Mt_Rider

Dear Diary - Doctor’s Pay and other bartering stories Welllll, it’s been interesting lately. DrMtR has been gone more than he’s been home. Ya KNOW…… I really thought that aspect of our lives was ending when we came to homestead in the Valley. It greatly affects what we can get done around here, especially before the children arrived. And of course, with the children here, we have our own share of boo-boos and owies. Nothing serious. Don’t know what is causing this rash of [thankfully minor] medical calls. Mebbe we all just need to be more careful. Mebbe we’re all getting tired…very tired! There were the two brothers who fell while roofing. That required some stitches and several chiropractic adjustments. A good thing healthy 20-somethings heal fast. A good thing their poor mother only THOUGHT she had a heart attack! Then there was the baby crying excessively and running a fever. Main problem there was teething. [New mom and dad...lots of worry/little experience.] The last one yesterday was old Stanford. He made a mistake he swears he hasn’t made in 20 years. He sliced his arm while woodworking. That needed stitches! Ow! Right now, DrMtR has set a standard fee per hour of his time. Including his travel time [if it’s not his usual clinic hours on Sundays] the patient has to provide the equivalent in hay. They can send a clan member to work our land for the hay or just bring us some in a wagon. Cuz…..that’s what isn’t getting done at our place when he runs to the medical clinic to stitch. J It’s working out really well. Stanford though……he doesn’t do much heavy work, being over 70 yrs old. So he traded the stitches for two of his hand-made hay rakes. He’s been producing them as fast as he can to fill orders. [Hurrying….now that’s the number ONE cause of accidents…folks gotta slow down and be careful! ] Most everyone is doing some haying right now. The weather is holding real well. Anyway, those rakes of his are dandy. DrMtR is sure hoping that the order of suture kits is going to be arriving on this WT#3. MrS&J stocked up a lot but felt another case of them would be a good idea. There are a lot of cuts associated with this rough, primitive life. Lots of abrasions too. Suture kits make the stitching easier. Doing it with a bent needle and any type of strong, thin cordage that can be produced…..well, we’ll come to that point and we’ll make it work. But he’ll still be hoping for that extra case of supplies. Oh, I forgot that someone traded him 6 qt jars of canned venison stew and a portion of cheese… I rather liked that trade too. I’ve done some trading of my own. Young Kelsey who fell in love with our goat babies wanted to barter for two of them. We’d planned that she could work it off. But her dad proposed that two does would be worth the commissioning of a small watercraft that he and the sons would make. Their family has no milk animal yet. Hmmm, that’s a good trade. We’re still discussing which type of boat. I would LOVE a kayak. I know kayaks and I can maneuver them well. But….I’ve a family now. So I suppose I need to request a more utilitarian craft. Something we can get up and down the river. He’s going to draw up some designs. Possibly with a sail? River isn’t wide enough to tack back and forth but if the wind happened to blow where you wanted to go….. Dunno. Right now we have the small inflatable boat that barely holds an adult and a child. The older boys have used it to fish the deeper areas of the river but being air-filled, it’s not very stable. Maybe we’ll increase the deal with a butcher-ready pig and get the kayak too. J Still on the topic of barter: I’ve heard that ‘Valley TP’ will soon be in business. One of the enterprising B group decided before we even left that Valley residents might someday like to barter for T.P. Actually, the name of their operation is kind of a joke. Not only is the man’s name Tony Peterson [called ‘TP’] but also their whole cottage industry includes all sorts of papermaking. They’re located on the SW end of the lake and have been experimenting with the various grasses, reeds, and even cattail fluff. “Real Toilet Paper” is just their slogan. You can also get their Valley-made paper for all the notes we’re sending each other by messenger too. Most of us brought a supply of writing paper, spiral notebooks, and such. But I don’t know any of us that still has TP left. So they are ready to barter….. They warn that it’s not exactly Charmin-soft. And it’s not in a roll. Kind of accordion-pleated in packages….neatly wrapped in paper, of course. This was a great long-term industry idea for our Valley. They described how they pour the slurry onto huge screens and sun-dry. They’ve built a drying shed for winter and rainy days using the solar gain, solar chimney designs, and a couple wood burners. The real trick has been in finding the right formulas for the slurry for different types of paper. The ingredients are fascinating. Everything from bits of cloth to dog hair. All sterilized when the mixture is boiled up to make the slurry. MtRider [resting from raking hay….we’ve been turning acres and acres ( ….or the same acre several times, actually) of the stuff this week but we’ll be hauling it inside the cave tomorrow. ]

{Hello Folks. IRL I drove allll the way to the library to post some of these on Thurs 4/1. BUT it was closed from repairs. AND it wasn't going to open again until today due to holiday weekend. So I'm sorry if this fouls up the "Daily Journal" format when I'm forced to post FIVe at once. Please take note that I have not read any of your posts since 4/29...last Monday. I put that on my flash drive device and read at home. ACK...I'm so behind on how your stories are going! These are an assortment of events and ponderings in our Valley. AND if anyone knows how I can keep from getting such WIDE spaces between paragraphs...PM me. It's happening as I translate between my flashdrive and copy onto the posting reply.... hpmh! } A Messenger Letter to Mother --- What do you have an "ono" for? [Hawaiian phrase: "ono" means 'good tasting' so it's asking, what you are hungry for/what are you hankering to eat? ] Dear Mother, I'd like to ask a question that requires a good bit of tact and wisdom. Since you are Matriarch of our largest Valley clan, I'd imagine you've had some thoughts about this. It is the issue of food distribution within our clans. I know you mentioned that you simply divided all but your baking goods in half…sending one half over to the new clan members on the south bank. Being diplomatic, I've got some rural/pioneer newbies arriving. Pondering about what we'd do if for instance…. If they run through their food too fast due to waste, over-indulgence, making things they like to eat with no regard for learning to eat new things that would extend the food through the whole winter, etc????? I used the Hawaiian phrase to represent Group A - the Daily Shopper type of meal planning. They are accustomed to simply buying what they want to eat that night on the way home from work, or whatever. They eat things that are fresh from the store. There is little experience with the need to use up food that could be nearing spoilage. There is no need in their style because they'll be at the store again soon. They never buy more than can be used in a couple days. They are completely gonna think they are on a different planet now! The other extreme is ….us! Farmers who store for the winter…and spring….and well into summer/fall until that particular crop is harvested again. Group A people are going to be a bit….. while trying to make that adjustment. They have to get to know the reality of this fact: The 'food store' is open right now …..our gardens and wild edibles are there for the harvesting. BUT we are not putting them in the fridge to eat in a couple days. We have to hurry and preserve great quantities of foodstuffs in some way. This "store" will close soon and will not open for another YEAR! Even dairy runs out unless you have staggered milkers; some drying up while others freshen. {sigh} HOW do we get that fact across? It is SO alien to most Americans in these past few decades. It will be such a culture shock! Will some new clan members refuse to see this and continue to eat in the way that is familiar to them. "We don't DO leftovers…." :frying pan: It is a fact that no one will likely survive this coming winter with the "Ono" meal planning method. We simply do not have the hours in the day to gather in that amount of abundance. And what about spoilage, rodent pilfering and polluting, insects (durned moths!), and other such calamities that can occur with the best of vigilance? What if it's a longer winter than expected? What if……. Obvious to all of the WT#1 members, we need contingency plans. Food and firewood and livestock hay. Top priorities!!!!! Oooops, back on topic: Do we instruct? Do we 'model' good food utilization? Hold clan meetings? Make a communal kitchen until education and compliance is achieved? Insist that members with a too-narrow selection of preferred foods be required/encouraged to to chose three new foods per week to try? Oatmeal, anyone? …..NOTE: I'm certainly not talking about those plagued with food allergies! Those are serious and must be accommodated. As a matter of fact, a child who INSISTS on a dislike of something like milk, often does have an allergy to it so we must be aware of that. I'm worried because some of our most basic foods are not ..er, 'fashionable(?)', as some might be used to. They certainly are not what those who habitually eat out will be familiar with. Children may be bad enough but I laugh to think of trying to serve some of Mother's wild edible dishes to some adults with preconceived ideas. No matter how yummy those foods can be….they are unfamiliar and under suspicion! What about careless, wasteful habits…..due to former abundance? This will be an issue with ANYthing here in the Valley but just keeping it to food topic. Within a clan, how will those of us who have fits over careless waste of good food be received? Heard? Believed? ………ARE WE IN THE MAJORITY in our clan so we can out-vote the uninitiated? Or do we, of the WT#1 have the right to call them into account, if they persist. It would be nice to believe that everyone we've ended up with [some folks were brought along and don't even know the original WT#1 members ] will be bright enough to see a good and reasonable thing happening when they arrive. But there are all kinds of people. Some are more blinded by their issues. Some will hold onto anything familiar with a death grip…cuz this is all so strange and frightening. Food has a strong emotional attachment for a lot of people. [ Just try prying their fingers off that coffee cup! ] I hope to do a communal kitchen for a while. The salad and stir-fry garden veggies will supply a lot of meals that will be acceptable to everyone….almost everyone. Perhaps offer a simple second choice like a sandwich if the main course is not to someone's liking? Eventually we might have four kitchens running: in our CO side, the Maui side, wherever Bro and company decide to set up, and perhaps my parents/John. Though the older ones might just ask what's on the menu and sign up to eat at whichever kitchen they choose? Hey…..can we talk Chef into giving Valley-style cooking lessons, heavy emphasis on the use-it-up/never-waste principles? Then it wouldn't just be coming from family members. On the other hand, perhaps the horrific experiences every has just getting to the Rockin' J these days, and the wagon trail through the wilderness will have caused some enlightenment????? Chef did not go back to cook for this Wagon Train #3 so I'm not sure how they are handling meals. But I hope the abundance that we're beginning to see from early garden produce and wild edibles does not give them the wrong impression. Point of information: I'm not really expecting ALL of these problems with just my group. I'm really opening this up to ANY group that might have these challenges. :curstey: Whatcha think???? MtRider [anticipating with great eagerness, and some trepidation for the uninitiated. ]

Dear Diary - Blending Families Our new [Jenson-Han] children have been with us for just over three weeks now. Overall, its been going very well. Granted, I am exhausted all the time. But then, I've been exhausted since way before our wagon train left in February. At least now, with the help of the older children, we are getting a lot of things done. They are no strangers to work and ranch living is enjoyable and normal to them. They still think living in caves is a neat adventure. For the most part… That said, we have a problem. Kaila has begun wetting the bed. It began just a few days…er, nights ago. I asked Mac about it and she said that's occurred now and then with Kaila when she's anxious. But she also said she'd found Kaylee wet this morning. So I called a conference with the three older children, DH and I. Ben and the twins went down inside the fenced Maui garden to weed a row…. and now were playing in the empty corner with their makeshift play tent and three affectionate barn cats. We sat down on "GRparents land" …..the spit of land that divides our "C" from the Maui "C" and will be the eventual site for my parent's adobe home. From this high location, we can see the young children within that garden's palisade fencing. We began to discuss the issue of this blending of families. DH and I have no qualms or regrets and we made sure Nathan, Mac and Micah knew that from the start. We already love them all dearly and think of them as OURS! They assured us that it was mutual. Macky said, "Nathan told us you immediately rejected his idea to merely sponsor us until he turns 18 next spring. We all know you want to be our new parents even when we're grown up." She was sitting next to me and wrapped her arm around my waist. "Exactly," I responded, hugging her back. "No one ever gets too old for family. How much do you think the young ones understand? Your parents adopted the twins as infants while your father was stationed in Korea, right? Do they know about that?" Nathan answered, "They know they had a Korean mom and dad before they came to our family. Not sure how much they understand at five years old." We nodded and he continued. "They obviously adore you both so that's not the issue." Micah began, hesitated, and then spilled out, "It might be that….the other family and your real daughters are coming." " 'Real' daughters?" I asked, confused. "But so are all of you ……" "…uh, you DO remember that they are adopted too, right?" said DH. Nathan must have caught on to what our quiet Micah meant. "Ah….that might be….," he began. "He doesn't mean that kind of "real". Not "real" in a biological way. You see, DD1 and DD2 are so obviously your …well, REAL daughters and we are still so new to you. I guess I can see that it might be a question whether their arrival will ….um, change things. ….Not that I have any doubt, you know," he rushed to add. DH was pretty stunned. He's the type that has to think a bit before knowing how to express certain things. Not me tho…. J I jumped right in. "OK, so when can we say that you six are our REAL children and you are REALLY a part of our family?" I asked eagerly in my blunt way. "I know we told Nathan we'd see how things go when he was here and first asked us. That really wasn't so much for Dad and I as it was for you all to decide if we could become a family. We didn't want to push the issue, especially with you older ones. But…..is three weeks long enough to decide or do you need longer?" Micah's mouth dropped open….showing that he'd probably been wondering about these things too. Nathan was still thinking and nodding but Machela hugged my waist fiercely and said, "You're my new mom and dad! I'll never stop missing and loving our first parents… " her eyes filled with tears at this, "but I certainly don't need any more time to choose you both for our next parents!" "Me neither," said Micah quietly but firmly. Nathan just shrugged with a big grin on his face and suddenly we five were in a big hug together. When we finally stood quietly, still holding each other, I said, " I want you to know something. You were our children from the time Nathan showed us your pictures. It happened like that with your older sisters too. Their picture was there among many others but we were both drawn to THEM! They have been our children since that moment. God can just tell you these things sometimes. We had to wait nearly nine months for them to arrive from Korea. For you all, it was only a long six weeks. " DH was nodding in agreement, tears in his eyes too. "None of you treat your little sisters any different than you treat your other siblings. You don't see any difference, right?" They agreed and I went on. "There will not be a difference for us either. We have long history with DD1 and DD2 by now. We have all the family times that we've shared. The six of you have that sort of history with each other and we are just beginning to develop that with the eight of us. Soon there will be twenty of us and …. ….well, that's just going to be crazy! I'm glad we've had this time to begin before all the rest get here." "Let's make it official!" said DadMtR suddenly. I agreed immediately. "Yeah, this Sunday at the Lodge! Lets do an official ceremony. Then we can call that date our Family Anniversary every year like we do with DD1 and DD2!" Nathan gave a long loud whistle which is a signal to gather. The young ones heard it and looked up at us on the ridge. "C'mon up," Nathan hollered and waved his arm. "I'm not sure if this is the cure for the girls but, I like the idea anyway," he said to us. "Thank you for ……." He spread his arms wide…." All of it!" We spent some time telling the excited Ben and twins of a new holiday we'd invent. Now our family had three anniversaries: The wedding anniversary for DH and I. The arrival of DD1 and DD2 over twenty years ago. And now the finalization of our newest children into the family. I did change my mind about having it right away this Sunday though. They all assured us that they won't mind waiting for the rest of the family to arrive. I told them their new grandmother would strangle me if we had our ceremony just before she could arrive and attend. Everyone would want to be there. So IT'S OFFICIAL, as DH likes to say. Whenever Wagon Train # 3 arrives, the next Sunday will be our adoption ceremony for these six wonderful children. We're sending out invitations for everyone in the Valley to witness our ceremony after the services and before potluck lunch. Mr. Smith has happily agreed to officiate. We also announce that if any of the other adoption families want to join on this day, that is certainly fine with all of us. Or they might want a separate day for their own ceremony. I think it's going to become one of those new Big Valley traditions. MtRider [ ]

