The Solitary Man’s Refuge (41 page)

“Fancy digs!” LowBuck said as he entered the main
lobby with its great fireplace and reception area.
“We need to check that front desk and
administration for some keys” Donald said

“That looks like a key box next to that picture.”
Janice said pointing at a green metal box next to a picture
in back of the reception desk.

“I think you are right. Hope it’s not locked.” Donald
said and walked over and tried it.

“Damn, it is locked. Got to be a mangers office
around here somewhere maybe there is a key to it. It
doesn’t matter much though I can just take a crowbar to it
if not.” Donald said.

“Managers office this way.” Cat called from the hall
before entering it and beginning to pull out drawers in the
desk.

“Got some keys!” Cat called out before everyone
got there.

 

“Try them out!” Janice said excitedly.

Cat put first one then another key in the lockbox
until finally success! They had the keys to their little
prepper kingdom.

“Hey we better tell Michael and Amy we got keys in
case they decide to force a lock.” Bubba said heading for
the front door.

“What the hell? Come here you all, you got to see
this.” LowBuck said laughing

 

“What is it?” Cat said hurrying his way with the rest
of the group to the door.

The group looked stunned for a second as they
watched Michael and Amy apparently having a lawnmower
race of some kind towards them. Damn weird looking
lawnmowers. They had LPG tanks on them and you stood
in back of them to drive. Looked like a chariot race almost.

“What did you find?” Donald called out as they got
closer.

 

“A new form of transportation.” Michael said
grinning as he and Amy shut down their machines.

 

“Cool, was it open?” Donald said waving the keys.

“Is now, I used my Kabar knife on the padlock hasp.
Didn’t know we had keys. What’s cool about it is they got 3
spare tanks for each of four of these!” Michael exclaimed.

“No shit? I am going to build a trike out of one then,
hell with mowing the lawn I am going to make some new
transport” LowBuck said getting interested.

“I was thinking the same thing” Michael responded.

“There is a barn back there also. They must have
had horses here at one time. We can unload the horses
now and get them settled in.” Amy said to Cat.

“Wow this place just gets better and better!” Cat
replied smiling.

“Hey if you guys want to check in your cabins I can
give out some keys?” Janice said and proceeded back in
the door to go to the registration desk and pretend to be a
check in clerk.

The camp had 15 cabins and a staff dorm. Now
where were they going to all choose to stay was the main
topic of conversation.

“Let’s all stay in the main building tonight. I will
figure out how we going to power those cabins tomorrow
unless somebody want to borrow one of the small solar
units and have a cabin. We move that SUNRNR in the
lodge now, then we can have fans, lights and a movie
tonight as well as some ice and do a pizza party.” Donald
suggested.

“That sounds like a plan “That sounds like a plan.
We settle in and unload tomorrow. We can drag some
mattresses in from those cabins for tonight. We need to
heel in those fruit and nut trees until we get to them.”
Michael responded

"Heeling-in" is a technique for storing bare-root fruit
trees if you are unable to plant them right away. There are
times when we gardeners simply run out of time to
properly plant everything in the garden that we bought or
in this case needed to transplant.

If you are heeling in plants in the summer, they can
be left in the trench for about a month. If you are heeling in
plants for the winter, they can be left in the trench for the
winter, but should be dug up as soon as possible in the
spring for their permanent planting. Basically all it entails is
digging a shallow trench deep enough to cover the roots
and placing the trees in the trench at about a 45 degree
angle and filling it in with dirt.

“That won’t take us long if we all pitch in. LowBuck
drive your motorhome around to the back of that little shed
if you would. Michael said it looks like the camp used it for
a garden area at one time.” Donald said getting ready to
do some quick and necessary work to protect the precious
trees and seedlings.

“No problem, I might just leave the motorhome over
there. There is a couple of those park shelters with
concrete tables I can see from here and a power pole I
might be able to rig up that homemade marine alternator
windmill I got. What do you think?” LowBuck said
surveying the fields and trails that made up the recreation
area for the facility.

