair.”

“No way, I’m only 33.”

“I don’t care how old you are, you have a gray hair.”

“Pluck it out please.”

“It will just come back.”

“If it does you can pluck it again.”

Speaking of insurance, I had the life insurance I bought when I bought the ranch. It was
a $200,000 paid at sixty-five policy from Northwestern Mutual. We got Mona the same.
John had purchased a single payment whole life policy on each of the kids after they
were born and insurable, just in case (final expenses). We were keeping the payments
up on our two policies and from one viewpoint; one could consider them to be just a part
of our Preps.

Remember how I got into preps because of a grain mill? We looked at the Country Liv-
ing Mills including the motorized version. We bought a Diamant 525 from Lehman’s with
spare parts and the motor/pulley set. We got the flaker from Canning Pantry and picked
up the order ourselves at their ‘Will Call’.

We did a little sightseeing along the way, checking out Monument Valley and Zion. June
came to the house to keep an eye on the kids. We rented an enclosed U-Haul trailer in
Salt Lake City on the way up with drop off to be in Denver.

The trailer was filled to the brim with regular and wide mouth quarts, regular mouth pints
and regular mouth jelly jars. We also bought various spices and premixes plus two cas-

69
es of each size lid. We did buy one other thing, a large hot air popcorn popper. Mona
had heard of a company named Tattler that made ‘reusable lids’ and was going to
check it out.

It seemed like our expenses were rising faster than our income. We began looking at
our income versus our expenses. The income had been rising, which we already knew.
The costs of raising livestock consisted of two elements, quantity of purchases and
costs of the purchases.

The quantities were in line with the increase in head of livestock. The costs, however,
were rising disproportionately. It wasn’t any one thing either. The elevator was charging
more for processing and supplements. The vet had increased his fees. We tried to time
our fuel purchases when prices were down and discovered that down was relative.

“There’s no doubt about it, Alan, we need to raise our prices.”

“Mona, I don’t know how much the market can bear. People don’t use horses these
days like they did in old times.”

“One hundred a head would cover the additional expenses. The beef and pork are con-
trolled by market forces as are the eggs. Since our fuel tanks are huge, we don’t have to
fill them as a matter of course. We’ll do much better if we let the prices fall. You watch
the commodities, you better start watch the price of crude oil too.

“I’ll watch the news and try to find those stories pertaining to ‘larger reserves than ex-
pected’ and ‘unexpected increases in imports’. Either of those will indicate a glut and
falling prices. We can also time our purchases to coincide with the construction compa-
nies’ and Daddy’s personal purchases.”

“Our savings are increasing but not producing as much income. I don’t understand the
stock market and I’m not interesting in learning. A person would think that after all these
years of ranching, it would be getting easier rather than harder.”

On February 1st, returning from a mission of 16 days in orbit, space shuttle Columbia
burned up during reentry. They eventually figured out that a hunk of foam insulation
from the fuel tank struck the left wing of the shuttle creating a hole in the leading edge.

As mentioned when I got ahead of myself, we invaded Iraq and accomplished the mis-
sion in early 2003. Except, well, I’ve covered that. In late May, another earthquake oc-
curred. This one was in Algeria and killed around 2,200. They caught the guy accused
of the Olympic bombing.

We had the crops in and they were emerging and this could be a good year. We had a
well drilled at a point in the 320 that we used for crops to cover us if we didn’t get
enough rain. The driller suggested an electric pump with a solar setup and we took the

70
risk. The only other option was digging a very long trench and burying the power cables,
which was cost prohibitive.

They charged that famous cook and her broker with obstructing justice and something
else. A former CIA agent had her identity revealed by Robert Novak. He’s probably
proud of himself. It’s a hot summer, causing power outages here and there, including a
big one in the northeast and Canada. And, the price of fuel rose sharply.

There were too many terrorist attacks around the world to count and I stopped trying. It
may be a sign of the times and a high percentage involved Muslims. Around Christmas
Mad Cow Disease was reported in Washington State.

Each of our children received some kind of firearm on their birthdays. Mona and I began
the long process of continuing education on firearms safety and teaching them to shoot.
I gave Mona the choker strand of black pearls to match her other stands. All things be-
ing equal, she’ll have a full set in two more years. She gave me a gift of equal value, a
half case of Hornady A-MAX Match 750gr for my rifle.

As seems the case these days, a whole lot of famous people died, including Mr. Rog-
ers.

During 2004, it was same ol’ same ol’. We have money set back at the end of the year,
earmarked for those rifles I want. Of note, to us, was the sunset of the Assault Weapons
Ban. We can once again buy high capacity magazines. Weather wise, it was a bad hur-
ricane season.

We nudged up our horse prices $100 and sold just as many as we had in 2003. Things
were looking good near the end of the year when there was an earthquake just off the
coast of Sumatra generating a huge tsunami. It rolled across the Indian Ocean striking
country after country. The early death toll is put at 187,000 with 40,000 reported miss-
ing. Sometime in 2005, they had a better count and said the death toll was 230,000+.

Each of our children has their firearms including the 9422, Single Six and Express
Combos. The M1As are still put up and we’re thinking maybe when they’re 13 or 14. It
would be a good time to start them with iron sites and consider a scope once they’re
quite proficient. None of them are quite ready to shoot the shotguns, either.

“Mom and Dad have the Colts bought and put up for the kids. She say’s they’ll buy all
the Marlins during 2005.”

“He’s still on that kick?”

“‘Fraid so. It must have been their year for buying handguns. Mom said that they also
bought two M1911 style .45s and a Browning Hi-Power classic.”

“Do you know which brand of .45?”

71
“No. I doubt they’re Kimber or Colt. Probably Springfield Armory. I can ask if you want.”

“No, just let us be as surprised as the kids.”

If they were buying handguns from Springfield Armory, they should have looked into the
XD series. I’m on Frugal’s Forums these days. I mostly just lurk and read the stories. It’s
amazing what some of these authors come up with. I thought the Three Amigos was the
name of a movie. Apparently their real names are Gary, Ron and Clarence.

To top it off, Mona had misunderstood June. They hadn’t purchased the M1911s yet,
they had them on order. They were on order because they wouldn’t be released to the
public until late 2005. And neither of us had found a short gas piston AR-15.

We did learn what brand of pistol they bought, Taurus. They were the new PT1911B
that is supposed to have a bunch of extra features and were comparing them to 1911s
like the Kimber. They did actually have a lot of extras and had been hand fitted at the
factory in Brazil.

Junior beat John Kerry. There were accusations flying every which way about Kerry’s
service in Vietnam. There were some the other way about Junior’s Air National Guard
service. Junior was sworn in for his second term. There was a big earthquake in Iran
with 500+ killed and 1,000+ injured, but who cares?

On Mona and Sara’s birthday, a refinery in Texas City exploded killing 15 and injuring
170+. The follow month the Pope died and they elected an Austrian to replace him. Our
corn was knee high by the 30th of June. NASA is getting pretty good. On Paul’s birthday,
they hit a comet creating a crater for study. Since all three of the kids had their firearms,
there were no gun gifts this year. Paul will be 13 next year and we might begin the pa-
rade with the M1As.

A few days later, there are a series of terrorist explosions in London. Not long after, a
few weeks anyway, a hurricane hit New Orleans. The death toll was 1,836+ and Louisi-
ana and Mississippi are hurt badly. Junior sent Brownie and Brownie didn’t have a clue.
They finally have to bring in a General, Russel L. Honoré, a Creole from Louisiana, to
sort the mess out. They called him, ‘The Ragin' Cajun’ and he kicked butt and took
names.

Honoré made headlines nationwide when he told a reporter not to get "stuck on stupid"
in reference to a question about the government response to the hurricane. That Mayor
they have should have been shot for failing to prepare the local population of New Orle-
ans. The police department started a gun grab but the NRA finally did something worth
discussing and put a stop to that.

But wait, there’s more. Hurricane Rita was headed for Texas and the Texans knew after
Katrina to evacuate. Except, people didn’t evacuate when told to and others left before

72
they should have resulting in a massive gridlock. In the end, it worked out with only 120
(too many) deaths. Compare that to Katrina. Earthquakes just don’t stop happening.
This one was in the Kashmir and killed ~80,000.

Do you really believe that patience is its own reward? You should, H&K released a se-
ries of rifles based on the M-16 design with one important difference. THEY’RE SHORT
STROKE GAS PISTON OPERATED. We made a mad dash to Denver and had a class
III dealer order one for Mona. Since she had already been checked out by the ATF, she
got the stamp before the rifle was delivered.

“I’m not sure I like that boxy forearm but they do offer a 20” barrel.”

We asked John and June what they thought.

“I think you have a winner here. The rifle uses the same piston system as the G-36
Alan, with all those rails, you could hang everything on that rifle but the kitchen sink.
Can you replace the flashhider with a suppressor?”

“I think it’s possible, I chose the Vortex Flash eliminator. Unless I’m mistaken, Smith En-
terprise makes the Vortex and has a M4DC sound suppressor.”

“Surefire M4FA would be better. You finally got your full-auto. Was it worth the wait?”

“Absolutely. We’ve been setting aside money every year for some time. We may just
buy four more plus five suppressors. Do you think we could do it in one fell swoop or
should we space them out?”

“I’m not sure it really makes any difference. It’s a shame you couldn’t get something un-
registered though.”

“Five times ten is fifty and that’s a long time to spend in prison. I don’t see that we have
any choice. All of these things are listed as military or LEO only but the dealer didn’t
have trouble selling them to Mona.”

“Why Mona?”

“She bought the Jet suppressor. Do you think I should consider a suppressor for the
Super Match?”

“It’s your rifle so if you get one, the suppressor should be in your name. Get a Surefire,
they last longer than the rifle barrel.”

“Oh yeah. These rifles are ten times better. Do you think we should buy match ammo?”

“I wouldn’t. Save your Match ammo money for the M1A and Tac-50.”

73
“Ok, I will. Keep your eye peeled for M855 and M866, if you will.”

“Can do. Did you ever settle on a round for the Super Match?”

“I finally did; Black Hills 175 BTHP match. It’s good ammo.”

“Expensive.”

‘You got that right. Speaking of ammunition, I decided to get some different shells for
the 12 gauge shot guns. Brenneke has that 2¾” Tactical Home Defense round. Oh, and
I finally got two cases of Remington 3” #4 buck.”

“But, you have hunting ammo too, don’t you?”

“Twenty-five hundred rounds each of No 2, 4 and 6 shot. Ammoman had some Lake
City 7.62 NATO FMJ and we bought twenty thousand rounds.”

“If you buy much more ammo and you’re going to have to build a bunker.”

“Not if I can help it. It’s stored in the shelter storeroom with all the rest. The kids can’t
get to it yet and I put a lockset on the storeroom door.”

“Do you have answer for every question?”

“Do you mean other than what we planned for? Not on your life. We have started using
up the old LTS foods and ordering replacements. The kids like several of the things in
those stores, especially the hot chocolate and strawberries. I tried an MRE once and
didn’t care for it. We bought Mountain House in 1, 2 and 4 serving pouches.”

“So what are you missing?”

“Camping equipment in case we had to Bugout.”

“Do you have any idea what you want?”

“One or two Coleman propane stoves with ovens and a larger supply of forty pound
propane bottles. The poles that mount on the tanks and the hoses to connect the
stoves. Perhaps some catalytic tent heaters. We’ll also need the lamps that mount on
the top of the poles. I figure two tents, Mountain Hardware Trango 3.1s. Self-inflating
sleep pads and those Slumber Jack sleep systems. We have a full case of strike any-
where matches if you need some.”

“Katadyn water filters?”

74
“Small ones with spare parts so each pack has one. A Sawyer zero two for the family as
a whole. Two quart Oasis canteens and that ALICE gear that includes the stainless can-
teen, cup and stove. We have more ALICE gear on our shopping list.”

“Full blown Prepper, aren’t you?”

“I’ve been keeping track of natural disasters and some manmade. It seems like there’s a
new one every day.”

“Yep. That’s just life. Think you’ll be finished when you acquired the rifles you men-
tioned?”

“I’d like to think so. I’m sure something will come up and we’ll have to add, ‘just one
more thing’.”

“I like that rifle, did you?”

“I surely did. This is what you’ve been looking for all these years isn’t it?”

“You got me there. John and I discussed it briefly and you and I are going back to that
dealer and order four more rifles, five suppressors and suppressors for the M1As.
There’s something very wrong with our country.”

Mona was as impressed with the HK-416 as John and I were. We drove down to Den-
ver and placed an order for four more of the rifles, five of the M4FA suppressors and 5
7.62 Surefire suppressors for the M1As. The fees for the tax stamps ran almost a three
grand and we had to return to Sterling to get the Sheriff to sign off on the purchases and
take our fingerprints.

“I’ve been meaning to ask. What are those shrubs you’re planting along the fence line?”

“Blackberries; the kind with thorns. They are an added layer of protection. It’s something
I should have done years ago. There are some roses planted too as a source of rose
hips.”

“The blackberries I understand. I dearly love blackberry jam. What do you do with the
rose hips and what exactly are rose hips?”

“They’re the fruit of the rose plant and a source of vitamin C. I can make jam or jelly
from the fruit.”

It didn’t take Mona that long to get the ATF approvals. On the other hand, it took me
seven months. I had a gunsmith mount the fast attach muzzle brake on the barrels.
There was a difference between the Surefire suppressor and the ones from Smith En-

75
terprise. His could be rebuilt and the Surefire couldn’t. But, the Surefire claim was that
theirs would last for 30,000 rounds.

Using standard ammo, none of the suppressors really totally silenced the weapons.
What they did do was quiet the weapons and diffuse the sound. After firing all of the ri-
fles to ensure function, we cleaned them and added them to the gun safe in the shelter
store room.

“If we buy any more firearms, we’re going to need a second safe Alan.”

“I think you’re right. What we have represents all of the American individual military fire-
arms of the 20th century and some from the 19th. Don’t have a Browning Automatic Rifle
or a Thompson submachine gun.”

“Or, a grease gun.”

“The M3?”

“Is that the model number?”

“It’s the military designation. They brought out the M3 during WW II to replace the
Thompson and later upgraded it to M3A1. I’ve seen pictures, but have never actually
seen one.”

“You don’t want the missing firearms?”

“My Great Grandfathers and Grandfathers never carried them or I’m sure they would be
in the collection. There are some things obviously excluded like hand grenades, bazoo-
kas and flame throwers.”

“I’m glad. Having hand grenades in a house with three children isn’t compatible. Mom
and Dad have some smoke grenades Dad bought from some place in Texas. She said
they were military smoke grenades. Are we going to add red dot sights to the HK-
416s?”

“We could. Do you have any particular model in mind?”

“Not really. There are several to choose from, Aimpoint, EOTech and Trijicon. And there
are others that are less expensive that might be just as good.”

“I’m not all that familiar with the sights. I’ll just have to ask around. We might think about
putting the same type of sight on the M1As. I think I’ll talk to John. He seems to stay on
top of subjects like this. Are they expensive?”

“They can be. It would depend on what we bought. A top of the line sight might run $700
or more. Some of the less expensive models are much less. Depending on what a per-

76
son buys, there is an issue of the battery life. If I remember what Mom said, the Trijicon
doesn’t use a battery. She also said that some that use batteries can use up the battery
in only a few hours. I’m sure Daddy knows more so you should talk to him like you men-
tioned.”

“We definitely need to order some five-five-six ammo in large quantities. I’d better get on
the web and see who has the best price listed. Then I can call and negotiate based on a
truck shipment rather than UPS. Aim Surplus is always lower than Ammoman, but his
price includes the shipping. I’ve noticed that his out the door price is much lower so he
might be willing to work a deal if he has what we want.”

“What do we want?”

“I’m leaning towards the M855 and a case or two of the M856 tracers.”

“Don’t you dare buy tracers! I’ll admit they maybe are helpful for a machinegun but we
aren’t shooting machineguns. A tracer would just tell the person we were shooting at
where we were shooting from.”

“Good point. Ok, no tracers. God help us if we ever find ourselves shooting at people.”

“God doesn’t have anything to do with that. He gave human beings free choice. You
saw what happened in New Orleans. I like that General, he’s plain spoken and very
honest.”

“I agree. I think the nickname ‘Ragin Cajun’ really fits.”

For her birthday in 2006, Mona got the final strand of black pearls, the opera length
strand, having received the collar strand the previous year. We started Paul in on the
M1A on the day after his 13th birthday. Sara was, for her age, becoming very accom-
plished on her gelding. Dean was turning out to be the quiet one of the three. He didn’t
have a lot to say; but when he did talk, you’d better listen. You could tell if it was im-
portant because he’d look you right in the eye. He tended to not repeat himself, either.
At eleven, he was nearly as mature as Paul was at thirteen. Paul was a good rider and
Dean was head and shoulders better.

Aim Surplus cut us the best deal and they were closer than Ammoman, reducing the
freight charge. I checked out Ammunition to Go and they were out of the Mil-Spec
smoke grenades.

The year 2006 was calm when compared to other years. There was a mudslide in the
Philippines that killed 1,126. We lost one planet; Pluto was downsized to a dwarf. North
Korea detonated a nuke. Given the size of the detonation, speculation was that it was a
fizzle. I had very few additions to my list of significant events.

77
Our crop output was average and we didn’t sell any grain. Our livestock program did
well in terms of birthing. The sales of pork and beef were good but not spectacular and
the horse sales fell off. A person can tell that we’re getting older because the number of
famous people dying continues to rise. When people have money to spend, they buy
things like horses. When money gets tight, they buy food and fuel first and luxury pur-
chases fall. I’m beginning to wonder about the state of the economy.

We are somewhat less affected because we grow our own meat, produce our own milk
and eggs and have a large garden. Speaking of which, Mona found those permanent
lids, Tattler, and bought enough for double our needs for one year. She also bought the
replacement rings they sell in case a ring got damaged opening a jar. According to the
polls, Junior is losing supporters left and right.

The following year, 2007, was spectacular for the absence of notable natural disasters.
Only two were added to my list. The first was an 8.0 earthquake in Peru that killed 512
and injured 1,500+. The second was the Cyclone that hit Bangladesh killing ~10,000.
The major human caused disaster that I noted was the killing of Benazir Bhutto and
several others in a bomb attack in Pakistan. I think we’re entering a recession.

Activities on the ranch were equally unspectacular; average crops for a second year,
increased birthing and a large sale of pork and beef. Those were coupled with fewer
sales of horses and we shut down the boarding venture. Harry Jr. is now a fully certified
farrier and our long time farrier hung up his hammer, retiring in September.

We had completed filling the large holes in our preparations getting the Trijicon M4
sights for all five M1As and the five HK-416s. The other hole, the camping gear, had
been purchased over a two year period beginning in 2006. Instead of taking the Super
Blackhawk and the 1894, I began to wear the Paladin rig with the Cavalry model revolv-
er and the 1894 Cowboy rifle.

After some research, I discovered that the Massassauga rattlesnake were endemic to
SE Colorado, not NE Colorado, explaining why I’d never actually seen one. The rising
food prices became apparent when we began adding replacement LTS foods to the
storeroom. We continued to add the pails of grain from our crops each year and were
running out of room.

John asked me when the last time I had the radiation equipment calibrated and I was
forced to admit, it hadn’t been recalibrated since he’d put it in the cabinet. Mona and I
packed it all up and sent it off to Texas except for the AMP 200 that went back to Arrow
Tech.

The year 2008 came in with a literal bang. The first terrorist bombing of the year was on
January 1st. My earlier thoughts that we entering a recession were confirmed and we’re
in a recession triggered in large part by the previous year’s subprime mortgage crisis.
We were overjoyed that we weren’t carrying any debt. We decided to take a break in
our horse breeding program because they aren’t selling at all well and our herd is ap-

78
proaching the limit we want to support. The decision came only after the mares were
bred so the decision will affect future years and not the present.

“We should have loaded up on gold and silver when we had the chance.”

“What’s it up to? I stopped following the price.”

“It’s over $800 an ounce for gold and silver is around $17 an ounce.”

“We can’t buy more at those prices.”

“It can still go up Alan.”

“What goes up can come down. Any idea what current land prices are?”

“I didn’t check, but you can be sure the ranch is worth a lot more than we have invested.
My father is selling out and retiring.”

“I didn’t realize he was at retirement age.”

“Close enough, according to him. He firmly believes that construction is falling off. His
business manager believes otherwise and made what Daddy said was an offer he
couldn’t refuse. They’ve been investing in gold for several years and tucking it away for
their retirement. Mom said they’re going to stop buying more gold and silver and live off
of the proceeds from the sale of the company. Apparently it’s a seven figure sale.”

“That’s covers a large range starting at one million and stopping a penny shy of ten mil-
lion.”

“I’m sure it closer to one than ten. Actually, the last time I heard them discuss the value
of the business, they placed in the two to three range.”

“At the moment, the prime rate is around seven percent. It’s been falling though. If they
intend to invest the money in something sound, they’d better do it soon. Say they buy T-
Notes or T-Bonds, quickly; they’ll have a stable income for either ten or thirty years.
They could also buy TIPS which are available in 5, 10 and 30 year maturities. Those are
Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities. The interest rate is fixed, but is computed on the
inflation adjusted principal.”

“But we’re in a recession.”

“I agree. That doesn’t mean we don’t have inflation. The Consumer Price Index has
gone up every year since 1955. How many recessions have we gone through?”

“You tell me.”

79
“Too many. There was something like 33 before the Great Depression. Counting the
Great Depression as the starting point and including it, there have been 13 more, not
counting the current state of affairs.”

“So, 46?”

“You’d better make that 47. We’re in one for now, without much doubt.”

“Will we be okay?”

“Let’s analyze it and you can tell me. How much food do we have stored?”

“Fifteen to twenty years’ worth.”

“What kind of seeds do we use in the garden and fields?”

“Heirloom.”

“Fertilizer?”

“Manure.”

“Stored fuel?”

“Propane for forever and diesel for years. Gasoline maybe seven to eight years’ worth.”

“We have air, shelter, water, food. What about personal protection?”

“World Wars three though six.”

“Funds?”

“Two hundred ounces of Gold Eagles, $1,000 face of junk silver and 200 Silver Eagles
and our bank balance.”

“What about clothes?”

“They’ll have to wear what we put in the storeroom, if it gets to that. We didn’t miss
much, did we?”

“We missed a few things but we can live without them.”

“For instance?”

“Night vision riflescopes. I’ve had a hankering for a Raptor 4X for my Super Match and a
6X for my Tac-50 for a while.”

80
“Why didn’t you just buy them?”

“Depending on where a person shops, the 6X runs anywhere from seven thousand up
to ten thousand. The 4X is only about $550 cheaper. Worse, they’re military and LEO
only. Sort of like the HK-416s only different. The HK-416s are available from Class III
dealers. To buy the Raptors, you have to submit a purchase order on letterhead from a
military source or LE Agency. The only other choice is to buy them at the highly inflated
price.”

“The Sheriff signed off on the HK-416s. Why wouldn’t he sign off on the Raptors?”

“What do you mean; they aren’t NFA requiring prior approval from local law enforce-
ment.”

“No, they’re not. However the Sheriff’s Department could order them for you. What’s the
reason they’re restricted? I’ll bet it’s to keep them out of the hands of foreigners.”

“You’re right, they can’t be exported. But I’m sure they’d be considered sniper equip-
ment. Can you see him ordering sniper equipment for us?”

“Daddy, Mona. I need your help. Alan wants two night vision scopes. Raptor. Both, the
4X for the Super Match and the 6X for his Tac-50. Yes, we have the money. You will?
Thanks Daddy. You want a check now or when they arrive? Great, I’ll be sure the mon-
ey is set aside.”

“Hello? Oh, it’s you Daddy. What did the Sheriff say? He will? And what did you have to
do to get him to agree? You didn’t! Yes, I can see you wanting them too. Did you really
have to buy the Department one to get him to agree? Oh, only half? Did he want the 4X
or 6X? Ok, that makes sense since they only have an M-24.”

“Guess what.”

“You’ve been shopping?”

“How do you know?”

“You have a smug look on your face. What did you buy?”

“The Raptors.”

“No way, their military and LEO only.”

81
“True. I called Daddy and he called the Sheriff. He told the Sheriff he wanted four. The
Sheriff said he’d only go along if he got a piece of the action.”

“A bribe?”

“No, a 4X for the Department’s M-24. The Department will pay half and Daddy will pay
the other half. It will be out in the open and reported as a contribution by a local citizen
to make it possible for the Sheriff’s Department to get some much need equipment they
wanted but couldn’t afford.”

“I was starting to feel good because they had everything written off that they gifted us.
Now, we’ll owe for our half of the price of the Department’s new scope. And, it’s still a
bribe of a sort.”

“Nope. Mom and Dad will cover the other half. He said he hadn’t thought about night
vision and he wants one for his Barrett.”

“And the other for the M21?”

“Exactly.”