Dear Diary --- The Orchard Prep Eeeeeeeeeeuuuuuuuuuw! This bucket of fermenting fish parts is smelling RIPE! I'm surprised we haven't attracted a bear. Well actually, now that I think to look, I do see the marks of long claws on the tree we anchored the bucket from. It dangles way up high from a rope draped over a medium size branch. Like campers are instructed to do with their food if they are in bear country. Since it's fermenting, we can't seal the lid tight so we took the precaution of placing this way down near the Three Sisters Ford and way up in the tree. So why in the world would we take so much trouble to attract bears? Nooooooo, we want the fish parts for fertilizing the orchard. Especially cuz we'll be planting the orchard in the craziest time of year possible. August! My mother's letter told of it. In fact, everyone mentioned 'Grandma's Orchard On Wheels' in the notes Jerry brought in with the mule train. Apparently she chivvied the family into taking her to every greenhouse and garden supply store that was still open before they left Colorado. [security-guarded garden stores are doing well OUTSIDE…no small wonder with food scarce!] As they traveled north with the armed caravan, she managed to find another small garden shop that wasn't so picked over yet by hungry hordes. She bought up every fruit tree; every nut tree; every fruit-bearing shrub that she could find. For every nut tree and long-term fruit tree, she would say. "This is for my grandchildren". But she also had bought dwarf fruit trees, berry plants, bushes, brambles and canes. Then she would say, "These will produce in my life time!" She does well with plants. She kept a close eye on them while they traveled, keeping them all well watered. Most of them were in pots or small plastic bags of dirt, already budded out and ready to leaf when she made the purchases in June. By the time they'd been stopped in Carterville, they were in leaf. She had arranged them throughout their various vehicles and trailers so that the plants would have indirect sunshine. DD2 reported via her letter, that Grma had fussed a lot about her orchard while they were locked in the school. She promised dire repercussions for the brigands if her precious cargo died while sitting in the parking lot! But [providentially – thank YOU, God!] the weather was rainy and cloudy the whole time they were captive. The very first thing everyone was set to do upon their release from the school was to pull out every one of the plants and trees. Among the strawberries plants, there was about a 10 percent loss. L But she'd bought a lot. Many plants and trees were looking wilted. Everything was watered again and repacked until they reached the Rockin' J that evening. It was expected that the care she could give the plants before they all began the wagon trip would restore most of them to health. My brother, assigned to figure out the best way to haul them, mentioned that they will be tucked in here and there with some equipment [he said I'd be pleased with this "equipment" but wouldn't say what it is…the rat! ] he's bringing on a hayrack. They'll drape a porous shade cloth over the whole wagon on sunny days and a waterproof tarp during storms. The horticulturist at one garden center had told her she'll need shade cloth, especially planting so late in the season. The strawberries had to be transplanted into some plastic tubs or be lost. Everything will be fairly root-bound when they finally arrive here in the Valley. So we in the Valley are charged with the task of preparing an orchard space so that they can be planted within 24 hrs of arrival. [Arrival at Cleft of the Rock, that is - they don't know about Mother's Lil' HILL. Actually, Jerry told my brother. ] We'd been saving all 'fish parts' anyway for the vegetable gardens. With more mouths to feed, we have increased our fishing and the big bucket is nearly full. This yummy stuff will be great fertilizer. Those poor plants will need all the help they can get. They'll definitely need shade from the direct sun of August. I'm not sure they brought that much shade cloth material but we can rig something. Perhaps the netting the children's mother used to cover her fruit trees from the birds? With grass strewn on top? The first order of business was to decide on a location….but that was easy. The Maui-side cliffs have the hot spring outside and it spills down the pasture forming a nice creek, cooling as it goes. It is not highly sulfurous. It's just hot. It's located midway in the wide area between the west and east spits of land that form the "C". Grma's Orchard will be up close to the reflective heat of the stone cliffs, which will make this warmer than any other location. [Peaches and cherries and plums! ] The creek running through will ensure moisture, though we may have to divert/irrigate more in midsummer. This is also the eventual location of the large greenhouse. No one mentioned in the letters, if they brought greenhouse plastic [uV stable] or insulated clear plastic panels, but I'm hoping. That's the reason we have not yet begun our greenhouse construction. We need to wait to see what they have. Our greenhouse plastic roll will be used there if they didn't manage to bring something. It was one of the top things on my "Wish I'd Have Brought" list that I'd mailed back to my family early after our arrival. These past couple weeks, the sheep (plus faithful Rex, though he can jump it, of course.) have been fenced in the portion of the pasture that will soon be Grma's Orchard. We NEED that thick grass mowed down! Macky had always used solar charged hot-wire fencing to move her sheep from place to place as they grazed down the grass. We fenced them immediately ontp the Orchard location upon receiving the letters. The large flock of sheep has done a good job and now it would be nice to set the goats in there to finish the weeds that sheep ignore. But with the tiny goat babies, we need to keep them close to us. Perhaps the 3 milk cows? Nah! Don't want the fresh 'cow pies' in there. EEuw! We were sent the complete inventory of the various plants/trees. Oh my! If even half of them survive the first winter, we will have a very nice orchard for the twenty of us. My DM wrote that she bought more plants, expecting not all would make it thru, getting such a late start. Wise! We also have to protect them from marauding wildlife. Rabbits chewing bark during winter…girdling it will kill the young tree. We'll have to wrap the trunks. Deer…. They are realllllly pests! Making venison usually solves that problem. Sun scald from bright winter sun reflecting off the white snow. Can you tell we've been poring over our reference books on orchards? We've been up to view Hobbit Hole's orchard/vineyard and talk with them too. Thank for the suggestions. We've mapped out exact locations for digging the hole for each tree/plant. We pounded in stakes, which are clearly labeled. We've had enough rain so the ground is soft without being soggy. Irrigation is possible with some effort, by temporarily putting down plastic sheets to drain in a spreading pattern downhill from the creek. We expect the arrival of Wagon Train # 3 sometime within the next two weeks so we'll keep an eye on the moisture issue. Don't need to dig in dry ground. Meanwhile, the wooly lawnmowers are still at work. Now, back to haying….it's a SUNNY DAY and the barometer is rising. MtRider [ have to rely on wild fruits this year but this is an abundant Valley! ]

Hi everyone. At the library again. As the original writer of this scenario, I fought to keep the "location" a myth instead of picking out a particular site. Because we all need to be thinking of a location we are in or could bug-out to survive in. I had other things in mind to learn besides gnawing on bear fat and so I chose a Zone 5 area. I wanted to know what it would take to resettle [think Little House on the Prairie style] a fairly lush area with a community of people. Cuz....I am already aware that in my region [Zone Zero at 9,000' in the arid Rockies] I have ZERO chance to survive with growing much of anything. Tho I still try to push the envelope each year. That said, it's obvious that we have many bloopers. Traveling distances are not at ALL as they appear on our wonderful map. The buildings are going up WAY faster than would be realistic. The amount of work to just care for animals and ourselves would prohibit even going in to attend services on Sundays. In fact, other than dips in the river, some of us might just tumble into bed [i'm still trying to get DOORS, and surely don't have a bedframe for our wonderful down matteress!] without trying to bathe in cold water. Trying to cook anything...trying to keep the cook fire going....trying to keep the wood for the cook fire..... YES, we have many bloopers. I will say this again. DO NOT TAKE ANY OF THIS FANTASTIC WORK OF FICTION LITERALLY! Our stories....for all the bloopers....are here to urge any of us [writers] and any of you [readers] to do some intensive research for your own intended areas. We cannot possibly do adequate research on all the subjects that we deal with. In some areas, we have already had experience. But the value of our posts is to inspire more ideas and definitely, more research.....INDIVIDUALLY. If our readers agree to these parameters, it will ease our minds as the writers. We do not want to be responsible for someone getting the wrong idea about what is possible and probable...from our very impromptu fiction. [example: I'm about to plant an orchard in August. How realistic is that? I AM stating we expect grave losses. Would any survive even if I've surrounded the orchard with heat-sink rock cliffs? I don't know and I will not even be able to put much detail into the planting cuz.....I've never had an orchard. Never even one tree. Always WANTED a big one! So while I will not be a good reference for planting an orchard, it won't stop me from trying one in our Valley.] As for using up the Valley resources with our hordes...... I can only say that the minute we entered, the area began to change. That is a given. Sorry Mother, but I am not going to worry about that. In a catastophe of this magnitude, there will be a resurgence of the adaptable wildlife as the human race dies off. [too grim? ] Some species might have trouble but some will thrive. We in the Valley might have to hunt further up into the hills and make elk/deer hunts a multiple-day trip? I've given us pretty much an unlimited space of uninhabited forest/meadow land. Frankly, I'd be ok if the durned deer and elk would quit coming to munch on my gardens and lay down in my wheat fields! The fact of the matter is......we HAVE to evolve from the hunter/gatherer mode to more pastoral/farming mode as the population increases and more specialties are then possible. That has always been the reason for inviting more people along. Throughout history, the hunter-gatherers have needed very low population density to survive. AND they needed to be nomadic. We are not planning to be nomadic.....well, MtRiders are not. So we are moving into the farmer mode. I don't think you can have both. A fact that the "I will live off the land" type NON-preppers should take into careful consideration. I will tell you that we all have quite different ideas of WHAT our Valley and surrounding area looks like. I can see the regional differences coming out. That's a blooper I can live with cuz the area we live is what we do need to be prepared for IRL! But to just to clear up one thing....... [i KNOW it's hard to keep all this straight! I had to search for an hour to figure out what I named my other twin girl! ] Dear folks, the 2-3 week trip through the wilderness area is, as yet, still uninhabited wilderness. This is the only place we are taking the wagon trains now, between the FAR END of the Rockin' J ranch and our Big Valley. [our WT#1 was the exception, going thru towns, etc] The hordes are not plentiful up in the area of very large ranches [like the Rockn' J]. That pre-chaos population density is very low. No major cities nearby. The only other ranch within the wilderness wagon train route is the Canyon's End Ranch. [Remember the blizzard? The ranch with the cool greenhouse...empty when WT#1 traveled there but the family is back and was rescued from their root cellar by WT#2] So we are not even thinking of being overrun by hungry hordes from the OUTSIDE. [cuz I'm not ready to go there...... ] but that is a very good reason not to point in our direction with the aircraft.... That is what I've always maintained as the reason MrS&J never carted in a lot of stuff....or tried to make a road. As Mother mentioned.... So we DO have a lush Valley [i would not have a reason to leave home, otherwise] We have Zone 5. But we DO have to worry about less yeild per acre than modern farming methods produce. I think someone has mentioned that. I am not personally worried at all about how many trees are going to be cut down in the Valley plus the sides of the mountains around us. [perhaps because of where I live in a dense forest with dang-near unending trees.......until a forest fire destroys acres and acres of them...no, there is NOTHING totally secure IRL or Valley life.] However, I have heard folks saying they are trying to chose carefully where they cut on their own 80 acres. That is a very good idea. Our population density is very, VERY low. Balance that however, with the fact that we are living in primitive conditions. We come in sort of as hunter/gatherer stage, and as I said before, it requires very low density. By increasing population, we'd eventually be forced into establishing a pastoral/farming stage. I see this as a GOOD thing tho. Anyone really want to live in a very small band of people that cannot afford any specialists like medical cuz EVERYone has to be a hunter and/or a gatherer of food? As a disabled 50+ person, that could NOT be my choice. [and I am talking about IRL here!] I HAVE to think of survival that has enough population density [throughout the community] so that my mouth and knowledge can serve the community...rather than my disabled/old body. Mother is right that the amount of hay needed to get livestock through a winter is going to be far more than I'd like to imagine. [remember we keep cutting more hay?] We DO have an enormous amount of animals and I suspect more than one ox is heading for a very long stewing [they're too old, by definition of 'ox' to be tender]. The MtRiders original amount of livestock was not hard for me to estimate cuz it's pretty close to what I already have IRL. But adding children and then 'going whole hog' to add the rest of my family.....oye! It does make it very tough. Only my brother is bringing in livestock: horses [real], mule stock[fiction] , and pgmy goats [real]. Without the option of adopted orphan's livestock, our clan would likely starve...or become better hunters while the supply of deer, rabbits and trout is close to hand. It takes a good deal of energy to hunt as well as process. For survival one must always count the amount of calories taken in and compar that to the amount of calories it cost. You will not survive if it costs more calories than you gained. If disabled, this is more difficult cuz normal tasks require more energy....a fact many of us live with 24/7 already. I think deer, rabbits, squirrels and fish will be sustained quite easily with our population density. Elk will migrate, a bit tho they live within my REAL LIFE much higher population density [about 2-4 people every 5 acres] and there are many hunters here - seasonally. Dunno anything about mountain sheep/goats but I think they are more skittish. Be careful of shooting other kinds like beaver that might represent a more fragile species. Elevation of Valley is 3,000 feet and the surrounding mountain peaks are 4-5,000'. As reported by Mother, the valley FLOOR is approx 10 miles by 20 miles. [Drive that distance by car and count your population density to get an idea....] Then there are the very big areas of the valley 'bowl' sides. MtRider [off to post now...and read the new posts in the story after I get home with my flash drive full again. ]

OOooooooo! Did I read we might have another writer? GREAT! I just am going to take a couple minutes to make a comment. I have to hurry up and drive home cuz the danged snow has started again. We are so deep in snow in my driveway already. But spring will melt it all soooooooooon????? I was able to take a copy of this thread home on Monday [transfer to my computer via flashdrive ]. I spent THREE DAYS reading everything you all have written since I started the new thread that Wednesday nite ....before my Internet went Bye-bye the next day. I had not read ANYTHING since the FIRST POST OF THIS THREAD! All the posts I've sent for Mother to post or posted from library have been working "blind". I hadn't seen yours. WOW! I just cannot tell you how much I have enjoyed reading everything. What creative folks we have and dedicated to this project too. Despite REAL LIFE interrupting, y'all have been so faithful to keep posting and creating and following your characters thru challenges. We are all pretty aware of the issues involved in surviving the coming winter in our Big Valley. I had to laugh because my posts talked about so many of the SAME TOPICS that all of you were posting about. Great minds.... But we know we've got to address certain issues and everyone is really working your characters half to death to survive. Anyway, a big thank you to all of you and esp. to Mother who has been trying to make sure to keep an eye on this until I can get back to Internet access....without driving into "town". Soon, I think DH will have time to install the NetZero disc. I'm praying that will fix the problem. Then I have to pop in as see what RURR has been up to...... Miss you all! MtRider [rushing home before the snow covers the tracks up her driveway.....ack, it's snowing harder already....... ]

