It's so romantic, driving around like mad-max popping zombies in the head, stuffing pillowcases with canned goods from the wally world distribution center, swooping in with your fellow militia members and saving dozens from a sex slave operation...
I would add some nice fun photo's but our bandwidth cap has been reached and I can't upload anything.
I don't think I'm far off about what a lot of people think this sort of life would be like post SHTF. Most of you who read this understand already, it's a lot of work and that's in the right now. Recently I've tried to extend our network a little, perhaps find a few more people who think the same way and might be good companions now and for whatever the future holds. At this point I'm taking a reserved approach and doing a lot of listening but that's easy when people like to talk (a lot).
We had a nice, full of hard work, 3 day weekend although I was the only one here for all of it. The woodshed is as full as possible with enough space to get to the seasoned wood if we need it. We added 2 rows outside and have about 2.5 cords under a tarp. It's some nasty piñon wood but it shall burn just as good as anything else. Soft wood doesn't make any more/less creosote in the chimney but it's just not as dry as we would like.
We pulled out the fireplace insert and fired up the new shop-vac. Around the insert there was about 4 inches of soot and ash, not sure when it was cleaned last because we didn't do it on move in. We checked the insert over and found it to be in good working order. The fan made a lot of racket last year so we took off the mesh guard and now it seems to be better. We wanted to add some more insulation around the insert (between the rocks and the insert edges) but the local Ace didn't have any. I'll kick around amazon and see what I can find.
Friday evening there was frost and snow all over the place so the run was a little chilly once I got out of the tree's (5 degrees). I ran every day and today was a balmy 63 degrees. We ran together yesterday, a rare occurrence and were enjoying our jog when we heard a kids voice.... I looked and the kid was probably around 8 or 9 and he seemed to have a problem with us running by his house, especially the fact that I didn't have a shirt on. There was a lot of F bombs and even a couple 'I'll f-n kill you lines' and my favorite of the encounter 'ill shoot you with my bb gun'.
Not sure what to make of it really, I could blame the parents (or lack thereof), the prison (I mean school) system, video games.... maybe it's our fault, maybe I shouldn't be running with my shirt off, maybe.... maybe someone should stick a bar of irish spring in his pie hole. We had some laughs about it once we were down the road a bit. Everyone wants to offend people and most people want to be offended but we use critical thinking.
Not ones to be victims we don't let our guard down, even if it's a punk ass kid on an old country road. I don't want to be the person begging for my life when the next asshole decides it's time to kill people. I HATE running with my pistol because every ounce adds up with every single step. The shooting close to the city house reinforced what we do, and why we do it. We just hope we are on the winning side or at least made an effort.
This life isn't easy, and it's rarely romantic (ever try to caress someones face when you have gloves on filled with splinters and pine sap?). It's what we love and to us that's what counts. As the world continues to go to shit we just push forward and deal with whatever is thrown our way.
That kid's in for a life lesson, when the next person isn't as understanding as you are.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if that kid is following the example of his parents or if he's just a jerk. It would be worth finding out.
ReplyDeleteOur new home is going to have outdoor woodburning furnace with a propane backup. We will also have two woodburning stoves. We are going to go through lots of wood to keep the house warm because I’m not planning on having an outrageous propane bill. I’m sure we will be having wood cutting/splitting/cutting parties each year as well.
It’s always interesting to watch when a group of people get together to work. Who works and who watches? Does the one doing the watching fully work at other tasks and is just a support at this task or are they just a leach with everything?
Sounds like a candidate for the "short bus." The world is full of them , of all ages.
ReplyDeleteWait til you get old. Things that you used to do in an hour and enjoy become the labors of Hercules. Still, it's a good life, out in the "way out there." And if, someday, something untoward does occur, you and your wife will be safer there than you would be anywhere else.