“The next time I feel like telling you about something I want, tell me to keep it to myself.”

There was a new camouflage pattern out called MultiCam. The company had tried to
get the Army interested when the Army was looking for a new uniform. They selected
the ACU rather than the MultiCam. I’d been to the MultiCam website and reviewed the
pictures they had posted. It was obvious from the pictures that the MultiCam was a true
universal camouflage pattern.

It wasn’t inexpensive by any means but like so many things, you get what you pay for.
When I went to John and June’s to pick up the Raptors, we got into a discussion about
the MultiCam. I took him to their website and let him judge for himself.

“That’s as good as we’re going to find, Alan. It says here that the Army and Marines are
switching to the pattern for use in Afghanistan. What do you think three uniforms per
person?”

“That would be a good start. The kids are 15, 13 and 10. I’m not sure about what sizes
they would take.”

“They list Propper as one of their dealers. Get all five of your sizes and I’ll call Popper’s
800 number and get some information. The scopes came to fourteen thousand even
with shipping. Mona said you guys had the money set back.”

82
“Check ok?”

“As long as it doesn’t bounce.”

“I’ll have you know…”

“I was kidding, lighten up. I ought to just give you those scopes since they cost less than
twenty grand.”

“You’re retired; you need to keep a tight rein on your spending.”

“Bull hockey! Take ‘em and be gone. Then try explaining to Mona why you got them for
free. Have a good couch do you?”

“She wouldn’t do that.”

“Are you sure?”

“You’re pulling my leg…aren’t you?”

“Yep, you’re so easy.”

On the short drive home, I tried to figure out how to tell Mona that John and just given
us the scopes. I didn’t need to worry, June call Mona and explained.

“If they keep this up, they aren’t going to have enough to live on, honey.”

“Can it Alan. You have no idea how much they have in total. Night shooting tonight to
sight in the rifles?”

“Sure, it’s as good of a time as any.”

“I see those aren’t throw lever rings. Will that slow down the swaps when you have to
make them?”

“I’ll have to read the manuals first before I can answer your question. Could you do me
a favor? Write down all of our clothing and shoe sizes.”

“I can but why do you want to know?”

“I’m considering buying camouflage uniforms.”

“You trying to get us openly labeled as Survivalists? Bad plan.”

“More like just in case.”

83
“Sizes from the skin out?”

“No. Jacket, trousers, boots and hats. And don’t put down that your chest size is ‘just
perfect’.”

“Is it?”

“Of course, but that’s not a measurement.”

84
 Would You Rather... Five

All dressed up and now what?

Did I tell you how 2008 turned out?

We only bred the cattle and hogs, skipping the horses entirely when they came into es-
trous. We had two very unhappy stallions. All three children were shooting the M1As
and shotguns. The length of pull was a minor problem for Sara, but she would grow into
it. Later in the year, we pulled out the HK-416s and allowed the kids to shoot them in
semi-auto only. Our quiet one, Dean, figured out that there was one more position and
let loose with a short burst of full-auto.

“Dean, please only use semi-auto for now. You have to learn to shoot the weapon be-
fore you tryout all of the features.”

He didn’t reply. He merely switched the rifle back to semi-auto and continued to prac-
tice. All three of them were awestruck when they realized that the rifles included full- au-
to. We were shooting some frangible practice ammo we’d picked up for situations like
these.

The November elections didn’t turn out the way I had hoped. We had a young, well-
spoken black man up against an aging Vietnam Hero with a female running mate. It
wasn’t even close, darn it. The new President elect had campaigned on a platform of
change and after eight years of Junior, the nation was ready for change.

We got change all right; he was ultra-liberal and had an agenda that promised a lot of
change, all towards increased socialism. We had Democrats in the House, Senate and
White House. His agenda seemed to only have a single basis, spend, spend and spend.
It didn’t take long for me to decide I didn’t like the man; I listened to his inaugural ad-
dress. John and Ruth were at our place listening too and I could hear John muttering
under his breath.

“That man is trouble with a capital T. If he has his way, he’ll spend us into the poor
house. Unemployment is out of control and you watch… the CPI is going to fall.”

It was a pretty good guess as it turned out. The year-over-year declines in March and
April were the first since 1955. In other words, the CPI fell 0.7. I felt badly about that
since John and June had invested their excess funds in TIPS.

The new scope mounted on the rifles by clamping on the outside of the rails. After we
had them both sighted in, we experimented between the daylight scopes and night
scopes checking for return to zero. These were good scopes and the mounts were sol-
id, return to zero wouldn’t be a problem if we took good care of the equipment. The
Raptors were in foam lined cases and I’d just use those cases for both scopes. One
would be on the rifle and one in the case. We stocked up on AA batteries.

85
The remainder of the year 2009 wasn’t much better than the previous. Unemployment
rose and the national debt rose. A major bushfire broke out in Australia, killing 73, injur-
ing 500 and leaving ~7,500 homeless. A Russian and a US satellite collided creating a
bunch of space junk. The terrorist attacks around the world continued. It’s getting hard
to keep track of them.

An earthquake occurred in Italy, killing ~200 and injuring 1,500+. North Korea tested its
second nuke. It wasn’t large although much larger than the first test. The yield was be-
tween 2 and 6kT. Taiwan was hit by a major typhoon killing ~500. There was another
earthquake in the Pacific near Samoa killing 189+ and the following day, a quake oc-
curred near Sumatra, killing 1,000+ in Indonesia. There is H1N1 to worry about now.

During 2010, Mona and I finally bought a car. Very old with low mileage. This may have
actually belonged to a little old lady who only drove it to church like the salesman
claimed. The interior was immaculate and the vehicle had been garaged. She must
have skipped church in the winter, there was no rust. She had faithfully kept the car up,
getting it washed and waxed. The oil was changed every three months whether she
drove it or not. It was a 1969 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham four door sedan.

Was it a collector’s item? The salesman seemed to think so and wanted double the orig-
inal selling price and wouldn’t budge. It was an elegant car and Mona could dress up
and ride in comfort. She’d been nagging about going back to that restaurant in Denver
and showing off her black pearls for quite some time. On the trip down, we started off
easy and eventually blew some of the carbon out. I decided on the way back to get the
engine rebuilt and get back the original power the engine once had. Parts were a bit of a
problem but the mechanic finally found what he needed.

“That’s more like it.”

“Shouldn’t you be breaking the engine in?”

“I am.”

“You’re going too fast.”

“If you want the engine to be powerful and hard running, you use the power and run it
hard. I took it easy for the first 500. Hang on; let’s see what she’ll do.”

This year wasn’t without problems. There were earthquakes. Haiti, 230,000 dead, Chile
creating a tsunami killing ~500, China with 2,000+ dead and 10,000+ injured. The
Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf of Mexico killing 11 and created the largest oil
slick in history. Nine Turkish activists are killed when Israel intercepted a flotilla trying to
break the Gaza Blockade. Monsoon rains in Pakistan caused floods killing 1,600+.

86
Another earthquake off Sumatra killed 400+ with hundreds missing. A volcano on Java
erupted, killing 240+. A stampede in Cambodia killed 347. The details don’t seem to be
important any longer, just what happened and how many died.

A South Korean naval vessel was sunk killing 46. A panel concluded North Korea was
responsible. And, how could I forget, Obama signed the new Healthcare Law on Mona
and Sara’s birthday. Health insurance premiums for our small operation had been an
ongoing source of concern. We didn’t see where the new law would offer us much
benefit.

Paul is seventeen, Dean fifteen and Sara thirteen. Mona and I are the same age, forty-
one. Paul will be a senior this year and would enter college the following year. John and
June assure us that they’ll cover the tab for all three of their grandchildren. Frankly, that
was a bit of a relief. All three are talking college to some degree and with the economy
in its present state, we weren’t sure if we could afford it.

John had gotten each person three sets of MultiCam in the beginning. And then, as the
children had grown, added more where necessary. Initially, he couldn’t find warm out-
erwear in MultiCam. Just about everything else was available including packs, load
bearing equipment and so forth. As another company licensed the pattern and began to
produce products using the pattern, it was added.

When Paul graduated from high school in 2011, he got a new vehicle as a graduation
gift from his Grandparents, a Jeep. It was a 2010 Wrangler that had been special or-
dered and included a Cummins 4BT diesel engine and had a manual transmission. It
was a rag top model with four wheel drive. There was a metal storage box containing
‘spare parts’.

“You’re going to need a good vehicle this fall when you go to college. We decided on
this model and got it with a diesel. Jeep has a diesel but I had the dealer replace the
factory diesel with a non-electronic diesel. There are replacement parts in that box in
the back, just in case.”

“Just in case what, Grandpa?”

“Just in case almost anything including but not limited to EMP.”

Dean should have been happy for Paul. He had a rather sour look on his face. He didn’t
say anything as was his wont. I could almost hear the gears grinding though. He liked
the vehicle but wouldn’t get one until he graduated from high school in two years. Sara
wouldn’t get one until she graduated from high school in four years. Would Chrysler be
around in two/four years? Would they still be making Jeeps in two/four years?

“Dean looks a little unhappy Alan.”

“I expect he’s wondering if he’ll get a similar graduation gift when he graduates.”

87
“I can guarantee it.”

“Yeah right. Will Chrysler be around in two years or even four? Will they still make the
same model? That’s just the way he thinks.”

“I said I could guarantee it. That applies to Sara too.”

“Un-uh, you couldn’t have bought three identical Jeeps.”

“Not identical, each is a different color.”

“You didn’t?”

“I had the same thought as you voiced and Dean apparently is thinking. June and I
talked it over and decided that there was only one way to guarantee we could treat all
three the same. The other two are up on stands in my new garage and all have the
same engine replacement.”

“When did you build a new garage?”

“When we ordered the three Jeeps. It wasn’t much, just a simple three car garage with
propane heat, electricity and cold water. A couple of guys that worked for me poured a
slab, framed it up, added siding and insulation. There’s a double door and a single door.
The single door opens into my new workshop. I needed a hobby, sitting around was
driving me crazy.”

“What kind of hobby?”

“Machining. I have a toolroom lathe, a mill and a drill press. They’re not new but do what
I want. I learned my machining long before they had these fancy computer controlled
lathes.”

“What are you working on?”

“What was that all about?”

“To guarantee each of the children got the exact same vehicle your folks bought three.
Your Dad said they’re identical except for color.”

“They cost over twenty thousand!”

“I knew they were expensive, but twenty thousand for a Jeep?”

88
“The CPI hasn’t gone down every month.”

“True. He said they have them stored in a new three stall garage he had built. He’s us-
ing the third stall as a machine shop. I had an offer on some of our horses. I told the guy
I had to think about it. We’ve been pricing them around $3,500 and he offered $3,000,
take it or leave it.”

“How many does he want?”

“Twelve.”

A question was recently posted on Frugal’s, asking about flashlights. I almost replied,
but chose not to. All of our HK-416s and M1As have Surefire gun lights. Each of us has
a Maglite Solitaire, a Maglite double AA cell and a six D cell flashlight.

There are Ray-O-Vac lanterns on each floor of the dome, including the basement.
There is also one on each floor of the house, including the basement. There are none in
the shelter although there were spare batteries, bulbs and lenses. The spare lenses
came out of lanterns that had been damaged beyond use.

After much thought, I accepted the guy’s offer. Let him feed them; we need a little mon-
ey for a shopping trip to Denver. We took off for Denver the next day and ordered a HK
upper to replace the upper on our AR-15. Whether or not we end up with our goal re-
mains to be seen. We can still only fight WW 3-6. And, no, we don’t have any hand gre-
nades, smoke grenades or LAW rockets. But we know where to go if we need them, Ft.
Carson.

I searched the web using yahoo with the subject ‘smoke grenades for sale’. I found a
website but they were out of the ALS smoke grenades. They did have 20 packs of flares
and I bought two. I kept searching and hit upon the US Cavalry which is the online store
associated with Global Security. They had the smaller ALS smoke grenade, not the M-
18. Plus, they only sold to LEOs and military.

We were able to purchase some very illegal M-80s. We made the guy light one to make
sure we weren’t being sold a class C firework. These were the real McCoy and a buck
apiece. We figured they were probably stolen because real M-80s are still manufactured
on a limited basis. We had our hand grenades, as it were.

We intended to spend the remainder of 2011 concentrating solely on the ranch. I quit
checking the news because it was depressing. Mona agreed with me and said if it were
really important, either her Mom or Dad would call. We bought five Oregon Scientific
model WR602 weather radios with SAME, one for each family member to carry and 2
model WR608s for the house and shelter.

A Representative was shot in the head in Tucson, Arizona this past January eighth. She
survived and was moved to Houston to for rehabilitation. Her husband, Mark Kelly, is

89
the Commander of STS-134, Endeavor. It’s the final shuttle mission. He had flown on
three previous missions.

The House voted to repeal National Healthcare early in 2011. The Senate didn’t agree,
hence we still had National Healthcare. There’s hope, though, a federal judge in Florida
ruled the law unconstitutional. There was all kind of scrambling on Capitol Hill.

Because of the Tucson shooting, a new Assault Weapons Ban was introduced in both
the House and Senate. The House bill never made it out of Committee, but the Senate
passed their bill by a single vote and sent it to the House, where it died. John mentioned
an article that he’d read. The writer had claimed that the NRA had a major campaign to
raise money in case the bill passed.

“Alan, have you read TOMs new story?”

“Haven’t had time. What’s the title?”

“‘The Trials of George Thomas’. It’s about someone killing President Obama and Joe
Biden ending up in charge.”

“That’s a Disaster story, not Patriot Fiction.”

“In a way you’re right. There were riots all over the country. I’d better not spoil the story
for you.”

“Come on, don’t leave me hanging.”

“Go read it and you won’t be hanging. It had a different ending than most of his stories.”

“What his heroes don’t have M1As?”

“No, they have M1As. He wouldn’t write a story without M1As in it. They all have Tac-
50s too.”

“How many is they?”

“Five; all former Boeing employees who built the Block III Apaches. The wives are as
blood thirsty as the guys.”

“I’ll read it first chance I get.”

“While you’re at it, Jerry has a new story on titled ‘Pole Shift’. It’s as good or better.
They’ve sure increased the number of authors. Kathy in Florida is very good and so is
Paradox. Grand seems to be dividing his time between ‘Lucky’ and ‘Second Chance’.
There are several new writers.”

90
“I read ‘Lucky’ until he dropped it for ‘Second Chance’. Whatever happened to his se-
quel to ‘By Law’?”

“Don’t know; he dropped it to work on other stories. You squared away on your fire-
arms?”

“Yep.”

“Oh, I found a source for those M18s.”

“Not that guy in Texas?”

“Someone else entirely. Interested?”

“How much?”

“Forty each and they’re sold in pairs.”

“These are the long burning smoke grenades made by ALS?”

“Yep.”

“What colors are available?”

“All colors. How many and what color?”

“I think 2 dozen white smoke and a dozen each of green and red smoke.”

“I thought you were never in the military.”

“I wasn’t, but I can read. White is primarily for screening, green is for a cold LZ and red
is for a hot LZ. However, they can be used for screening in a pinch.”

“It’s going to run you two grand with shipping.”

“We have quite a bit of money left from that horse sale. By the way, I bought an HK-416
upper for my AR-15.”

“I almost forgot. Did you know that China is dumping the US debt they own?”

“Hadn’t heard that. That’s a big deal?”

“It could prove to be a very big deal.”

“Think we need to do anything?”

91
“Are your stores up to date?”

“We have a few holes that don’t amount to much.”

“How many of the gas masks, Tyvek suits, boots, gloves, tape and spare CBRN filters
do you do you have?”

“None.”

“That’s a big hole. Try Approved Gas Masks in San Diego. Do you have KI or KIO3?”

“Not that I know of. What is it?”

“Pills you take to prevent a buildup of radioactive Iodine in your thyroid. Since we have
so many extra, I bring over five complete outfits and the pills. See you in about ten
minutes.”

“Something bothering you?”

“We don’t have gas masks and the associated equipment.”

“Mom and Dad have plenty. I’m sure they will give us some.”

“That’s what he said. Expect a visit from your folks in about ten minutes.”

“We should get a large Rubbermaid Action Packer and pack up a set of supplies for
Paul. We should also get jerry cans and fill them with stabilized diesel.”

“His fuel tank holds enough to get home.”

“I don’t care. We should actually add a reserve tank and the jerry Cans.”

“Well let’s get the tote and get that filled. Metal jerry cans are expensive.”

“So, buy Blitz. He’ll only need four.”

“No, it’s metal or nothing. Considering what we’ve spent on non-essentials, we might as
well do it up right. After your folks leave, we’ll go shopping. Do you know where to get
the totes?”

“Wal-Mart.”

We bought three 48 gallon Action Packers since there were three Jeeps. The steel 5
gallon diesel cans were a different matter. After Wal-Mart we climbed into the pickup
and headed to Denver. We figured we might as well check Costco and Sam’s Club

92
while we were there. We got three cargo carriers that mounted on the hitch receivers
and a dozen cans.

We added three six-packs of identically keyed locks. Two would lock the fuel cans on
the cargo carrier, one would lock the Action Packer, one would lock the cargo carrier to
the hitch receiver pin, one would lock the chain holding the tote in place with the last be-
ing a spare.

“What are we going to put in the totes?”

“I thought we’d put in some of the Mountain House pouches, a case of the water pouch-
es, a 3 pack of strike anywhere matches in a seal-a-meal bag, three sets of underwear,
a set of MultiCams, a Leatherman, knives, a coil of paracord, a roll of duct tape and
their MultiCam backpacks as a start.”

“Leave room for those ‘spare parts’ John bought.”

“I planned to. Since Paul took his M1A, how about the suppressor?”

“Let’s think about that before we include it. It probably wouldn’t hurt to add a battle pack
or two of 7.62, two boxes of Gold Dot and a box each of slugs and 00 buck.”

“Where is he keeping his firearms?”

“He rented a locker in one of those self-storage places. You know the policy about fire-
arms on campus.”

“Yes, but I don’t agree with it.”

“Too many shootings on college campuses, Mona. You said knives? That’s something
else we’ve overlooked.”

“You over looked. I bought several, a very long time ago, and they’re in the storage
room.”

“What kind?”

“I got Gerber Mark IIs, Cold Steel San Mai Trail Masters and Buck Folding Hunters.”

“Whetstones?”

“Five sets of Arkansas stones. Each set has numbers 2, 4 and a 6 plus a small bottle of
honing oil.”

“Want to include the PPE that your folks brought over?”

93
“If there’s room.”

“We’ll set up all three of the totes and give Paul his when he comes home for the Holi-
days.”

What else had I overlooked or forgotten to get? I’m sure it will come to me when we
need it and don’t have it. That was an antithesis of the way we’d been doing things
since Paul brought up prepping and we got involved. I tried comparing our state of pre-
paredness with the fiction stories. With few exceptions, we were probably better pre-
pared than many of the characters in the stories.

I was no Thomas Dayfield with forty million to spread around, for sure. Dayfield’s par-
ents had helped him via the inheritance he got. Mona’s parents had helped us but they
couldn’t be as rich as Thomas. Could they? All she ever said was, “You have no idea
how much they have in total.”

We considered the PPE as loaners and ordered 10 sets of everything from Approved
Gas Masks in San Diego. When ours came in, we returned theirs and explained that
we’d purchased our own. Perhaps there was something to their idea of giving us twenty
grand a year. If they had a lot of money, they’d avoid some inheritance tax.

I wondered how they were going to account for the vehicles since the individual limit
was ten grand. Write it off over a six year period? The kids were spaced two years
apart. That’s why we have a bookkeeper. She does the payroll, payroll taxes, the ac-
counting and prepares the tax returns. We just sign on the line and sign the check made
out to her.

My weather radio went off announcing a tornado warning for Morgan, Logan and Sedg-
wick counties. The tornado was on the ground in Morgan county and moving rapidly to
the northeast. And, wouldn’t you know it, I was combining corn. Bob had picked up a
wagon load of corn and was halfway to the house. We had never purchased the
Motorola CP 200s or CM 300s John had recommended. The vehicles had CBs, but they
were all up at the house.

Since I could run faster than the combine moved, I shut it down and took off on foot.
There was a nasty looking bank of black clouds to the southwest. I couldn’t see a funnel
cloud. I must have been more out of shape than I thought, halfway to the house I was
huffing and puffing trying to get my breath. Closer to the house, I saw the rotating cloud
start down from the cell.

The last of the livestock were being herded into the dome by Harry and Harry Jr. I saw
them drop the door as the cloud came closer and seemed to grow in size. I finally made
it into the house and quickly moved to the basement. The cabinet was rolled aside
showing the outer blast door. It was open a crack so I knew someone had made to the
shelter. I swung the heavy sucker open just enough to slip through and pulled it closed
behind me while I listened to the freight train sound of the tornado. I moved the lever

94
locking the door and went down the slope to the shelter. Mona, Maria and Bob were in
the shelter.

“Awful late in the season for a tornado, isn’t it?”

“Be that as it may, it was big and very close.”

“The livestock?”

“Harry and Harry Jr. had them in the dome and were closing the door. This is another
case where we didn’t take advice when it was offered.”

“What do you mean? Between the shelter and dome everyone and everything was pro-
tected.”

“Yes and I had my radio with me and heard the tornado warning. They usually put out a
watch before a warning.”

“They did.”

“I didn’t hear it. That’s what I meant by not taking good advice when it was offered. Your
father strongly suggested we buy and license business band radios and install one in
every vehicle, the combine and the tractor. The ranch is a business and we’d qualify for
a license. I added it up and we’d need a mobile in the shelter and the house to act as
base stations. Then we’d need a mobile for each pickup and the Caddy.

“Take those five and you add two more for the combine and tractor. We should probably
put them in each of Harry and Maria’s vehicle plus their youngsters so make it ten. No,
make it thirteen, include our three too. That’s just the CM 300s. We’d need a base sta-
tion antenna on a tower plus twenty-six portables.”

“Twenty-six? There are the five of us, and five of Harry’s family including Crystal.”

“One for your mother and one for your father, just in case. I priced them. The 45 watt
CM 300 32 channel VHF radio is $360. The 5 watt CP 200 16 channel VHF radio is
around $280. We’d need four six-radio charging stands at $450 each. Add on 12 head-
sets with boom mikes, another $50 each. Spare batteries are another $50 each. Power
supplies are around $470 each. The base station antenna and tower won’t be cheap.
Do you see why I didn’t buy them?”

“That’s about twelve thousand dollars without the tower and antenna.”

“Right. Monopoles used for wind turbines start at $3,600 for a 50’ and go up to around
$12,650 for a 100’.”

“You don’t have to include my parents because they have the radios.”

95
“Low band, VHF or UHF?”

“I don’t know.”

A 45 watt mobile VHF radio communicating with a base station antenna in flat country
has a good range. The radios I had in mind used a frequency range of 146-174 MHz.
Had it been an amateur band, it would have been somewhere slightly above the 2 meter
band.

It actually started about 1 MHz below the top of the two meter band and stopped well
below the 1.25 meter band. The portables had short antennas and a maximum of 5
watts of output making communications between the portables much shorter. A portable
could pick up a mobile or base station but the reverse wasn’t always true.

The tornado missed the homestead by several hundred yards. We lost a small section
of the wooden fence that made up the newer lane. Harry and his sons got on the repairs
immediately so we could let the horses out. The wire fence, having little surface area,
didn’t seem to be damaged.

After checking the bank account, I called a radio dealer in Denver and told him exactly
what I wanted for radios and mobile antennas. I explained that I’d found an online
source but preferred to keep it local if he’d match their prices. It didn’t take him long to
decide when he added up the total.

Installation would be a separate charge but he’d give us a discount. When I suggested
the wind turbine monopole, he wasn’t interested but agreed to mount the antenna and
run the coax, for a fee. I called Event Horizon Solar and got a quote on a 70’ Skystream
monopole. They wanted around $6,500 plus shipping. It was actually less expensive
than the 60’ because the 60’ was priced higher and a tilt up model and you had to buy a
lift kit for $1,250 plus shipping.

We were a day late but not the dollar short. John had the VHF CM-300 and CP-200 with
4 channels. We’d have channels leftover on our radios and we could use four of our fre-
quencies programmed to his frequencies. The radios weren’t crystal controlled and
could be programmed with software, for a nominal charge for the software and cable.

Our bookkeeper admonished me to watch the spending. Our bank balance was lower
than she liked and she always wanted money to cover contingencies. We weren’t broke
or close to it. More like slightly bent until we sold some grain and livestock.

I finally looked in the faraday cabinet in the shelter and examined the radios. There
were two, an all band scanning receiver and a Kenwood TS-2000 with power supply,
headphone and a desk microphone. Sure had a lot of knobs and dials on it. John was
an Extra Class while Mona and I only had General Class licenses and had never used
the Kenwood. She was generally familiar with John’s Yaesu equipment, not Kenwood.