{OK...one more and then I'm running home before the snow starts... Miss you all! } {based on my IRL experiences….YMMV} Dear Mt3B -- Ducks/Geese I received your note! It's so fun to get mail, isn't it? I used to get excited over Email, for pete's sake! I love this messenger service. Their families are sure going to benefit now that we can all give the riders 'tips' ….in the form of our garden produce. I handed Calvin a bag of broccoli. I doubt it will make it to his house though. He doesn't like it and he's got a message for those at Hobbit Hole. I expect he'll try to trade the broccoli for something they might have extra….something more to his liking. Look out, Mother, it's the veggie-hater Calvin on circuit today. Calvin's mother likes the veggies we send though so he might bring the broccoli home. As to your question about ducks and geese: Lets see, the big thing is that they need to always have water deep enough to dunk and flush out the nostril holes in their bills while eating. They can be raised without water to swim in but this is a must. Ducks and geese never met a body of water they didn't adore….even the lowly mud puddles. Even ICY water is fine for them….as adults, that is. Ducklings/goslings do NOT have the oils in their downy feathers that keep them dry and warm. That only comes when they have fully grown out their adult feathers. If raised by mamma, her oils will transfer somewhat. She will take them for short swims if water is available. She will also get them out and dry/warm at proper intervals. They can all swim but staying dry/warm is the issue. If they are human-raised, don't give them any chance to dunk themselves in their water container. Fill it with rocks and leave only spaces for their bills to poke in and drink. Keeps the water less FOUL a bit longer too. If you are raising them, they are the messiest of birds. [They are not called water FOUL fowl for nothing. Hope for a large cage or else you might clean it up 3 times a day. They soak everything. Sheeeeesh….brings back memories! Mamma-raised is best but keep her and them protected from predators. Any turtles in the pond? Look out, they like duckie dinner! Any hawks flying overhead? ….. Now this is something I will address that is neat. Not the ducks…you have to protect them. But the geese that are in a band together will protect their goslings from aerial attack by getting them into the middle of all the adults. Each adult goose sticks his/her neck way over the middle like spokes on a wagon wheel. That group effort covers the little ones so that the attacking bird cannot see or reach them. Pretty cool, huh? Ducks are not that group-organized. Not that the birds will always work nicely among themselves. Sometimes bird will take a dislike to another, even a baby….and they can be unmerciful. Can kill the baby or injure each other. Males during the spring mating season are quite pushy and prideful. If they will ever bite you, it will be in this season. And it does HURT though they have no teeth as such; only serrated bill…it is more of a pinch! OW! Never make their aggression worse by excessive action against them. But don't take it from them either. I snatch their snaking head and gently hang on while they discover it's not nice to mess with me. Don't jerk and misalign neck bones! Let go and see if that will teach them. Keep repeating it but if they won't go away, I have dunked their fool head into a water bucket and held it there a few seconds. They can hold their breath, being grand swimmers and divers. But the loss of control bothers them. Let them go and calmly go about your business and they will fuss and preen and try to restore their dignity. If they are really getting out of hand, and you know how to do this in a way that is safe for yourself and for the bird, I'd pick them up and hold them for a minute. Oh the indignity of it! Be careful of their legs…they can be fragile because they are hollow. And the wings are also. But the wings [especially geese] are very hard and can batter bruises upon you. AskMeHowIKnow… To pick one up for discipline or care, carefully wrap your arms around the whole bird pinning the wings SECURELY to their sides. [Note: this is if you can't get rid of the pesky thing….not that you should chase them around to catch them!] Maneuver the bird onto its back…tummy up. This will have a sedating effect on the bird….don't ask me why. I wouldn't leave them in this position too long…the sedation effect might slow down heart rate, etc too…dunno. Just takes a minute if you are making a point to an aggressive male. Domestic geese are heavy so make sure you CAN do this without losing hold on those nasty wings. If you do, let them down gently and start over. Be careful! If you need to do some bandaging or even just to put an I.D. band on their leg, sit down with the bird [works with ducks too…dunno about chickens????] on your lap. Once settled, you MIGHT be able to let go of the wings or you might need to hold while someone else does what needs doin'. Remember to release them to the ground gently so as not to injure a leg. Eggs: Ducks/geese usually lay eggs by 10am. Some breeds of ducks [Khaki Campbells , Indian Runners ] lay nearly all year. They might take a short break in the fall while getting new feathers [they drop the old ones – molting - and you collect the quills for future pens! ] and a short break in late winter just before the full-on laying of springtime begins. Changes in weather sometimes throw them off for a day….like subzero weather sometimes. [but in subzero weather you often find completely frozen eggs that are cracked vertically from point to point and therefore are contaminated with feces… L …lot of those this winter IRL] Geese and many duck breeds are normally seasonal layers. They begin in Feb or March and lay loyally one egg per day until it begins to taper off in early July for geese. I believe some breeds of ducks can continue till Aug or Sept. I put the last month or two of eggs in a solution of one part waterglass [see Lehman's catalog] and ten parts water [i think] and it will keep unrefrigerated for 6+ months. Eggs of both ducks and geese have a proportionately larger yolk than chickens so bakers love them. The average duck egg is like a very X-large chicken egg and I count the goose eggs as 2 chicken eggs for recipes. They also have a shell that will remind you of Wilma Flintstone making breakfast for Fred. Get out your chisel…. The inner membrane is quite tough too. The yolk also is more gooey…so you have to beat harder to mix it with the whites. The only way I truly like scrambled eggs is lightly done from goose eggs. Geese are grazers…they like the grasses and will roam the pasturelands more than ducks but certainly spend a lot of time in water if they can. The heavy breeds of both will mate easier if deep water is available. Large breed males of ducks should not mate small breed females. The mating could injure the female, especially on land. Do NOT have an excessive number of males. They will kill the females in a frenzy of mating behavior…driven worse by the competition. [it ain't pretty ] About one male per 3-4 females is good. Geese pair off but are ok with up to about 3 females per male. The male might have one preferred female though. They mate for life but can take on another mate if theirs dies. Sometimes. Ducks are fully water critters. They eat bugs and …even salamanders….I swear, I've seen them gulp them down whole while outrunning the rest of the pack who want to take this treat for themselves… It's like a rugby match! But for plant life, they are best supplied from the pond bottoms and creek edges. They will nearly get lost following a creek on and on…and they do NOT stay aware of what might be nearby wanting THEM for dinner. Remember: It never has been a compliment to call someone a Bird Brain! Pretty dumb! Especially ducks! Now for preparing to keep them this winter in the Valley….I have usually fed mine a "waterfowl' pelleted food which we no longer have available. Hmm….. My reference books [some in our Lodge library too] list proportions of foods such as milo seed heads, corn, soft wheat, soybean meal [for protein], alfalfa [also protein], dried skim milk, Brewer's yeast, oyster shell [can LIGHTLY toast their own egg shells], salt, cod liver oil, and add molasses. Rye, wild celery, wild rice, garden/orchard leavings, bugs gathering around a [solar] light, milk mixed in with something dry [otherwise they just play in it!], hard-boiled eggs. Always have grit available. Like sand/stones on the ground] for their 'craw' and calcium for the egg shell production [ground limestone, oyster shell or their own toasted egg shells. This will be a first for me too, doing proper proportions myself. I do plan to continue free-ranging them during the daytime [except in bad winter weather] since I'm sure the river will not completely freeze over. They are quite safe as long as they are on open water that is large enough for them to be out of reach of the edges. They are healthier if they can forage some of their own food and bathe at least sometimes in winter and daily in summer. Remember that while domestic ducks/geese do fly….it is not far and it is often more of a glide from a high place. I have had 1) a goose split herself open across the chest by hitting a smooth wire fence [died of shock…birds go shocky easy]. 2) I've seen one glide down from the hill top and slide UNDER MY HORSE'S HOOF…naturally mare stepped down just then. [no damage to bird's wing cuz I quickly talked the horse into lifting foot again]. 3) But the funniest flying incident was when a drake took off from the top of a hillock, not computing that there was a chainlink fence between him and the pond [i assume that was his destination]. His flight ended abruptly three feet later when his whole beak rammed tight into one of the holes of the chain link. And STUCK! There he hung [birds often go limp and somnolent when under stressssssssss ] until I yanked him loose. Not hurt at all but the Wright brothers had better luck than him! They are bred for things other than light aerodynamic bodies and …..brains! So they are not safe on the ground. [Guinea fowl are the exception to this in domestic poultry ….they fly very well and roost in trees. 'Course I don't think you can train them to come in at night…. dunno ] Wow….you know, with this letter writing, we are going to have to figure out how to make our own Valley paper! Someone needs to begin that cottage industry or we need to write in erasable pencil and reuse the note paper. So glad to meet everyone's new family and friends at the Lodge. Mt3b, I've heard you have two young ladies taking Rural Lessons from you. If they are apt students, it's a win-win. You get help and they get knowledge. Good for you! Good luck with the ducks/geese. Hope this helps and send any specific questions by messenger. MtRider

{IRL….I hope this will be enough to catch-up for all the time I've missed due to Internet failure. I'm still using the library computer. Dh is SO swamped with tax clients (plus a patient with an emergency shoulder dislocation to fix late last nite) and such that I never see him. He is working nite security Fri/Sat tooooooo. So even tho the disc come TODAY , he won't even be here to install the thing till sometime into next week. Well mebbe he can do it tomorrow morning before he sleeps. If not, I'll keep writing and posting at library when I can get there between snowstorms. Yeah, yet ANOTHER one of those is looming on our horizon….. My driveway is packed with snow from the last one yet….. Sheeeeeesh! "Springtime in the Rockies!" } Dear Diary -- JULY Activities at Cleft of the Rock! Days and days have passed with a seemingly endless list of priorities. Gardens must be weeded, though that is just a bit of maintenance here and there by now. The fields are a different matter. The men have been attacking the weeds in the fields daily and are finally getting that somewhat under control. Some fields had been downright embarrassing! The big wheel hoeing implements worked very well with the three-tined cultivator attachment. We had gotten one from Lemans and the children brought the two that had been used in their big gardens. We could use a couple more! Hand work in fields is ……challenging! It has rained at regular intervals and, combined with the hot days of July, everything is growing so fast you can hear it crackle. Thanking God for this blessing! One bit of great news, Nathan is opening a new field with the horse-drawn plow they brought. It will really help to have one of our own and not trying to borrow that important implement. They had sometimes used it to plow the gardens and sometimes it just sat as a lawn decoration. But it was in good shape and Mr. Rock had insured it was ready for use before they left the ranch. Nathan learned how to sharpen it and he'd getting practice in that. Virgin soil is tough! Haying has been going much faster with a lot more help. And more scythes. But with all this livestock, we have soooooo much we need to do. The Dexter cattle forage well but if there is heavy snow, that isn't going to work. We wonder what the area south of here near the open hot springs will be like in winter. Anyway, I haven't been much help with this job. It's too much on my shoulders. And it has to be done on hot, sunny days. On the first Sunday, Mother's clan took a few minutes on their way back to Hobbit Hole to show us how to cut efficiently and rake up the rows. We watch the barometer and then hurry to "make hay while the sun shines"! Four of them cut until they feel like their arms will fall off. I "hold down the fort" in other ways. Sure do plan to set our new folks to work on haying as soon as they arrive. Hope they're developing good muscles on the wagon trail. We've got several options within the caves for storing dry hay. The first is the large cave room near our barn cave. We've got that half full already. But a winter's worth will not all fit in there. The largest area we have is a low caves on the far side of the Maui pasture. There are two and one will be shelter for any livestock over there. The mouth of the cave is wide but a ledge will keep most weather out. The other cave there is similar and designated for the hay. We could get quite a bit in there and it has the advantage of not being connected to any other cave. If anything did catch fire, it would not spread smoke or fire anywhere else. It has a wide opening which we'd have to fit with doors. Or a barrier gate and a tarp. It sets under a ledge somewhat but not enough to keep out blowing rain or snow completely. It's a long way from our side but seeing Mother's new sleigh, has me thinking of winter travel with the donkey cart. What a cool device they have! Something for Mother to travel in easily. We do have the large ice-fishing sled to transport things in winter. [i do not really want to dwell on the "impending winter" topic….it's a nice summer day! {sigh} ] Harvesting has become a full-time occupation too. Both the early things from the garden and the wild berries and other plants. We've been pestering Mother and her DD for data on the plants we should be looking for. We take the Conestoga wagon out a couple times a week on family outings in search of wild things to harvest. Our many plant I.D. books are dog-eared and highlighted by now. [how EVER shall I go on in this life when my beloved highliter pens go dry? ] Even the small twins are learning some of the more obvious plants. They sure know raspberries and blackberries. Oh yes, we all know them. Apparently berry picking is not a new task for these ranch kids. Their family rule is that you pick TEN berries for the basket before you pick ONE [well, mebbe two…. ] for your mouth. It is so cute to hear the young ones counting to ten, getting louder as they reach the final berry before the treat. Wow, that's self-discipline we adults have to match! As for putting up what we harvest, a lot of it is being dehydrated. We have that hot cave that is WAY too hot for me to spend any time in at all now. Whew! But it's a perfect place to dry things….both our laundry and the now infamous "leather britches". Everyone in the Valley knows what these are by now. I brought the trays from my dehydrator, a few of those hanging net contraptions with shelves that collapse flat, misc sheets of screen or mosquito netting, two nylon net drying racks for sweaters [that now have berry stains on them…{sigh}] and the mosquito netting for an E-Z Up craft fair-type booth….but I wasn't aware that the booth metal-parts-with-roof wasn't in the box package when I bought it. L Only the zip-on screening. {IRL} So in various ways, I have things drying/dehydrating all over in the drying room. The doorway is barred from critter entrance….domestic, wildlife and most insects. A very tight "hardware cloth" screen door fitted in, with adobe bricks filling in the odd cave opening shape. We lined the inside of the heavy screening with some light mosquito netting. So far, so good. I also have a large mosquito net [made for draping over a large bed with a big ring at the top to spread out the circle of netting] that could be used for outdoor drying room …under supervision…. Curious barn cats; dogs wanting the venison jerky; stray goats….. We'll use that when we really get overloaded with produce.. Laundry is another constant chore that must be done. Since we often save it till a rainy day, this hot cave is used for that too. Unless we worry about raising the humidity too much for food we're dehydrating. Then there is always room in the living room or under the wide ledge if the rain isn't coming sideways. I have my GrAunt's old clothes rack and it holds a lot of clothes. We always use it for some of the unmentionables that we'd rather not have in the strong sunlight. We do have clotheslines outside for towels and such that just need the nice breeze and sunshine to soften them. I still use the 5-gallon buckets to slosh the clothes around. I have gamma lids so that opening and closing is easy. Trying to find a clever "automated" way to jostle the closed bucket like on our wagon trail. Of course there is the plunger and the scrub boards too. We scoop up hot water from our 'hot tub' spring and dispose of the used laundry water in the crack where the hot tub also drains. We brought only biodegradable soaps and such. Haven't seen any bubbles or suds in the river…and we have checked. The smooth stone area around the indoor hot springs is a good place to wash but it can get slippery. It would not be a good place to fall. The room gets too hot now that it's midsummer so we have been hauling water buckets just outside…rolling them along in a child's red wagon. I bought a used old one with wood panel sides {IRL} and the children have a newer one also. The children brought a double tub arrangement with a hand wringer that clamps to the tub. A wash and a rinse tub. Not having to heat the water is an incredible energy savings. [mine and the wood stove's] {Nice to have writer's prerogative to park my primitive living near a hot springs! } So…garden/fields…usual chores….finding things in the piles of cargo…..haying….harvesting wild edibles/medicinals…..livestock care…. What else? Ah yes, we often go down by the adobe brick 'factory' and make bricks. Just a few. Coming in from a hot chore like gardening, we head for that area of the river. It has a great sandbar and it's safe for the little ones to swim there. And tired OLD ones…. J But before we get in to wash, we try to make a few more bricks. It's a sort of constant thing. I hope to make a time for Annarchy to come down and help us construct an indoor oven, an outdoor oven and a kiln. I'm just not too confident of the details. We have a LOT of bricks but we still hope to build a separate house for my parents after they arrive. At least now I know my contractor-building-expert brother is coming too. I'm only a brick maker. He [and the two old guys 'helping' ] can handle the technical wherefores and whatifs. So we all contribute some bricks each day before we play in the water. It feels so nice to splash around or sit in a lawn chair and let the shallow water flow past your feet. 'Course now that this Maui-side has livestock, we decided we had to fence off a swimming beach for humans. It's at the upstream side, of course. But one still remembers not to swallow any river water. The hunters of the family are Nathan, Micah and …me, if I don't have to travel far. The fisher folk are DadMtR and Ben. Machela really prefers taking care of our livestock. The three older kids do all the milking of the cows they brought. And mostly the goats too, tho I enjoy milking my goats. We set up a milk/cheese room. There is a cave deeper down past the living room and hot cave. There is an even larger one if you travel the hallways towards the Maui caves but this one is close. They both have cold water flowing thru, running to somewhere. We have set up a trench for the tall milk cans [yes, the children brought milking equipment] to set in the cold flowing water. We plan to make cheese up in the kitchen and store the milk/milk products down here. It feels so good to be in the cold temperatures right now, I could spend all day there. [The heat is affecting how I look at things! ] Anyway, I'm sending Macky over to Mother some day soon to learn about a couple more cheese procedures. I keep turning extra milk into yogurt and sour cream and soft herb cheese as yet. I have the cultures [kept cold] for mozzarella and other cheese but haven't had the time to figure them out. OK, 'nuff for now. I think that wraps up how folks at Cleft of the Rock have been spending our days lately. MtRider […ow! Writer's cramp….holding the pen too long! ] [iRL….making up for time off without Internet service! L ]

