On the Hoof

((Alright, ya all win. All 10 of ya. LOL Heres the next installment.))
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Walking is easy. At least for me. Even when I was in the Corps, I could out walk anyone. Running, well, not so much but walking, even under load (which I am not) was a breeze. One trick to know, comfortable socks and boots are essential.

When the truck broke in Memphis, I found some retirees tricycle. This has made moving the gear I refuse to leave behind so much easier. I am not riding it; just load it up and lean into it; Ho Chi Mihn trail style. Getting 150 pounds worth of gear moving is easy with 22” tires. So much easier than trying to lug it around on my back. It also makes getting down hills a breeze: literally. Fall in the south can be brutal. Any breeze you can get is welcome relief. The one downside is size:It won't hide easily. I only hope I don't run into any 'Postman' scenarios. So far, so good.


Six months after 'The Shit Hit The Fan', life in my little pocket of the world was actually reasonable. Most of the area were ready for it without ever realizing it. Most people in the Appalachians never really did get much past the Great Depression. No fault of their own really, just bad economics and greedy power brokers that were able to talk fast. No property owner in the southern areas held mineral rights to the ground they owned. It was worked out that way back in the 1800's at the start of the coal boom by lawyers that saw opportunities. Due to this, most people would live on land worth Millions and only be able to claim the the top 5' of topsoil and rock which was worthless. They never did get payback. But they never did quit either. That was the saving grace for awhile. Gardens in every yard, chickens and hogs scattered profusely, even wildlife afoot. Lacking money wasn't so hard, most people never had a lot to start and barter had never really gone away. Knowing how to make something rev with spit and paperclips became a point of pride. Knowing how to plant when things didn't rev only slowed us down; it didn't stop us.

My little family had settled in fairly well. Its nice to not have to worry about the kids now that the trains aren't running. No coal leaving, bleeding KY dry of life. No trains to worry about running over curious little kids. There is only one steam engine in the area and I have no idea how hard it would be for someone to get to a mainline. Or if they would even be able to convert it back to using coal instead of propane. No worries on that yet.
The kids were a little miffed when I started the school up. They thought they were done with that forever. Ha! Fat chance of that around me. No way am I going to let the little ingrates inherit the world with a crappy leftist education rotting in the brain. No way. They settled into it pretty quickly when they realized that school was only 3 hours a day. One hour each subject for the younger kids, the whole three hours on specific subjects for the older kids. Plus the older kids helped 'teach' the younger ones, continuing their education through reinforcement. They have to help out around the stead but we make it as much fun as possible. No video games to stagnate the mind or body and the change in the way the kids were developing was staggering, even in just six months. Maybe it was all the real food; Not a mish-mash of processed crap and a sedentary existence.

My secondary role was as the 'mekanik'. I didn't just fix things, sometimes I had to come up with the whole 'fix'. In one case it was making a waterwheel out of old PVC gasline to get water to some gardens. No power to use other than the water itself. Damn thing worked so well, we had to divert half of the out put into a ditch to run it back to the river. Teaching the older kids about gravity and the difference between gas pressures VS hydraulic pressures was worth the headaches the questions gave me. A lot of the adults were listening pretty intently too, I guess they figured out they needed to learn something new too.

Bagged a doe today, right in the neck at the base of the skull. She fell like a stone. Means I am going to be taking a few days here locally to process as much meat as I can. I hate to waste any of it but there is only so much I can take with. The local feral dogs will find it I am sure. Couldn't find any hickory but I did find what smells like mesquite when burning. Should do well enough to make a bunch of jerky with. I have to say though, backstrap is so much better than ANY beef I have ever had. Thats going in my belly while I wait for the rest to process. Mmmm, mmm,mmm. Good stuff. A few Dandelion leaves fried up with what little fat I could find on her (around the heart which chops up just fine) and I have one hell of a meal. If there are are any zombies within 5 miles of me, I am going to be having company, albeit unwelcome company.

Hoping to find some .30-30 rounds in the next town. I haven't seen any traffic perse, but I have seen fields harvested. Someone around here is up on things. Maybe they will be up to some trading.