96
Looking over the radio table, I found the grounding bar and an outlet marked 30 amps. I
figured it was for the power supply. The duplex was a NEMA 5-30 and probably wired
with AWG 10 or 8. There was a note taped to the inside of the cabinet door which said,
“Vertical antenna and cable in the store room on shelf”. Good thing I looked. There was
also a CB base station antenna labeled, “Starduster”. It appeared we’d need two or
three standoffs and Alpha Delta lightening arresters.

97
 Would You Rather... Six

Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground)

Can you hear me, can you hear me running?

Can you hear me running, can you hear me calling you?

Take the children and yourself

And hide out in the cellar
By now the fighting will be close at hand
Don't believe the church and state
And everything they tell you
Believe in me, I'm with the high command
Can you hear me, can you hear me running?
Can you hear me running, can you hear me calling you?
Can you hear me, can you hear me running?
Can you hear me running, can you hear me calling you?

There's a gun and ammunition

Just inside the doorway
Use it only in emergency
Better you should pray to God
The Father and the Spirit
Will guide you and protect from up here

Can you hear me, can you hear me running?

Can you hear me running, can you hear me calling you?
Can you hear me, can you hear me running?
Can you hear me running, can you hear me calling you?

Swear allegiance to the flag

Whatever flag they offer
Never hint at what you really feel
Teach the children quietly
For some day sons and daughters
Will rise up and fight while we stood still

Can you hear me, can you hear me running?

Can you hear me running, can you hear me calling you?
Can you hear me, can you hear me running?
Can you hear me running, can you hear me calling you?

Can you hear me running (can you hear me calling you?)

(Can you hear me) hear me calling you?
(Can you hear me running) hear me running babe?
(Can you hear me running) hear me running?

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Calling you, calling you
Mike and the Mechanics

I borrowed that from TOM’s story titled ‘Silent Running’.

The year 2012 was a Presidential Election year. John McCain wasn‘t running and it was
like, ‘Sarah who’? The GOP had a so-so candidate and while the Tea Party didn’t en-
dorse him, they went out of their way to campaign against Obama.

Not only were the airwaves filled with political sparring, someone had dug up the Mayan
calendar and were worrying about Planet X, Nibiru. The discovery by Lowell of the ec-
centricies in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune could be explained by the former planet
Pluto. He, too, was proven wrong. The only worse disaster I can think of is Obama be-
ing reelected with Joe Biden as Vice President. What? You think they’re best thing go-
ing? Let me remind you, it only takes one rotten apple to spoil a barrel.

North Korea’s third nuclear test was much different from the previous two. This time,
they achieved 100kT yield with what the experts were calling a fission-fusion-fission
bomb aka hydrogen bomb. The power of a bomb of this nature comes from the fission.
The presence of some form of hydrogen isotope produces a vast increase in neutrons
causing the fission to be more complete. At least that’s what I understood when I read
about it on Wiki. North Korea also tested an ICBM, successfully. I suppose everyone
gets lucky. I also suspect they had outside help. It apparently hit the target some 12
thousand klicks (~7,500 miles) downrange.

Two months and no more tornadoes later, we had our new 70’ monopole with the CB
antenna on one standoff and business band antenna on the second standoff and the
ham band vertical on the third standoff. The installer cautioned that the best practice
was to replace the coaxial cables every three years. The top held a wind turbine, an ex-
periment. It was a medium turbine with about 10kw of output in the form of 48vdc.

The direct current fed a single battery bank consisting of twenty-four deep cycle 2.2 volt
submarines batteries wired in series. There was a charge controller between the turbine
and batteries and an inverter behind the batteries. The wind turbine hadn’t been overly
expensive; it was the ancillary equipment and monopole that had been the big expense.

We licensed four channels on the business radios and programmed channels 1-4 for
our frequencies. Channels 13-16 were programmed with the channels John and June
had licensed. He’d done well when he’d sold the construction company to his business
manager, getting $3.4 million for the assets and $0.6 million for Goodwill.

We allayed the bookkeeper’s fears when we sold just short of 500 hogs. That covered
the radios, antenna, installation, the wind turbine system and padded the bank account.
The ranch now had a value of about $1.3 million based on current selling prices.

99
The politics during the campaign had been downright nasty. Obama was being blamed
for everything wrong with the US including the fall influenza that began to steal some
headlines.

The pre-election polls projected the candidates to be even, given the polling error rate of
± 3%. On November 6th the initial results, unlike 2008, were too close to call. It came
down to the Florida and Ohio’s vote counts. The certified results delivered a day before
the deadline gave the GOP Control of the White House by a 1.9% vote margin. The
Electoral margin wasn’t nearly that close, although it was divided.

For two years, the GOP had tried and failed to repeal National Healthcare. The outcome
of the Florida federal district court case had been reviewed by the appeals court and
upheld. The case was now before SCOTUS which hadn’t heard oral arguments, yet.
The House had managed to block more gun control, voting along party lines.

Paul’s Jeep had been tan. John had shown us the other two. Dean’s was green and
Sara’s cherry red. Paul was attending College in Fort Collins at Colorado State Universi-
ty majoring in Animal Science. Dean was one semester away from high school gradua-
tion and intended to attend the same University and major in Agronomy.

Fort Collins was nearly due west of Sterling. It is on state route 14 at a distance of ~100
miles. Paul usually took about 2 hours to make the drive. We equipped the Jeep with
the Action Packer, carrier and fuel cans. The suppressor wasn’t included in the tote.
The tote was held in place with a cable and padlocked shut. Paul had three firearms
with him, the Loaded, the 590A1 and the Taurus. Yes, we bought three more; the Ex-
press Combos were hunting guns.

“Alan, is all of your M1A ammo 168gr?”

“No John, we have many more rounds of 147gr surplus FMJ ball ammo. Why do you
ask?”

“Have you ever tried a heavier bullet weight like 178gr?”

“Nope. The 168gr seems to do a good job for us.”

“But, the heavier the bullet, the greater the range. Here’re two boxes of the 178gr Su-
performance BTHP Match. Give it a try and let me know what you think.”

Mona and I tried it. The groups at 800 meters were marginally smaller.

“What do you think, sweetheart?”

“We have a lot of the 168gr. Maybe buy the 178gr as you shoot up the 168gr? The Su-
per Match is your rifle so it’s up to you.”

100
“I don’t think so. We have a lot of the 168gr and I’d prefer to stay with a known commod-
ity.”

Listen to me…describing Hornady A-MAX Match as a commodity. For what it costs per
round, maybe it is a commodity. A bushel of corn would buy 4+ rounds. We’d have to
buy the Hornady in Denver and they had a high sales tax, almost 8%.

I didn’t get the chance to get to Denver and probably won’t ever again. We didn’t have a
tornado, or an earthquake, or an aquifer subsiding, or the government running amok, at
least not at first. More than fifty years after the Cuban Missile Crisis, which almost re-
sulted in a nuclear war, e.g. WW III, we had WW III. It started when Pakistan launched
on India. The Pakistanis had been expanding their complement of nuclear weapons in
recent years and working on their missiles to increase the range and accuracy.

Undoubtedly the intelligence agencies knew, or should have known. They had to know
about the missile tests because every missile launch anywhere on the planet is tracked
by our satellites and studied by NORAD. There is simply no way they could have not
known. All the previous launches had been away from land masses. These launches
were pointed to the southeast, east and northeast.

India no doubt saw them coming and responded in kind. China no doubt saw them com-
ing and responded in kind. That’s pure speculation on my part. A single missile was
launched from a ship near the east coast of the US and the missile arced up to about
400km over the center of the US, and detonated. In another part of the world, a single
missile launched off the coast of Finland arced up about 400km over Russia and deto-
nated to the east of Moscow. Russia’s BMD system failed to work and Russia fell into
the dark, too.

All hell broke loose. Our weather radios squealed and died just as a broadcast was initi-
ated. Our lights went out, momentarily (~10 seconds) and the generator kicked in. Well,
Merry Christmas to you too, whoever you are. Paul and Dean were home from school.

We were hosting John and June and the Hanson’s. I was just ready to slice into the 24
pound turkey that had been cooked to a turn. It was a thing to behold. As was custom-
ary, neither boy went anywhere without their armory close to hand. Their firearms were
locked up in the nearly overloaded gun safe in the storage room.

“John, I do believe it’s time.”

“Time for what?”

“To bend over and kiss your butt goodbye.”

“Nonsense. Everyone grab a dish and haul it to the shelter. Come back and haul what
we didn’t take the first time and Mona, you start emptying the ‘fridge. June, would you
lend a hand?”

101
“Take the children and yourself and hide out in the cellar

“Gather the Hanson’s firearms and ammo. I’ll close up the dome and get the air systems
running. Harry, could you give me a hand?”

“Sure boss, I’ll drop my first load and head for the tunnel.”

“Good, I got the turkey.”

“Alan, is it going to be all right?”

“I sure hope so Mona; we’ve had almost 25 years of practicing.”

Within fifteen minutes, the food was in the shelter. Five minutes later the firearms were
secure and Harry and I were on our way back from the dome. The dome had two en-
trances and hay was piled on pallets near each door. It was the work of only moments
to move the hay blocking the entrances. Since we’d sealed the dome from the outside,
we couldn‘t access the tunnel to return to the shelter.

As Harry and I entered the house, the sun exploded over Denver and a second sun ex-
ploded further south around Colorado Springs. We were pretty much out of the radius of
the blast wave from Denver yet still hurried to get into the shelter and button it up.

“Oh no. We didn’t get clothes.”

“Maria, Mona has something in nearly every size; she can find you some clothes in the
storeroom.”

“What about the boys and me?”

“Not a problem Harry, we have some of everything.”

“Now what?”

“I’m all for eating Christmas dinner before the food gets cold or hot as the case may be.
John, will you do the honors?”

“Separate the drumsticks and thighs and pull the meat?”

“That would be best. There a lot more white meat than dark. Leave the wings whole and
people can fight over them.”

It was an outstanding meal with everything on the table was from the ranch, except for
two or three items. The cranberries being the obvious nonfarm item. The dressing was
made from home baked bread and spiced with our onions and celery from the store.

102
There was pistachio salad with Cool Whip, pineapple, coconut and marshmallows.
There were acorn squash, butternut squash and the traditional green bean casserole.
We also had candied sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and turkey gravy to drown the
turkey, dressing and potatoes in. Should anyone have room, there were pumpkin and
dutch apple pies.

Before John could finish slicing the turkey, the floor shook. He looked up and asked,
“Denver?”

“Most likely. Could you get the bird sliced up, please? I skipped breakfast.”

“Well, excuse me. It’s not every day we have WW III.”

“They’ll call the next one WW IV and unless we run out of ammo or the guns all break,
we won’t be fighting with sticks and stones.”

“Your tanks topped off?”

“Right after harvest. We haven’t used a lot of fuel so the kerosene is full and the gas
tank probably has 3,800. Diesel maybe a shade over 39,500.”

“No backup generator?”

Just the primary generator and the wind powered battery bank. It should carry us for a
long time. Do we need to go lock down your place?”

“That’s what you get for not following the news more closely. Been keeping my eye on
the Pakistani build up. It just didn’t seem right for them to more than double the number
of weapons in such a short time. Don’t you think you should get the AMP 200 and CD
V-717 hooked up?”

“Want me to hook up a cheap radio to the CB antenna?””

“Got more?”

“Yep.”

“Go ahead.”

I completed the task and sat down in my old recliner to rest my eyes.

“Alan? ALAN?”

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“Oh I must have dozed off. What?”

“Cows are milked and the livestock fed. They’re fidgety so we’re going to have go calm
them from time to time.”

“Are we getting radiation yet?”

“Have been for over an hour,” John answered. “Found your log and been noting the
reading every 15 minutes. It was Denver, all right. The wind’s southwesterly running
about 12 knots. That’s fourteen mph for you landlubbers. It started to hit around nine
hours after the floor shook. I obviously hooked up your weather station. Oregon Scien-
tific, huh?”

“What time is it?”

“Close to midnight.”

“You should have wakened me.”

“Tried. You were dead to the world with a smile on your face.”

“What’s there to smile about?”

“Only that you were prepared and everyone was here when it happened.”

“I can buy that. It’s been a long road.”

“Longer for us, nearly 40 years.”

“Mind if I ask you a question that’s none of my business?”

“Might not answer, but if I do, it will be the truth.”

“Just how much have June and you accumulated?”

“You mean money? Of course you mean money. I haven’t counted it in a while; I’m no
Silas Marner.”

“Ok.”

“I didn’t answer your question Alan. Let me give it a shot. That big old safe in our stor-
age room? It’s full of gold and silver. The gold is mixed among the four denominations
of gold Eagles and some of the silver is two thousand silver Eagles. We acquired more
when we sold the business although the price was higher then. Should something hap-
pen to me, you’re to move the safe here. I expect you to take care of June until her dy-
ing day.

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“Being that the world as we knew it probably is gone, there probably wouldn’t be estate
taxes anyway. That doesn’t count the cash, but that’s probably worthless. We’ll try to
get it spent before everyone realizes that.

“We do need to bring over Sara’s Jeep when we get the chance. If we stay here, we’ll
use up our fuel first for transportation and farming. Between us, we have a lot of diesel.
That said my generator kicked in about the same time as yours. There’s no telling how
much fuel will be left, but probably most of it. The only strikes we’re sure of are Denver
and the Springs. The radiation is still climbing but the wind is shifting more westerly. So,
who knows how much fallout we’ll end up with?”

[Wind direction is reported based on the direction it’s blowing from.]

We stored the manure spreaders in the barns to minimize the work involved in mucking.
They could end up full with the extra piled in a stall, or two. I sincerely hoped the air pu-
rifiers could supply enough fresh air for the animals since we had the fall birthing of
hogs to contend with.

“What will happen if some idiot tries to break into the shelter?”

“Nothing. Both doors are locked from the inside and I slid the cabinet back in place. Har-
ry, do you have more than one M1A?”

“Nope. Maria and Crystal have Mini-14s. The boys each have POF P-415s with 16½”
barrels in 6.8 SPC. We have two twenty gauge pumps and 3 twelve gauge pump Ex-
press combos with smoothbore short barrels. Handguns are a mixture of 9mm and
.45ACP. Not a lot of ammo, though. We have about 900-1,000 rounds of rifle ammo for
each rifle and the handgun ammo is military surplus ball. Shotgun shells are hunting cal-
ibers. The case of slugs and case of 00 is Federal.”

“Harry, trust me on this, ammo won’t be a problem except for the 6.8 SPC.”

“I’ve got some,” John interrupted. “It’s in our trade goods.”

That settled, I got a cup of coffee and sat down at the table next to Sara. She’d been
crying.

“What’s wrong Sara?”

“I’m not going to graduate high school or go to college. That means I won’t get a Jeep
either.”

“The Jeep is in your grandparent’s new garage. The world will be different now and you
already possess knowledge and skills that will put you head and shoulders above many
college grads. You’ve been raised on ranch slash farm and know horses. You also

105
know gardening and how to preserve food. You can defend yourself and have the tools
to do that. Had you decided on a major?”

“History.”

“Knowledge of history is important. It won’t put a meal on the table. For the large part,
history is merely a guide. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to re-
peat it. He also said, only the dead have seen the end of war.”

“When did he say that?”

“About 100 years ago, give or take.”

“Does he have a name?”

“George Santayana. His was a Spaniard who was raised in the US and wrote in Eng-
lish. I can’t remember when or where he died (Madrid, 1863 – Rome, 1952, age 88).
Dry your eyes and give us a hug. It will work out best in the end.”

“I’m impressed Daddy.”

“About what?”

“You just proved the point you were trying to make. You didn’t go to college did you?”

“Nope. Had a ranch to run and your Aunt Julie to buy out. Didn’t have the time. Did your
Mom ever tell you about Jeff?”

“The Octopus?”

“She told you.”

“It was part of a lesson about making careful choices. Now, I have a question. We have
more firearms than a police department. Why?”

“I could say so you have the right tool for the right job. The main reason is simpler; I’m a
gun nut.”

“Funny. It’s going to bad out there, isn’t it?”

“It could be. We’re not that far from I-76. The city folks depend on just in time delivery
for most of their food. There won’t be much food and what there is will disappear rapid-
ly. We have livestock and some cereal crops that people will want. We have some CDs
containing Patriot Fiction stories including one from Fleataxi and another from Jerry D
Young. Fleataxi’s contains his stories, TOM’s early stories and at least one other, ‘Par-
adise’, I think. Read a couple and get a feel for what they think it will be like.”

106
“Fiction? They’re just guessing.”

“Jerry has a list of 139 possible disaster scenarios. The majority of TOM’s are nuclear
war scenarios. Fleataxi has a mix.”

“Maybe, if I get bored. Could I have a demonstration please?”

“A demonstration of what?”

“You bending over and kissing your butt goodbye.”

“Don’t be flip. It’s just an expression.”

The wind remained westerly and we received very little fallout. When it was safe, rela-
tively speaking, we hooked the big water pump to the main water line and washed the
place down using 1½” fire hoses. It took some time to do the ten acres comprising the
homestead. We moved to John and June’s, repeating the process. In Sterling, there
were some people out and about. Not many for a town with a population of over 13,000.

When it was safe to do so, John and June returned home and the Hanson’s to their mo-
bile homes. One of the local survivors was a welder and Mona and I commissioned a
gate across the entrance to the homestead. Since materials weren’t a problem for the
welder, he built it extremely heavy duty…6” pipe. When he had it done, he brought it out
and we helped him unload it. We lay it across the driveway and dug post holes where
he pointed. Given the limits of our posthole digger, we dug the post holes and centered
the pipes in them. We then drove the pipes deeper into the soil and filled the holes with
fast setting Quikrete.

We let it set up for a week even though it was hard in 30 minutes. He returned, mounted
the gate and we paid him the promised food, enough for three for two months. After he
left, we got out a roll of barbed wire and improved the gate with homemade concertina
which we attached with rebar tie wire. With the disappearance of wire balers, we’d taken
to buying rolls of rebar tie wire a case at a time. It came 20 rolls to the case and in sev-
eral wire gauges. We chose 14 gauge.

We set a watch on the top of the dome with the rest of us taking turns. There was snow
on the ground and we pondered whether or not to try and blade the snow off the frozen
ground to eliminate any fallout that might exist on or in the snow. We concluded that we
should if we could get a road grader to use for the task.

The grader was the easy part; we got one from the County. We did the pastures first
and when we finished, used a CD V-700 to check for residual fallout. There was some,
although very little. With that success, we could turn out the livestock and clean up the
dome. With one person on the grader and the rest in the barn loading the spreaders, the
manure was spread on the fields after the snow was graded off.

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We didn’t plow in the fall due to limited time. For once, it was fortuitous that we didn’t.
The cold sucked the heat from the manure and it froze solid. The temperatures seemed
to be much lower after the first of the year. No radios station had made it back on the
air. The amateur bands were alive with information.

We took a US map and used a highlighter to mark cities hit with nukes. The list included
seaports and large MSAs (metropolitan statistical areas). The only military installation
struck was Colorado Springs with the Air Force Academy, Peterson AFB, Fort Carson
and Cheyenne Mountain. Schriever AFB was about ten miles east of Peterson.
Schriever was home of the Space Command which was in charge of the US satellites
like GPS. We could only guess about how Schriever fared being so close to the
Springs.

All five of our M1As were carried with the Trijicon mounted. My scope was in the Raptor
4X case in a new pocket cut to hold it. The case also included spare AA batteries for the
Raptor. The Tac-50 had the day scope mounted but switching to the Raptor 6X only
took moments. In addition to the two Glocks, the 590A1 was kept in a rack in the pickup.
Our number one priority was to find diesel fuel, followed by gasoline as number two. We
first tried going up and down I-76 looking for tankers. We found two, both with mixed
loads of 75% diesel and 25% 87 octane unleaded. John and I each took one.

“Did you find enough to refill the tank?”

“Haven’t stuck the tank so I don’t know.”

There was a call on the business band mobile radio being used as a base station. Mona
answered the call, turning to me and saying, “It’s Daddy and he wants to talk to you.”

“Yes John, is something up?”

“Alan, you realize that a major portion of the diesel fuel is in Denver, don’t you? Anyway,
I’ve talked to surviving grain farmers who produce biodiesel. They’re willing to trade fuel
for some of the things you produce on the ranch. They need meat and canned goods. I
told them I’d talk it over with you and get back to them. What do you think?”

“Based on what I learned when I looked into biodiesel, the yield can be as high as 127
gallons per acre using rapeseed as the oil source. A guy farming a whole section, minus
the homestead, might produce 80,000 gallons per year. Diesel would be a valuable
commodity and running our generator at only 25% capacity would use a gallon and a
half per hour. At 50% capacity, it would use two point four gallons per hour. There are
365.25 days in an average year and multiplied by twenty four, there are 8,766 hours per
average year. That would be a minimum of 13,150 gallons and at 50% around 21,000.
Can our ranch generate enough income to keep us in biodiesel?”

“If you maximized your livestock production I believe it can. Are you interested?”

108
I looked at Mona and she nodded.

“Yes, we’re interested. Don’t have any idea how much the reduced sunlight is going to
affect production, but we can give it a shot.”

“That half section to your east is abandoned. They sold off their livestock, packed a
trailer and took off for Texas. The owner’s brother has a very large ranch down there
and I heard he said plainly that they wouldn’t be coming back. How about farming that
land for more feed?”

“Harry and I will go check it out. If it’s like you think, we might just do that. There’s an-
other abandoned half section across the road. I wonder if we could use it to start a truck
farm.”

“Even if you had the equipment, a truck farm would be a lot of manual labor. If, and it’s a
big if, you could get some of the survivors from Sterling to supply the labor in exchange
for food and a little gold or silver, you might make it work.”

“Like good ol’ Percy, huh?”

“Are you referring to Percivale George Jackson?”

“Yeah, you remember the barter system he used in that story? He supplied the needed
goods up front and was paid back in labor, later.”

“Despite the size Sterling had grown to before the war, there were many people who
had been raised on farms. Not all of them fled the farm any further than to take a job in
town and move there. I may know a few, Mona surely knows a few from her days at the
Extension office and Harry probably knows or knows of some, too.”

“Rog, I’ll check.”

“Break, break channel 13. This Bob on the dome and we have company.”

“I’ve got you Bob. Where and how many?”

“I don’t have a count yet Alan. One pickup with a six passenger cab. There are people
in the back, too. They’re moving slowly, maybe ten miles per hour, checking out the
fields and so forth. The gate is locked but the barrier posts aren’t in place. They’re com-
ing from the direction of Sterling.”

“We’d better go to red alert until we know what’s happening. I’ll join you on the dome
with my sniping rifles. Alan clear.”

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“Mona, you heard. Get everyone turned out, armed. Make sure they have their soft body
armor (Kevlar) on. Have Paul drop the steel posts into the sockets to block the gate.
And then, make sure everyone is in their assigned foxhole with plenty of ammo. Have
Crystal get into the shelter since she’s expecting.”

“There's a gun and ammunition just inside the doorway. Use it only in emergency.”

When I joined Bob on the dome, he pointed to the pickup. I quickly pulled the Tac-50
from its case and checked them out using the scope. There appeared to be six in the
cab and another four in the pickup bed. We were outnumbered. We had the defender’s
advantage of knowing where they were and them not knowing where we were. We had
more protection with the foxholes we’d dug and the sandbagged emplacement on the
top of the dome. The double layer of sandbags actually was not only protection for Bob
and me; it provided a good, stable rifle rest.

“Uh-oh. The guy in the back of the pickup has a rifle with a scope. It appears that it’s
pointed at us.”

I fired at the rifleman and his head sort of detached from his body and went straight up.
After chambering another round, I went for the driver. The glare on the windshield pre-
vented me from seeing the driver so I aimed at the midline of the window on the driver’s
side. When I squeezed the trigger and a hole appeared in the glass, the vehicle sudden-
ly lurched forward and ended up in the ditch on our side of the road. I saw a guy shad-
ing his eyes and then pointing towards the dome.

Before I could get off a shot, he moved behind the pickup giving him concealment. With
the angle being what it was, I couldn’t see the other side of the truck from underneath.
Meanwhile, Paul, Dean, Harry Jr. and Bob moved down the new lane, stopping across
from where the pickup was in the ditch. Moments later, fire erupted from the lane when
those behind the pickup got through the roadside wire fence and moved towards the
dome. Of the ten individuals in the pickup and bed, the count was now down to six.

One person was trying to conceal himself in the long pasture grass, but I saw him and
used a laser rangefinder to get the distance. After adjusting the elevation on the scope, I
fired and hit the person in the center of his head. Down to five. Our four boys were on
their bellies, rifles crooked in their arms headed towards the trespassers. With about
100 meters separating the two groups, our four stopped and waited. Paul and Dean re-
placed their 30 round magazines with Beta C-MAG 100 round drums.