Dear Diary -- Coyote Diner [no, that doesn't say 'dinner' ] Just to catch up a bit for the past couple weeks….. The first thing we had to do was to send MrMtR and the older boys to fetch the rest of the cargo that was sitting at the Base Camp at the foot of "Mother's Little HILL". They left early the next morning after we brought the children home. They were able to return late the following day. They took the haywagon and our Conestoga wagon. They encountered no difficulty and spent the evening talking with others who had traveled back to retrieve cargo or livestock. There were enough to make the loading of everyone's wagons easy. I'd sent dried venison, and fresh vegetables from the garden with spices ready to be made into a stew. During the two days that the 'menfolk' were gone, Mac and I sorted thru some of their things in the cave. She goes by 'Macky' or 'Mac' more than Machela, actually ……but woe to the one who tries to call our Micah "Mikey"… Anyway……we have no more than begun that huge task. But I don't care cuz the priority is surviving this winter. So we also spent a lot more time with the gardens. Some veggies were coming into full production. DH and I had really pushed to mulch heavily as we planted. I'd long ago discovered the difference in workload that one change makes. Besides, the water evaporation is slowed down. Mac and I set up some hoop houses [ends open] for the beds that were more recently planted in a frantic attempt to enlarge our food production. Some of these need an extra boost so, on cloudy days and every night, we will be covering those beds with plastic. This will moderate any drop in temperature that might slow down the growth. Another lesson from our high mountain gardening years. But mainly, we harvested. So far most of the harvested vegetables are being eaten without much excess. We don't do menu planning. We prepare and eat whatever needs to be eaten before it might be wasted. With six more mouths to feed, I've put away my smaller pots and pans and dug out the giant size ones. Actually, that's what we've been searching for in the piles of cargo that were unloaded onto our living room cave floor. Their late mother of course used a lot of extra-large kitchen equipment like mixing bowls, etc. Mrs. Joy Rock had helped Machela to choose which items to pack and knew the MtRiders made meals for two. Their large things are in here SOMEWHERE! Well, I have enough to get us by until we discover that box. Between my stockpots and 13" cast iron frying pan, we're in business. The children used their family's camping Dutch ovens [two #14s - one reg. and one deep] on the wagon trail so they are available to use. AND, Nathan presented me almost immediately with the two very HEAVY packages that had finally been delivered to the Rockin' J for me. I decided very early during our wagon train that I needed to place an order. Now I have a #12 Deep cast iron Dutch oven [camping version with the lip on the lid] and a large cast iron 2-sided griddle. I've always wanted a large camp Dutch oven cuz the #8 I have is quite limited, even when it was just the two of us. I have a dome lid #10 also – an heirloom I'd never part with. We're still using pie plates to eat, since I didn't pack real dishes. Saving space and weight. I'm not sure if they did either or if we'll need to take another look at firing clay. I wonder if we've discovered glazes yet? ……They brought more tableware…somewhere….. We are really going to need an inventory….and some shelving! Sheeeeeesh! We found some books, slates & chalk, and such to keep the little twins busy. They have favorite twin dolls with dark, long hair and Asian eyes. They carry them around everywhere. Kaila has a stuffed black gorilla toy and Kaylee has a giraffe, which are also favorites. The girls are used to homeschool and we set them to some studies… fun puzzles and games which they can do nearby while we work. They are good helpers in the garden and we showed them how to weed beets and carrots. It's easy to tell which are the maroon-veined beet plants and the feather-tops of carrots. They have small hoes, shovels, rakes, and trowels which are not toys but of decent quality. The older children used them long ago too. Mac and twins were out there longer than I can stay in the heat. On the morning of the second day, we were surprised by a commotion in the Maui-side pasture. We happened to be inside the palisade fencing of that large garden. Mac and I both grabbed our rifles and ran out the gate, locking the twins inside. We saw three …no, four coyotes trying to get past Rex, the protector for her sheep. Hmm, didn't take long for that word to get out….Lamb Special at the Maui Riverside Diner. NOT! We spread out just a bit for different angles and called out our marked critter. Just then we saw a streak and Big Dog raced down the steep path to join Rex. She was moving so fast I thot she'd be head over heels. Note….these dogs had not been introduced yet, though they're aware of each other. By the instinct of their Livestock Guardian Breed, they worked together. Big Dog ran to chase off coyotes getting too close and Rex stayed in place to guard the sheep. With that settled, Macky and I both knocked down a coyote each when the shot was clear of both sheep and dogs. Big Dog had another one on the run and practically flew up the opposite cliff face. The huge paws splayed wide for grip, she loves the chase and gets excellent purchase on rock. Rex, freed up from the other three, quickly pursued and killed the final coyote. He then stalked around, checking his flock and making sure there were no other predators hiding in the tall grasses. I'll be glad when some of that grass is eaten down shorter. It's too easy for predators to sneak in close like this. We watched until Rex was satisfied and then Mac ran to her sheep to check them over and calm them. She made a BIG DEAL over the valiant Rex. I didn't expect to see Big Dog back soon. She doesn't have the stay-with-the-herd/flock instinct. Perhaps because she's a crossbreed. ?? She has the HUNT THEM TILL DEAD instinct. Well, I prayed that she wouldn't run into more than she could handle out there and returned to reassure the twins. We skinned the coyotes since their fur is good for trim on winter hoods and hats. [doesn't frost up…I think] Began to smoke/dry the meat for dog treats. I rather hope Big Dog is not getting a taste for blood and raw meat right now in her chase. A dog that learns to kill livestock is a dead dog. Hopefully, she will know the difference and not self-serve duck dinner sometime. Boy….she and Rex were magnificent though. Glad we had small Nya-pup with us. She's not big enough for that game …..yet. Big Dog finally came trotting back. I found blood on her front paws but her mouth was clean. The blood wasn't coming from her anywhere so… I guess she at least got a piece of it. I'm a little surprised since, being such a large and heavy dog, she can't sustain a fast run for long periods. Anyway, she seemed satisfied…except those coyote skins bothered her initially. Really bothered until she decided they were no longer ....um, occupied. I spent a good deal of time processing that event during the next few days, knowing that we will have more like it. I do know my daughter can handle a rifle. They reported that their dad taught all of them the safe handling of all types of weapons since they were young. Even Kaylee and Kaila can shoot with a BB gun and small bow with supervision. We'll all need to practice working together. I'm afraid humans do not have that instinct to know who does what together like Big Dog and Rex just demonstrated. We might want to get some tips on that from a professional like Jerry? When the rest of the family gets here, we'll likely have to hold classes and my new children will be tutoring the adults. We can start my Grsons' training young though. Bro has some experience and my dad. Every farmer knows how to shoot varmints! Too hot to weed now….I'm taking refuge in the shade. As I write, I'm a part-time participant in a "tea party". The dolls, gorilla, and giraffe are the other guests. Macky is cleaning our guns and turning the 'dog treats' on the grill. Are we weird or what? MtRider […..parenting, pioneering, and just plain surviving…..today, it's a good life. ]

Hi y'all! I'm at the library and have finally found a way to type out posts [mine are so long..can't help it] at home and successfully transfer data from my Mac to the library NOT-Mac thru the flash drive. First attempt last week didn't work. So now I copy/paste to the Word For Macs program we fortunately have at home. That worked. Have I told ya all how techno savvy I am NOT! NetZero is supposed to be sending us a new disc to download. They think our program is corrupted. Yeah, well....it certainly has jammed up my computer enough in the past couple months. I sincerely hope for better performance now. IF that is the problem. Pray it is not actual a problem in my laptop, but I doubt that. If what I saved can be opened on my computer at home, I THINK I can read the whole Big Valley #2 thread and catch up with alllllll the posts you writers have been adding since "the lights went out" for me. I HOPE it works. It's not really easy for me to get ready and drive "to town" tho most days, it is within my safe driving zone....not using major [fast] highways. But I'm about dying while sitting on hard wooden chairs. Ow. At least I got caught up with Comments. Took notes on CeeGee's clan. Any livestock, CeeGee? As for the UNreal folks...MrS, MrH, MrJ....and the B families and craftsfolks....hmmm, mebbe we could get a master list of some of them we've used. I've just created a family of craftsfolks in the post I put out. Mother has a barrel maker. And my Whitlock family comes in from time to time.....to my rescue! Martha....I think the writers [i do] get to thinking these characters and this Valley are pretty real to us too. Glad you are enjoying it and I hope folks find things to learn from time to time. THANKS for the info on parchment and vellum, Leah! I hadn't researched that and only had a vague idea of that process. Hmm, greasy windows = bear.... I know I've spent a lot of time considering window issues since doing this story. Really has me rearranging some priorities. I'd pack my wagon differently now, for sure. [so my relatives can pack some of that in for me.... ] OK...cannot sit in this chair any longer. That disc should be arriving soon and then to get DH to install, etc. [i'm so techno-deficit! ] MtRider [stopping in to say HOwdy!.....cuz I finally got my password to work...thanks, Darlene I can't even do THAT! My computer knows me! ]

{IRL...I hope I'm not making any bloopers....but hopefully we've meshed well in this event.... At least I can transfer post I type at home if I can drive 'in town' to the library.} The Mule Train Dear Diary, I AM SO EXCITED * THANKFUL * RELIEVED * .... Ahem, ...ok, I have to slow down and set down this story in proper order. First of all, I am still dreadfully behind in telling what ALLLLLL has happened since we got our new children. I'll have to go back and describe that later. Suffice it to say at this point, we have been insanely busy, tired and ....for the most part, we've been having so much fun. These kids have been homeschooled and are thankfully [!!] quite a bit different in their orientation towards each other and towards "family". Ranch life, having a military father, and a Korean mother has developed a sense of responsibility in them too....for which we are very grateful. We could definitely see that steadiness in Nathan when he visited the first time. Not that they are not yet children, of course.... We are slowly getting to know them...and they, us. I marvel at their openness about this union. Not that they'd had a lot of options and the older ones know it. The young ones just want a mom and dad again, tho they still cry about their other parents. DH and I have done this adoption-of-older-siblings before. We try to work through challenges slowly and with care for their routines and habits and customs. In the end, we will develop new customs that are a blending of each. ----- And as I think of that, I realize that we will have yet another blending with our first DDs [and family] as well. This will be the first time that DH and I will be living near our DDs as adults. Hmmmmm...... I think I'm glad we've had this time to adjust somewhat to *these* kiddos before the REST of the family hauls in here too. OK....on with recording about the morning of the Mule Train Arrival. Micah came running up to the ledge as I was still trying to get the little girls to finish their oatmeal and trout breakfast. [Little children DO dawdle, don't they? ] On his heels was young Kelsey, one of my favorite messenger girls. She ran up and hugged me, announcing she had an important message that was going to make me very VERY happy. Well with MS, I sometimes have to let my poor brain process a second or two before the thing hits me. I so completely did *not* anticipate what she was about to say. No clue to what might make me so happy. But Micah was already running to the overlook between the cave sites and hollering to DH. He was working in the Maui-side garden with assorted children this morning. "DAD, COME QUICK! THERE'S GOOD NEWS!" THEN it hit me. I grabbed Kelsey and demanded, "Is there a message from the OUTSIDE?....Is there word about my family?" She hugged me again and jumped up and down saying, "YES! They're all fine. They are all safe!" And this middle-aged, grey&copper haired, gimpy woman jumped up and down with her. Had to hang on to her for balance but .... Oh MY, it was a time to jump for joy and thanksgiving. Thank YOU, God! My dear husband arrived, gasping for air but Micah had shouted the news to him when they crested the hill. And that is a steep hill if you take the fast path. He and I hugged each other and tears fell cuz ....our 'baby' girls were safe. Our dearest SIL was safe. Our GRsons were safe. My parents and brother and niece .........are SAFE AT THE ROCKIN' J. Oh....oh my.....oh, I HAVE to sit down, my legs will NOT hold me up a second longer. DH got me to our outdoor table and I just sobbed out my relief. DH just kept grinning and patting my hand and surreptitiously wiping his own eyes. Our children were grinning and laughing. Machela was sitting on the other side of me, bawling and smiling and nearly squeezing the blood from my other hand. Suddenly the little twins rushed to us with oatmeal decorating their stick mouths ......and burst into loud wails. Naturally they were confused by the tears within the joy. Machela and I both laughed then and wiped away the tears while hugging the tiny ones close. We reassured them that their Grandparents and big sisters were safe and coming to live here too. The girls demanded to see them right now and were not happy when told there would be a long wait. Actually, I was in agreement about that. Kelsey was seated and presented with one of the remaining cinnamon rolls from breakfast. A MrMtR specialty. We all got calmed down and began to pelt the poor gal with questions...which she gamely answered with her mouth full. Of course it was Q's son, Jerry, who had been sent to lead the rescue from Carterville. Apparently the whole town and other travelers were in need of rescue and even my brother took part. As for what exactly happened there, we're told to get that information directly from Jerry. He'll be coming up for a visit soon and he'll let us pepper him with detailed questions. He and a few other riders came down the Valley HILL late in the evening leading loaded mules. They arrived at the Lodge the next morning and Kelsey volunteered to ride immediately with this important update on our family. I doubt DH and I had truly realized just how much strain we were under from the time Nathan had told us of that phone call and their danger. The very best of this morning was the letters Jerry carried from everyone. Kelsey handed them over when we stopped jumping around so much. From Bro [a short note indicating he was bringing a lot of stuff I'd be happy about], my parents [long letter written by my mom], both DDs with "tell your parents ......." sentences added from SIL. Even some precious pictures drawn by GS2 and a greeting from GD1 written all by himself. Those last two were covered with X's and O's. Oh my, it took us the rest of the morning to read them over and over....aloud, mostly. Kelsey didn't *think* of moving on till she'd heard all this wonderful news too. She'd ridden fast to give this report and wanted to share the joy with us. She had to walk her tired horse back and forth in our pasture and eventually water the smoky colored mare. Machela helped her but they hovered close to our ledge patio. This gist of the thing is that the family caravan was taken captive by the thugs in Carterville but were not harmed in anyway. They were badly frightened and the anxiety was certainly not good for my parents and their friend Jim. But they were getting a good rest at the Rockin' J until the wagons/oxen return. [Jerry and the mule train had crossed paths with them somewhat over half way here.] My parents expressed some unease about the rigors of traveling by wagon train. My brother wryly suggested he could plow out a road so that his TRUCKS could be used instead of animal power. [did I mention he moves earth around for a living?...among other skills...wait till he sees some of that wilderness trail! ] DD2 was really wondering if they'll be going from the frying pan to the fire.....she's NOT a camping sort of gal. But it's obvious that they are all very ready to be here, safe in Big Valley. EVEN if we're living in caves. As for the mule train, they were able to bring in some early rye grain and some sugar for Chef. More importantly, about 5 pounds of salt per family and a few packages and letters that had managed to arrive now that the armed caravans were getting some things thru the chaotic conditions OUTSIDE. Kelsey said some bolts of cloth had been sent, particularly since some of the orphaned children had come with little but the clothes on their backs. Not much can be packed on merely a dozen mules. [They aren't even very BIG mules either. We need to breed up some of the large ones that formerly served in this capacity in our past eras. ] Anyway, we're all so glad that Jerry is back now and can help the Q's. We've heard they took on some youngsters too. Hope we'll meet the new folks this Sunday. I think we'd have sat there chatting and celebrating all day if Machela hadn't gone to check on the goats in the stable [cave]. She RAN back to announce that two of them were birthing already! We knew it was imminent so we'd kept all four of them penned separately with thick bedding for the past several days. As often happens when bred at the same time, they ALL gave birth nearly at once. Kelsey fell in LOVE with the babies and begged to be put to work at Cleft of the Rock so she could earn a pair of them for herself. Deal! I *always* need more help weeding gardens/fields! Kelsey's father is currently a woodworker, primarily boats. He'd learned the skill from his grandfather but previously, his real occupation had been computer programmer. They now live along the big lake, fairly close to the Lodge. While his late wife had been a 'shirttail' relative of MrS, they had been invited to join the Big Valley craftsperson group for his hobby skill of making small water craft. He'd already supervised the construction of two rafts that can transport goods across the lake using very long oars. He was now working on several medium and small boats that would navigate the rivers in Big Valley. Kelsey's mother had passed away four years ago when Kelsey was 12. Her paternal grandmother had moved in and taken over the household. She has two brothers over 18 and a married sister/BIL [expecting their first child in a few months]. All work in some aspect of the new family business. They plan to have a cluster of three cabins and two workshops down on the lake side property on some acreage. But the majority of their claimed acreage is on the NE corner of the Valley....up the mountainside where they can cut selected trees for the business. I know they kept their oxen teams for the duty of dragging the logs down from the mountain. They also have a few horses including Kelsey's beloved 'Shadow'. Other than a couple dogs and cats, they have no other animals. Their agriculture is limited to a very large garden which the grandmother supervises and everyone spends time helping. Kelsey has been interested in our small goats since our wagon train began. She learned to milk from Mother and I and has often been around asking questions and helping. She's a born animal-lover but has a special affinity with these goats. I had definitely planned trade something so that she can begin a herd of milkers for their family. Mebbe one little doe from Grma goat and one from DaughterGoat? I'm so glad she, as well as our new children, got to be here for the birthing. It's very neat to see the new babies born. Since Kelsey really hadn't been on messenger duty that day - just happened to be hanging around at the Lodge when the mule train came in, she got stay for the whole birthing and only returned to her parents homestead before dark. [i think the girl has her eye on our oldest son.... And she and Machela are becoming friends. Kelsey is only a bit older than Machela. ] Anyway, final baby goat tally: Grma Goat gave birth to triplets this time ....a little male and tiny females. Her daughter also gave birth to triplets - three does. She had the twin does last time....hmmm, we LIKE lots of doe-babies! Twin One gave birth to a male and female set. Twin Two gave birth to a fine big buckling. Poor thing! She's the smallest of them all and strained quite a bit but none of them had needed assistance! It was a precious time and babies are always so CUTE! These ranch kids didn't even say "eeeuuuu" once. I saw Kelsey turn a bit green at one point tho. This was her first experience with witnessing the birth of anything. OK, so three-four months from now, these bucklings will be breeding age and they come from that farm we passed by five months ago. Genetic records will be important, as will the genetic diversity. I guess we have the beginnings of a buck herd now. I am so tired BUT HAPPY ...... I can't tell if I should lay down and sleep or go dance in the moonlight. {snort} I'd better sleep. MtRider [....more family on the way sooooooon.....]

