End of the Road Homestead

[Job]

Sac, when you live in the country with not alot of back-up, it's pretty much par for the course to greet every visitor with something filling your hands. Could be a Jehovah's witness. Could be someone looking to support a habit. You never know. Why chance being hurt over being P.C.?

[Joyce Hoffman-Gayley]

So sorry for your loss. I like to think I'm a strong independent woman but if I lost my husband I'm not sure I could make it on my own. No children, rest of my family scattered. I do have a brother who lives in northern Florida but that's still going to be almost 650 miles away - too far away to just drop in. I'm hoping to either start or join a non-internet network of like minded people. Not too many of course I don't want a social club! More like a group of people with similar goals and government hands-off thinking. Maybe have a get together once to twice a year to touch base, sharpen skills and share info.
It's going to be difficult finding them without setting up a bad scenario but maybe through sites like this one we might find each other. It's kind of funny you should say that about terrorists. The way I see it, they want "target rich" targets and us sitting up on our mountain doesn't seem to fit the bill. I'll never get the thinking that some people have in feeling safe in crowded cities but threatened in the country. Go figure.
I know we tend to sound a bit paranoid when we talk about not wanting strangers to come down the driveway (or over the mountain) but as my Mom used to say "even paranoids have enemies". I've never been the coffee klatch type of person so I don't even know my new neighbors yet, except to way and say hi. Luckily we don't have many. We have a nice piece of land backed up to Nantahala National Forrest and it's a bit too rural for most - especially those that "need" the security of their government to take care of them.
It's funny you should mention meeting strangers with a shotgun or axe..........me and my lovely Mossberg 500 take regular walks together and more than once I've met up with something that made me glad I had it. I still live in north western New Jersey and we are virtually overrun with Black Bear and Coyotes. One of my friends was charged by a buck during the rut season and was just lucky to get away with only 2 nasty puncture wounds on his arm. Even though it's not exactly legal (??lol??) he doesn't go out hiking unarmed anymore!
Enough of my particular rant. BTW, I want to let you know how much I like your "name" She was quite the role model - 15 year old with a newborn leading a party of men (and keeping them alive) half way across the country and back!

[Sacajawea]

Thanks Joyce; I acquired the nickname in a poker game that was men only - except for me on rare occasions and someone's gramma. And it kinda stuck as a role model for me, too.

I was just a wee thing, when I made the first trek into the north woods of Minnesota and later, Canada.... later on, the US western states. I discovered WV, when I went to school and met my 2nd husband. And I've kept my mouth shut all these years because I like it JUST the way it is. Most people consider it what they flyover to get to more interesting places - and yes, even the movers were astounded that I would live out this far from people all by myself. When I'm as exhausted as I was those 4-5 days, I am a super-bitchy, weepy, needy bundle of jello-y mush not good for a thing. But at least I understand that even with that physical energy/strength limitation, I can bounce back in a few days and keep on truckin'.

I do hear things - day & night - that give me pause. I'm not used to running around all the time armed; but it DOES make sense here. Bear, bobcat, horny deer, and lesser beasts of the woods frequent the area. The thought of them don't bother me; I have lived out in the general area before. But I may not always be lucky or blessed with the presence of mind to do the right thing, if I happen upon something. Sometimes, there is no right thing, too. Human beasts on the other hand... but, my local guys have said that except for the propane people not many will come all the way back here - even in hunting season. They're about 10 miles away should I need someone; so I do need to be ready and equipped to buy them time to get here. Which means organizing that trip back down to the beach for the really heavy stuff.

Storage here, is going to take some time as proper conditions need to be created.

[Boston_Joe]

Joyce, we're seeing smoke from the fire up in NC. Some are close to your new place. I hope all is well there and for any other of our fellow board members near on of the many fires.

http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2016/11/09/thousands-acres-continue-burn-nantahala/93556734/

[Cwi555]

not used to running around all the time armed; but it DOES make sense here. Bear, bobcat, horny deer, and lesser beasts of the woods frequent the area.

Those amorous deer can be dangerous.

[KyDave59]

Ok, I'll respond to a few posts here all at once, just because I've been busy.

First, a bit of a rant. Why, oh why, do city people, when they have a dog they don't want, drop it out in the country "so that it can find a nice home"? Don't they realize that most dogs dropped in the country will either starve to death and die painfully, or be eaten by coyotes/bears/mountain-lions/etc., or be shot by farmers as they attack livestock, etc.? If someone has a dog they don't want, then take it to the pound/shelter/etc., or run an ad and find a home for it. Don't just drop it in the country.

