The Solitary Man’s Refuge (22 page)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

21
PLOTTING AND SCHEMING

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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