{IRL.....aaaaaauuuuuuuggggghhhhhhh.....this has been SO annoying to be without Internet service. I've tried several ways to get around it and keep sending in posts on this story. But my Mac computer isn't on speaking terms with the NOT Macs at our library. I've been forced to learn new technical things ! So my posts will be as tho I am writing a history of the past events...not in a timely journal format until I get caught up and....return to Internet connection. ...working on that!..... I'll be thrilled when I can finally read everyone else's posts here toooooooo! NOTE: It WORKS!!!! } The New Children -- Settling In Dear Diary Let me take some time to recap some of the times and events since the night we spent at the Base Camp ....after bringing down the last of the wagons/carts, the cargo without wagons, and then the livestock. Obviously, everyone was completely exhausted and slept as early as we could eat and lay down. Very early the next morning, Mother's clan and MtR's clan left for our cross-country trek home. This land south of our EAST River is primarily uninhabited as yet. On rest stops, we again tried to look for varieties of plant life that would be useful for eating or medicinally. There were various early berries to pick and that will help put fruit into our diet. We've noted the locations and we will be coming back on day trips for more...if we get a half a chance. MrMtR and Mother's DD had a long discussion on plant identification. He's still trying to get up to speed with that. He'd been used to getting his herbs already processed into capsules and pill form. We kept trading off drivers so that everyone had a chance to stretch sore muscles from the heavy work yesterday. We have enough riders to keep the extra horses, sheep, cattle, etc herded. We had a bit of rodeo at that larger stream but finally they were all coaxed to cross. It was so hot that we stopped the wagons and many of us cooled off by splashing around in our clothes. More than one had to put a poncho or tarp across a saddle so as not to dampen the leather with dripping clothing. {sigh} It's getting to that point for me .........when the mid-day hours are going to be dangerously HOT! That's the reason I stayed mostly under the awning we pulled forward over the wagon seat....staying in the shade. There's not much shade from horseback here. It helped that we were traveling north [and a bit west] and the wagon seat was out of direct sunlight. I am SO glad of the wide overhang of rock on our cave's patio. I'd hate to be locked inside for hours of each day. I kept my white sweatshirt soaked by wetting it from the waterbarrel on the side of the wagon. It's icky to slip on a COLD, wet sweatshirt over my tank top but it sure does keep me cool by evaporation. The gentle breeze dries the garment within two hours and I wet it again. I've also got my cool bibs which, when soaked, retain water for a couple days. They also work by evaporation. My mom has sewn me a lot of these and we've brought material and the polymer crystals that go inside them. The crystals are also used to ensure even watering of delicate plants, but I want mine for the cool bibs! The Three Sisters Ford [so named for our very first garden which is near this crossing] was exciting. Although we were technically on Our Land for a while on the south side of the East River, we count ourselves HOME when we come to this side near our caves. We've been working on some crude fencing on that south bank and the Witlocks boys have managed to get some of it completed. If these Dexter cattle don't swim across the river, that is. We're hoping to use the river as a "fence line" but .....sometimes animals don't acknowledge that. Anyway, as the first of Mother's clan began crossing with their wagons, the rest of us began to pick out the Dexters from the mass of other livestock and 'rodeo' them into the fencing. It would need to be expanded but it would provide shade, grass, and river water for now. The two herd dogs [Port and Starboard...so named for the sides they generally took when herding... ] knew how to bully their cattle and it was less problematic than I'd anticipated. Well, a few comical moments.... Hey, I knew that branch was there before it swacked my face....really! But I got that cow! Tom and David [Whitlock...who'd been homestead-sitting for us] came out in time to join this fun. Their young energy was a great help to those of us who are older and were getting pretty tired by now. Nathan was glad to see them again and introduced his siblings. Good friends for our sons. It's a reallly good thing that the banks of 3-S Ford are so VERY flat at this crossing. It's also been dry weather for a while now. The hayrack full of pigs and the grain wagons would have had trouble. We are all *quite* aware by now, of why the old time wagons had such large wheels. Having discussed the possibility of bringing such wagons with Nathan when he was here, we'd prepared four large logs ahead of time. They were lashed into a rectangle...fitted closely to the sides of the heavy metal grain wagons. Helped with buoyancy and stability. A function similar to outriggers for canoes. We'd temporarily sealed up those wagons at the grain door in the back. They would not have floated well and the logs made everything acquired but the river is not very wide. I wouldn't try that too often tho. The Conestogas float over much better due to their shape. These grain wagons are shaped like a square funnel and are thus, top heavy. Need to see about a bridge here! We'd also had to do some re-hitching in order to have the pulling power to yank those grain wagons clear of the muddy river bottom after they'd crossed the deep channel close to the south bank. There is a sand bar in the middle, but then it's mostly solid rocky bottom and knee-deep water on the north bank of the river. The trout had long since fled the area.... The pigs! Oh, they were quite vocal about getting wet. Well, the mebbe not that but the whole process of river crossing anyway. The old hayrack did float easily, being made of wood. But it has no freeboard and the river kinda sloshed lazily across the bottom of the cages. .....Welllllllll, that was a GOOD idea. You can kind of imagine what the bottom of the cages [and hayrack] looked like after the pigs had been living there? Even with frequent cleaning, it was quite FOUL. So the washing of the river was welcomed by everyone ....except the pigs. We decided to off load our pigs into the corral that was quickly set up with hog panels. These panels had been carried on the hayrack too and it took just a short time to pound in a few T-posts and wire them tight for stability. The ramp was set and the pigs escorted down to the grass. They were familiar with this routine, having done it a few times during the wilderness trip. They can be ornery animals and dangerous with teeth and feet. But there were no incidents. At least all this year's piglets were weaned by now and we didn't have a cranky, protective mamma pig. [YIKE] Then Mother's clan was able to drive the hayrack the rest of the way to Hobbit Hole to unload their pigs. Someone would return the hayrack later. The donkey cart, loaded with our poultry, was next with it's large wheels. It went smoothly since both MM and Jack had crossed here. We had side riders with ropes attached to the cart...in case of twisting or tilting. We did NOT want to drown the chickens, etc. Yeah, they were also quite vocal during this process. But the river was in a slow, lazy stage so all was well. I made a note not to try this sort of thing when our dear river was in a turbulent mood. I thanked God again for the beautiful sunny days we've had for these tricky maneuvers on HILL and RIVER. Our current lives are SO dependent on the weather! Then we all helped, on foot or horseback, to cut out the livestock belonging to Mother's clan and drive them across the river. They were pushed a good distance up the trail past our cave entrance path. We hollered goodbyes and as they disappeared around the bend to follow the river trail uphill and further east. Then we gathered the last of our children's livestock. With the cattle staying in south pasture, we only had a few horses, ponies, Machela's sheep and the guardian dog [Rex], and three milking Dexter cows to make the crossing. Three members of Mother's clan stayed to make sure all went well. The sheep had been sheared some time ago and their coats were growing thicker, making it a little difficult to cross. Air pockets remained in the fleece tho in this short crossing...oily as the wool is. They just didn't want to cross if not pushed to it. A number of us got wet in that rodeo event. But we were all laughing and in no real trouble. Machela was on foot by this time and made certain that her beloved woolgrowers were fine. I'm exciting to think of the potential uses for the wool. We'd put halters on the equines already and several of them were led. We got our livestock going in the correct direction. Having been with all the others for a long trail and they now wanted to follow Mother's herds. Finally they were all driven/led through the narrow passage [which is usually blocked with a huge tangle of branch and bramble] between the westernmost part of our "C" cliffs and the river. Tom and David had put our horses into the stable for now, to keep down the chance of .....um, excitement with new 'invading' horses. Time enough for that meeting later. We kept driving them along the river's edge down in front of our caves and squeezed through a second passage that opens onto the pasture of the Maui-side caves. We turned them loose in the acres of green grasses and closed up the passage. The fertile river silt washes into that area with spring flooding. The steady moisture of being near the river gives us very good grasslands. Our lessor number of livestock would reside in front of the Colorado caves and the children's livestock will be kept in the much bigger pasture of the Maui side. That should keep the grass from being overgrazed. If not, we'll have to build fencing elsewhere. Plenty of grass everywhere in this season. [Note to Self: need to get the haying done soooon!] Then we took the donkey cart up the hill to the patio ledge. Big Dog and Nya-pup had been following us around since we crossed the river and now had to be shooed away from the bird cages. [AW geee, smelled interesting!] Those that had muscles left [NOT me!] unloaded the cages and let the chickens and guinea fowl eat thru the cage wires in the deep grass of the pasture. We'd keep them caged until they got used to the area as their own. Especially the more flight-capable guineas. Eventually those speckled birds would take to the trees naturally, unless we wanted to build a pen for them. Not likely to have time, so we'll have to take our chances, I'm thinking. MM and Jack were turned loose to the pasture after taking the cart back down to the riverside. It needed a good cleaning too. Whew! Our Conestoga wagon was brought up by O2 and H2O [female oxen] who we did not send back with the wagons and oxen returning to the Rockin' J. We took a break to eat some venison BBQ sandwiches and a huge lettuce salad that Cassandra Whitlock had brought over earlier that morning. She also put a Valley-ingredient version of Dump Cake into a dutch oven in the firepit and ordered her nephew and son to keep it from burning. Threatened their young selves.....to hear them tell it! All was wonderful!!!! By now it was late of a midsummer evening but we still hoped to get the Conestoga emptied. DH, Nathan and Micah were to leave again in the morning with that wagon. We have one more large pile of household cargo stowed back at the Base Camp under a tarp. Sure glad MrMother had thot to bring it DOWN the HILL for us tho! As we tried to bolster our energy for a final push, we heard a HALOOOWWWW from below. Here comes several members of the Whitlock family trooping up our side path and ready to help. "Sorry we weren't here earlier but the hay cutting took longer than we'd thought. Isn't that just the case with *everything* we do in the Valley?" said Cassandra. Her son, David piped up to inform her that the Dump Cake had NOT been allowed to burn. With that welcome help, all three of the wagons were unloaded before dark and all the Whitlocks returned home with our immense gratitude. What a nice family to have as one of our near neighbors! We've long since arranged that David and Tom are each to receive a bred female Dexter. One of the beef line and one from the milking line of the breed. In exchange for past and future work. We convinced them that their family had long since paid off any debt to DrMtR. One of the Percheron horses that pulled a grain wagon actually belongs to a relative of MrSmith. We'd be returning the mare with much thanks on the next Sunday. The other Percheron mare is the children's and both went to the Maui pasture for the night. The oxen were turned loose in the CO pasture. I wasn't sure we'd be able to FIND anything that had been unloaded. But the 'living room' cave is quite large and everyone had stacked things neatly in rows so we could sort it later. Machela had been grabbing things she recognized and hustling them into the cave areas designated for their bedrooms. At least there were enough sleeping bags and their personal items had been stowed in specific bags in the Conestoga. The grain bags and buckets were carried [we never could have done that much this evening!] to the wide area on the west side of the living room cave. It was becoming a sort of pantry. Good enough for now. Goodness.....where ARE we going to be storing the grain we harvest????? We've got more cats now....6 more 'barn' type cats and one cuddly fat 'house' cat. I wonder how my cat and Scarlet will get along? But there is still going to be a rodent problem. The buckets will be ok....mebbe.....but those sacks will be nibbled right through. We need to begin constructing some large wooden bins like we used to have on our farm. They must be very thick and tight tho. Durned mice can nibble and squeeze through cracks. Doubt we will have any excess food to share with the rodents this year! Well, Kaylee and Kaila both fell asleep curled up on some quilts in the living room and Ben soon joined them. The rest of us gathered around and soon it was obvious that we'd all just crash there for this night. I handed out pillows and such and left a couple yard-type solar lights glowing .....tho the moon was quite bright outside. Big Dog and Nya the St. pup were on guard....{snort}....both snoring louder than young Ben! MtRider [ nite, all! ]

AW! (((Mt3B)))) I *hate* it when I lose computer stuff. If it's any consolation....we've had sunny days that are getting in the mid 50's!!!! I'll try to send some your way to melt all that nasty ice...... hey wait...I'm in the Colorado Rockies at 9,000' and I'm trying to comfort southern folks about their winter weather...... 'Taint right! Jest 'taint right! MtRider [putting me to bed and might not be here IRL tomorrow.... ]

[The thread previous to this one can be found at: http://mrssurvival.com/forums/index.php?sh...t=0&start=0 ] This the the morning many of us have been working hard to be ready for. We've anticipated the increase in our Valley population by trying to double our crop lands. Now many of us will welcome friends and family today. Many of us also, will open our hearts and homes .....basic as those homes might be, to children who have been orphaned in the outside chaos. May God bless and protect us this day....those on the HILL and those at home watching and waiting. {squawk....} Radio signals communication.... "This is Base Camp"............."OK, we copy." We have received the lineup for the wagons...... 1)Several of the B's group. 2)Mt3b clan & friends 3)Rock clan [Rock's DD/family....Rocks SD/family..and several orphans without homes yet ] 4)Mother's clan 5) Annarchy's clan & friends 6) MtRiders' Jenson-Han 6 orphans Likely only the first three will be able to get down today. The last three will descend tomorrow. Anyone can hitch a ride up the switchbacks to help with the HILL. Just hitch back down in time if you are needed to drive your wagon up. Note: The herds of loose livestock [not caged pigs, poultry, etc] will be coming down last [save the trail!] on the third day. Some folks will have time to go home and return again. You may come back to fetch your horses/cattle/goats/sheep/? from the temporary pens at the base camp [bottom of the switchbacks]. Folks will stay to guard them until you can return to get your animals. Note 2: Some of us will need to make many trips....because our incoming people have more wagon loads at the top than we have wagons at the bottom. MtRider [who is going to be gone most of tomorrow IRL so ....carry on..... and I'll report on my group's descent the next day...um, Friday IRL ]