Although I’d lost my spotter when Bob joined the three others, I had an advantage be-
cause of my elevation. I picked up my radio and called.

“Boy’s they’re directly in front of you at 100 meters; it’s time to mow the grass.”

They got four of the five remaining individuals leaving one. He rose and raised his
hands holding his rifle above him. I said screw it and shot the SOB. Hey, I didn’t sign

110
any Conventions or Accords. We retrieved the truck, using the tractor and a chain to pull
it from the ditch. We pulled the driver out, wiped down the seat with gunny sacks and
began loading bodies. When we had all of the roadside bodies, we collected the bodies
by the road fence and finally the others.

Ten little, nine little, eight little dead men

Seven little, six little, five little dead men
Four little, three little, two little dead men
One little de-ad man

Except they weren’t so little. John and June arrived just as we finished loading the road-
side bodies.

“Y’all ok?”

“We’re fine. The opposition on the other hand didn’t fare so well. I think I’m going to be
sick.”

I moved towards the offside ditch and launched my lunch and remaining breakfast. I
grabbed a bottle of water and washed my mouth out and used my handkerchief to wipe
my face.

“How many did you shoot?”

“Three.”

“I recognize the truck and three of the guys. They’re from Sterling.”

“We’re going to need a new windshield and probably the front end aligned. Everything
else seems to be ok. We’ll just have to check it to be sure.”

“This diesel engine is computer controlled. They either had a set of spares or found
them somewhere. We’ll take it into my old shop and do the alignment. We can get a
new windshield from the automotive glass shop. It might not be too smart to be driving it
around in broad daylight in town. My mechanic is still around. I’m certain he’ll do the re-
pairs for some food. I’ll ask him and if he says yes, we’ll just drop the truck off and let
him fix it. He can bring it out here and you can load the food in your pickup and take him
back to town.”

“After this, I’m not so certain about truck farming the second half section. If the good
people of Sterling want a truck farm I won’t stop them from using that half section.
Whatever we produce will be consumed by us or people willing to purchase it. If they
want to use labor to make purchases, fine; we could use some help.”

“If everyone is ok, we should be getting back. We came to help trap them between two
forces.”

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John and June left, heading back home. The next day he called and said there was a
search being launched for ten missing men from Sterling. I told him we’d put in an ap-
pearance and help look over the area. We moved the pickup into the machine shed and
covered it with three layers of bales.

They didn’t find the ten men or their pickup. We got a windshield and installed it our-
selves. After, we sanded the pickup down and repainted it. John brought a new set of
tires, completing the removal of identifying marks except for the VIN. The mechanic
then picked up the truck and drove it to Sterling to align.

The table below will help you locate your car's unique DNA - its unique vehicle identifi-
cation number. VINs are normally located in several locations on a car, but the most
common places are:

- On the door frame/door post of the front doors (usually driver's but sometimes pas-
senger's)
- On the dash near the windshield
- On the engine itself (machined pad on front of engine)
- On the car's firewall
- In the left-hand inner wheel arch
- On the steering wheel/steering column
- On the radiator support bracket
- On your car's title, registration, guarantee/maintenance book or on the declarations
page of your auto insurance policy

We looked at every location on the list of possible locations plus several more. When
we thought we had all of the VIN numbers removed, we changed the plates from anoth-
er pickup of the same make and model and added the registration to the glove box. If
asked, we would produce the registration and explain the absence of VIN numbers by
saying we found the vehicle abandoned on I-76 and salvaged it because it ran. The only
reason it was sitting on the Interstate was an empty fuel tank. But, the registration had
the VIN if they needed it to check something. It didn’t hurt that we’d taken out of state
plates from Nebraska.

Our first battle had a positive outcome. We prevailed against a slightly superior force
which was our intent from the beginning. Harry Jr. and Bob’s 6.8 SPCs were the POF P-
415s. What they needed were the POF P-416s. The 6.8 had improved range and hitting
power. Harry and I agreed to take the boys to Denver and look for the P-416s and addi-
tional ammo. The dealer we used was located in Littleton, south of Denver proper.

Mona was less than thrilled about the prospect of our going to Denver. She insisted that
the four of us wear the PPE with new filters and body armor. We left early the next
morning driving my pickup pulling a trailer. Harry drove the repaired pickup. We hoped
to arrive at the gun shop two hours before sunrise. If the trip went as planned we’d have
the rifles and ammo and be on our way before sunrise. The dealership was locked up

112
tight, as we’d expected and hoped. Out came the cutting torch and we cut the lock out
of the rear door. And then, looked through the hole and discovered a crossbar. Once
removed, we had full access.

The vault was a concrete block room with the block probably filled with concrete and re-
bar built against the outside block wall. So, we went to work on the door. We eventually
got it open and surveyed the contents. The vault contained all of the class III weapons
needed to supply a major portion of the Denver PD. All were boxed except the display
models.

It was more than we expected. Harry and Harry Jr. sorted the rifles into stacks. They put
Mini-14s in one pile, M1As in a second, M-16s in a third, POF P-415s and P-416s in a
fourth and the last of the arms, HK-416s and HK-417s in a fifth. Display weapons were
matched to their box and added to the growing piles.

A seventh pile was added for shotguns regardless of the make or model. With the fire-
arms stacked, we turned to loading the ammo in the front of the trailer and pickups.
Make that WW 7. We looked around and located his handgun inventory. We found the
matching boxes and packed the boxes into cartons and added the cartons to the back
seat of the pickup.

We made one final check and discovered the door to the basement. There were crates
of military ordnance and we began to check them out. Harry opened crates and let out a
long soft whistle. “Boys, find the nearest U-Haul place and get a 6x12 open trailer.”

The boys each grabbed their P-415s and took off like a shot.

“Whatcha got?”

“Boy toys. Every kind of hand grenade they make; eighteen cases of them. The M67
crates each have 30 grenades! Those 10 crates there are rockets. The next two cases
are 40mm grenades. The next case contains HK grenade launchers. Hang on a minute
while I check this last one. Hey. Would you look at this?”

“What is it?”

“Eighteen MP5s with four position fire selector and a suppressor. Did we load any MP-5
magazines?”

“I didn’t see any.”

“Keep looking. They’re probably somewhere here in the basement.”

The boys were back with the trailer. The three of us started moving everything while
Harry looked for the magazines. He found them eventually and we began loading
.45ACP and 9mmP into the back of the second pickup, putting what wouldn’t fit in the

113
bed on the back seat. We’d already cleaned him out of 5.56, 6.8 and 7.62. He only had
a partial case of the Hornady 750gr A-MAX Match .50BMG.

It was well past dawn before we finished. There had been an area on the way down that
set off my NukAlert. On the return trip, we were running flat out considering the load we
were carrying, not wanting to dwell in the hot spot. We didn’t have to go to Camp Nava-
jo, Fort Carson, MCLB Barstow or MCLB Albany.

“Did you get everything you were looking for? That extra trailer suggests that you got a
lot more of some items or extra items.”

“Both. We got into the store and the vault. We found your typical mix of sporting fire-
arms and a large inventory of NFA firearms in the vault. We pretty well had the trailer
and pickups filled when we found the handguns. We stumbled across a door to his
basement and hit the jackpot. He had things that you don’t find anywhere except a mili-
tary base or a cop shop.”

“For instance?”

“Hand grenades of all types, rockets, 40mm grenades, launchers, and the pièce de ré-
sistance, eighteen MP5s with four position fire selectors and suppressors.”

“Find any more .50BMG ammo?”

“We found part of a case, fourteen boxes; a case hold 20 ten round boxes.”

“I think that between Daddy and you we’re not short on .50BMG. I am somewhat skepti-
cal that you found some of the things you brought home are from our dealer’s location.”

“Believe me; if we had gone to a military facility we would have brought several addi-
tional items, including machineguns, mortars and Claymore mines. You’ll have a chance
to see everything we brought back. So, in this case, I’m not really concerned if you be-
lieve me or not.”

“Show me what you got.”

After we unloaded and moved the rifles, shotguns and handguns to the shelter, we add-
ed the ammo and explosive ordnance to the basement.

“I didn’t see anything you didn’t mention, so you’re off the hook.”

We could have used extra 750gr A-MAX Match. There were probably hundreds or thou-
sands of rounds of the stuff spread out around Denver. Radioactive, too. Grand Island,
Nebraska was the Hornady hometown. Hornady has one building containing the admin-
istration and manufacturing facilities.

114
It is ~300 miles to Grand Island, way too far. Plan B; check out Sporting Goods stores
that sell guns and ammo. Even if the stores have been looted, that doesn’t mean the
looters took everything. We had ammo for our big rifles and other priorities were much
higher. Like staying alive now that people knew where we were and assumed we had
food to spare.

Way back when Mona and I got married, a fair portion of the local residents knew about
it. I was a wet behind the ears rancher barely turned 21 and she was the daughter of a
prominent local businessman. The ranch had been successful and we now owned it
outright.

Even with the volume of canning we did each year, we always had some excess we
sold at the Farmer’s Market. This was known by many people and we’d already had one
attempt to get what was ours. We were prepared to provide some humanitarian aid for
those who had a genuine need. Anyone else would have to barter with us, even if they
could only offer manual labor. Mona’s parents and we had a large amount of precious
metals accumulated.

We belonged to a middle of the road Christian Church. One recent Sunday, the sermon
was, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” After Cain had murdered his brother Abel, God asked
him where his brother was. Cain answered, “I know not; am I my brother's keeper?”

God’s question to Cain was only the opening to a topic the Minister really wanted to dis-
cuss, Christian charity. He went on and on about the haves helping the have not’s. I put
$5 in the plate as opposed to our usual $20. Since the sermon came two weeks after
the ten went missing, I wondered if he knew what had happened. I sure wasn’t going to
confirm anything.

After we got home, we had yet another discussion.

“It almost sounded like he knew what had happened.”

“My thoughts exactly. We could donate one acre’s worth of corn, barley, wheat and
oats. If you agree, we could also turn over those humanitarian packages and let him be
responsible for deciding who is the most deserving. I don’t want any more blood on our
hands if we can avoid it.”

“Would that amount to much?”

“It would be approximately 150 bushels of corn, 130 of oats, 80 of barley and 45 of
wheat.”

“Wheat would probably be the most needed crop. Could we spare five acres?”

“Not any more than that because we only grow 20 acres each of wheat and barley. Our
two biggest crops are corn and soybeans with 120 acres of each. A person can get 60

115
pounds of whole wheat flour from a bushel of wheat. I’d like to keep at least 3 pails of
wheat, like always. It will keep us in flour. To answer your question, that small field can
produce about 900 bushels of wheat or 54,000 pounds of flour.”

“Then there’s more than enough.”

“Maybe. We’re not just giving it away. I already told you that.”

What were we missing? Machine guns? Mortars? Nope, we didn’t have anti-matériel
ammo for the .50s. We had plenty of anti-personnel ammo. We discussed it, briefly. The
nearest source was probably Fort Carson. That place had more ordnance bunkers than
MCLS Barstow or MCLS Albany. On the other hand, it was about 90 minutes away. If
we could skirt the radiation in the Denver area and near the Springs, we’d have all of
the time in the world to find what we wanted.

How many of us should make the trip? I wasn’t going to father any more children be-
cause Mona had her belly button fixed. John and June were in their mid-sixties. Harry
admitted that Maria had her belly button fixed, too. It was on her doctor’s recommenda-
tion due to problems she experience with Robert’s delivery. That sure simplified the de-
cision; it would be John, Harry and yours truly. We set about getting everything lined up
including the oxy-acetylene rig, extra bottles of gas, thermal lances, bolt cutters and an-
ything we had that could be adapted for use as a burglary tool.

John would leave his Barrett at our place and we’d take my Tac-50. John and I also
took our fancy M1As and Harry borrowed Mona’s Loaded model. In addition to our rifles
and pistols, we would take shotguns and the MP5s. We loaded our extra magazines for
anything that used a magazine and added a crate of assorted additional ammo. Harry
would drive his pickup pulling the U-Haul and I’d drive mine pulling our trailer.

We set up our packs based on a four day mission although we only intended on a two
day mission. Two hours to Fort Carson, shopping until we found what we were looking
for and two hours home. June was inured to John’s leaving on short notice and a mini-
mal explanation. Mona, on the other hand, said, “Again? Where to and how long?”

“Fort Carson, two days tops. We’ll check in periodically on ten meters. Here’re the pri-
mary, secondary and tertiary frequencies. From the top of the hour, we’ll use primary for
ten minutes, secondary for the next ten minutes and tertiary for the next ten minutes.
We’ll leave the outside speaker on between the bottom and the top of the hour and
monitor 1, 2 and 3 again for ten minutes each. If you don’t hear from us, call. The du-
ress phrase will be Littleton. So if you hear us include it in a conversation, someone
caught us.”

“You sure don’t look like James Bond.”

116
“Which one? There have been 5 or 6 actors in that role. Look, all were looking for is
some special ammunition. On the off chance we see something we can use, we might
bring it home.”

“Right. Ma Deuces and M240s with linked ammo, mortars and rockets, an Mk19 Mod 3?
Did I miss anything?”

“Not that I can think of. We’ll be checking Sporting Goods stores for more of the .50 cal-
iber A-MAX Match. We will also look for Interceptor body armor with ESAPI plates and
the side panels. This soft stuff in only rated IIIA and won’t stop most rifles. I’d like every-
one’s sizes so we can be sure to get the correct sizes. If we can, we’ll replace our cur-
rent PASGT helmets with the ACH helmets. Get clothing sizes, boot sizes, head circum-
ference and so forth. Maybe if the locals see us wearing military uniforms and carrying
military weapons they might leave us alone.

“Next subject. Wouldn’t it make more sense for your folks to move here? We can winter-
ize their home and shut down the generator. Their PV system should produce the mini-
mal electricity needed to keep the house around 55° so the pipes don’t freeze. They can
have the guest bedroom and we can move most of what they have over here.”

“I’ll talk to Mom while you three are gone. If I can convince her, I can practically guaran-
tee they’ll move.”

We could use the business band radios with the ACH. The ACH was a modified MICH
and MICH was the acronym for Modular Integrated Communications Helmet. It also has
a mounting for the AN/PVS-14 monocular night vision device. The night vision was one
of several things I was referring to as something we could use. There was a new one,
too. It was called the ECH, Enhanced Combat Helmet, a Marine Corps project. About
the only thing I knew about those was that they were made of plastic and supposed to
be 35% better than the ACH.

John rode with me and we traveled to the Springs in a roundabout way, staying off the
Interstate. We took 63 south to 40/K and that west to 71 and 71 south to 94. As we ap-
proached the Springs, we circled around south on local roads and came up from the
south on US 85 to the Fort. The Fort was home to multiple units including the 10 th Spe-
cial Forces Group. I recalled something from ‘Normal’ by Grand. They got a semi load of
matériel from the 10th. The group that Dayfield had was much larger than our three fami-
lies. Perhaps we could get by with less. And if we found something irresistible, we would
get a semi and come back.

John would be our guide because when he’d been in the Army, way back when, he
spent some time at the Fort. Regardless of why we really went, we started on the main
post at clothing sales. Once we had enough of the MultiCam, boots, wicking T-shirts
and socks, cold weather gear and gloves, John directed us to a supply warehouse.

117
We picked up Interceptor there with the side panels, extra ESAPI plates and the ACHs.
Another warehouse yielded up the AN/PVS-14 monocular night vision devices. The
night vision was in an electronics warehouse and we looked around. We found two
channel AN/PCR-152 portable radios with GPS and tactical vest antenna systems that
slipped into the plate pocket on the Interceptor armor.

These were relatively new radios and fully compliant with the JTRS. The ones we found
were NIB and we took 4 dozen of the radios and antennas. We also found JTRS com-
pliant Ground Mobile Radios for the vehicles and the vehicle antennas. According to the
instruction book inside the box we opened, they would operate on 11vdc through 36vdc.

We needed some base station radios, antennas, programming interface cables, the
software and whatever it would take to program the radios. We spent the necessary
time to find everything and spares. Checking my watch, I realized that it was five before
the hour and we hadn’t called home all day.

“Base, this is Alan.”

“You haven’t called all day, are you guys alright?”

“Three little kids in a candy store. We hit clothing sales first, and then got the body ar-
mor with plenty of plates, elbow and knee pads, side panels and new helmets, night vi-
sion, followed by an electronics warehouse where we got a bunch of communications
gear. We haven’t gotten to the igloos yet.”

“It took three trips, but they’re moved. Anything we missed, you guys can move when
you get back.”

“Copy. We’ll probably overnight here and be home before dark tomorrow.”

“Ok, good hunting. Mona clear.”

“Alan clear.”

“What’s up?”

“You now live at our house. Anything else in this warehouse?”

“We’re done here. It’s time to snoop around and find the control office for the igloos and
get their list of what is stored where.”

“Be nice to get a map showing the igloo numbers or whatever.”

“Patience grasshopper.”

118
After we located the general area where the igloos were, we started looking for nearby
buildings that might contain the office in charge of the igloo complex. We didn’t find it
until after dark and finding the office didn’t mean we found the inventory or igloo identifi-
cation information.

We drug our packs and weapons into the office and prepared to spend the night. We
were well equipped to spend a night sleeping on a cold, hard floor. We inflated out mat-
tress pads, rolled out the sleeping bags and set up a Coleman two burner propane
stove. We started a pot of cowboy coffee and a pan of water to heat.

"Cowboy coffee" is made by heating coarse grounds with water in a pot, letting the
grounds settle and pouring off the liquid to drink, sometimes filtering it to remove fine
grounds. While the name suggests that this method was used by cowboys, presumably
on the trail around a campfire, it is used by others; some people prefer this method. This
method is still used in certain situations in Finland, Norway and Sweden, which have the
highest consumption of coffee per-capita. Cold water added to a finished pot will speed
the settling process.

After we ate, we found a bathroom and each used a separate toilet because once
flushed, the tanks didn’t refill. We returned to the office and John started snooping,
eventually finding the latest inventory sheet and a map of the various igloos. He located
the Mk211 and circled that bunker on the map. He did the same for the M1022, each of
the various types of grenades, rockets, demolitions and Special Forces ordnance and
equipment. The Special Forces always seem to be the first group within the military to
get the latest, greatest thing since Granny Smith Apples.

“John, if I recall correctly, there were over ten thousand people stationed here. People
have to eat and ten thousand people would require a large quantity of food. That has to
be stored in one of those warehouses.”

“Good point, we’ll pin down the location(s) before we leave and take what we can carry.
I’ve been giving it some thought. We can find just about anything we might want here.
We need to stay light and mobile if we’re off the ranch. On the ranch is different. With
our small population, those people remaining at home need to have some serious fire-
power to offset the reduced personnel.

“If someone knows of the operation and is smart, they’ll do a recon before they attack
and wait until some of us leave for some reason. So, I think we shout get a few select
items for the ranch. Including an M2HB and several new barrels that we can pre head-
space plus one Mk-19.”

“You’re not tricking me on that one. The standard M2HB has to have the barrel head-
spaced after it’s installed.”

“That’s the general rule Alan. However, the way you pre headspace a M2HB barrel is
screw it all the way in and turn it out one click at a time it until the headspace is correct.

119
Then you wire a tag to the barrel indicating how many turns out you had to make to get
the correct head spacing.

“I’m not familiar with the Mk-19 so we’ll have to study the Field Manual and Technical
manual. Timing is usually not really much of an issue. The inventory sheets show both
the ball/tracer belts and the AP/APIT belts. We’ll take the former for practice and the lat-
ter as our combat ammo.

“If you want to get two or three of the M240Bs for those of us away from the property,
we probably should. One other thing to keep in mind is the ranges of the rockets. The
M136 AT-4 has a point target range of 300 meters and an area target range of 500 me-
ters. The M72 LAW has a point target range of 165 meters and an area target range of
200 meters.

“We’ll check out the Special Forces area and look for some Shoulder-launched Multi-
purpose Assault Weapons (SMAWs). I’m not sure we’ll find any M3 Medium Anti-Armor
Weapon Systems (MAAWS). That’s the Carl Gustav that USSOCOM troop’s use. If we
find them, we’ll take them. They’re better for static defense against stationary targets
and can reach 700 meters.

“Since there are three of us and only two vehicles, we should probably try to find a
semi-tractor and box trailer. I brought a gallon of PRI-D just in case.”

“Do you believe we can do all that and get home by tomorrow night?”

“I didn’t know we had a deadline.”

“It’s unofficial. I told Mona we’d be home tomorrow night.”

“If it’s all the same to you, we’ll stay until we run out of spaces to haul things. I’d prefer
not coming back.”

“Fair enough. You can explain to Mona if we’re delayed. By the way, the duress phrase
is Littleton.”

He did. We didn’t find a semi that would run and settled on a military truck.

“Let’s use that HEMTT.”

“That’s not a HEMTT.”

“How can you tell?”

“It has ten wheels not eight. I think that may be a Palletized Load System truck. If I’m
right, we can put a 20’ container on the back and haul up to 33 tons between the truck
and trailer.”

120
Thirty three tons of equipment and ordnance was a lot. Once we had the PLS and con-
tainer, we returned to the warehouses and first looked for food. We found what we could
and turned to the storage area for the 10th. They had the updated Ma Deuce; the M2E2.
We took four of those with the spare barrel and tripods plus several more new barrels
and the Technical Manual on how to set the headspacing. Ammo for the fifty went into
the container along with a large quantity of belted 40mm grenades to use with the Mk
19s we found. John said these seemed to have a different cradle from what he remem-
bered. We took the two we found and two tripods.

“We need an up armored Hummer with a ring mount. Check that, we need two, one for
an M2 and one for an Mk 19.”

“And how do you propose to get those back to the ranch?”

“I’m working on it Alan, chill. We haven’t found them yet.”

Un-huh. We found a pair of M1114 up armored armament carriers. The container went
on the truck and the Hummers on the trailer. The next morning, we located the fuel
stores. It was all JP-8 and we didn’t have an immediate need for the fuel or a way to
transport it.

Our gleaning amounted to a little of this and a little of that. SCAR-L and SCAR-H rifles
were found stored in an armory and each rifle had three barrels. SOCOM had cancelled
the production of the SCAR-L claiming it didn’t have any significant advantages over
other platforms. Bzzz. It’s a short stroke gas piston!

We found 24 of the L versions and 36 of the H versions. There was an ample supply of
M118LR 7.62 and the Mk 262 Mod 1 5.56 sniper ammo. Call it WW 8. However, I ask
you to keep one thing in mind. We planned to stay on the ranch except when we need-
ed to find more fuel and a few other supplies. If push came to shove, we could blend our
own COB horse feed. To date, we’d had the single attempt to take what we had. From
that, I’d decided that the residents of Sterling were on their own.

“You know if we mount an Mk 19 and an M2E2 on the dome, we can reach the entire
ranch with the fifty and most of it with the Mk 19.”

“I thought it had a range of 2,200 meters.”

“The cartridges do. The rear sight only goes from 300 meters to 1,500 meters. With all
the Mk 211 we found, we should include it in the fifty caliber belts. We could go 1 AP, 1
Mk 211, 1 AP, 1 Mk 211, 1 APIT and repeat. We have the one in five ball-tracer belts for
practice and would only be using the combat mix rarely. We could do up twelve cans
that way, giving us three cans of combat mix for each gun. We’d still have the standard
AP, APIT combat mix if we used up the three cans.”

121
“But that’s not much ammo Alan. The ammo cans we have here are the 100 round
cans, M2A1. We found three of those M3 Carl Gustav recoilless rifles and both the train-
ing rounds and HEDP. We’re only interested in protecting the ranch and we have
enough now to do that until our dying day.”

“I realize that Harry. Tomorrow, let’s fill any empty spaces with commissary and dining
hall supplies and head home. I’d better call Mona.”

“Mona, this is Alan. Mona, this is Alan.”

“What happened, get lost?”

“No, we’re having good luck on locating matériel and food supplies. We have enough of
everything to keep us at home for a long time.”

“Did you find fuel?”

“Tens of thousands of gallons of JP-8. We couldn’t get a semi-tractor to run and ended
up with a PLS. It will haul 33 tons. We overloaded the pickups and trailers. We will be
home tomorrow night.”

“Mona clear.”

“She didn’t sound happy.”

“You noticed, huh? She’ll get over it later or sooner.”

“Isn’t the expression sooner or later?”

“I prioritized it.”

“I see.”

We returned to the warehouse with the electronics and optics and cleaned out all of the
ACOGs. They were the TA01Bs for the 7.62 caliber rifles and the TA31RCO-M150CP-G
(M150). We filled the insides of the Hummers with the food stores and were ready to
leave by 2pm.

“Mona, this is Alan.”

“This is June, Alan. Mona is not available.”

“Right. We’re leaving.”

“Copy. You’re departing. June out.”

122
Driving the overloaded pickups pulling the overloaded trailers and John getting a bit of
experience learning to drive the PLS translated into a slow journey home. It took every
bit of four hours before we were pulling in at the ranch. Maria and the boys were out to
greet Harry and June was out to welcome John back. My three kids were there too.