Now, having said that, we had a puppy show up last night on the farm. It wasn't very old, maybe four months? It looked to be in good health, but didn't have a collar, and showed no signs of ever having worn a collar. I checked with all of the neighbors within a one mile radius (and, there aren't many of them), and no one was missing a puppy. So, we loaded it in the kennel, and put it in the back of the truck, to take to the local pound. As we were almost to the front gate, the neighbor who's doing the hay off of our place came in, so we stopped and talked to him, and asked him if he knew of anyone who was missing a puppy. He didn't. But, he remarked on what a cute little puppy it was. So, I offered it to him, and he accepted. That's one of the few, the VERY few times when an animal dropped in the country will have found a good home. And, it's certainly better than it being a tasty snack for a coyote. :-(

Now, we've had other dogs show up on the place. We had a blue-tick hound show up one day, just completely exhausted. But, she was very "polite", and was wearing a collar with the owner's name on it. We called him, and he was very appreciative that we'd found his coon-hunting dog, which had gotten lost two days earlier. Heck, we even drove that dog back over to him. I don't mind situations like that.

What I do object to, in addition to the people who drop their unwanted dogs off, are the people who have dogs which they let run wild. It's one thing for a dog to get lost, and something entirely different to have a dog that you intentionally don't keep on your own place. A couple of years ago, we had a German Shepard who came onto the farm and got into a fight with the wife's dog. I had the .22 rifle scope centered on the dogs forehead, and, in a moment of compassion/laziness, elevated it by about three inches. Luckily, the dog too the hint from the .22 slug whizzing a few inches over it's head, and disappeared, never to be seen again (I say "laziness" because I really didn't want to have to dispose of a 60 pound dog corpse that day.).

Oh, did I mention that we have a driveway that's over a quarter of a mile long, and that we keep the gate at the front of it chained and locked shut with a log chain? So, that puppy had wandered quite a distance to get to the house to start with.

Ok, thanks for letting me vent. :-)

As for comms, I'm counting on amateur radio to do the communications stuff. I'm an Extra Class amateur radio licensee (which has all privileges on all bands), and Kathy is a Technician class (all privileges on the VHF bands, and a few limited privileges on HF). For local stuff, we'll use VHF or UHF frequencies, which are line-of-sight (e.g., You have to be able to see the station you're going to talk to, or, at least, your antenna has to be able to see the antenna of the station you want to talk to.). VHF/UHF is usually good for about 5-15 miles direct (depending upon the height of the antennas), although it can be good for up to about 50 miles if you're working into a repeater with the repeater's antenna mounted up on a commercial television transmitting antenna. That'll allow coverage of most of a county direct, and quite a few counties when working through a repeater, assuming that power is available to the repeater, etc. HF, on the other hand, is good for world-wide communications, via the magic of ionospheric reflection/refraction. Oh, and I should probably mention that the old Morse Code requirement disappeared quite a few years ago. All that's required now is a written test on rules, regulations, and some technical material. The Technician Class test requires a few nights of study (or less). The General Class test is a bit more complex, and the Extra Class test is quite difficult. Anyway, if anyone needs any additional information, please let me know.

As for being politically correct, I always carry a sidearm while out on the farm. I've come across too many coyotes, wild dogs, mountain lions, black bears, rabid skunks, rabid possums, and several other undesirable creatures (including the two legged variety). I usually carry a stainless steel .22LR revolver, but I have also been known to carry a stainless steel .357 Magnum revolver. Back in the "kinder, gentler era", I used to carry two rounds of rat shot, two rounds of JHP, and two rounds for FMJ. Now, I just carry JHP. While I do have a concealed carry license, my theory is that, if I catch you on my farm, political correctness be damned.

As for local law enforcement, for an emergency situation, they can be here in somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes, and somewhere under three days for a non-emergency call. :-/

You have my condolences on your hubby dying of cancer, Sac. That sucks. :-(

As for being isolated, I MUCH prefer it to being jammed up in the city with all sorts of riff-raff surrounding you. As for the government coming to your aid, I spent 8.5 years as a volunteer on a local emergency response team, and I can tell you that the government simply does not have the resources to respond to every disaster. Sure, given enough time, for a small scale disaster, the feds may be able to move some limited amount of resources in to assist. But, for anything more than a small scale disaster, well, most people are going to be on their own, and for a considerable amount of time.

Heck, even a severe winter storm can knock out the electricity over a fairly wide area, and that will knock out the heating for about 98 percent of the population. Plus, it will rapidly knock out transportation as the roads are ice covered, and since the gasoline stations can't pump fuel with no commercial electricity (In one incident I worked, the county really had to struggle just to get one gasoline station powered from an emergency generator so that the fire trucks, police cars, and ambulances could have fuel!). The local hospital had problems getting their doctors and nurses to the hospital, and several of the ones there ended up sleeping at the hospital for the better part of a week. The local grocery stores ran out of food, basically before the storm hit, as the population scarfed up every last morsel of food, and then found that they couldn't get trucks to resupply them for over a week. Many of the local pharmacies couldn't dispense medications, due to the lack of commercial electricity. Oh, the electric utilities did their best to restore power as quickly as possible, including calling in line crews from seven other states. But, for the large cities, most had power out for the better part of a week, and some rural customers were without electricity for three weeks or more. Oh, did I mention that the local water utility started running out of water, because they had no commercial electricity to run the pumps to supply the system with water? Fortunately, there were only a few fires, usually caused by power being restored to lines which had been damaged, but the lack of water could have been catastrophic. And, did I mentioned that the temperatures involved were in the low to mid 20 degree F range? Can you say "frozen and burst plumbing"?