Wednesday --- Once Again..... A long time ago in a far away place, I picked up the ringing phone to hear the words: "Your children are on this flight from Korea. Meet them at the airport tomorrow ........" THAT'S WHAT I FEEL LIKE TODAY Well, MrMtR and I have finally arrived at the base camp in the meadow just before the ascent up the switchbacks. This is the closest spot for all of us to camp. They have built some temporary animal enclosures here and all the horses/oxen/donkeys used to pull wagons here today are content to eat grass in there tonite. MM and Jack pulled our nearly empty wagon today but we'll be switching to one of our 3 oxen teams for the way home. The donkeys will pull the donkey cart that, if it went like we discussed with Nathan, should be hauling a LOT of chicken pens. This is going to take a long time. The switchbacks, naturally, are a one-way road. [if you can call that a 'road'. ] I'll be using the radio to receive word on which wagons will be going up in which order. There is room for about four or five up at the base of the steep drop. But ONLY one way traffic up or down the switchbacks! So either we have wagons coming down or wagons going up....but never both at the same time! Hopefully, with the radio communication, this will go smoothly. [Hmm....if we send up the first 5 wagons [with some extra people to help with the loading, then switch off later in the day] ....then let 2 come down and the other 3 are loading.... ...then 2 can be coming up..... When the 2 come up, another 2 go down.....and so on......Always 2 up and 2 down. It takes over an hour to go up or down the switchbacks. But we've got better weather this time and we're all better drivers too. When we all came in it was raining. Mud. My barometer is happy to forecast clear skies. It was a long trip here. I haven't spent so much time riding on these stiff seats since we dropped down this very site in May. No major problems though. Crossing the East river at our place went fine and saved Mother's clan and us a lot of time. The area of the Valley straight south of us, across the river, is pretty level and grassy. We plan to do a lot of haying in that area...and SOON! As we veered to the east, it gets a bit more hilly and rocky as you get near where the rising of the valley walls becomes noticeable. This eastern wall is the steepest one. There are so many trees that I need to identify. I wonder if some might be bearing any nut or fruit-type produce? What grows in this area and what came in with the earlier attempt at bringing civilization to this region??? [...as evidenced by the cabins left here. ] It was nice to travel in the vast company again. Like being on the wagon train.....eatin' dust. But we were all excited and cheerful...going to see family. DH & I kept discussing the new children endlessly. I hopped over to the other wagons and made sure EVERYone had seen the photos of the children that Nathan had brought us. CUTE family. I'll just bet those little girls are rascals. Nathan admitted as much. He said they do tend to spoil them...especially now after their parents were gone. But the 3 oldest are aware that it needs to be back in control again. They might have already dealt with that on the rugged wagon trip out here. There really is no leeway for nonsense on a wagon train....as we are all aware. Lesseee, when they ALL get here, we'll have the 5 yr olds twins; a 4 yr old, and a 6 yr old...then a 10 yr old. Mother's clan is picking up DD's other brother who has 5 young GIRLS and a 6th nearly here. Wow, L must be having a tough time traveling with a pregnancy. I hope they put a nice comfy seat on one wagon. LOL...my mom's letter included a question about what she and my dad would be sitting on. She wanted a rocker like Granny Clampet. It was neat to get to talk to DD and DGD and SO. I miss the chatter of women like we had on the journey here. We were all picking things here and there along the wagon...to show Mother to identify or to gather for some known uses. I wish Mother was here too but it was truly a good choice to send the strongest muscles and stamina. I don't really count in that, but I can grab the little twins and Ben so they don't get in the way. Tom and David Witlock arrived before dawn to watch our place. They've been there so much that I'm confident in their ability. They are real clowns sometimes but they know when to take responsibility seriously. I have the feeling that an older Witlock will be by to check on them too. I told them that if we weren't back by tomorrow nite, make sure the messenger is getting around daily to check on Mother and her mom up at Hobbit Hole. That messenger service is great and I will gladly contribute to the payment for their time and young energy. Our wagon flushed up two male pheasants and DS was able to bring them down. He had taken the spare horse to ride to the side of the wagons. Keeps his lungs out of the dust, for one thing. He also ranged a bit farther out and got three rabbits during the course of the day. He was using a .22 since everyone has the most quantity of that cheap ammo. so it took a good shot to bring them down. The birds and rabbits would stretch the supplies that we'd brought by providing tonight's 'meat for the pot'. Well, now we are here and I barely have helped out at all. I'm so excited to see everyone. Q didn't get to come either. Same reason as Mother....gotta hold down the fort. Tonite I am sorry for them. By tomorrow nite, I'll likely be envious of them. This will be a lot of work. Supper is done and the crowd around the campfire is dwindling. DH and I are sleeping on air mattresses [didn't want to bring any more than necessary cuz these wagons will be FULL on the return trip. ] and sleeping bags. Once we get the call to go up the switchbacks and it's our turn to load up goods and children, we'll begin back home....IF there is time before dark. Unless we're one of the first ones called up tho, we'll be spending tomorrow nite down here too. G'nite all, MtRider PLEASE PUT THE NEXT POSTS TO THE NEW THREAD AT: http://mrssurvival.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=39017 NOTE....the new thread is down with the Comments thread until Mother can get it "pinned" for me...

Um...Mt3b....hon, you need therapy! OK...so I've called my real horse "Roan" ....more than once. {gasp} Uh, oh, it's a good thing one of us didn't use an alias name for our DH's.... "So WHO is 'Bob'?" "....oh, 'Bob' is you, honey. Don't worry." I do have trouble when I'm reading it to my mom over the phone....I sometimes translate to the real name and sometimes say DD1. Thanks, Annarchy. Your Lil' Lady was the other one I couldn't remember. Was it a cat or a cow.... Hey, I remembered Frank! MtRider [making a copy of everyone else's family list too..... ]

whew...thanks, Mt3b! Your Wagon Train #2 folks were part of the ones I was confusing. That helps! I'd forgotten who R&V were. Mother! Just think how much easier you will have it when it's all written down on a cheat sheet. You can tack it up in your house [yes....I PRINTED OUT A COPY OF MINE FOR MEEEE!] and it will help in big family get togethers. With this AND your story in Fireside with all alias names....I can see why you're in trouble, Jean....er, I mean Mother,...er...um Dear Friend! ["Jean" is her alias in the Fireside story....which is REALLLLLY good if anyone hasn't read that one, btw!! ] MtRider [ muttering "Kaylee and Kaila..... K 'eye' lah...... that's what I get for making up an unusual name for my kids..... ]

I've got a request: Can the writers please write out [any time is good, not an immediate NEED] the names [mebbe ages of children] of your characters. Not real names but what they're called. Also some animals with names too. I've just spent quite a bit of time trying to go back thru threads to find out what in the world I named that other little twin girl. If I'm having trouble with my own characters....I'd guess everyone is cuz our Cast of Characters [including beloved critters] is getting larger. I wouldn't want anyone to think that "Frank" who stays in the Annarchy household is a second man....he's a ferret! So here is an example: Some are obvious and some are not. MtRider == ME! Mr.MtR or Doc or Dr.MtR === MtR's husband DD1 == our older daughter DD2 == our younger daughter SIL == DD2's husband GS1 ==DD2&SIL's older son (my older Grson) GS2 == " " younger son (my 2nd Gson) Mom == my mom Dad == my dad John ==long time family friend; my parent's age Bro ==my brother Denise == Da Niece (Brother's 19 yr old daughter, my niece) GF ==Girl Friend (well, person of interest to my brother ) Janet == GF's young adult daughter (vet tech) Jeff == Janet's husband (vet) Montana orphaned kids -- Jenson-Han family Nathan - 17 Micah and Machela - 14, twins Ben - 10 Kaylee and Kaila (pronounced kye like "eye"; lah) - 5, twins adopted by Jenson-Han parents Witlock boys cousins, both 17.....Tom and David Critters for MtRiders: Dogs: Big Dog; new Saint pup - Nya Cat: Kitty? (what did I call her? lol ) Horses: Roan - mare; Midnight - gelding Donkeys: Miz MM; Jack - male 4 dwarf goats - all female & pregnant...(stay tuned) 4 rabbits; one is male 3 Cotton Patch geese; one is male (setting nest) and..... a dozen Khaki Campbell ducks; 3 are male Well, at least now *I* have a reference point without digging back thru the pages of posts.... I am still researching good breeds of livestock for the Jenson-Han kids to be bringing.....it's been fun to do that. I'm learning about the OLD breeds of farm animals. MtRider [just trying to get my ducks in a row.....OH, forgot my ducks {for real...this isn't storywriting... sheeesh!} ]

Rockin' J At Last! It only took a couple hours to wrap up their family's business at the Carterville High School. Jerry had instructed one of his team to assist them. Miraculously, nothing important was damaged nor apparently missing from their vehicles. A carton of Diet Coke was gone from DD1's SUV and there was a new large dent in the van. Some of the vehicles in the parking lot were found to have bullet holes. They were fortunate. Since this highway scam had been going on for weeks, those vehicles seized early had been searched thoroughly and a lot was missing. However, seems that after a while, the brigands had lost interest in immediately pillaging their loot. For the owners of the emptied vehicles, the mayor promised that much of those possessions might be found and returned.....given enough time to pull things together. ----------------- Just hours later, that whole scene at Carterville was taking on a decidedly unreal quality.......after the manner of incidents for which we have no mental 'cubbyhole' to fit the memory for storage. Could all of that have really only happened early this morning? Bro needed to clear his head. He walked outside the Rockin'J's mess hall to breathe deeply of the fresh air. He stared at the sunset over the mountains into which they would soon disappear. "Farmboy!" Jerry called out cheerfully. They shook hands with smiles and each took a seat under the covered porch. "When did you get back?" asked Bro. ------------------- Jerry had assigned a member of his team to get MtR's family out of Carterville quickly. She had led them out of town in her vehicle, and across that dratted bridge. Then on up the highway about 10 miles. Then she turned east and led them into a small creek side park, just a few hundred yards off the highway. Bro recognized his own group's five trucks and the various trailers they pulled. John nearly didn't get the old pickup stopped before Bro bolted out of it to greet his daughter and GF and GF's DD -Janet & husband Jeff. Not that he had doubted Jerry's assurance that they'd be here waiting....but it was just so very good to wrap his arms around them in person. To know they were fine. -------------------- "I've just been here long enough for a shower and clean clothes," answered Jerry. " Finally got that mess in Carterville sorted out somewhat. I see Lucy got you here just fine." "She watched over us like a Mother Hen, " replied Bro. "I sure do want to thank you for getting my daughter and the rest up there past Carterville. I was SO glad to see them at the rest stop." Then Bro laughed and added,"You should have seen my Dad and John....when they saw all of those farm implements up on my hayrack wagon. "Course my dad knew right away that they were Grandpa's, even if Uncle had restored them. Lucy had a hard time getting those two back in the trucks so we could drive on up here. They're over there right now making sure that whole load will haul just right when we head up the mountains. Jacob is checking it over too." "Folks in the valley will benefit from those pieces if we can get them there. Some of the smaller things like the plow will go on a different wagon. That trail gets pretty steep. Have you ever driven behind 8 oxen?" asked Jerry. "I've never driven behind any oxen," laughed Bro. "I just took a few trial runs with the mules at the museum with my Uncle coaching. Remember, I'm one generation down from those men. I drove tractors....and combines the size of a small house. I hear the equipment is even bigger now........or rather, it was." A silence dropped onto the conversation....as it often does these days when people remember and ponder just how much was being lost daily of the modern civilization. So unnecessary. So stupid. "So, are they all dead?" asked Bro quietly. Jerry looked at him, then shook his head. "Nope, most of those brigands are going to pay back the people of Carterville in hard labor. Well supervised hard labor. A few didn't chose to ....ah, take that option. You heard the gunfire, I'm sure." Bro nodded. "I don't know how you pulled that off. I am still thanking God for you and your team." "You a Believer, then?" "Yes, and more fervently every day now!" stated Bro. "We really need Him for protection and guidance." "True," said Jerry. "And that answers your question about how the rescue of your family and all of Carterville happened. There were too many coincidences....too many provisions at just the right time..... No human can set things up all the ways our lives intersect with others. Like you arriving to risk doing the job you did. I assume you know that bullets sprayed across the cafeteria? If they hadn't had your warning..... Well, we all do the part our Maker assigns us." Jerry continued. "Fred is staying on as Sheriff. Their former police chief was killed in the initial takeover. Mayor Wilson nearly begged him when he heard how Fred had kept the high school captives calm and orderly. Kept their hope alive. Pray for him, by the way. He's seeing a few too many things to keep on calling them coincidence for much longer. "Also, some of the young folks that helped were deputized too. In the chaos, a lot of them were just traveling with no where to call home. They think Fred is something special ....and he is. Carterville has enough rural area to make it in these times. They should do all right now, hopefully." said Jerry. "Then they won't be caught unaware again," said Bro. "I sure wouldn't have known what to do if you and Fred hadn't been there. All I could do was be the messenger." "It's not your call in life, Farmboy," said Jerry. "You...and your family. You're called to produce food. The value of what you're bringing in with that equipment, and knowledge held by your parents' generation.....that's what will keep us going. Help grow volumes of grain that can help keep us all alive till we can begin to rebuild again..outside. That's your little piece of the picture in Big Valley." "Just how many are in the Valley by now?" asked Bro. "Going to top off at about 200 after your group is in....give or take." "That's a lot for just a plow and a couple mules," Bro commented. "Well, I think you will be surprised to find what the first families have done with nearly their bare hands out there. When I left, they were scurrying around to double their planting when they heard of more folks coming in. We'll do OK. Already have a strong community spirit there." "I hear my sister is living in caves.....uh...." Jerry laughed at the dubious look on Bro's face. "Don't worry....it isn't as bad as you think. Oh, .....you don't like the claustrophobia, huh? Well, you can put up a log cabin. Or adobe. Or a soddy. Most folks are doing odd combinations of any or all. But your sister and the doc really have needed more family to help. So do my folks. And as soon as possible. Hey, any chance you want to ride ahead with me, bringing in a string of pack mules? A few of us will be leaving tomorrow...taking in more supplies and some spring wheat they've harvested." Bro was tempted but...... "I guess I'll be needed with my family on the trail," he finally answered. "It would be nice to get things more set up for their arrival but I think I'm the one with the most experience...and not too old yet. Its going to be real hard physically, on my parents and John, tho they all know the rural lifestyle. "It's going to be hard on my nieces and their family because they don't even know how to ride or interact with livestock...or wildlife. My GF and I and our families are at least rural folks. Did you know her daughter and SIL are veterinarians? Well, Jeff is. Janet is a vet tech. My nieces and family will find their niche too tho. DD1 is a school teacher - for elementary. That's necessary." Jerry nodded. "They'll need you to help on the trail then. Everyone will find a skill but a few will never stop yearning for the city life. Most tho, who chose to come to the Valley, will never want to leave. Even if we do ever get the mess straightened out again. "Well....... I'm off to bed. I'll be gone before daylight and I'll hurry all the more so your sister and everyone won't worry about you all. Nathan will have carried word about the phone call from the bridge. If any of you want to send a letter, give it to Joy tonight. I'll be happy to carry it." "I'll tell them and you'll likely have a stack of them to carry," said Bro as they shook hands. "And thank you.....for all of it!" "See you in the Valley soon then, Farmboy," called Jerry.

.....um, wait! "Annarchy had a run in with wolves???????? WHERE? What page/what post??????? I MISSED SOMETHING....AAAUGGGGHHH! Is she OK?????? And Q is hosting Annarchy's airplane pilot in her cave? OK, I'm sticking with my Carterville story... C'mon in, CeeGee!!!!! You don't have to read 200+ posts all at once before you post about YOUR house in town or homestead. ['sides, we've all done bloopers so we're getting used to them] And don't forget to write in some loved ones if you want to collect someone else to the Valley on WT#2 [Thursday IRL time] MtRider [how did I miss the wolf thing?????????? ...wolves in BV, huh? Hmmmm.... Not surprising tho.]