“Where’s your mother?”

“In the house. You’d better let her work off her mad, dad. She’s upset because you were
gone so long which worried her to distraction. You didn’t really maintain communica-
tions like you said you would. She tried calling several times and couldn’t reach you. I
think she’s more than a little put out.”

“Ok Paul, thanks for the warning. She’s really mad?”

“You could bottle and sell it.”

“Ok, why don’t you get Dean to help you and unload my pickup and trailer? I might as
well go to Grand Island and really give her a reason to be angry.”

“Can we ride along?”

“We who?”

“Dean and I.”

“You want to get on her list too?”

“At the moment even grandpa is on her list. What’s in Grand Island?”

“Hornady. We got M1022 and Mk 211 but didn’t stop at any sporting goods stores. We
didn’t exactly hit any communities if we could avoid it. Fort Carson was totally aban-
doned and we didn’t see anyone at Peterson AFB or Schriever AFB.”

“What will we need to take?”

“Besides your weapons? Food and water for five days. We’ll refill my fuel tanks and take
several jerry cans of diesel.”

“And, we’re looking for what?”

“That 750gr A-MAX Match for my Tac-50, 7.62 A-MAX Match and SPBT Match, 6.8
SPC and match grade 5.56. We might as well check for pistol and revolver ammo while
we’re at it.”

“It’s going to take us until later to empty the truck and trailer.”

123
“See if Harry Jr. and Bob can help you. I’d better put in an appearance before she slits
my throat.”

“We’re back.”

“Did you leave anything at Fort Carson?”

“Quite a bit, if you must know. We picked up a few rifles, plenty of optics, clothing, hel-
mets, vests and communications gear, among other things. Some of which were more
boy toys. The boys and I are going to Grand Island in the morning and that that will be
the last trip until we need more fuel. There are thousands of gallons of JP-8 at the fort.
Once we return and get our defenses set up, we’ll be staying home.”

“I don’t like it when you’re gone.”

“In that case, come with us.”

“Seriously?”

“Sure. We’ll make it a family outing.”

“Sara too?”

“If she wants to come.”

This time our weapons load consisted of a M1A, 590A1, the Glock 21s and Browning
Hi-Powers and the MP-5s for backup close quarters combat. We didn’t take the SCARs
because we needed to sight them in and familiarize ourselves with their operation. And
we didn’t take the HK-416s because we didn’t need them. I’m sure the 5.56 has its
place; it should go there and stay there. All sixty of the FN rifles were equipped with the
Mk-13 grenade launcher, a replacement for the M203.

We packed everything we were taking before bedtime. Harry and his boys would handle
the chores while we were gone and John and June would see about finding a location to
store what we’d brought back.

We left at 6am. Paul had his M1A for his go to weapon, Dean his 590A1 and Mona and
Sara, the MP-5s. My Super Match was readily available and the Tac-50 in the back seat
between Mona and Sara. We averaged about 50mph and hit Grand Island at noon. We
had lunch and located Hornady. They were open and cranking out ammo for all it was
worth.

“I figured you’d be closed down.”

“And you were going to help yourself?”

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“Yep. Since you’re not, can I buy some ammo?”

“Do you have a FFL?”

“Federal Firearms License? No, we don’t. Do we have to have one?”

“No. I was interested in your reaction. What do you have to pay for the ammo? We’ve
given up on bartering and won’t accept plastic, cash or check.”

“Gold?”

“Yes. At the last spot price before the war. It was at $1,993 but we’re using $2,000 an
ounce. Silver is worth $40 an ounce. What are you looking for?”

“A-MAX Match 750gr for my fifty, 168gr A-MAX Match and BTHP for my Super Match,
match grade 120gr 6.8 SPC and 75gr 5.56. We can also use 124gr 9mm and 230gr
.45ACP.”

“How much do you want?”

“How much do you have?”

“More than you’ll want.”

“Three thousand of the .50 caliber, five thousand of each of the 7.62, ten thousand of
the 6.8 SPC and ten thousand of the 5.56.”

“It’s $500 a case for the fifty, $200 a case for the 7.62, $175 a case for the 6.8 SPC and
$150 a case for the 5.56. All cases are 200 round cases. Our handgun ammo is pricey.
There’s a guy in town who sells Speer if you’d rather have that in the 9mm and
.45ACP.”

“We’ll do that, thank you. Now how about .45 Colt, .45-70, .357 magnum, .44 special
and .44 magnum?”

“We have some of each.”

“Make it 4,000 rounds of the handgun calibers and 2,000 rounds of the .45-70.”

“Let me get them started assembling your order and I’ll tally up the total. What are you
driving, a semi?”

“Pickup and trailer.”

“You’re going to be way overloaded.”

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“Yeah, but what’s new?”

“It comes to fifty thousand. Do you have that much gold?”

“Twenty five ounces, right?”

“Yep.”

I counted out the one ounce Eagles. We got the name of the guy selling the Speer am-
mo, his address and directions. By the time we headed home it was up to WW 9.

“Do you want to switch off driving and drive all of the way back?”

“It will be after midnight. Let’s take a vote.”

When I heard four ‘Ayes’ I stopped and let Mona drive. Two hours later she switched to
Paul and he drove for the next two hours. Dean drove us the rest of the way home. I
had called ahead on the radio and warned both John and Harry that the trip was a suc-
cess and we were driving straight through. I told them we’d arrive sometime between
9pm and midnight.

We arrived around ten, had a quick meal and went to bed. Early the next morning, I was
awakened by the sounds of construction. I peered out the window and observed a large
building being erected, a pole building. I dressed, made a pot of coffee and went out to
see what was going on.

“They’ll be done tonight Alan. It will be a dirt floor, but we’ll have the needed storage
space. I was able to round up a group of my guys and we’ll be paying them for their la-
bor in food. They’ll be splitting 2 steers and 4 hogs plus some staples. I’m also going to
give them a little gold. How did the trip go?”

“Hornady was open and operating. We got what we went for with 25 ounces of gold at
two thousand an ounce. Another guy in Grand Island had Speer and we got some 9mm
and .45ACP from him. I’m going to have some breakfast and start making plans for our
future security.”

“Talk to you later.”

“What’s for breakfast?”

“Pancakes and sausage; it will be ready in a few minutes if you want to get a quick
shower.”

“I think I’ll do that.”

When I returned, the food was on the table and Mona was pouring me coffee.

126
“How come it took you three all that long down at the fort? We got everything accom-
plished in one long day yesterday.”

“One, there was no one at the fort and we had to hunt up everything we found. Two, all
the stuff we got from the fort was free. Finally, we also spent time checking out things
for future trips. For the moment, at least, we can get all of the fuel we’ll need at the fort
and all we’ll be out is a little time.”

“Did you go by Cheyenne Mountain and say hi to the prez?”

“Sure. The Secret Service was delighted to see us and complimented us for rescuing
the abandoned supplies at the fort. Get serious, will you? One wrong turn and we’d
have been on the road to the mountain and you’d be wondering until doomsday where
we were and what happened to us.”

“We already had doomsday.”

“More like TEOCAWKI. I’m so grateful that you and your family made our survival and
continued existence possible. We may not need the items we got from the Fort but, it’s
one of those would you rather have it situations.”

“Are we going to be able to continue producing crops?”

“I don’t really know; I hope so. While we have enough food for all of us, we only have
about a year’s worth for the livestock. My greatest concern is a repeat of the previous
episode with the residents of Sterling. We have enough to share although it’s limited.
Perhaps I was too quick to jump to a judgment about helping out the Sterling survivors.
I’ll tell you right now that it might not be a bad idea to grow a much larger garden this
year with an eye to bartering the extra fresh food to the folks in town. On the other hand,
if they show up armed and demanding, we’ll meet them with force.”

“Aren’t you being harsh?”

“If you say so. It’s not like we don’t know the people in town. If they indicate a willing-
ness to participate in their survival, we’ll lend a hand. If they want a handout, they can
get it from the government. When you think about it, they need us far more than we
need them. If that’s cold, I’m sorry. It’s just a fact of life.”

“What will you do when the equipment starts to breakdown?”

“If we have the parts or can get them, repair it. If we don’t have the parts and can’t get
them, we’ll use horse power. By definition, one horsepower equals 33,000 foot pounds
per minute and it was the ability of a draft horse to lift 33,000 pounds one foot and hold
it for one minute. That’s one of my major concerns; we don’t have any draft horses, har-
nesses or horse drawn equipment.”

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“Can we get what we need?”

“I’m not sure where to start looking. It would be easy to convert our wagons to horse
drawn by changing the tongues. Our horses could be broken to harness and pull the
wagons. Our steers are oxen and can pull a plow, disk, mower, corn picker, etc. We can
build oxen yokes and train the steers. They’re slower than horses. Conversely, they can
pull heavier loads for longer periods of time without stopping to rest. We just need to
find an agricultural museum.”

“What’s on your schedule for today?”

“Your Dad said the building would be finished by tonight. The boys and I will unload
what we got yesterday into the basement. After that, we’ll go through the things we
brought back from the fort and store a portion in the basement. The remainder will have
to wait until tomorrow so we’ll go ahead and improve our security. We’ll unload the
Hummers and mount the machineguns. We got the new M2E2 machineguns and a pair
of Mk 19s. We’ll mount one Mk 19 on a Hummer and the other on the dome. We’ll
mount a M2E2 on the other Hummer and the second on the dome. That will leave us
with two spare M2E2s and four M240s.”

“Why don’t you put a M240 on the dome?”

“Sure, why not? It will mean more sandbags but we brought some back from the fort.”

“See, I was right when I said, ‘Right. Ma Deuces and M240s with linked ammo, mortars
and rockets, an Mk19 Mod 3? Did I miss anything?’”

“We didn’t get mortars.”

“Why? Couldn’t you find them?”

“We didn’t look. As it is, most of the crew served weapons will be manned by one indi-
vidual. We’ll have to disperse the ammo and weapons and can keep them covered with
tarps. We only have twelve adults, us, your parents, our three kids, Harry and Maria and
their two boys and Crystal. Crystal will need to be in the shelter to protect their baby,
leaving us with eleven or one squad of Infantry.”

“What kind of firearms did you bring back?”

“Besides the machine guns? Those FN SCARs, twenty four in 5.56 and thirty six in
7.62. We brought all three barrels for each weapon. The Light uses 10”, 13.8” and 18”
barrels and the Heavy uses 13”, 16” and 20”. The Light uses a standard AR-15/M-16
magazine and the Heavy uses a non-compliant magazine. We brought back a lot of
magazines and rebuild kits.”

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“So, are we going to maintain a guard rotation?”

“Yes we are. We have practice ammo for the heavy machine guns and the grenade
launchers. We’re going to have to learn how to use what we brought back because I
don’t have a clue. John said he could provide guidance and we have the Field Manuals
and Technical Manuals. If we can find another tanker, I’d like to bring up a load of JP-8
for the Hummers and save our diesel fuel for the generator.”

“Why?”

“JP-8 lacks the lubricating properties of number two diesel fuel.”

“So? Gasoline two cycle chainsaw engines shouldn’t be run on plain gasoline. You just
need to add some oil to the JP-8 like chainsaw owners add to their gasoline.”

“The manual says, Jet fuel is often used in ground support vehicles at airports, instead
of diesel. The United States military makes heavy use of JP-8, for instance. However,
jet fuel tends to have poor lubricating ability in comparison to diesel, thereby increasing
wear on fuel pumps and other related engine parts. Civilian vehicles tend to disallow its
use, or require that an additive be mixed with the jet fuel to restore its lubricity.”

“Isn’t that what I just said?”

“I guess so. I think we’ll start with a 50:1 ratio of fuel to oil and change the ratio if need-
ed. Some two cycle engines require a 32:1 ratio and others a 16:1 ratio. The minimum
I’m aware of is the 100:1 ratio. The 50:1 ratio is what’s used for Stihl chainsaws.”

We filled sandbags and got the emplacements organized on the dome. There were two
in addition to the existing one. One held an Mk-19 on a tripod and the other an M2E2 on
a tripod. We put ten cans of ammo and the spare barrel in the M2 emplacement before
covering it with a tarp. We put ten cans of the belted grenades in the other emplace-
ment and tarped it over.

Our original emplacement had an M240 with ten cans of ammo and tripod added. It also
got an M3 and a dozen HEDP rounds. Since this was our primary OP, it wasn’t tarped
over despite the fact that there was a tarp inside. We did add a third row of sandbags.
Our next chore was unloading the Hornady ammo and passing some of it out. Harry Jr.
and Bob needed the 6.8 SPC.

When we’d completed that, we moved the FN weapons to our basement and, after look-
ing for a few minutes, stored them in one of the few remaining holes. I wondered briefly
if there was more than just safety involved in storing ammo in bunkers and igloos. In
addition to the security, the facility was pretty much climate controlled since it was like a
manmade cave.

129
Mona gave us a 30 minute warning that supper was close to ready. We stopped what
we were doing and got cleaned up. I realized that we’d been so busy that we’d skipped
lunch. When I got a whiff of beef roast, my stomach growled.

“Why did we get match grade 5.56 ammo yesterday?”

“Those FN SCAR-Lights with the 18” barrel are sniper rifles.”

“We have to stop getting so many different firearms. By the time I could figure out which
gun I wanted, the fight would be over.”

“Do you have any favorites?”

“The Hi-Power pistol for sure. For close in work, there’s nothing wrong with the MP-5s.
The rest of the time probably the HK-416 with the suppressor. The sights are adjusted
for the suppressor. The carbine is cleaned and oiled and back in your family collection.
If there is a long range situation involved, I’ll use the loaded.”

“Don’t forget we got HK-417s from that dealer. You know how TOM hates the AR-15/M-
16? I’ll bet he loves the AR-18/AR-180.”

“What are they?”

“Stoner kept working on the AR-15 and produced an AR-16 which used a short stroke
gas piston. When Stoner left Armalite, a guy name Miller took over the design. He de-
veloped an AR-18 in 5.56mm. The semi-auto only version was called the AR-180. Long
story short, no military ever adopted the AR-18 but the design contributed to future arms
like the G36. The HK-416 is based on the G-36 so its grandpa is the AR-18. It gained
some notoriety through its use by the Irish Republican Army, who allegedly christened it
the ‘Widowmaker’."

“Alan, that’s what I mean about having a problem figuring out which gun to use. We
have HK-416s and now FN SCAR-Ls. Plus you added the HK-417s and now the FN
SCAR-H. But the loaded has greater accuracy than the 417 or Heavy. It’s much simpler
than the other two and like you said, looks like an American rifle. If you knew about the
AR-18, why did we wait and buy HK-416s?”

“I didn’t know about them at the time. The knowledge was a rather recent acquisition.”

“I see. When it comes to shotguns, all I have to remember is whether it has a cross bolt
safety or tang safety and whether the slide release is behind or in front of the trigger.”

“That’s easy to remember. If you use your finger on the safety, you use it on the slide
release. If you use your thumb on the safety, you use it on the slide release.”

“This is Harry Jr. Red Alert, Red Alert.”

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“Harry, this is Alan, what’s up?”

“There’s a crowd headed this way and they’re all armed.”

“Are they in vehicles or on foot?”

“On foot. Looks like maybe thirty to forty.”

“Mona, if you’ll notify everyone, I’ll get my rifles and join Jr.”

When I got to the top of the dome, I could see the crowd that Harry Jr. was trying to de-
scribe. He might have been a bit conservative on their numbers; it looked like almost
fifty to me. I yanked the tarps off the M2 and Mk 19 and loaded the first belt in each. We
hadn’t had a chance to practice yet. Dean had spent some time leafing through the
manuals. I then joined Jr. in the OP and loaded both the M240 and the M3.

“What’s that gadget?”

“A recoilless rifle that shoots an 84mm HEDP projectile. There is a flechette round for it
which would be ideal about now, but we didn’t find any. We have HEDP or HEDP. The
range is less than the Mk 19 so we’ll wait for a gunner.”

“How many rounds per can?”

“These are the larger M548 cans, so 48 rounds. We also got some smaller cans with 32
rounds, the PA120 cans. I think I’ll put one over their bow.”

I loaded a magazine that contained 5 rounds of Mk 211 and lined up my sights on one
of the guys who seemed to be a leader type. The round went through him and into the
guy behind him before it detonated. I think I’m going to love this stuff. I concentrated on
identifying another leader type and plugged him too. He had soft body armor and the
round went off before it exited. About then, Paul dropped in the Ma Deuce emplacement
and Dean into the Mk 19 emplacement. Dean made a quick adjustment with the rear
sight release and let go with a short burst. He then made an adjustment with the eleva-
tion wheel and found the front of the crowd.

It sort of reminded me of what happened the last time when I told them to mow the
grass. Dean yelled out the range to Paul and Paul cranked the elevation knob and
opened fire using 6 to 10 round bursts. This was one case where we could have gotten
by using the training ammo. It didn’t last long and the recoilless rifle wasn’t needed.
When they were all down, we checked the bodies. Those few that were only wounded
were put out of their misery.

“Well...there is no way we can play dumb this time Alan. With this many men involved,
at least some of their families knew where they were going. What do you want to do?”

131
“We’ll collect their equipment and take them back to Sterling. The families can bury
them.”

“The body count was 46 by the way. We’re going to have a whole lot of people mad at
us.”

“The ironic part was that Mona had talked me into softening my initial hard position.”

“Haven’t enough died? The only way that they will get to us if they get some arty.”

“Keep that to yourself John.”

After collecting the weapons and ammo, we loaded the bodies into three pickups and
headed to town. When we arrived, there was a large collection of women and children.

“Come get you dead. There’s no way you’re going to get anything from us by force of
arms.”

“Where are their weapons?”

“Spoils of war. Listen and listen well. We can provide food. We won’t just give it away.
We can use help on the ranch and can pay in food and a small amount of silver so you
can get things we don’t have. Our only interest is in protecting what we have and we’re
very prepared to defend our place. So, you either decide to work with us or against us. If
you choose the former, you’ll have full bellies. Choose the latter and you’re going to end
up six feet under.”

“We grow wheat, oats, corn, barley, soybeans and hay. We also have a large garden
and if we can get some help, we’ll make it larger and share the produce. With few ex-
ceptions, if you expect charity, see the government. We’re holding onto the weapons
until someone demonstrates some responsibility. Then, they’ll be returned on a case by
case basis. About the only resources we lack to protect the ranch is an Abrams tank
and a Bradley fighting vehicle. And, we know where to get them. We brought some hu-
manitarian aid for the truly needy. It’s only beans, rice and corn meal, the three principal
ingredients in Mexican cuisine.”

There was more than a little grumbling as the pickups were unloaded and loud cries
when a family member was unloaded. This trip, we brought two bushels of wheat and
two of oatmeal and a 50 pound bag of powdered milk in addition to the 100 pounds
each of rice, cornmeal and pinto beans. When they were done unloading, we unloaded
the food and returned home.

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 Would You Rather... Seven

The ongoing recovery.

Swear allegiance to the flag

Whatever flag they offer
Never hint at what you really feel
Teach the children quietly
For some day sons and daughters
Will rise up and fight while we stood still

We didn’t really stand still, there was too much to do. When the townspeople began ap-
pearing in twos and threes, unarmed, we began to set up a barter system. Food and la-
bor would be based on pre-war prices and the advances limited to one month of food
per person. They would be expected to put in labor to offset their account balances. We
had all kind of jobs available, running the gauntlet from babysitting to mucking stalls to
spreading fertilizer (manure), plowing, disking, raking and planting.

Later in the year, there would be gardening and cultivation of the crops plus canning
and preserving the garden crops. We could still get the hogs and beef processed in
Sterling. Few people could afford to outright purchase a beef but, since the hogs were
smaller, some people bought hogs. The processing available included brining, smoking,
and cutting and wrapping. The beef was butchered, aged, cut and wrapped. The pro-
cessing plant bought beef and supplied it to the only grocery store that was reestab-
lished.

Everything sold in the grocery store was produced in the local area by one person or
another. People began to specialize in what they could do best. Some produced pasta
and others grew tomatoes and produced pasta sauce. The same applied to other things
like beans and rice. It’s was like something TOM used to mention, improvise, adapt,
overcome.

There was little evidence of a federal government. Local governments were reorganized
and later state governments emerged. The new states didn’t always have the same
borders as before the war and obstacles to travel seemed to be the basis for the new
borders. Sterling, for example, was within the Nebraska border when the dust settled. In
this case, the Nebraska border had been extended south and turned east along the line
of its southern border with Kansas. The western border now ran between Wiggins and
Fort Morgan. The southern border ran straight east just south of US 34 and Woodrow
was just inside of Colorado.

The difference in state guns laws didn’t mean squat. People had what they had and
open carry and concealed carry was a simple fact of life. Folks just ignored anything
other than local ordinances and there were few local ordinances concerning firearms.
The most prominent was the prohibition of firearms in bars. Alcohol and gunpowder will
mix physically but not psychologically.

133
Since one can’t avoid taxes and death, our tax funds went to Lincoln rather than Den-
ver. John and June continued their estate transfer scheme and we had to add storage
cabinets to the shelter storage room to ‘temporarily’ hold their gold and silver. Yes, cab-
inets, plural. They only stored the bullion coins in that big old safe. The junk silver was
stored in cabinets.

With silver generally running at $40 an ounce, a $1,000 face value of junk silver was
worth a minimum of $28,600. A small portion, three bags of each denomination, were
uncirculated and worth a few dollars more, $28,920. Those were set aside to be divided
among our three offspring. How did they know we’d have three offspring? Coincidence,
John claimed.

We still had the occasional outsider that didn’t know quite what they were up against
when they made their best effort to get what we had. Poor reconnaissance was the only
explanation we could come up with. The soil across the road was going to be extremely
fertile someday. We did use the adjoining half section and grew half in wheat and the
other half divided into forty acre plots each growing a different kind of bean. We had pin-
to, great northern, navy, and planned to vary the final forty between red beans, black
beans, pink beans, kidney beans and lentils.

It’s only fair to give those outsiders a little credit. They didn’t kill anyone because it was
so hard to get close. They did manage to wound Sara once and me twice. I hadn’t real-
ized just how much a ‘flesh wound’ could hurt. The first time, she was on guard in the
OP and per my usual habit, joined her in the OP. I was getting my Tac-50 out of the
case when a guy shooting a POF 6.8 416 emptied a magazine in our direction. He hit
her in her right arm and me in my left shoulder. I don’t know what went down because I
passed out. I woke up on a litter being carried to the house with Sara walking beside the
litter. The bullet came in just below my collar bone and punched a hole in my shoulder
blade.

After that, the guidelines were changed to prohibit more than one family member in a
single fighting position. Harry was in the OP the next time we had trouble. Three guys
shouldn’t have presented a problem. Actually, it wasn’t the three of them that were the
problem. There were four of them, not three. Number four was armed with a .338 Lapua
magnum and he was a reasonable shot. If he’d have been a better shot, I wouldn’t be
here so he gets a C+ or B-. His shot was high and to his left (my right) and I ended up
with a matching hole in my right shoulder blade.

Each time I’d been shot, we didn’t have any more visitors until I was healed up enough
to resume my first response to the OP. After the second bullet, John assumed those du-
ties for me.

One thing we lost as a result of the war was our source for western saddles. We scav-
enged what we could for miles around, even risking a few trips to Denver. In the long

134
run, it didn’t seem to matter because if a person took very good care of a saddle, it out-
lived the horse.

One of the locals began to manufacture saddles. The seat was based on the McClellan
saddle but the saddle as a whole was a western saddle. He explained that he went with
the McClellan seat because they didn’t squeeze him when he sat on the saddle. He
didn’t quite have an assembly line although several locals went to work for him.

We bought several of the saddles for food and silver. He also had a sideline building
lined scabbards to fit whatever rifle you had, adjusted to expose as much or as little of
the stock as you preferred. We had scabbards from Kirkpatrick for every lever action
rifle and some for our shotguns.

The first five years after the war saw little change on a national level. The various states
had worked out border changes and whatnot and things seemed to be improving. Win-
ters were colder and ran a little longer but we didn’t know if that was the so called nu-
clear winter or global climate change. The summers, what there was of them, were hot
and dry. I have both the TTAPS and the climate change scenario on my laptop and ei-
ther could account for our weather.

The first glimmer we had that the federal government had survived was when WWV re-
sumed broadcasting the time. That we heard it wasn’t remarkable, the transmitter was
located in Fort Collins. The remarkable thing was that Fort Collins got it’s time hacks
from NIST's Time and Frequency Division which is located in Boulder. Because Boulder
was northwest of Denver it shouldn’t have been affected by Denver being nuked.
Somewhere along the line the time signals weren’t getting from Boulder to Fort Collins
or Fort Collins wasn’t on the air.