“Yea leave it there until you pick your new quarters
and we unload some stuff out of it. It’s not far from the
building and we can keep an eye on it easy enough. There
aint no double beds in any of the cabins, just them old
wooden bunk beds and not much room. You would
actually have the best living setup until we make some
changes for everyone’s comfort around here.” Donald told
him.

“I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea. That motor home
sticks out like a sore thumb in the parking lot and it’s hard
to see around. It would look like your just camping out over
there. Hey Donald does this place have any RV hookups?
I bet it does. Michael queried and then went over to the
plastic box on the reality sign and got a brochure.

“I don’t remember but I think your right. Hey cool,
grab me and LowBuck one of those pamphlets. “Donald
said heading towards him.

The brochure was quite informative as to what
amenities remained with the summer camp. The map of
the place showed them they had their own little Shangri la
of a lake with campsites. Two small piers, a floating
swimming platform.

“Swimming! That’s the ticket!” Donald thought.

 

“Hey folks, just found out we got us a swimming
area with a poured sand beach.” Donald said excitedly.

 

Everyone was feeling kind of grungy and Janice`s
ride with the goats hadn’t helped any.

 

“Can we go swimming?” Janice said grinning ear to
ear

“Place seems safe enough but we got too many
preps to guard to all go swimming at once. We need to
check out the swim area for safety first and then do it in
shifts. Hey Amy, check out this brochure. There are riding
trails here but no telling what condition they are in now.”
Donald said handing the glossy flyer to her.

“Me and Michael can heel in those trees and
LowBuck can sit guard for you all while you swim some.
Then you all can swap out and someone come back to
relive us from guard duty.” Donald offered.

“Darn! Be more fun if we all went.” Amy groused

 

“Yea, well maybe someday, just not right now.”
Michael replied giving her an affectionate pat.

 

“Hey Janice let me talk to you a minute.” Donald
said motioning her aside.

“Janice, don’t scare the hell out of yourself or
anyone else but look for signs of gators before you all go
swimming. Remember Eufaula?” Donald said in a low
voice.

“Oh shit, you mean they should have called it Gator
Point? Yea, I remember. There won’t be any alligators
around here though I don’t think. It’s rare to hear about
one on this lake even in the swampy sloughs the lake
drains into.” Janice said looking very concerned.

“I doubt there will be any, but not far from here we
got one that migrated into the pond of our Boy Scout
summer camp pond so just heads up. You already know
from being raised on the lake about Water Moccasin and
Poisonous Copperhead snakes so look out for everyone.
Don’t let them be reaching under a canoe to turn it over
etc. These folks don’t know the nature laws of the lake yet
and everything from old fish lines with hooks to not wiping
their butt with poison ivy or oak needs to be taught to
them.” Donald said confidently.

“I got ya! I will keep a close eye on your Ma too.
When is the last time she ever went swimming?” Janice
asked.

“Oh hell, as far as I know it’s been 40 years.”
Donald replied looking over at his Mom with concern.

“I doubt she packed a swimsuit Donald. You better
get Catharine or us girls to find her something suitable if
she wants to get in.” Janice told him.

“Get Catharine to talk to her. They relate well. Mom
is not that steady on her feet and walking on pond bottom
might not make sense. Catharine and you can decide if
you want to humor her into taking a dip. We still got 4
hours of daylight so hang one of those solar showers up
and offer that to her if she doesn’t want to go wading.”
Donald said relived to give up the chore of looking out for
his parent to somebody else for a while that could probably
do it better.

“Don’t worry Donald, we will take good care of her
and I will check the lake out myself before anyone goes
jumping in.” Janice said and gave his arm a playful
squeeze and went back to the happily chatting group.

Hey LowBuck, see if you can get that hound of
yours to do a dog paddle or two.” Michael recommended.

 

“Get them dogs of yours in too!” LowBuck fired back
grinning.

“I guess everyone going to get a good wash-down
today. Amy take junior and I will bring Scruff and Melissa
dogs down later. Hell take the goats.” Michael said poking
fun at Janice.