Carterville - Part II The sunny morning was already getting hot but that was not the reason for the sweat running down Bro's face and back. He was walking north on Highway 181 ...walking with a carefully prepared knapsack and old boots, right into an ambush. On purpose. Jerry had lined up his plan and part of it was to lower the risk of the captives from the highway getting hurt, including Bro's family. Bro had to get into that high school. So they'd given him a pack with some hidden items. These brigands were not professionals. In the days that Jerry's team had been watching, it was obvious that their highway robbery game had gotten out of control. Likely they'd come into this town with enough weaponry to overwhelm decent folks initially. They were obviously vicious, ...and in the way of humans without self-controls and a lot of stolen power, they were getting quickly worse. Jerry told Bro that they'd witnessed enough incidents with the townsfolk that the choice had been made. When they saw a brigand crack an old man over the head, Jerry had been forced to sit on one of his own men. A young team member who hadn't had a lot of training till things began to fall apart. Jerry was going to do some one-on-one training with this lad when this job was over. For the sake of all the town's folk, Jerry wanted to get this thing over as quickly as possible. Yes, there was evidence enough to warrant action. Predators like these needed to be removed from power. Knowing that Bro was on his way, Jerry worked that into the plan. Just a bit more security inside the high school. At least those captured folks would have warning. These bozos had overplayed their hand. If they'd just kept folks from entering Carterville, they might have had a scam for a while. But packing the high school with prisoners was stupid. They didn't even go inside anymore. Too outnumbered, even with guns. Just kept them locked in and patrols in the fenced parking lot. That gave Bro his opportunity to organize within. The encounter happened as he approached the first street crossing. Four scruffy, armed men suddenly appeared from all sides. He stopped and put out his hands, placatingly he hoped. They moved in, weapons ready. Two of them forced him roughly down to the ground to search him. One yanked off his knapsack. It apparently held a book, a few energy bars - the high protein type that tasted like sawdust, a water bottle with 5 purification tablets, a few toiletries, a few clothes and a cheap rain poncho that had seen much duty. "Nothing in here! The dude's a bum." The man threw the bag down in disgust and told him to get up. They had taken a few dollars from his pocket, and a small folder knife. Bro reached slowly for the knapsack, stuffing things half-spilled back inside. He rose to his feet, spitting dirt. Carefully not near anyone's feet, however. He dabbed at a raw spot where his chin had raked on the pavement. He didn't have to pretend to be scared. "Throw him inside, " grumbled the red-bearded one. "Dunno what we're gonna do with all of them. It's time to take our stuff and get out." Bro was marched at gunpoint...prodded painfully into his back no matter how smartly he stepped, to the gate of the school parking lot. He looked around, trying to see and remember anything that might be vital later. {snort} What did he know about situations like this? Jerry had told him to just keep to his part and don't try anything heroic. Get inside and see your family. Get away from the windows. On the mark, make sure everyone is away from the windows...perferably barricaded within the interior rooms. They unlocked the door to the front hall, after shouting for the people inside to clear that area. One of them men put a few rounds down the hallway as they opened the door to throw him inside. Evidently this was standard procedure, because everyone had cleared immediately. He was alone on the cool terrazzo floor. Dang, he'd clipped his chin again! He moved quickly while seeming to limp to the nearest doorway. He really *had* smacked the floor hard, and was thinking of how he was too old for such missions. As soon as he burst through the door, he was accosted by several people desperate for information. He ignored them. He could not yet tell them that help was near. He searched through three rooms before he spotted his mom...sitting with the youngest grandson [GS2] leaning against her, sleeping. She saw him in the next moment and he quickly slid next to her on the bench and told her quietly, "Shhhhhh. Yes, I'm fine. I hate to see you here, but you can't *believe* how glad I am to see you at all." He added in a very low voice, "Don't worry, there is help near...but shhhhhh!" His niece, DD2 turned towards them just then and her eyes widened. He motioned for her to come. His mom had tears in her eyes and Jenny asked quietly, "Are you Uncle?" "Yes, your phone call to your mom's cell was passed along to the right people. There is a plan. Which room has no windows?" Bro said, his eyes constantly scanning the room. "And where is everyone else?" Just then he saw his dad coming their direction with water bottles in his hands. His other niece [DD1] and a large man [sIL / DD2's husband] with a young boy[GS1] , and a tall, older man were with him, also carrying water. Bro leaned over "Niece, go tell them not to make a scene! Quick!" She darted over to scoop up the water bottle her son carried and whispered to her Grandfather. He turned white and nearly stumbled as he looked over at his son. It had been *so* long since they'd had a word from him in this chaos. DD2 grabbed one of his water bottles too and helped him to sit next to Bro. They all pulled chairs up close. In the next few moments, Bro quietly greeted his family and John, a longtime family friend. He assured them that Denise was fine and that GF and her daughter/SIL was here too. They were encamped some miles back and had a guard from Jerry's team with them. Then, looking at his watch, he told them when they must alert everyone to come to the inside of the building, away from the windows. Hopefully, without panic. SIL nodded and the family followed him down the corridor to a janitor's closet. Once crowded inside, Bro took a very small pistol out of the right boot. The boots were two sizes too large for him but still the tiny .22 had been digging into his ankle since he'd begun the walk. It had merely 5 shots. But, it was something, and he put it into his pocket. He removed the weathered duct tape from his battered poncho to reveal a long, slim knife blade. He handed that to DD2. "Guard the door." No, he couldn't tell them what to expect. He didn't have the slightest idea what the plan was. He and SIL left to warn the others at the proper time and prayed particularly for the safety of those in that closet. ------------------ SIL headed straight for the man who had taken charge of the hostages in this school. One corner of the cafeteria had become Fred's office. Fred's truck had evidently been one of the first hijacked from the road. Unfortunately, it's contents had supplied the brigands with several more quality guns and a lot more ammo. Fred was retired military and had recruited other young men, and women to serve as his officers, as the group at the school grew larger and larger. He'd managed to keep the lid on this volatile situation inside during the long days, turning into weeks. Mainly by controlling the stores of cafeteria food. While there was food, he had a means of demanding decent behaviors. Keeping things calm inside the school was important for another reason. If they were being ignored so far by the brigands, so much the better. Other than throwing more and more through the door. Meanwhile, he was secretly training his 'officers' and others. Eventually, there would have to be an uprising. People on both sides were going to die...and more of them would be his people without the guns. Fred had organized the 75 or so people into units. Two members from each unit would assist with the meals in the cafeteria. No crowding or shoving. The crowd would act civil or the cafeteria would close. He only had to do that once...but he snuck food to the children and the weak ones. He had enough 'staff' to enforce that. ....Until the gas to the stoves had been turned off yesterday. Now they were eating cold beans and crackers...and anything else not disgusting if uncooked. It was going to get ugly soon. The time was drawing close. They'd have to act. At a nod from one of his officers, Fred looked up and saw the big man who had a wife, young sons and others in his group approaching their corner of the cafeteria. A stranger was with him. Fred was cautious. "Who's this?" he demanded. "You the new one thrown in today?" "This is my wife's uncle" answered SIL. "He needs to explain what's about to happen." Bro quickly outlined the events that had transpired after DD2's phone call. He didn't know the actual plan. He was only told to get as many as possible away from the windows and try to barricade the doors. So that the brigands could not use this population for hostages. Bro didn't know how Jerry was planning to protect the townspeople. Without verification of his identity, Fred would have been more cautious. But the Hawaiian family had been here for over a week now, nearly two. He'd spoken with them many times. SIL was a part of the training. If the mother of those small boys said her uncle was risking his neck to warn them of a rescue, he'd have to go with it. Besides, that made that older couple this man's parents. He was for real...or certainly believed this Jerry was for real. Fred hoped 'Jerry' knew what he was doing. In the next 15 minutes Fred had sent his 'officers' to gather the people for cookies and koolaid. The case of cookies had been an ace up his sleeve for an emergency ....or a celebration. This was it. Food will move the people quickly to 3 designated rooms in the interior. For those who asked why or those who were too depressed to be excited about cookies, the officers had another story. They were to tell them the other rooms had to be sprayed for roaches. Everyone must bring their few possessions and come along. It would have been pathetic to watch how most of the people simply followed instructions. A simple treat was the highlight of their week. Their lives distilled down to the basics of eating and sleeping. Bro considered giving the gun to Fred, but didn't quite trust anyone he'd only met 15 minutes ago. He was not trained with guns and it was rather burning a hole in his pocket. He knew he could pull the trigger to protect his family. He just wasn't sure how he'd know who was the enemy. He prayed again that Jerry would know what he was doing. SIL brought some cookies to the closet. He knocked three times and then four. His wife opened the door cautiously and then nearly stuck him with the knife as she hugged him. He told them of Fred's management of the crowds and handed them the bag of cookies. His sons were wildly excited but like Fred, SIL insisted they sit down and ask politely. Then they were each given a cookie. The group quickly decided that they would just stay in the closet. With another hug for his wife, SIL returned to the cafeteria. There was about 4 minutes left when Fred, Bro, SIL and a trio of Fred's "officers" slipped out to the interior hall way. From there, they could see the doors to the rooms where the people were having cookies. Two were gym locker rooms and one theater room. The janitor closet was in this hallway too. Bro and SIL went to stand in front of it., knocking to let the family know they were there. Both ends of the hall were guarded by "officers" with whatever heavy or sharp objects they had located for weapons. Fred and his trio were midway. At one minute, everyone in the rooms were curtly instructed to lay down flat as they could and stay down. Something was about to happen and they were to stay down and wait. A few wails were heard but were cut off. Young children were still happy with the cookies. Older ones were fearful. Everyone was tense, waiting...waiting..... One minute passed....nothing. Bro began to sweat. He'd seen Fred look at him. A lot was riding on his word. Two long minutes passed...still nothing. Three........Then there was a shot, barely audible. More followed in quick succession. Everyone was sweating now. From where they were, they could only wait to see who won out there. More gunfire to the west, this time...... Shots erupted nearby. Bro guessed it was the school parking lot. Just a flurry of them and they all heard the crash of broken windows in the midst of that. The cafeteria? Then the silence again. This pattern went on for a half hour. More than one person began to wish they'd gone to the restrooms before this began. Waiting..... waiting...... no shots heard for 5 minutes...... 10 minutes...... At 15 minutes, one of Fred's "officers" came thru the guards at the south end of the hall. "Armed people I don't recognize are coming," she reported. Fred motioned for Bro and SIL to follow him. SIL stuck his head in the closet to quickly whisper to DD2 and the others. They were led to a vantage point and Bro could see Jerry and three other men of the team that he recognized and one very sagging older man that he didn't. He thought he was going to pass out with relief. "That's the good guys, " he gasped out. Whewww! They watched as the men stuck something into the lock of the door and stepped back. Then the door was opened. The five men waited without entering. Fred led the way forward. "This man says you've come to liberate us." Fred indicated Bro. "That's right," said Jerry as he calmly walked thru the door and held out his hand to Fred. "Let me introduce you to the newly reinstalled mayor of Carterville." The man with a creased face shook hands with Fred. "I'm Mayor Wilson. Are the people in here all right?" "Yes, we're all fine. They'll be glad to leave your fine town as soon as possible though, I'm afraid. Accommodations weren't to our liking." answered Fred in dead seriousness.

Monday -- Weeding, Doors, and Mulch.... Whooooooeeeeeee. DH and I have been productive. It was nice to take a break and go to services yesterday tho.... a Day of Rest. We have been focused on Doors [need to get our caves secured better!] and weeding, and cutting grass before it seeds, for mulching as much of the garden as possible. It's beginning to get hot and we'll need to retain the moisture. But also, the mulch is such a nice weed barrier. Then, when the ground is tilled under in preparation for winter, it is composted to feed the soil. Mulch is our friend. Some of you might not know that 20 [out of 80] of our riverside acres are located on the bank opposite our cave dwellings. The land is low with wonderful grassland [some trees near the water of course] and we wanted that for pasture within visibility of our Cleft for grazing. [a bridge someday?] We also didn't want it claimed by someone else ....years down the road, perhaps. Anyway, I've been taking my rubber boat over there and cutting grass with a scythe and hauling it back. Sometimes, I've pulled the boat behind MM and Jack. Initially MM was not gonna cross that water...uh,uh! But we purchased Jack as a fully trained donkey [an expense WELL worth the money] and if Jack was going across ....well, Mz MM didn't want her Jack leaving her on that side of the river. I ride Jack and we tow the boat. MM paddles along after us. Finally she towed it back a couple times. One day I took the time to tie off a rope between trees on each side of the river. This is not our donkey crossing area. This is right in front of our Cleft Caves. I tied dangling lines down so that now I just grab the dangling lines and pull the boat to the next dangling line. Sometimes I miss and have to use the kayak [double-bladed] paddle. Or I just paddle anyway. I'm working on a system that won't cut off someone's head if someone from Mother's group decided to go downstream. Thus..the rope is very high and the twine dangles down...... sigh, but it's not really working too well. The rubber [no keel] boat tends to spin. As they say, back to the drawing board. When I take the donkey's across, I use the section where DH and I first camped here on this land. Down next to the Three Sisters garden. Not within the "C" enclosure for the animals. So far, the river has been a good barrier for all but the poultry. I want that section to remain "off limits" to donkey/horse crossing. Well, I want that...but we'll see. Teach a donkey to swim..... Our whole section of land there is in the area of a wide lazy bend in the East River. Thus it spreads out a bit and is slower. Then it regroups and gets about it's business again further down, but none of it is very swift. Not usually anyway. Well, today DH and I hitched both donkeys to the conestoga wagon and crossed the river. Loaded with lunch, water, scythes, rakes, pitchfork, tarps for dragging grass, and of course, firearms. Thru the trees along the southern bank, we could still see our caves and the livestock. Big Dog is getting used to staying with her beloved goats...I think she knows they are so vulnerable right now, getting near to birthing. But Nya [finally named the pup from Mother's ] was with us. She may well turn out to be a better family dog than Big Dog ever did. Since I'd had the donkeys across several times, the crossing-with-wagon went quite smoothly. I wasn't sure how the floating wagon was going to work. But it surely was a LOT easier than when we all had to cross this East River when we first arrived and it was at flood stage. The banks are low and gradual on each side here. Part of the river you can wade through, but not the deep channel nearest the south bank. This is one of the best places DH likes to fish but if we use it as a crossing, it might affect that. *I* have even caught fish here. Well, there are other places. We spent the day cutting the grass that is getting quite long. We raked and used a pitch fork to get it up into the wagon. I am not able to lift my arms up like that so I use a tarp to gather the grass and dump it in that way. The back half of the wagon load was dry hay since we'd cut it 3 days ago. [watching the clouds and barometer carefully]. This we will store in the caves for future livestock feed. The front half of the wagon was filled with grass cut that day. This was our mulch and doesn't need to dry...well, you don't want it to get TOO hot as is decomposes. But it should be ok still. Anyway, this wagon idea was a LOT more efficient than using my little boat. I saw a garter snake once and naturally did The Funky Chicken dance...with loud squawks. I just do NOT like snakes even if this critter is eliminating pests like rodents. He didn't have to pop out and scare me like that! Sure glad MrS&J say they've never seen any snakes in this Valley but bull snakes and garter snakes. Altitude...I'm sure it's the altitude. {actually, it's called Writer's Prerogative! } So now a LOT more of the outer gardens and small fields have a good layer of mulch. I'd been able to do the Maui-side large garden with my boat. We'd been mulching earlier with the grass growing near the fields too. It will all save weeding time and water. Peas are going to have to be picked once we get the kids here and DH leaves...if he does. And HELLO! In this zone, the green beans are beginning in 60+ days too. [back in the CO Rockies, it takes ALL summer to get anywhere with beans] Peas and beans were some of the first things soaked and direct seeded when we dug up ground. Field corn was the very first if we were to have it by frost tho. Dang, we only put in a small patch of blue corn for grinding and another of popcorn [Japanese hulless is 83 days]. Dh and I don't eat much corn but now we have lotsa people. I didn't plant any sweet corn at all. Gonna have to barter some of that if others want some. I've also gotten more tomato plants in since getting word of our population increase. I had some already started but not many cuz we don't use tomato much either. I direct seeded a bunch more of Romas [78 days] and some open-pollinated ones called Cold Set [Gurney's ] that are 65 days to first harvest and are somewhat frost resistant. Ahem...well, I'd grabbed those high-priced seeds thinking of the greenhouses. They are determinate too so the vines don't get so outrageous. We'll see how they perform. I put a few cherry tomatoes in large pots and they're destined for greenhouses too. At least I'll have some for my folks and kids/Grkids to eat. They can help can the romas. Spinach and of course, lettuce and radishes are useable now but not large cuz I couldn't get everything in at once. I got robbed by marauding goats in the early patch....had to raise the fencing a bit. Durned goats! Even waddling-pregnant they managed that. Or I would have at least a small patch of the greens and such already going strong. What else will reach full harvest by the time the rest of the family gets back? It's staggered so oddly this year...due to having to break the soil open. Thank God that the Witlocks could spare their boys. OH, speaking of them, the Witlock boys are going to cover for us on the days that DH and I go off to Mother's Little Hill to meet our MT children. We were not sure of how long all that really will take and worried, especially with the goats near birthing. [They shouldn't .. .. Oh who knows with goats. ] But this way the boys will come over on June 30th. WT#2 will be at the rim of the Valley. They'll plan to stay until we can return. I'll stay back with the young kids and the M&M twins, Nathan and MrMtR will return as needed to get more things and the livestock. We really don't know when our kids' household things will be coming down in the sledge. That transfer from the wagons on the top to the wagons on the bottom will take more time. I'd hope to do this turnaround in one day but..... Mother's clan plans to camp there the night before and DH and I agreed that was the best plan now that the Witlocks will be with our livestock. Good thing we went to the Lodge yesterday to discuss this. Mother also reminded me of that loooong switchback hill down to the Valley floor ...once you make the first steep drop. Oh yeah. I'd been pretty MS-sick by that time. It's all kinda fuzzy to me. I did hear that some folks have build some temporary holding pens at the base of that trail, at the valley floor. For all the livestock coming down. The Rocks are sending a bunch of their livestock with this group, along with their daughter/family/extra orphans....and one son/family/[also helping with orphans]. So this wagon train has been dealing with a lot of livestock. Best time to get it in, after the winter cold and before the summer heat really gets up and stresses the grass. Our children's family was raising Dexter cattle [half-size meat and dairy breed VERY COOL! http://www.albc-usa.org/cpl/dexter.html ] and chickens for their ranching business. They also have quite a number of hogs and various other animal projects. Some of the adults of our clan coming in will need to claim land on the grasslands on the south side of our East River. For those cattle. [My DD...cattle rancher.... ] Likely need the chickens will be raised within the acres in front of the Maui caves. For protection. Hmm...doesn't look like we'll be getting far on any more doors today. But at least on Saturday we put a more sturdy arrangement on the 'barn' door. That first cave opening is large/tall and we'd made a door from slim saplings lashed to a frame...leaving 6" gaps between the vertical posts. This provides a barrier but leaves a lot of ventilation. There has always been more cave opening at the top which is still open....and we worry about raccoons and such climbers. The large slatted door itself was just shoved into place at nite and the conestoga wagon backed against it and those wheels always chucked with big rocks. So now we've inserted a massive upright post on the east side and attached a farm-gate-style screw-in ...um, 4" posts. On the gate is the sleeve that fits over that post and it is able to swing freely in either direction. I insisted on installing the small wheel [came with the kit] which bears some of the weight of a long gate/door. It rolls...with some bumping on the uneven surface, over the patio rock ledge in front of the caves. I didn't want to be dragging that heavy gate back and forth ......[ask me about dragging gates in CO ] I fastened some of the chicken wire we'd brought, to the bottom half of the gate. To keep mid-size varmints out. The rabbit cages are in an alcove just inside that area. They get a lot of indirect sunshine and I believe this location will keep them cool enough. While they are safe enough within their cages, I do worry about a raccoon being able to harass the daylights out of them should one climb in over the gate. Then next step is to put an interior door on their alcove with a finer openings...hardware cloth would be good but we brought so little of that, we hope to find a way to make a sturdy barrier. Also, Big Dog is sleeping out in the large living room cave and can hear a disturbance and run down the adjoining hallway. We have wedged a log across the hallway entrance on that side to keep the equines in the stable. [ So far.... Need to finish that up better too...a stile of some sort? Human/dog can pass thru but larger animals barred by it? ] Anyway, the goats are barricaded into their large alcove within that barn area. Whoooeee....we still have so much to do and....come winter, a lot of this changes. Instead of massive ventilation, we need to STOP the wind. We can always cover the barn door with a tarp to block the wind. MtRider [hair is outta control.....having gone back to braids and a kerchief cuz of being in the river a lot to keep cooler these hardworking days. Real...um, 60's style. ] PS: Dear Diary, I JUST had another thot...... DH and I have been assuming that my folks and DD's group would not have made it for this wagon train. But....mebbe they DID. Oh my.....here I've built up my theory but we might get ALL of them here at once. How odd I never thot of that. 'Course they would have had to make really good time with the armed security caravan. But if they had no delays.... ....maybe they'll all be here and safe.....and HELP DO ALL THIS HOMESTEADING! If so, it's gonna take a week to get their stuff moved over here.