At least some of the federal folks were back to doing their jobs. Now, if they could just
get FEMA out of Mt. Weather and the prez would come out of the mountain, we’d be
standing in tall cotton. It went on like that for about six months until most everyone was
tuning in WWV on their shortwave to adjust their clocks. Then, out of the blue, WWV
made an announcement. The President would address the nation. Right, he’d been
elected before the war and had been in the mountain for five years. The war happened
before the inauguration. What did they do, suspend the elections?

My fellow Americans,

Your government was able to restore radio communications about six months back us-
ing WWV. Using that means of communication, you government has assembled such
information as it could concerning the condition of our country.

It’s not good around the country as a whole. Resurgence started at the local levels and
spread to the state levels. Several state governments have been reformed. Forty eight
of the state capitals were targeted and destroyed. We believe that the two not stuck was

135
due to a failure of the warhead or targeting. Major metropolitan areas around the coun-
try were destroyed in addition to the capitals.

Some states have entered into agreements changing the borders as they existed at the
time of the war. Here in Colorado, the northeastern part of the state is now part of Ne-
braska. In the Midwest, the latest state to be formed came about by Missouri and Ar-
kansas ceding portions of their respective states to permit the formation of the state of
Ozark.

At the moment your government lacks the means to respond more fully to those of you
in need. Our national drug stockpiles all went up in atomic smoke. Your Navy is func-
tioning at a greatly reduced level due to extremely limited fuel supplies and stores. We
have been able to negotiate with Brazil and other South American counties to provide
what supplies our military has and have been forced to pay for the supplies in gold. Fort
Knox isn’t empty, but some of the vaults have spare room for any new gold we can pro-
duce.

The Coast Guard has resumed its wartime role as part of the Navy and the Marines, of
course, always have been part of the Navy. The Army and Air Force have, at my direc-
tion, formed a joint command to share resources. Our military forces are organized for
now much like they were at the end of World War Two.

We restored operations at one refinery last year and last week a second came online.
The entire output of these two refineries is being conserved for use by the military and
your government. We have been unable to activate the National Guard for a variety of
reasons. When you see a military unit appear in your towns and cities, they will either
be US Marines or US Army and we expect local authorities to confirm their identities.
Each legitimate unit will have a radio frequency that you can use to contact Cheyenne
Mountain via the amateur bands.

That’s the good news such as it is. Now for the bad news. Many of you can recall how
the Pacific Rim volcanoes and seismic faults acted up during the 2011-12 time period.
There was a period of relative quiet but as we move further into 2018 the Pacific Rim is
more active than it has been during recorded history. As you are probably aware, our
Cascade Range is the eastern edge of the Pacific Rim and our surviving seismologists
have forwarded warnings to us about increased activity in the Cascades. The Cascadi-
an subduction zone is forecast to let loose during the next five years.

If that wasn’t enough, several of the calderas in the US are showing increased activity. I
had the questionable pleasure of reading several so called patriot fiction stories recent-
ly. A Major here in the Mountain had two CDs and he shared them with me. It’s not like I
have a new bill to sign every day so I read a few of the stories. This one author seemed
to be enamored with the M14 and had a theme throughout his stories. He claimed that
bad things happen in threes.

136
As near as we can decipher, the man lives in southern California along the San Andreas
Fault. If Cascadia slips and or the Cascade Range erupts, the San Andreas will proba-
bly shake. I hope for his sake and ours that he’s wrong about that old wives tale. My
seismologists also warn me that if our side of the Pacific Rim becomes too active, the
forces released could affect some of the calderas.

Even in that event, some will survive. It’s the human spirit and most assuredly the Amer-
ican spirit. As much as I’d like to suggest those of you out there listening to me increase
your preparedness, there is so little for so many. My aide just told me I’m rambling and
that most of those listening are probably survivalists anyway and I’m preaching to the
choir. So, I’ll shut up.

God Bless You and God Bless America.

“Do you think we should go to California to try to rescue TOM?”

“Yeah right. If he’s still alive, he’s 75 and he doesn’t have anything we don’t have. Ex-
cept his rifle probably has fewer rounds through it than any of ours do. Remember him
describing his ideal M1A?”

“Not really, remind me.”

“Well, it’s Super Match like yours except for the scope. He’d put a Carl Zeiss Victory Di-
avari 6-24x72 T scope on it. That scope is 15” long and weighs about 3½ pounds. It
would have a RapidZ 1000 illuminated reticule. That’s their tactical/sniper scope and
reticule combination. I think the scope costs almost as much as the rifle. A.R.M.S. has
their #22-34 Throw Lever rings for only $185 and the #M21/14 mount is only another
$185. The MSRP for the scope is four grand and Optics Planet had them for $3,500. I
paid less than that for your rifle. Add it up Alan; he’d spend more on optics than the ri-
fle.”

“Everyone has to have a dream.”

“I agree. And, if you’re going to dream, dream big.”

“So, what’s it going to be, Cascadia, Yellowstone, Long Valley or a combination of the
above?”

“Don’t forget Nibiru.”

“I saw both movies. I thought Deep Impact was better but Armageddon did better at the
box office.”

“Personally, I liked Space Cowboys. At least three of the four survived.”

“That wasn’t an asteroid story.”

137
“No, but if those missiles had been launched at the Earth it might have been as bad as
Deep Impact.”

We learned a lot from the broadcast. The President was alive and hiding out in Chey-
enne Mountain. Some of our active military survived but the National Guard personnel
were at home protecting their families. We hadn’t seen many M-16s so that probably
meant that the Guard took their weapons from the armories. All things considered, we
were doing pretty well here on the ranch. What more could we do? Grow crops and
livestock and sell what we could for whatever the market could bear.

A year later a contingent of Marines passed through Sterling on their way to somewhere
else. When they discovered survivors in Sterling, they set about collecting some infor-
mation about how the people had managed during the six years since the war. Some-
one in Sterling must have given them an earful about our little group out here on the
ranch.

“Incoming. Six Hummers and two armored fighting vehicles of some sort.”

“Rog. Hang on, Dean and I’ll be there within a minute,” John replied.

“I may be wrong, but those look like LAV-25s. That’s a Marine Corps vehicle and they
have the 25mm Bushmaster gun plus a pair of M240s. This is John, everyone hold your
fire; these guys may be friendlies.”

The vehicles pulled up to the gate and began discharging their occupants. Finally one of
the LAVs dropped its rear ramp and a Captain emerged. He was surrounded by Ma-
rines carrying what looked a lot like standard barreled SCAR-Ls. He moved to the gate
and just stood there. John came down off the dome and moved to meet him. Mean-
while, I got out of my foxhole and advanced carrying my long barreled SCAR-H. John
and I arrived about the same time.

Looking at John, the Captain asked, “Are you in charge here?”

“No, Captain that would be my son-in-law Alan. This is his ranch and the man to my
right is Alan.”

“You’re the owner?” he asked me.

“Yes sir.”

“We’ve been in Sterling for several hours and learned about your operation out here.
We were warned that you’re a blood thirsty lot and are responsible for many deaths in
the area.”

138
“That much is true. Did anyone bother to explain why the people died?”

“We just heard you had heavy weapons and weren’t afraid to use them.”

“Then, Captain, you heard right. A man has a God given right to defend himself and his
family. Did anyone claim we went looking for trouble?”

“Not actually, no.”

“Why don’t we get this gate open and you and your Marines come in and sit awhile? We
have hot coffee, iced tea and can make lemonade if you prefer. There’s more than
enough room at those picnic tables over there by the front door.”

“Gunny, detail two men to stand watch and we’ll switch them out with two others in a
bit.”

“Are you sure that’s wise sir?”

“Well, if you look at the top of that dome there, it looks like a Ma Deuce and an Mk-19 to
me. They probably have more surprises up their sleeve.”

“Paul, you and Dean pull the gate posts and open the gate. I overheard Captain and we
do have a couple of things you can’t see from the ground including a M3 MAAWS with
HEDP rounds.”

“That’s a Special Forces weapon. Where did you get one?”

“We found them lying around, somewhere.”

“You’ve been to Fort Carson!”

“Captain, I was stationed there many years ago,” John replied.

“I see from the MultiCam and various weapons you’ve been shopping around.”

“We bought the MultiCam commercial Captain. That’s not to say that we didn’t find more
when we needed it. It should be obvious from the Interceptor, the AN/PVS-14s and the
ACHs that we did a little shopping. The same applies to some of the weapons we have.”

“I see.”

“You could do us a favor if you would.”

“And what might that be?”

139
“We borrowed a PLS and trailer. If you could have one of your Marines take it off our
hands, we’d be grateful.”

“Stole it you mean.”

“Borrowed. We just never had a need to return to the Fort and return it. We borrowed it
because we couldn’t find a semi-tractor down at the Springs that we could get running.
We’ve remedied that problem now and if you’ll look around, you see several tankers
with stabilized diesel plus several box trailers containing various goods. We have more,
but they’re at my place. It was all abandoned fuel Captain and we salvaged it and stabi-
lized it so it could be used.”

Mona, June, Sara and Maria had pitchers of iced tea and lemonade on the picnic tables
along with some gallon vacuum bottles filled with hot coffee. A half-gallon vacuum bottle
contained hot water for tea. They also brought out some paper plates with cinnamon
rolls and a plate with butter for each table. The knives and forks were plastic.

“That’s home grown and ground wheat in the rolls. We churn our own butter.”

“What’s your source of power?”

“We started out with my Kohler diesel generator and a small wind turbine on that mono-
pole. Later, we scavenged some solar panels and all the accessory equipment. Our
system is capable of producing 75kw and we use some submarine batteries we located
in a warehouse in Denver. We have them set up in 48vdc banks feeding various invert-
ers.

“The generator needed rebuilding around 17,000 hours. We rebuilt it but since we had
the PV panels, it’s only run to exercise it. John here has another, smaller Kohler genera-
tor at their place.”

“Then you don’t live here John?”

“No, we live here now Captain. But we still have our place down the road a ways. We’re
still waiting for our grandchildren to find the right person and give us some great grand-
children.”

“Is everyone here armed to the teeth?”

“Yes, and more. Alan’s hired man, Harry and his wife Maria, have two boys, Harry Jr.
and Bob. Both are married; Harry Jr. to Crystal and Bob to Rachael. My grandchildren
are Paul, 27, Dean, 25, and Sara, 23. The older lady you saw was my wife June. Alan’s
herd of saddle horses is growing and is around 125 head. He and my daughter, Mona,
recently acquired draft horses, Belgians, Percherons, Shires and Clydesdales. Plus,
they have a trained herd of oxen. They’re still looking for agricultural museum to get the
older horse and oxen drawn equipment.”

140
“Just how many people have y’all killed?”

I answered that. “We don’t really keep track of that Captain. The plain truth of the matter
is that we killed everyone who attacked us. The groups ranged in size from two up to
fifty. It’s nothing to be proud of; it was just what had to be done to preserve our way of
life and our property.”

“Some of the folks in Sterling wouldn’t agree with you.”

“We give anyone willing to work food and some silver for their labor. I always tell them
that if they’re looking for a handout to contact the government. Stick around and you’ll
see what I mean.”

“We’re just passing through. If that PLS is fueled, we’ll take it off your hands. What’s in
it, diesel?”

“Negative, JP-8. We brought a small amount back with us to refuel the vehicle when we
got home. From what we understood, JP-8 lacked some of the lubricating properties of
diesel. We thought about just adding oil in a 50:1 ratio and using it. But, we found diesel
instead. We only use it in the PLS and the two Hummers.”

“Hummers?”

“Uh, M1114s. We stole two and equipped one with an M2E2 and the other with an Mk-
19. I don’t reckon we’ll give those up without a fight. They’re part of our defenses.”

“Is everyone armed with the FN SCARs?”

“Actually, the most common firearm is Springfield Armory’s M1A. However, we have
several choices, even among those. John has an M21, I have a Super Match and my
wife and kids have each have a Loaded. Our hired man has a standard model. We are
well equipped with HK-416s and HK-417s plus the SCAR-Ls and SCAR-Hs. Lately
we’ve been turning out to Red Alerts with full auto, usually the SCAR-H.

“We have a Barrett M82A1 and a Tac-50 for long range shooting. And since this is a
ranch and we’re frequently on horseback, lever action rifles and single action revolvers.”

“Back to my question about the SCARs. Where did you find them lying around?”

“Fort Carson. They were abandoned. Hell, Captain, everything was abandoned at Fort
Carson. We didn’t take much of the JP-8 though.”

“Why not? You could have mixed it about 50-50 with your diesel fuel and doubled your
supply.”

141
“We didn’t know that. John ran a construction firm and I’ve been a rancher since I was
about fifteen.”

“You don’t say. And you said you own the ranch?”

“My grandfather gave it to my father and my father left it to Julie and me. I bought her
out and have a deed. Is there anything else?”

“No. Point out the PLS.”

“Tell whoever is driving it to follow me.”

“Gunny?”

“Crenshaw front and center. Follow the civilian and he’ll show you where the PLS is.
Check the fuel level and top it off if it isn’t full.”

“Aye, Aye Gunny.”

“Would someone explain the difference between Aye and Aye, Aye?”

“Basically Aye means ‘I understand the order’ and Aye, Aye adds ‘and will do it immedi-
ately’.”

“Sergeant we filled the tank on that truck after we parked it so it wouldn’t get water in
the tank through condensation. No one has fooled with it, we maintain a 24/7 watch. I’m
not so sure I like you telling him to check the fuel level.”

“Tough. Where are the HMMWVs?”

“At the point of my Glock 21.”

“Tough guy, huh?”

“Belay that Gunny. Let them keep the Hummers.”

“But...Aye, Sir.”

“So did you take anything else from Fort Carson that we should be concerned about?”

“Not much. We did find a class three dealer in the Denver area that was a very naughty
boy. We made out fairly well on destructive devices there.”

“So I take it that we’d better bring an Abrams if we come back.”

“John what was that one rocket we found? Was it the Javelin?”

142
“You know, I think it was.”

We didn’t take any Javelin missiles, but if the Captain wanted to conclude that we had,
that was on him. The maximum range of that missile was ~2,500 meters and the range
of the 120mm M256 cannon was about 4,000 meters. Just before the war, the military
began retrofitting the M1A2SEPs with the new L55 Rheinmetall tank gun and a modified
version of the turbine developed for the Crusader.

We didn’t know that. The new Abrams gun wasn’t a direct copy of the L55. As in the
case of the L44/M256, the barrel was modified to increase the resistance of the barrels
to fracture and fatigue. This increased the weight of the barrel while increasing the life.

The L55’s bore evacuator and the gun's thermal sleeve, designed to regulate the tem-
perature of the barrel, are made of glass-reinforced plastic, while the barrel has a
chrome lining to increase barrel life. The new American gun contained no plastic or fi-
berglass and was heavier with a much longer barrel life. The new barrels extended the
effective range by 1,500 meters to 5,500 meters. The new engines reduced fuel con-
sumption by 33% which gave the modified tanks much greater range.

“I sure hope we don’t find ourselves in the position of fighting the Army or Marines. They
have better equipment and know how to use it. And, they’re professional military. At
best, we’re just a small militia force Alan. We may be a well-equipped militia but we
wouldn’t have a chance in a long engagement.”

“I wonder if that’s what the Minutemen were thinking at Concord and Lexington.”

“That’s not the same and you know it. The numbers were much closer, 500 rebels
against 700 regulars and everyone had black powder muzzle loaders.”

“Sara told me that before it was over it was something like 500 rebels against 1,700
regulars who staged a strategic withdrawal.”

“Whatever. We don’t have anywhere to withdraw to.”

“I’ll give you that. A year ago our President-in-hiding said we’d be visited by military. It
only took them a year. Why haven’t we heard more about the Pacific Rim situation, pos-
sible climate changes or the calderas?”

“You’re still forgetting Nibiru.”

“You sound like Clarence.”

143
“Maybe I do. Why did you tell the Captain we only had 75kw of power available from the
PV panels? You know perfectly well we have 300 panels not 250 which produce 90kw,
not counting the spare panels.”

“I don’t know John. It was just a gut feeling that if he thought we had more panels than
we needed, they’d commandeer some of them. So, I only mentioned 75kw and didn’t
bring up the 300 panels or the 300 stored panels.”

“That was some find, you know.”

“Sure was. Two truckloads of panels and equipment coming in from New Mexico and
the bill of lading giving us the address in Denver to check out for the batteries. Did you
pay any attention to what they were charging for the batteries?”

“Three grand each?”

“About that. That pole building sure came in handy. It’s good that you built it as large as
you did.”

“I sure wasn’t thinking about batteries when I built it. I kind of thought we’d do more sal-
vaging and scavenging.”

“Except for Fort Carson, Denver and tracking down fuel transports we didn’t need to do
much of that. I know we rebuilt the generator and have the PV system but I sure would
like to have another 60kw Kohler generator. I noticed you left enough room for two in
the generator room and I assume those steel plates making up the overhead can be
dug out and removed.”

“Right on both counts. The generator came from EC Power Systems in Aurora. We
might find supplies but I doubt they’d have a generator in stock.”

“Feel up to going down to find out?”

“I guess so. I’ve never actually been to their store. They delivered on site.”

“We could always use more oil and filters. They fall into the ‘would you rather’ category.
If we did end up with a large volume of airborne ash, the PV panels might not do us
much good. With that manifold we installed to connect all the tankers to the under-
ground diesel tank, we have the fuel for years. And that idea of yours to oil the road with
the dirty oil sure does keep the dust down.”

“How do you want to go about it? Semi and box trailer plus a Hummer?”

“How about Harry and you in the semi and the kids and I in the Hummers? That should
improve our odds if we run into some unfriendliness’.”

144
“What time?”

“Is seven AM ok?”

“See you then.”

I’d forgotten that I had the four to six AM shift. So, I got my things around for a three day
trip and put them in the Hummer with the Mk-19. I’d get Sara to drive it and Paul and
Dean could handle the M2E2. I let the three of them know about the trip and then went
to explain to Mona.

“We’re going down to Denver in the morning.”

“What’s up?”

“We could use more oil and filters and I’d like to find a backup Kohler 60kw generator.”

“But we don’t even run the one we have except to exercise it.”

“You’re right, of course. But John and I got to discussing what our president-in-hiding
said about the Pacific Rim and the calderas. I’d rather have it and not need it.”

“What about the solar?”

“If there were a large volume of ash in the air, they might not put out much juice.”

“But we have four 48 volt banks plus spares.”

“Right and no more cables. According the literature I found, the batteries hold 7,000
amps and each of our four 48 volt banks puts out 168,000 amps or a total of 672,000
amps connected in parallel as they are. Put another way, each cell puts out 15.4kw
times 96 cells for a total of 1,478,400 watts. If we use an average of 10kw per hour,
that’s 240kw per day and means we can only run about 6 days on batteries.”

“That can’t be right Alan. I read the literature too and it says that a twelve volt bank
would run the average house for 45 days.”

“Well, forty five days times twenty-four hours is 1,080 hours. Divide that into the 92,400
watt hours and you get 85½ watts per hour. Multiply it by four because we have a 48
volt system and you get 342 watts per hour.”

“You’ll figure it out, eventually. I have a question that has nothing to do with electricity.
We’ve been turning out with SCAR-H lately. Is that a permanent change?”

“I think it will be. I know how much we’ve relied on the M1As. We continued to do that
even after we bought the HK-416s and collected the HK-417s. However, I like the

145
SCAR platform and it does have full auto capacity for those few times we need it. I think
we should let everyone choose whatever platform they most comfortable with, be it the
HKs or SCARs. Harry’s boys seem to be happy with their POF 416s in 6.8 SPC and we
have enough ammo for them now between Fort Carson and Hornady.”

“Good, I’m switching to the HK-416. The magazines are compliant with every 5.56 rifle
and carbine we have. Those Beta C magazines you got are a little heavy, especially in
the 7.62, but they’re great for the 5.56. I heard that soldiers in Afghanistan had feeding
problems with them and we haven’t had any trouble. I don’t understand that.”

“Maybe they got a bad production lot. The original magazine had problems seating.
However, I can’t answer you Mona, I was never a soldier.”

“You mean you were never in the military Alan. You not half bad as a soldier with no
experience.”

Since I had found myself initially choosing the SCAR-H in favor of the HK-417, I stayed
with the SCAR. I knew what Harry’s boys would choose but they were allowed to
choose. Many of the women chose the 5.56 rifles, but not all. Sara went with the HK-
417 with the 20” sniper barrel. I didn’t care for the plastic magazines but other than that,
she had the rifle fully outfitted with a scope, sound suppressor and AG-C/EGLM.

It was much heavier than my SCAR with the Mk-13. She had some kind of day/night vi-
sion mounted that looked like a Rube Goldberg invention. She told me it was an
AN/PVS-10; a combination day/night scope with a direct view during daylight and night
vision with the flick of a switch. It wasn’t military, she claimed, but a civilian copy, the L-3
EOS SNS2142 8.5x Day/Night Weapon Sight.

Obviously Sara hadn’t bought the scope and I wondered out loud what it was worth.

“I don’t really know, Dad. Scott gave it to me. It was bad taste to ask what it was worth
but I did anyway. He told me that he didn’t know because it was one of those type of
items that if you had to ask the price, you couldn’t afford.”

“Scott?”

“Well, he was in my high school class and is one of the survivors in Sterling. You’ve
seen him out here, he works for food. He was in Northbrook when the lights went out.
He found shelter and managed to survive. He told me he saw the Optics Planet location
and decided to see what he could find. I already had my loaded and he decided to get
that scope for me in hopes that I might have a spare rifle I could exchange for the
scope. By that time, you’d cleaned out the Littleton gun dealer and we had all kinds of
spare rifles. I traded him a HK-417 and thirteen magazines for the scope. It’s ok isn’t it?”

“Northbrook as in Chicago Northbrook?”

146
“It’s the only one I know of Dad. He said he wanted to get Raptor’s but couldn’t find
them. While looking through the night vision he ran across these and took them instead.
They have a higher magnification and are both a day and night scope so you don’t have
to worry about switching scopes and hoping you haven’t changed the point of aim.”

“I take it you like this Scott.”

“He’s ok. Polite, slow to anger and your worst enemy if you do make him angry. Oh, and
he’s a very good shot. Right up there with Grandpa and you. Since we had the extra
handguns, I provided him with a USP Tactical, spare magazines and the Knight’s Ar-
mament suppressor. That’s what I’m carrying these days if you haven’t noticed.”

“No, I hadn’t noticed. Good weapon. Where did you get the suppressor?”

“Didn’t you inventory what you got from that dealer?”

“I don’t think we did.”

“You should, you have more suppressors than we could use on all of our weapons.”

“We were more focused on what we found in the guy’s basement. Did you give Scott
one of the MP-5s?”

“I wouldn’t do that without asking. He and I do have identical setups when it comes to
battle weapons.”

“Maybe you could invite him to Sunday dinner so we can get to know him a little better.”

“Give him the third degree you mean.”

“No, simply learn a little more about him since you two seem to be interested in each
other. If he has an older sister, invite her too. It’s about time your brothers got serious
about someone. Your Grandpa and Grandma aren’t going to live forever, if you get my
drift.”

We weren’t short on M1As either. We had a National Match that was a tack driver and
more 20 round magazines than we could use in a lifetime. There was an A.R.M.S.
mount and throw lever rigs that would support one of our spare Leupold Mk 4 variable
scopes. I stopped to think about some of the other things we’d gotten on that trip and
we had a nice 11-87P with Wilson Ghost Ring sights that would round out a minimal
armory. About the only thing we didn’t have was an excess of cowboy guns. But Sara
had the 1894 and 1895 cowboys and 3 Colt SAAs. I knew we could work something out.

“Did you know about Scott?”

“He’s a nice young man, Sara’s age.”

147
“I suggested she invite him to Sunday dinner so we could get to know him a little better.”

“Give him the third degree you mean.”

“No, I didn’t mean that. I’d like to know him better. Sara seems to be fond of him and
swapped him a HK-417 for a fancy day/night scope and gave him a HK USP Tactical
with a suppressor. We have a new 11-87P we could give him, if and when appropriate.”

“I like him and would look favorably on the two getting together. What about an M1A?”

“Oh that. We have a National Match that’s a real tack driver. I’m sure we can find a
good scope and suppressor plus a Harris bipod.”

“Did you decide between the HK and FN?”

“SCAR-H. If circumstances dictate a sniper rifle, I’ll go with the Super Match or Tac-50. I
don’t want to put a scope on my assault rifle.”

“Are you going to move the new generator to the shelter?”

“Your father arranged for a backhoe. It should be in and wired up in 2-3 days. We had a
time getting it from the dealer in Aurora. The guy didn’t have a forklift that would run.”

What did you do?”

“Improvised.”