“I meant them big old pontoon feet of yours
Michael.’ LowBuck chided him to Janice’s evident pleasure
LowBuck had sorta of supported her with a humorous jibe.

“Well wash them skids of yours anyway, we got to
share a bunkhouse tonight.’ Michael laughed back

 

“Enough now you two, come on Michael let’s get
about our task.” Donald said chuckling at the banter.
.
35
INTRUDERS

The swim and pizza party was a major success.
Clean clothes and clean bodies had greatly revitalized the
little group. Spirits were high and the future looked bright.
Catharine was having her patience tried by attempting to
teach Donald’s mother how to run a computer but you
would never know it. What a resource they still had even
without the internet. Donald had encyclopedias, Atlases,
those prepper CD`s with 100`s of manuals, and the entire
Netflix looking library of DVD movies that he and LowBuck
had plus what was stocked in the store at the camp.
Because of the fantastic SUNRNR solar generator they
could watch a movie, bake bread, pump water, shine some
lights, run a few fans or access on the laptop the answers
to most questions to name just a few things that no other
survivors but them possessed or had access to these
days. A pretty good selection of paperback books
completed their library on various skills as well as fictional
reading to pass the time.

The survivalists had already fallen into a routine of
guard duty and odd sleeping schedules. First watch was
Janice and Cat tonight. 4 hours on, 4 off in hot zones.
Pretty much regular sleep if the number of folks to stand
duty were relaxed enough to service the need. The radios
needed charging tonight so Donald had offered a simple
commo solution of a few tugs on a rope for the guards to
communicate with. Janice was at the far right corner of the
main building in the front and Catharine was at the far
back left corner of the building. Any cause for alarm was
communicated through a few jerks on a line to alert the
other post to be on high alert.

If it had not been so oppressively hot and humid
they would of cranked up the fireplace for its light and
ambiance. As it was. Two fans, a computer and a string of
LED lights was getting plenty of power from the innovative
SUNRNR solar generator and this was a blessing beyond
belief. Donald had been kidded that his little portable mini
grid setup was a prepper extreme no one but him could of
pulled off, but it was all in fun. Jealousy or coveting preps
didn’t exist in this little prepper group, it was combined
assets and by the grace of God and a great corporation`s
benevolence Donald had managed to acquire a unit.
Having your own off grid set up these days with a lap top
computer was tantamount to having your own Professor
Einstein at your disposal. you were left with unlimited
possibilities to add technology to an austere life.

The two girls were on guard duty as the sun began
to go down and the rest of the group was gathered in the
main lodge and just kicking back after a full day of
activities.

Janice was already bored after the first hour of
standing watch. She could wander out of the classroom
she was posted in some and she had popped out for a
moment to see if anyone felt like keeping her company for
a bit. Catharine said she would be around shortly after the
coffee finished brewing on the StoveTec and bring her
some.

Everybody was pretty laid back and lax about
security because there was no indication of any threats in
the immediate area.

Oh shit! Hang on what was that? There were
flashlights shining around the back of LowBucks
motorhome. She couldn’t tell how many but it looked like at
least three.

YANK! YANK! Cat felt on her rope.

“Oh hell! Cat thought as she fumbled with her
shotgun and began moving about her classroom peering
over the windowsills for any movement.

“Janice felt the one yank on the rope
ackno2wledgement on the rope from Cat and scanned
both the incoming road and the lights in back of the
motorhome.

They must be trying to break in it she thought.

 

“What do you have? Donald said staying low and
rushing into the room his AR at the ready.

 

“Flashlights in around the back of the motorhome.”
Janice replied trying to get a better look.

“Everyone’s in the main hall so it aint any of us
poking around.” Donald said crouching down next to her
and having a look for himself.

“How long they been out there?” Donald asked.

“I am not sure, I was only gone a few minutes and
noticed them when I got back. I have been watching them
only a few minutes. They are not moving around much.
Whoever it is must be trying to get in the side door. “Janice
said.