MtRider [..sees tracks in the snow that indicate there has been a game of Fox & Rabbits.... ]

The WT2 is expected in about a week or so. They'll send a ride ahead to tell us a day for sure. That messenger will likely have personal notes from family too...any updates, etc. DH and I are trying to figure out the pickup day(s). We're about 5-6 miles from the entrance hill to the Valley. So that's um.....one mile per hour if we're breaking trail with a wagon? Or half that if the conditions are good. That's a lot of flat graze land there except near the edge of the bowl. So 3 to 6 hours to get there. OYE! THIS is why I stay home at Cleft of the Rock! Am I figuring this right? Might lock in the animals like we did for the storm. Big Dog there for patrolling the caves as she does when we go to the Lodge on Sundays. Cat locked into our bedroom. We would bring the big wagon with ribs and rain cover. Camping stuff for overnight if we have to. Horses pulling the ...nope. Donkey's pulling the mostly empty wagon. The donkey cart can come down the hill loaded with chicken cages. The donkeys can haul that back and oxen will pull the full wagon. Will take at least two trips. The twins girls, Ben, and I will stay at Cleft. DH, M&M twins, and Nathan will return with cart and wagon for a second load and eventually, the herds of cattle and sheep. We'll bring the 3 milking cows back with the first trip. My goats are due the second week of July so I hope they just wait that long...so we can get this mess settled first. IF all goes well, that should work and it will mean I'm only gone for most of one day. Puppy will have to come with us...she's still needing me and that really isn't a problem with the wagon. Not really sure how much stuff the MT kids will be hauling... MtRider [ planning...and making doors]

Trouble at Canyon's End Homestead..... Nathan was about worn out from worry. The wagon train had been traveling thru that long narrow canyon all day. MrH had rousted everyone very early - way before dawn - so that they were moving as it was barely light enough to see. While the day had dawned bright and clear, the mountains were notorious for building up the clouds and rain in the afternoons. If it was *just* a bit of rain, no problem. But if it was a lot of rain, this was the one day of traveling that you absolutely could not get caught in a downpour. It wouldn't take a lot to cause dangerous flood waters to rush down into this canyon from the high hills for miles around. "The Lord is my Shepherd...." Nathan heard Machela's words as he came riding Amigo abreast of one of their two household wagons. "...leads me beside still water..." Despite his own anxiety, Nathan grinned at his sister's emphasis on the descriptive word "still"....as in: NOT raging waters. They had had such a close encounter with the lightning storm some days back. Now this afternoon was doing the usual cloud formations, though they could see only a narrow strip of the sky from down inside the canyon. He'd passed through this route twice before but this time his family and all their goods & livestock were along. They had tied Blanket, Machela's Appie horse, to the back of the wagon with saddle and emergency packs. They were all carrying emergency packs today. If danger threatened, she could stop and pass through the wagon; get on while grabbing up both small twins; and ride up the steep hillsides if necessary. They'd even done a trail run yesterday...to the giggling delight of the young girls. He was trying to stay close by so that they'd each just grab one twin. Ben and Micah were riding with the sheep/goat herd. They had orders to stay together and keep alert. And if danger happened - follow a goat! Nathan thot he might have scared his siblings a bit much about this flash flood thing. But, then again..... Better to have a plan of action. Sometime later, he could see the wagons turning to the left and he let out a great breath of air. Machela looked at him. He pointed ahead and she could see that the land to both sides of them was suddenly spreading out and open. Nathan began another story about their new parents. "This is where MtRider...Mom, was nearly lost in the blizzard that hit them. She said God provided two things...that the canyon walls prevented her and Roan from straying away too far when they veered to the sides and a big-mouth donkey. Mom finally remembered to blow her emergency whistle and MM heard it. Started braying her head off and Mom on Roan followed the sound. She said she was very surprised MM was able to even hear the whistle over the roar of the terrible wind. " he finished. "I guess I really get edgy in that canyon. "Isn't that the same night that the wagon train got separated? Mom's friend, Mother, and her family stopped in a different place so for a couple days neither group knew if the other was all right?" asked Machela and Nathan nodded. He stood in the stirrups and peered across the wagon to the right. "Yep, right there in fact! See that lane over there. That's where they spent the blizzard and then when it cleared, they found the abandoned homestead. The owners were gone for the winter on an emergency and left a note for anyone in need to help themselves." "And Mom and Dad's wagon train was low on supplies and harvested some things from the greenhouse, and some things from the root cellar that wouldn't last much longer, " continued Machela, who'd heard this story since Nathan had returned. "I wonder if that family ever came back?" -------------------------- It was still early when the final wagon had lumbered into the clearing on the left of the trail. The clearing where the majority of the first wagon train had waited out that final late winter blizzard. The area was very green with lush grass and this would give the animals ample time to graze. The trail gets steep...really steep in places...from here on. MrH came over to make a request of Nathan. Chef, N & P and C [Mother's son] were with him. "I want to pay a visit to the Kellog's place...the homestead that was empty when our first group came through in the blizzard. You know that story?" "Yes sir, my new folks told me about it. I'm sure glad to be out of that canyon!" Nathan answered. "We all are...though it doesn't look like we will have rain today." He continued. "First is, I'd like to use your donkey cart if you can unload these chicken pens." "We were about to do that anyway...so they can get at the grass and bugs, " said Machela and she and the men began to untie and lift each one to the grass. "Also, I've asked a representative of many of our first families to come with me. I'd like you to represent the MtRiders." Nathan nodded. "We had a pretty rough trip and the generosity of these folks really helped. If they have moved back, I'd like to thank them. If they haven't, Chef insists that the greenhouse will need to be weeded and pruned by now..... if anything is going to survive for them, if they do come back." "I'll be glad to do that," said Nathan. "I know my folks are very thankful for the food they collected here." "I've got another request, if you think it's all right. You've got one heck of a lot of chickens on this donkey cart. Can you spare a few to give to these folks? Kind of a pay back for their kindness? " The children's parents had been raising chickens and Dexter cattle as part of their farming business.....before the chaos...before that awful day that they stumbled into gunfire in town. The number of chickens was kind of a joke among these wagoneers. But since Chef had taken the time to serve fried chicken one evening, [excess young roosters donated by Nathan and sibs] everyone was happy to help load and unload the many cages. There were even a number of eggs each day though the jostling and moving upset the usual production. "Sure, MrH. I think Mom and Dad would be pleased with that idea. Let me get a few into this smallest cage. Eating or breeding, you think?" "Breeding..in these times, increase the resources." ------------------- "Oh, look at that greenhouse!" exclaimed Machela, who had been included when she begged to be able to see the unique greenhouse. Chef had found a ready ear as he told of the blizzard again and how this greenhouse had inspired him to build one at the Lodge for his culinary dishes. Now she was nearly bouncing on the seat of the donkey cart beside Chef.....except that a young lady of fourteen did not bounce like a 5 yr. old. [she was bouncing! ] MrH had already deduced that indeed, someone was living here and working the fields. He hope they'd had enough seed since their group had taken small amounts to try in Big Valley. They'd also been careful to take only food that would not have lasted anyway....saving the Kellog's a putrid mess of rotting vegetables in their root cellar. Now he was scanning as they neared and didn't see anyone about. "HaLOOOW the house!" he bellowed. Chef jumped, startled by the loud shout, and gave MrH a disgusted look while Machela tried not to giggle. She's jumped too though. As they pulled into the barnyard and neared the house, it seemed to MrH that something.....something wasn't quite right. "Those cows sound like they are overdue for milking," said Nathan at his side on Amigo. "They're real distressed! Can I check them out?" "No!" ordered MrH sharply. "Stay here with Chef and get your rifle ready till we find out what's gone wrong." He wasn't farm-raised and might not have deduced so quickly that the animals were what sounded the alarm in his head. MrH, P and N spread out and Mother's son C stayed on guard with Chef and the children. Chef decided to pull the cart around to face outward...just in case they needed a fast get away. Nathan wished he'd made is sister stay at the wagon camp. Clear out here??? How could there be danger out here? A shout and then MrH came riding up. "P! N!" Over here!" Those two came riding back from the barn area fast. "It's ok...the storm came thru here hard and a tree has the family trapped down in the root cellar where they took shelter. Landed on that side of the house and only their smallest child was able to climb in and out of the cellar window. They shouted out that they are fine, living off the food stored in the cellar. The child brought them water and blankets but they didn't like him out long by himself. They were trying to enlarge the window opening without causing it to collapse. " reported MrH quickly. He tied his horse to the house fencing. "P or N, did you see tools at the barn? We need a large two-person saw. Nathan, you and Machela get to those animals now. Just find whatever you need and do it, please! C...with us please. We've got a huge mess to clear before we can set the family free." "I'll go to the animals too. I've learned to milk by now and anything else, they can direct me, " said Chef, with a nod to MrH. He'd keep an eye on them too, though they had proven to be responsible kids. ----------------- After about an hour, a couple teenage boys and an younger teen girl rounded the corner of the barn. They looked disheveled and dirty but wore great grins on their faces. "Hi, did they get you out then?" asked Chef. "Hi, I'm Ted. This is my cousin Jaime and his sister, Joyce." The teens were looking around the milking room of the barn. "OH THANKS!" they all said in wonder. "You all know how to milk then?" Nathan and Machela had been pouring the last of the milk thru the strainers into the large metal milk cans. They came over and introduced themselves. They also gave a report on what animal chores they'd done already. "We made sure everything had water first. The tanks were getting low but none of them had run out. Nate pitched some hay to the horses in that lot. They'd eaten down the grass. Then we got to the milking and boy, did your cows love us! ....once we relieved some of the pressure, that is." Machela told them. "We waited for giving any grain though. Didn't know your amounts or routine. Too little is better than too much in the case of grain." added Nathan. "Too right on that!" agreed Ted. Together they finished off the chores. He tisked over the three horses who'd been so unfortunate as to have been penned when this happened. "They weren't supposed to be locked in overnight even," he explained. But when the storm was over, we couldn't get out. We didn't want to send little Billy down to loose them by himself. He's only four years old but he did good to bring us water and such." "We sure are glad you folks came along," said Jaime with feeling. "I don't ever plan to go to that root cellar again!" His cousin snorted. "Until the next time my mom or yours wants you to fetch some canned apples for pie," he retorted. Everyone laughed at the banter. --------------- "Now you tell all your first wagon train folks that we surely did appreciate coming back this spring to a root cellar and greenhouse in better shape than we'd hoped. By the time we'd got back from fetching my sister and her kids, we were pretty late in the season. Mud delayed us too. We were able to gather up the cattle and horses we turned loose. Still trying to find all the pigs. They go feral easy. And we do appreciate the gift of these chickens. Too many of ours didn't survive the months without us to shelter them from predators. But we've been hatching what we could to start over from the survivors. We'd brought in just a few to a friend to care for till we got back. Same with some of our horses and all of our sheep. Wouldn't have had any sheep left otherwise." said Mr. Ted Kellog, Sr. His family was nodding and voicing agreement as they had been for the past couple of hours. It was obvious that they would have been in serious trouble if MrH and the others had not arrived to tackle that huge tree and clear the stairs leading to the cellar. "Goodbye then." "Stop by again!" "You come visit the Valley!" "Thanks for the greens!" That from Chef, of course! "Thanks for the mountain cattle raising advice, sir!" From Nathan. "God bless you for our rescue!" .....the calls went back and forth until the riders and cart were long down the lane. "What NICE people!" said Machela. "And I loved their greenhouse!"