They were in the process of backfilling the hole when our weather radios all sounded. It
took me a few seconds to realize what the sound was. Until that moment, we didn’t
know the NWS was back in business. After listening to the message it was apparent
that they weren’t. WWV was transmitting on the NWS frequencies. Same difference I
suppose. The announcer warned of a possible eruption of Yellowstone. I went into
overdrive, telling Sara to pick up her friend Scott and Harry and sons to secure the live-
stock.

The filters in all of our air systems had been replaced after the war, using one of two
spare sets for each of the machines. Dean was helping Mona move things to the shelter
until June and Maria showed up. He left to check the batteries in the pole building. The
charge level was 98.6%. He checked the fluid levels in each battery, adding some
where needed. Paul was herding the last of the horses to the dome and Harry Jr. was
saddling a horse to go after the beef.

We were about 435 miles east-southeast from Yellowstone. Worse, today’s wind was
north westerly, downwind from Yellowstone. It appeared that we had time for a humani-
tarian run into Sterling and quickly packed two trailers which we could pull to Sterling

148
and drop off. When we arrived, we explained about the volcano warning and dropped
the trailers. A few obviously wanted to join us on our ride back. As it was, the shelter
would be overcrowded. Despite the 2,000ft² we only had beds for 14. Mona and I had a
bedroom and Harry and Maria the second.

Previously, we’d put John and June on the hide-a-bed sofa. However, Harry Jr. now had
2 children and Bob’s wife Rachael was expecting. This time Harry Jr., Bob, Paul, Dean
and Scott would take the men’s dorm and Sara, Crystal and Rachel would take the
women’s dorm. The two children would go in the ladies dorm and John and June would
stay with the hide-a-bed.

Preps wise, we were in good shape with this years’ canning and additional stores of
wheat, barley, oats and corn and a whole lot more beans. We had enough rice for two
years and enough spuds for a year. The barn had been closed up the same as last time
and the air systems were operating at maximum capacity. All we could do now was wait
for the announcement.

It didn’t come from the government. The caldera provided it on its own, shaking the
ground so hard that no one could stand. Those of us outside the shelter moved to com-
plete our last minute tasks. Mona, June and Sara emptied the refrigerator and freezer
compartment. Harry helped his family carrying their clothing, food and weapons to the
shelter. We were set in 30 minutes before the ground shook even more than before and
was followed by the sounds of the explosive eruption. It was the loudest sound I’d ever
heard.

“Well, John, that’s number two.”

“For crying out loud, stop counting, didn’t you read ‘3 Time Jinx’?”

“TOM?”

“No. Jerry.”

“And?”

“A pandemic, followed by Nibiru and finally a GTW.”

“So I’m a jinx?”

“I’m just saying...”

149
 Would You Rather... Eight

After Yellowstone.

We think the pyroclastic flow extended between 70 and 95 miles based on later radio
reports. This is one of those fill-ins mentioned earlier. As far as we can tell, this was the
smallest eruption. Our absent president issued a news release through one of his flunk-
ies claiming that the scientists in the Mountain put the volume at between 200 and
230km³. That made it smaller than Mesa Falls which ran 280km³. We had 75-76cm of
ash, about 30”.

We were only in the shelter for 4 weeks until the worst of the ash fall was on the ground
and not in the air. We had a lot of the P-100 masks and surgical masks for later. Our
greatest concerns were clearing the ash off the fields and preventing the livestock from
inhaling it. Primarily that meant keeping them in the dome until we could clear the fields.
We had plenty of seed and could plant when it was warm enough and we could use a
water tank and portable pump to wash down the pastures after the ash was cleared.

Every time it rained, the ash settled and became harder to work with as it congealed in-
to a form of concrete. After months of work, every field and pasture was down to about
6-9” of ash and we plowed all 950 acres plus our garden area. John said the ash would
enrich the soil and I’d read the same in some of the stories. We had plenty of manure to
add to the ash for the crop fields. We plowed as deep as we could and then disked and
dragged the soil. We seeded the pastures first with a mixture of clover, fescue and
bluegrass. Then we seeded the alfalfa and timothy.

Because we grew 160 acres of wheat on the adjoining half section, we’d reallocated the
320 acres into 80 acres of corn, 80 acres soybeans, 80 acres of barley and 80 acres of
oats. Because of everything that had happened and all the work we’d done, we had two
empty double tankers. We pumped half loads of diesel into them and headed for Fort
Carson. It was still a graveyard and we finished filling the tankers with JP-8 using a
generator we found in a storage area.

We returned home and took the two double tankers we’d half emptied and took them
down and filled them too. That took care of half the tankers we had on the ranch. John
took some PRI-D over to their place and stabilized their diesel, again. He also used
PRI-G on their small amount of gasoline. When our weather system indicated that we
were well above cold night temperatures, we planted the fields on our 320 and the ad-
joining half section, alternating as always, the 160-acres of wheat and the 160 acres of
various beans.

Believe it or not, despite starting out back at Christmas of 2012 with about three tons of
rice, we were running low. We decided to try Arkansas because they grow a lot of rice.
We got a bob truck and added 9 55 gallon drums of diesel for the trip down and return
trip. John and I would go and we’d pay for the rice with gold. That failing, they could
have beef and pork if they wanted to come after it. We decided to go to Jonesboro. It

150
looked like it was about 950 miles and three days each way and one day onsite. We’d
need every bit of 6 drums of diesel going and returning. We allowed for detours and
maybe a trade or two if we ran into a problem.

We agreed to each take a rifle, shotgun and our pistols. I was going to take all three
barrels for the SCAR. I’d practiced changing barrels getting my time down to about as
low as possible and confirming all three barrels interchanged without any problems.
John was going to take his M21 with the 178gr A-MAX he liked. We agreed to take my
fifty and leave his for the folks at home. We added some odds and ends in the form of
fragmentation and smoke grenades, 40mm grenades and three LAWs.

We’d go with Mountain House 2-serving pouches for each of us, selecting what we liked
from what was available. Since the breakfasts were single servings we doubled up on
those. I selected single serving pouches of apples and strawberry for desert. We’d have
our LBE with full magazines in full magazine pouches and two one quart canteens.

We also took 20 gallons of water so we wouldn’t end up with Montezuma’s Revenge.

We had a pot, coffee/tea pot and a two burner propane stove. A bag of cheap plastic
spoons and another of cheap plastic forks rounded out our utensils.

We found almost all of the hard surfaced roads to be clear of ash, the wind having
moved it off. We took 76 to 80 and 80 east where we stopped for the night. The next
morning we continued and exited 80 at US 82 south stopping in the Newton area. The
next day we took off cross country on state and US highways, entering Missouri near
Fort Scott. We continued on US 54 to Missouri 5 and turned south. The first section was
good highway but the second half from Lebanon south wasn’t too hot. We made it to
Mansfield and realized that we were running late. We were on US 60 and pushed on,
switching to US 63 south.

We crossed into Arkansas and stopped to eat. The nearest town was Mammoth Spring
to the west. We kept pushing and got to US 412 which later merged back into US 63.
We called it a night near Sedgwick. We crawled into the box and unrolled our sleeping
bags and inflated our mattress pads. I observed that I should have paid more attention
to the odometer and that the last time I’d come this way, I’d used I-70.

We drove down to Jonesboro the next morning and ate there. We asked around about
rice and were directed to Arkansas Rice Mills and Windmill Rice Co for finished rice and
Poinsett Rice and Grain for rough rice. Choices?

“I’m for finished rice Alan. See if someone can give us directions.”

I asked a fella and got directions to both places. We started with Arkansas Rice.

“Hep you?”

“We’re looking for rice.”

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“Rough or finished?”

“Finished.”

“Y’all came to the right place. Yankees?”

“Colorado which is now in Nebraska.”

“Yeah we had the same problem. Ozark seceded. You came through there most of the
way. Rice is bagged in fifty pound bags and we sell by the hundred weight. Fifty dollars
per hundred weight.”

“Is that a good price?”

“We think it is. How you gonna pay?”

“Gold ok?”

“Two thousand an ounce.”

There are 20 hundred weight in a short ton. Fifty times twenty is two thousand, e.g., one
ounce of gold per ton or $1 per pound.

“You have five tons?”

“You got five ounces of American Gold?”

“Yep.”

“Loading is extry, one silver dime per bag.”

“Well, five tons is 100 bags and 100 silver dimes seems fair enough. Where do we pull
up?”

“Gold first.”

“I’ll show you the gold and stand on the loading dock with it in my pocket. You can have
it and 2 rolls of silver dimes when we’re loaded.”

“Show me.”

I did.

“You do have it.”

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“Right. We’ll pull up to your dock and open up the bob truck. We have to rearrange
some drums of fuel.”

“Diesel?”

“Uh, yes.”

“Any extry?”

“Three drums. We’ve gotten better mileage than we expected.”

“And you’re willin ta sell it?”

“How much are you offering?”

“You can have five tons of long grain rice, loaded, for four ounces of gold and the three
drums of diesel.”

“Deal.”

“Pull around to that side over there,” he said pointing.

Gold was $2,000 an ounce and silver was forty. Two rolls of silver dimes were worth
$286. I didn’t even have to do the math in my head to decide. We just saved $2,286.
But, we’re 950 miles from home. I looked around and I didn’t see anything but the latest
assault rifles, Jed Clampett notwithstanding.

When they finished loading, I paid the man and we hit the road, returning the way we
came for the first day. The only difference was that we didn’t stop until we hit the Mis-
souri state line. I can’t get used to the Idea of calling it Ozark state. The next day we
crossed into Kansas at Fort Scott, having crossed Ozark. When we got to Salina, we
stopped for the night. The following morning, there were several men gathered around
our truck. They were well armed.

“What’s in the truck?”

“Stuff we bought in Arkansas.”

“Do you know about the toll?”

“You didn’t have a toll when we came through a few days back.”

“It’s for using I-70. People who stop here always use I-70.”

I racked the slide on my shotgun, ejecting the loaded round which I grabbed and re-
turned to the magazine. John had brought an 11-87P and pointed out that he didn’t

153
have a slide to rack but you could trust him, it was loaded. I’d broken the thumb lock on
my holster when we left the room. John had done the same with his 1911.

“We aren’t using I-70 so back off.”

“Is there a problem here?”

“Are you the law?” John asked.

“I am.”

“Explain to these people that we just passing through on our way to Sterling, Nebraska.”

“Isn’t Sterling in Colorado?”

“Used to be, yes.”

“Marty, you and the boys leave them be. You were warned about stunts like this.”

“Andy, they stayed in the motel and probably ate in the dining room. They took food out
of our mouths.”

“You eat in the dining room.”

“Nope.”

“Neither last night nor this morning?”

“Nope.”

“Put up your guns and be on your way. I’ll sit on ‘em if I have to.”

“You married officer?”

“Yeah, so what?”

“Kids?”

“Two.”

“Grab one bag out of the truck and take it home with you. Your wife might appreciate it.”

“What is it?”

“Long grain rice.”

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“Thanks. Don’t suppose you have any extra diesel?”

“Sold 3 drums in Jonesboro.”

“What did it go for?”

“Two thousand, two hundred and eighty six dollars.”

“Fourteen a gallon?”

“If that’s what it comes to. The customer made the offer. We accepted and it included
the drums.”

“Even with drums running a hundred each, that’s pretty steep.”

“Are we done here?”

“Yes. Move along.”

“I thought you said we weren’t taking I-70.”

“I lied. We’ll be home tonight.”

“Why didn’t we come this way when we came down?”

“Honestly? It just didn’t occur to me.”

“At least we have enough rice for a while.”

“When the missiles flew, we had about 3 tons combined. We ate a lot of rice. This
should last much longer and will make a very good trade good. The three most im-
portant staples in Mexico are corn, beans and rice. They aren’t the three sisters which
are corn, beans and squash.

Sara says the Aztecs core cuisine was corn, beans and peppers and the Mayans core
cuisine was corn, squash, beans and peppers. The Spanish introduced rice, barley,
livestock and additional spices. Chocolate was Mexican and the Aztecs sometimes
used it as currency. We can grow all of those plus some traditional US fruits and vege-
tables.”

“Give any more thought to that half section across the road?”

“John, it would be a back breaker. We dumped all the extra ash over there.”

155
“I know Alan but it’s probably the most fertile ground in the area. We should slowly in-
corporate manure and ash over the next 2-3 years and use it like I suggested earlier as
a truck farm. The folks are more accepting now given the hard line you took early on.”

“We’ll see. We’re probably going to need another tractor, a big one that can pull a 5 bot-
tom plow. I could use the manure we generate this year and mix it with the ash some-
how and turn the soil. If we disk it and plant a cover crop high in nitrogen we could turn
it come spring and repeat the process. What do you think, 3 years?”

“At the most, but we should take a conservative approach and plan on three.”

“I’m not going to jinx us but what’s next?”

“A Mini ice age would be near the top of my list Alan. Between the short nuclear winter
and the longer volcanic winter the temperatures are running about 6°F below average
which is roughly 2°C. Centigrade is 100° between 32°F and 212°F. 100°C = 180°F so
1°C = 1.8°F. Therefore 6°F = 2.2°C.”

“If that the case, why would the Gulf Stream sink?”

“Good question, it might not. It’s heat not cold that causes that.”

“We need to pull over and add fuel to the tanks. It might be a good time for a quick bite
of lunch. Want some coffee? It won’t take long.”

“Yeah, I missed my morning cup.”

We pulled into a rest area, filled the tanks, used the john, washed up and heated up a
MH entree. The coffee was ready in 20 minutes and we took time to enjoy a cup or
three. Packing everything but the coffee pot and two cups, we used the john again and
headed west. Three and a half hours later, we were within five miles of home. John had
his window cracked and he told me to pull up.

“Do you hear that?”

“Sounds like a Ma Deuce. Call the ranch and I’ll get us there as fast as I can.”

“John calling the ranch. John calling the ranch.”

“Ranch here.”

“SITREP.”

“Fifteen to twenty. Armed with heavy weapons. Ma Deuce and one Mk-19. What’s your
20?”

156
“Five, no, four minutes out. Recommendations?”

“Come in through Sterling and we’ll have them boxed. Say capabilities.”

“One fifty rifle, two 7.62 rifle, one full auto capable. Three LAWs and assorted grenades.
Two shotguns and our .45s.”

“Copy. Barricade road just past corner to ranch. Recommend you use fifty and move up
as circumstances permit. They have M113s. Can the LAWs take them?”

“10-4; so can the Raufoss. Turning now and stopping. Can you see us?”

“Rog. Looks like they have bolt on armor added.”

“Copy bolt on armor.”

The two vehicles were parked at an oblique angle and the passengers were behind the
far side of the vehicles from the dome. The angles were all wrong but a few rounds of
fifty might distract them allowing John and me to get closer. We divided the white smoke
and frags. John took his rifle and I hung the SCAR across my back and carried the fifty.
We were able to move to our left out into the field to improve our angle.

When we had a good location, we set up and opened up. The range was ~900 meters,
a long shot for John but perfect for me. When the fifth man fell, one of them realized
they were in a cross fire. Six remained behind the M113s concentrating on the Dome
and the other six moved to the ditch and opened up on the two of us. I could see a party
of four of ours moving around the buildings and begin heading down the lane.

I wasn’t the only one and three of the six switched their fire to our four. Our people im-
mediately dropped to the ground and held their position briefly. Then they began belly
crawling with their rifles cradled in their arms. I briefly swung my scope to them and saw
Sara with the W-3 MAAWS and three rockets. When they were 700 yards out, Dean
loaded the MAAWS and Sara fired, scoring a direct hit on the front M113 and it explod-
ed.

They reloaded and fired again, hitting the tracks of the second M-113, but doing little
other damage. With the opposition in disarray, John and I moved closer to about 200
meters. Sara sent her third round at the second M-113 and it, too, exploded. John and I
switched to our 7.62s and started in on the remaining six. The ditch provided good cov-
er and it took about 30 minutes to eliminate the last six.

“What’s with you Alan? Do you have a sign saying, ‘Shoot Me’? Check your left arm.”

“I’ll be a SOB, they got me again.”

“It’s not spurting.”

157
“Could you apply 2 ACS+ sponges and some of that trauma gauze?”

“Can do. Take off you jacket.”

“I can unbutton it but that’s it.”

“Close enough.”

“John to Dome.”

“Dome here.”

“Alan has been shot.”

“Again?”

“Flesh wound.”

“Got him in the head, huh?”

“Pick us up. We’re in the field 200 meters behind the M113s.”

“Copy.”

“Send a driver for the bob truck.”

“Copy.”

“Do you tape a target on yourself when you get into a gunfight?”

“Not intentionally. For two little holes with no arteries hit and no broken bone, this hurts
all out of proportion to what it should.”

“Here, put this in your mouth and clamp down on it with your teeth.”

“Why?”

“I’m going to clean out the wound.”

The next thing I was aware of was being in bed with my arm bandaged. I decided I must
have passed out. My arm was on fire and I called out to Mona.

“Take this and call me in the morning.”

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“Ok Dr. Mona, what is it?”

“OxyContin, 10mg. It’s the extended release form and the only size tablet we have.”

“Addicting?”

“Yeah, but you won’t get enough to get addicted. You’ll get this one plus 2 tomorrow
and one the day after. Then it’s acetaminophen. How much rice is in the truck? They’ve
been unloading for over an hour.”

“Five tons less 50 pounds I gave to a cop in Kansas.”

“A bribe?”

“No he helped us out and I figured one good turn deserved another. There are 199 50
pound bags.”

“What did that cost?”

“Four ounces of gold and three drums of diesel. We negotiated a deal for five ounces of
gold and two rolls of silver dimes. When I admitted we had extra diesel, he cut the price
by an ounce of gold and the two rolls of dimes.”

“Milled rice or rough rice?”

“Milled, long grain.”

“I wonder how much you could get for an 8,000 gallon tanker.”

“Rice was $50 a hundred weight. He allowed us $2,286 for the three drums of diesel.
That’s $13.85 a gallon. Eight thousand times $13.85 is almost $111 thousand. Divide
that by fifty and I think it’s 2,216 bags.”

“Get healed up quick. Dad and you are making another trip.”

My brain must have worked the problem after I dropped off. When I woke up, I knew the
total was 55.4 tons of rice. Three trailer loads for one 8,000 gallon tanker of fuel. They
could pull 3 empty trailers down, a semi with two empties and a second with an empty
and the tanker. It would have to be Paul, Dean, Harry Jr., Bob and John. With two of the
youngsters in a Hummer with a Ma Deuce.

I called out and Mona brought me an OxyContin and a glass of water. I asked for three
extra strength acetaminophen instead. My arm did hurt a whole lot less. When it kicked
in, I got up and asked her to wrap my arm in plastic so I could get a shower. She said to
just shower and she’d change the bandage after.

159
Maybe I should have taken the OxyContin. I got cleaned up and dressed, except for my
T-shirt and shirt. She bandaged the arm and I could tell it was a FMJ round. After I ate, I
outlined what my head had come up with while I slept. She told me to get some rest and
she’d take care of it. About 90 minutes later I heard two semis pulling out.

“They’ll be back in a week. Dad said to tell you he had 4 drums of gas and 4 drums of
diesel for the cop, gratis. They took three 53’ trailers and a 9,000 gallon tanker of the
50-50 diesel and JP-8. He said there was a second mill.”

“Oh right, Windmill Rice.”

“I checked Encarta. Arkansas is the biggest or one of the biggest rice producing states.
Dad had his money belt so he probably took some gold and silver. They can probably
get enough rice to overload all three trailers by shopping around. They’re also pulling a
1,000 gallon fuel trailer that Dad had at home with the Hummer to refuel their vehicles.
The fuel trailer has a combination hitch.”

“I’m going to get some more sleep and let breakfast digest.”

“I’ll be in the kitchen visiting with Mom.”

“One of these days my husband is going to get shot and not wake up from it. I’ve lost
count. What does this make, three or four?”

“Only three. Each shoulder blade and his arm.”

“Only? On top of that, he’s beginning to believe that we’re due for another disaster. Isn’t
a GTW and Yellowstone erupting enough?”

“Honey, we got lucky on that eruption. It was the smallest and now we’re good for 600
thousand years. What does he think is going to happen?”

“He’s not sure but Daddy keeps reminding him of Nibiru.”

“Your Daddy is stuck on stupid. It didn’t come on December 21, 2012 so it won’t be
coming. That’s not to say that other asteroids won’t strike. There are some with close
earth approaches in the next few years. A few years back, NASA had listed 982 poten-
tially hazardous asteroids and 65 potentially hazardous comets.”

A week later, they returned with a near empty fuel trailer trailing the Hummer and 7,500
bags of rice. John said the number of bags was just short of 7,500 and the guy was so
grateful, he rounded up. Arkansas Rice didn’t have enough so the guy got what he was
short from Windmill by trading them some of the fuel. Counting what old rice remained,

160
we now had a lot of rice. We loaded up all of our old rice and some from the first trip and
went to Sterling on a selling trip. The price was a very reasonable at $1.50 per pound.

We also took orders for beef, pork and chickens. Beef was 10 dollars a pound, pork 7
dollars a pound and chickens were only 6 dollars for fryers and 8 dollars for stewing
hens. It didn’t move well because we wouldn’t barter for labor. The only things we’d bar-
ter for labor were grains and garden crops. You realize that if you eat most of the eggs,
your flock of chickens doesn’t really increase much, don’t you?

Cold? Without a doubt. I can’t make it to church every Sunday and, perhaps as a result,
don’t look fondly on turning the other cheek. I have the bullet scars to justify my beliefs,
if only to myself. That would be akin to a cop appearing in court at the sentencing hear-
ing and saying, “You know your honor you should give the kid a break because he
came from a bad home. He only shot me three times and didn’t kill me indicating his un-
familiarity with firearms.” Right.

We greatly slowed our horse breeding program when we ran out of space in the barn.
Reducing our beef breeding program followed shortly thereafter and we cut back to one
liter of pigs per year. The only exception was our draft horse breeding program. We had
four pair of oxen and four of each breed of draft horse mentioned earlier.

Clydesdales were pretty but a lot of work to keep them looking pretty. The Percherons
and Shires were just work horses but the Belgians stole my heart. The Percherons have
a touch or Arabian and are well muscled. They were war horses in the past. The Shires
are huge horses and have the extra hair around the hoof like the Clydesdales. Belgians
are the most numerous draft horses in the US.

We didn’t have any of the fancies like Tennessee Walking Horse’s or Morgan’s. We did
pick up two mares and two stallions of the Frisian breed. They had beautiful black coats
and the mares were about 16 hands and the stallions 17. These were powerful horses
and we were told they did well under harness or as riding horses. They were noted for a
brisk, high-stepping trot. We had avoided gaited horses until now.

Our principle breed was the stock horse. Purebred American Quarter Horses of the
stock type. You should be familiar with them; they’re easily distinguished from the hal-
ter, racing and hunter types. This breed of horse was also called a working horse and a
ranch horse although stock horse was the preferred name. They were especially noted
for their ability to work cattle. Each breed we raised had something unique about it.

“I picked up a case of six bottles of this stuff. I think you’ll like it.”

“What is it?”

“Jack Daniels Single Barrel. It’s not blended at all. The bottles are all from the same bar-
rel. I tried it and liked it so I got each of us a 6 bottle case.”

161
“I still have most of the stuff Mona had me stock up for you.”

“No you don’t. You only have one bottle of Canadian Club left; I wouldn’t drink your last
bottle.”

“But we bought Canadian Club whisky, Maker’s Mark Bourbon, Jack Daniels’ Gentle-
man Jack, Johnny Walker Black, Bombay Sapphire Gin, Jose Cuervo 1800 and Grand
Marnier for margaritas, and Absolute Vodka.”

“Trust me; this is better than Gentleman Jack by a large measure. You might try a nip to
ease the pain of getting shot again.”

“More for my pride than for the pain, John. First it was you and then Mona. I’m not look-
ing to get shot. It really hurts. Especially the first two times when it hit bone.”

“This one healing up?”

“I should be able to lose the bandage in two more weeks. They don’t make bulletproof
sleeves for the Interceptor, do they?”

“They have a Deltoid Auxiliary Protection System, the Enhanced Side Ballistic Insert
Carrier...we have those and the Back Extender. They all attach to the OTV we already
have. We looked for the wrong things. I noticed one of the Jarheads had different body
armor and asked him about it. He said it was the Improved Outer Tactical Vest and in-
cluded all of the things I just mentioned. He said it was three pounds lighter, too.”

“Fort Carson here we come.”

“Give me a day to rest up.”

“Any trouble on the trip?”

“Nope. Found the cop and gave him 8 drums of fuel. He became our constant compan-
ion. On the way back we gave him three more bags of rice. We won’t have any trouble
in Salina from now on. Those good ol’ boys in Jonesboro allowed as we weren’t half
bad for a bunch of damn Yankees. That same bunch tried to stop us again until they
saw the Hummer with the Ma Deuce. I told the cop where we got it.”

“Did you explain about the Hummers, fuel trailers, ammo and weapons?”