So, yeah, don't depend upon the government, at least not for a week or two, and, even then, don't expect much more than very basic services, if that.

Oh, yeah, if anyone has any questions about my government volunteer service and the disasters I worked, please feel free to ask. I really need to write some of them up sometime. Many of them will make the hair stand up on the back of your neck!

As for joining/creating a local group, I've not found a real good way to do that. The problem is that, if you announce your intentions, you'll attract the attention of some evil-doers who will put you on their radar to raid if something bad happens. I really don't want to have to shoot anyone if I can avoid it. I have made some contact with some of the local farmers, but I haven't told them that I'm a "prepper". I think most of them are, too. As a general rule, quite a few farmers are. But, I think they're equally suspicious of me.

We have a fairly good state-wide prepper network, but almost all of them are quite skeptical of each other, and they hardly every meet, or even identify themselves. That doesn't stop us from trading tips and hits, though.

http://kentuckypreppersnetworkforum.com/index.php

I've made some contacts with the various local militia groups, but I've not been real thrilled as to how that's turned out. Too many of them are full of anti-government people, which I most definitely am not. While I don't necessarily trust the government, I don't want to actively take steps to go against it, and I'm not so sure that some of the militia members aren't in that category. Plus, most of them are dispersed over a rather wide area, so it's not like they'd be close if anything happened. I'll keep an arms-length contact with them, but I don't think I'm actively going to pursue this.

If anyone does find a good and safe way to make contact with local people who are of the prepper mindset, please let me know.

As for the forest fire dangers, I keep the grass around the house mowed rather short (Just purchased an old Ford 6-foot wide finish mower for the tractor back in July.), and I keep the trees and brush cut back over 100 feet from the house. Oh, did I mention that I have about 85 acres, of which about 25% are heavily wooded (and, some of that is very severe "bigfoot country"!). And, yeah, I once set the grass in the "front yard" on fire when an ember jumped out of the trash burning pit and ignited the grass. Had to beat it out with a shovel. Whew! But, I learned from that mistake. :-)

Ok, that's probably enough for this post. I've probably sprayed y'all with information from the proverbial fire hose (which, if you've ever held one, you'll know has quite a "kick" to it!). :-)

Dave

[Joyce Hoffman-Gayley]

Thanks, Joe for the heads up. Not quite in our area. We are still monitoring it closely. I would hate to lose everything after all this. Hoping for the best.

[Joyce Hoffman-Gayley]

Wow, Dave so much to absorb there! Thanks for the really helpful info on amateur radio. I'very got to get into that more deeply. I'll certainly keep you in mind when (not if) I have questions.
Everything you said about contact with others makes alot of sense. I prefer to keep my politics and religion to myself, where they can do the most good and not irritate others. Having said that, I still would like some sort of loose connection with other preppers. I can see there are alot of pitfalls that if SHTF happens but at the same time, I don't want to cut off the rest os the whole world, just most of it.

[Sacajawea]

OK, NOW... I feel like I'm living in the country again! I have my first load of wood coming this week. There is a good sized pile of old wood sitting here - and I don't consider myself an expert - but it doesn't look that good to me. Wasn't stacked; just dumped in a pile... so I expect it's started to rot.

[Zef_66]

OK, NOW... I feel like I'm living in the country again! I have my first load of wood coming this week. There is a good sized pile of old wood sitting here - and I don't consider myself an expert - but it doesn't look that good to me. Wasn't stacked; just dumped in a pile... so I expect it's started to rot.

Even if it has started to rot, it can still be burned. Just make sure it is split. Stack it. And cover it. With the cooler, dryer air, it should be good to burn in a couple weeks. Even if it is a little soft, it's better than letting it go completely useless.

[Sacajawea]

Thanks. It's a pretty big pile and I'm not sure I trust this axe (some of you are laughing right now). It's not been used in the time I've been with hubs - and I know for a fact it needs sharpening. Lord only knows which pile or box the sharpening stones are in... and just where that box is. Never hurts to have two axes - in case someone stops by to help. LOL.

[KyDave59]

Don't use an axe for splitting wood. That's a waste of effort. Instead, get yourself a "splitting maul". Those are MUCH more effective than an axe for splitting wood.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splitting_maul

Oh, yeah, steel-toed boots aren't a bad idea, too, just in case you miss the log.

Of course, a hydraulic log splitter, either tractor-attached, or powered by a gasoline engine, is even easier, although you don't get the benefit of the exercise.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Log_splitter

Don't get your hand in the way, though!

Dave