“Told him the whole thing. I suspect they’ll end up with a pair of similarly equipped
Hummers and a pair of fuel trailers. Said he was a Ranger, 2nd of the 75th, and wouldn’t
have any problems once he located what they needed. I noticed a double 8 or 9,000
gallon tanker. I told him where to fill the trailers so he’ll know where to fill a tanker too.”

“Day after tomorrow ok?”

162
“Yeah but make it after 9.”

Our goal was specific; locate IOTVs for everyone on the ranch. That now included my
new son-in-law, Scott who was the proud owner of a National Match M1A, Remington
11-87P and a Colt 1911 with a PPK in .380 as a backup. Sara made sure he had all the
extras like LBE, magazines and so forth. He put his fancy day/night scope on the Na-
tional Match and his HK-417 had a TA01B. She gave him some of the surplus 7.62 and
some 168gr A-MAX Match for the NM. He also got an MP-5.

The cowboy guns were a different story. They disappeared for several hours and came
back with the 1894 and 1895 Cowboys and three Colt SAAs. The gun leather was some
of those cheap Mexican knockoffs. The rifle scabbards were on order from the guy in
Sterling.

Scott was a hard worker and had little difficulty learning the various tasks on our
ranch/farm. He even provided a new single wide taken from a dealer’s lot somewhere.
Harry and his sons helped with the leveling and connecting the pipes.

Before we left, we got all of Scott’s sizes because he needed nearly a complete soldier
suit. We took my pickup and the empty fuel trailer. It was a quick trip and we were there
in two hours and ready to leave three hours later. We pulled in around 4:30pm.

John and I passed out the new armor and visited with Scott last. We had 4 sets of Mul-
tiCam, including wicking T-shirts and socks, cold weather gear and gloves, boots, regu-
lar socks, trousers, jackets and covers. We also had a pack in MultiCam. We had the
materials to make up a BOB and got him one of those Marine Corps OKC-3S bayonets.
Mona came dragging out another set of knives, a Gerber Mark II, Cold Steel San Mai
Trail Master and Buck Folding Hunter.

“How many sets did you buy?”

“Eight. One set for you, one for me and two for each of our children. I figured they’d all
be married by now. Dean met a nice young lady in Sterling so there’s hope on that front.
Paul hasn’t decided on anyone.”

“He’s dating?”

“If you can call it that. Never seems to be the same gal from one date to the next.”

“I thought that Dean would be the last to find someone.”

“I did too.”

“What’s he looking for?”

163
“The Playmate of the month.”

“I may know the perfect gal. The two years younger than he is but otherwise fits the
general criteria.”

“Who?”

“A young lady from Atwood named Sandra Collins.”

“Do tell.”

“Her father was a customer and a prepper. That’s how I know him, I built their shelter.”

“How are we going to do this?”

“What do you mean we, Kemo Sabe? I brought it up and I’ll arrange something. It might
be a good time to check with the people who we built shelters for to see how they’re
making it in the PAW. I’ll ask Paul to come along to cover my six.”

John handled the entire matter and they visited several of his customers. It seems that
not all of them were sitting down to Christmas dinner back in ‘12 or heard about the vol-
canoes from the mysterious voice on the radio. I’ve taken to calling ‘him’ that for several
reasons.

We had the election and the GOP won. The attack came between the election and the
inauguration. That being the case, which one was it, if either. I knew Obama’s voice,
having heard him speak a few times. I couldn’t say the same for the man who won the
election. Whoever it was had never identified himself.

When John got back, he was grinning from ear to ear.

“Where’s Paul?”

“In Atwood. It only took one look. She’s even lovelier than I imagined with a fair com-
plexion, blonde and figure better than her mothers who could have been a centerfold.”

“So why is Paul there?”

“Oh, she was the only survivor out of the family and was staying at home. I didn’t recog-
nize her, but she knew me. Anyway, Paul is helping her get her possessions around
and she’s moving here. We have to take the bob truck back down the day after tomor-
row.”

“I’d better get Harry and his boys looking for two more singlewides.”

164
“The pipes are in so it’s just a matter of hooking them up. When Scott brought in that
home, I heard him tell Jr. that they might just as well run pipes for three locations. Didn’t
you know that?”

“No John, I didn’t. This is becoming like one of TOM’s trailer parks.”

“He had a point Alan. Manufactured housing is a quick and dirty solution and much eas-
ier than building several homes. Plus there’s the shelter if we get another tornado.”

They got one home that afternoon. The next morning while Jr. and Dean looked for a
second, Harry and Bob leveled and connected the trailer. It was late in the day before
Jr. and Dean returned with a 3 bedroom singlewide. They jockeyed it into position so
they could level and hook it up the next day. Dean let us know that Sherry had accepted
his proposal and they planned to marry in about a month.

“That’s really strange. All three of them latching on to someone whose first name begins
with an ‘S’.”

“I guess that means it’s a good thing that the family in Atwood didn’t decide to name
their daughter Janice.”

“No, really. Scott, Sherry and Sandra. It’s unusual to say the least.”

“It also means another trip to Fort Carson as soon as you can get their sizes.”

“I’m going along on this trip.”

“Why?”

“I want to meet the President.”

“Bad plan. Even if we went in before we went to the Fort shopping. I’ll admit I am curi-
ous just exactly who the person calling himself the President is. That’s no reason to run
the risk.”

“He’s been locked up in that mountain since Christmas of ‘12. I’d bet he’d be happy to
see a smiling face.”

“I can hear the Secret Service now, “Gun!”

“We’ll take the M1As and leave the shotguns in the truck.” (Right, a M1A isn’t a gun.)

About five weeks and two marriages later, we headed to the Springs. We followed the
road up to the gate leading to the Mountain and it was standing open. We drove through
and parked. John got his M21, me my Super Match and Mona her Loaded. There were
no lights on in the tunnel and we wound up a flashlight before proceeding.

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We finally got to the famous 25 ton blast doors to find them standing partially open.
Strange, very strange. We entered carefully, fully expecting to be grabbed by the Secret
Service. The place appeared empty and only a sole light showing. It was like a beacon
beckoning us and we entered the building. The lighting was selectively shut down. Fol-
lowing the only lighted path, we entered what proved to be the ‘Control Room’ for want
of a better term. There was one individual there, an Air Force Technical Sergeant.

“You finally came!”

“Who are you?”

“Technical Sergeant Russell Williams at your service.”

“Your voice. I recognize it. You’ve been pretending to be the President.”

“Guilty as charged. They didn’t make it. Either Air Force One or the staff from Peterson.
I shut the doors at that last moment and rode out the hit. I’ve been here ever since,
keeping the minimal systems running. That’s about to end, the fuel is almost nonexist-
ent.”

“So, Sgt. Williams, why the charade?”

“People have to have hope. It took me a long time to get the equipment working and the
blast took out the antennas. Eventually, I got a system up and made that long broad-
cast. You know, the ‘My Fellow Americans’ speech. I had some incoming data but noth-
ing outgoing. I passed along what I had.”

“We can take you to Fort Carson where you can pick up a Hummer.”

“Do you know where I can find fuel, equipment and so forth?”

“Yes, we’ve checked the Fort out. What do you need?”

“Some civilian clothes, an M4 and M9. Maybe some MREs. I just have to get home to
Salina, Kansas. I have a brother there who is a cop, or was.”

Coincidence? Not likely.

We walked back to the pickup and trailer and headed to the Fort. As we went from loca-
tion to location he picked up what he needed. We took him to the motor pool and got
him squared away with an M1038 HMMWV Cargo/Troop Carrier with Winch. We also
got a fuel trailer and he got a full load of JP-8. He was just about to leave when our cop
friend from Salina showed up.

“Bubba?”

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“Tommy?”

So the cop was Russell’s brother and his name was Tommy. Bubba had gotten civies at
the Post Exchange but chose to wear MultiCam when his brother put on a set. I guess
we missed some or he got the MultiCam from the PX. We visited for a few minutes and
went to fill our tank with JP-8.

We did pick up a few odds and ends to fill in for some of the things we’d used including
the last of the M1022 and MK 211, more hand grenades and 40mm grenades, loose
and belted plus more of the AP/APIT and so forth. We pretty much cleaned out clothing
sales getting more than uniforms this time. We also got every last round of M118LR and
Mk 262 Mod 1 ammo. It really wasn‘t a lot.

John hadn’t understated Sandra’s breath taking beauty. Paul said it was love at first
sight. His mother said, “Yes, after she turned to face him.” God earned an A+ in packag-
ing. But then there was Sherry and she was the vision of The Four Season’s ‘Sherry’
and another A if not A+. The ladies all rated Scott as an A or A+ so our children did well
in choosing mates, just as I had.

“So there’s not going to be a number three?”

“I didn’t say that Alan. You never know; there will be or there won’t be. Why are you
counting anyway? It was a long spell between the war and Yellowstone. Then Yellow-
stone sort of petered out.”

“I only like surprises on my birthday and at Christmas.”

“Here’s a surprise for you. I predict you’ll be a grandfather several times over within a
year.”

“You’re probably right. You noticed it didn’t take long for them to move from the house
to the trailers.”

There was no federal recovery program of any shape or form. Before the country was
the US, there were 13 colonial states. There were now around 30 states as a result of
mergers and secessions. Eventually the states got together for a Continental Congress.
Each state had one representative. Some guy from Lincoln represented Nebraska and
the Convention was held in Columbia, Missouri. I understand they used the college fa-
cilities.

To the disappointment of some and with the approval of many, the old Constitution was
the basis to a new, revised Constitution. Each of the Amendments was considered indi-
vidually and made part of the Constitution. Ambiguities were eliminated. The 2nd
Amendment, for example, was divided into two portions with the militia part being in the

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Armed Forces Clause and the Right to Bear Arms in a separate clause with no other
language.

The Commerce Clause was still included but would not serve as a basis for federal laws
supposedly regulating interstate commerce like the Mann Act or the National Firearms
Act. There were surprisingly few federal laws and most of them clarified a Clause in the
Constitution.

Congress was still had two Senators per state and a representative for a certain number
of people. There were term limits of 3 terms per Representative and 1 term per Senator
with the maximum number of years in Congress was established at 12 in the Constitu-
tion. The primary duty of Congress was to prepare budgets and go home. A secondary
duty of the Senate was to Advise and Consent. To encourage minimal time spent on
federal business, they were only paid living expenses and these were limited. It was no
longer an occupation.

When the representatives to that Convention got to comparing notes, they got a shock.
There were only 19 strikes against the US. Some involved MIRVs, but only 19 launches
had succeeded. It had to be China. Russia hadn’t launched against us and we hadn’t
launched against Russia. Both countries were the products of occidental thinking. There
was no information about what happened between Russia and China. One of the first
missions for our new Secretary of State would be to establish communications with
Russia.

That brings up another point. We had very few Secretaries. They were, as in the begin-
ning, State, Treasury, Defense, Postmaster General and Attorney General. The Attor-
ney General would not head an executive department. The US Marshal Service, Secret
Service and US District Attorneys were part of the Attorney General’s office.

Defense had two branches, Navy and Army. The Air Force and Army were sort of
merged. There was an Under Secretary of the Air Force and an Under Secretary of the
Army and they both reported to the Secretary of the Army. There was an Under Secre-
tary of the Marine Corps and an Under Secretary of the Navy and they both reported to
the Secretary of the Navy. It was the same, yet different. The Joint Chiefs included all
six individuals. An even number was a bad thing but the Secretary of Defense was the
tie breaker.

That was the state of the union at the present time and elections were scheduled for six
months hence. Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats had done a good job run-
ning the country before the war. With their greatly reduced role in running the country in
the future it came down to voting conservative or liberal. There were more conserva-
tives post war and post Yellowstone. No doubt because the influential survivors were
preppers.

There are a large number of liberals to balance the scale. They were the people who
survived on the dole and expected the government to provide for them. They had

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learned in the ensuing years that there’s no free lunch. Nonetheless, they wanted to re-
store that and more.

They wanted the National Healthcare that they’d briefly enjoyed, a restoration of Medi-
caid, food stamps and government supported low income housing. The cities needing
rebuilding were a steady source of jobs. The liberals weren’t willing to work those jobs in
order to put food on the table, pay the rent or for medical care. Same ol’, same ol’.

The outcome of the election wasn’t known for several weeks. The paper ballots had to
be hand counted, verified and certified. Next, the results had to be forwarded to the fed-
eral election commission. The new President, a Republican, was sworn in on January
20, 2020. The federal Senators and Representatives were sworn in later the same day.

The new President had only known three days before the Inauguration that he’d won.
Both candidates, assuming they’d win, had cabinets lined up. In addition the new Presi-
dent had to find nine new Justices for the Supreme Court. His nominations for each po-
sition were waiting for the Senate before they were sworn in. The Senate began hear-
ings the next day to interview the nominees. Ten days later, the President had his Cabi-
net and the Supreme Court was staffed.

Three weeks later the final version of the budget was submitted to both houses. Income
tax still existed, as a flat rate tax of 7.5% at the federal level and at 2.5%, initially, at the
state level. Taxpayer would pay a flat 10% of their net income to the feds and they’d dis-
tribute the 2.5% to the states within 30 days of receipt. April 15th was the filing deadline
and extensions weren’t granted. The corporate income tax was a flat 15%, 10% federal
and 5% state with the same filing deadline. If you operated a business, you deducted
out-of-the-pocket expense to determine net taxable income.

The budget process began once the tax returns had been tabulated and the amount the
feds had to spend for the next year had been determined. The new Constitution speci-
fied a balanced budget. The new currency standard was gold and silver valued at
$2,000 and $40 an ounce respectively. Eight coins existed, one-tenth, one-quarter, one-
half and one ounce coins both in gold and silver. For smaller transactions, the old 90%
silver coins could be used until additional bullion coins could be developed.

With Denver, San Francisco and Philadelphia being targets, all coins would be minted
at West Point. The smallest junk silver coin was the dime valued at $2.86, the quarter
went for $7.15 and the half for $14.30. This led to different groupings of supplies to re-
flect the value of the various coins. For our part, we wrote down the value of all eleven
coins as a reference carried it either in a wallet or purse.

Public transit was restored beginning with the trains using trucks only for local deliver-
ies. If you had a running vehicle, you could produce bio-diesel or ethanol for fuel. Gaso-
line engines were being converted to ethanol only for the most part. A few hardy souls
with the knowledge began adding wood gas generators in their trunks, etc., and ran

169
their vehicles on wood gas. It seemed that the older the vehicle was, the easier the con-
version from gasoline.

We lost our supply of salvaged diesel and JP-8 and decided not to convert any gasoline
powered vehicle. This changed our way of doing business. Those 320 acres across the
road were enriched with manure and the soil turned several times over the course of
two years. We planted cover crops and turned them over after we added the manure
the following spring. We continued the process until we had a deep layer of loam suita-
ble for crops. From then forward, we planted all 320 acres in rapeseed/canola.

We put in a medium sized biodiesel plant and bought the chemicals from the state of
Nebraska. Once started, our average yield was 40,000 gallons of biodiesel per year. It
was used to top off our tanks and the unused portion sold for one silver dime per gallon.

Ninety percent of the time, the PV panels produced enough electricity to keep the bat-
teries charged. If the charge dropped below 80%, one generator kicked in and re-
charged the entire set of banks. May I remind you were had a second battery bank we
could install and another 300 300-watt PV panels.

Our horse business picked up greatly when we had enough draft horses bred and
trained to sell. The saddle horses were in great demand in these latter days and we
were running our breeding program for them and the Frisians full bore. We couldn’t
quite produce enough feed and bought what we needed with the gold and silver we
were getting from the crops, rice, fruit and vegetables we were selling.

Then, the other shoe dropped.

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 Would You Rather... Nine

The other shoe.

We were doing well on the ranch slash farm. We had a few near misses with tornadoes.
None came close enough to our property to cause any damage. The attacks against the
property were few and very far between. We used a school bus burning biodiesel to
transport those with labor obligations, or seeking to work for food and silver, to and from
the property.

Before our equipment was totally shot, we found horse and oxen drawn equipment from
several museums and a large enclave of Amish. They taught us how to use and care for
the equipment, for a fee in the form of food and silver. The days were long, the work
was hard, but it was possible to farm two sections minus 15 acres. The additional 5
acres made up our expanded garden which was mostly devoted to root crops, peppers,
tomatoes, celery, cucumbers, green beans and squash. I included potatoes, turnips,
parsnips, carrots, radishes, onions and beets in my root crop category. We grew some
cabbage and lettuce for salads and kraut.

We didn’t grow anything in the garden unless a majority of those here preferred it so
certain crops weren’t grown. That included artichokes, broccoli, cauliflower, rhubarb and
vegetables of that nature. Those among us that liked them, brought or traded with Ster-
ling residents who grew them.

I’d better mention our grandchildren. John had been right; we had three within the first
year. Rather than spacing their children out to two year intervals, our kids chose one
year intervals and four children each. Thus when the shoe dropped we had twelve
grandchildren with the oldest just short of five and the youngest closing on one.

Shoes come in boots, oxfords, loafers, and moccasins, among others. This wasn’t the
type of shoe I’m referring to. The shoe took the form of a comet that struck the Pacific
Ocean miles from any land mass. However (don’t you hate that word), it created a large
tsunami that spread across the Pacific in all directions. So, instead of Cumbre Vieja slid-
ing into the Atlantic and creating a mega tsunami in the Atlantic, a comet created a
mega tsunami in the Pacific. It might have been one of the 65 NASA knew about or an-
other entirely. It came out of the Kuiper belt, destination Earth.

It wasn’t spotted until it was close to Earth and by then the US and Russia determined
that they didn’t have time to do more than duck and cover. There was enough warning,
a few short weeks, for many of the Pacific Islanders to move to higher ground. Australi-
ans moved inland. The Comet was name Shoemaker-35 in honor of the late Carolyn
Shoemaker.

Low lying islands across the Pacific were swept clean of plant and animal life. The North
American continent was inundated with water, washing San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa

171
Barbara and so on into the ocean. We weren’t immediately affected being on the east
side of the Rockies.

The comet, when it hit, sent a tower of water skyward, larger than we could imagine. It
didn’t all fall straight down and due to the rotation of the Earth the west coast not only
got the tsunami, but torrential rains as the seawater returned to earth. The seawater
contaminated fresh water supplies and the word we got was that it would take months
for the salty water to be flushed back into the Pacific.

We received some rain, more fresh than salty. The fields and garden got so muddy we
had to sit back and let them dry on their own. The meter measuring the output of the PV
panels indicated they were only receiving between 75% and 80% of the normal daytime
sunlight. It was a month before the fields were dry enough and the sunlight returned to
near 95%, paused, and began to drop.

We were well established as the largest producing ranch slash farm in the area. In order
to maintain our position, we dug into our stores of beans, rice and corn meal. We pro-
vided the residents of Sterling with that and a limited amount of pork and beef at a
slightly reduced price. We always did our best at staying out of the public eye avoiding
the crime of profiteering.

Profiteering ranked right up there with murder and kidnapping. If anyone thought prisons
of that past were bad, they’d be shocked by the modern prisons. Two meals a day,
beans, rice and cornbread plus a breakfast of grits.

Corn was a very profitable crop. We had increased the size of our corn field in response
to 160 acres. But, so did everyone else that farmed and we cut back to the original 80
acre field. It did leave us with a surplus of corn that we could grind into corn meal.

“Is it just me or has it been colder since that strike in the Pacific?”

“I noticed that Mona. Maybe we’re just getting old.”

“We are getting older. I don’t feel like I’m old just yet, thank you very much. Mom said
the same thing. Both she and Daddy have said it seems colder.”

“I have noticed him dressing warmer. Everyone did for a while. Come to think of it, I’ve
been wearing my drover’s coat more often when working the stock. For a while I had the
fleece lining in. When the sunshine returned to normal, I took it out because I was get-
ting over heated.”

“But you’re still wearing the drover’s coat?”

“Yes, of course. Why?”

“What would you normally be wearing this time of year?”

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“My cotton duster. Oh, I see what you mean; the duster is a lot lighter than the drover’s
coat. The drover is 16 ounce oilskin and the duster is 10 ounce cotton.”

The short term effect was a month of rainy weather. The long term effects might include
the possibility of global cooling. The war, such as it was, had a small cooling effect. Yel-
lowstone, again such as it was, had a slightly greater cooling effect. Neither had been
unmanageable. The combined effect had caused an overall reduction of temperatures
slightly. How would the third event affect us?

It didn’t take long to find out. We were harvesting the crops with snow on the ground.
We got them all in, luckily. We had a few days of clear weather followed by a blizzard
rivaling any in memory. The system moved slowly and deposited heavy wet snow. The
snow couldn’t compete with the winds, which reached a brief high of 70mph with a sus-
tained speed of about 40mph.

According to the US National Weather Service, winds of 35 mph or more and visibility of
a quarter mile or less are conditions that, if they endure for three hours, define a bliz-
zard. Blizzards can cause serious damage. The weight of snow can make buildings col-
lapse. Crops freeze, and livestock can be killed. Snow can’t collapse most domes.

During the Second Millennium, the Northern Hemisphere, especially Europe and North
America, experienced the Little Ice Age. There is speculation as to when it began.
NASA says around 1550AD and ending 1880AD. In 1815, Mt. Tambora, an Indonesian
volcano erupted causing 1816 to be ‘The Year Without a Summer’. At least we got
Frankenstein out of the event. One of Shelly’s companions, Polidori, wrote ‘The
Vampyre’. Stoker wrote ‘Dracula’ about 80 years later.

All that water in the air combined with the remaining smoke and dust particles from the
war and the eruption. Some fell to earth; some remained airborne. The airborne parti-
cles reduced the sunlight reaching the surface explaining why the amount of sunlight
began to slip. We were down to 85% and falling, and the weather was unusually cold.
Sterling is located at 40.625430 (positive indicates N). What was the story Jerry wrote
about 38°N? Man It Is Cold Outside? I think so.

Can’t claim, ‘This land is mine, God gave this land to me’. (Exodus Theme Lyrics) No
sir, inherited 320, bought 320 and borrowed 640. Possession is 9 points of the law and
a deed is the tenth. If it doesn’t start to warm up, we may have to move to New Mexico.

“Damn it’s cold.”

“Mona said June and you were feeling it. We got into a discussion and she pointed out
that I’m wearing my Drover’s coat rather than my cotton duster. This time of year I can
usually get by with the duster, but not this year. I was just wondering to myself if we
needed to contemplate moving to New Mexico.”

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“Why would you want to do that Alan?”

“Some of the stories talk about an east west line dividing the country along Interstate
70. Several stories in fact.”

“Jerry D Young, right?”

“Yep, the PTR-91 man.”

“Is he why you got a Go-Lock rather than a P-14?”

“Not really. I just liked the Glock better than the Para Ordnance pistol. There are P-14s
among the handguns we collected from that dealer in Englewood. The Glock only holds
one less cartridge and has a safer system in my opinion.”

“Their fine pistols but simply not to my taste. You were never in the military. I’ve seen
you shoot and I’ve seen you in combat situations. Where did you get your tactical train-
ing?”

“Are you asking if I went to a school somewhere to learn when to duck?”

“You seem to have some experience. I assumed you had some training.”

“I have, OJT. I’ve been riding since I was knee high to a grasshopper. A person learns
to gauge the animal they’re on so they don’t get thrown. That applies to life in general
as far as I’m concerned.

“You know that old saw, ‘just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they aren’t out to
get you’? When we got into this whole survival deal, I read that at Frugal’s and made it a
principle I live my life by. Do you remember those first ten guys? The last guy surren-
dered and I killed him anyway? He might have been able to swing that rifle down and
get off a round that killed one of us. It’s a combination of common sense and paranoia.”

“We pulled in just when it ended.”

“Oh, right. The rule is if you attack us, you die. The plaque for the alternates is down in
the ladies room.”

“Top Gun?”

“Yeah, Iceman; when they were discussing who was the best. So you’ve had no formal
training, right?”

“Only the school of hard knocks. You have to win or you die. It’s a great motivator. I’m
not saying that I wouldn’t be better off if I’d taken some training. United States Training

174
Center (formerly Blackwater Training Center) offers tactics and weapons training to mili-
tary, government, and law enforcement agencies.

“USTC also offers several open-enrollment courses periodically throughout the year,
from hand to hand combat to precision rifle marksmanship. They also offer courses in
tactical and off road driving. I checked them out and not only was it expensive, I couldn’t
spare the time.”

As luck would have it, it didn’t stay cold for very long. Three years later and we realized
that it had been a weather anomaly caused by the comet. It sure hadn’t hurt to have all
those mountain ranges between the Pacific coast and Sterling. Life resumed the new
post war, post Yellowstone, post Comet normal. The word must have gotten out, we
weren’t attacked again.

In time, first John and then June passed. Mona and I became great grandparents and
some of the younger people moved off the ranch into Sterling. Things had gone full cir-
cle.

© 2011, Gary D. Ott

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